LPD-Win is a Line Printer Daemon application for Windows 9x/ME.
This software accepts print requests from hosts that support
LPR printing and redirects them to a local program called by
command line (as Acrobat Reader or GhostScript or PCL file)
or raw to the printer spooler.
This way GDI printers, which cannot be used at UNIX machines
because they dont have a proper emulation and which cannot
be used over network by SAMBA because they require their
GDI driver to be installed at all machines, can now be used.
Because the command line is run at the Windows machine all
features of the GDI driver (colour management, full resolution
and so on) are available. Even if the printer's driver doesn't
allow sharing in the network.
LPD-Win works in the icon bar and can be configured with a
simple user interface. Examples for command lines are included.
New in 1.3.0:
A few admins told me they run LPD-Win at user's workstations
and need to hide it and prevent it from closing by the user. So
LPD-Win runs as system service now (keeps working if the user
logs off) and there are 3 command line parameters:
- open (start with open window to do admin work)
- hide (no icon in taskbar)
- protect (close and setup are disabled, but jobs can be deleted)
An additional admin tool lpdadm.exe allows to send messages to
the running lpd to pop up (even when hidden), un-protect and
write/remove the command line to start lpd into/from the
registry. The path is guessed from existing registry entry,
if any, but can be changed. So the admin may have the lpdadm.exe
at a floppy. The command line switches are documented only in
this README, not in the help file.
New in 1.4.1:
You may change the port LPD-Win is listening on.
Some checks are made to printer names and path.
Add/Remove changed.
New in 1.4.2:
Bug fix (allowed hosts has been forgotten while printer setup).
You can print raw to a local port as LPT1: now.
New in 1.4.3:
LPD-Win will run at WinNT/2k, too, but doesn't register as a service.
You may do this with srvany.exe (see help for instructions).
New in 1.5.0:
A timeout and a connection limit was added.
New in 1.5.3:
Extended logging can be turned on, logfile can be saved.
Network path as printer port can be entered manualy for raw
printing. Bugfix timeout was not always detected.
1.5.4:
Bugfix menu was disabled.
1.5.5:
Fixed process handle leak (thanks to Gerrit Mertens).
Fixed typos (Germans always write recieve instead of receive:-),
added one closefile if connection gets lost (but unsure if it
was really necessary).
1.5.6:
Bugfix - the closefile blocked something.
1.5.7:
The reveres lookup of connecting hosts can be turned of.
Log is rolled over if it gets too long.
1.5.8:
Added a retry function - if binding to the desired port fails
LPD continously retries this every 5 seconds. This could happen
at system start (when the IP stack isn't ready yet) or if
too many sockets are waiting. Added %f,%u, %h and %n for
shell calls and set a proper job name for raw printing
(instead of a forgotten "test doc").

Note: The ini file is an example only. You may have to change
the spool dir to c: if you don't have drive d:.

No installation required - simply unzip and set up path
and commandline as your printer requires.

Freeware, freely distributable.
Gernot Zander <hifi@gmx.de> http://www.kabelmax.de/