WinPrint routes print jobs from DOS to Windows USB printers
by Razvan on Mar.05, 2009, under Software, Windows
As much as I’d like it to not be the case, some of my customers still rely on clunky (but functional) DOS applications to manage their businesses. While their applications tend not to change, their hardware does – which invariably leads to problems.
Take printing , example. If your business is stuck with a DOS application and restricts you to a half dozen or so “supported” printers, you may think that you’ll have to use that HP Laserjet IIp forever. DOS isn’t all that fond of printing to USB printers.
Sure, you can hack a solution together by setting up a network share and mapping LPT1 to it, but it doesn’t always work depending on your printer. MFCs are especially bad for this.
WinPrint provides a better solution. It’s a free application that monitors DOS print jobs and forwards them to any Windows printer. Configuration is fairly simple, though you will likely need to play with margin settings a bit to get things looking picture-perfect. Once you’ve got things set up correctly, you won’t have to worry about your trusty old parallel-only printer dying on you and leaving you in the lurch.
