I am not getting the error initializing printer part, but I am getting Error Creating Font / CreateOneFont errors now out of the blue.

I can print fine at anytime during these messages so my printer is online.  I have tried removing it, switching printing to PDFCreator and even wiped out my Pegasus install and reinstalled everything including the latest BearHTML and virscan.

I have been using this since Windows 3.11 days :), other than a few glitches here and there (mostly with uncommonly formatted HTML and hyperlinks) this program has been spot on.  I have no desire to change even if all updates cease.

If anyone has a clue, I'd appreciate it.
 

 

Pegasus mail is up and running in Windows XP Home SP2. The default printer is attached to another computer on my home network. I put the other computer in Safe Mode for maintenance. Next time I want to send email, I get a series of error pop-ups: "Error initializing the printer" and then "Error creating font" many times and finally I get a protocol error from the mail server. If I terminate Pmail, change the default printer to another that's online, and restart Pmail, everything is OK. If then I change the default printer back to the offline printer, I get those messages immediately and I can't even view messges.

 Why does Pegasus Mail have to have a printer online to view and send messages when it's not even printing?

Pegasus Mail as a WYSIWYG sends a request to the printer asking how to display the font in a message.  It should not matter if the printer is online or offline since this is only a call to the printer driver.  Some printer drivers for some strange reason also query the printer to see if it's available for printing.  Generally you can upgrade the printer drivers and this one will go away.  If not, simply set the windows default printer to a local printer or one that prints to a file.

Well. thanks, but... The printer is a Brother HL-1440, the latest driver is dated 2002, and there's no later update. There's an older driver on the CD-ROM, but it isn't digitally signed; do you think I should try it? The printer is also compatible with the HP LaserJet 2 driver, but that driver also gives me the error messages. I don't want to change the physical default printer because I want the convenience of being able to print without the extra step of selecting a printer. Is there any driver compatible with the Brother HL-1440 or the HP LaserJet 2 that does not query the printer if it isn't about to print?

FWIW, I used a LJ2 network printer at work and did not have this problem if the network was down.  I would try changing drivers by install printers with all the various options and pick the one that did not have the problem.  Also you might try setting the printer driver to an LPT port as well so yuo can print from DOS applications, this sometimes fixes the problem.

Before I jump through any more hoops.... The computer with the default printer is in Safe Mode again and the default printer is again inaccessible. Other applications, such as Adobe Reader, Firefox and OpenOffice Writer don't have any problems showing me what they would print if I printed, telling me the default printer is inaccessible when I do try to print, and then printing on another printer when I choose one.

So I ask again, in slightly different words: why is Pegasus Mail the only application that has to have the default printer online just to show what it would print if it were printing?

Why do I have to jump through hoops to get Pmail to work when other apps work without such effort?

It is not the only application where this happens, the printer driver problem was actually initially discovered when using MS Office programs with a lot of font changes with HP systems.  HP has been pretty good about fixing the problem but they still seem to ship printers with old drivers.  Pegasus Mail does a lot more opening and closing of files than most applications though so yuo will see a lot more effect.

You do not have to jump through hoops to make this work and you have been provided a solution or workaround if your printer driver always checks to see if the printer exists when asked how to display the fonts. 

Sorry. So far, I do not have a solution. I have a suggestion that setting the driver to accommodate DOS printing might help. I also have a report that on another system, on another network, an unspecified version of a LaserJet 2 driver, with unspecified settings, doesn't have the problem I have, but even specifying where to get the updated driver and how to configure it would be only a workaround, because the LJ2 driver doesn't support 600dpi. I haven't yet found a better workaround than the one I've been using: when the default printer is down, choose another default printer, restart Pmail, and reverse the procedure when the regular default printer goes online again -- even though the the alternate printer is two flights of stairs below the workstation. BTW, I don't use MS Office on this workstation. I switched to OpenOffice, which runs unperturbed without a default printer online. On my workstation, Pmail is the only app that has this problem.

What I have been doing is to install a pdf writer and set this as my default printer. Cutepdf or PDF Creator are both free and easy to setup.

This way Pegasus  will always have a printer even if the printer is out of service. This way I can print the email if required and then send to a 'real' printer when back online.

PDF Creator can be found here:

http://www.pdfforge.org/

CutePDF can be found here 

 http://www.cutepdf.com

<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="4">Capturing
</font></font>

a printer port did solve the problem, but I had to jump through one

more hoop. Windows XP does not let you capture a printer port in the

Printers and Faxes interface. You have to enter

<font face="Courier New, monospace"><font size="4">NET
</font></font>

USE LPT1 \\[server]\[printer] /PERSISTENT:YES

<font size="4">
</font>

<font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="4">in a
</font></font>

command prompt window. Then you can use the Printers and Faxes

interface to connect a printer to LPT1. (I found this trick by

searching with Google on the words "capture printer port".)

<br>

Correction: problem not solved. Print jobs sent to the printer with the captured port used to print but now fail with "error." The captured port is no longer connected to the remote printer. The troubleshooter says it can't ping the server, even though I can ping the server in a command prompt and Windows Explorer sees the server in the network neighborhood and lists the printer on it. Windows apparently doesn't know what it's doing. So it's back to the original workaround: use another printer. But I do wish Pmail would copy its code from OpenOffice instead of from Microsoft.