Question

How to set up a Parallel card under DOS and Windows

Asked by: supportoranges

equipiment:
Inspiron 530, Lava Parallel-PCI card, HP Laserjet 4P
softweare
WordPerfect 5.1+, Windows XPH

background:
Imagine you are WordPerfect 5.1+ trying to get a print job out.  You expect standard IRQ and address resources.  So you use the bundled HP Laserjet 4P driver unpackaged from WPHP1.ALL file and you proceed to pump out bits to the parallel port.  These fly through the cable and end up at the Laserjet 4P unit where a nicely formatted page prints out.  This is what I would like to happen.

questions:
So I am planning on installing the Parallel card.  Remember my WordPerfect 5.1+ runs in DOS VM in WXP. I've never had to install on of these cards before.

My guess is I must run both the DOS as well as the WIndows drivers. Questions.
#1  The Lava card says it grabs the 'next' IRQ.  How will I know what resources it got?  DOS BIOS?
#2  Will it automatically be available as LPT1
#3  WordPerfect 5.1+ wants IBM standard IRQ and memory addresses. I read in the cards documentation that this can be software configurable.  If I do that will it mess up the Windows use of the card.

You can tell I'm no DOS guru by the way.  Thanks for everyone's help.  The goal is to install this card at customer's location and not have to go back a second time - must be right the first time.


 



This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-11-21 at 05:24:41ID23924881
Tags

Intel, Lava

,

Lava Parallel-PCI, Intel Motherboard, Dell Inspiron 530

Topics

MS DOS

,

Printers by HP

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
13

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. irq
    Hi i have a few questions about irqs 1.how can you find out how many irqs you got left? 2.How many does a computer have? 3.ok i want to install a voodoo2 3d accelerater card but im not sure if i have a spare irq, i have a ext modem, ps/2 mouse, a printer, sound card, graphi...
  2. irqs again
    i have a ext modem, printer, ps/2 mouse ide hard drive ide cd rom, creative sound card and a video card and the only space left for a irq is 9 is this possible am i reading wrong?? if there is no number does that mean a irq number is open please help me
  3. IRQ's
    I have recently installed an ISDN card (BT speedway) and had to remove a network card to do this. I cant reinstall the network card as there is no available IRQ for this. The IRQ's are being used as follows: 00 - system timer 01 - keyboard 02 - programmable interrupt controll...
  4. Changing IRQs
    How can I change IRQs in Windows 2000? I've got conflicts in a Dell Inspiron 7500 with my Xircom integrated Ethernet-Modem card, my integrated ATI Rage mobility Pro and PCI slot in IRQ9.
  5. IRQ ?
    Hi... If you hold down the Pause/break key on the keyboard during the computer start-up before the windows to be loaded ..you can see SOME of the IRQ devices numbers, so from the device manager utility by windows 9x you can get all the IRQ. 1- Why don't they all appear from...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: mikelfritzPosted on 2008-11-21 at 06:00:07ID: 23012811

It looks like the DOS driver will pick up the I/O and IRQ that is automatically set and then call the port LPTX  - I assume LPT1 for you since it is the only parallel card you have.  The board can be set up to use standard address only if it is not behind a PCI-PCI bridge so you may need to play with which slot it goes into if you end up needing a standard address.  I think you would be fine even if the address is not standard - WP5 should just send the data to LPT1 regardless of I/O address.

The manual and DOS driver (has a readme when you download) are here:
http://www.support.lavalink.com/index.php?id=803

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 06:50:22ID: 23013282

Thank you for your response.
in response to:
WP5 should just send the data to LPT1 regardless of I/O address.
i reply:
I'm looking at a WP5.1+ screen which states:
"This menu (Hardware setup of printer) is used to help WP communicate with a non-standard printer port.  To use Print to hardware Port with  non-standard ports, you must obtain the IRQ and Base Address from the computer manual, the expansion board manual or the manufacturer.  Due to hardware
incompatibilities, print to hardware port may not work with all printer ports."

That's their "Print To Hardware Port" option. Then Advanced setup.  
In that screen it defaults to IRQ7 and Base Address 3Bch

I'm worried that the hardware port will be non standard since the card grabs 'the next available address'.

Forgive me if I sound confused.  

