Elementary printing question

XP Pro, SP3, current updates, Lenovo T60
I've been into computers since '79 but lost most of it to brain damage.

While trying to figure out how to feed a DOS program's LPT1 output to my wireless (alternatively USB) networked printer I was following some instructions in the XP Help and Support Center and came across something that's obviously simple except that I just don't know what it is actually doing so I don't know how to choose what to click on.

1. The dialog is in "Add Printer Wizard."
2. The "sub-dialog" is "Select a Printer port.
3. The options are:
....A. Use the following port (from pick list)
....B. Create a port
4. Under "A" is the statement, "Note: Most computers use the LPT1 port to communicate with a local printer. (That does not sound to me like something from a modern instruction book.)

5. Under "B" is a pick list:
....EpsonNet Print Port
....Local Port
....LPR Port
....Standard TCP/IP Port

Question: Why am I selecting a port? That is, what _is_ a port? That is, what does a port do (other than generically connect something)?

Another "that is": Am I choosing what is to be printed FROM or to be printed TO? If I do select the LPT1 option from the first pick list, does that mean I am directing LPT1 software output to _whatever_ printer is connected to the system? Is that the solution to how I can direct a DOS LPT1 instruction to my network printer?

Logically it would seem to me that I would need to select _two_ ports - source and destination - to make a connection between them.

When I can't "get" something it is usually because I have missed a super simple basic element somewhere along the line. What super simple piece of this puzzle am I completely missing when I can't even choose between these two options?

 

A port is like a door that lets information in and out of your computer.
You need to open a "door" for your printing information to go to the printer.
Choose option A and the LPT1 port, the one used by most computers.
Does that do it?

 

Actually I need to open a hallway between two different doors, a DOS door and an XP door.

No. Actually I suspect that sends output from an XP application (source) to a parallel port (destination) assuming you have one - which I don't.

What I need is to send output from a DOS LPT1 application (source) to a wireless network port (destination).

I've seen instructions on how to use the command line to set up networking connections to do this, but I can't make that kind of stuff work, because the instructions always assume you know stuff that I don't know.

 

Don't worry about the output/source, it's a print job from the computer no matter how it's created.

To print to a networked printer (wireless or otherwise) the option is Standard TCP/IP port. You'll enter the printer's IP in there.

 

Was that enough of an explanation? If your printer picked up the network it has either a name on the network much like a computer would, and/or a static IP that you can use.

Use the add a printer function in the computer rather than the command line. Go to your Option B and select TCP/IP. Now, depending on the printer, you'll enter it's network name or it's IP (Usually the easiest for me but I use all static IP on my network).

There are a few confusing variations to this depending on the printer. What printer are you networking? Most will print a config sheet that will give you it's network name if you connected it via DHCP.

You are printing a dos job, does your dos application send the print job out to windows for processing? Once you have a network printer in your list and have it named, say WIRELESS, could you print it to the printer WIRELESS? What, exactly, are you printing from? I'm just catching on there were two parts to this. Getting the printer configured in windows, but then also getting dos to print to it, possibly from a command line? I can help with the first one, the second I would have to test depending on what you are printing from.

 

If I could even locate what my printer's IP address or share name was I'd think I was turning into a genius. You can look into the networking sub-forum and see that I'm a networking dummy with questions too basic and simple for people to even reply to. My last two questions were ignored.

No! That's the whole point of this thread. XP has no normal way to convert DOS LPT1 character based output into the kind of signals (vector?) used by today's printers, according to Microsoft and a bunch of other folks I read on the internet. Microsoft's whole purpose is to force people to stop using DOS. (I can almost hear the wheels turning out there in internet land. Why doesn't he just buy a modern program and forget the old DOS routine. If I could find a windows program that would do what the one I wrote in DOS does, I'd do just that. But windows programs are more about kitchen sinks and walking the dog than doing what I need done.)

I use the printer all the time via USB or wireless, but running printer output from my DOS program invariably gives me an error.

Actually only one part if you see the DOS problem as one part. But as I've been saying all along, this is a source/destination issue - the source being DOS and the destination being XP.

I have the first one taken care of. The Epson CD makes it easy to hook up to either wireless or USB.

My whole point here is printing from the DOS program.

There are utilities out there that convert the DOS LPT1 output and send it to your printer via USB or network. I have one on trial right now. It works well if slowly, but I was hoping there was an easy DOS to XP solution so I wouldn't have to buy more software. I think there is not.