• Re: How to print entire .txt file

    From micky@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, July 25, 2026 17:02:11
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 25 Jul 2026 10:26:46 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/24 13:40:32, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-24 14:34, micky wrote:
    []
    So the mapping command was
    net use lpt1: \\Laptop-Dell2025\Brother /persistent:yes

    And the print command was
    copy "C:\Data\Jack\Whatsapptest.txt" lpt1

    I was going to say "have you tried with a colon on the end (i. e.
    'LPT1:')", but ...

    No, this kind of command can no longer work. Rather, open the file in

    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to
    be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Well, 4 years ago I used a USB cable to connect and used
    copy filename lpt1 (perhaps with a /b. I don't remember) to
    print to a very nice, fairly large, seeemingly recent printer, and it
    worked fine. It was the printer I found in the room I rented. It might
    have been a laser printer. Yes, I wwent back to my downloads file from
    Spring of 2022, April, and found the owners manual. It was a Samsung
    SCX-4x24 or 4x28. I dowoloaded the manual looking for help, but never installed the software because I was trying not to fill my drive with
    extra stuff, and I just used copy.

    The owners manaul knows about win7 and Server 2008, but doesn't mention anything later.

    I wrote the file in some windows program. I'm not sure the line breaks
    were at the same spot as on the screen but the paragraph breaks were and
    the reult looked fine.

    some editor that shows it complete, then tell it to print choosing what >> > printer to use.

    That's what, in effect, most of this thread has been about :-)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From micky@3:633/10 to All on Saturday, July 25, 2026 20:47:56
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Sat, 18 Jul 2026 13:36:48 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

    I can't get a text file to print completely.

    What editor would force everything to print? win11 Pro, fully updated,
    but I'm pretty sure the problem will be the same in win10. (I'll send
    the file to my win10 computer and try it.)

    For completeness, I'll tell you that the young man(37)'s father and I
    went to the hearing. It wasn't a little room like expected, just a
    window with a glass in between, one of 10 such windows. I only offered
    her the longest one of the chats, the one which claims to be from the
    alleged lawyer he's dealt with.

    She took it and saved it with the file, but said they generally don't do investigation, which turns out to include not just "face-to-face
    investigation" like Jim Rockford did, but also document investigation,
    which means reading what I brought her. She didn't like that it had no
    phone number for the young man in question, even though it had his name.
    She understood that it was whatsapp and that that is the way whatspp
    does it, but she was stuck.

    She wants my personal observation of what he has said and done. I was
    going to present that orally, but I will do it in writing. Which makes
    sense. They want a written record, and they don't make recordings of
    meetings and certainly not transcriptions of them. She gave me a form
    to file. And I'm going to try to get him to tell me more stuff.

    I'm going to try to get them to accept stuff I personally read on his
    phone, which he lent me for 4 days along with its password.

    His psychiatrists would also not write anything, because of
    patient-doctor confidentiality. So his father only had me and himself.
    But alas, even if they change the payee to his father, it will be joint
    with him, and he'll still be able to remove the money. I think his
    father got some bad advice, to think this would be very helpful, and he
    was pretty depressed that this is not going to work

    Going to court and getting him declared incompetent, and that's
    expensive and will antagonize him more. But I think the psychs could be subpoenaed and their confidentiality broken**. Or getting him to see
    the light, is needed.


    **I remember reading years ago when I googled the various kinds of
    confidential relationships -- they are not all 100% -- that medical confidentiality does not exist in a proceeding to declare one
    incompetent. Hey, I thought, that's when I'd want it most. I don't
    care if you tell the world I have diabetes or high blood pressure. I
    don't want you to help them lock me up. If I were in that situation,
    it would keep me from being forthright with a psych. Almost Catch-22.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 09:01:09
    On 7/25/2026 11:51 AM, ....winston wrote:

    Different variables and comments in reference to language and special
    ....
    Notepad, PDF).
    Please try to follow along.

