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Text File  |  1987-04-20  |  2KB  |  44 lines
  1.           LPTPORT                                 John Dickinson
  2.           Command
  3.           Copyright (c) 1986, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co.
  4.           _______________________________________________________
  5.  
  6.           Purpose:  Permits alternate use of two parallel
  7.                     printers (e.g., letter- and draft-quality
  8.                     units) with software that is normally limited
  9.                     to using LPT1:.
  10.  
  11.           Format:   LPTPORT
  12.  
  13.           Remarks:  Certain software, e.g., the PC-DOS Shift-
  14.                     PrtSc routine, does not recognize a command
  15.                     such as
  16.  
  17.                     A>MODE LPT1:=LPT2:
  18.  
  19.                     To use such software with two different
  20.                     printers normally requires changing physical
  21.                     connections.
  22.  
  23.                     LPTPORT.COM provides a software toggle that
  24.                     interchanges the internal DOS I/O addresses
  25.                     of LPT1: and LPT2:.  After entering the
  26.                     LPTPORT command, a second printer, connected
  27.                     to LPT2:, will receive program output
  28.                     nominally directed to LPT1:.  Entering the
  29.                     LPTPORT command a second time restores the
  30.                     original port assignments.
  31.  
  32.                     Notes:
  33.  
  34.                     1.   Certain internal print-spooling
  35.                          programs, such as those supplied with
  36.                          add-on memory board cards, read the port
  37.                          address assignments at boot-up time and
  38.                          do not thereafter look at the low-memory
  39.                          area of DOS to find them.  With such
  40.                          programs you will have to run LPTPORT
  41.                          before the print spoolers are loaded in
  42.                          order to change the effective port
  43.                          assignments.
  44.