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Hey all... Haven't been here in awhile. Wow has it been almost 2 years since I last wrote at these boards? Anyway, does anyone know how to "fully" use the 'Generic / Text only" printer driver in Windows?; Specifically in Win 9x (95/98), but would also like info for XP and 7. I have several 9 and 24-pin impact dotmatrix printers I would like to use. I've set up the Generic driver, but at default settings, i.e. the printer command & font selection folders in the driver are blank. Ok, so it Works nice at default, my printers print at a default with printer's native Pica font (10 cpi). And much faster than the Windows print driver because the Generic driver prints directly with the printers text commands, not graphically as with the Win driver. However, I don't quite know how to use the font selection, etc. and how to fully enter the control codes. I have been able to change to the Elite setting (12cpi) by entering "<ESC>M", but what if I need compressed 17cpi? For compressed font, one of my printers has a control code sequence of hex 27 and 15. But I tried <ESC><15> and it didn't seem to work. With Elite I was able to type in the M after ESC, but with hex 15, there is no symbol for that. I checked the info in the balloons (help info using rightclick mouse) and it says to enter codes in decimal, but it didn't give any examples. The Font selection folder under Generic's properties has lines to select 10cpi, 12cpi, etc. How do I use this? If I enter the control sequence for 10cpi as <ESC>P and also simultaneously enter the sequence for 12cpi as <ESC>M, how does it know which one to print with if you have both cpi's filled in? Another question is, how can I add several generic drivers to my printer list for the different printers (different settings for same printer) that I have? When I add more than one Generic driver, they all seem to copy each other's commands. For example, I add 2 generic drivers, call them Generic 1 and Generic 2. The first is for one model dotmatrix printer, say a Panasonic, the 2nd one is for say, my Epson. But if I enter control codes in Generic 1 and then look in Generic 2's properties, the same control codes from 1 get copied there. And when I erase them in 2, they also get erased in 1! What am I doing wrong? In the print command folder there is also another place to add different, I forget the name, it' a dropdown selection, but the same thing happens, it gets copied to the other generic driver. I did try this in XP, i.e. added 2 generic printers in my list, and it looks like the control codes don't get copied to each other. So it looks like each Generic printer is unique. However, I never tested them to see if they worked with my printers. In summary... 1. What format do I enter in control code sequences? 2. How can I add more than one generic driver to my 95/98SE printer list with each driver unique for different model printers and doesn't copy each other's codes? 3. As in #2, how can I add generic drivers for the same model printer so that e.g. one driver is to print in Pica and another driver on the list (for same printer model) will print in Elite with Bold and Underline settings? I found more info about the generic print driver at www.frogmorecs.com/arts/using-the-generic-driver/ , but it was very scarce info at best and didn't really do anything for me at all. I did some further Googling and surprisingly there really are no other places I can find any complete guides for this. Anyway, need help and hope I haven't confused anyone, thanks.
