Running DOS accounting software in a VM

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revisor
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Joined: 6. Dec 2020, 18:31

Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by revisor »

Buonasera, ho un programma Dos di contabilità con chiave che va preinserita sulla parallela della stampante, (serve per far funzionare il programma). Volendo far girare tale programma su un pc con W10, ho scaricato Oracle VMVirtualBox....ho fatto i settaggi come da video trovato in rete...printfil....configurazione standard.....però VM non si avvia....l'errore che mi da è : RawFile#0 failed to create the raw output file C:\temp\print.txt (VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND).. Come posso risolvere il problema...
Last edited by mpack on 7. Dec 2020, 16:20, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Change title to something meaningful.
mpack
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Re: Oracle VM VirtualBox

Post by mpack »

Good evening, I have a Dos key accounting program that needs to be pre-insert on the parallel of the printer, (it serves to make the program work). Wanting to run such a program on a PC with W10, I downloaded Oracle VMVirtualBox.... I did the settings as shown by video found on the net... printfil.... standard configuration..... however VM does not start.... the error it gives me is : ‎‎RawFile#0 failed to create the raw output file C:\temp\print.txt (VERR_PATH_NOT_FOUND).‎‎ How can I solve the problem...‎
If the translation engine is working for me then I think you have some DOS accounting software that requires a dongle to be attached to the PC parallel port.

I'm sorry, but a virtual machine is not designed to accurately control physical hardware. I see almost zero chance that this will work inside a VM.

I'm also not at all sure what possible relevance the printfil stuff would have. It sounds like you may have found online instructions about printing to a parallel printer. Unfortunately your dongle is not a printer, and it can't be treated like one. The fact that it connects to the parallel port is not important in that regard.

I hate to recommend spending money on something that still may not work, but if it was me I'd be considering installing Windows 10 32bit on my host (32bit Win10 can still run 16bit apps), and then also installing a parallel port on an internal card - it must be a card, not a USB adapter, as that too is a simulation that only really works (sometimes) for printers.
revisor
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Re: Oracle VM VirtualBox

Post by revisor »

Buongiorno....cos'è un dongle?...è un qualcosa che si trova in rete su ecommerce?....sul pc c'è Windows 10 64 bit....Il mio problema non è stampare ma accendere solo la stampante per lavorare col programma...
mpack
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Re: Oracle VM VirtualBox

Post by mpack »

What is a dongle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongle

It's true that I was not sure of the translation, but the first part of your previous post (as translated):
I have a Dos key accounting program that needs to be pre-insert on the parallel of the printer, (it serves to make the program work).
... led me to believe that you might be talking about a dongle. If not then you might try stating the problem in another way, or perhaps someone who speaks your language will explain what you might mean.
mpack
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Re: Oracle VM VirtualBox

Post by mpack »

If your problem is simply, "how can I print from DOS"? Then I don't know of a practical way for a DOS program to use a modern printer. E.g. DOS doesn't have enough memory to image pages for a modern laser or inkjet (full page) printer. Printers back in DOS's day (daisywheels, dot matrix etc) were sent lines of text at a time, not full pages of pixels.

If the application can be made to print to a file then you would only have the problem of moving that text file from the virtual DOS PC to the host PC for printing.

In the latter regard, are you perhaps trying to use third party software (printfil) to redirect VirtualBox parallel port prints to a host printer? Because I don't think that will be a very good solution. Instead you should tell the accounting software to print to a text file and then you transfer the file to a more capable PC for printing. Ideally you would set up shared network folders to make the last part easier, because otherwise DOS has very few options. I believe that FreeDOS has relatively modern network capabilities, so should be able to access shared network folders using that.
revisor
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Re: Running DOS accouting software in a VM

Post by revisor »

...allora riepiloghiamo: il programma che ho in Dos ha una chiave a 25 pin come una porta parallela...infatti si inserisce insieme alla spina parallela della stampante ...prima la chiave e poi la spina di attacco( allego foto); dopo.. per fare girare il programma è necessario che la stampante stia sempre accesa altrimenti, se è spenta, indica l'errore che la stampante è spenta. Quindi , ripeto, la stampante mi serve solo per stare accesa e far girare il programma e non per stampare il cartaceo.Spero di essere stato chiaro.
Last edited by revisor on 7. Dec 2020, 16:24, edited 1 time in total.
mpack
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Re: Running DOS accouting software in a VM

Post by mpack »

Yes, that does seem a little clearer, and it still sounds like a dongle, since I can't think of any other reason to insert a parallel port device between the PC and the printer.

