Re: redirecting LPT1 to a USB printer

["Patricia M. Godfrey" priscamg@xxxxxxxx]

Paul Breeze wrote:
> http://www.columbia.edu/%7Eem36/wpdos/winprint.html
>
> I have tried this, with only limited success. When I set everything up
> as instructed,


Which version of Windows are you using? I've read this page once, and
I really do NOT see the need for the loopback plug. Perhaps if you
have a W2K or XP PC with no network card in it, but NICs have been
onboard for years now, no? Did you go through the preliminary steps
(paragraph beginning "If you are not certain whether or not your
computer is always connected to a network...")? I don't have access to
a W2K or Xp box that ISNT on some kind of a network, but I know that I
can print to the USB port on the office W2K box, from Xy, even when
NONE of the other PCs in the network are turned on. The card is in
there (it's actually some circuits on the Mobo), the network is
configured, but there are no connections available temporarily (and no
Internet connections throug the network; only intermittent dial up);
but Xy prints.


Let's get rid of the obvious things first. Is the printer shared? Can
you print to it from Windows? Have you run the Net use command,
exactly as specified? (I think we had an instance of it posted here a
while back with a space missing). Run it with the /Delete option to
clean out any possibly previously mis-set instance. Do you have a NIC
(network interface card [or circuit]) in your PC? (Look in control
Panel, System.) I cannot believe you don't, unless this is a laptop?
and ancient. Which lpt designation are you using? Is the SAME lpt port
specified in Xy's Pick Printer table?


What I found really interesting was the section on making the trick
work with 98 by using the PC's IP address instead of the UNC name
(which I tested, extensively, a couple of years ago and proved would
not work). I can test this with my laptop in its off-network
configuraation, but not for a while.


While we're on the subject of Net use, I've been rereading Robert's
numerous and helpful posts on this, and wonder if the following
inferences regarding Persistent are correct?


1. It would seem that if you're using net use to map a REAL network
printer (attached to another PC in the LAN--or WAN for that matter?),
you would probably want to set persistent NO, because that printer, or
the PC it's attached to, might be offline. Or have recently been
replaced and the sysadmin didn't tell you. Or anything. (Was this, I
wonder, what Bry meant when he mentioned "releasing" a printer?)
2. On the other hand, if you're using net use to map a local USB
printer to a legal fiction LPT port so that a DOS app can print to it,
you would probably want to set persistent to Yes, because the printer
is right there, on or beside your desk, and you'll know if it's off
line, dead, out of ink, or otherwise unavailable.
3. If Persistent is set to No, you need to run the net use command
every time you boot up or log on as yourself. So you would put the
command in a .bat or .cmd file and include it in your statup folder so
it runs whenever you do so.
4. But if persistent is set to Yes, you only need to run it once. (I
wonder how that works? Does that command alter the Windows Registry?)
Harry pointed that out to me a while back, when I first tried this
stunt on the new W2K installation, and indeed when I took it out of my
startup routine, the printer continued to be available over the
(nonexistent) lpt2.

--
Patricia M. Godfrey
PriscaMG@xxxxxxxx