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- DS-Print 1.10
- Developed and Written by Robert Bates
- December 1991
-
-
-
- DS-Print follows the old saying that necessity is the mother of invention.
- The good old standbys of "type xxx > prn" and DOS's "print xxx" just didn't hack
- it. You couldn't set your own page lengths, thus causing perforations to get in
- the way of text. If your text exceeded the width of the carriage, you got neat
- little partial lines printed out. If you wanted to compress your printouts, you
- were out of luck. And, double-sided printouts are totally out of the question!
-
- These minor complaints are now history. DS-Print takes all of these
- problems into consideration, and solves each in the user's own way. Setting all
- attributes of the printed page, short of actual right/left borders, DS-Print
- allows you to format your output as compressed/normal print in SS or DS modes,
- and lets YOU decide line width and the number of lines on a page.
-
- The program has built-in help. To get a screen full of parameter info,
- type DSPRINT and hit enter. The following should come up:
-
- DS-Print 1.10 by Robert Bates (RPB0804@ZEUS.TAMU.EDU)
- December 1991
-
- Usage: DSPRINT filename [/2 /C /D:x /FF /L:x /PL:x /PW:x]
-
- /2 Selects double-sided printing
- /C Switches to compressed print
- /D:x Defines destination. x = LPTx: (Default = 1)
- /FF Switches DSPRINT to use embedded formfeeds in file
- /L:x Number of lines / page to be printed (Default = 66)
- /PL:x The maximum number of lines per page at 6 LPI (Default = 66)
- /PW:x The printer's maximum width at 10 CPI (Default = 80)
-
- NOTE: DSPRINT will truncate any output past the width of the printer.
-
-
- These parameters may be combined in any way, shape, or form to format your
- printout. A more detailed explanation is needed for some of the commands, so
- here goes:
-
- /2 This toggles the program to print in double sided mode. The
- program will print the odd-numbered pages first (1, 3, 5, 7, etc.)
- and then prompt you to turn them over. After the printer has
- stopped and formfed the last page clear, remove the paper and flip
- it over so that page 2 will be printed on the back of the first
- page already printed. DS-Print will then print the even pages (2,
- 4, 6, etc.) and then terminate.
-
- /C This toggles the compressed print mode. When enabled, compressed
- print is used for all printed text. An adjustment to /PW is made
- to allow 17.125 CPI instead of the 10 CPI value given. Thus, the
- same width of paper is used, but more characters are printed.
-
- /D:x This option allows you to define which LPT port to print to. The
- default is LPT1: (PRN). However, LPT1:-LPT4: are available.
- Anyone using a serial printer is just out of luck (at least for
- now).
-
- /FF This option is a little tricky. Due to the fact that many soft
- docs carry their own formfeeds for pagination, you may want to use
- them instead of your own pagination values. This option tells DS-
- Print that if there are formfeeds present in the input file, let
- those override any user-defined values. If used with a normal
- text file without formfeeds, it has no effect whatsoever.
-
- /L:x (LINES) This option sets the number of lines per page to be
- printed by DS-Print. If /L is greater than /PL, then the /L value
- is replaced with the /PL value. If /L is less than /PL then the
- difference will be used to create vertical margins at the top and
- bottom of the pages printed.
-
- /PL:x (PAGE LENGTH) This option allows you to specify the maximum number
- of printable lines per page using 6 lines per inch. DS-Print uses
- this value to determine the number of lines printed per page as
- well as the vertical borders, if any. NOTE: LaserJet users should
- refer to the printer settings to find out how many lines per page
- the printer is configured for.
-
- /PW:x This parameter allows the user to set the carriage width of the
- printer, assuming 10 CPI. NOTE: If the /C switch (compressed) has
- been used, this value is recalculated for 17.125 CPI.
-
- These options should be separated by a space on the command line. For example,
- to print the file TMP.TXT in double sided, compressed mode on an 80 column
- printer with 60 lines per page on legal size (84 line) paper enter this line at
- the DOS prompt:
-
- DSPRINT TMP.TXT /2 /C /PW:80 /L:60 /PL:84
-
- For the typical setup using an 80-column printer and 8.5" x 11" paper, the
- following example for TMP.TXT will give a nice 1" top and bottom border (this
- example shows why the defaults are set as they are):
-
- DSPRINT TMP.TXT /L:54
-
- The files that are included with the archive of DS-Print 1.00 are as follows
- (the EXE file should look exactly the same, but the others may vary):
-
- DSPRINT DOC xxxxx mm-dd-yy xx:xx
- DSPRINT EXE 20986 01-06-92 1:16a
-
-
- This program, insofar as I can tell, is free of any bugs or quirks. It
- seems to work fine under PCSPOOL v1.5, so I assume that any print spooler should
- like it. However, if there are any comments, complaints, or suggestions about
- DS-Print, you can reach me at the following email addresses for at least a few
- more years:
-
- rpb0804@venus.tamu.edu
- rpb0804@zeus.tamu.edu
-
- This shareware program may be freely copied and distributed. However, any
- commercial use without the written consent of the author is forbidden.
- If you find this program useful, please send a $10.00 (US) donation, with your
- name and the program's version number, to the author at the following address:
-
- Robert Bates
- 23235 Canyon Lake Dr.
- Spring, TX 77373
-
-
- I hereby disclaim all warranties relating to this software, whether express
- or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of
- merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. I will not be liable for
- any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to
- loss of data or any other reason, even if I have been advised of the possibility
- of such damages. In no event shall my liability for any damages ever exceed the
- price paid for the license to use software, regardless of the form of the claim.
- The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and
- performance of the software.