On 2015-05-26 15:21, Felix Miata wrote:
jdd composed on 2015-05-26 14:48 (UTC+0200):
Felix Miata composed:
QPro DOS was released around 20 years ago. It has no print to PS or PDF option. It can only print to a supported "installed" (in the app) printer. The codes embedded in my spreadsheets are for printers that support an Epson printer language, which is nothing like PS or HP.
gs was perfectly able to print to epson needle printer (I did so). If you can run your program (QPro?) in any emulator, it should print also in any linux compatible printer
Only if the printers and/or CUPS and/or Gutenprint are able to translate the text mode output. The Epson printer controls are embedded in the spreadsheet content for printing in text mode, seconds per page, vs. the several minutes per page had they been designed for graphical mode.
I remember this. Old pin printers could print text natively and fast. You sent the letters to the printer, and the machine converted them internally to the correct dot sequence for printing. With special chars that were not printed (esc codes) you could tell the printer to change font size (usually width, not height), and perhaps underline, bold, italics, on some models. This was fast. But all programs had to support the printer language internally. The OS did nothing, except send byte by byte to the printer port, if asked. When Windows 3 came, it changed things. It included printer drivers, we got access to different fonts in pages, plus proportional spacing; but pages were printed as whole page of graphics, which was very slow on these machines. Ink jets then started to be popular because they sped printing considerably, but they were more expensive.
The bigger reason for the thread is the issue of choosing a new MF printer, preferably one natively handling Epson FX/LX/LQ printer control languages. Right now I have no FAX, no copier, and no ability to print anything from Linux.
I suspect there are still models that do it. Banks still use ribbon and pin printers... I think you are not the only one with this requirement. -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" at Telcontar)