    Um... I could have solved micky's problem
    right away if I was standing next to him/
    her in physical reality. :)

    On 7/19/2026 1:36 AM, micky wrote:

    I can't get a text file to print completely....


    --

    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
    The game is afoot... Meow...

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carlos E. R.@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 15:04:17
    On 2026-07-26 01:05, Maria Sophia wrote:
    Carlos E. R. wrote:
    I just copy paste.

    Tell me two sample links to pages that show both types of text, and I
    will try to copy paste in my way.

    Unicode:
    <https://gist.github.com/jpassaro/bf400b0410810a071a7fb3509ef6c2c3>
    <https://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/n_2000.html>

    Ascii:
    <https://www.columbia.edu/kermit/ascii.html>
    <https://www.asciitable.com/>


    I just copied a chunk of each page into LOwriter, worked fine. Then exported as text, and I will paste it here. use Thunderbird to read it.

    +++----------
    ? Unassigned Digraphs
    Actual Description Vim HTML Hex Dec UTF-8 UTF-16 Category
    Section Latin-1 Supplement
    ˙ NO-BREAK SPACE NS &nbsp; xA0 160 C2 A0 FF FE A0 00 Zs
    ­ INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK !I &iexcl; xA1 161 C2 A1 FF FE A1 00 Po
    › CENT SIGN Ct &cent; xA2 162 C2 A2 FF FE A2 00 Sc


    General Punctuation
    For additional general punctuation characters see also Basic Latin, Latin-1, Supplemental Punctuation and CJK Symbols and Punctuation.
    Spaces
    2000 ˙?˙ En Quad
    ˙ ˙ š 2002˙? en space
    ˙ ˙ ? 0020˙? space
    2001 ˙?˙ Em Quad
    ˙ ˙ = mutton quad
    ˙ ˙ š 2003˙? em space
    ˙ ˙ ? 0020˙? space
    2002 ˙?˙ En Space

    The US ASCII Character Set
    US ASCII, ANSI X3.4-1986 (ISO 646 International Reference Version)
    Codes 0 through 31 and 127 (decimal) are unprintable control characters.
    Code 32 (decimal) is a nonprinting spacing character. Codes 33 through 126 (decimal) are printable graphic characters.
    Legend:
    Char The printed representation of the character, if any
    Dec The decimal code for the character
    Row/Col The decimal row/column representation for the character
    Oct The octal (base 8) code for the character
    Hex The hexadecimal (base 16) code for the character

    Char Dec Col/Row Oct Hex Name and Description

    0 00/00 00 00 NUL (Ctrl-@) NULL
    1 00/01 01 01 SOH (Ctrl-A) START OF HEADING
    2 00/02 02 02 STX (Ctrl-B) START OF TEXT
    3 00/03 03 03 ETX (Ctrl-C) END OF TEXT
    4 00/04 04 04 EOT (Ctrl-D) END OF TRANSMISSION
    5 00/05 05 05 ENQ (Ctrl-E) ENQUIRY
    ASCII Table
    ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Computers can only understand numbers, so an ASCII code is the numerical representation of a character such as 'a' or '@' or an action of some sort. ASCII was developed a long time ago and now the non-printing characters are rarely used for their original purpose. Below is the ASCII character table and this includes descriptions of the first 32 non-printing characters. ASCII was actually designed for use with teletypes and so the descriptions are somewhat obscure. If someone says they want your CV however in ASCII format, all this means is they want 'plain' text with no formatting such as tabs, bold or underscoring - the raw format that any computer can understand. This is usually so they can easily import the file into their own applications without issues. Notepad.exe creates ASCII text, or in MS Word you can save a file as 'text only'

    {The table here got removed, it is a graphic.}

    ----------++-


    If you mean that some places use "quotes" while other sites use
    ?quotes­, I might bother to change to the second type, which is the
    modern style recommendation. Possibly LibreOffice might have macros to
    do this.

