Seeking Windows 98 compatible Printer recommednation

[mpchen]

Hi there:
A friend of mine has specialized licensed software running on his old old Windows 98 based PC. Recently his printer just went dead and he is having problem finding a new printer that works with Windows 98. Does anyone know if there is still a Windows 98 compatible printer on sale out there? Only used ones? Not sure if his PC has a USB port but I suppose one can buy a parallel to USB adapter. Any pointer or printer recommendation will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Mike

 

[Wall Street]

I think used would be his best bet.

 

[Cerb]

What kind of printer does it need to be? FI, does it need to be a color inkjet? B&W inkjet? B&W laser? Color laser?

Unfortunately, none of the good doorstops I know of seem to have ever supported any Win9x variant.

You should probably look into using an IPP print server, and a used workhorse parallel printer. Not the simplest solution, but business printers lacking support for modern Windows versions still tend to be supported by print server boxes (each one will have a compatibility list), and tend to keep on working, just needing a little clean and lube every now and then. Something along the lines of an HP Laserjet 3150 or 2100, of which many are cheap now, due to lack of driver support.

For a new printer, most wired network Brothers support IPP, and thus basically any OS, but that still leaves you with a good bit of research to do, because, well, it's Win9x.

If said software needs to keep on working, you really need to find a way to virtualize the machine, ASAP. This is separate from the printing, really, but it won't be long before it will be expensive and difficult to keep the old computer running, too.

 

[C1]

Just noticed this post with amusement. I had never thought about it (probably because I never had to). Have a multi-boot setup (WinXP, WinME, Win98, DOS 6.22). So I booted into Windows 98 (not even SE) and printed out a test page using Win 98's Word Pad. Printed out fine on my laser printer (Samsung ML-1740).

I think you're blow'n smoke.

 

[Cerb]

Just noticed this post with amusement. I had never thought about it (probably because I never had to). Have a multi-boot setup (WinXP, WinME, Win98, DOS 6.22). So I booted into Windows 98 (not even SE) and printed out a test page using Win 98's Word Pad. Printed out fine on my laser printer (Samsung ML-1740).

I think you're blow'n smoke.

Why? You have a printer that specifically lists support for Windows 98. Many don't. Some that did no longer have it for download. For older HPs, FI, you have to pay for a copy of the original disc that came in the box.

One of the biggest problems many of us will have is that we long got rid of any form of Win9x, and good riddance. By the time 2002 rolled around, I would have been irate at any company not quickly supporting XP.

 

[C1]

Hmmmm ........

My system is P4 3.06

Used to do lots of coding in DOS using Quick Basic and dont recall any issues printing code listings on the laser even from DOS. I believe I even recall doing screen captures/prints of the BIOS screens for reference (wasnt even in any OS).

A driver for a specific printer is not always necessary. Generic print drivers are available from manufacturers and your OS disk will have a shitload of prnter drivers available one of which should work as a generic.

Still looks like blow'n smoke

 

[Cerb]

A driver for a specific printer is not always necessary. Generic print drivers are available from manufacturers and your OS disk will have a shitload of prnter drivers available one of which should work as a generic.

The OS disc will only have drivers for printers older than it. Many printers from around 2000+ are host-based, and at the least, HP even went and pulled drivers for 9x after it lost support, and pretty much act like it never existed, unless you hunt down the part # of the CD that came in the original package. Generic printer drivers sometimes work, sometimes don't, IME, and are really annoying when they don't (in that the typical case is showing a printer, but no pages being printed, no errors, jobs complete in the spooler, etc.).

Still looks like blow'n smoke

Still looks to me like somebody who hasn't had to f*** around with different generations of hardware and software. If a printer can be found to support 9x officially, great. Really. Otherwise, network printing reliably decouples the printer, allowing any such printer to work with almost any OS. You can be guaranteed, FI, that any host-based printer w/o a driver will not work, nor will USB printers without drivers, even if they aren't host-based.

You have a 2002 CPU and 2003/4 printer, FI. Try it with a host-based USB-only printer, which were standard for about the last decade--if no official driver exists, it'll usually be a doorstop. That might be a good series printer for the OP to look into, but you could realize that not everything works the same when you have 9 years or more between the SW and HW. Proper network printing is not the simplest solution for old OSes, but it works, and will continue to work, even once the existing hardware dies, which should be any day now (early XP boxes have been dropping like flies around here, the last 2-3 years, and it's been starting to catch up to ~05 boxes, lately).

 

[Mixolydian]

I could be wrong (and I'm sure someone will call me an idiot), but your best bet would be to get a printer that has PostScript capability built-in. They are usually laser printers. PostScript is compatible with virtually every OS since the 1980's.