[SOLVED] Printer Emulator? Read through

[Benaj]

Hi, this is kind of a hard question to look for in google because all i get is PDF printers and this is not exactly what I need.
I have a Humphrey Matrix Frequency Doubling Technology Perimetry, which is an instrument for visual field loss detection. It has a really old software and can print out the results in 3 different ways:
-Directly to the printer through USB
-To a CD burner
-To floppy disk

I need to get the results directly into another computer, so i figured I could directly plug a laptop to the usb and run some kind of printer emulator, is it possible?

 

[13thmonkey]

why can't you print to PDF and have the location on that other PC? What output format would you expect if you were emulating a printer? Would you be expecting an image, a jpg?

 

[punkncat]

Are you meaning to say it has it's own interface and that's all it will connect to, or is it connected to/through a host computer?

 

[Benaj]

Thanks for the quick response

why can't you print to PDF and have the location on that other PC? What output format would you expect if you were emulating a printer? Would you be expecting an image, a jpg?

The FDP device (the weird Eye Machine) is basically a computer, it prints in paper, PDF and jpg. The thing is it doesn't have anything like LAN connection, and as the results would have to be immediately sent to the patient's medical record, I need it to directly save the files into a modern computer that can actually connect to the network.

The only way I can do it right now is by saving as PDF/JPG in a CD/FLOPPY and then copying to the modern computer. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time and labor since we have up to 15 patients a working day. So basically I need the FDP to think it is sending to an actual printer, or maybe find a solution with the CD drive or the floppy disk to make it instantaneous.

Are you meaning to say it has it's own interface and that's all it will connect to, or is it connected to/through a host computer?

It has it's own interface, it has integrated CD drive and floppy, USB for printer and some other old <Mod Edit>.

Needless to say, it is only compatible with 3 specific HP printers.

I'm already figuring the printer emulator idea is kinda messy and elaborate. Maybe there is some kind of floppy-to-usb thing in the market?

 

[howtobeironic]

Yes, can't see anything about the printer emulation either. Thinking about the CD's though. You might either have the system make a copy of files inside every CD when they are plugged, or use a program for it. I have stumbled across some interesting articles and a program for it, have a look: https://www.theguardian.com/technol.../how-can-i-copy-1400-dvds-to-a-new-hard-drive

https://www.perfectautomation.com/solutions/copy-cd-dvd-hard-drive.html

 

[TerryLaze]

Thanks for the quick response

The FDP device (the weird Eye Machine) is basically a computer, it prints in paper, PDF and jpg. The thing is it doesn't have anything like LAN connection, and as the results would have to be immediately sent to the patient's medical record, I need it to directly save the files into a modern computer that can actually connect to the network.

The only way I can do it right now is by saving as PDF/JPG in a CD/FLOPPY and then copying to the modern computer. Unfortunately it takes a lot of time and labor since we have up to 15 patients a working day. So basically I need the FDP to think it is sending to an actual printer, or maybe find a solution with the CD drive or the floppy disk to make it instantaneous.


It has it's own interface, it has integrated CD drive and floppy, USB for printer and some other old <Mod Edit>.

Needless to say, it is only compatible with 3 specific HP printers.

I'm already figuring the printer emulator idea is kinda messy and elaborate. Maybe there is some kind of floppy-to-usb thing in the market?

You can get a crossed/crossover USB cable to make USB the input for an USB output of a different system,the issue is that your software will be sending printer specific data and you would have to find a way to translate this back into a simple picture.
If the software is just streaming the plain picture data then you can probably just use some terminal software to collect the data.

 

[Alabalcho]

Do you have an idea what OS this thingy is running?

If there's a college round you with engineering school: This would be a perfect semester project, even for a group. If it understands only three HP printers, then a device (RPi comes into mind) can be made to emulate this printer, and accept PCL output for relaying over network.