Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mbcl!goldman
From: goldman@mbcl.rutgers.edu
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: Printing to a File:  Answer and Question
Message-ID: <380.280196cb@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
Date: 9 Apr 91 14:26:18 GMT
References: <9686@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Followup-To: comp.os.os2.misc
Lines: 58

In article <9686@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, lairdkb@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Kyler Laird) writes:
> Those of you who scan this newsgroup regularly have probably seen my requests
> for help in printing to a file under OS/2.
> 
> Well, I didn't get any.
> 
> But I poked around and found what I had been hoping for all along.  It seems
> that the spooler saves the .SPL files in a format ready to be sent directly
> to the printer.  I had assumed that a more generic format would be used so
> that multiple, different printers could service the same queue and each
> receive the file in their own format.  I was wrong.
> 
> I was wanting to bring DOS up on a machine with a laser printer so I could
> copy a .SPL file to floppy and copy it to the LPT: port of the DOS machine.
> I didn't want to simply run it back through OS/2 since I figured it would
> munge on it again and not give identical results as a DOS machine would.
> 
> It took me awhile, but I finally decided that OS/2 doesn't do any (?)
> reformatting of print output from the DOS compat. box.  So I simply 'type'd
> a .SPL file to LPT1:.  It worked!
> 
> What does this mean to you?
> 
> My original desire was to be able to print to a file which would later be
> picked up by a FAX server on the network.  I'm still thinking of ways to
> embed the FAX number in the .SPL or .SPD files.  I'd like to be able to use
> the COMMENT field.  Regardless, now I can print to a file which is later
> run through an Epson->DCX converter and FAXed.
> 
> Many publishers (me!) resist spending $50K+ on typesetting equipment.  Instead,
> for their final prints they use a service bureau.  These businesses usually
> take Postscript data (from disk or dialup).  Unfortunately, Ventura for OS/2
> doesn't save to Postscript files.  With Ventura for Gem, I could select a
> filename as my output device.  By capturing the .SPL file, I can duplicate
> this function.
> 
> Problem:
> I can't select NONE or any nonexistant physical port (LPT2:, LPT3: - haven't
> wanted to bother with COM?:) for output of the printer driver.  This means
> that I am forced to send to LPT1: after taking the printer off line. 
> 
> If I do select one of these ports, the application using the printer crashes
> with an error.
> 
> Any ideas?

	I thought that you could print to any file under os/2, simply by
inserting that in the list of known ports in the spooler program (eg file.nam).
Is this not true?
		- Adrian
> 
> --kyler
-- 
Adrian Goldman                         |  Internet:  Goldman@MBCL.Rutgers.Edu
Molecular Biology Computing Laboratory |  Bitnet:    Goldman@BioVAX
Waksman Insitute,                      |  Phone:     (908) 932-4864
Rutgers University,                    |  Fax:       (908) 932-5735
Piscataway, NJ 08855 USA               |