From: "John Ferrell" To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 10:56 AM Subject: Re: [TECH] Using low-level printer commands to perform=20 unusualprinteroperations > Comments embedded. This is one of those times where revealing my > ignorance leads to enlightenment. > > > On 2/24/2012 8:55 AM, Bob Ammerman wrote: >>> A windows DLL file allows access to a higher security level in the >>> system than programmers are currently accustomed to. >> This is not a true statement. DLL's operate under the security context o= f >> the calling application and have no special privileges. > Thank you, I am close to checking this out. I will prepare to be > disappointed, I want direct hardware access > > > >> If I ever get around to actually doing the DLL route, a Driver would >> seem to be the next step. Not likely by me, too many unknowns. All you >> have to do to get a DLL loaded is to ask nice. >> Drivers are another beast. They are difficult to write but do have the >> ability to do many things that a standared App/DLL cannot do. > Ouch! I hope I am up to the task... John, The good news is that if you are just writing a stream of bytes to a printe= r=20 you can do it without worrying about direct hardware access. The technique= =20 involved is independent of the physical interface of the printer (USB,=20 Serial, Parallel, or even a network printer). To use the printer directly without involving Windows drivers you simply us= e=20 the Windows spooler API. One of my earlier replies in this thread contains = a=20 relevant link. -- Bob Ammerman RAm Systems --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .