> > May I please get your best links on creating an LPT1 port to a > networked printer via Microsoft’s net tools? >
Note that you will need to get HW-specific drivers for your network card for DOS. These come in maybe three different flavours: - CRYNWR packet driver (most freeware / open-source SW use this) - Microsoft NDIS driver - for the "NET USE" tool that can map LPT. There's also an NDISPKT shim that can create a CRYNWR interface on top of an NDIS driver. - Novell ODI driver - forget about Novell printing, but the ODIPKT shim can provide CRYNWR interface on top of an ODI driver Apparently, there's no way to print from a DOS machine directly to a typical network-enabled printer. The network-enabled printers do not support MS networking (SMB/Samba/CIFS) that you could leverage on the client side for exactly this purpose. There are workadounds: A) build a minimal Linux machine with Samba and CUPS. http://support.fccps.cz/download/adv/frr/cups_howto/cups_howto.htm#dos With appropriate configuration, that will allow you to print from DOS, with a virtual LPT1 mapped, to almost anything that has an Ethernet port and TCP/IP. Relies on the MS NDIS driver interface. B) resign on having the LPT1 mapped, send the print output into a file, and use Michael Brutman's NetCat util to copy your print job to the JetDirect (raw TCP) port on the networked printer. This requires three things: - the printer must support this JetDirect style raw transport - the printer must accept some plausible print job data format - your software in DOS must be able to produce a print job in a format that's suitable for your printer (see the previous item) https://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP_Netcat.html Relies on the CRYNWR interface. C) apparently there also used to be an LPR client for DOS... In a historical software package called PC/TCP by FTP Software Inc. https://www.google.com/search?&q=PC%2FTCP+by+FTP+Software%2C+Inc. Apparently the download can still be found... Not sure what driver interface it requires (CRYNWR? or its own?). LPR is a UNIX printing protocol, with some extra features compared to raw TCP. To this day, print servers and networked printers typically do support LPR. The LPR client for DOS does not map a virtual LPT port - you need to print into a file first. This is quite similar to the previous item B), except that Mr. Brutman's NC is easier to get, does pretty much the same job, and is a more versatile tool :-) Frank _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
