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Portable DeskJet Trick

We said in TidBITS-146 that Hewlett-Packard had come up with a Portable DeskJet, but no corresponding Portable DeskWriter, a seemingly-obvious move given the popularity of the PowerBooks. We don’t have news about a Portable DeskWriter, but it turns out that you can achieve the same functionality using the PowerPrint 2.0 collection of printer drivers from GDT Softworks.

Generally available for about $95, PowerPrint supports over 1,000 printers, and according to Steve Gully of GDT, the HP DeskJet 500 driver works fine with the Portable DeskJet. PowerPrint includes a spooler and a parallel-to-serial converter cable for hooking to printers that only have a parallel port. If you travel regularly with a PowerBook and want to use printers wherever you end up, PowerPrint would be a good addition to your travelling kit.

GDT Softworks — 800/663-6222

Information from:
Steve Gully — [email protected]
Michael E. Costello — [email protected]

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