Power Utilities/Power Utilities.iso/utility/pro95/jetcol.doc

Text File | 1993-07-30 | 29.7 KB | 735 lines

                                JETCOL

                         Shareware Version 2.7

                      A Compressed Print Utility

                         Copyright 1990-1993
                                  by

                          ARCaine Technology
                            960 Neilson St
                           Albany, CA 94706
                            [phone]

                          All Rights Reserved



  DISCLAIMER

  This software and manual are sold "as is" and without warranties
  as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties
  whether expressed or implied. Because of the various hardware and
  software environments into which this program may be put, no
  warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. We will
  not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect
  or similar damages due to loss of data, inability to use this
  program, or any other reason, even if we or our agent have been
  advised of the possibility of such damages.

  Be warned that not all data may print correctly when using this
  program with unconverted wordprocessor files.

  The user must assume the entire risk of using and evaluating this
  program. Any liability of Tony Caine or ARCaine Technology will be
  limited exclusively to product replacement or refund of purchase
  price. If you find these terms unacceptable, do not use this
  product.


Introduction

  JETCOL prints two columns, each up to ninety characters wide, on
  laser printers in portrait mode. It is intended to greatly
  reduce the huge volume of paper that results from printing
  reference material (such as shareware manuals), word processing
  drafts and text files. Regular use of this program should cut your
  paper bill by 60 or 70 percent. It can also save you money when
  faxing or mailing documents.

  JETCOL has been designed to be very easy to use. Its default
  settings should cover most printing needs. To print a document you
  simply type:JETCOL filename <enter>. For example, to print the
  manual type:JETCOL JETCOL.DOC <enter>.

  It provides better readability than other compressed print
  programs because it normally ignores page breaks and eliminates
  consecutive blank lines (at your option).By eliminating
  more unnecessary white space on the page JETCOL can use a
  larger,more readable, type face while printing the same number of
  average pages/sheet as other compressed print programs. It is
  designed to take maximum advantage of laserjet features to further
  enhance readability. JETCOL will print anywhere from two to ten
  pages of source material on one side of a sheet of paper. By using
  its even/odd alternate side print feature four to twenty pages of
  text can be printed using both sides of a page.

  By reducing the volume of paper, JETCOL also reduces storage
  requirements and the bulk one has to carry around when traveling.

  As a side benefit, many JETCOL users actually find it easier and
  faster to read the compressed versions than the originals because
  they can take in more words at one time without having to scan
  across the page.

  JETCOL has been tested on several brands and models of laser
  printers. If you run into difficulty with your model, please let
  me know and I will try to provide a version that is compatible
  with your printer.

  Eight different font sizes have been specially designed for
  JETCOL. These fonts are automatically selected and downloaded
  according to the degree of compression requested when you specify
  the number of lines each column should contain with the -Lxx
  option (anywhere from 50 to 240).Also at the user's option JETCOL
  will override its automatic font selection and pick either a
  larger or smaller font for a given line spacing to provide either
  more or less white space between lines.

  The font is nominally pitched at 21.5 characters/inch to allow
  adequate space for a left margin and two 80 character columns.
  When either a smaller margin is specified (-Mx) or the number of
  characters/column is reduced (-Wx) the character spacing is
  automatically expanded for further readability. The default margin
  is seven spaces and the default column width is 80 characters.

  Some users have said that they would prefer a thinner font for
  JETCOL. I have provided a new thin font in the two most often used
  sizes: Fonts 6 and 7.

  A demo mode (-K) is now available to help you explore the
  registered features. The demo mode will activate all registered
  features but will only print one page. By running the file
  DEMOJET.BAT you will see examples of the many possible printing
  modes of JETCOL.

  JETCOL may be executed via a path statement but all font files
  must be located in the same sub-directory as JETCOL.EXE if they
  are to be found by the program when it comes time to download
  them.

  JETCOL can now print rough drafts of some wordprocessor formats
  including .WRI, Word, Wordstar, and WP-Generic files. See details
  and, particularly, limitations under the Wordwrap option.

