Re: Printing from XyDOS to a network printer

[Wolfgang Bechstein bechstein@xxxxxxxx]

Thomas J Hawley  wrote:

> To get XY4 DOS to "see" a network printer, enter the following at the operating
> system's command line:
>
>  NET USE LPTn \\computer_name\printer_name

Thanks for the info. After seeing your message, I also looked at the
Microsoft Knowledgebase Article you mentioned, and this indeed seems to
be the solution for printing from DOS on a printer connected to another
computer on a network. (I briefly verified this by hooking up the
Brother to another computer on the network, and then printing on it
using Xy4DOS on a separate machine.) Unfortunately, there is a
complication in my case, in so far as the printer is normally connected
_not_ to another computer on the network but to a print server (actually
a Linksys ADSL router with built-in PrintServer port) that does not
conform to the \\computer_name\printer_name convention. (The Linksys
manual says that the printer needs to be installed as a _local_ printer.)
It therefore seems to be a kind of "pseudo-local" printer as far as
Windows is concerned, and LPT1 cannot be redirected to a _local_ port,
only a shared remote port. I'm still looking at ways around this
somewhat unusual dilemma.

But the good news is that Xy4DOS can in principle be made to print on a
networked printer connected to another machine, either by the above
NET USE command or by using the printer Properties screen of Windows to
allocate LPT1 to \\computer_name\printer_name.

Wolfgang Bechstein
bechstein@xxxxxxxx