Printing outside margins from DOS

You have moved from an Ancient OS to another that is very old and no longer supported. You should really change the DOS application to something that runs on a current OS. That ancient software must have been payed for a hundred times and it is time to move on.

Besides that, DOS applications usually have their own printer drivers, and any printer settings have to be set within that application.

Same printer as before or a different printer?  A different printer may not have the same margins as the old one.

Also check your paper sizes.  A4 and 8.5 x 11 (for example) are very similar but not quite the same.  You might not have carried the correct paper size across from Windows 95 to Windows XP.

The fact that changing orientation to landscape made no difference implies the printer is not the problem and you should look at the DOS application. Had anything changed there, apart from the change from 95 to XP?

Hi dbruton \ hdhondt
nothing has been changed in Dos apps. And printing invoice and other bits ok but when printing that might require to reduce font size to cover more columns gives a problem and cutting the remaining column. Even the remaining columns are not printed on the next page instead it just does not print.
from DOS apps when I do screen print then it shows me all the columns.
I am using utility called DOSPrint that maps the Dos based printing to windows printer. And works perfectly.
Before we move to XP they were using Dot Matrix printer.

As I already said, upgrade your software. It is plain stupid to keep on using ancient products for decades after support has ended.. You have had decades to evaluate new products and upgrade!. It is also stupid to keep on using OS's that are no longer supported, as they are vulnerable to malware and hacker attacks. XP has been EOL for over an year now (not to mention Win95). You are just mainly wasting your time trying to keep something that ancient running.

Hi rindi,
what you saying is right but its the customer and not ready to spend money on upgrading accounting software. And we got to try giving the solutions if we can. We got most of the part working fine and just need get the last bit.

You have to educate the customer and tell him that keeping such an ancient piece of software going will cost him much more than upgrading. It is very likely that something is available that will just work practically out of the box.

If you find a work around, that will only be temporary, you need people who know the product in order to be able to troubleshoot, that is a big investment in training for just one client, and if something happens to you or the people you have trained, no one will know what to do. This will end up to be just too costly for everyone. If you fix the printing problem, the customer will think everything is fine and believe he can use this software for another millennium.

Have you tried changing the font or character size within DOSprint?

Does it still work correctly with the dot matrix printer? What model is the current printer?

Hi hdhondt,
we do not have Dot Matrix pritner. I am using Brother MFC-7860DW and tried PCL driver as well.

Hi dbrunton,
I am using DOSPrint - http://www.andtechnologies.com/index.php?q=downloads/free-software
I will try vDOS or DOSPrinter. As already tried yesterday to print on PDF printer using DOSPrint but no luck.

There is an old, tried and true method for printing from DOS directly to the printer.
1) Share the printer on the network; but, make sure you use a short sharename with no spaces.
2) Create a BAT file with:
NET USE LPT1: \\computername\sharename
EXIT
and copy it to the user's STARTUP folder.

You will then be able to set the printing preferences (i.e. default font and/or page width) in XP and have it carry through to the DOS program.  I; though, would kill DOSPRINT from running as it may reinitialize the printer.

I have tried that but then got the DOSPrint and working great but the margin issue causing problem.
I will try that again and see how it helps.
Do you know the difference between Printing using NET USE command and DOSPrint as they both capture and redirect the print to windows printer.

I am not familiar with DOSPrint as I have never needed it or used it. The NET USE method simply redirects the print job when that port is not available or doesn't exist.

NET USE command still cutting those columns from the report.

Hi dbrunton,
DOSPrinter without vDos is doing the job and displaying the full page and able to created PDF. But not taking the Physical printer as a default for some reason Cute PDF writer has taken as a Default. And If I change then it does not print.
I will do some more testing and come back with the final feedback.

With the NET USE command to redirect the printing, I still had to change the defaults under printing preferences and set the printer to use 8 point text on printers which ignored the PCL escape sequence to change to that.

I have used the DOSPrinter of vDOS and it worked nicely and have more options like can print as a PDF as well or another printer.

I must appreciate your help.