START Magazine/START VOL 4 NO 6.st/INSTSST.ARC/INSTSST.TXT

Text File | 1989-10-16 | 5.8 KB | 133 lines

Installing a ScoreST Printer Driver

ScoreST comes configured for an Epson or Epson-compatible printer.  If
you don't have an Epson printer, consult your printer owner's manual
to see if it accepts Epson commands.  In particular, see if it
supports the following commands:

* ESC * 4: Print a line of graphics.

* ESC Z: Print a line of quadruple-density graphics.

* ESC J n: Immediate n/216-inch line feed.

If so, ScoreST is already configured to use your printer and you don't
have to worry about installing a printer driver.  Otherwise, read on.
(And be sure to have your printer's owner's manual handy when
installing your printer.)

ScoreST can print in two styles: Draft for fast drawings of works in
progress, and Final for completed scores.  In Draft mode, each dot
(pixel) is printed once and 640 dots are printed on each line.  In
Final mode, each dot (pixel) is printed three times for a total of
1920 dots per line.  In addition, each line is printed twice, with the
second pass offset vertically from the first by the smallest possible
distance.  Final mode produces a dark, dense score, but is
considerably slower than Draft mode.

Running InstSST

Your printer is configured using INSTSST.TOS, supplied with ScoreST.
INSTSST creates a file called SCOREST.CFG, which ScoreST reads to
determine which commands should be sent to your printer.

To run INSTSST, double-click on INSTSST.TOS.  INSTSST will ask you a
series of questions about the commands your printer requires to
perform certain actions.  While running INSTSST, you may use the [Esc]
key to cancel out.

When defining printer commands, INSTSST will ask you to provide two
kinds of information: the length of the printer command in bytes and
the bytes that make up the printer command.

The command length can be entered in one of three forms:

-- In decimal, using decimal digits without leading zeroes, e.g.,
123, 17, 1.

-- In octal (base 8), using the digits 0 - 7 with 0 as the first
digit, e.g., 077, 03, 0.

-- In hexadecimal (base 16), using the digits 0 - f (or F) where the
number is preceded by "0x" or "0X"; e.g., 0x5, 0XA, 0x1f

When prompting for a command length, INSTSST displays the current
length (initially 0).  This value can be retained by pressing [Return]
when the prompt for the new value appears.

Each printer command is limited to 20 bytes.  INSTSST will warn you if
you attempt to enter a length that exceeds this limit.

The bytes that make up the printer commands can be entered in any of
the formats described above for the command length or in the
following:

-- In character form, using any ASCII character preceded by a single
quote ('), e.g., '{, 'x, '\$.

-- In control-character form, using ASCII characters A through _
(underscore), preceded by a caret (^).  The binary value of the ASCII
character is decreased by hexadecimal 40 to produce the value of the
byte, e.g., ^[, ^G, ^A.

When prompting for a printer command byte, INSTSST displays the
current value of that byte (initially 0).  This value can be retained
by pressing [Return] when prompted for a new value.

Printer Configuration

Some of the printer commands used by ScoreST are optional, meaning
they may or may not be required for your printer.  They can be
eliminated by specifying a command length of 0 when prompted by
INSTSST.  INSTSST will ask you for the following information:

-- An optional printer initialization command, which prepares the
printer for graphics.  This command is sent to the printer before
printing starts when you select Print (Draft) or Print (Final) from
the File menu in ScoreST.

-- An optional printer reset command, which restores the printer to
normal mode after printing graphics.  ScoreST sends this command to
the printer when printing is complete.

-- A required line start command, which is sent at the start of each
line of eight-bit graphics.  This command may or may not be followed
by a count of the number of bytes in the line; see below.

-- An indication of whether ScoreST should append a byte count to the
line start command.  If so, the number of bytes in each line will be
sent to the printer in binary after the line start command is sent.
The number of bytes will be sent as a two-byte integer.  The byte
ordering of this integer may be specified; see below.  If your printer
expects a byte count in a place other than following the line start
command or it expects the count in a form other than binary, you may
want to hard-code the byte count yourself in the line start command.
For Draft mode, this will be 640, and for Final mode, 1920.

-- The byte ordering of the line byte count (see above).  In a
two-byte integer, bytes can be ordered with the most significant byte
first or last.

-- An optional line end command, which is sent at the end of each
line of eight-bit graphics.

-- A command required only in Final mode to advance the paper in
increments of 1/216-inch.  The distance is sent in a single binary
byte following the command.  If your printer doesn't support such a
command, leave it empty.  This command is sent between successive line
passes in Final mode.

-- An optional command to advance the printer to the next page.
ScoreST normally prints 792 graphic lines per page, which completely
fills an 11" page with a dot height of 1/72-inch.  You need to supply
this command only if your paper height is other than 11" or your
printer's dot height is other than 1/72-inch.

INSTSST creates a file called SCOREST.CFG with the information you
supply about your printer.  ScoreST searches for this file in three
places and reads the first one it finds in the current folder, in a
folder called SCOREST in the root directory of the current disk or in
the root directory of the current disk itself.  If ScoreST can't find
SCOREST.CFG, it displays a warning and disables printing.