Running Protext

[Guest]

Protext is an old dos based word processing programme by Arnor. I managed to
get it working on XP Home on a computer bought last year by using a 16 bit
version but using exactly the same programme disk I cannot get it to run in
XP Media Edition on a computer I have just bought. Any ideas?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Protext is an old dos based word processing programme by Arnor. I
managed to get it working on XP Home on a computer bought last year
by using a 16 bit version but using exactly the same programme disk I
cannot get it to run in XP Media Edition on a computer I have just
bought. Any ideas?

Please help us to help you. What does "cannot get it to run" mean? What
happens when you try? If you get an error message, please quote it verbatim.

For information on how to make a good newsgroup posting, read
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.html and

 

[Guest]

On XP Home I start the programme by left clicking on the exe file on a cd
disk using windows explorer to list the files on the disk. When I do this on
XP Media the screen goes black for a a fraction of a second and then reverts
to the file listings with no message. If I right click and click on run in
the drop down menu a message comes up:' A temporary file needed for
initialisation could not be created or could not be written. Make sure that
the directory path exists and disk space is available.'
If I try and start the programme from a shortcut on the desktop I get a
message as follows: Invalid start-up directory. Please check your pif file.'
These could be red herrings since I get the first message in 'Home' as well
when clicking run which is why I did not put them in the original posting
thinking that the problem would be best approached by considering the
difference, whatever it is, between 'Media' and 'Home' that is causing the
difficulty.



Russell

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On XP Home I start the programme by left clicking on the exe file on
a cd disk using windows explorer to list the files on the disk. When
I do this on XP Media the screen goes black for a a fraction of a
second and then reverts to the file listings with no message. If I
right click and click on run in the drop down menu a message comes
up:' A temporary file needed for initialisation could not be created
or could not be written. Make sure that the directory path exists and
disk space is available.'

Have you tried copying the exe file and any associated files to a hard drive
folder and running it from there?

 

[Guest]

Yes I have tried this. I get a message: 'Iinvalid start-up directory, please
check your pif file'.

Since these files work on XP Home when operated from the hard disk, I am not
sure how to interprete this.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yes I have tried this. I get a message: 'Iinvalid start-up directory,
please check your pif file'.

Since these files work on XP Home when operated from the hard disk, I
am not sure how to interprete this.

It's not an issue of XP Home vs XP MCE. The pif file must be referencing a
directory that exists on your MCE machine, but not on the XP Home one.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Yes, but surely the directory is the same in each case if I am using exactly
the same disk which works on one machine (XPH) and not the other (XPMC)? If
this is not the case, then I am not sure what is meant by 'the directory'.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yes, but surely the directory is the same in each case if I am using
exactly the same disk which works on one machine (XPH) and not the
other (XPMC)? If this is not the case, then I am not sure what is
meant by 'the directory'.

It's highly unlikely that your two machines have the exact same directory
structure. I don't know exactly what directory it's referring to (what "the"
directory is in this case) but why not look at the pif with notepad and see?

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

Problem solved! My protext folder on the hard drive was under desktop which
had not been stated in the directory route in the pif file. But I still don't
understand why the programme would not run directly off the cd disk as it
does on the other computer. Anyway, many thanks for your help. Now I have
discovered that the computer does not have a conventional printer socket and
I don't know if my old printer is connectable to a USB port and even if it
is, whether it will work or not. At the risk of trying your patience, is
there a quick answer to this?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Problem solved!

Great! Glad to hear it.

My protext folder on the hard drive was under desktop
which had not been stated in the directory route in the pif file.

Yes, as I thought, pretty much what the error message said.

But
I still don't understand why the programme would not run directly off
the cd disk as it does on the other computer. Anyway, many thanks for
your help. Now I have discovered that the computer does not have a
conventional printer socket and I don't know if my old printer is
connectable to a USB port and even if it is, whether it will work or
not. At the risk of trying your patience, is there a quick answer to
this?

By a "conventional printer socket," do you mean a parallel port? Most new
computers no longer come with one.

What printer do you have? If it has USB output, it should clearly be
visible.

You can buy an addin card for your computer with a parallel port on it. You
can also buy a parallel to USB adaptor. Neither of these is expensive, but
if you have to spend money anyway, you might just want to consider buying
an inexpensive new printer instead.

 

[Guest]

My Brother laser printer is so old I did not think it had a usb connector,
but it does! The printer is recognised by media edition and works
automatically with 'word' Unfortunately I cannot get it to work with protext.
The setup menu for protext requires that the printer port be specified, ie
series or parallel. I have tried both settings. Perhaps it doesn't like the
usb port. The driver I am using (HPLJ3) is generic and works with ME but
maybe this is not compatible with media edition. Any ideas?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My Brother laser printer is so old I did not think it had a usb
connector, but it does! The printer is recognised by media edition
and works automatically with 'word' Unfortunately I cannot get it to
work with protext. The setup menu for protext requires that the
printer port be specified, ie series or parallel. I have tried both
settings. Perhaps it doesn't like the usb port.

Sorry, I don't know anything about Protext, but normally Windows programs
don't need to be told anything about printers. You install the printer in
Windows, not the app, the the app finds whatever printers are installed.

The driver I am using
(HPLJ3) is generic and works with ME but maybe this is not compatible
with media edition. Any ideas?

Windows XP supports the LJIII, so that shouldn't be an issue.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Guest]

I think that at least part of the problem is that the printer setup options
in the protext config file have only parallel and serial ports to chose from
and not a usb which in the windows printer set-up appears as a virtual
printer port. I have no idea what to do about this as the computer does not
have serial or parallel ports. Is there a special parallel port card that
might solve this?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I think that at least part of the problem is that the printer setup
options in the protext config file have only parallel and serial
ports to chose from and not a usb which in the windows printer set-up
appears as a virtual printer port. I have no idea what to do about
this as the computer does not have serial or parallel ports. Is there
a special parallel port card that might solve this?

Yes, you can buy such a card fairly inexpensively. Google will find you
several choices.

I mentioned this in a message in this thread a week ago, when I said "You
can buy an addin card for your computer with a parallel port on it. You can
also buy a parallel to USB adaptor. Neither of these is expensive, but if
you have to spend money anyway, you might just want to consider buying an
inexpensive new printer instead."

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[Bob I]

You could share the printer and then do an

NET USE LPT1 \computername\printersharename

then LPT1 will be available to the program.