Acars to Printer
Wed, 2010-02-24 05:59 — Anonymous
So, i know you have been asked this before, I would like to use my little mini usb printer for Acars printing. How the heck do i do this?
YC
Wa, Usa
MD-11
Printer use
Hello,
For all kinds of historical reasons, ACARS does not support Windows (USB) printers directly. It only can print to the classical LPT1: port.
The usual workaround is to create in Windows a mapping from your USB printer to a virtual LPT1: port. This is routine and does not need any specific software.
First method: go via Control Panel to your printer, right-click, select Properties, Ports tab. You now should see your printer and the port it is connected to.
Check the Enable Printer Pooling box.
Then (in this order!) select the LPT1 box.
You now should have two ports assigned to the same printer. This works both ways, unlike what you may instinctively assume.
In some cases, you need to fiddle with the timeout options of the printer driver. It may happen that the driver wants to see an explicit form feed, which ACARS cannot generate as it is primarily intended to drive cash register roll printers.
More info on printer pooling: http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/printfromdos.htm
Second method: create a fake network mapping from LPT1 to your printer, typically using the NET USE command. This article may be helpful, also note the remarks about changing the Print Processor to TEXT mode and such: http://geekswithblogs.net/dtotzke/articles/26204.aspx
Jeroen
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