I have a label printer that's USB. The software was designed in the 90s and hence before USB. The other two computers in the dept. have the label printers wired up via USB but have COM/serial port emulation.

How do I do this? How do I install a USB printer but ensure it's essentially installed on COM1?

The other computers seem to have a "generic/text" driver for USB001 and the label printer is on COM1. I've tried to match it as best as possible but it doesn't seem to work.

Any ideas?

USB to serial adapter? Providing the printer has a serial port on it

Needs to be the other way round. Printer is USB.

Also the other printers are USB but they've been configured (through windows xp) to pretend to be serial port printers. Hence there must be a way of doing it.

I'm guessing there's a tool on the install CD to do that or some software config in the program.

It could be the cable for the printers does serial emulation, if so you need to do the following

http://www.reslers.de/IBUS/port.html

What's the printer?

And what's the label software?

Zebra LP 2844. The software is Dispens-IT. It basically hijacks the label from the medical file and then converts it into a label and spews it out.

Today I tried:
- uninstalling all printers and reinstalling the Zebra printer
- tried a USB->COM driver, which didn't work (windows doesn't accept it as a printer driver!)
- sharing the printer and then using NET USE LPT4 \\computername\printername (which is in the dispensit's batch file)
- pooling COM1 and USB002 (where the printer was installed)

I'm at a loss at the moment.

The printer is USB. The software will output to COM1. I'm tempted to buy a serial cable but the other two printers are set up via USB and use a virtual COM1 port so there is definitely a way round it.

You could always try the Seagull drivers - they're the ones I always use for installing the LP2844 (because we're a Seagull reseller and I'm the label guy ).

The trick you'll have to pull is getting the DispensIT software (which I've never heard of - sorry ) to understand what to print to. If it's as old as you say, it may well not even understand the Windows printing system and the drivers may be useless. Frankly, I've never had to make virtual COM ports because, well, COM needs to be taken out the back and shot.

Questions

• what format is the label data in?
• does the label have any barcodes on?
• have you tried a COM port re-director?

No idea about format. The software is medical use only and limited to GP surgeries and pharmacies.

Any ideas on suitable com port redirectors? Stuff I came across wanted £££ (or more accurately, $$$).

Not really mate, sorry.

Have you considered buying new label printing software? That way it will work with your printers.

Just thinking around the problem - can this label software output to a PDF?

Could the printer then be set up as a standard USB connection and print to it using the free Adobe Reader instead of the software? So, just use the software to generate a PDF file.

surely as log as there is a pdf printer utility on the PC it appears as a printer to the software anyway.

The other day, I saw an Apple Newton keyboard (which is serial/ADB) set up as a USB keyboard by using an Arduino board as a go between. Is this something you can explore?

It depends on the software. If it is printing directly to a COM port, then I'm guessing it isn't a Windows application or is so old, that it doesn't use the Windows printing subsystem. If it was a windows application that used the Windows printing subsystem, then he could just select another printer.

That would mean no alternate label printing program either. The labels are probably generated directly from the patient database program.

Just did some searching, does this help?

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/1026 ... inter.html