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Thread ID: 141773 2016-02-21 20:34:00 Dot Matrix emmulation on laser printer 1101 (13337) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1416355 2016-02-21 20:34:00 Emulate a dot matrix printer with a HP (or other) Laser printer ?
Ive never tried this , should be do-able in theory, but whats the actual reality ?

Very old Dos program , running on Dos6.
There is still some support for the program (semi retired guy in Aus) , so some hope there, if he's still available .
Prints to a Dot matrix , printer has died. Would be just silly to buy a new wide carriage dot matrix (at around $800+)
The program itself, (being old & dos) is a nightmare to configure printers on , just finding all the submenus that need settings changed

So will a laser printer, via its Epson emulation (Epsonfx emulation ?), actually give a usable printout .
Original dot matrix was a wide carriage, so thats another spanner in the works
Cheers

The other option is of course a used dotmatrix off trademe, but thats a lot of mucking about (pickup after hours from the other side of Ak, testing, getting ribbons, hoping it works)

Cheers
1101 (13337)
1416356 2016-02-21 21:33:00 Dont know if this will be any help or not.

Never tried it, but there's a program ( free trial) that says it does what you want ( kind of) www.j-m-s.com The trial zip file even tells you how to install /set it up.

I know at the SWMBO work they have an old DOS program that prints to a Laser no problems, but no idea how its setup.

If you have a laser to test it on then there's nothing to lose, could be a waste though if you have to go buy a laser first.
wainuitech (129)
1416357 2016-02-21 21:40:00 Printing to a laser from dos, not an issue as that just works regardless (unless its USB or a cheapy Win only printer)
I know many printers have dot matrix emmulation, Im not sure how well that works.

The software expects to print to a wide carriage Dot matrix, thats the tricky bit.
Ive a couple of lasers I can test with
1101 (13337)
1416358 2016-02-21 22:23:00 Printfil wratterus (105)
1416359 2016-02-21 22:40:00 The PC is running DOS6 guys, Windows programs not much use :)
The retail software in question is running on 20year old foxpro !!! It was previously on a 486 .

Ive been having a play on a temp PC ...
Luckily , the old program supports HP PCL, so I can just change the printer in the program. That works, so far . Fonts are very small though.
Thats the next mission, changing font size in the printer itself. From memory you send commands to the printer to do this.
1101 (13337)
1416360 2016-02-22 00:13:00 Yeah there are special ASCII characters that set the printer into various modes, font sizes, etc. Been years since I used any of that though.
Do you have the option to print to a text file instead and then transfer to a windows machine to print? I seem to recall dos commands that allow printer ports to be rerouted to the screen or a file? Probably wouldn't keep any formatting though.

Not much call for such things these days, I threw away a few dot matrix printers years ago.
dugimodo (138)
1416361 2016-02-22 00:42:00 Whoops sorry, didn't read that bit. :o wratterus (105)
1416362 2016-02-22 04:03:00 Whoops sorry, didn't read that bit. :o

Youre taking time to try & help out, so thanks regardless . :)

Possibly all sorted now . I'll find out over the next few days .
1101 (13337)
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