On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Question: Will a "windows only" printer function as a "generic text > printer" in DOS, and will it respond to DOS commands such as > "type myfile.txt > prn"?
No. Old printers had their fonts built-in. Send the printer an ASCII 65 and it would look up its internal ROM to discover which pins/jets it needs to fire when to obtain an A. IOW, they were designed to work on input data in the form of ASCII (or bitmaps for graphics modes) WinPrinters rely on "drivers" to tell them how to translate ASCII to bitmaps. If you try to run such a printer in DOS or Linux, the printer has no idea what ASCII 65 means. These printers are designed to understand the bitmaps only. They're cheaper to build that way. - Steve
