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- - 1 -
- 11th July, 1990
-
- About TSPRN in General
- ======================
-
- This package may be used and distributed freely for NON-COMMERCIAL,
- NON-INSTITUTIONAL, PRIVATE purposes, provided it is not changed in
- any way. For ANY other usage, such as use in a business enterprise
- or a university, contact the author for registration. Uploading to
- bulletin boards is encouraged.
-
- The programs are under development. Comments and contacts are
- welcome. If you have any comments, please do not hesitate to use
- electronic mail for communication.
- InterNet address: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi (preferred)
- Funet address: GADO::SALMI
- Bitnet address: SALMI@FINFUN
- FidoNet address: 2:515/1 (Micro Maniacs Opus, To: Timo Salmi)
-
- The author shall not be liable to the user for any direct, indirect
- or consequential loss arising from the use of, or inability to use,
- any program or file howsoever caused. No warranty is given that the
- programs will work under all circumstances.
-
- Timo Salmi
- Professor of Accounting and Business Finance
- School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa
- P.O. BOX 297, SF-65101 Vaasa, Finland
-
-
- SUMMARY:
-
- TSPRN15.ARC Print text files by Timo Salmi
- Filename Comment Date Time
- -------- -------------------------------- ---- ----
- PRNDAISY.EXE Daisy Bubble parallel Jet 07-10-90 22:34:46
- PRNDICO.EXE Diconix parallel ink jets 07-10-90 22:27:34
- PRNG8008.EXE Gabriele 8008 serial daisy-wheel 07-10-90 22:40:04
- SETDAISY.EXE Set Daisy Bubble Jet from menu 07-11-90 22:23:28
- SETDICO.EXE Set Diconix InkJet from menu 07-11-90 22:23:32
- TSPRN.INF Document 07-11-90 23:50:00
- TSPRN.NWS News announcements about tsprn 07-11-90 22:46:42
- TSPROG.INF List of PD programs from T.Salmi 04-03-90 17:37:40
- VAASA.INF Info: Finland, Vaasa, U of Vaasa 02-02-90 11:52:54
- ---- ------ ------ -----
- 0009 175541 122163 31%
-
-
- - 2 -
-
- COMMON FEATURES:
-
- The programs in this collection are for printing text files to the
- following printers. Diconix parallel inkjet printers, Gabriele 8008
- serial daisy-wheel printer, and Daisy Bubble parallel Jet Printer.
- FILEPRNT.EXE in TSFCOM package has some additional printer options.
- (See the end of this file.)
-
- These programs (PRNDICO.EXE and PRNG8008) have been customized for
- the use with a Zenith laptop, and (PRNDAISY.EXE) with an Osborne
- 06AT, but they can be used with other computers as well. Currently,
- I use PRNDAISY.EXE with an Osborne 386.
-
- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
- ║ Zenith laptop owners using any serial printer should study ║
- ║ the instructions for PRNG8008.EXE below! ║
- ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
-
- The programs can handle discontinuous paper. Before printing, you
- are asked for the number of lines you want to print at one go. Then
- there is a pause (which you can use for changing paper). A pause is
- also caused by a formfeed character <FF> or the text .PAGE on any
- line. (This is the same system as used by the author's FILEPAGE
- program.) The line with .PAGE or linefeed on it, is not printed out.
- - Printing can be aborted by pressing CTRL Y.
-
- The text sent to the printer will be echoed on the screen.
-
- The programs have their own error handlers to cover the most common
- printer offline situations. If the offline condition arises while
- the printing is taking place, it takes awhile (up to one minute)
- before the handler can take over.
-
- The FILEPAGE.EXE program referred to in the above is part of the
- author's collection TSFCOMxx.ARC. The contents of TSFCOMxx.ARC is
- given at the end of this file.
-
-
- PRNDICO (Ver 1.2) PRiNt to DICOnix parallel ink jet
- =================
-
- PRNDICO.EXE prints text files to Diconix parallel inkjet printer.
-
- As Diconix is a parallel printer, it must be attached to the printer
- port. This program uses Diconix 150 EPSON Mode. Therefore, emulation
- dip switch 6 must be set on.
-
- FONTS:
- 1) Elite, Condensed
- 2) Elite, Condensed, Emphasized
- 3) Elite
- 4) Elite, Emphasized
- 5) Wide condensed
- 6) Wide condensed, Emphasized
- 7) Sample text to printer to demonstrate the fonts
-
- Release notes for PRNDICO
- ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙
-
- Version 1.2: The off-line response times are now up to about 7x
- shorter than in the previous versions. This is important, since
- depending on your hardware the default off-line response time can be
- up to one minute, which is really annoying. This is a feature of the
- PC (actually its BIOS), not a feature of the printer. The new
- release reduces the print retrys from the default 20 down to only 3.
- The original default is restored at program termination.
- BTW, if you want to be able to set the default retrys of your
- printer, you can do it with my SETPRT utility, which is included in
- my TSUTLD15.ARC (or later) package.
- When the program asks for your input, you can now edit your input
- using CursorLeft, CursorRight, Home, End, Delete, Backspace, Insert,
- and Esc keys (that is you have line-editing potential). You can also
- recall previous input by using the PageUp key. Furthermore, if you
- press ctrl-c or Break, the program will ask for confirmation.
- The file to be printed can now optionally be given on the command
- line, that is the usage has been changed to PRNDICO [FileName].
- The situations were the printer is turned off, or runs out of
- paper in the middle of printing are now (hopefully) better handled.
-
-
- PRNDAISY (Ver. 1.2) PRiNt to DAISY parallel ink jet
- ===================
-
- PRNDAISY.EXE prints text files to Daisy Bubble parallel Jet Printer.
-
- As Daisy is a parallel printer, it must be attached to the printer
- port.
