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P
RINTING WITH
DOS
There are two ways to print from DOS — within a DOS application or from the DOS com-
mand line. In some cases you may want to save a file in a form that can be copied from DOS
directly to the printer. This process is called
P
RINTING TO FILE
or
P
RINTING TO DISK
.
O
VERVIEW OF SETUP AND PRINTING FROM A
DOS
APPLICATION
You cannot configure DOS once for all applications, like Windows. You have to con-
figure each DOS application individually with a printer driver and port setting
information. Furthermore, you must configure the port once in every DOS session.
You can do this either in the command line (at the prompt) or include a line in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file to do this automatically. See the Port Configuration section.
When you print, the printer driver formats your print job so that the Elite 12 Series
knows whether to use PostScript or PCL.
When you want to configure DOS printing from an application:
1.
Select an emulation mode on the printer’s control panel. When you print, your
print job will be formatted for either PostScript or PCL; set the PS/PCL Sensing
submenu to either PostScript Only, PCL Only, or Auto Switch.
2.
Select a printer driver from within the DOS application. DOS applications typical-
ly give you a choice of printer drivers. Select the Apple LaserWriter II NTX driver
for PostScript printing or the HP LaserJet III driver for PCL printing. If the
LaserWriter II NTX driver isn’t offered by your DOS application, (in decreasing
order of preferance) choose LaserWriter II NT, LaserWriter Plus, or Laserwriter. If
the LaserJet III driver isn’t offered by your DOS application, choose LaserJet II, or
LaserJet.
3.
Check the application’s port settings. We recommend that you select the parallel
ports. If you select the serial port (Elite 12/600 and Elite 1212 only), then the
application’s port settings and the Elite 12 Series control panel RS422 serial port
settings must match.
This DOS application is now ready to print. You can either print the job directly to
the Elite 12 Series or print it to a disk file; later, you can send this file to the printer
directly from DOS.
