From: nowhere@nevernet.at   
      
   On 12/12/2021 21:58, muta...@gmail.com wrote:   
   > On Monday, December 13, 2021 at 3:48:42 AM UTC+11, wolfgang kern wrote:   
   >   
   >> interesting, but I don't see any RS232 connector on my 12 PCs.   
   >   
   > That's the exact problem. They took away the physical   
   > connector without updating the firmware to redirect it   
   > to something else (USB/Bluetooth/Wifi).   
   >   
   > They did allow hard disks to be redirected to the USB port.   
   >   
   > Anyway, I'm pretty sure you can buy PCs with a serial port,   
   > which is the donkey solution I will probably have to resort   
   > to if no BIOS manufacturer does this internally.   
   >   
   >>> But surely the proper solution is to put not just this but   
   >>> also the printer into the BIOS and abstract the hardware?   
   >   
   >> while some printers may work wireless, which brand and type would you   
   >> insert into your BIOS ?   
   >   
   > I seem to be missing something (Grant asked something   
   > similar). When you do an fopen of PRN, there is no data   
   > sent to the printer, it's just a raw connection. That's all I   
   > expect the BIOS to do. You still need some sort of driver   
   > to send the right format of data via the PRN connection.   
      
   with PRN you probably mean LPT...   
   there once were a BIOS function for this old standard,   
   IIRC it was INT_0x14. But all OS including early DOS used the hardware   
   direct because in old days LPT- and COM-ports were PC/XT&AT standards.   
   meanwhile serial and parallel connectors disappeared almost completely.   
   __   
   wolfgang   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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