TDBS 1.x - Printing on the Caller's Remote Printer

Contact:   eSoft, Inc. (Makers of TBBS)
           15200 E. Girard Ave., Suite 3000
           Aurora, CO  80014
           (303) 699-6565      Voice
           (303) 699-6872      Fax
           (303) 699-8222      BBS
           support@esoft.com   E-Mail

PRINTING ON THE CALLER'S REMOTE PRINTER
---------------------------------------

We are often asked whether it is possible to print on a user's printer from a 
TDBS application.  The answer is no, not directly.

The primary reason is that no standards exist for remote printing.  Without 
standardized ways for a host (such as TBBS/TDBS) to print on a remote printer, 
it's simply not possible to do it in a standardized way.

Some terminal programs offer proprietary commands to enable and disable 
printer echo, and these can be used in closed environments in some cases to
allow remote printing.  But where this exists, it would tie your users to a 
particular brand of terminal software exclusively.

Most TDBS programmers work around this problem by simply displaying to the 
user a prompt in their program similar to this:

        "To print, enable print capture or echo in your software, and
         press any key to begin."

Then the data is simply displayed to the screen normally, but formatted for 
printer output.  Afterward, the prompt is displayed similar to this:

        "Turn off your print capture or echo now, and press a key."

Although this is a crude interface method for remote printing, it is the best 
that technology current provides us.

- END -
TDBS0004
Rev. 10/93

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
to distribute this file in its entirety, without modification, to any
interested party.  Any other use requires the written permission of
eSoft, Inc.

IMPORTANT:  The information herein is subject to change without notice.
Please call or write to confirm factual information of importance to you
or your organization.
