Re: help!

["Steve Crutchfield" SCRUTCH@xxxxxxxx]

I've heard of WinModems (which rely on a windows device driver to run
the modem instead of hardware embedded in the modem), but not a
WinPrinter. If a WinPrinter is what you have, then I doubt you'd be
able to get it to print from ECS or a DOS-based application like
XyWrite 4. My only suggestion would be to read your printer manual
and see if there are instructions for using your printer under plain
DOS. It MIGHT be the case that there is a DOS device driver which
will run the printer - if so, you could use it under the ECS
implementation of DOS. My only other suggestion would be to get a new
printer.

Steve Crutchfield

≪< "J. R. Fox"  9/29 1:44a ≫>
"Young For Life Products, Ltd" wrote:

> I have switched to eCS and installed XY4, and am happily back at
XPL, BUT I
> can't get my computer to print to my Canon BJC 5100 or BJ 2000. From
XY4 or
> from the Java editor bundled with eCS. I know some of you will think
this is
> off-list, but I hope you will consider my thought that it's actually
very
> relevant, because with the new Windows which will not support DOS
> applications, one of the only choices in the future for we who wish
to
> continue using XY3 or XY4 is going to be eCS.
>
> I have tried the omni printer file eCS includes, and have emailed
eCS tech
> support several times. My brother has tried a bunch of things, none
of which
> worked, including trying to use the driver that came with the
printer (which
> is obviously intended for Windows only). If I hook up an old dot
matrix
> printer, fine. But not any of the Canons. My brother says its
because the
> Canons don't have internal CPU's and are dependent upon the
computer's CPU,
> and eCS does not support them. eCS tech support made a bunch of lame
> recommendations (make sure the port is enabled in the BIOS - duh),
and now
> have gone silent on me (yes, I stayed nice and courteous and humble
and
> didn't say any of the pithy things I really wanted to say).
>
> Can anyone help? Am I missing something, or is this really a problem
that
> someone knows about?

I have not installed ECS yet -- waiting on some h/w upgrades, to take
place
sometime before the end of the year -- and have zero experience with
Canon
printers. With those disclaimers in place, I'll try to do what I can
to
assist. Yes, there are brain-dead "Win-printers," which require being
driven by
Windows services in order to function.  (This has been discussed here
before,
in another context.) In my opinion, such printers are to be avoided
at all
cost, for a variety of reasons. If your model happens to be one of
those, you
will indeed find yourself up the 'crick on this one. A possible --
though not
foolproof -- tip-off can be whether or not the printer can be
successfully
driven from real DOS. I'm not aware of any Win-printers that can be.)

If your printer is _not_ one of these, there are certain suggestions.
If we
were talking about a _system-wide_ driver (such as Netscape would use,
*not* Xy,
which pre-emptively uses its own printer drivers), sometimes an
installation of
one of these will fail to "take." In that case, you would need to
uninstall and
re-install the driver.

If you have exhausted the limited "official" ECS support, there are
other venues
where you might obtain other _unofficial_ assistance, often from very
knowledgeable people. Yahoo Groups (formerly EGROUPS) has one or more
forums
devoted to ECS. There are a couple forums on Compuserve devoted to
OS/2 stuff.
I believe they are web-accessible to anyone, no CS subscription
required. The
CS fora are not nearly what they once were, but can still be valuable.
 There is
a dedicated ECS newsgroup, and various OS/2 newsgroups, though the
latter have
traditionally been plagued by a poor signal to noise ratio and flame
wars. Here
in SoCal, we have the SCOUG (S. Calif. OS/2 Users Group) Help List --
not too
unlike the nature of *this* List -- and I don't think you need to be a
member to
join -- but I can check on that. Finally, you might want to
periodically take a
look at things like the SCOUG online newsletter, the VOICE newsletter,
and the
OS/2 e-zine, all of which regularly publish good 'How To' articles,
and maintain
extensive archives of prior issues. I can dig out and post the
relevant URLs
for you, if you wish.

An analogy I often fall back on these days is that if one is going to
"fly" any
flavor of Linux or OS/2, this puts one in the position of aviators
circa
Lindbergh's day: if something breaks on your trip, you damn well
better be able
to fix it yourself. (Of course, a necessary illusion is that help
from Redmund
for Win users is only slightly more available: better be prepared to
break open
a large piggybank, and wait a long time on Hold.) Fortunately in the
case of
OS/2, unlike in the Lindbergh scenario, some skilled mechanics are
often
available _for free_, just a few mouseclicks away.

Jordan