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Text File  |  1988-11-24  |  2KB  |  42 lines
  1.           LPTPORT                                 John Dickinson
  2.           _______________________________________________________
  3.  
  4.           Purpose:  Permits alternate use of two parallel
  5.                     printers (e.g., letter- and draft-quality
  6.                     units) with software that is normally limited
  7.                     to using LPT1:.
  8.  
  9.           Format:   LPTPORT
  10.  
  11.           Remarks:  Certain software, e.g., the PC-DOS Shift-
  12.                     PrtSc routine, does not recognize a command
  13.                     such as
  14.  
  15.                     A>MODE LPT1:=LPT2:
  16.  
  17.                     To use such software with two different
  18.                     printers normally requires changing physical
  19.                     connections.
  20.  
  21.                     LPTPORT.COM provides a software toggle that
  22.                     interchanges the internal DOS I/O addresses
  23.                     of LPT1: and LPT2:.  After entering the
  24.                     LPTPORT command, a second printer, connected
  25.                     to LPT2:, will receive program output
  26.                     nominally directed to LPT1:.  Entering the
  27.                     LPTPORT command a second time restores the
  28.                     original port assignments.
  29.  
  30.                     Notes:
  31.  
  32.                     1.   Certain internal print-spooling
  33.                          programs, such as those supplied with
  34.                          add-on memory board cards, read the port
  35.                          address assignments at boot-up time and
  36.                          do not thereafter look at the low-memory
  37.                          area of DOS to find them.  With such
  38.                          programs you will have to run LPTPORT
  39.                          before the print spoolers are loaded in
  40.                          order to change the effective port
  41.                          assignments.
  42.