-
- FONTS:
- 1) Condensed
- 2) Normal, draft
- 3) Normal, NLQ
- 4) Condensed-enlarged
- 5) Sample text to printer to demonstrate the fonts
- 6) Normal, double pass NLQ
-
- Release notes: Version 1.2: See the release notes of PRNDICO.
-
-
- PRNG8008 (Ver. 1.2) PRiNt to Gabriele 8008 serial daisy-wheel
- ===================
-
- PRNG8008.EXE prints text files to Gabriele 8008 serial daisy-wheel
- printer.
-
- As Gabriele 8008 is a serial printer, it must be attached to the
- RS232C port. Before using a serial printer you must first have
- configured your system. See your MS-DOS and/or Owner's manual for
- details. (Zenith laptop owners should look at mode and configur.com
- commands.) LPT must redirected to COM. If you have not done it, do
- it as follows in MsDos:
- mode com1:4800,e,7,2
- mode lpt1:=com1:
- and print something with the print command to try it out.
-
- You may experice difficulties in using the serial port with the
- Zenith laptop with any printer. The key is to select suitable delays
- with the configur.com. IMPORTANT WARNING for Zenith owners:
- configur.com alters the hidden operating system files. Apply
- configur.com on a separate diskette only! The parallel port may not
- work properly after configuring. Knowing this may spare you
- considerable strife.
-
- Since Gabriele 8008 is a daisy-wheel printer there are no font
- options. The density of the text is optional, though.
-
- Release notes: Version 1.2: See the release notes of PRNDICO.
-
-
- SETDAISY (Ver 1.3) Set Daisy Bubble Jet from menu
- ==================
-
- See the description of SETDICO.
-
-
- SETDICO (Ver 1.3) Set Diconix InkJet from menu
- =================
-
- I decided to try my hand at the advanced user interface with
- pull-down menus and dos gateways. For this a selected a task that in
- itself it simple enough, that is sending setup commands to a Diconix
- parallel InkJet printer. This resulted in the setdico.exe program
- now included in the TSPRN package.
-
- The pull-down menu in this program is similar to those appearing in
- many commercial programs. At the top there is the main menu (Spacing
- Fonts Misc Quit). One moves around with the cursor keys (home and
- end keys work as well), and makes the choice by pressing the enter
- (return) key. In the main menu the first letters of the options can
- also be used for moving around. In the submenus (e.g. 60, 75, 80,
- 90, 100, 125, 138, 150, 175, 200 for Spacing) the choices are made
- in the same way. After the choice there will be a result message
- about the success of setting the printer accordingly. Alt-X can be
- used at any time for a quick exit. F9 can be used to escape to
- MsDos, and exit to return as is customary.
-
- Inside the program (unseen by the user) the essential trick in
- building this kind of a pull-down menu program is being able quickly
- to save and restore screens. (This program needs to save a maximum
- of three screens.) Some minor additional tricks needed are e.g.
- hiding the cursor for the duration of the program, and restoring it
- when the program is ended. Of course the pulldown menus themselves
- contain a lot of code, but this part involves no difficult
- programming tricks, just a lot of careful juggling. Good windowing
- subroutines are essential, but these I already had developed for my
- earlier programs. The MsDos gateway part of the code is relatively
- simple. The crucial part is locating the command processor (usually
- command.com). Testing the printer status by using interrupts is also
- relatively easy, but has little to do with the user interface as
- such.
-
- Release notes: Version 1.1. I have added the option of setting the
- left margin in setdico.exe. From programming point of view this
- meant developing a new window routine for entering data. All the
- menus in version 1.0 were strictly pulldown menus involving only the
- cursor keys, escape, etc., but no factual data entry.
-
- Version 1.3: The off-line response times are now up to about 7x
- shorter than in the previous versions. This is important, since
- depending on your hardware the default off-line response time can be
- up to one minute, which is really annoying. This is a feature of the
- PC (actually its BIOS), not a feature of the printer. The new
- release reduces the print retrys from the default 20 down to only 3.
- The original default is restored at program termination.
- The exit (F9) to Dos shell now alter the prompt by adding a [TS]
- to it so that it is easier to know when you are in a shell.
-
-
- INFORMATION ON TSFCOM Available e.g. by anonymous ftp from
- ===================== chyde.uwasa.fi, Vaasa, Finland
-
-
- Searching Archive: TSFCOM23.ARC - File manipulation by Timo Salmi
- Filename Comment Date Time CRC
- -------- -------------------------------- ---- ---- ---
- CRYPTER.EXE Protects files with a password 07-08-90 19:58:54 A68D
- FILEADD.EXE Joins text files side by side 09-30-89 11:49:26 0BF7
- FILECUT.EXE Cuts a text file in parts 09-29-89 11:26:50 3B00
- FILEDUMP.EXE Decimal dump of a file 07-08-90 20:18:10 6758
- FILEPAGE.EXE Prepares files for printing 07-08-90 20:11:34 E6BB
- FILEPALN.EXE Counts page lengths and widths 07-08-90 19:46:56 4F73
- FILEPRNT.EXE Text-file to various printers 07-09-90 00:16:22 82B3
- FILETRAN.EXE Scandinavian conversions 09-29-89 14:44:30 E7DB
- FILETRIM.EXE Trims or pads text file rows 07-08-90 20:04:06 E5B3
- TSFCOM.INF Document 07-09-90 00:35:38 A1FF
- TSFCOM.NWS News concerning this package 07-09-90 00:32:06 E39F
- TSPROG.INF List of PD programs from T.Salmi 04-03-90 17:37:40 38AB
- VAASA.INF Info: Finland, Vaasa, U of Vaasa 02-02-90 11:52:54 F6C0
- ---- ------ ------ -----
- 0013 304659 216367 29%
-