Printing PCB Layouts

X-No-Archive: yes

I hope someone here can help me.

Easy-PC is a Printed Circuit Design program by Number One Systems. I have their DOS (licensed) version but I am unable to print as I am no longer able to get a HP Deskjet with a parallel port interface. None of the print utils I get in the web can send the files to the USB printer I have with me :-(

The Easy-PC Demo program, currently version 8, does not allow saving but allows printing of the designs made under DOS. Small mercies :-)

I am pretty good with the DOS version I have and definitely not interested in re-learning the Windows version again and the version 8 is too big an install for my small machine. And it is not worth buying Version 8 just for printing alone !

I will be very happy to lay hands on one of the earliest version of Easy-PC Demo for Win9x that permits printing to a Windows printer, like the version 8. (The demo programs have been allowed to be freely downloaded by Number One Systems. Currently only ver. 8 is available on their website).

Can someone who reads this please let me have a download address of an older version of Easy-PC fro Windows if it is available on the web or post the program itself in the binaries group.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

ClueLess

Load the program in a DOS partition, boot to Win95/98/98SE/NT/2K/ME and then shell to DOS (or CMD). Log to the correct drive and directory for the program, and see if it will run as you would like. This will work if and only if they have not done any direct screen I/O or other direct I/O. If your GUI is set to default to a USB printer, i think that printing will be directed correctly and work. It does not hurt to try...

I don't know if you can do this in Winblows but I have a similar problem. I use and like Generic CADD, an old but good DOS program. It does not have drivers for anything more modern than dot matrix printers but it does have PostScript output.

So I have set up a virtual postscript printer that outputs to a file. I then use GhostScript to print and/or convert to PDF or PNG and I can do what I want with the results quite independent of the original source. I have also found this useful when I run into a web site that won't let me save. I haven't found one yet that won't let me print. :-)

Ted

However, the magic of Win9x is that even many such programs do work if written for VGA displays. Windows actually catches the hardware accesses and maps them to the GUI display windows.

Unfortunately, about half of the CAD programs took over the printer port at the hardware level, and Win9x does not map those accesses

So you may be lucky with your program - or unlucky !

Roger Lascelles

Thanks to all those who tried to help.

The problem is that when printing to the USB printer, Windows apparently uses a whole new approach and all the programs available on the web purporting to print DOS program can do only text, definitely not something like what Easy-PC saves as a .PRN file (Actually .L00)

Number One Systems started off with the DOS program and naturally converted it to Windows so it is still able to use the old DOS designs and send them to the Windows printer.

I have tried every means - including trying the print screen technics but the result is not very accurate.

That is why I need the older version Easy-PC that can print and suit my small computer. I cannot afford to buy Ver 8.0 for just printing alone nor can I buy a bigger, faster machine to load it.

Thanks again hoping a solution will come my way soon.

ClueLess

I was going to suggest the list of supported printer types might include postscript, as Ted did.

I use Protel AutoTrax (DOS) in a 98SE DOS box. Its printing is handled by a separate program TraxPlot which includes a psotscript printer option. To get good quality printing I use a laserjet (also supported) but for electronic versions for emailing to clients the postscript route is the only one that works. I print to postscript, then convert the file to PDF, which is irrelevant to your situation - but it may provide another way to handle the PS output if such a printer option exists.

Or I could sell you a very cheap DJ 690C ;-)

back

Can it not print to a file ? Im not sure if comercial parallel usb devices exist or if they would actualy transfer data in the direction you need. can it print through the serial port ? if so maybe a serial usb device is a more available option ?

Colin =^.^=

"ClueLess" schreef in bericht news:1119344308.9ccb96c25899744296ed0821df12ec5f@teranews...

Don't know where you live but in the Netherlands old Deskjet printers are almost given away. Saw them for E10 on marktplaats.nl. Didn't look on Ebay.

To run a USB-printer you need at least Win98. Only the last version of Win95/ORC2 had limited USB support which was not very reliable. So do you have a dual boot machine able to run both DOS and WIN98? As WIN98 is still build on DOS, can you run Easy-PC on WIN98-DOS or in a DOSbox? On WIN98 you can install whatever a printer you need for an LPTx port then capture that port and redirect the print output to another printer or a file. I agree an early windows version of Easy-PC would be a fine solution but if you can't get it...

petrus bitbyter

If I understand you correctly, you have a DOS program which should come with a driver for a PostScript printer.

If so, (in Real DOS) load the TSR PRN2FILE.COM http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:bmEfoampFEIJ:

A *.PS file will result (or you can rename it to that). In Windoze, open that file with GhostScript (GSView) and print it.

Oh, I have tried all sorts of things, including every program in the web that boasts about sending the PRN file to the USB Printer. Actually they can send only text files and one or two of them the PS files. My files are Laserjet files with the L00 extension

The handling of files sent to the LPT is a whole lot different than the one used for the USB printer.

My considered opinion is that Easy-PC is the only suitable answer.

By the way I cannot buy a new, faster machine nor buy a laserjet just to print a few Easy-PC DOS files. Again getting an earlier, smaller version of Easy-PC Demo seems to be the answer.

Thanks

ClueLess

Thanks for your suggestion.

The manual says "Easy-Lase is a utility program which takes Printed Circuit Board and Schematic files created by Easy-PC and converts them into HP-PCL format to drive a HP LaserJet II"

That gives me a thought - is there a utility that can convert HP-PCL to PS format ?

ClueLess

You can certainly convert HPGL to PS- use Ghostscript/ GSView with the appropriate plugin. IIRC the original DOS Easy PC used to produce a wildly pessimised plotter output that battered pen tips into submission within minutes.

Paul Burke