Re: USB printer and OED

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Paul Breeze  on Sun, 7 Sep
2003 14:05:19 +0100


> I contacted Oxford about this but they offered little help except an offer to
> upgrade to version 3 for around £50.

OED v3 is a distinct downgrade in my opinion. Very clumsy interface, slow as a
tortoise, and triple the total size of v1 (nearly 2Gb). Many deficiencies in
v3.

> Do you happen to know if this version will run from a hard disk using Daemon
> Tools?

You mean v3? Yes it will. It's complicated to get going, but it can be done
-- I've got it running off hard disk right now. This a very complex subject,
which I and others addressed at nauseating length in alt.english.usage a few
months back -- no need to repeat it here. Go to:

 http://www.google.com/advanced_search?num=100

and enter as search criteria "OED comparison inferior". Skim the whole thread
(21 msgs). If you want specific instructions for making a BlindWrite image
file, I can supply those. You will have to tolerate C-Dilla aka Safecast 2 on
your machine (Macrovision copy prevention software), which is something I truly
dislike, but you will be working around it (it merely needs to be present and
"seen" when sought). You will not need to have the CD in the disk bay, nor
will you need to revalidate your copy every 90 days (by inserting the physical
CD -- a v3 requirement), because Daemon Tools essentially tells the OED that
you _are_ running it off a CD presently (so why revalidate?) -- even though, of
course, it's a fake CD drive. You will need 1.9Gb of free disk space for
everything (vs 636Mb for v1).

> none of the HP printers supported in Windows-2000-Setup are USB
> printers

Is that true? 1200 series isn't there? Hmmm, that's a problem.

> I can get OED to work by loading a driver for an old parallel port printer
> (I chose the 5L since that was my earlier printer) and setting it as default.

Let me get this straight: you change the default to the 5L, and the OED works
-- **without** uninstalling the 1000w driver? Is that correct? It's a
question only of which driver is the _default_? You can leave the 1000w
installed but not default, and the OED works again? If that's the case, then
maybe there's a solution.

> However I have been unable to
> print to my new printer using this driver, or any other HP driver
> I have found in Windows 2000.

What port is it printing to? Should be the USB port. Did you try redirecting
(in Printers ==> right-click the 5L ==> Properties ==> Ports) the output of the
5L (probably printing to LPT1) to the USB printer port? I think Windows calls
this sort of redirection "capturing". The 5L could be default, but redirect to
the port to which the 1000w is attached.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------