OT : Need a source to get printer control codes

Sorry to post off-topic but I know many here work in IT.

I am desperate to get the control codes for a Samsung printer.
Samsung don't seem to want to help and I really need to print from an
old DOS app.

Does anyone know of a newsgroup, forum or similar that might be able
to point me in the right direction.

Thanks as always.
Rob

CBR 1100 XX
GSX-R 750 WN
BONY#something
"Failure isn't falling down,
it's staying down"

Replace 'spam' with 'org' to reply

 

Kalico wrote

If it is drivers you are talking about them try drivers.com, assuming
they still exist.

It looks like your sig separator is completely missing. Did you post
this through a Merseyside server?

 

Actually, the Linuxisti might be the most knowledgeable about this
sort of thing, having been forced to take such matters into their
own hands on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, I suspect many cheap printers these days need their
bitmaps wholly generated by the PC (google for 'Winprinter') and
are thus totally unsuitable for printing plain ASCII. It *could*
be done, but the complexity of writing a DOS driver might be a bit
overwhelming.

I just googled for 'winprinter samsung' (w/o quotes) and this was
the first hit:

http://www.pragana.net/index-20020518.html

"Aug 04, 2000 - Reverse engineering a winprinter
I bought recently a winprinter, Samsung ML-85G, related as
"paperweight" at the Printing-HOWTO. The device communicates
with a non-standard protocol with the M$-Windows driver and
Samsung don't seems to want giving me technical details on
this monster. "

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, steve auvache

"Drivers" on a DOS app? You senile old git.

What model's the printer Kalico? If it's an oldish one it *may* have an
Epson control code emulation mode. Or not...

 

Nigel Eaton wrote

I missed that bit.

So you got something right finally, big fucking deal.

 

Mark Olson wrote

Drivers for a a DOS app? What are you wibbling on about?

 

It is possible to write a character mode device driver that passes
its output to the parallel port, that the application can write to
through redirection of the logical LPT1: device.

I have a book that explains how to do it, that I bought in 1990...
back when I used to write apps and the occasional driver in x86
assembler.

"Writing MSDOS Device Drivers" ISBN 0-201-13185-4

As I said, the complexity of doing this would outweigh the cost
of simply buying a printer that does what is required.

Have you ever written an MSDOS device driver?

 

Mark Olson wrote

That is not the story I have heard.

No. The only thing I have ever written in DOS was hardware test
routines and resignation letters. Although I did once port Star Trek
for the Prime to DEC and then on to the SuperBrain. Does that count?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Mark Olson

Not for a printer, no...

 

Nope - Plus net based in Sheffield - or (as I suspect) I am missing
something!

In any event, it is not the drivers (for windows). I need the actual
codes (hex or otherwise) i can feed to the printer to get it to print
from this DOS app.

Epson calls them ESC (escape) codes and they allow for setting things
like borders and page size.

Thanks anyway.
Rob

 

It is not an old one. A new laser one and I have tried all the
'emulation' modes that the cronky old DOS app offers such as LaserJet,
IBM ProPrinter (remember those) and Epson.

I used to run it to an Epson and luckily they supplied the ESC codes
so I could tell the printer what was coming.

Un-luckily, Samsung mention nothing of their equivalent codes,
assuming everyone will be printing via Windoze. But this old app just
keeps on doing exactly what it says on the tin, and exactly what I
need it to do.

Interestingly (and you might remember those old DOS days) it has not
crashed in 14 years! Upgrade it? Not if I can help it, no more than
I'd replace a bike that had run for 14 years without servicing or
breaking down. Bit like both my bikes with 50k on the clock!

Thanks for your help.
Rob

 

Oh, what joy!

 

No, but I have replaced a bathroom suite for an incontinent old lady.

Not sure which would be easier (or more unpleasant)!!!

Cheers
Rob

 

It's been a little while for me, so I am going to resort to a
wibbleflipdibbledo at this point, as shameful as that may be.

I wrote a good number of little DOS apps in MASM and mucked about
with modifying BIOS code on controller cards, etc. As I worked for
Sperry, we had mostly Sperry PCs (actually made by Mitsubishi) that
used a non-standard RTC chip. So when versions of MSDOS came out that
interrogated the RTC chip on bootup (2.11?) to set the software clock
that ran off the 8253 timer interrupt, it was necessary to write a
custom clock device driver if you wanted to run a generic copy of
MSDOS or PCDOS rather than the Sperry branded MSDOS, which is where
my 'writing MSDOS device drivers' book came in handy. Phew.

There used to be a DOS program that programmed the speaker to do a
fairly decent PWM (AKA 1-bit D->A) rendition of "Help! I'm trapped
in this computer! Help!". I played with DEBUG and sucked the bits
out of the app and stuffed them in some spare space on a floppy disk
controller's ROM. Naturally, when the system BIOS scanned the upper
ROM address space for BIOS extension signatures, it got executed
every time the system booted. It was funny for about the first day,
but the user of said PC got a mite tired of it before long.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Kalico

Ah. I fear you're probably fucked. It's likely the new printer doesn't
even *have* control codes built in any more. Oddly enough, I've been
working with a software developer today, who's in exactly the same boat.
He can't get the 'old' Epson printers any more, and is having to rewrite
parts of his app to use a more up-to-date technique for controlling the
printer. Marvellous thing, progress, innit?

Your best bet, TBH, is probably to try to obtain an old, but still
working, Epson that'll recognise the control codes.

 

I'd take a bathroom suite over an incontinent old lady every time.

(Forgive me, I couldn't help it)

 

Damn and bollocks - i just sold my old one! Cheap cartridges too.

Progress, indeed.

 

At least I now know just how FAST a bog can be swapped out!!!

Nose clips and long rubber gloves the order of the day, as always in
these matters.

 

I'm sure your printer will have a PCL mode. Is it text and line only
output? If so, there's just a few PCL commands to achieve this.
Changing fonts &c can make things a little hairy.

You could reverse engineer, of course, by redirecting output from LPTx
in windows to a file and peeking inside the output. Then again, it's
probably too much effort.

How about boot sales?

 

thinking laterally, do you /really/ need to print in this way?

If it's not something you need to do often, can't you "print" from
your DOS app to a text file, and then read this in (via floppy or
network) to a more modern PC/app and print it out from there?