  A macro for using JETCOL with David Hamel's BOXER text editor
  is now provided.

  Malcolm Drury's VIEW which lets you view and print ASCII, WP, WFW,
  and WFD files, now has a JETCOL interface. See "Registration"
  section below to obatain a copy.

Suitability

  Compressed print programs are not for everyone. You should
  carefully explore how much compression you are comfortable with
  before eyestrain becomes a problem. The greater degrees of
  compresssion are intended more for archival use than for documents
  which will be frequently read.

  This program should run on any PC compatible computer with at
  least 256K of memory.


Registration

  I will keep improving the program if I know enough people are
  finding it useful.

  My registration policy is very flexible. The nominal fee is $30 US
  If you don't feel you will get $30 worth of use out of the
  program,then send whatever it is worth to you.

  Foreign checks and credit cards OK. See REGISTER.DOC for details.

  Those who register for the full amount (and include $3 S&H) will
  receive the latest JETCOL plus a set of related shareware programs
  including 2COL for dotmatrix and DeskJet. Also included is VIEW,
  which will let you view and print (with JETCOL) ASCII, WP, WFW,and
  WFD files.

  If you are a Wordperfect user, for an additional $3 I can also
  supply a macro which will print your current document with JETCOL
  without leaving WP. A similar macro for WFW is also available.

  This is not freeware or public domain. Shareware is simply a
  distribution method for commercial software. You are required to
  register if you intend to use this program after a reasonable
  trial period.

  The registered version of JETCOL permits multiple document names
  and wildcards to be used on the command line and eliminates the
  registration screen. It allows output to be directed to a file
  instead of the printer. It also allows the automatic font
  selection to be overridden to customize the document appearance to
  your taste as well as selection of thinner fonts. The standard
  registered version comes with 2 thin fonts and 8 regular fonts.
  The registered version also allows customizing of default
  settings.

  Please tell me the version number you have when registering and
  where you obtained your copy of JETCOL. Registration checks should
  be made payable to "Tony Caine". JETCOL should be registered for
  the number of copies that can be used simultaneously. In other
  words, treat it like a book.

  Site fees for commercial users can be negotiated.

  JETCOL comes with a full money-back guarantee.

  Optional Extras:

  Complete set of thin fonts (1-8)                           $10
  Complete set of foreign langauge chars (ASCII 128-159)     $10

  A professional version of JETCOL is now available for $85, which
  numbers each line and produces an index of words in the document.

Registered version features

(Most of these features are activated by the (-K) demo mode option.)

*Custom default settings

   JETCOL's default settings can be modified by the user. This
   eliminates the need for the user to enter a string of options
   whenever they run the program. They need only enter the filename.


* Automargin

   The automargin option significantly improves the readability and
   appearance of your document. It scans the entire document before
   printing, determines how much blank space there is and expands
   the lines to utilize this wasted space. The result is a less
   crowded, easier to read document. Automargin also automatically
   activates the wordwrap (-&) feature if any line in the document
   is greater than the specified columnwidth (-W).

   To get an idea of what the automargin does, first type: JETCOL
   JETCOL.DOC <enter>. This prints with the default settings which
   are designed to accommodate any documents up to 80 characters
   wide. Next type: JETCOL JETCOL.DOC -K -U9 <enter>. Compare the
   two printouts for readability and appearance.


*Fixpage

   Prints an exact number of pages/column. Original pagebreaks and
   formatting retained.


*Biasfont

   Modify font selection process to give you either more or less
   white space between lines.

*Thinfont

   Selects a thinner (less bold) font.


* Multiple document names

   Multiple document names and wildcards can be entered on the
   command line.


* Append

   When specifying multiple documents to print, registered users
   have the choice of starting each file at the beginning of a page
   or treating all documents as one continuous file without breaks.


* Redirection of output

   Registered users can choose to send the output to a disk file for
   later printing in background (while running other programs) or
   send to LPT2, COM1, COM2, etc.

* Pagelength adjustment for different paper sizes: A4, legal, etc.

