¢ Daisy Dot III¢ Review By JOHN McGOWAN¢ Reprint from ACE ST. LOUIS¢ A short review with some hints.¢¢-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=¢¢THIS DOC IS FORMATTED IN 38 COLS FOR¢VIEWING ON THE ATARI EDITOR. COPY TO¢E: TO VIEW.¢¢Daisy Dot III is the new incarnation¢of Roy Goldman's Daisy Dot programme,¢a NLQ print processor for the Atari 8¢bit computers with at least 48K.¢¢This latest incarnation is written in¢C with ML routines to speed up¢processing.¢¢ ----------¢¢Daisy Dot III is available in two¢flavours, the plain vanilla,¢available as a shareware programme on¢your favourite BBS, and the¢chocolate-fudge version.¢¢The plain vanilla version is not¢fully compatible with the SpartaDOS¢cartridge, nor does it allow multiple¢fonts in a document. Other than that,¢the two versions appear to be¢identical.¢¢The chocolate-fudge version is¢available only from Roy Goldman for¢$25 and includes a nicely printed¢(reduced to 5x8) booklet on using DD3¢as well as quite a few fonts (which¢are, however, PD, and may be uploaded¢to your local BBS, so keep an eye out¢for them). The booklet has 21 pages¢on using DD3 along with information¢on using the font editor and font¢utility programme. Unless you desire¢to change fonts in a document (which¢is a VERY important option) the plain¢vanilla version will suit you as well¢as the chocolate-fudge version.¢¢(If you only use the plain vanilla¢version, and have never supported¢Goldman in his programming, you can¢always just send him $5, $10 or¢whatever to show your support!)¢¢ ----------¢¢ Comparison to DD2¢¢Daisy Dot two supported 8 point fonts¢(as compared to most printers'¢9 point NLQ fonts) in a double pass¢format.¢¢Some printers can print every 72nd of¢an inch (draft) as well as every¢144th (NLQ and high density graphics)¢by doing a second pass after moving¢the print head down 1/2 pin (one pin¢size being one 72nd of an inch). By¢having a second pass, one gets extra¢resolution and better fonts...this is¢generally how a printer does NLQ¢printing, however, most printers use¢a 9 pin head using either the top 8¢or bottom 8 (for descenders) pins,¢giving an overall size (from top of¢the tallest capital to bottom of the¢lowest descender) of 9 points. Daisy¢Dot II only uses 8 pins and so¢produces but an 8 point font.¢¢Daisy Dot II printed (using a¢graphics dump) a first pass, then¢advanced the print head minimally,¢and prints the second pass. Under¢graphics dumps, some printers (as in¢their NLQ mode) a minimal advancement¢may be 1/2 point (144th of an inch)¢and so everything works out fine.¢Some printers actually used a 216th¢of an inch as a minimal spacing in¢GRAPHICS mode. Thus they have the¢CAPABILITY of using three pass data¢and printing LQ rather than NLQ¢(though their NLQ mode only advances¢144th of an inch) (advancing 216th of¢an inch means that in graphics mode¢they can EMULATE a 24 pin printer!).¢Both Daisy Dot II and DD3 only do¢double pass printing (NLQ) rather¢than triple pass printing (as may be¢available on some printers) (LQ).¢Thus they emulate a 24 pin printer,¢using but 16 of the 24 possible¢pins.¢Due to the improper line advance¢(1/216 inch instead of 1/144 inch)¢under a magnifying glass (BUT ONLY¢UNDER A MAGNIFYING GLASS) Daisy Dot¢II print may show up as just a bit¢more jagged than the built in NLQ¢font in the printer, but for all¢intents and purposes, it provides NLQ¢print on the 8 bit.¢(NOTE: I KNOW OF NO PROGRAMME THAT¢ATTEMPTS ANY TRIPLE PASS PRINTING OF¢WHICH YOUR PRINTER MAY BE CAPABLE).¢¢Some printers (the StarNX10, but not¢most epson compatibles) allow RAM¢based NLQ (double pass fonts) and so,¢provided a Daisy Dot II font is not¢too wide for the format, it can be¢converted over to a NLQ font¢accessible from any application. The¢new programme uses fonts which in¢general are taller than 9 points and¢so are not capable of being¢transformed to RAM fonts for the¢printer, and can only be used from¢DD3 (unless you write your own¢routines to use them).¢¢ ----------¢¢Daisy Dot II supported several¢options NOT supported by DD3. In¢Daisy Dot II, one could set many¢default options from the main menu...¢this was very nice for printing with¢a font which required zero spacing¢(say a hand writing font) and¢switching to another font (with¢different spacing) and reprinting the¢document. Several of these options¢are no longer available for¢adjustment from the main menu¢(spacing for one).¢¢Daisy Dot II supported a very crude¢method of including graphics¢(VERBATIM) files. However the work to¢include a graphic, and may the gods¢help you if you wish to edit a file¢with a graphic!, was prohibitive (one¢had to put a form feed at the top of¢a page before the first line, which¢should have required printing the¢file to disk loading in and adjusting¢and then resaving). However, the¢availability of TextPro version 4.54¢allowed one to automate this¢completely.