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Chapter 1
- Description of Printfil
This
software allows character based applications to print to any
Windows printer, including USB, network
printers, faxmodems and PDF
writers, even if it is a Dos/Windows
application or a Unix/Linux app. running
on a Windows PC via telnet, without changes to
the original applications.
You can set
your application to print to an ascii file, or you can
have Printfil capturing a parallel port (PRN: and from LPT1: to LPT9:), automatically redirecting your print jobs
to any printer, even to a printer which is
physically connected to the captured port and even if no parallel ports are physically installed on your machine.
Printfil loads at PC
bootup and runs as a background task on the tray area (in
the lower right corner, near the clock). It activates
automatically when it finds something to print.
In
addition, it will allows you to:
- preview printing
- include logos or
other images stored in separate files
- colorize the text
- print A4 landscape
sheets in place of printing on dot-matrix
136-column printers
- print to ANY
printer installed in the Windows Control Panel,
including USB, GDI, Windows-only and Virtual
printers
- send print jobs via
fax (using any third-party fax software which
acts as a printer - eg. Microsoft Fax - or a
multifunction - all-in-one - printer)
- print to networked
printers without having to "NET USE" a
LPT port
- use specialist
Windows fonts (barcodes, for instance) in
addition to normal characters
- export print jobs
in PDF format, with or without user intervention,
with optional encryption and password protection
- send print jobs via
e-mail by using your own e-mail client program,
with or without user intervention
- use a single,
customizable set of escape sequences for ALL
printers, regardless of make, model and emulation
provided (or no emulation at all, as for Virtual
and Windows-only printers)
- print complex jobs
to legacy printers in RAW mode (including
drawings and graphics) without going through the
Windows driver and without changing the original
data flow
- automatically manage an archive of
all the captured jobs in a directory of your
choice
- print your jobs to
multiple printers simultaneously
- easily print PRN files
- and other
interesting features
All
this without changes to your applications.
If you are
developing host based applications (like Unix) to run on
a Windows Terminal Emulator, you can stop battling with
transparent-print characters and different settings for
different printers. All you need is a shared file system
(NFS, SCO-VisionFS, Samba etc. ) to store output for your
print jobs and PRINTFIL.
You can find some
examples of working configurations here: http://www.printfil.com/eexam.htm
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