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What kind of printers will work with MS-DOS these days?

Joined
Jun 9, 2016
Messages
22
Location
Seattle, WA, USA
Back in the day I had a Juki daisy wheel printer, and then a little Okidata dot matrix printer. Sadly they both got lost during some hectic times during which I even ended up homeless for a spell.

So, now that I'm having a lot of fun digging out my old MS-DOS software and firing up an ancient laptop and a PC to run DOS on, I'm wondering what kind of printer I should look for that I could hook up to my MS-DOS system.

Do they still make ribbons for the old dot matrix or daisy wheel printers?

I have an HP laser jet printer that I use with my creaky old Windows system, but have no idea if there's a way to use modern printers with MS-DOS.

I'd be grateful for some advice on how I could get a printer hooked up to my DOS laptop. I'm having a lot of fun writing batch files and would like to be able to print out the batch code directly from my laptop. (Now I'm using a "sneaker net": I copy the batch files to a floppy and then walk the floppy over to one of my Windows computers that still has a floppy drive in it, and print it from there.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Dot matrix ribbons are still available though it will require a special order.

If your DOS system is too old to have USB, you will probably need to track down an USB + Parallel port model. Those were mostly withdrawn from the market about 5 years ago. It also needs to emulate a printer your software supports like LaserJet or Epson.

There are USB drivers for DOS which can be made to work in some cases. http://www.georgpotthast.de/usb/ http://bretjohnson.us/

I haven't tried hooking up an Ethernet printer to a DOS system and printing across the network.
 
How creaky and old are those Windows systems? Which LaserJet, and does it still have a 36 pin Centronics type parallel port?

m
 
Laser printers and DOS were a mixed bag. Some had emulation of, say, Epson MX-80 and Diablo 630 built in; others were PCL or Postscript. Generally, if you've got a Postscript or PCL-only printer, you'll need to make sure that the program you're using (e.g. spreadsheet or word processing) has configuration options for laser printers. There were also some PCL utilities, such as Vern Buerg's LJBOOK, which I used extensively back in the day.
 
Higher end laser printers open include PCL, PostScript and Epson emulation. (Check out the Brother printers in particular.)

The only slight challenge will be to connect it; they don't have parallel ports on them anymore. When I need to print in DOS I print to a file and then use "netcat" (http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/mTCP_Netcat.html) to send the file directly from the machine to the printer. If you do not have a network enabled DOS machine then use another machine to facilitate the transfer.
 
A couple years ago I picked up an OKI model B411dn laser printer on eBay pretty cheap. Besides having a Centronics parallel port built-in, it has several emulations: PCL 5e and PCL 6, IBM ProPrinter III XL, and Epson FX. The step-up model 431 also has Postscript. It is a nice, compact printer and works great across the network as well as locally.

The only drawback is that if you print any graphics (say from Windows), you really need the 256 MB SODIMM upgrade to max it out at 320 MB. The stock machine takes a stupid amount of time to print graphics. I picked up an SODIMM on eBay as well for a reasonable price. The OEM parts are priced ridiculously high.

<*> JIm
 
I use an IBM 4029 laser with my DOS and Windows 3.1x systems. this is the printer model I originally bought for my original IBM PC/XT back in the 1980's. It is a workhorse and was the consumer follow-on to the industrial IBM 3012. The IBM 4019/4029 IBM (later Lexmark) works in ASCII mode (parallel port connection of course), and also Postscript Level 1 if you have additional printer memory and the option PCMCIA card (I have a ton of extra ones). It has a very nice set of built-in basic fonts, but also a plethora of additional fonts that can still be had - both soft downloadable and PCMCIA card fonts. I found a near new condition 4029-10 and maxed it out with 9MB or RAM which allows it to run in 600dpi & 10ppm mode, and I also picked up a PS 39 font option circuit adapter add on (it also came with a PCL option as well.) There is a Win 3.1 accelerator driver disk I don't have but would be a nice to have. The nice thing about the IBM 4019 or IBM 4029 is that Windows 3.1 includes drivers as part of the OS install disks and most apps dating all the way back to the 80's came with support for the IBM 4019 and IBM 4029. You have to keep your eye out for one (they are rare but not impossible to find) and might have to get a new toner cartridge which are still readily available and last forever. I've seen these printers show up for as little as $50 and as much as $500 - no reason/rhyme. The nice thing is that they were designed to have what IBM called CRUs - customer replaceable units; every component in the printer can be fairly easily replaced by the end user and I've found lot of parts for these old gems. If you see one in decent condition at a good price, don't hesitate.

Regards,
Mike
 
Generally I've found if it has a parallel cable, it'll work in DOS. Although for graphics it'll need some emulation mode that the program your using has support for (as mentioned already).

For my old DOS machines I use a HP Deskjet Plus from 1989, you can still buy the ink cartridges/heads new or recycled. Mine still prints like new, despite being used by a home business right through the 90's.
 
Thanks to all of you for your informative replies. I suffered a temporary health setback a few days after I posted my query, and was sidelined for a few days.

Right now I only need to print text files, and they don't need to look pretty, just legible, so you've given me lots of leads on what I need to be looking for.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Thanks to all of you for your informative replies. I suffered a temporary health setback a few days after I posted my query, and was sidelined for a few days.

Right now I only need to print text files, and they don't need to look pretty, just legible, so you've given me lots of leads on what I need to be looking for.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"

Provided the LaserJet is old enough to have a Parallel Port (36-pin Centronics) it should work fine with DOS...
 
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