For those who are interested, this is how I solved the problem of
running PFS: Write under Windows 7.
PFS: Write apparently needs some DOS functions that are not in the
cmd.exe for Win7. Not even under 32 bit Win7, it will not work. DosBox
is out, as it does not provide for printing at all. It's made mainly
for games.
What I found was a mod of DosBox called vdos. The programmer took
DosBox and added printer functionality in a unique way. It accesses a
program called Dosprinter (the freewave version is included with
DosBox). Vdos starts the DOS program in a fixed size window, it looks
like 800 x 600. Vdos comes with a config.txt and an autoexec.txt which
you have to modify (they gave you a list of commands you can use) to run
your program. For example, you have to add a mouse=on command to use
the mouse. Finally, Dosprinter is finicky about what printer is used by
the DOS program. About all they tell you is that it emulates an Epson
printer, I had to try each one listed in PFS Write until I found one
that worked on multi-page printouts. A lot of them worked on one page,
but choked on more than one.
When printing from PFS: Write, now, the PFS: Write print page pops up,
then goes away, followed by the Windows print box, where you can select
to print to anything installed, including USB printers and Acrobat
converters.
It was an interesting challenge. I'm surprised by how many people are
still using DOS applications, never mind games.
Steve
On 4/7/2014 9:44 PM, Christopher Fisk wrote:
Why not use dosbox or similar? We've been rolling out stuff like that with
dosbox a lot recently.
On Mon, Apr 7, 2014 at 7:54 PM, Steve Tomporowski <didym...@gmail.com>wrote:
Thanks, I'll have to find a copy of a retail disk to proceed. It scares
me how my buddy refuses to learn certain things, if I put something
together like XP mode, I'd have no end of trouble. Keep it simple for the
stupid. (I do that all day at work...;-)
On 4/7/2014 7:39 PM, Winterlight wrote:
No... 32 and 64 are separate disks. And you need a retail purchase to get
both disks... not OEM. And yes the easy solution is to go 32 bit if the
program you need will run OK... your only other alternative would be a
virtual XP setup. Win 7 PRO and Ultimate offers free download of XP mode
for businesses that use proprietary software but I have found XP mode to be
unreliable and problematic.
At 04:32 PM 4/7/2014, you wrote:
Okay, so I answered some of my own questions. It looks like it would be
much easier to downgrade the install to 32 bit (there's only 4 gig on the
computer). I haven't tried it yet, but can I do this from an OEM System
builder Pack? I know I have to wipe the partition and start over, but does
this '64 bit' SP1 disk have 32 bit on it?
On 4/7/2014 6:38 PM, Steve Tomporowski wrote:
I'm dealing with my friend Dennis down in Florida again. In general,
he makes the computer-illiterate look like geniuses.
Just to recap, he still does all his law documentation in PFS Write.
This works fine on his current creaky 2006 vintage computer and 32bit
XP. So I'm about to ship him another box with Win7. The problem I've run
into is that I still need to give him PFS Write. He has over 500 files in
the PFS Write format and most of the recent ones are down in FL on his
computer, I have the balance of them. So the problem is that the Win7 I
have is 64bit, which means 16 bit programs are a no-go. There are two
choices: Use 32bit Win7 (is that also on the 64 bit disk or do I have to
purchase?) or set up a shortcut that will start something like virtual box
and start PFS Write. For the latter it would have to be dead simple, or
simple enough for the dead. Would that be possible?
And, as always, thanks guys....Steve