    Yup. First you used straight quotes & then curly quotes.
    I know it's a test, but my point is that it's inconsistent.

    Ok, yes.



    Everything nowdays handles Unicode correctly.


    Almost everything.


    USAians :-P

    But the inconsistency will remain if you copy from multiple sources with different punctuation characters.

    I was taught to select a grammatical style and stick to it.
    a. For example, I deplore the Oxford comma.
    b. And I don't use em dashes when a comma would suffice.
    c. And I put my periods (full stops) outside the ending quotes.
    etc.

    Worse, I don't mix curly punctuation with straight punctuation.
    Especially in source code that I write (it confuses programs).

    Right, compilers do not like curly quotes.

    But you see, matters of style is a different thing from straight copy paste not working.

    --
    Cheers,
    Carlos E.R.
    ES??, EU??;

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Frank Slootweg@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 18:22:40
    Carlos E. R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-07-25 17:15, Maria Sophia wrote:
    Carlos E. R. wrote:
    My solution is to run all my copypasta thru a normalizer which makes all >>> the inconsistent text consistent, before I edit the results for posting. >>
    Your problem is of your own creation: you use software that doesn't
    handle unicode.

    I don't have any problem copy pasting stuff from anywhere.

    Hi Carlos,

    I never disagree with a logically sensible statement, and, on the other hand, I often disagree with statements which are illogically phrased.

    Yours is both. :)

    On the one hand, you're completely correct that my "software" doesn't handle Unicode well, so that is certainly a creation of my own doing.

    But, on the other hand, even if the software handled Unicode gracefully, mixing Unicode with ASCII would still make it an inconsistent mess.

    Why would I mix? I only use unicode.

    Well, the 'bottom part' of UTF-8 *is* ASCII, isn't it, so there would
    be no 'mixing'.

    But 'Arlen' is probably implicitly talking about some 'extended ASCII'
    - i.e. *8*-bit, not 7 - character set"the initial company", which is
    probably *not* compatible with UTF-8.

    <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode#Mapping_and_encodings>

    The normalizer solves both problems.

    But back to Paul's issue, what he's talking about is real.
    I was simply confirming that Paul's statements are exactly what I also see.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Frank Slootweg@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 18:28:46
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/25 11:26:46, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    []
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to
    be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Is your "Exactly" because they don't know what to do with plain ASCII,
    or because you are agreeing with the routing suggestion (by which I
    meant USB, wifi, network etc. ports)? I _think_ you meant the former.

    Yes, I mean(t) the former.

    So what _would_ a modern printer do if sent some plain ASCII (including newlines, and perhaps a Ctrl-Z at the end) - assuming the routing via
    USB or whatever was handled?

    As you wrote elsewhere, a modern printer *could* theorically handle a
    plain ASCII input stream, providid it had the logic/processing
    capability do do the neccessary work, especially for laserprinters and
    inkjet printer (which are normally bi-directional).

    But that's theory. In practice, I think they will just fail.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Frank Slootweg@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 18:42:16
    micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 25 Jul 2026 10:26:46 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/24 13:40:32, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-24 14:34, micky wrote:
    []
    So the mapping command was
    net use lpt1: \\Laptop-Dell2025\Brother /persistent:yes

    And the print command was
    copy "C:\Data\Jack\Whatsapptest.txt" lpt1

    I was going to say "have you tried with a colon on the end (i. e.
    'LPT1:')", but ...

    No, this kind of command can no longer work. Rather, open the file in >>
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to
    be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Well, 4 years ago I used a USB cable to connect and used
    copy filename lpt1 (perhaps with a /b. I don't remember) to
    print to a very nice, fairly large, seeemingly recent printer, and it
    worked fine. It was the printer I found in the room I rented. It might
    have been a laser printer. Yes, I wwent back to my downloads file from
    Spring of 2022, April, and found the owners manual. It was a Samsung SCX-4x24 or 4x28. I dowoloaded the manual looking for help, but never installed the software because I was trying not to fill my drive with
    extra stuff, and I just used copy.

