We had back in those days a HP deskjet 895cse and that was a great printer. It had drivers for win 3.1/3.11WfW as well as 95,98,me and 2000.

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:14:

that is compatible with DOS

You're going to have to be more specific. Unless you want to print plain text (which would kind of defeat the purpose of having a color inkjet), every DOS program had its own printer drivers. A printer compatible with one DOS program might not be compatible with another.

I should add that there's little to be gained by shunning emulators and virtual machines here.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:31:

We had back in those days a HP deskjet 895cse and that was a great printer. It had drivers for win 3.1/3.11WfW as well as 95,98,me and 2000.

Thank you, I'll check it out!

No problem we used that printer for years. I just checked and you can still get ink for it.

Jorpho wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:36:

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:14:

that is compatible with DOS

You're going to have to be more specific. Unless you want to print plain text (which would kind of defeat the purpose of having a color inkjet), every DOS program had its own printer drivers. A printer compatible with one DOS program might not be compatible with another.

I should add that there's little to be gained by shunning emulators and virtual machines here.

I am using a custom built Pentium III PC with MS-DOS 7.1, WFW 3.11, and W98SE. It is set up with a NOS 19" KDS monitor on an old school PC desk from the 1980s. I want to be able to use a color inkjet to print in both color and b&w, using apps in each OS, and to be able to use the print screen button. I remember a game for DOS that would allow you to print maps from the game. I cannot recall the model of printer that I had, back in the day.

HP Deskjet series, anything from mid to late 90's

HP InkJet 841C - That was my first InkJet Printer, I had it attached to a 486 DX-33 running DOS 5 and WIndows 3.1. I wish I still had it.

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:42:

I am using a custom built Pentium III PC with MS-DOS 7.1, WFW 3.11, and W98SE. It is set up with a NOS 19" KDS monitor on an old school PC desk from the 1980s. I want to be able to use a color inkjet to print in both color and b&w, using apps in each OS

I think you missed the point of my post? You can't get a printer that is "compatible with DOS"; you can only get a printer that is compatible with specific DOS software. I remember struggling with Printmaster Plus back in the day because the printer drivers it used were not 100% compatible with my printer and everything would end up stretched over more than one page.

and to be able to use the print screen button.

That does narrow things down a little, but did you use the print screen button much back in the day? It was only useful for a certain narrow range of text-only programs, and even then the output was unpredictable.

You may consider the MS-DOS 6.x GRAPHICS.COM utility, which could indeed be invoked to print screens of graphics – but see for yourself what it supported:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040502124736/ht … lp/graphics.htm

I remember a game for DOS that would allow you to print maps from the game.

Were the maps in text-only, or were they graphical?

Hp 1200 is one of the better printers for old msdos compatibility because it supports many different printer language emulations.

The 2000/2500 may also work but I never had the tech ref to know if they could emulate Epson FX/IBM Proprinter

HP 600 plus series with lpt port. I found tray work well with window and Dos programs over the years. They aren't the fastest but very compatible with old software.

I plan on doing something similar betweem my XT Turbo MSDos/GeoWorks Pro, 286/12 MSDos/Win 3.1 and OS/2 v3 Warp 486 system. Sharing the printer with analog 4 port lpt switch. They are capable of emulating the usual stardard Epson dot matrix printers.

I ran a black and white only HP520 on my clone 286/12 in my barracks room long before my fellow colleges with their 386 up systems had an inkjet printer. Still have it stored in the garage. All major Dos and Win3.x software from around 1990 onwards supported the HP500.

Jorpho wrote on 2021-05-12, 21:52:

I think you missed the point of my post? You can't get a printer that is "compatible with DOS"; you can only get a printer that […]
Show full quote

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-12, 19:42:

I am using a custom built Pentium III PC with MS-DOS 7.1, WFW 3.11, and W98SE. It is set up with a NOS 19" KDS monitor on an old school PC desk from the 1980s. I want to be able to use a color inkjet to print in both color and b&w, using apps in each OS

I think you missed the point of my post? You can't get a printer that is "compatible with DOS"; you can only get a printer that is compatible with specific DOS software. I remember struggling with Printmaster Plus back in the day because the printer drivers it used were not 100% compatible with my printer and everything would end up stretched over more than one page.

and to be able to use the print screen button.

That does narrow things down a little, but did you use the print screen button much back in the day? It was only useful for a certain narrow range of text-only programs, and even then the output was unpredictable.

You may consider the MS-DOS 6.x GRAPHICS.COM utility, which could indeed be invoked to print screens of graphics – but see for yourself what it supported:
https://web.archive.org/web/20040502124736/ht … lp/graphics.htm

I remember a game for DOS that would allow you to print maps from the game.

Were the maps in text-only, or were they graphical?

It is difficult for me to recall too many specifics from back in the day. I remember printing the contents of my autoexec.bat and config.sys files from DOS. I believe that the game that allowed printing of the maps, printed them in ascii. The majority of the printing I did was in Windows 3.1 (probably for school work.) I suppose I am looking for something widely supported by various software. I'll check out the archive link! It does seem that some form of HP will be what I try to find. I want to say I had a small Lexmark that I used to print from DOS and Windows 3.1. Another issue is that I can't remember every app that I had that I printed from.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-12, 23:35:

HP 600 plus series with lpt port. I found tray work well with window and Dos programs over the years. They aren't the fastest but very compatible with old software.

I plan on doing something similar betweem my XT Turbo MSDos/GeoWorks Pro, 286/12 MSDos/Win 3.1 and OS/2 v3 Warp 486 system. Sharing the printer with analog 4 port lpt switch. They are capable of emulating the usual stardard Epson dot matrix printers.

