Windows Printers
Like all other versions of A-Shell, A-Shell/Windows uses the PRINTER command line in miame.ini to define the default spooler name. This name, in turn, is usually associated with a configuration file for that printer, called sys:<spoolername>.ini or ashcfg:<spoolername>.pqi, the contents of which are discussed in detail in Printer Configuration in this document. The main aspect of printer configuration to be dealt with at this point is simply to identify the printers which will be used by the application, and to install and configure the necessary drivers so that each workstation can refer to each printer by a common descriptive (i.e. "Invoice Printer #1") or network (i.e. \\prtsrv\invoice1) name. This name will then be associated with the spooler name via the DEVICE statement in the spooler configuration file.
In most cases, it is no longer necessary to manually install a local printer driver for network printers, provided they can be accessed via the \\machine\sharename.
Applications that embed their own ESC sequences into print files for the purpose of controlling printer functions (e.g. condensed print), may need to use a printing mode called "PASSTHROUGH" printing. PASSTHROUGH printing is somewhat unusual in the mainstream world of Windows, and thus many printer drivers (and in some cases the printers themselves) do not support it. If uncertain, you can always use the Generic Text Only printer driver (provided the printer hardware supports it – try the driver Test page to confirm that.) Refer to Printer Configuration for more details about PASSTHROUGH vs. non-PASSTHROUGH printing.
