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NyQuil Kid
8f The Nyquil Kid
join:2001-01-06
Brick, NJ

NyQuil Kid

Member

[Need Info] DOS Lotus 123 printing question

Hi there:

My apologies in advance for this inquiry - I have a client who insists on using Lotus 123 for DOS. He needs to print landscape and it just stopped working - anyone know about Lotus 123 for DOS and how to accomplish landscape printing?

Thanks.

[8F] The NyQuil Kid

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

3 edits

Blackbird

Premium Member

In the olden days, you ran the 1-2-3 install program and at the initial screen selected "Change Selected Equipment"... this allowed one to access a Change Text Printers selection screen. You then selected for a text printer, and supplied the brand. For compatibility with later-technology printers, selecting HP (OL800 or LaserJet) usually was a good blind choice to make. Depending on the version of 1-2-3, there might not be much listed beyond the old daisy-wheel printer models... in those cases, one selected "Unlisted" and "No Backspace" from the features screen - but support for landscape was sometimes problematic for such cases. After making sure the text printer setup was OK, you then selected Change Graphics Printers and used that to select HP (LaserJetII or Laser Jet+). One then saved the settings changes and exited the install program.

Once 1-2-3 had installed/changed its printer drivers, there were some printing options within 1-2-3 that had to be tweaked via the /Worksheet Gobal Default Printer (/wgdp) command sequence. This is where the printer command string was set up for the particular page settings needed to control the printer, including page orientation. The commands could vary, depending on what printer was being used. A typical command for "current font, landscape orientation" might be \027&l1O (which is backslash, zero, two, seven,'and' symbol, lower-case letter el, one, upper-case letter Oh). Any number of other settings could also be made from within that panel... font, lines/inch, copies to print, etc. When a page print was commanded, 1-2-3 would automatically prefix this settings information in the data sent to the printer.

If things are suddenly not running correctly for landscape print, there could be a problem with the 1-2-3 installed print driver or with one of the printer-command settings within 1-2-3 having become corrupted or erased. One of the habits I got into in the olden days was to simply copy my entire known-good 1-2-3 program file folder into a "safe" folder so that I could simply copy it back over should the settings get trashed. I do this with my Lotus Symphony program (ca. 1985) which I still run under DOSbox in Win7, and Symphony was very similar in many ways to 1-2-3, though not identical. After nearly 30 years, figuring out how to get one of these programs running from scratch can be very challenging... much of the practical information simply isn't out there (such as knowing that the HP Laserjet is the best 1-2-3 printer selection menu choice for modern printers regardless of brands that didn't even exist back then). So... once you get it all running, make a good clean backup copy of the whole 1-2-3 folder for safety's sake - the disk space is almost trivial (my entire Symphony program folder takes up less than 5 Mb)!

Edited to add: There's a very useful page at Okidata: HP Emulation Mode -- Working with Commercial Software that shows how some of this (and a lot more) is done in 1-2-3... I suggest reading it for reference and perspective, even though it applies to an Okidata printer. A question that will need to be answered by your client is whether he wants landscape setting to be a 1-2-3 default, or whether he wants to do that upon demand - and if so, how has he done that in the past?

Msradell
Premium Member
join:2008-12-25
Louisville, KY

Msradell to NyQuil Kid

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Maybe he really needs to move out of the stone age? While I really loved DOS and Lotus 123 and knew them inside and out when they were current, they haven't been current in about 20 years or so! I certainly hope that client realizes that having technical support for that combination is extremely expensive because of this! If not maybe you should consider just having one less customer.

mjhouser
Premium Member
join:2001-10-06

mjhouser to NyQuil Kid

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Does anything print to the printer? Are you able to print anything directly from DOS?

And... have you checked or tried another printer cable?

NyQuil Kid
8f The Nyquil Kid
join:2001-01-06
Brick, NJ

NyQuil Kid

Member

Things are printing - just not in landscape mode. Did L123 use ini files for configuration?

Thanks!

[8F] The NyQuil Kid

mjhouser
Premium Member
join:2001-10-06

mjhouser

Premium Member

I don't remember. What brand & model of printer is being used?

Do have this function? [:] [P]rint [C]onfig [O]rientation

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

1 edit

Blackbird to NyQuil Kid

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said by NyQuil Kid:

...Did L123 use ini files for configuration? ...

Their config files were various kinds of *.cnf files, different-named files for different functions. If one looks inside the file, they are encoded or hexadecimal - not text files. You can find a listing of all the 1-2-3 file types at Lotus 1-2-3 file extensions

Edit: Can you determine what version of 1-2-3 you're dealing with?

Del_Gue
join:2001-10-03
Lancaster, OH

Del_Gue to NyQuil Kid

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Didn't the old 123 have a print preview?
What did that look like?
I believe there was a way to define the print range in the software and perhaps there is a problem with no range being selected when using landscape mode.

mjhouser
Premium Member
join:2001-10-06

mjhouser

Premium Member

WYSIWYG
and you are correct, you define a print range or create a range name prior to printing.
mjhouser

mjhouser to NyQuil Kid

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Some additional reading. HP printers, but HP really went in depth for Lotus 123 users. I think you will find good information there.

Link »h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsu ··· 002_USEN

Please let us know how you are doing with this project... you have sparked interest and we are willing to help.
mjhouser

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Any outcome with your clients printing problem?

NyQuil Kid
8f The Nyquil Kid
join:2001-01-06
Brick, NJ

1 recommendation

NyQuil Kid

Member

Hi there:

Yes, turns out he was using an addon for that Lotus program - thankfully I make image-based backups and I just restored the addon from a recent backup. That appears to have fixed the problem.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
Premium Member
join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

Blackbird

Premium Member

said by NyQuil Kid:

Hi there:

Yes, turns out he was using an addon for that Lotus program ...

Out of curiosity, was the add-on SEEmore or 2DGraph, perhaps?
zach3
Zach
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
Saint Louis, MO

zach3 to NyQuil Kid

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Back in the days when I was using Lotus 123 I used a software program called Sideways that would print a Lotus Spreadsheet sideways.

Here is a link to something I found on Goggle and I hope it works for your client.

»vetusware.com/download/S ··· ?id=5022

He can download it and save it for a rainy day if he has lost the original disk.

NyQuil Kid
8f The Nyquil Kid
join:2001-01-06
Brick, NJ

NyQuil Kid

Member

That's exactly the add-on in question - thanks for the link.
zach3
Zach
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
Saint Louis, MO

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You're Welcome.