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12/15/2012, amended 1/29/13

Windows 7 & Dos

Printing with Legacy (Dos) under Windows XP and greater

Under Windows XP, you can use a dos command that will allow printed output to go to the LPT1 port but actually be printed on any USB printer attached to your computer.  This is done using the following command.

NET  USE  LPT1:   \\Server\Printer_Name   /Persistent:Yes

Note that case is not important and this command is entered at any DOS prompt. Of course, it is assumed that the printer does attach to the USB port and that you are outputting to the LPT1 port for your DOS programs. Locate name of server (your computer) by right-clicking "My Computer" and clicking "Properties". Look at tab called Computer Name.

Alternative Print Method for Windows7 Using a Product called DOS2USB

An Alternative means for printing under Windows 7 would be to purchase a small utility called DOS2USB. This remarkable little utility will allow you to print any report, job ticket, etc in either regular or condensed type to any printer in the plant.  It can be downloaded at DOS2USB.COM and you can try it out before purchasing the product.  It is produced by a company in India but I have purchased two myself and three others for another company and have found that their payment method is extremely secure with no problems at all.  If you decide to use this utility, be sure to change the LPREDIR utility at the Master Menu by hitting *-Utilities followed by 8-Line Print Redirect. Make all the Entry and Exit Control Codes equal to zero.  Leave the 132 and 80 Ptr Col values as default (see sidebar to right of table in program).

General Information using Windows 7

Our Legacy (DOS) programs are able to run under Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit). This comes as a surprise to many since Legacy generally was restricted to 32 bit operating systems (or smaller) previously.

Windows 7-32 bit

The Legacy programs run great under this operating system and no further enhancement or modification of the operating system is required.

Windows 7-32 bit Full Screen

You must usually disable the display that normally is used with Windows7. Then the Generic Display will automatically be used in place of the Win7 Display.  Once that is done, use of the ALT-SHIFT key will generally produce the full screen that many enjoy when using the Professional Estimator. To return to the smaller screen, use ALT-SHIFT again.  An alternative is to choose a screen resolution of 1280x768 and an 8x12 ratio for the Font Size (under settings followed by properties of the Display Properties).

How can you run Legacy in Windows 7-64 bit?

Note: This can only be done if running in single user mode. Do not use for a networked computer.

There is a little trick that can be run with Windows 7 that fools the operating system into thinking it is running an XP machine.  It is called Windows XP Mode using Virtual PC. The only caveat is that the Operating System must be Windows 7 Ultimate or Professional.

Note: If you already own the Professional Version, you can skip this section and review the procedures for installing Windows XP Mode below.

Upgrading to either the Professional or Ultimate from the Basic Version is easy to do by just going to the the following website at http://www.evaluesoftware.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=216&gclid=CNvmooWFoLQCFRQcnAoduFoAYg

and select the upgrade product for either the Basic to Ultimate or the Professional to Ultimate.

Installing Windows XP Mode - Downloads

The Windows XP Mode software can be downloaded by going to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode.

 

Warning: Windows 8 is trouble.  Don’t be fooled into thinking you can download the Windows 8 version and obtain similar results.  Windows 8 will NOT work for these procedures, and you may find that your network fails to work as well. Let's wait until Microsoft works out the bugs for Windows 8 running under a network before thinking about using this operating system.

Scott Thatcher