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Compaq printer on IBM AT 5170???

A

afaiello

Experienced Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2009
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122
Location
Central New York State
Is there any way I can get my IBM AT (running IBM DOS 3.30) to print to a Compaq IJ600 Parallel Printer? I saw a few sources on the internet that stated this printer can print from DOS but none stated how. Do I need a special driver or software program?
 
DOS itself does not use printer drivers because DOS itself does nothing 'fancy' (e.g. underline).
So hook up your IJ600 to the first parallel port on your AT (the one that gets assigned as LPT1), and at a DOS prompt you should be able to get "hello" to print on your IJ600 by using the following:

C:\>echo hello >lpt1
C:\>echo ^L >lpt1 (where the "^L" is a Ctrl-L key combination that generates a formfeed character)(must be an upper case L)


A lot of DOS programs that have a 'print' function act just like DOS - they send simple text to the printer.

Certain DOS Programs

However, certain DOS programs, such as WordPerfect do need to do 'fancy' thing such as bold, underline, font selection. So those DOS programs will use a printer driver. Each such program uses their own drivers. So for example, the HP Laserjet III printer driver for WordPerfect 5.1 is the file HPLASIII.PRS That file is only 'understood' by WordPerfect. Hardvard Graphics will have its own printer driver for the HP Laserjet III.
 
well i didn't switch the card to another port, but i did enter in those commands and nothing printed. i tried entering lpt2 and even lpt3, but it was to no avail.
 
DOS always assigns LPT1 to the first parallel port it finds (searched in port order of 378h, 278h, 3BCh)

I see three possibilities:

1. Parallel port not enabled.
2. Parallel port faulty.
3. IJ600 is set to postscript (or similar) mode.

Do you know for certain that your parallel port works?
Do you have another old printer that you could connect?
Do you know if your IJ600 is set to postscript?
 
I have no reason to believe that the port is bad. It hasn't been used in some time. It was used to run some old milling machines. Nothing could have happened to it to cause it to go bad. I even tried printing on my other AT clone to no avail. I'm guessing that it's the printer. As of now, I was planning on getting a dot matrix printer. Maybe you could point me in the direction of a certain brand? Epsons seem reasonable. There's many on ebay. For the port not being enabled, I wouldn't know how to enable it. It's an IBM serial/parallel port. It was a stock card with the AT.
 
Well, that's certainly suggesting a printer related issue.

You could do a test to see if the issue is in fact because the printer is set to recognise postscript only.
At http://support.microsoft.com/kb/64859 , Microsoft describe how to test the connection to a postscript printer via DOS. Try the 'Windows 3.0 and 3.0a' section.
If that turns out to be the issue (printer recognises postscript only), it may be possible to turn off the postscript functionality of the printer.
 
i have this other port that is actually a Male parallel port, but a printer cable is male and cannot plug into it. would this port still count as an lpt?
 
afaiello said:
i have this other port that is actually a Male parallel port, but a printer cable is male and cannot plug into it. would this port still count as an lpt?
Click to expand...
No. That "Male parallel port" is most likely a serial port of the older style connector (male DB25).
The newer style of the serial port is a 9 pin version of that connector.

The parallel port on an IBM AT will always be a female 25 pin connector. So, do you only have one of those (the bottom connector on the IBM serial/parallel card)?

I'm sure you been using the right connector otherwise you wouldn't have been able to issue the echo commands in post #2 (the AT would have frozen after the first echo command if wrong port, or printer in offline state).

What you've written so far suggests a printer isue, but you can confirm that there is only one parallel port and perform a limited test on it by:
1. Run Checkit 2.1 (available at http://members.dodo.com.au/~slappanel555/software.htm), then
2. Look at the Sysinfo/Configuration screen to see the parallel ports that the BIOS found, then
3. Under 'Tests', you can perform a limited test (no loopback plug) of LPT1
 
afaiello said:
tried the steps outlined at the microsoft source. they did not help.
Click to expand...
Based on your "male parallel port" question, I've got a feeling that you didn't notice that the article was for a printer connected to a serial port (COMx).
Try:

C:\>echo showpage >lpt1

Does that cause the printer to eject a page (a blank page)?
 
No i did notice that COMx was to be substituted with either COM1, COM2, LPT1, or LPT2 and I already tried the LPT. Like I said, the command lines were successful, however the printer did not print the page at all.
 
I read that the Compaq IJ600 is a rebranded Lexmark Z32.
I cannot find anything that informs me as to which printer language/s it uses.

If you can prove that the parallel port on your AT is good (e.g. printing to a different printer) and can get the IJ600 to print under Windows on another computer, them maybe the IJ600 just wasn't designed to handle simple ASCII printing.
 
Very true. You directed me to try using the CheckIt program. However, there is a built in program on the AT diagnostics disc called System Checkout that detects all hardware installed and also can test it. Would that be fine to use?
 
ok i did CheckIt anyways and it detected just the LPT1 port. it passed. i tried doing the printer test but that failed. so it's probably the printer. i'm going to purchase an Epson dot matrix off ebay that is supported by DOS drivers from the Epson site. thanks for your help modem7. i very much appreciate it.
 
afaiello said:
ok i did CheckIt anyways and it detected just the LPT1 port. it passed.
Click to expand...
Note that Checkit (and other testing software) require special loopback plugs to be attached to the connectors of serial/parallel ports under test, otherwise only a partial test is done.
 
You can generally tell serial from parallel with a continuity tester. If it's parallel, usually most of the pins numbered 18-25 will be connected together.

If it's serial, power the printer up and check the voltages between pins 2 and 3 and pin 7. Usually, one of these will usually be much above 5 volts or much below -5 volts.
 
afaiello said:
Are there any drivers available for an IBM ProPrinter 2390 Dot Matrix to run on IBM DOS 3.30? I cannot find any off the IBM website.
Click to expand...
Per my earlier post, DOS itself doesn't use printer drivers.
So perhaps your question should have been, "Does anyone know if the xxxxx printer can handle simple ASCII printing?"

When looking at the specifications of old printers recently, I noticed that quite a few listed 'supported operating systems' and that DOS was listed. I would take the "DOS" as a good indicator that the printer would handle 'simple ASCII printing'.

But the question is, what type of printing do you want to do in DOS? If you want to do 'printscreen' operations and get programs like Norton Disk Doctor to print reports, then any printer that handles 'simple ASCII printing' will do.
If however you also want certain DOS programs like WordPerfect and Harvard Graphics to print, then you need to choose a printer that those programs have drivers for. Those programs come supplied with drivers (program specific) for the common printers of the day.
 
Well looks like I'll be getting an Epson Action 5000+ or an LQ-570+ since I'll be using wordperfect and lotus. I was hoping to have a nice all-IBM setup. Oh well.
 
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