Re: Getting an LPT4 on XP

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

Well, I got it done, in only an hour or two.
My first error was in not distinguishing the port that the "Printers"
facility speaks in terms of and what used to be called "Port Capture" (with
a button now gone missing).
I didn't want to assign the network printer to LPTx (which you do only with
local printers); I wanted to let XP assign it to the LAN manager but then
add Port Capture to re-route it to LPTx. Only there is no Port Capture.
But then Patricia put me on to the command NET USE, as Robert had written
about.
Once I got onto that, it was just a short half-hour
until I had cracked the syntax. There was a wrinkle, which I pass along for
those who may have the same problem: if your filespec or path contains a
space, you have to (as with DOS) enclose it in quotes. As in:

NET USE LPT1 "\\Harry\HP 4" /Persistent:yes
But I'm now a happy camper, because my new set up (desktop replacement
laptop) uses the old computer as, in effect, a server, so now I can print
with Xy to either printer--both of which are on other computers. (The
previous solution had been to print to the USB printer with XyWin not XyDOS.)
BTW, there is good, along with the transitional headaches, in the world of
XP. ClearType has already been mentioned (and I'm now using it). But are
people aware that you can double your screen real-estate by adding a second
monitor--since XP allows you to drag stuff back and forth between monitors?
I think you can probably add a third monitor, I don't know. I'm happily
using my laptop plus an LCD, rather than, as I'd expected to do, closing my
laptop when at home.
I thank Carl for his suggestions of where to look in Help and Support--even
though, as always, there was no real help there.



Harry Binswanger
hb@xxxxxxxx