Windows Printer Drivers

A common request is, "Can you tell us where to obtain Windows drivers or our xx braille printer (embosser)". The simple answer is quite often, "You do not need any!"

Printer drivers are special-purpose programs which Windows programs use to send output to your printer(s).

The term Windows Device, as used in Duxbury's documentation, refers to a printer driver that is installed for the purpose of sending output to a braille embosser rather than an ink printer. There are three advantages to setting up a Windows Device, rather than having DBT send data to your port.

The first advantage is that, when DBT is using a Windows Device, it will usually allow you to return to work, or even exit DBT, before your whole document has been sent to the embosser. This can be very advantageous if you often have long documents to emboss.

The second advantage is that Windows devices need not be connected directly to your machine. In other words, by configuring a Windows Device, you enable DBT to work with an embosser elsewhere on your network.

The third advantage is that using a Windows Device often provides a useful way around compatibility problems that may occur when DBT is attempting to write to the port directly. These errors are called WriteComm failed errors

To set up a Windows Device for DBT to use, you may need to have your Windows Operating System diskettes or CD-ROM ready. If you are familiar with adding a printer, then you should install a "Generic/Text Only" printer on the port to which your braille embosser is or will be connected.

If your are not familiar with this process, you can follow the directions in Setting up a Windows Device in Setting up a Windows Device in Windows.