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1992-11-21
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ABOUT SWITCHER
Switcher is a set of utilities designed for Amiga owners who use a Hewlett-
Packard LaserJet Series Printer and Pacific Data's PacificPage P.E cartridge.
The Pacific Data cartridge provides Postscript capability to the HP series of
laser printers.
The problem for Amiga owners is that to switch between the Postscript and PCL
(normal HP) modes, you must constantly insert/remove the Postscript cartridge
every time a change is needed. Pacific Data does supply software for MS-DOS
machines to allow switching between modes, but do not have any software for
the Amiga.
I grew tired of removing and installing the cartridge every time I needed to
print a different type of document, and thus "SWITCHER" was created. SWITCHER
allows the Amiga owner to leave the Pacific Data cartridge installed at all
times, and switch between modes easily.
INSTALLING SWITCHER
SWITCHER can be easily installed to a Hard Drive or disk, simply by dragging
the SWITCHER icon to the destination disk. It is very compact, and takes up
very little room. The only requirement for it's operation is that IconX be
present in your C directory. Unless you've moved, or deleted IconX from the
C directory where it is normally located, you will have no problem running
the programs.
USING SWITCHER
The SWITCHER drawer contains two programs......PostScript and LaserJet. I did
provide icons for each, so that they may be run directly from the WorkBench.
However, they can also be run from the CLI or Shell, simply by typing either
"Execute PostScript" to engage the Postscipt mode, or "Execute LaserJet" to
switch back to the standard HP mode (PCL).
They operate under both version 1.3 and 2.0 of the AmigaDos operating system.
MODIFYING SWITCHER
By default, I have set up the programs for persons using a parallel printer.
For most users, no modification will be necessary. However, for Amiga owners
who are using a serial Hewlett-Packard LaserJet series printer, they can also
easily modify the PostScript and LaserJet files using their favorite text
editor. They can simply change the output device PAR: that I used, to SER:
Example of a modified PostScript batch file:
Copy To_Postscript to SER:
Example of a modified LaserJet batch file:
Copy To_LaserJet to SER:
Serial printer users may also wish to include the baud rates as well, but it
can be set via Preferences if desired. Be sure to match the baud settings of
the serial port to the settings of your printer.
Do not use the PRT: device. The reason for this is because neither the SER:
or PAR: devices perform any translation on the ESCape codes, whereas the
PRT: devices will attempt translation, and may not function correctly.
I leave the possibilities open for you to explore, as modification is easy.
SWITCHER FILES AND WHAT THEY DO
Switcher - the directory where all the files are kept.
Switcher.info - the icon file for the Switcher directory. This makes it easy
to copy all the files to another destination.
PostScript - an executable batch file which sends the appropriate ESCape code
(to_PostScript) to the PAR: device to engage Postscript mode.
PostScript.info - an icon file. Allows IconX to run the Postscript program
through WorkBench.
LaserJet - an executable batch file which sends the appropriate ESCape code
(to_LaserJet) to the PAR: device to engage HP (PCL) mode.
LaserJet.info - an icon file. Allows IconX to run the LaserJet program
through WorkBench.
to_Postscript - the actual ESCape code itself, which enables Postscript mode.
to_LaserJet - the actual ESCape code itself, which enables PCL (HP) mode.
Switcher.Doc - the documentation file you are now reading.
Switcher.doc.info - an icon file, which allows MuchMore to read documentation.
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPATIBILITY
My software programs should function properly with any of the following
HP LaserJet Series printers with a Pacific Data PacificPage P.E cartridge:
*HP LaserJet IIP
*HP LaserJet IID
*HP LaserJet III
*HP LaserJet IIID
*HP LaserJet IIIP
Please note that your Hewlett-Packard LaserJet must have a minimum of 1.5 Mb
or Ram for Postscript printing of standard Letter sized documents. A minimum
of 2.5 Mb is required for Legal and A4 sized documents.
I am using the PacificPage P.E cartridge with a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III
populated with 5 Mb of Ram. I feel this combination, along with my SWITCHER
software provides a great amount of flexibility for DeskTop Publishing.
_____________________________________________________________________________
The SWITCHER drawer, PostScript & LaserJet program and icons may be freely
distributed into the public domain provided they are released in entirety,
along with the Switcher.doc file.
I can be reached at the following address for comments, etc.
Tom Applegate
229 East Bertsch Street
Lansford, Pa. 18232
(717) 645-7935
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AND NOW THE LEGAL STUFF.............
PacificPage P.E is a trademark of Pacific Data Products.
Postscript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
PCL is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company.
Amiga & AmigaDos are registered trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.