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I'm trying to find a way to run an old Dos based application that uses a printer connected to the parallel port, I don't think Dosbox supports lpt.
I am interested both in using that printer and in trying to emulate the printer somehow and connect a USB based printer.
  
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4 Answers

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You can use one of the patched/forked versions of DOSBox that support printing. There are a few.
One I've recently started using is Taewoong's enhanced "ykhwong" version (as of writing, it was last updated Oct. 12. 2011):
Included Patches:
Direct3D with pixelshaders, OpenglHQ, Innovation, Glide, zip/7z mount, Beep, NE2000 Ethernet, Graphis user interface (menu), Save/Load states, Vertical sync, CPU flags optimization, Various DOS commands (PROMPT VOL, LABEL, MOUSE, etc) and CONFIG.SYS commands (DEVICE, BUFFERS, FILES, etc), Continuous turbo key, Core-switch key, Show details (from menu bar), Nice DOSBox icon, Font patch (cp437), MAKEIMG command, INTRO, Ctrl-break patch, DBCS support patch, Automatic mount, Printer output, MT-32 emulation (MUNT), MP3CUE, Overscan border, Stereo-swap, SDL_Resize, MemSize128, Internal 3dfx voodoo chip emulation, Amstrad & PS/1 sound emulation, Fluidsynth soundfont support, Timidity++ backend support, CGA w/ Monochrome Monitor Support, Improve PC Speaker emulation accuracy patch, etc.
It allows redirecting LPT1 (through LPT3) to an actual LPT port, a printer file (.prn), or to the virtual printer. The valid options in the Parallel/Dongle dialog are reallpt, printer, file and disabled.
If you set it up to send to the virtual printer, it can "print" to a graphic file (.PNG, .BMP, .PS), or to a Windows printer on the host (it pops up Windows a print dialog):
DOSBox Printing
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