From: gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net   
      
   On 12/12/21 2:35 AM, muta...@gmail.com wrote:   
   > There is a hardware device that converts RS232 into Wifi.   
      
   Sort of, but not really.   
      
   There is a device, WiFi-232, that speaks to the host computer using   
   RS-232.  But it doesn't /convert/ the RS-232 to WiFi.   
      
   You could easily do the same with any RS-232 (or RS-422 / RS-489 with   
   proper converter) client device and a null modem cable to any other WiFi   
   connected computer.   
      
   The WiFi-232 just does it in a convenient package while pretending to be   
   a standard Hays compatible modem to the host that it's cabled to.   
      
   > But surely the proper solution is to put not just this but also the   
   > printer into the BIOS and abstract the hardware?   
      
   I get the impression that you have never written data to an LPT / COM   
   port directly while it was connected to a printer that understood ASCII   
   text.   
      
   Printer drivers come into play when you want to do fancier things than   
   ASCII text.  Think of printer drivers as a software converter that   
   converts from one thing to another thing that the printer understands.   
   They are also printer (family) specific.   
      
   Also, given the recent Print-Nightmare that Microsoft has been having,   
   do you /really/ want that in the BIOS (er firmware)?  I don't.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Grant. . . .   
   unix || die   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)