I ran a black and white only HP520 on my clone 286/12 in my barracks room long before my fellow colleges with their 386 up systems had an inkjet printer. Still have it stored in the garage. All major Dos and Win3.x software from around 1990 onwards supported the HP500.

I wonder if I will end up needing an lpt switch. I collect external devices, and I know that some devices lack a pass through port. I currently have a SuperDisk and an RCA CF reader on the parallel port (due to the lack of hot swapping with the 3.5 bay CF/IDE drive I am using as a slave drive.) I considered looking for a dot matrix printer for the 486 I am going to put together. It is interesting that the older I get, the more I miss the old tech and how we did things. The 90's were a magical time for me.

Still have my DeskJet 870Cxi from the late 90s in storage somewhere - seem to remember it supported DOS & Windows upto 98SE / ME but got tripped up by a lack of XP drivers

Folks broad compatibility in old printers was
100% due to the printer supporting multiple other manufacturers printer language

Back in the day through mid 90’s professional printers needed to support specific standard setting printer modes

As an example my Brother hL665 despite having its own language also supported various hp laser and inkjet emulations with full Support for IBM Graphics and Proprinter modes and even supported Epsons dot matrix languages

Old manuals and even on the box would usually list these as a badge of honor that your old software would work since
YOU DID NOT NEED A SPECIAL DRIVER FOR THE PRINTER TO WORK.

LPT or serial is a must for old software to drive printers correctly but sadly knowing what printers had compatibility modes these days is quite a challenge as it’s not a thing anymore.

Though that said there are still brand new dot matrix printers, no modern unit is color though, maybe a high end industrial inkjet would be?

Scythifuge wrote on 2021-05-13, 01:45:

Caluser2000 wrote on 2021-05-12, 23:35:

HP 600 plus series with lpt port. I found tray work well with window and Dos programs over the years. They aren't the fastest but very compatible with old software.

I plan on doing something similar betweem my XT Turbo MSDos/GeoWorks Pro, 286/12 MSDos/Win 3.1 and OS/2 v3 Warp 486 system. Sharing the printer with analog 4 port lpt switch. They are capable of emulating the usual stardard Epson dot matrix printers.

I ran a black and white only HP520 on my clone 286/12 in my barracks room long before my fellow colleges with their 386 up systems had an inkjet printer. Still have it stored in the garage. All major Dos and Win3.x software from around 1990 onwards supported the HP500.

I wonder if I will end up needing an lpt switch. I collect external devices, and I know that some devices lack a pass through port. I currently have a SuperDisk and an RCA CF reader on the parallel port (due to the lack of hot swapping with the 3.5 bay CF/IDE drive I am using as a slave drive.) I considered looking for a dot matrix printer for the 486 I am going to put together. It is interesting that the older I get, the more I miss the old tech and how we did things. The 90's were a magical time for me.

Certainly were especially the pre Win95 era.

My current Zenith 286LP Plus, which is a very compact 286/12 system, has an external 8 speed BackPack CDrom reader daisy chained to an external lpt port LS120 drive. Eventually I'll daisy chain the printer cable to the BackPack CDrom drive. Limit is 4 devices total iirc.

Ideally for just black and white a laser printer is the way to go though so keeping an eye out for one with lpt port. Some usb ones hand an ltp option if you wanted it.

I'd try any HP Deskjet 8xx/9xx with parallel port. If you don't have specific drivers (i.e. an old DOS program), they are PCL printers so they can use older Deskjet drivers or even pose as Laserjet printers.

The mention of HP Deskjet gives me nighmares.

We had a few different ones back in the day and always had trouble with the ink drying out, the heads getting clogged, and them having trouble actually picking up the paper.

Not to mention, the price of ink was/is insane.

I haven't owned an inkjet printer is at least 15 years and I have not missed them one bit.

Laser is where it is at.

But you want small and color so an HP deskjet from that time period is probably your best bet. Have fun with those multi-doller per page printouts unless you print a ton of stuff so the ink doesn't dry out and the heads don't get clogged up.

That's weird in the 10 years we had our 895cse it was a solid reliable printer. And I guess cause of my parents jobs and my school work we never had the ink dry out. And since the heads we're part of the cartridge they were easy to clean if needed which was super rare.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-05-13, 06:46:

...always had trouble with the ink drying out, the heads getting clogged, and them having trouble actually picking up the paper...

I bought a (cheap) laser printer because I was too lazy and let the ink dry out.

This is a problem with all brands and models of inkjet printers... if you don't use them often you risk to have troubles with the heads. OTOH, if you print at least one page every week your printer won't fail (but you'll be spending your ink on power on and power off cleanups). BTW, if you are going to buy a second hand printer keep in mind that every inkjet have a waste tank... and it's a very unfriendly part. If it gets filled, your printer won't print (your printer will be end-of-life). If it gets overfilled, your desktop will be an uncleanable mess. If the printer is overturned, you'll have another uncleanable mess.

The best thing about HP printers is that printer head is on the cartridge, so if your head gets clogged you don't have to spare the entire machine (inkjet heads are very expensive). Also, old series (500, 600, 700, 800 and 900) had very big cartridges, so ink is cheaper not as expensive as their modern counterparts (a black cartridge for a HP Deskjet 520 had 42ml, newer "high capacity" cartridges only has 25ml).

Paper feeding troubles happens because the pick-up rollers gets dirty (recycled paper) or they needs to be replaced. You can clean them using some cleaner fluid, alcohol or gasoline, but if they're worn you'll be buying some time before replacing them.