    As Google shows (search on "define: lpt1"), LPT1 is the first (hence
    1), *parallel* (i.e. a parallel interface) 'Line Printer'.

    So you must have either used a parallel port or some hardware or
    software which emulates a parallel port.

    For example I used a USB-to-parallel cable (with built-in electronics)
    to connect an old parallel HP LaserJet to a USB port of my laptop. I
    just used that printer with the Windows Printer Spooler, but it might
    have also worked as LPT1.

    The owners manaul knows about win7 and Server 2008, but doesn't mention anything later.

    I wrote the file in some windows program. I'm not sure the line breaks
    were at the same spot as on the screen but the paragraph breaks were and
    the reult looked fine.

    some editor that shows it complete, then tell it to print choosing what >> > printer to use.

    That's what, in effect, most of this thread has been about :-)

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carlos E. R.@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 22:03:35
    On 2026-07-26 20:28, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/25 11:26:46, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    []
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to >>> be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >>> driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Is your "Exactly" because they don't know what to do with plain ASCII,
    or because you are agreeing with the routing suggestion (by which I
    meant USB, wifi, network etc. ports)? I _think_ you meant the former.

    Yes, I mean(t) the former.

    So what _would_ a modern printer do if sent some plain ASCII (including
    newlines, and perhaps a Ctrl-Z at the end) - assuming the routing via
    USB or whatever was handled?

    As you wrote elsewhere, a modern printer *could* theorically handle a plain ASCII input stream, providid it had the logic/processing
    capability do do the neccessary work, especially for laserprinters and
    inkjet printer (which are normally bi-directional).

    But that's theory. In practice, I think they will just fail.

    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1
    aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.



    --
    Cheers,
    Carlos E.R.
    ES??, EU??;

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 16:11:56
    On Sun, 7/26/2026 2:28 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/25 11:26:46, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    []
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to
    be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >>> driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Is your "Exactly" because they don't know what to do with plain ASCII,
    or because you are agreeing with the routing suggestion (by which I
    meant USB, wifi, network etc. ports)? I _think_ you meant the former.

    Yes, I mean(t) the former.

    So what _would_ a modern printer do if sent some plain ASCII (including
    newlines, and perhaps a Ctrl-Z at the end) - assuming the routing via
    USB or whatever was handled?

    As you wrote elsewhere, a modern printer *could* theorically handle a
    plain ASCII input stream, providid it had the logic/processing
    capability do do the neccessary work, especially for laserprinters and
    inkjet printer (which are normally bi-directional).

    But that's theory. In practice, I think they will just fail.


    The situation is relatively simple.

    Popular formats for printers ("standards") will have
    a header with some amount of metadata in it. The same
    way as the first sector of an NTFS partition, has
    the letters "NTFS" in it.

    If a printer buffers the first 1KB characters, and
    finds no "magic" string, then the protocol is RAW. And it prints
    what it sees. Whether it handles ASCII, extended ASCII,
    Unicode, that will vary with the epoch and with what is
    possible.

    This handling can either be in the driver (for "dumb" devices),
    or in the printer.

    For a PDF capable printer, all it has to see is the "PDF"
    at the very beginning of the file.

    *******

    In this example, they are using monochrome laser as their printer,
    and having a problem with a program doing the RAW stream, whereas
    the "micky command" method works with that laser.

    https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/LaserJet-Printing/Send-Raw-Print-Jobs-do-not-print/td-p/6569853

    "With the older "v3 printer model" drivers, 'passthrough' of raw
    (printer-specific) data is achieved with the 'raw print data' solution
    by specifying a datatype of RAW.

    But with the newer (XPS-based) "v4 printer model" drivers,
    'passthrough' appears to require use of a datatype of XPS_PASS.
    "

    And that's the kind of device I'd be trying this on, is a machine that
    is more likely to have a processor inside, and isn't a dumb inkjet.

