On 6/4/2015 5:18 AM, Felix Miata wrote: > Thomas Mueller composed on 2015-06-04 07:20 (UTC): > >> I've been unable to get my printer, HP LaserJet Professional 1212nf MFP >> working. >> Now I think it might be nonstandard implementation of PostScript or whatever >> command language. > Legacy DOS apps relied on drivers specific to them. DOS itself didn't > "support" printers, much less MF devices. It merely provided access to the > interfaces of the time, serial ports, and parallel ports. You could sent text > or text files directly to printers via these interfaces, but not "control" > the printers via postscript or other printer languages. Postscript wasn't > even invented until DOS had been around a couple of years, and even so, it > wasn't made available except in the most expensive of printers until quite > some time after invention. The major apps like WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 > relied on printer drivers written specifically for those apps to produce > control of things we now take for granted, like margin settings and font > selection. Character sets were whatever the printer itself included, usually > limited to 2 or 3 (fixed) pitches and line spacing choices of 66 or 88 lines > per letter size page, in your orientation choice of portrait or portrait. > Those that offered graphics modes were horrifically slow in those modes. > >> Why would HP have hplip when other printer manufacturers have no such thing? > Marketing in part, but also because none ever emulate any printer language > other than its own, and the cheaper models typically omit postscript support > or any but one particular dialect from among the many of its own. IOW, it's > more complicated for mere mortals to figure out how to set up HP printers > without it, a bigger hurdle than with other printer brands. > >> But can a laser or inkjet printer with standard interface work in FreeDOS? > What is a "standard" interface in FreeDOS? IBM/M$ DOSes date from long before > the invention of USB and the ubiquity of networking, IIRC only ever knowing > serial ports and parallel ports. > > This question interests me too, as I just bought a new HL-5470DW printer > today to replace a Canon that provided no emulation of any kind. The new > provides Epson FX, IBM Proprinter and PCL6 emulations in addition to > Brother's own language, but neither parallel port nor serial port > connectivity. In Linux I'll be using it via IP, but it would be nice to be > able to use it directly from a DOS boot somehow to print old WP and > spreadsheet files with embedded Epson FX printer control codes. > > Before postscript and HP's LJ* languages, the most popular printer languages > that I can remember were IBM's own, Epson's, and Okidata's. Epson's seem to > have become the most popular of those three, and continue to be included in > some printers made by manufacturers other than Epson, Brother in particular, > which is why I bought what I bought, and never consider buying HP for > personal use.
I remember reading that FreeDOS 1.1 has some measure of USB support. I have not tried anything USB myself yet. But of course there is still the question of talking a language that the printer understands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
