Win 10 and LPT

Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?

--
Christoph Müller

Christoph Müller wrote:
Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?


There's a two year long thread on the topic here.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...auth=1&page=10

Have you carefully checked Device Manager ?

Maybe it's a printing driver that's missing, and not
a driver for the cable. Check your Device Manager
and make note of what is installed and working
already.

In the example here, is a "USB Printing support". The USB to
parallel port interface only supports one of the four modes,
and that's what "Printing Support" means.

https://okidata-ja.custhelp.com/euf/...Supp_Frame.png

( https://okiprinting-en-gb.custhelp.c...ws.-%28c532%29 )

You're supposed to plug in the cable first, without the
printer connected, and have Windows detect and install
the Printing Support ("USB class") driver.

Paul

Christoph Müller wrote:
Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?


I attached my old HP LaserJet2100 (great printer) on to one of my Linux
servers with a parallel port and share via samba.

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

"Jonathan N. Little" wrote in newsnosvi$1li$1@dont-
email.me:

Christoph Müller wrote:
Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?


I attached my old HP LaserJet2100 (great printer) on to one of my Linux
servers with a parallel port and share via samba.

You can always get a Centronics interface card and use that to talk to your
printer.

This sounds a lot like what happened when Windows NT first came out. Up to
that time, any program/driver could write 'straight to the metal' and
implement any weird or arcane communications it desired. Windows NT
implemented the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) to suport multiple
hardware implementations without having to produce multiple versions of
Windows itself. The big problem for a lot of software was the use of
dongles as licensing tools. Autocad is one that comes to mind. Any software
that used to write straight to the metal had to rewrite its code to use the
HAL to talk to whatever device it needed to communicate with. Made for some
interesting times until the updated versions came out.

Tim wrote:
"Jonathan N. Little" wrote in newsnosvi$1li$1@dont-
email.me:

Christoph Müller wrote:
Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?

I attached my old HP LaserJet2100 (great printer) on to one of my Linux
servers with a parallel port and share via samba.

You can always get a Centronics interface card and use that to talk to your
printer.

This sounds a lot like what happened when Windows NT first came out. Up to
that time, any program/driver could write 'straight to the metal' and
implement any weird or arcane communications it desired. Windows NT
implemented the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) to suport multiple
hardware implementations without having to produce multiple versions of
Windows itself. The big problem for a lot of software was the use of
dongles as licensing tools. Autocad is one that comes to mind. Any software
that used to write straight to the metal had to rewrite its code to use the
HAL to talk to whatever device it needed to communicate with. Made for some
interesting times until the updated versions came out.

First, we need evidence that item is missing from the
USB section of Device Manager. There's no point sending
someone off to buy a PCI Express parallel port card (I have one),
without proof the existing solution really is broken.

Paul

Am 17.09.2018 um 18:58 schrieb 😉 Good Guy 😉:
On 17/09/2018 17:29, Christoph Müller wrote:

Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?

You could P2P network it using Windows7 or Windows 8.1 or if you are
bold enough, dump the old printer and buy a new one.

A similar new one costs about 1000,- ... 2000,- Euro.

The side effect of
getting all the benefits of Windows 10 is to use new devices made
specifically for it.

Which benefit?

How old is your printer

the xy-plotter ist about 30 years old but still OK. It could run
severeal years ins future. The update 1511 for Win 10 de facto destroyed
the plotter.

and how much is it likely to cost you to ask
somebody to take away?Â* I assume Germany doesn't allow dumping of
electronic devices.

The bigger problem is to find a similar plotter that works with Windows 10.

You must know many refugees who can take away that
old printer and use it to further their education and you can buy a new
printer and use it with Windows 10.

This is a expensive idea.

Just for interest sake, has your machine got a LPT port?Â* None of my
machine using Windows 10 have LPT ports so clearly I must be doing
something right here.

I have a USB-Centronics-cable. But it does not work.

--
With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

But it destroys elder investments.

--
Christoph Müller
https://www.astrail.de

Great!
Thank You Paul. Now the plotter is working again.

Christoph Müller

On 9/18/2018 3:51 AM, Christoph Müller wrote:
Am 17.09.2018 um 18:58 schrieb 😉 Good Guy 😉:
On 17/09/2018 17:29, Christoph Müller wrote:

Old printers and plotters often use the LPTx:-interface. Since the
Windows-10-Update 1511 this interface does not work any longer. Even a
USB-Centronics cable does not work. What is to do that the old devices
are working again?

You could P2P network it using Windows7 or Windows 8.1 or if you are
bold enough, dump the old printer and buy a new one.

A similar new one costs about 1000,- ... 2000,- Euro.

The side effect of
getting all the benefits of Windows 10 is to use new devices made
specifically for it.

Which benefit?

How old is your printer

the xy-plotter ist about 30 years old but still OK. It could run
severeal years ins future. The update 1511 for Win 10 de facto destroyed
the plotter.

and how much is it likely to cost you to ask
somebody to take away?Â* I assume Germany doesn't allow dumping of
electronic devices.

The bigger problem is to find a similar plotter that works with Windows 10.

You must know many refugees who can take away that
old printer and use it to further their education and you can buy a new
printer and use it with Windows 10.

This is a expensive idea.

Just for interest sake, has your machine got a LPT port?Â* None of my
machine using Windows 10 have LPT ports so clearly I must be doing
something right here.

I have a USB-Centronics-cable. But it does not work.

--
With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

But it destroys elder investments.

When you go into Windows 10 to install a older printer and you don't see
it on the list of available devices, try clicking on the "Windows
Update" button next to the "Have Disk..." button and wait (sometimes 30
minutes or more) for Microsoft to download the rest of the devices that
they have drivers for but don't want people to know will still work.
Even the old Epson FX-80 dot matrix printer series shows up once Windows
10 finishes downloading all the driers for the older devices.

You might consider trying a virtual copy of what ever the last version
of Windows you had when the plotter still worked for you. You might
also need to manually load the USB-Centronics-cable drivers after
creating the virtual Windows before loading the drivers for the plotter.

Nice thing is that the two major flavors of Virtual Windows platforms
can be used for free for home use. I use VMware Workstation 14 Player
and have versions of XP on up to even W10 able to run when needed.
True you need an old license for each virtual machine. I built my
initial list from the licenses on my old machines.

The old licensing servers let you install the same key again after 30
days from the last time you used it. Then again I have eliminated the
physical machines those old licenses came from so I only have one copy
of each (and an offline backup). The backup copy of the working Virtual
machine makes it easy to just copy it back onto the working hard drive
if I or a virus corrupt the working version.

Am 18.09.2018 um 17:26 schrieb GlowingBlueMist:
On 9/18/2018 3:51 AM, Christoph Müller wrote:
Am 17.09.2018 um 18:58 schrieb 😉 Good Guy 😉:

With over 950 million devices now running Windows 10, customer
satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

But it destroys elder investments.

When you go into Windows 10 to install a older printer and you don't see
it on the list of available devices, try clicking on the "Windows
Update" button next to the "Have Disk..."

"Never touch a running sytem." Paul gave the right tip:

https://okiprinting-en-gb.custhelp.c...ws.-%28c532%29

Nice thing is that the two major flavors of Virtual Windows platforms
can be used for free for home use.Â* I use VMware Workstation 14 Player
and have versions of XP on up to even W10 able to run when needed.

I have the same. But the plotter is not working any longer with it. The
virtual windows has contact to real Win 10. And it's not very
comfortable to start a virtual machine only to plot one single sheet.

--
Christoph Müller
https://www.astrail.de