    The operation may still work, if you write your own code to
    inject into the print spooler, with the right class specified.

    Paul

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Paul@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 16:32:02
    On Sun, 7/26/2026 2:42 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 25 Jul 2026 10:26:46 GMT, Frank Slootweg
    <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/24 13:40:32, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-24 14:34, micky wrote:
    []
    So the mapping command was
    net use lpt1: \\Laptop-Dell2025\Brother /persistent:yes

    And the print command was
    copy "C:\Data\Jack\Whatsapptest.txt" lpt1

    I was going to say "have you tried with a colon on the end (i. e.
    'LPT1:')", but ...

    No, this kind of command can no longer work. Rather, open the file in >>>>
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now
    complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to
    be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >>> driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Well, 4 years ago I used a USB cable to connect and used
    copy filename lpt1 (perhaps with a /b. I don't remember) to
    print to a very nice, fairly large, seeemingly recent printer, and it
    worked fine. It was the printer I found in the room I rented. It might
    have been a laser printer. Yes, I wwent back to my downloads file from
    Spring of 2022, April, and found the owners manual. It was a Samsung
    SCX-4x24 or 4x28. I dowoloaded the manual looking for help, but never
    installed the software because I was trying not to fill my drive with
    extra stuff, and I just used copy.

    As Google shows (search on "define: lpt1"), LPT1 is the first (hence
    1), *parallel* (i.e. a parallel interface) 'Line Printer'.

    So you must have either used a parallel port or some hardware or
    software which emulates a parallel port.

    For example I used a USB-to-parallel cable (with built-in electronics)
    to connect an old parallel HP LaserJet to a USB port of my laptop. I
    just used that printer with the Windows Printer Spooler, but it might
    have also worked as LPT1.

    The owners manaul knows about win7 and Server 2008, but doesn't mention
    anything later.

    I wrote the file in some windows program. I'm not sure the line breaks
    were at the same spot as on the screen but the paragraph breaks were and
    the reult looked fine.

    some editor that shows it complete, then tell it to print choosing what >>>>> printer to use.

    That's what, in effect, most of this thread has been about :-)

    The USB print adapter, only works with printers, and is not a
    general purpose parallel port (four modes). Just in case you were thinking
    that was the case, the hardware is missing the software to do that.
    It supports one specific mode, supported by the class-driver for
    the purpose of printing.

    If you want a real parallel port (different driver), you'll have to work a bit harder
    to get it. Oxford Semiconductor (UK), known here as OxSemi, made a fine
    PCIe chip for the job, with two serial ports, one parallel port, and
    various chip part numbers (where one of the port types could be turned
    off, or both port types were turned on), offered an easy way to have
    a parallel port. I have one, which only does parallel, and it was
    to be used with my FPGA kit and JTAG programming adapter (which plugs
    into a parallel port). OxSemi was "bought and crushed" as a strategy,
    so they're not available any more, and best case, you'd be looking for
    a chip from an Indian fab as a replacement for it. And after COVID
    and tariffs, who knows what plugin card companies still exist. A lot
    of smaller Chinese semi companies (fabless ones) were also wiped out
    by recent events. If you're looking for semiconductors, you'd better
    be an AI Techbro these days. Like, try and find even a decent SATA
    adapter, and the pickings available are pretty weird (lots of stuff
    that isn't full-bandwidth, which I hate).

    As an example of the esoteric, the Meinburg NTP software, now
    has an interface, to use a real parallel port and some signal
    on it, to pick up the 1PPS signal from a GPS. The "normal" interface
    on the GPS, is a serial port at 9600 baud (TX,RX,GND). The 1PPS signal
    is tightly synchronized to the one second pulse determination, and
    going through the parallel port card, is considered to be a "fast path"
    to reaching the driver. And for that, you can't use a USB printer adapter,
    as it doesn't support that mode (and the latency through the print
    adapter would be too high), and you have to dig through your
    junk pile to find a PCIe parallel port (four modes) to plug into your desktop.

