steve@clmqt.marquette.MI.US (Steve Lasich) (06/01/91)
gintera@cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Andrew Ginter) writes: >I had the same problem and solved it by using the "mode" command to >redirect printer output to one of the COM ports. I believe I have it >reconnected to COM1:, which has a modem always attached and always >powered up. I don't know if that makes a difference as to whether or >not the trick works. When I'm using a terminal emulator, ^P is caught >by the emulator and is sent down the line as usual. When I'm not >using an emulator, the modem doesn't seem to mind getting the odd >screenful tossed at it. >Andrew Ginter, 403-220-6320, gintera@cpsc.ucalgary.ca Hmmmm. What happens if you hit PrintScreen while you are using your favorite newsreader? :-) Peter Norton explains in one of his books that DOS uses location 0040:0078 to determine how long it will wait for LPT device timeouts. It turns out that if you put a zero in that memory location, you will never again hang your computer due to accidentally invoking printer output in the absence of a printer or when your printer is turned off. I wrote a 14 byte program that I run from my AUTOEXEC.BAT which twiddles the timeout count number every time I boot up. I just looked at the program in debug. It's called TIMEOUT!.COM. This is what it looks like in debug: MOV BX,0040 MOV DS,BX MOV BX,0078 MOV AH,00 MOV [BX],AH INT 20 All numbers are in hexadecimal. There, boom. For a test I just hit the PrintScreen key and kept on typing. The time-lag as the cursor popped up the the top of the screen and returned to where I was typing was barely noticeable. At work, I am responsible for 65 PCs of which 59 are not connected to printers. I have TIMEOUT!.COM in the autoexec of every one that is not connected to a printer. It solves a lot of problems. I can't keep up the volume of postings in this newsgroup so please cc: any followups to one of the following addresses. ---- Steve Lasich, Microcomputer Lab Coordinator acsl@nmumus.bitnet Northern Michigan University steve@clmqt.marquette.mi.us