Windows 7 & Dos
Printing with Legacy (Dos)
under Windows XP and greater
Under Windows XP, you can use a dos command that will
allow printed output to go to the LPT1 port but actually be printed on any
USB printer attached to your computer. This is done using the following command.
NET USE LPT1:
\\Server\Printer_Name /Persistent:Yes
Note that case is not important and this command is
entered at any DOS prompt. Of course, it is assumed that the printer does
attach to the USB port and that you are outputting to the LPT1 port for
your DOS programs. Locate name of server (your computer) by right-clicking
"My Computer" and clicking "Properties". Look at tab
called Computer Name.
Alternative Print Method for
Windows7 Using a Product called DOS2USB
An Alternative means for printing under Windows 7
would be to purchase a small utility called DOS2USB. This
remarkable little utility will allow you to print any report, job ticket,
etc in either regular or condensed type to any printer in the plant.
It can be downloaded at DOS2USB.COM and you can try it out before
purchasing the product. It is produced by a company in India but I
have purchased two myself and three others for another company and have
found that their payment method is extremely secure with no problems at
all. If you decide to use this utility, be sure to change the
LPREDIR utility at the Master Menu by hitting *-Utilities followed by
8-Line Print Redirect. Make all the Entry and Exit Control Codes equal to
zero. Leave the 132 and 80 Ptr Col values as default (see sidebar to
right of table in program).
General
Information
using Windows 7
Our Legacy (DOS) programs
are able to run under Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit). This comes as a
surprise to many since Legacy generally was restricted to 32 bit operating
systems (or smaller) previously.
Windows 7-32 bit
The Legacy programs run great under this
operating system and no further enhancement or modification of the
operating system is required.
Windows 7-32 bit Full Screen
You must usually disable the display that normally
is used with Windows7. Then the Generic Display will automatically be
used in place of the Win7 Display. Once that is done, use of the
ALT-SHIFT key will generally produce the full screen that many enjoy
when using the Professional Estimator. To return to the smaller screen,
use ALT-SHIFT again. An alternative is to choose a screen
resolution of 1280x768 and an 8x12 ratio for the Font Size (under
settings followed by properties of the Display Properties).
How
can you run Legacy in Windows 7-64 bit?
Note: This can only be done
if running in single user mode. Do not use for a networked computer.
There is a little trick that
can be run with Windows 7 that fools the operating system into thinking it
is running an XP machine. It
is called Windows XP Mode using Virtual PC. The only caveat is that the
Operating System must be Windows 7 Ultimate or Professional.
Note: If you already own the Professional Version, you can skip this
section and review the procedures for installing Windows XP Mode below.
Upgrading to either the
Professional or Ultimate from the Basic Version is easy to do by just
going to the the following website at http://www.evaluesoftware.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=216&gclid=CNvmooWFoLQCFRQcnAoduFoAYg
and select the upgrade
product for either the Basic to Ultimate or the Professional to Ultimate.
Installing
Windows XP Mode -
Downloads
The Windows XP Mode software
can be downloaded by going to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode.
Warning:
Windows 8 is trouble. Don’t be fooled
into thinking you can download the Windows 8 version and obtain similar
results. Windows 8 will NOT work for
these procedures, and you may find that your network fails to work as
well. Let's wait until Microsoft works out the bugs for Windows 8 running
under a network before thinking about using this operating system.
Scott Thatcher