    Paul

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From J. P. Gilliver@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 21:32:20
    On 2026/7/26 21:3:35, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    []
    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1
    aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.

    It allows you to print text from anything that can send data to it,
    without needing a driver. Useful if, for example, you've got some text
    you need to print, but have no internet to get a driver, or if the
    manufacturer has gone out of business or stopped (or never started)
    supporting the combination of that printer model and your OS.


    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    "Good artists copy, great artists steal." - Pablo Piacsso

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carlos E. R.@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 22:48:46
    On 2026-07-26 22:32, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/7/26 21:3:35, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    []
    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1
    aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.

    It allows you to print text from anything that can send data to it,
    without needing a driver. Useful if, for example, you've got some text
    you need to print, but have no internet to get a driver, or if the manufacturer has gone out of business or stopped (or never started) supporting the combination of that printer model and your OS.

    If I wanted to print plain text directly from the computer, raw, I would
    not choose a laser, a one page at a time printer. It would be an inkjet
    or a ribbon printer. Even a thermal printer. Anything that can print a
    line at a time. Even better, a char at a time.


    --
    Cheers,
    Carlos E.R.
    ES??, EU??;

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Hank Rogers@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, July 26, 2026 18:02:33
    Paul wrote on 7/26/2026 3:32 PM:
    On Sun, 7/26/2026 2:42 PM, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 25 Jul 2026 10:26:46 GMT, Frank Slootweg
    <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

    J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:
    On 2026/7/24 13:40:32, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-24 14:34, micky wrote:
    []
    So the mapping command was
    net use lpt1: \\Laptop-Dell2025\Brother /persistent:yes

    And the print command was
    copy "C:\Data\Jack\Whatsapptest.txt" lpt1

    I was going to say "have you tried with a colon on the end (i. e.
    'LPT1:')", but ...

    No, this kind of command can no longer work. Rather, open the file in >>>>>
    ... I suspected that was the case. Does it not work because modern
    printers don't know what to do if fed plain ASCII, or because the now >>>>> complex routing is a lot more, well, complex than a parallel (or
    serial!) port used to be? Or both?

    Exactly. A 'modern' (read: last two decades or so) printer expects to >>>> be fed PCL (Printer Command Language) or some such protocol by a printer >>>> driver. The LPT device does not have such a protocol.

    Well, 4 years ago I used a USB cable to connect and used
    copy filename lpt1 (perhaps with a /b. I don't remember) to
    print to a very nice, fairly large, seeemingly recent printer, and it
    worked fine. It was the printer I found in the room I rented. It might
    have been a laser printer. Yes, I wwent back to my downloads file from
    Spring of 2022, April, and found the owners manual. It was a Samsung
    SCX-4x24 or 4x28. I dowoloaded the manual looking for help, but never
    installed the software because I was trying not to fill my drive with
    extra stuff, and I just used copy.

    As Google shows (search on "define: lpt1"), LPT1 is the first (hence
    1), *parallel* (i.e. a parallel interface) 'Line Printer'.

    So you must have either used a parallel port or some hardware or
    software which emulates a parallel port.

    For example I used a USB-to-parallel cable (with built-in electronics)
    to connect an old parallel HP LaserJet to a USB port of my laptop. I
    just used that printer with the Windows Printer Spooler, but it might
    have also worked as LPT1.

    The owners manaul knows about win7 and Server 2008, but doesn't mention >>> anything later.

    I wrote the file in some windows program. I'm not sure the line breaks
    were at the same spot as on the screen but the paragraph breaks were and >>> the reult looked fine.

    some editor that shows it complete, then tell it to print choosing what >>>>>> printer to use.