* The registration screen is eliminated, of course.



Terminology

  Since several pages from the original source file are combined
  onto a single page of printer output, there may be some confusion
  about the word "page." We will always refer to the original
  document pages as "source pages." What is actually printed will
  simply be called "pages."



Usage:

  JETCOL  [options] path\filename [options] [path\filename]...


  Options may be specified in any order before and/or after the file
  name(s). Options must be separated from each other by spaces and
  preceded by a "-". Upper and lower case are interchangeable. Each
  option, no matter where it is located, will affect the printing of
  all files equally.




  Options are defined as follows:

   -Lxx = Each column will be xx lines long
   -Cxx = No more than xx consecutive blank lines will be printed
   -Sxx = Skip xx pages before starting to print
   -O   = Print only odd # pages
   -E   = Print only even # pages
   -Wxx = column width (number of characters in each column)
   -P   = Pause before printing each page.
   -N   = Prints filename and page # at lower left corner
   -Dxx = Delimit each (source) page with a line and page #
   -T   = Truncate long lines instead of wrap.
   -Fx  = Put a margin of x blank lines at the top of each page.
   -Mx  = Set left margin x spaces from the edge.
   -Rx  = Create a right margin of x spaces.
   -K   = Activates registered options for a one page demo.
   -?   = JETCOL will ask for filenames to print
   -V   = Report # pages to print.Modify spacing to fill last page
   -&xx = Wordwrap long lines. (useful for .WRI and similar files)
   ?    = (no dash) Displays help screen. Must be the only option.

   ***Options below are available in the registered version only***

   -A   = Append multiple files.
   -Z   = Route output to disk or another port.
   -Bx  = Biases font selection toward larger or smaller fonts.
   -Ux  = Automatic margin and column width adjustment.
   -Xx  = Print an exact number of pages/column keeping page breaks.
   -H   = Select a thin (light) font
   -Yx  = Customize default settings
   -!xx = Modify line spacing to adjust for pagefill or pagelength.

  Defaults: 80 characters/column;96 lines/page;1 consecutive blank
           line; no pause before printing page; do not number pages;
           wrap (not truncate) long lines;4 blank lines at top of
           page.




Description of options

    ?

      JETCOL ? <enter> or JETCOL <enter> will display a help screen.

   -Lxxx

      Each column will contain xxx lines of data. Line spacing will
      be automatically adjusted to fill the page. As more lines per
      page are requested smaller fonts are automatically selected.



    -Cxx

      Pages of text frequently contain many blank lines of data.
      Experience has shown that most of these can be discarded
      without sacrificing readability. This option specifies that
      when there are more than xx consecutive blank lines, the
      excess will be discarded. The default value is 1.


    -Sxx

      This feature is useful if you have a paper jam or decide to
      print part now and part later. Using this option will cause xx
      pages to be skipped before printing begins. For example,
      specifying "-S2" will cause printing to begin with page 3.
      When using -S with the -O or -E options, remember to count all
      pages - odd and even.

    -O

      This and the -E option allow you to print on both sides of
      each sheet of paper. By specifying "-O", only the odd numbered
      pages will be printed. When printing is complete,reload the
      paper back into the feeder so that it will print on the blank
      side and rerun JETCOL using the -E option.

      Alternatively, JETCOL will ask you whether you want to print
      even pages after it has finished printing the odd. Respond "Y"
      after the paper has been reloaded or type "X" to terminate.

    -E

      Prints only even numbered pages. When using this option after
      the -O option be sure to use a left margin setting of 0 to
      allow space for hole punching or other binding requirements on
      the right side of the sheet (this adjustment is made
      automatically when using the automargin option).


    -Wxx

      This option specifies how many characters will print across
      each column. Wrapping or truncating will begin at this
      position. It also determines the print pitch. The more
      characters/column you specify the smaller the space between
      characters.


    -P

      Program will pause before printing each page. Hit any key to
      print a page. This option is useful if you are feeding single
      sheets to the printer.


