Need printer port key for wordstar please help !!

Started by reedspaint, September 23, 2006, 02:53:47 AM

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reedspaint

I need a printer port key to print wordstar. Please let me know if anyone can tell me where to get one.

Thank You

Mike_Newcomb

I do not understand what you mean by a printer port key.

Please can you fully explain, and how you run (e.g. verisions, ws, dos or windows).

I am not aware of anything special needed by ws for printer ports.


reedspaint

I have a wordstar estimating program and when I try to print an estimate over 200 lines I get a message "You must install a software key on your printer port to use the full version of this program" I can't find a key anywhere. Thanks for your help.

Forum Admin

The estimating program must have been copy protected by using a dongle. This is a small unit you connect to the printer port that unlocks full access to the program.
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reedspaint

Yes, that is it exactly. I can't find out who has them for this program. It is a very old program. I can't find who has the rights to the program if there is anyone that does. Is there anything I can do?

Thanks

Forum Admin

Probably not, unless you can find a version of the program that didn't use a dongle, or a patch that removed the need.

What is the program called, and which version? Doing a search may throw up something.
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reedspaint

When I click on the program the 1st screen I get reads:


Wordstar

Wordstar for DOS North American Version 7.0 Rev. A Serial #36158350

copyright (C) 1992 Wordstar International Incorporated
all rights reserved

___________________________________________________

IBM PC or Compatible (includes EGA and Vga)
Draft- Generic: Non-backspacing

___________________________________________________

MailMerge, TelMerge, and MailList copyright (C) 1992
wordstar International Incorperated, All rights reserved

Thesaurus, Speller and Hyphenation Technology Copyright
(C) 1992 Microlytics, UFO Systems, Xerox Corporation
All Rights Reserved


and there is another screen that reads:



(C) Copyright 1983, 1984 Infinite Automata, Inc.

(C) Copyright 1986, Systems Guild, Inc.


I don't know what all this means or it will help with my problem. Please let me know what you think

Thanks Again

Forum Admin

The second screen is probably the bit you need.

From what you've said you're running WordStar from within Windows. Can you tell us the command that your shortcut is running (right-click and select Properties).

Mike
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reedspaint

#8
I'm not sure how to find the comand. I right clicked the shortcut an clicked  properties and under the general tab it reads :

TYPE OF FILE: SHORTCUT TO MS-DOS PROGRAM

DESCRIPTION: WORDSTAR

And under the program tab:

CMD: C:\ws\WS.EXE

WORKING: C:\WS


Thanks

Forum Admin

Not what I was hoping for: I hoped it would be something like: C:\WS\WS.EXE /Mprogname, where progname would be your estimating program.

We need to confirm who wrote or sold the original program and then search for information about them.

Mike
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PGAGA

Thursday 28 September 2006

One of the strengths of WSDos was its ability to have addons.  They were programs created by separate companies which could be integrated seemlessly into WS.

From your description it sounds like you have the shareware or trial version of one, that is limited in how much it will do.  Since the company seems to have vanished, chances of finding it are slim.  Posting on the Compuserve Vintage Computing group is the only place I can think of to find and answer.

The addon also appears to be using a hardware printer port key, which would have been sold with the full package.

If you did have the full addon package and it was working, did you change computers, perhaps leaving a software license file behind?

Also what happens when you print to file instead of a port.

Phil

Forum Admin

How important is it to you to get this program running?

There are dongle monitoring programs on the Web and dongle emulators for use should your dongle break or be lost and you can't wait for a replacement to arrive. You'd only be using these as the registered user of the program of course, and entirely at your own risk.

If you really need to get this program running and can't track down a replacement dongle, you could try one of these tools. I found one site with quite a collection at: http://www.woodmann.com/crackz/Dongles.htm.

Note: I am not recommending this site, or trying to crack the dongle's checks. I also don't know how well the tools work or what security risks they may introduce.

Mike
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reedspaint

I had the 1st version of this program on a old tandy laptop and didn't need a dongle to work it. The old laptop stopped working and I went to newer desk top. I couldn't find anyone who could get me this program. I had a friend who used the newer version of this  program and I had to copy it from him to keep going. I would love to find who has this and buy the whole package from them, but can't find anyone who wrote or sold the program and my friend can't either. He wants to get extra dongles too in case his goes bad and puts him dead in the water.  So I'm just trying to get this program  to work.

Thanks for everyones help and hopefully we can figure this out.

Mike_Newcomb

As Pgaga states it does sound rather like an obscure add-on.

Possibly related to:-

(C) Copyright 1983, 1984 Infinite Automata, Inc.

(C) Copyright 1986, Systems Guild, Inc.

However:-

a) the error message states a *SOFTWARE* key is required.
so one should look for hidden files that have not been copied from previous installations

b) if it was a hardware dongle, almost certainly difficulty will be found accessing if using later versions (I think from W98) of Windows. These do not allow direct access to the printer port for printing, let alone reading back from a dongle connected to it.

c) I would take the large file to his colleague with the same program and see if it prints there.