    That's what, in effect, most of this thread has been about :-)

    The USB print adapter, only works with printers, and is not a
    general purpose parallel port (four modes). Just in case you were thinking that was the case, the hardware is missing the software to do that.
    It supports one specific mode, supported by the class-driver for
    the purpose of printing.

    If you want a real parallel port (different driver), you'll have to work a bit harder
    to get it. Oxford Semiconductor (UK), known here as OxSemi, made a fine
    PCIe chip for the job, with two serial ports, one parallel port, and
    various chip part numbers (where one of the port types could be turned
    off, or both port types were turned on), offered an easy way to have
    a parallel port. I have one, which only does parallel, and it was
    to be used with my FPGA kit and JTAG programming adapter (which plugs
    into a parallel port). OxSemi was "bought and crushed" as a strategy,
    so they're not available any more, and best case, you'd be looking for
    a chip from an Indian fab as a replacement for it. And after COVID
    and tariffs, who knows what plugin card companies still exist. A lot
    of smaller Chinese semi companies (fabless ones) were also wiped out
    by recent events. If you're looking for semiconductors, you'd better
    be an AI Techbro these days. Like, try and find even a decent SATA
    adapter, and the pickings available are pretty weird (lots of stuff
    that isn't full-bandwidth, which I hate).

    As an example of the esoteric, the Meinburg NTP software, now
    has an interface, to use a real parallel port and some signal
    on it, to pick up the 1PPS signal from a GPS. The "normal" interface
    on the GPS, is a serial port at 9600 baud (TX,RX,GND). The 1PPS signal
    is tightly synchronized to the one second pulse determination, and
    going through the parallel port card, is considered to be a "fast path"
    to reaching the driver. And for that, you can't use a USB printer adapter,
    as it doesn't support that mode (and the latency through the print
    adapter would be too high), and you have to dig through your
    junk pile to find a PCIe parallel port (four modes) to plug into your desktop.

    Paul


    Damn, Paul (et al), I never realized how hard it is to print a text
    file. It has always worked for me with any text editor I ever used.
    Shit, I'm just now realizing that I was just lucky all these years, and
    could have had a hell of a time printing anything.

    I guess I am the luckiest person on the planet, but I do give
    condolences to those unable to print. Maybe some day this will be fixed.

    I'll stay tuned. Mary Sophe will probably publish a tutorial giving all
    the details of how we can now print text files.


    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From J. P. Gilliver@3:633/10 to All on Monday, July 27, 2026 14:50:54
    On 2026/7/26 21:48:46, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-26 22:32, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/7/26 21:3:35, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    []
    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1
    aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.

    It allows you to print text from anything that can send data to it,
    without needing a driver. Useful if, for example, you've got some text
    you need to print, but have no internet to get a driver, or if the
    manufacturer has gone out of business or stopped (or never started)
    supporting the combination of that printer model and your OS.

    If I wanted to print plain text directly from the computer, raw, I would
    not choose a laser, a one page at a time printer. It would be an inkjet
    or a ribbon printer. Even a thermal printer. Anything that can print a
    line at a time. Even better, a char at a time.


    I agree. However, if stuck somewhere without access to anything but the
    laser - for example, if you're in a business facility that provides a
    printer, but your laptop/tablet/whatever has no driver for the provided printer. Yes, ideally, you'd prefer a line - or even character - at a
    time printer, especially if you are wanting to type; however, if you had
    the text already in a file ...
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    Old professors don't fade away - they just lose their faculties.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carlos E. R.@3:633/10 to All on Monday, July 27, 2026 20:10:32
    On 2026-07-27 15:50, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/7/26 21:48:46, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-26 22:32, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/7/26 21:3:35, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    []
    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1 >>>> aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.

    It allows you to print text from anything that can send data to it,
    without needing a driver. Useful if, for example, you've got some text
    you need to print, but have no internet to get a driver, or if the
    manufacturer has gone out of business or stopped (or never started)
    supporting the combination of that printer model and your OS.

