Printing problem

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For a very long time I have been using a DOS pcb program which used to work great with my hp Deskjet which worked off the parallel port.

When that printer dies I got a new one that works off the USB. No matter what I tried I could not get access to the printer, even after using some of the DOS-USB drivers.

The program does save the output to a *.PRN file. I wish to know is there is a way of sending this file to the printer via the USB port.

any help will be appreciated.

TIA

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Reply to
Ardent
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Is the computer or printer broken? Then post in sci.electronics.repair

Otherwise, this has no relevance to electronics, and belongs in a computer newsgroup; there are a ton of them.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Black

I've got an old '486 lurking in a corner just to run some old DOS software with an old printer, as do a lot of people.

Sometimes the best thing to do is to keep the old system around. That might mean repairing the printer for you.

Good luck Chris

Reply to
CFoley1064

Reply to
Art

Hi,

With the .PRN extension, it sounds like you may be using an old OrCad DOS program such as PCB-II. I assume that your printer doesn't support one of the plotter languages such as HPGL, PCL-n, etc., or you wouldn't have asked, so try plotting (instead of printing) to a file. That should create a listing in ASCII format (you may have to edit it) which being generic won't have any OS-specific hang-ups. From there look for a utility that will output that to your printer under your particular OS through the USB port. I don't actually know of one but I have great faith in the web when it comes to finding that kind of thing. If you can find one, dig out an old laser printer as they usually handle this kind of thing fine. Had you been in the UK, I could have given you one. Cheers - Joe

Reply to
Joe McElvenney

I'm not clear on the above: Do you mean the DOS-USB drivers don't work from the command line, or just that they don't work with the program.

If the DOS drivers work at all, you should be able to save your PRN file and then from the command prompt use COPY FILENAME.PRN PRN or maybe use LPT instead of PRN. This assumes that the PRN format is the same as that emulated by the driver. Presumably, your layout program has a choice of printers from which you originally selected the DeskJet. If that doesn't work with the driver, try selecting LaserJet. I don't know about the DeskJet, but with the DOS layout program that I use (ECAD) the LaserJet drivers all use HPGL. I haven't specifically tried to print to a USB printer, but it works with different laser printers.

Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Reply to
Bob Masta

Ardent whispered:

If the printer can be placed on a network, you could 'map' the USB port to a local parallel port.

Else, I think this would work with Windows XP:

COPY /B FILE.PRN > USB001:

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