Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.10 $; site trsvax Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!convex!trsvax!uhclem From: uhclem@trsvax Newsgroups: net.micro.trs-80 Subject: Re: Orphaned Response Message-ID: <70700056@trsvax> Date: Thu, 2-Jan-86 10:42:00 EST Article-I.D.: trsvax.70700056 Posted: Thu Jan 2 10:42:00 1986 Date-Received: Tue, 7-Jan-86 03:53:42 EST References: <13850@rochester.UUCP> Lines: 68 Nf-ID: #R:rochester.UUCP:13850:trsvax:70700056:000:3852 Nf-From: trsvax!uhclem Jan 2 09:42:00 1986 /* Written 12:31 pm Dec 17, 1985 by rdin.UUCP!perl in trsvax:net.micro.trs- */ >Maybe UNIX has just spoiled me, but I don't see why the designers of >TRSDOS or MS-DOS couldn't have allowed for printer drivers to be part >of the operating system so that no program would have to know how to >use a certain printer. The communication between the programs and the >printer drivers would be via a standard protocol (ala termcap) and all >you would need is one driver for your printer and all programs, however >obtained, would work with it. Not only would this make things easier ... >Am I out of line here or what? Actually, this was attempted and was abandoned. Unlike IBM products, where there are Epson-alikes and one or two other IBM printers, Tandy has put out many, all of which were not only incompatible with their predecessors but with other printers in the same line. I mean, to date there was the: LP I, LP II, LP III, LP IV, LP V, LP VI, LP VIII (I don't remember a LP VII). And there was DMP 100, 110, 120, 200, 400, 500 (in grey and white), and there was CGP-xxx, Quick-"sparky"-Print. Oh, yes, then you get into the DMP 2100, 2100P, 2200 and the LMP-2150, DWP-110, DWP-410, DW-II, etc. Of course, you have to remember that the LP I was so stupid it barely knew what a carriage return was, and the newer printers are so smart they do carriage returns for you even before you knew you wanted one. And this is the crux of the problem: with over 24 printers that you have sold, plus the ones you feel you should support from other manufacturers, what are you to do? Ship a disk with a 15K printer driver that knows everything? (This was unpopular on 48K and 64K systems.) Or perhaps a disk with 20+ drivers, and you let the customer install the ones he likes, and hope they don't have two different printers hooked up at a time. (In non-linkable systems, you had to leave a hole large enough for the biggest driver you might insert.) Now, If someone could take the heat, you could always drop support of all but the most recent printers so that they would not have to cope with the oldies. (This has happened when it comes to MS-DOS systems, since only IBM compatible printers are IBM compatible.) As far as the old Z80 systems, you have to remember that there were Z80/8080 systems all over the map in the late 70's and early 80's. Vendors wrote a program for several different machines and if the OS's were vastly different, they took matters into their own hands and went directly to the hardware, so if the printer you bought is one that package didn't know about, too bad. These same vendors took their 8080 code, and ported it to 8088/MS-DOS, and some of them still go directly to the hardware. Not as many of them left it this way, but there are still some out there. Unix, does not take kindly to going directly to the hardware, since (A) it is not possible and on some systems, and (B) the Unix purists would lynch anyone that gave a thought to bypassing the system. ('B' Usually wins.) As far as the Z80 systems are concerned, LDOS 5/TRSDOS 6/NEWDOS 2 allows filters to be inserted in the printer path to do translations. I use one since my printer is smarter than many programs I use think, so my filter translates dumb-speak into something a bit more efficient. Yes, it was a big mess, but actually I prefer it since there was some creative and innovative printers designed back then. Now, if they don't work exactly like an Epson or ProPrinter, it will never see the light of a store. "You just don't understand the physics of the situation." - Dr. Who "Thank you, Uh Clem." Frank Durda IV @