Printing from old DOS program

[JM]

A client of mine has Windows XP Professional, with an HP Laserjet on LPT1.
He's got an old dos-based accounting program on his computer from years ago.
He never uses the program anymore, but there are some old returns that he
needs to print. When he prints the returns, the text is mixed with a bunch
of characters that appear to be the accounting program's attempt to draw
lines, boxes, or other formatting features of the forms. There are lots of
"o" "x" and boxy characters in all sorts of positions, making the printouts
illegible and completely unusable. I can post a scanned image of the
printout if seeing it will help figure out a solution.

What is likely going on here, and what might be some possible
troubleshooting steps I can take?

thank you,

jm

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

A client of mine has Windows XP Professional, with an HP Laserjet on LPT1.
He's got an old dos-based accounting program on his computer from years ago.
He never uses the program anymore, but there are some old returns that he
needs to print. When he prints the returns, the text is mixed with a bunch
of characters that appear to be the accounting program's attempt to draw
lines, boxes, or other formatting features of the forms. There are lots of
"o" "x" and boxy characters in all sorts of positions, making the printouts
illegible and completely unusable. I can post a scanned image of the
printout if seeing it will help figure out a solution.

What is likely going on here, and what might be some possible
troubleshooting steps I can take?

thank you,

jm

He probably uses the wrong printer driver. Try a different
driver, or set LPT1: to print to a file for closer examination,
using several different printer drivers.

 

[GHalleck]

A client of mine has Windows XP Professional, with an HP Laserjet on LPT1.
He's got an old dos-based accounting program on his computer from years ago.
He never uses the program anymore, but there are some old returns that he
needs to print. When he prints the returns, the text is mixed with a bunch
of characters that appear to be the accounting program's attempt to draw
lines, boxes, or other formatting features of the forms. There are lots of
"o" "x" and boxy characters in all sorts of positions, making the printouts
illegible and completely unusable. I can post a scanned image of the
printout if seeing it will help figure out a solution.

What is likely going on here, and what might be some possible
troubleshooting steps I can take?

thank you,

jm

There should be no problems printing an old DOS accounting
program, if it is run through the DOS box. We still do it
from Peachtree. The trick is in using the proper drivers and
setting the default character (or symbol) set in the LaserJet
printer. This is the for the printer's built-in set and not the
"soft" set in the computer. IIRC, for regular characters plus
lines and boxes, it should be PC-8. The manual for the accounting
program should specify it; if not, check the manual for the HP
LaserJet.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Try Bruce Sanderson's article:

http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm

--


Will Denny
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User
Please reply to the News Groups

 

[JohnO]

He probably uses the wrong printer driver. Try a different

driver, or set LPT1: to print to a file for closer examination,
using several different printer drivers.

The Laserjet II driver is about as universal as you can get...it should work
with any HP laser.

-John O

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The Laserjet II driver is about as universal as you can get...it should work
with any HP laser.

-John O

I agree, but then the OP never said which HP LaserJet he has.

 

[HeyBub]

A client of mine has Windows XP Professional, with an HP Laserjet on
LPT1. He's got an old dos-based accounting program on his computer
from years ago. He never uses the program anymore, but there are some
old returns that he needs to print. When he prints the returns, the
text is mixed with a bunch of characters that appear to be the
accounting program's attempt to draw lines, boxes, or other
formatting features of the forms. There are lots of "o" "x" and boxy
characters in all sorts of positions, making the printouts illegible
and completely unusable. I can post a scanned image of the printout
if seeing it will help figure out a solution.
What is likely going on here, and what might be some possible
troubleshooting steps I can take?

The gibberish you see consists of control characters sent by the software to
invoke HP-LJ functions (like bold or double-space) in the hopes that the
Windows drivers will translate these commands into proper hardware
commands.

Printing from DOS in XP completely bypasses any Windows drivers -- all
printing goes directly to the port, so these software commands are sent
directly, and untranslated, to the printer. In prior Windows versions there
was a command to "Capture printer port." This command does not exist in XP.

One solution is to use an intermediary such as RPV if the software can be
directed to send its printing to a file instead of the printer.

He could install Win98 as an alternate OS. Another possibility is to use an
older Win 98 computer for the purpose.

 

[Steve Shattuck]

A client of mine has Windows XP Professional, with an HP Laserjet on LPT1.

He's got an old dos-based accounting program on his computer from years
ago. He never uses the program anymore, but there are some old returns that
he needs to print. When he prints the returns, the text is mixed with a
bunch of characters that appear to be the accounting program's attempt to
draw lines, boxes, or other formatting features of the forms. There are
lots of "o" "x" and boxy characters in all sorts of positions, making the
printouts illegible and completely unusable. I can post a scanned image of
the printout if seeing it will help figure out a solution.

What is likely going on here, and what might be some possible
troubleshooting steps I can take?

Sounds like the program used the line draw characters in the DOS character
set, and the printers selected character set doesn't support that. This is
not uncommon. Unfortunately, I don't have either an old DOS program or a
LaserJet to test for a possible solution. Perhaps changing the HP
LaserJet's default Courier character set (from the printer's control panel,
not in the print driver). There's not way to tweak XP to solve the problem
that I know of.

 

[mhc]

The gibberish you see consists of control characters sent by the software to
invoke HP-LJ functions (like bold or double-space) in the hopes that the
Windows drivers will translate these commands into proper hardware
commands.

Printing from DOS in XP completely bypasses any Windows drivers -- all
printing goes directly to the port, so these software commands are sent
directly, and untranslated, to the printer. In prior Windows versions there
was a command to "Capture printer port." This command does not exist in XP.

One solution is to use an intermediary such as RPV if the software can be
directed to send its printing to a file instead of the printer.

He could install Win98 as an alternate OS. Another possibility is to use an
older Win 98 computer for the purpose.

Printing from a DOS program has *always* bypassed Windows drivers,
whether the version was XP or 3.1. This was one of the reasons why
Windows applications became popular -- hardware support moved from the
application level to the operating system level.

In this specific case, the problem is clearly the use of an incorrect
font and/or character set. The Laserjet needs to be set to a fixed-pitch
font (ie, Courier) that supports the PC-8 character set, and that is not
the factory default Laserjet character set. This requires a font
cartridge in the original Laserjet and Laserjet II, or changing the
default font and character set via front-panel settings on all other
Laserjet models.

mhc

 

[Bill]

Sounds like the program used the line draw characters in the DOS character
set, and the printers selected character set doesn't support that. This is
not uncommon. Unfortunately, I don't have either an old DOS program or a
LaserJet to test for a possible solution. Perhaps changing the HP
LaserJet's default Courier character set (from the printer's control panel,
not in the print driver). There's not way to tweak XP to solve the problem
that I know of.

Hey!

Try this link (free program)
from Chaos Manor :

http://www.andtechnologies.com/dosprint.html

Bill