is there a list somewhere of emulations of newer printers for use with older programs specifically, do they have dot-matrix emulation for newer inkjets I think we can leave out the " windows only" printers. do most of the hp inkjets do a dot matrix emulation>?

All printers should work in 'generic printer' mode. For instance if you have a text page (like 'readme.txt' or similar), being in DOS you can use the command: copy readme.txt lpt1: (the column at the end is important). The file is then sent to the printer which should print it in monospaced characters. If it works with your computer find the option in your DOS program which outputs such a file (export or print to file). Then copy it to the printer. The DOS command 'print' works in a similar manner. Hope that it helps.