As to keeping the port powered up, VirtualBox has no control over that. I assume you're talking about some power saving mode that the host PC applies, in which case there may be a driver setting (in Device Manager) to disable it. VirtualBox does not control host power management, so if the host sees that the port is not being used to print, then I can see that it might be powered down, disabling the dongle.
revisor
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by revisor »

....no...nessun risparmio energetico....resta accesa solo per far girare il programma avendo una chiave..........il consumo è relativo. Volevo allegare una foto....ma il limite di 128Kb è troppo piccolo.....non riesco a ridimensionare la foto. Altra cosa che non ho scritto è che all'inizio , molti anni fa, quando il programma non girava su Vista il programmatore mi inviò un applicazione(USERPORT.EXE).....digitando in "Esegui" C:\userport.exe c:userport.sys ...non appariva il messaggio di errore "la stampante è spenta"
revisor
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by revisor »

Salve, voglio fare altra prova....ho cambiato stampante, visto che non riuscivo a trovare i drivers, ora però devo trovare anche un applicazione Userport.exe che mi legga la chiave su windows 10, perchè l'applicazione che ho è vecchia...girava su windows Xp.....ne conoscete qualcuna?
mpack
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by mpack »

I should say first that you still have not confirmed that a dongle is involved, which hampers my ability to proceed from that knowledge.

As to userport.exe, I assume you refer to the old tool that allows low level IO port access in protected mode 32bit Windows. I have never used that tool so I can't say whether it would work on Windows 10 32bit, though I think it is worth trying. I'm much more sure that it will not work in 64bit Windows 10.
revisor
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by revisor »

...infatti la versione che ho di windows è la 10 a 64 bit. Per quanto riguarda il dongle non saprei dove trovarlo e quindi ho abbandonato questa possibilità, ma, visto che neanche con userport potrò fare niente per il problema 64 bit...a questo punto devo rinunciare a far funzionare questo programma Dos e mi dispiace tanto perchè è un ottimo programma
Lasersam
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by Lasersam »

Hi:

My apologies if this had been solved or retired ;-), but I have a similar issue of running a Win98 CAD program that requires a security dongle attached to the standard parallel port. These have either a PROM or PLD inside that needs to return the correct value(s) for the program to function.

The question is whether virtualbox has support for these. I have not been able to get DOSBOX/DOSBOX-X to recognize the dongle.

Thanks,

--- sam
AndyCot
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by AndyCot »

W.r.t. DosBox the original is for games and does not support I/O hardware very well and if you look a the forums the maintainers over the years have not accepted changes that fix serial port, parallel port or printer etc fixes.

Other versions of DosBox like DosBox -x and DosBox staging do accept changes to fix hardware issues that are unrelated to games and as such have you tried either of the following:
dosbox-x-win64-0.83.19-setup.exe
dosbox-staging-windows-x64-v0.77.1.zip

I have used Dosbox Daum (https://github.com/ykhwong/dosbox-svn-daum/releases) version and then DosBox-X to get a DOS parallel port JTAG debugger working under Windows a while ago (5+ years ago). I have used DosBox-X for serial port work ealier this year.

As for Virtualbox I have no Idea.
mpack
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Re: Running DOS accounting software in a VM

Post by mpack »

Lasersam wrote:These have either a PROM or PLD inside that needs to return the correct value(s) for the program to function.
...
The question is whether virtualbox has support for these.
VirtualBox has support for a virtual LPT port that can be mapped to a host LPT port. The mapping is at a relatively low level, i.e. no assumption of a data stream, it should be possible to use it for I/O. In theory, if it doesn't care too much about timing then guest software may be able to access the security key in the dongle.

Otherwise, VirtualBox has no specific support for dongles that I know of. But this would add it to a vast list of USB, serial and network devices that VirtualBox has no need to know the details of: VirtualBox provides the bus, it's up to your software to fill in the details.
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