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Mensys press release regarding status of WIN32PRN (running Windows printer drivers under OS/2)
Haarlem, The Netherlands
Mensys B.V. is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Vitaliy Tymchyshyn from the Ukraine. With this agreement all rights for the WIN32PRN project and source code are transferred to Mensys.
Mr Tymchyshyn has started the WIN32PRN project in 2002 and worked on making a base to load the Windows printer driver DLL's on OS/2. More information on this project can be found on www.os2warp.be (Please note that this website still needs to be updated and that the downloads no longer work).
Here is a photo of Vitaliy from Warpstock Europe 2002
We however wanted to inform the community that with the transfer of the source code we want to make the project move forward again as soon as possible. This in answer to the frequently seen question in public forums what happened to the WIN32PRN project. Obviously we are committed to provide better printer support on the eComStation platform.
The WIN32PRN project explained:
The WIN32PRN project aims (with the help of the ODIN project) to run Windows printer driver DLL's on OS/2/eComStation. A printer driver for a printer is a different kind of driver than for example a network or videocard driver. Most drivers that control a device run on at kernel level of the operating system, because they require direct hardware access. However a printer driver (as its normally referred to) is basically a set of DLL (programs) from a printer vendor that translate the data stream from the operating system in a data stream the printer of that vendor can understand.
To print you basically need 2 kind of drivers. The first driver does run at kernel level just like a driver for a network card, in this case the driver that sends the data via hardware to your USB, parallel or serial port. This is mostly standardized and normally does not require a vendor specific driver.
The tricky part is the most inkjet printers and low end laser printers normally use a printer language that is non-standard (like for example PCL or postscript). What the printer driver in this case does, is that it sends a data stream to the printer that printer understands. The solution that WIN32PRN provides, is to create a printer object that loads the proper DLL files that normally run on Windows and that output is sent to the printer port under eComStation.
Current status of the project:
For the coming couple of months there is no beta to be expected, we are currently investigating the code and will announce more information as soon as it is appropriate.
Contact:
For any inquiries about this project, please contact
- Mensys B.V., Roderick Klein
- +31-23-5482020, rwkleinDESPAM@DESPAMmenshys.nl
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