Printing a special font under vDOS is too thin

[muescha]

I'm facing an issue where I can't seem to get the font I prefer. Despite trying different settings, I'm not getting the printing results I want.

I'm in the process of moving a program from an old Windows XP PC to a newer Windows 11 system while keeping the same printing setup. To do this, I copied the TrueType font, but vDOS couldn't find it. I had to change the font's name and export it using FontForge to make it visible to vDOS. Despite my efforts, the printed output still doesn't match the original.

Here's how the test printouts and methods have panned out from my perspective:

1. Original Printout (Windows XP):


2. Printout with vDOS (Windows 11):


3. Test Printout in WordPad:


The difference between the original printout and the one from vDOS is quite noticeable when you compare the images. It's a bit frustrating to see the variations in font spacing, letter size, and style. This makes me wonder if there's a compatibility hiccup between the font and vDOS on Windows 11. I'm exploring different options to tackle this issue and would appreciate any friendly advice or suggestions from experts in fonts or compatibility.

[muescha]

I then explored external printing options. One snag I encountered was when the program generated some special PCL. When I tried sending the #LPT1.asc directly to the printer, I hit an error in the spooler, and the Windows printing spooler didn't forward it to the printer. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to access detailed printing messages (any hints on where to find them would be greatly appreciated).

I also gave DOSprn a shot and managed to select the font, but I couldn't figure out how to adjust the font size. It seemed to offer other intriguing options like CPI/LPI, but without font size control, it wasn't quite what I needed, so I decided to move on from that test.

Next, I attempted to use GhostPCL or PDFtoPrinter, but the outcome was a font that appeared too thin and difficult to read.

Fortunately, Printfil came through and provided a printout that closely resembled the original.

Here are the corresponding images:

4. PDF:


5. Printfil:


For a better comparison, here's the original printout:


I'm still puzzled about why the original printout from vDOS is so small. Do you have any ideas on how to manipulate the font size, CPI, or LPI with vDOS? Any insights would be incredibly helpful!

[muescha]

Quick side note: In DOSprn, the escape sequences worked perfectly right out of the box with HP PCL. However, with Printfil, I had to tweak some of the HP PCL settings because they were being ignored and printed as characters instead. Just a heads-up in case you encounter similar issues!

[Jos]

How did you manage to print in Windows XP. A PCL compatible printer was connected, while now it’s a Windows GDI-only printer?
Seems so because copying the #LPT1.asc file didn’t work.

The output of WordPad and the other methods were with the same font (TTF file) you set vDos to use.
It’s unclear why you had to convert the font as it was already installed.
What when you select some other font?

AFAK Printfil has no PCL interpreter, instead it uses (the installed) GhostScript program.
So it’s strange GhostPCL/PDFtoPrinter produced a different output.

You change the font size, CPI, or LPI by setting the scale in the HORZ: and VERT: options.

Could you submit the #LPT1.asc file.
Perhaps a PCL scaling command is misinterpreted, or unsupported. Unsupported commands are skipped, not printed as characters.

Jos

[muescha]

Mar 17, 2024 15:28:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

How did you manage to print in Windows XP. A PCL compatible printer was connected, while now it’s a Windows GDI-only printer?
Seems so because copying the #LPT1.asc file didn’t work.

- at the old PC with windows there was a windows helper programm, and in the dos app there was possible to enable "windows printing". This is gone with vDOS because there are no windows connection anymore and it prints only when I disabled the windows printing in the dos program.

Mar 17, 2024 15:28:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

The output of WordPad and the other methods were with the same font (TTF file) you set vDos to use.
It’s unclear why you had to convert the font as it was already installed.
What when you select some other font?

- all outputs are the same (renamed) TrueType Font. I done it in Wordpad to check if the font is ok.

- the font name somehow not catched by vDOS - all other (default) and additional installed fonts was working. only the needed font don't catch up. I checked also the font installing setting: per user / for all users. But I don't know what was wrong with the font. Importing in FontForge, changing the font name and font familiy and exporting as new font was possible.

- before renaming the old font was also visible in Wordpad.

- In vDOS I was able to select other fonts. But they also condensed this way (too small letters, to much line spaces)

Mar 17, 2024 15:28:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

AFAK Printfil has no PCL interpreter, instead it uses (the installed) GhostScript program.
So it’s strange GhostPCL/PDFtoPrinter produced a different output.

- I was no able to get the GhostPCL printer working in Printfil. They say to install GhostPCL but it never found the pcl6. It was needed to change from AUTO mode to the GDI mode.

Mar 17, 2024 15:28:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

You change the font size, CPI, or LPI by setting the scale in the HORZ: and VERT: options.

