How do I get my printer to work?

How do I get a Dos copy of professional write to work with a brother MFC 7400 printer?

• My father (who refuses to learn microsoft word or any other newer word processing program) is trying to get his new brother MFC 7400 printer to work with an old copy of professional write for dos. When trying to print from professional write the printer just spits out a sheet of blank paper. When I try chaning the printer settings I have options for several different manufactuers of printers and printer model options, however brother is not one of the options. Does anyone know what setting it needs to be on to make the document print, or what I need to do to install a brother driver into the program. The printer works just fine when printing from windows xp, the problem is making it print from dos.

• Answer:

  Good luck! DOS-based programs tended to do their own printer I/O. Windows-based programs use printer drivers written by the printer manufacturers themselves according to certain Microsoft specifications. In other words, your dad may be out of luck getting a modern printer to work with an ancient and probably no-longer-supported program. Your best bet is to contact the program's publishers and ask them. Don't be too hurt if they put you on hold while they have a guffaw-fit. Very sorry, but that's the reality of the situation. Someone once said, back in the early days of computers, that software doesn't wear out. That's true, but after a while, it no longer fits.