=-=-=-=-=¢ GETTING IT DOWN ON PAPER¢ ------------------------¢ By Jon Cooper.¢ -------------¢ Reprinted by OL' HACKERS ATARI USERS¢ GROUP, Inc. with THANKS.¢¢ In past issues of New Atari User a¢ lot of readers have written in asking¢ about dumping graphics created with¢ commercial software to their¢ printers. So I decided to review two¢ currently available programs¢ Magniprint II and Weak! from the Page¢ 6 P.D catalog. Can a P.D program¢ possibly be as good at its job as a¢ full priced release? Read on!¢¢¢ MAGNIPRINT II¢ -------------¢¢ When Magniprint II is first booted up¢ the first thing on the screen is the¢ file conversion menu. Before going¢ any further you have to load in your¢ chosen picture file and save it in¢ Magniprint II format.¢¢ Files can be converted from all the¢ following programs:- Micro Painter, ¢ Micro Illustrator, Paint, Fun With¢ Art, B/Graph, Graphic Master, Super¢ Sketch, Strip Poker, Movie Maker,¢ Graphics Magician, Atarigraphics¢ Lightpen, The Print Shop and¢ Syngraph. As you can see not much has¢ been left out!¢¢ When you have converted your files to¢ Magniprint format you then load from¢ disk, the main printer program. You¢ then are confronted by a screen¢ asking for the file name of the¢ picture you want to load or you can¢ list the disk directory. When the¢ file is loaded it is shown on the¢ screen. At the press of the space bar¢ another menu is put up with various¢ options to enhance your picture.¢ Touch up screen allows you to alter¢ your picture using a joystick like¢ the draw facility on Atari Artist.¢ Add text lets you put TEXT any where¢ on the screen, five character sets¢ are on side two of the disk. Poster¢ print lets you blow up your picture¢ to wall poster size. When you have¢ made any changes you want, then at a¢ press of a button your picture is¢ printed.¢ BOTH Epson and Gemini printers are¢ supported.¢¢ I printed pictures in Print Shop, ¢ Paint, Micro Illutrator and¢ Micropainter formats using my Citizen¢ 120D printer, the results were fine¢ but the program seemed to have a few¢ bugs in it. Every so often it would¢ refuse to load a file or the whole¢ program would crash. Even so¢ Magniprint II is fairly easy to use¢ and one of the best things about it¢ is the amount of different software¢ format files it can convert some of¢ whom I've never heard of. All in all¢ Magniprint II is a good utility that¢ does its job well.¢¢¢ WEAK!¢ -----¢¢ When Weak! is first loaded a menu is¢ put up asking you to chose between¢ the main program and the¢ documentation.¢ After Magniprint II I thought¢ "Huh..Who needs docs on a printer¢ program?"¢ So I chose to run Weak! BIG MISTAKE!¢ The first thing that comes up after a¢ few seconds of loading is a screen¢ full of German. I managed to work out¢ that you had to press Space Bar to¢ carry on. After a bit more loading a¢ main looking menu is put up. I say¢ main looking because the whole thing¢ is in German.¢ "'Fiddle sticks' Ill have to load the¢ docs after all!"¢ After reading the docs all is clear¢ Im ready to tackle the menu again.¢ When you get the hang of it Weak! is¢ really easy to use. Pictures can be¢ loaded from:- Micropainter, Koala,¢ Fun With Art and Stripoker. Unlike¢ Magniprint files don't need to be¢ converted they can be read straight¢ off the disk.¢ Pictures can be printed in three¢ sizes: Small Medium and Large. They¢ can be printed across and verticaly¢ down the page. Weak! can not edit¢ pictures but the colours on the¢ screen can be changed to give the¢ best effect on your printer (I found¢ strong contrasting colours worked¢ best like red and green). Pictures¢ can also be displayed in graphics¢ modes 8, 9 and 15.¢¢ Epson, Star LC2410 and Seikosha¢ printers are supported but your own¢ parameters can be keyed in, but as¢ the menu is in German this is a bit¢ tricky!¢¢ I printed pictures in a number of¢ ways and got exellent results. Weak!¢ is first rate at its job and very¢ easy to use. Dont be put off by th¢ German it makes the program more¢ interesting!¢¢ THE FINAL VERDICT¢ -----------------¢¢ Both utility's are good at their job¢ but the main thing to think about is¢ price. Magniprint II costs about¢ twenty five pounds, whereas Weak! is¢ only three quid!¢ My advise is to buy Weak! first if¢ your happy with it fine, but if you¢ need that bit more flexibility then¢ upgrade to Magniprint later.¢¢¢ MAGNIPRINT II is availible from¢ GRALIN INTERNATIONAL price is about¢ twenty five pounds.¢¢ WEAK! is availible from PAGE SIX¢ public domain libary price is two¢ ninety five. WEAK!s libary number is¢ DS#60.¢¢ *** END ***¢¢