There was some changes in the printing, but still the line spacing and the small font was still the same. I was not able to "strech" the font and decrease the line spacing with the HORZ: and VERT: values.

Mar 17, 2024 15:28:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

Could you submit the #LPT1.asc file.
Perhaps a PCL scaling command is misinterpreted, or unsupported. Unsupported commands are skipped, not printed as characters.

Jos

I can post a #LPT1.asc sample tomorrow.

[Jos]

No idea how that helper program enabled your program to print.
Could be it indirectly captures output to the Windows LPT ports, but vDos doesn’t send anything to those.

You mention "pcl6".
If that means PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) is present/detected in the vDos directory:
Then #LPT1.ASC is passed on to that program, and it ends for vDos.
vDos doesn’t interpreter the ASCII PCL output, compose GDI pages and send those to the printer (driver).
So the HORZ: and VERT: options have no effect.

Jos

[muescha]

Mar 17, 2024 22:20:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

No idea how that helper program enabled your program to print.
Could be it indirectly captures output to the Windows LPT ports, but vDos doesn’t send anything to those.

yes - it is unclear how this was handled.

Mar 17, 2024 22:20:22 GMT 1 Jos said:

You mention "pcl6".
If that means PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) is present/detected in the vDos directory:
Then #LPT1.ASC is passed on to that program, and it ends for vDos.
vDos doesn’t interpreter the ASCII PCL output, compose GDI pages and send those to the printer (driver).
So the HORZ: and VERT: options have no effect.

Jos

If I use explicit in config.txt the GhostPCL processors then the font size and line spacing is ok, but too thin.

If I use the vDOS "printer" then it becomes condensed (and is different to the GhostPCL output)

[Jos]

There's only one rule: If the DOS output is determinded to be PCL and PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) is detected, vDos leaves it to that program to print.

Not sure what "explicit in config.txt...", or "use the vDOS "printer" implies.

If you have PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) in the vDos directory, delete or rename that.

Seems like many overcomplicate things like printing in vDos.

Jos

[muescha]

Mar 17, 2024 23:37:58 GMT 1 Jos said:

There's only one rule: If the DOS output is determinded to be PCL and PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) is detected, vDos leaves it to that program to print.

ok - the vDOS printout is done before I tried the other printing solutions and placed the PCL6 in the vDOS directory. Tomorrow I will test it again.

Mar 17, 2024 23:37:58 GMT 1 Jos said:

Not sure what "explicit in config.txt...", or "use the vDOS "printer" implies.

I mean this:
- vDOS printer (no printing helper is defined):
LPT1 = SEL:"Brother" font:"MICRO"

- Using GhostPCL:
LPT1 = "C:\vDOS\PDFtoPrinter.exe" #LPT1.asc
or
LPT1 = "C:\vDOS\pclprint.cmd #LPT1.ASC using the pclprint.cmd from here code snippet

Mar 17, 2024 23:37:58 GMT 1 Jos said:

If you have PCL6.EXE (or GSWIN32C.EXE) in the vDos directory, delete or rename that.

Seems like many overcomplicate things like printing in vDos.

Jos

the problem I tried many printing solutions because the first try with vDOS gives that condensed font
and this font look not good on letters. thats why I try to get a print style like the "original" from the old PC. 

[muescha]

printing with GhostPCL is also not good because the font is too thin.

My main question was: how to get the "normal" vDOS output to printer but with the font style of Printfil?

[Jos]

If you have a close look at the PDF and Printfil images, you’ll notice the fonts are close, but not exactly the same.
For instance the right end strokes of the characters “g” differ.
GhostPCL will use an embedded substitute, while Ghostscript loads an external font file?

That of course doesn’t explain why the height of the characters printed by vDos is undersized.
I would blame incorrect definitions in the TTF file, but you have the same issue with other fonts.

So I’m curious about the #LPT1.ASC file.

Jos

[muescha]

This setup:

LPT1 = SEL:"Brother" vert:0 horz:0 font:"MICRO"
This are the *.asc and *.txt files

LPT1.asc (441 B)
LPT1.txt (826 B)

[Jos]

The set pitch command part in <Esc>(sp12h4102T sets the horizontal spacing to 12 CPI.
Although documented to exclusively set the pitch, vDos also adjusts the character height accordingly.
I don’t recall if this was intentionally to remedy some user’s printout, but for now I commented it out for the next version.

Printing to PDF, it now formats as:



Jos

[muescha]

Interesting. I try tomorrow.

And then you send it to the PCL6.exe?


Is there any program which I can use to replace or remove this sequence?

[Jos]

That formatting is done by the vDos internal PCL processor, PCL6.exe isn't involved.

Although not completely correct, you can leave the escape sequence as-is.

No roundabout of a hardcopy and taking a photo, I selected a virtual PDF printer.

Jos