NVDI adding printer

[PeterS]

I haven't mucked about with NVDI config for about 20 years, the last time I bought a printer So I'm a bit rusty.

I just tried adding a printer via NVDI INSTPRNT.APP but the new printer does not appear in the COPS nvdi printer control panel.
So I tried adding an extra entry in ASSIGN.SYS (23 ESCP2.SYS), still no new printer in the printer control dialogues or Papyrus.


I had a flick through the manual but I seem to be doing the right thing.
What am I missing ?

[stormy]

I re-installed NVDI to add a printer, doing this worked for me.

[PeterS]

I was hoping to avoid the M$ solution

[wongck]

Seems like printers are less used devices on the Atari so not alot of information online but at least the nvdi doc is available.

I did use Instprn to install the printer and select the new printer as default on the printer.cpx
On papyrus, the new printer is only one selectable even as there are others.
The thing is that NVDI 5 uses a single device id for several printers ( i.e. 21 for PCL.SYS which works for all the HP printers on NVDI).

BTW, did you manually change the assisgn.sys because 23 is canon driver on mine ?

[ThorstenOtto]

So I tried adding an extra entry in ASSIGN.SYS (23 ESCP2.SYS)

IIRC, NVDI has the device number compiled into the driver executables, so you cannot do arbitrary assignments there.

[PeterS]

Printing has always been a problem on Atari and other systems for that matter.

I am using NVDI 5.03 and 21 is the Canon on mine. I wonder if it is determined by the set-up order ? I manually changed it but have reverted to a back-up copy.

It still doesn't show the HP in the printer control panel. I wonder if something is locking whatever file it needs to update ?

[PeterS]

I tried to run the install from floppy but it looks like disc 2 is corrupted.

I also tried to install other printers with the install app.

These installed:

Canon BJC-620 ( the one I used for my BJC-2000)
Canon BJC-4000
Nec P6
Atari Laser
Epson LQ


These did not install:

Lexmark Optra S 1250
Minolta SP 101S
HP Deskjet 600
HP Deskjet 820
HP Laserjet 5L

I wonder if the .SYS files are corrupted ?

bash-4.3# md5sum /c/gemsys/escp2.sys
d4a9d4401c765d4a0758c7890a218887 /c/gemsys/escp2.sys

[ThorstenOtto]

The printer dialog of NVDI writes its settings into the executable, so running md5sum on it might be difficult.

9b82c6c57d8be9590c75263d12caa846 escp2.sys (50629 bytes, version 5.03)
907b87672d3cc3b86edf7ec98494cff8 escp2.sys (49430 bytes, version 5.00)
368cea922eb0a13cfa53e59086eb898d ESCP2.SYS (49407 bytes, Version 5.03, i think this one is from MagicPC)

[PeterS]

The .sys files seem to have the old date and the matching .inf files have today's date so I wondered if the printer installer creates the .inf from the .sys ?

d4a9d4401c765d4a0758c7890a218887 escp2.sys (50629 bytes)
5575c236fa9f5604f936efd3dc3d0d79 escp2.inf (44916 bytes)

[PeterS]

It occurred to me that it could be the NVDI printer control panel.

I booted into TOS (Milan) and opened the cpx. It shows the Canon, Img and metafile driver but it also shows the Probe House pdf driver which is not listed when running Mint.

I also tried to install a HP driver from TOS but it still does not appear.

[wongck]

Oh I don't use Probe House pdf driver with NVDI 5, it does not work.
NVDI 3 & above does not conform to gdos rendering internally.
Only useful for SpeedoGDOS.

[PeterS]

Strange that the pdf driver appears in the cpx under TOS but not under Mint.

[wongck]

it still appears to be selectable inside Papyrus under Mint, so it really looks like some NVDI printer control panel oddity.

[PeterS]

I've tried installing several of the drivers, some install some don't and there isn't an obvious pattern.

f409618dc4d16fe459e8c700cc661836 instprnt.app (18601 bytes)

[PeterS]

It would be good to work out what the Installer is actually trying to do. I may try diffing the drivers before and after installing a printer.

If we had a C decompiler that worked it would be nice. I had hopes for Reko (https://github.com/uxmal/reko) but I've never succeeded in getting it to work.

[PeterS]

When a printer is added, the .INF file is updated, 20 bytes before the name of the printer, to 80hex

I confirmed this with Canon.inf and pcl.inf

So it looks like the inf is modified when I add the HP1200 but it doesn't appear in the control panel.

[PeterS]

SUCCESS !

1. used the InstPrn app to add the HP 1200
2. confirmed that the flag is set in the .INF file
3. text edited assign.sys to enter device 21 PCL.SYS (removing canon.sys)
4. reboot to ensure NVDI loads assign.sys

The HP 1200 is available in the NVDI control panel.

[wongck]

BTW, did you manually change the assisgn.sys because 23 is canon driver on mine ?

LOL... quoting myself.

I did asked if you edited that assign.sys file because the canon.sys was on 23 in my assign.sys file but 21 on yours.
May be NVDI setup did that for you... IDK... so I did not tell you that 21 is pcl.sys on mine.

Now that we know, I would use back the original default assign.sys file from NVDI rather than editing it.

[PeterS]

I don't think using 21 matters too much. There was another issue, someone had mentioned ESCP2 so I mistakenly thought that had the HP 1200 driver in it when it is actually in the PCL.SYS which I had not added to assign.sys

The other problem is that that my NVDI installer disc is corrupt, I am sure I have back-ups somewhere but can't find them.

Also, on the Milan I don't want NDVI to mess-up the video drivers since it doesn't use the NDVI ones so using the instprn app is a better option and assign.sys is just a text file after all (I remember the days of manually hacking it for Timeworks and Timeworks2).

Instprn should really add the correct .sys to assign.sys if it is not present but I don't think it does that.

[wongck]

The other problem is that that my NVDI installer disc is corrupt, I am sure I have back-ups somewhere but can't find them.

That's probably the real cause of all your problems.

Also, on the Milan I don't want NDVI to mess-up the video drivers since it doesn't use the NDVI ones so using the instprn app is a better option and assign.sys is just a text file after all (I remember the days of manually hacking it for Timeworks and Timeworks2).

same here for my CTPCI/Radeon. It's disabled automatically by my AUTO program when it detects that I am using the Radeon.

Instprn should really add the correct .sys to assign.sys if it is not present but I don't think it does that.

Guess it should.