Lineprinters Emulator/Virtual

Question

Is there any such thing as a virtual Lineprinter.I mean a software emulation of a printer, that outputs to screen.

I have a project to change the output of print job. My past experience with a lineprinter was tedious rounds of

loop:
   print
   walk down two flights
   check the output
   walk back up two flights
   edit code
got loop:

Anyone who thinks a lineprinter can be installed in a programmers office has not used a LinePrinter!

Googles just turning up printer emulation, as in printers that emulate other printers or virtual printer ports!

Answer 1

In DOS, there is a device called "CON:" which stands for Console.

It outputs to (or from!) the console just like LPT1: outputs to the first line-printer.

Try substituting CON: instead of LPT1: when you specify your printer.

Answer 2

Not exactly sure what you are looking for. If you are simply trying to capture the data and display it, you could simply install a printer on Windows and use somehething like Redmon and Redfile (included in Redmon) to direct the output to a file which could simply be displayed using any application (assuming it is simply text). If the output has PCL control codes you could view using an application like PCLWorks.

Does that help? If you like the idea but Redmon doesn't work for you, I have a similar port monitor that has built in output to file, simply add a comment to this response and I'll find a way to get it to you.

Another good tool for handling lineprinter or other host type output is RPM.