    -Nx

      This will cause the filename,page and/or date to be printed in
      the lower left-hand corner of each sheet. To avoid confusion
      when using the -S, -O and -E options the page numbering is not
      reset for each document when multiple documents are specified
      on the command line(registered version only).

      If x=1 or blank only the filename and page number will be
      printed. If x=2 the current date will also print.

    -Dxx

      If you need to keep track of each source page, this option
      will print a dashed line with a page number in the middle
      whenever a form feed is encountered or after xx lines of data.
      If xx is not specified, 66 is assumed. Thus -D is equivalent
      to -D66. Experience has shown that this option will be rarely
      used because most documents either number their own pages or
      it is just not important to keep track of original page
      breaks.


    -T

      Normally when lines longer than the specified column width are
      encountered,JETCOL will wrap the data to the next line. If you
      prefer to truncate or discard excess characters on a line, you
      should invoke this option.


    -Fx

      JETCOL will insert x blank lines at the top of each page
      before printing. The default is 4.


    -Mx

      This command sets the left margin x spaces from the edge of
      the page. Default is 9. This option also affects print pitch.
      The wider the margin you request the more crowded the
      characters will be on the page.


    -Rx

      Creates a right margin x spaces wide (in addition to the 1/3"
      non-printing area already on right side).Default is 0.

    -?

      Instructs JETCOL to ask for files to print once it is running.
      You can specify files both on the command line and when 2COL
      asks for filenames. Separate the file names with spaces. This
      option is useful when JETCOL is run from a menu or a Windows
      icon.

    -V

      This option prescans the document and tells you how many pages
      (odd+even) will print. If you are printing only odd or even,
      you must divide by two.

      If the last page is only partially filled you will be given
      the option to compress the line spacing to eliminate the
      partial page or increase the spacing to fill it. "C"
      compresses the lines. "E" expands the lines. "N" preserves
      the original spacing.

      If you are printing multiple documents without the Append (-A)
      option or using the fiXpage (-X) option, you will not be able
      to modify the line spacing.

      You can also enter a percentage value with the -V option. For
      example, entering -V35 will cause final pages which are more
      than 35% filled to be Expanded to fill the page and final pages
      less than 35% filled to be Compressed to eliminate the page.
      You can specify from -V1 to -V99. All prompts are bypassed in
      this mode.

      Note: It is impossible to always adjust the spacing to exactly
            fill the page. JETCOL will come as close as possible.


    -&xx

      Wordwrap lines to a maximum of xx characters. When this option
      is off (default), JETCOL will wrap in mid word.

      This wordwrap feature is intended for printing some word
      processor documents (such as .WRI,and WP Generic) where
      carriage return/ linefeeds occur only at the end of
      paragraphs. The current implementation is not intended to
      reformat a document to increase the length of lines which have
      CR/LFs at the end. When in filter mode (see below), wordwrap
      will also print Wordstar documents.

      Some wordprocessor programs imbed non-ASCII graphics and other
      control information in their files. The wordwrap feature
      normally eliminates ASCII characters outside of the range
      32-126. This will greatly reduce but not eliminate "garbage"
      when printing these files. WRI files, for example, have
      graphics at the end and you will almost always see at least a
      few lines of garbage when printing unconverted .WRI files. If
      the -G (graphics) option is invoked on the command line ALL
      FILTERING WILL BE DISABLED and all characters ASCII 1-255 will
      be printed (if you have the extended JETCOL fontset).Filter
      mode also deletes any line beginning with a period ".". This
      is for printing Wordstar documents.

      Automargin will automatically activate wordwrap when it sees
      long lines. Since Wordwrap filters out IBM graphics characters,
      it is not advisable to leave it enabled all the time as a
      command line option. Invoke it when you need it or let
      automargin handle it. You can prevent Automargin from enabling
      wordwrap by including -&- on the command line.

      IMPORTANT: Information which has been encoded in non-ASCII
      graphics format will not print in any readable form and will
      be lost. If an EOF (Control-Z) is embedded in the data,
      printing will stop at this point. Further data past an EOF
      will not print.

