Is printing from DOS boot disk supposed to work through LPT1 with an EPSON Color STYLUS 880 Printer?

[ANTant]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

Thank you in advance.
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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[Jay]

maybe because your DOS isn't DOS. If you bootdisk is WinME forget it - you
can't talk to ports outside of windows.

 

[thoss]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

Depends on the printer. If yours is a Windows-only printer, it will
only print if Windows is up and running.

 

[puss]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

Thank you in advance.

HP did support DOS printing, I even range them about it but Not Epson..

Most modern Printers do not support DOS printing..

 

[ANTant]

HP did support DOS printing, I even range them about it but Not Epson..

Sheesh! No wonder.

Most modern Printers do not support DOS printing..

Who still supports it?
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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( )

 

[ANTant]

Depends on the printer. If yours is a Windows-only printer, it will
only print if Windows is up and running.

How can you tell if it is Windows only? The 880 printer supports both
Windows and Macs.
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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[ANTant]

That was both Windows 98 (original) and Me disks.

maybe because your DOS isn't DOS. If you bootdisk is WinME forget it - you
can't talk to ports outside of windows.

--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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[xevious]

Who still supports it?

Your old printer, i have a Canon i850 for photos and regular use but i still
run DOS so i keep my old Canon BJ100 for compatibility.

 

[ANTant]

Your old printer, i have a Canon i850 for photos and regular use but i still
run DOS so i keep my old Canon BJ100 for compatibility.

I was referring to modern printers in "Most modern Printers do not support
DOS printing." Mine isn't modern anymore.
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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[puss]

Your old printer, i have a Canon i850 for photos and regular use but i still
run DOS so i keep my old Canon BJ100 for compatibility.

Contact HP as they did a few years ago..

 

[Ed Ruf]

On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 08:24:36 -0600, in comp.periphs.printers

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

It's unclear. See just past the middle of
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/epson/Inkjet/sc880.htm
for "How can I print using Windows 3.x, DOS applications or from the DOS
prompt with this printer? "
________________________________________________________
Ed Ruf Lifetime AMA# 344007 ([email protected])
http://EdwardGRuf.com

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to comp.periphs.printers and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

If the printer is USB only, forget it.

If it has a parallel port, it MIGHT work. I think most HP's still
support PCL natively (the 820 and 7xx series were the few that didn't.)
Some printers support only basic 10cpi courier printing without driver
support.

 

[Alan]

HP did support DOS printing, I even range them about it but Not Epson..

Most modern Printers do not support DOS printing..

In the sense that most printers sold are cheap inkjets, true. But
"most" midrange printers and above, especially lasers, support PCL or
perhaps Epson ESC, and will print plain text sent to them (by a DOS
PRINT or COPY command) in their default font (probably a Courier
style).
..

 

[Alan]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

Look at the printer's specs, for the part which hopefully lists
"emulations". That's where it lists the printer languages the printer
knows. If none, it uses a proprietary interface, and only the
manufacturer's drivers will work, and they are often only available
for Windows.

Most standard languages, like HP's PCL and Epson's ESC, support plain
text and print it unadorned in the default font if you send a text
file to the printer.

 

[Ototin]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key.

The Epson Stylus Color 880 supports printing from DOS. I've tested it
up to Windows 98SE. Your command 'type filename.txt > lpt1' is
incorrect if you want to print to the printer. Your command will
create a file in the current directory. The command to print to the
printer is

type [filename] > lpt1: or
copy [filename] prn:

 

[ANTant]

It's unclear. See just past the middle of
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/epson/Inkjet/sc880.htm
for "How can I print using Windows 3.x, DOS applications or from the DOS
prompt with this printer? "

Interesting. What does D4 do?
--
"None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing." --Ben Franklin
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/ /\ /\ \ Ant @ The Ant Farm: http://antfarm.ma.cx
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\ _ / Please remove ANT if replying by e-mail.
( )

 

[MCheu]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key. Is it because of lack of
printer drivers? I always thought printers had a standard to work without
driver in DOS. I was puzzled why it didn't work now, but it worked in the
past. Maybe because I had an old HP 560c Deskjet printer and IBM ProPrinter
X24LE(?) dot matrix printer.

Thank you in advance.

The old printers tended to be more "intelligent" than the modern ones.
Back then, the printers all conformed to the standard "Epson" printing
language (not sure if it was ever officially called that).

Ever since windows95 came on the scene, manufacturers have been
simplifying the logic in the printers, moving the logic to the driver
side of things, focusing instead on the printhead technology. Good
news, it makes it cheaper to make the printers. Bad news, the
printers are dumb as a stump, so don't work without a driver telling
it what to do next which becomes a problem if you're not printing in
windows. To add insult, more and more manufacturers are taking out
the DOS emulation code in their drivers, so you may not even be able
to print from a DOS window if you're using a newer printer on a newer
windows like XP.

 

[puss]

Someone told me that booting to DOS with a boot disk will not let me print
even with type filename.txt > lpt1 and print key.

The Epson Stylus Color 880 supports printing from DOS. I've tested it
up to Windows 98SE. Your command 'type filename.txt > lpt1' is
incorrect if you want to print to the printer. Your command will
create a file in the current directory. The command to print to the
printer is

type [filename] > lpt1: or
copy [filename] prn:

My Epson 740 did not print from DOS but the specs stated that it supported
DOS..

 

[puss]

The old printers tended to be more "intelligent" than the modern ones.
Back then, the printers all conformed to the standard "Epson" printing
language (not sure if it was ever officially called that).

Ever since windows95 came on the scene, manufacturers have been
simplifying the logic in the printers, moving the logic to the driver
side of things, focusing instead on the printhead technology. Good
news, it makes it cheaper to make the printers. Bad news, the
printers are dumb as a stump, so don't work without a driver telling
it what to do next which becomes a problem if you're not printing in
windows. To add insult, more and more manufacturers are taking out
the DOS emulation code in their drivers, so you may not even be able
to print from a DOS window if you're using a newer printer on a newer
windows like XP.

There are no Drivers to Print in DOS..

But there are some application that require DOS Drivers..

There re 2 separate DOS things, does it print in Command line DOS, or does
it support DOS printing with a Driver.

My Epson 740 stated that it has DOS support, but it would not print from a
command line..

 

[Alan]

Interesting. What does D4 do?

From a little digging around, I think this refers to an extension of
the IEEE 1284 spec, for parallel printer cables, called "IEEE 1284.4"
familiarly D4 (for "dot 4").
See <http://sbc.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DOT4.html>
Apparently it allows separate channels, such as to communicate with
multi function (fax/print/scan) devices.