For a Compaq IJ300 printer I need a 64-bit, Windows-8.1-compatible driver.

Question

Hello. I think I may have adapted my Compaq IJ300 printer for potential use with my new, presently 64-bit, Windows-8.1-operating-system-loaded notebook computer, which has four Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports, but no parallel ports, by purchasing a parallel-to-USB cable to connect between that printer and my new notebook computer.
My short question: How may I obtain just a 64-bit, Windows-8.1-compatible driver for the Compaq IJ300 printer? (not a computer program to scan for needed driver updates, a procedure which has unfortunately failed to lead me to the driver I want in so far at least two instances)

Answer 1

Thanks, Ban Hien, for kindly taking some time to post some information here. I verified that via http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?cc=us&lc=en&products=217385 no drivers for the Compaq IJ300 printer newer than for Windows 98 were supplied there. Nevertheless I used that printer in Windows XP Home Edition in an older notebook computer in probably the year 2013 before I no longer could “power up” that computer! Looking at my notes from July 19, 2010, after connecting that printer to my old notebook computer Windows XP reported “Found New Hardware Lexmark Inkjet 4100,” probably for finding the Lexmark 12A1980 color cartridge in the Compaq IJ300 printer at that time, and “Found New Hardware Compaq Inkjet IJ300” for I suppose locating a driver from within Windows XP Home Edition for the Compaq IJ300 printer.
The Web page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/293360 indeed shows that the Compaq IJ300 printer is supported by Windows XP. I read that it is on a Windows XP operating system Compact Disc or else can be obtained from http://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=133838&si=bb941f1db37cb35ad6ad9b8e7da36bd8. The resource http://www.driverguide.com/ appears to be a place on the Internet through which one may be able to obtain individual drivers for pieces of hardware. Within that Web site I read that one user found that a Lexmark Z11 driver could used with a Compaq IJ300 printer in probably Windows 2000 with Windows 2000 identifying that Compaq IJ300 printer as a Lexmark Z11 printer. Unfortunately I could not find a 64-bit, Windows-8.1-compatible driver for either the Compaq IJ300 or Lexmark Z11 printers within http://www.driverguide.com/ or http://www.lexmark.com/; the newest Lexmark Z11 probably driver available via the latter Web site was for only Windows 2000 and 32-bit Windows XP. The Web page http://www.hardwaredata.org/index.php?driver=109025 reports a Windows-8 driver for the Compaq IJ300 printer. But using that Web site's computer program DriverDetective.exe to scan my present notebook computer's hardware with the Compaq IJ300 printer connected to the parallel-to-USB cable, which in turn was connected to a USB port of my computer, the Compaq IJ300 printer was not “noticed” by that hardware-scanning program. A pure speculation of mine, not something I know to be a fact, is that because 64-bit, Windows 8.1 did not “notice” the Compaq IJ300 printer, that particular hardware-scanning program might have followed Windows 8.1's lead and also did not “notice” the connected, Compaq IJ300 printer. So if the information at http://www.hardwaredata.org/index.php?driver=109025 is correct, there might actually be a Windows-8 driver for the Compaq IJ300 printer that that scanning program never recommended because it did not “see” the Compaq IJ300 printer.
It seems logical that if one has the source code for a driver in use by one Windows operating system, knows the intimate details of that and a newer version of Windows, and knows how to write computer code in the computer language of the driver, then he might be able to take the source code for the driver that works in Windows XP and modify it to work for 64-bit, Windows 8.1. Then after that I suppose he might have to compile and link that source code to make the driver usable by a Windows-8.1 operating system. In a Linux operating system I have been told that the driver source code for a device can be compiled with I think the kernel source code to make a new version of the Linux kernel which includes the function of that new driver. On this adventurous subject I have here at least sometimes been writing well beyond my experience and/or knowledge. But at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff554644(v=vs.85).aspx there are instructions on how to use the Windows Driver Kit to “build” (probably to compile and link) a new driver using I think a starting version of a driver. More speculation on my part is that because Hewlett Packard has not been supplying a Windows XP driver for the Compaq IJ300 printer, perhaps someone may have used something like the Windows Driver Kit in the making of a driver usable for this printer in Windows XP.