      Wordwrap is intended mainly as a convenience to provide an
      approximation of word processor documents. If you require
      perfect reproduction of the original document, you MUST first
      convert the document to ASCII before printing with JETCOL.

      ***Options below are active only in the registered version***

    -A

      When multiple files are specified on the command line
      (registered version only) you have the option of either
      starting a new page for each file (default) or appending them
      as though they were one continuous file. The -A option causes
      them to be appended.


    -Zfilename

      Allows output to be routed to a file instead of to the
      printer. The file can then be printed in background while
      running other programs. For example, to send output to a file
      called PRINT.TXT, you should include -ZPRINT.TXT on the
      command line.If PRINT.TXT does not exist, it will be created.
      If PRINT.TXT already exists, JETCOL output will be appended to
      the end of the file. This command is only active in the
      registered version of JETCOL. This option can also be used to
      redirect output to LPT2, COM1, COM2, etc.


    -Bx

      This option biases the font selection to pick either a larger
      or smaller font than would ordinarily chosen by JETCOL.
      Setting x to 1 picks the next larger font. If x is set to -1,
      it picks the next smaller font. If x is set to 2, it will skip
      two font sizes larger, and so on. This option is active for
      registered users only. Examples: -B1,-B2,-B-1,-B-2...etc. (do
      not insert any spaces).(registered version only)


    -Ux

      X is the number of left margin spaces you request. JETCOL
      scans the entire document to be printed to determine its
      formatting. Leading blanks in the document are taken into
      account to give you the exact left margin you requested.
      Column width is adjusted to accommodate the widest line
      in the document. The result is that lines are fully spread
      across the page and character spacing is maximized for best
      readability. (registered version only)


      The automargin option automatically puts the margin you
      requested on the right side of the page (for binding) if you
      are printing with the -E option (on the reverse side of the
      page.)

      Automargin automatically turns on the wordwrap feature (-&)
      whenver lines longer than the columnwidth (-W) are encountered
      in a document if the truncate (-T) option is off. You can also
      prevent wordwrap from being activated by putting -&- on the
      command line, this is safer than truncating lines.

    -H

      Selects a light (thin) font instead of the standard font. If
      the thin font in the required size is not available the
      regular, bolder, font is substituted. The only thin fonts
      supplied with the standard registered version are sizes 6 and
      7.(registered version only)


    -Xx

      Prints exactly x pages/column retaining original formatting
      and page breaks. The value of x may be from 1 to 3. This
      function assumes a page length of 66 unless modified with the
      -Dxx function. (registered version only)

    -Yx

      The -Y option allows you to modify JETCOL's default settings.
      This MUST always be the first option on the command line
      whenever you use it.

      Typing "JETCOL -Y1 <enter>" will cause JETCOL to display all
      current default settings.

      Typing "JETCOL -Y2 [options....] <enter>" will cause JETCOL to
      permanently remember those options by modifying the JETCOL.EXE
      program itself. Your personal registration code MUST always be
      one of the options specified whenever you modify the default
      settings. Whenever the -Y2 option is used, any options not
      specified on the command line will be reset to the standard
      defaults. Therefore, even if you change only one of your
      custom options, you must reenter them all at the same time.
      The next time you run JETCOL the options you specified will
      automatically be used.

      For example, if you want to set the number of lines/page to
      102 and print the page numbers at the bottom, you would type:
      JETCOL -Y2 -L102 -N registration code# <enter>. The next time
      you type JETCOL [filename] <enter> It would be as though you
      had typed: JETCOL -L102 -N registration code# [filename].

      If there are several different option profiles you wish to
      use, you can create different copies of JETCOL.EXE with
      different names, such as JETCOL1.EXE, JETCOL2.EXE, etc. The
      -Y2 option only modifies the EXE file having the same name and
      path that you type on the command line.