¢¢(for those using Daisy Dot II, here¢is the method. In the following, [x]¢means the x-key in INVERSE. First¢redefine [left-arrow] to be ASC(155)¢as a printer equate...actually, this¢is the default, and you only have to¢do this if you entered your own¢configuration file which changes¢this...make sure that EVERY page¢after the first has as header:¢ \N[left-arrow]your header text¢and set your page length to 65. Thus¢your page is one line short, but¢EVERY PAGE gets a form feed so one no¢longer has to find places to insert¢it.¢Next to put in a verbatim file that¢takes up 17 lines with a title which¢takes 2 lines, use:¢ [n]19[+]17 My title first line.¢ My title second line.\Vfilespec\¢where the file spec is that of the¢verbatim file.¢The [n], conditional page break,¢ensures that your graphic will NOT¢cross a page boundary and the¢allocation command [+] reserves 17¢lines for it.¢As long as you know the length of¢your verbatim file, this makes¢inserting it user transparent.)¢¢DD3 supports NO graphic inclusion¢unless you redefine a font to print¢out your graphic and switch to the¢font with the graphic... I am¢thinking of writing a small basic¢programme to allow the conversion of¢several PS icons to characters in a¢DD3 font so that, if you have the¢chocolate-fudge version of DD3, you¢can include PSicons.¢¢Daisy Dot II allowed Bold face, while¢DD3 has no such command. The only way¢to emphasize print in DD3 is to¢create a bolder font and switch¢fonts.¢¢ ----------¢¢Such are the small advantages of DDII¢over DD3. Now let us look at the¢advantages of DD3.¢¢DD3 allows much nicer, larger, more¢complex fonts giving a much better¢output.¢¢DD3 allows you to choose the vertical¢as well as the horizontal spacing.¢¢In DDII one had to print the document¢to disk, forcing one to know how many¢characters per line were being¢used... but if one changed spacing or¢fonts, or even if one did not, since¢the fonts are proportional, it was¢impossible to guarantee that the font¢would print out at all nicely. DD3¢does its own formatting, and one¢simply saves one's document to disk¢with no line breaks letting DD3 use¢the proper line breaks for each¢line.¢¢In DDII, one always had to turn off¢justification on the last line of a¢paragraph so that it came out neatly.¢In DD3, the last line of a paragraph¢automatically has its justification¢turned off, and the next paragraph¢remains justified if justification is¢turned on.¢¢DD3 supports centred and right tabs¢as well as standard (left) tabs.¢¢DD3 allows careful positioning with¢absolute and relative shift commands,¢as well as careful positioning of¢headers and footers.¢¢DD3 dox indicate that current formats¢are applied when a header is printed¢(for example if currently right¢positioning is in effect, the header¢will print to the right) but one can¢change these in a header, and DD3¢will re-enforce the defaults before¢printing the rest of the document¢(thus a header of \r\# will print the¢page number on the right, but the¢rest of the page will NOT be right¢justified, but have the justification¢in force before the header is seen).¢Somehow I do NOT truly trust this!¢¢ ----------¢¢All in all, the fact that DD3 formats¢its own text makes it much more¢reliable than DDII. The fonts are¢wonderful and the lack of graphics is¢about all that I can see that makes¢it not an excellent product. Thus I¢can not rate it A+, but give it a¢rating of A.¢¢ -----------------¢ -----------------¢¢ Some hints on using DD3.¢¢ The hard hyphen (\-).¢I have never wanted to break a word¢like well-done at the hyphen between¢lines (like¢ well-¢done)¢and cannot stand soft hyphens feeling¢that hard hyphens should be the¢default (a hard hyphen is one which¢does NOT allow a line break, but is¢treated as a character). The DD3¢hyphen is (in default) soft, so if¢you want a word NOT to break at a¢hyphen, use \-.¢¢ ----------¢¢ Line spacing.¢¢The standard NLQ font on most¢printers is 9 point with 3 points¢spacing from the bottom of one line¢to the top of the next. That is, 1/3¢the number of points. DD3 does¢spacing in 72nds of an inch (points)¢but does NOT list the font heights in¢points!¢A font which prints out from the font¢editor as 31 for a height means that¢it uses double pass data, starting at¢row 0 and ending at row 31. Thus¢there are 32 rows, and as this is¢double pass data, the height is¢32/2=16 points.¢Thus such a font should have spacing¢of about (1/3)16 or about 5/72 inch¢(use 5 in the vertical spacing¢command).¢In general, if the font editor gives¢a height of "n" the proper spacing¢(vertical) for the font is about:¢ (n+1)/6¢for single spacing.