How to print from DosBox

How do I configure Printfil to capture DosBox print jobs ?

DOSBOX is a DOS emulator, freely available at http://www.dosbox.com - Some Customers do use it to run their DOS programs; mainly on 64 bit Windows systems (that cannot run 16 bit software, like DOS, natively).

How to configure Printfil to capture DOS print jobs run inside DosBox depends mainly by how the DOS program itself produces those jobs:

1. The DOS program "prints to file" itself.
2. The DOS program prints to LPT1: , LPT2: or LPT3:

1) The DOS program "prints to file" itself

In this case you just have to point Printfil to the very same file name produced by the DOS program.

You can do it by inserting that file name in the "File to check" field at Configuration -> Standard
There's no need to select any LPT port to capture in that configuration dialog.

As soon as the DOS program finishes printing, Printfil will capture the job-file and will show it on screen, if Preview is enabled at Configuration -> Standard, or will directly send it to the choosen Windows printer.

2) The DOS program prints to LPT1: , LPT2: or LPT3:

In this case please note that the Standard DosBox build available at the link above does NOT support parallel port emulation, so, print jobs sent by a DOS program to (say) LPT1: in DosBox simply "disappears" and Printfil receives nothing to capture, even if you've selected the LPT1: port at Configuration -> Standard .

There's however a special DosBox build (DosBox MegaBuild) that DOES support parallel port emulation
Printfil 5.13 -5- or newer automatically detects if DosBox MegaBuild is installed on your Windows machine when selecting a LPT port to capture at Configuration -> Standard and configures DosBox accordingly.

So, in order to capture print jobs sent to the LPT1: , LPT2: or LPT3: port by a DOS program within DosBox you just have to:

1. Install the DosBox MegaBuild for Windows available at http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000
2. If you're using a previous Printfil version, upgrade your Printfil copy
3. Go to Configuration -> Standard and select the LPT port you want to capture