      All defaults with an 'x' value can be temporarily overridden
      with a different value on the commmand line. Use an 'x' value
      of 0 to temporarily deactivate Automargin or Pagefix.Any
      option without an 'x' value can be activated simply by putting
      it on the command line. To temporarily deactivate an option
      set as a permanent default, type a minus after the option. For
      example, to temporarily deactivate the N option, you would put
      -N- on the command line: JETCOL -N- [filename]

      THIS FUNCTION WILL NOT WORK ON .EXE FILES THAT HAVE BEEN
      COMPRESSED WITH PKLITE. You must first decompress, use the -Y2
      option and then recompress.

    -!xx

      Modifies line spacing so you can fill non-standard size paper.
      This would include legal or European paper. This option also
      allows you to finetune the pagefill amount of standard paper.
      Entering a positive value expands the spacing between lines. A
      negative value decreases spacing between lines. Although it
      depends on the printer, you should find that values in the
      25-75 range will usually do the job. This option does not
      affect the printer's forms length adjustment. If you change
      paper you must modify the forms length setting before running
      JETCOL.

Using JETCOL with a word processor

    The wordwrap feature (-&) provides a convenient, but not always
    perfect,way of printing many wordprocessor (such as .WRI) files.
    In those cases where you cannot get a satisfactory printout
    directly from a document in its original form, most word
    processors have what is called an ASCII output or DOS output
    mode which JETCOL will work with.If you are given a choice, it
    is usually best to convert without line breaks and use JETCOL's
    wordwrap feature.

    I can supply WP51 and WFW macros which will allow you to print
    with JETCOL, without leaving WP or WFW. You can print the
    document you are editing, with a single keystroke. See the
    registration section.

    The JETCOL registration disk provides shareware reformatting
    programs which may help in printing other wordprocessor formats.
    If you specify your word processor when registering, I may be
    able to provide you with a conversion program.


Using JETCOL with Microsoft Windows

    An icon and a PIF are provided for use with Windows. The PIF is
    configured for background printing. This will permit you to
    initiate the print process and then go off and do something
    else, much in the same way as you do with the Print Manager. You
    can also drag and drop files to be printed while in File Manager
    onto either JETCOL.EXE(foreground) or JETCOL.PIF(background).

Faxing with JETCOL

    Documents printed with JETCOL can be faxed at a considerable
    savings in connect time charges because almost 4 pages can be
    faxed in the time it takes to fax a standard page. To optimize
    readability, the characters must be spaced as widely as
    possible. Since JETCOL automatically adjusts the pitch to fill
    the page, you should set the left and right margins to 0 (-M0)
    and (-R0), if possible. Use Automargin (-Ux) or manually adjust
    the column width (-Wx) to fit the maximum width of your
    document. The optimum font for normal resolution faxes is
    FONT8.2CL this means a setting of -L89 or lower. You can get by
    with a font as small as FONT6.2CL but you will probably want to
    shift to high resolution faxes with anything smaller. These
    recommendations depend on the boldness of your particular laser
    printer and adjustments may be necessary. If you have PCL
    friendly fax software you might want to send JETCOL output
    directly to your FAX program instead of printing on a laser
    first.

Program Abort

    Hitting Control-C (or Control-Break) will terminate the program
    immediately. The printer will not stop printing, however, until
    its buffer is empty.


Distribution

    Permission is hereby given to copy and distribute this program
    as long as no more than $10 is charged. It must be made clear to
    the buyer that this is only a handling charge and not a
    registration fee.Please include all files in their original
    unmodified form when distributing this program. Permission to
    distribute may be revoked by the author at any time for any
    reason.Catalog, rack and CD-ROM vendors must either read
    VENDOR.DOC for additional details or contact the author before
    distributing JETCOL.

    YOU MUST NOT DISTRIBUTE ANY COPY WHICH HAS BEEN BRANDED WITH
    A REGISTRATION CODE. A program can be unbranded by typing
    JETCOL -Y2 <enter>.

All trademarks used in this document are the property of their
owners.

                                                     -Tony Caine-


Fidonet:   1:125/28  TONY CAINE   (FIDO NETMAIL is very unreliable)
Internet:  [e-mail]
Compuserve:72614,1451