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Post by Jos on May 11, 2021 8:49:41 GMT 1
If you don’t want vDos or the printer driver to touch the printer output of the dBase program, you add the RAW option. That printer output is then send as-is to the printer.
The #LPT1.asc and LPT1.txt files are only created to eventually accommodate third-party external print processors. vDos doesn’t use those files itself, you can skip them by the PRIVATE option.
I guess your PrintFile program captures data sent to Windows LPT1, so you would first have to disable/remove that. PrintFile use will be to enable Windows printers for DOS programs. But vDos does this already of its own, and the Epson receipt printer is a DOS printer.
LPT1="LPT1": wouldn’t be needed, or even useful. You can direct the output to any printer. If that however contains printer control codes only understood by the Epson receipt printer, that should be the one to use in combination with the RAW option.
Jos
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 19:58:57 GMT 1
Hello, again, I systematically, and one at a time, un-remmed each printer line in vDos's config.txt on my Windows 10 32-bit Dell. Nothing worked, while my regular dBase printed out right away. Neither calling the Generic-lpt1 driver nor printing RAW did anything. Any guesses? Thank you all, Wayne
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Post by Jos on May 11, 2021 20:26:12 GMT 1
SEL: and RAW can be used together. For instance: LPT1=SEL:"Generic-lpt1" RAW. Seems you didn’t read the Printing.pdf document or at least try the suggestions:
Did you disable/remove the Printfile program? Try to print to Generic-lpt1 from for instance Notepad? Then also looked at the Windows Print Spooler for a failed print job or set to offline?
Jos
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 20:55:17 GMT 1
Hello, I have something very strange to report. I installed vDos on my second 32 Bit Dell, operating on Windows 7, and this one worked almost perfectly. So I reinstalled vDos on my first computer, the Windows 10 Dell, and now it also works more or less well. Strange. Must have been a bump in the install. My only problems, now, are, firstly, each vDos askes me what printer I want--I want it to use the Generic-lpt1. Secondly, after each line, on either computer, it doesn't insert a CR between lines so it all the lines on top of each other and then eject pushes about a foot of excess paper out. I'm sure the fix(es) for this second issue are somewhere in printer set up, but I haven't found it, yet. May I ask for a little more direction? Sincerely, Wayne
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 21:07:39 GMT 1
Hello, I find that LPT1=RAW adds the carriage returns and gets rid of the long eject, but I still have to hit the print button from the select printer pop-up. Thank you, Wayne
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 21:24:49 GMT 1
Ok, I have figured out that this works: LPT1=SEL:"" RAW for all my problems. Now I have to figure out how to shorten the printer delay with the TIO command. Thank you for all your time and assistance. What a world. Wayne
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Post by Jos on May 11, 2021 21:26:26 GMT 1
Can’t imagine your initial issue would be related to vDos installation. vDosSetup.exe and vDos.exe are code signed. Any change/corruption of either file will be detected by Windows, refusing to run it.
I already mentioned: “SEL: and RAW can be used together. For instance: LPT1=SEL:"Generic-lpt1" RAW. Seems you didn’t read the Printing.pdf document…”.
If you use the RAW option, vDos nor the printer driver will touch the dBase printer output. So if CR’s are in there, those will also be send to the printer. You could post a #LPT1.asc file, though that should only confirm CR’s are included. A Windows/Linux testing problem?
Jos
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 21:32:29 GMT 1
And I figured out the TIO. This seems to fulfill all my needs: LPT1=SEL:"" TIO:1 RAW when my lpt1 generic printer is set as default printer. What a different world. I'll struggle with Linux another time. Thank you all for all tyour assistance, Wayne
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Post by Jos on May 11, 2021 21:40:16 GMT 1
Just one final remark: Do you at all read my responses or vDos documentation?
Jos
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 21:46:51 GMT 1
Hi Jos, Is there, maybe, someone else putting out a variant of vDos? Your real one works well. Thank you for your time.
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 21:51:40 GMT 1
I note that while the shortcut to the other version looks like yours with the blue square and white cross, the program file itself on that other version is a black square with a white C:_ but when I hover over it, the pop-up still says Company: JHM Schaars although the file size is different at 533 KB. Maybe I can reconstruct how I got this version. Yours, again, is just right and works well.
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Post by Jos on May 11, 2021 22:20:22 GMT 1
Shoot, my previous respond would be the last.
Don’t know what ‘vDos’ you initially installed. Could be vDosPlus or dbDOSv, both essentially outdated and bloated vDos. Though you should then have mentioned that.
Jos
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Post by wtc on May 11, 2021 23:48:54 GMT 1
Hello, Jos, Yes, I did read your comment on reading the documentation. When things weren't working, I started wondering about the exact syntax. Now that I have your version, everything was easy to implement. As to what version of vDos, I had no idea. I thought I'd downloaded vDos, as nothing seemed to indicate otherwise. I must have downloaded one of the variants you mentioned, not realizing bloated, malfunctioning packages were out there. Yours works. Thank you, Wayne
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Post by wtc on May 13, 2021 4:49:22 GMT 1
Hello, Jos, I have vDos based dBase successfully up and running at my bookstore. Thank you for that. Quick question: Does the 64 bit version of Windows 10 support a parallel port? Thank you, Wayne
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Post by Jos on May 13, 2021 5:54:34 GMT 1
Windows 64 bits support parallel ports. But you probably have to use a USB (or network) to parallel adapter since it will be hard to get a parallel interface nowadays.
Jos
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