¢(thus for n=31 in the above example,¢we get 32/6=16/3 about 5).¢The unexpanded DD3 fonts are from 15¢to 31 in height and one uses a¢spacing of from (15+1)/6=2+2/3 to¢(31+1)/6=5+1/3¢that is from 3 to 5 points (72nds)¢spacing. The built in default is 4¢which seems fine for single line¢spacing, unless you are using a¢magnified font. (NOTE: The¢denominator of 6 in the above formula¢comes from the 1/3 listed above and a¢factor of 1/2 for the double pass).¢¢For "k" line spacing (rather than 1¢line spacing) for a font which lists¢as height "n" the formula for the¢vertical spacing should be (this is¢the value used in the vertical¢spacing command and is in 72nds of an¢inch, the command is \XVnn where "nn"¢is a two-digit (use 04 for 4) spacing¢in points)¢¢ (n+1)*(4*k-3)/6¢¢(NOTE: DD3 cannot be set to do double¢spacing...the only thing you can do¢is set the single spacing far apart!¢the equivalent of double spacing)¢¢Thus for a font height of 15 (DDII¢font height) and single spacing, we¢get:¢ (15+1)(4-3)/6=16/6 or about 3.¢¢For double spacing with a DDII font¢(n=15) we get:¢ (15+1)(8-3)/6=80/6=40/3¢ or about 13.¢¢For triple spacing with a font which¢is listed as height 20, we get:¢ (20+1)(12-3)/6=63/2¢ or about 31¢¢NOTE: THE SPACING USED CAN RANGE ONLY¢FROM 00 TO 33 SO THAT TRIPLE SPACING¢WITH A 21 POINT FONT IS ABOUT THE¢LARGEST SPACING YOU CAN GET.¢¢ ----------¢¢ Changing fonts¢¢NOTE that if you have the¢chocolate-fudge version and change¢fonts, that the bottom of the¢characters does NOT line up... the¢TOP of the characters lines up!¢Thus, unless you want such an effect,¢it is best NOT to change fonts in the¢middle of a line unless the UL¢(position of character bottom...¢underline position) value is the same¢for the several fonts on the same¢line.¢Print your fonts out from the font¢editor to check this (and I suggest¢making up a table of the vertical¢spacing to be used for single, double¢and triple spacing).¢¢ ----------¢¢ The "Decimal Tab"¢¢There is NO decimal tab in DD3, there¢is only a right tab (which can be¢used for decimals).¢¢Suppose we have used \PR to put tabs¢at three successive positions at¢which we wish decimals to be¢printed:¢¢ T T T¢ 12.45 123.45 00.00¢ 12345.90 0.00 34.¢ data here01 x1 ¢¢and wish to have a table like the¢above printed (T indicates the¢positions of the tab)¢The two lines with data would be¢entered as:¢Line one:¢\T12.\Z45\T123.\Z45\T00.\Z00¢Line two:¢\T12345.\Z90\T0.\Z00\T34.\Z¢¢Line three:¢\Tdata\Z\There0\Z1\Tx1\Z¢¢The entry \T12.\Z tells DD3 to go to¢the next tab (which was put in as a¢\PR, right tab) and put in the data¢with the decimal point (\Z following¢it) at the right edge (the tab¢position) then the following "45"¢puts the "45" immediately after the¢decimal point. The next number is¢tabbed over to the next right tab and¢the decimal point is put at the tab¢position (the \Z after it) etc.¢¢There is NO automatic recognition of¢the decimal (as there would be in a¢true decimal tab) but this is a RIGHT¢TAB and one MUST flag whatever¢character is to be at the right with¢a \Z command (even if it is a¢decimal).¢¢ ----------¢¢ Horizontal spacing¢¢Since these are true proportional¢fonts, and some of them DEMAND¢certain spacing (such as zero for the¢handwriting fonts) this cannot be set¢in stone. But the non-proportional¢NLQ in most printers has 2 column¢spacing for fonts of vertical spacing¢of 3 points. Thus, the horizontal¢spacing, for characters of about the¢same proportion (height to width) of¢standard fonts, should probably have¢a horizontal spacing of about 1/2 to¢2/3 of the spacing for single spaced¢printing. As reasonable spacing for¢single spaced printing is about 4 (in¢points) a spacing (horizontal, the \S¢command) should be 2 or 3 for most¢fonts. The default of 2 seems to work¢well. Note that for fonts with other¢proportions (very narrow fonts or¢wide fonts) a different spacing may¢be more pleasing (generally greater¢for wider fonts).¢¢ ----------¢¢ Hanging indents:¢¢A hanging indent changes the LEFT¢margin, but NOT for the current line.¢FOR ALL LINES FOLLOWING THE CURRENT¢LINE.¢¢Thus:¢This is \XHHa test (more stuff)¢¢Would print out in DD3 as:¢¢This is a test (more stuff......more¢ stuff more stuff.....¢ more stuff.....)¢¢That is, the left margin will be set¢for the following lines.¢¢One can also use the absolute form¢(\XHnnn) to specify a new left margin¢at "nnn" 40ths of an inch for¢following lines.¢¢To stop the hanging indent you MUST¢reset the left margin (the \XLnnn¢command).¢¢ ----------¢¢Hopefully this brief discussion of¢some of the features of DD3 will help¢any DDII user to use the programme¢and at least whet the appetite of¢those who have tried no incarnation¢of Daisy Dot.¢