    If I wanted to print plain text directly from the computer, raw, I would
    not choose a laser, a one page at a time printer. It would be an inkjet
    or a ribbon printer. Even a thermal printer. Anything that can print a
    line at a time. Even better, a char at a time.


    I agree. However, if stuck somewhere without access to anything but the
    laser - for example, if you're in a business facility that provides a printer, but your laptop/tablet/whatever has no driver for the provided printer. Yes, ideally, you'd prefer a line - or even character - at a
    time printer, especially if you are wanting to type; however, if you had
    the text already in a file ...

    Sure. Completeness. :-)


    I just remember that my ribbon and pin printer had a typewriter mode.
    Send a word, the paper would go down an inch, print the word, then go up
    an inch allowing the operator to read the paper. So to fill a form,
    perhaps. I tested the thing, but never actually used it.

    It detected words with a timeout. Stop sending things, it would start
    printing the buffer.

    --
    Cheers,
    Carlos E.R.
    ES??, EU??;

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From micky@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, August 02, 2026 20:42:36
    In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:50:54 +0100, "J. P.
    Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2026/7/26 21:48:46, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    On 2026-07-26 22:32, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/7/26 21:3:35, Carlos E. R. wrote:
    []
    I posted two days ago about this scenario by testing it. My laserjet
    prints text (not ascii) if sent directly to it. It is using the latin-1 >>>> aka 850 codepage, 8 bits.

    It is a modern printer of about 10 years of age.


    Why does it have this feature, no idea, I see no practical use to it.

    It allows you to print text from anything that can send data to it,
    without needing a driver. Useful if, for example, you've got some text
    you need to print, but have no internet to get a driver, or if the
    manufacturer has gone out of business or stopped (or never started)
    supporting the combination of that printer model and your OS.

    If I wanted to print plain text directly from the computer, raw, I would
    not choose a laser, a one page at a time printer. It would be an inkjet
    or a ribbon printer. Even a thermal printer. Anything that can print a
    line at a time. Even better, a char at a time.


    I agree. However, if stuck somewhere without access to anything but the
    laser - for example, if you're in a business facility that provides a >printer, but your laptop/tablet/whatever has no driver for the provided

    That was almost the situation for me 4 years ago. I rented a room in an apartmen twith 2 other guys. The 3rd guy was away, doing student
    teaching, a requirement for his degree. He left behind a laser printer.
    The apartment had no internet but I had a phone with internet and I
    could use mine as a hotspot. But if I didn't have the phone, I'd be in
    the situation you describe. And even with the phone/internet, I didn't
    wan to download the software package and it would not have occurred to
    me to dl just the driver.

    I didt't know that laser printers print one page at a time and I didn't
    pay attention to how it was printing, if I could have told. I printed
    sereval pages, letters for a government office even.

    printer. Yes, ideally, you'd prefer a line - or even character - at a
    time printer, especially if you are wanting to type; however, if you had
    the text already in a file ...

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From micky@3:633/10 to All on Sunday, August 16, 2026 21:19:06
    In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Mon, 20 Jul 2026 18:51:00 +0100, "J. P.
    Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

    On 2026/7/20 18:6:34, micky wrote:
    []
    I read that line a few minutes ago and didn't even notice a problem. The
    sentence made me think about a hex editor that I dl'd and installed a
    couple hours ago.

    (Was it the one I gave you a link to?)

    Sorry it took so long

    It was HxD, I think that's the name. But now I've forgotten if that's
    what you gave me the link to. Someone on a windows newsgroup suggested
    it many years ago, but it wasn't in this computuer until a couple hours
    before I posted.

    Since you've got the thing printed anyway (Windows 10 rules!) the
    problem is "solved", but just out of curiosity, have you had a look at
    the problem file with the hex editor, to see what's in it at the problem >point? I think several of us here would be interested to hear what is there.
    .
    I didn't see anything special. Now I can't even find it to print a
    sample. Sorry.

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.19
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)