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From: jmd@franklin.ee.umr.edu (Jim Dumser)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Device Driver that's a Spooler?
Keywords: device,driver,spooler,print,printer
Message-ID: <1430@umriscc.isc.umr.edu>
Date: 23 Sep 90 21:10:28 GMT
References: <442@modcomp.UUCP> <1990Sep22.052132.19068@uwasa.fi> <6191@uceng.UC.EDU>
Sender: news@umriscc.isc.umr.edu
Organization: University of Missouri - Rolla
Lines: 48

In article <6191@uceng.UC.EDU> schriste@uceng.UC.EDU (Steven V. Christensen) writes:
>ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi LASK) writes:
>
>>In article <442@modcomp.UUCP> kshaffer@modcomp.UUCP (Ken Shaffer) writes:
>>>Is there a PD device driver available that installs a device that
>>>is a spooler?
>>>I wish to modify my config.sys with a statement of the form:
>>>     device=spooler.sys
>
>>Am I on a completely wrong track, but doesn't the standard MsDos PRINT
>>command partly achieve what you are after?
>
>The device drivers get loaded before any programs in the AUTOEXEC.
>DOS PRINT is a TSR, while the spooler would reside in memory
>always. Maybe he wants something not a TSR?.?

Come on guys!  If you read his post, it was obvious what he wants and why he
wants it.  Ken would like a device that works like the Unix command lp/lpr.
It needs to be a device so that he can say something like
	myfilter < myfile > spool
and have it worry about saving the output somewhere, and then actually spool
it to the printer.  You cannot say
	myfilter < myfile > print
or (more correctly)
	myfilter < myfile | print
because print only works with disk files.  With print, you'd have to say
	myfilter < myfile > myfile2
	print myfile2
In this case, it's not terrible.  But, as a device, you could tell your 
wordprocessor that your printer is attached to port 'spool' and all your
printer output would be spooled correctly.  Try that with print!  Some
wp's have an option to print to a file, but many times all the special
formatting escapes get stripped out using a 'print to file' option.  Besides
that (even if it leaves all the codes in), you have to exit your wp, and
invoke print directly.  

Sorry, Ken, I don't know of anything that would help you.  If anyone else
has any ideas, Ken and I would like to hear them.

Jim

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