By the way, can u tell me if the DOS VM under Windows XP considers the config.sys or is this stuff put into the .PIF?

 

by: mikelfritzPosted on 2008-11-21 at 07:40:24ID: 23013836

I think you are correct.  The manual/DOS driver readme indicate that you can set it to a standard address (not 3BC though - video conflicts) 278 or 378 - I'm not so sure about the IRQ being able to get set low though - That's likely why the card can't be behind a PCI-PCI bridge to go into standard mode.  It looks like the PC has two standard PCI slots and two express slots - it's hard to say if any of them are on the low side bus though.

Can't it just be treated as "standard" printer port without the need to put in I/O and IRQ?  I have not played with WP5 for a while and the only one I have access to remotely is messing up the screen on me.  

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 08:38:04ID: 23014522

I'm thinking about what you are saying.  In the meantime, to run WP5.1+ and perhaps other DOS versions, tell the shortcut to run in Windows mode not Full screen.  (Properties on the dos executable will get you to screen tab).

I learned the hard way that WP5.1+ does not play with new LCD flat screens (it cuts off the buttom).

Not sure if that is your issue with the screen or not.

Anyway, let me just digest your last post and I'll get back to the thread.  Thanks.

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 09:08:43ID: 23014881

You're right.  
The default for print to hardware port is NO.
If you say YES to this, you get advanced options where you can set I/O / IRQ.

I only explored the "print to hardware port" option to try and get an understanding of what is going on.

The feeling I'm getting after speaking with you is that if we say NO to print to hardware port, WordPerfect should print to LPT1 (which I guess is an abstraction of the port).

Therefore, if I can run  C:\>> dir > LPT1 and get output I would be addressing the printer the same way WP5.1+ does.  I guess that's the fear:  How do we know how the WordPerfect HP Laserjet 4P addresses the printer.  Will it just redirect stdout to LPT1 or will it get dirtier and use assembly language and use hard-coded I/O address and IRQ.




 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 09:11:37ID: 23014914

that should have read:

How do we know HOW the WordPerfect HP Laserjet 4P DRIVER addresses the printer??  If it addresses the printer just by name (LPT1) that would be great.  But how do I know it doesn't send bits directly to the I/O address.

 

by: mikelfritzPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:05:43ID: 23015437

I'm not sure.  I think it should just dump to LPT1 via the OS.  The one machine I could check seems to act that way, it has no parallel port - LPT1 is a Novell captured port.  In my case Novell may be doing some magic though...

I would think you could at least get the I/O address to a standard and an intterupt that WP can use.  I would bet it will work regardless of the I/O and IRQ as long as the DOS driver sees the port and you can print from DOS (copy autoexec.bat LPT1).

You may be able to fake it out if it gives you trouble...
Some other info:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158780
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:14:46ID: 23015502

Fascinating; you are very generous sharing the time on this one.  Let me assimilate and get back soon.  I had read the kb but the shaw.ca is extremely interesting.  I will study and get back. Thx

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:37:01ID: 23015695

very exciting i just redirected a network printer to LPT1 and it printed, fer f&*s sake.  very powerful.  i'll test with an actual wpdos5.1+ file next. thks for your patience...

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:52:22ID: 23015829

this is awesome.  i then ran wp.com (i guess that's the dos version) in the same window as the last test and sure as s&t off it went to the windows print queue.  omg it's printing. u r awesome. i have this dos program printing to a Photosmart 2575 and its even readable. (used the HP Laserjet 4P driver which is my customer's situation.)

i should be able to use this solution, and forget about the card.

his current set up is usb-parallel adapter to LaserJet 4P.

if i can share that as \\127.0.0.1\shareprnname   all i have to do is find a way to execute some autoexc.bat in the dosvm which shouldn't be hard.

hats off to  you buddy.  

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:53:22ID: 31519101

u are awesome. if i can get the net use command into some kind of autoexec the customer won't even know there's a workaround going on. thank you!

 

by: supportorangesPosted on 2008-11-21 at 10:56:24ID: 23015862

in the .pif (the shortcut to the executable wp.exe) on the program tab there is room for a batch file. yippee

 

by: mikelfritzPosted on 2008-11-21 at 11:15:47ID: 23016014

Happy to help!  Sometimes it's good to be an "old" guy.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...