home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Magnum One
/
Magnum One (Mid-American Digital) (Disc Manufacturing).iso
/
d17
/
prin23.arc
/
PRIN23.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-06-15
|
7KB
|
132 lines
Prin version 2.3 Please upload this file, not beta versions.
This is the first official release of prin. All previous versions are
betas, and should be deleted from board directories. Thanks.
Copyright (C) Drake Koefoed 1990
By use of this program, you agree to hold the author free from any
liability of any kind.
Prin is called up by the command prin (filename) where (filename)
is the name of a file. The name of the file as you entered
it will be printed,(unless you use the n parameter), and then the file,
at 60 lines per page unless you specify a page length with the l
parameter.
EXAMPLE: PRIN PRIN.DOC Would print prin.doc at 60 lines per page and
also print the filename.
EXAMPLE: prin prin.doc n l58 Will print prin.doc at 58 lines per page
without the filename at the top.
You may EXIT Prin at any time by pressing escape.
The printer will continue to
print whatever is in it's own buffer, and you will be returned to the
prompt. It may seem not to be working at first, because if the printer buffer
is full, dos will make me wait. As soon as the printer takes the line
I'm sending, I go back and look to see if you have pressed escape
before sending another line.
Prin filters out all FORMFEEDS embedded in the file, so it
totally ignores the pagination of the file. This is handy when
printing out shareware documents that have wierd page lengths,
useless formfeeds, or no pagination at all.
Prin sends an escape @ to the printer on startup, which is a
RESET to an Epson. Some printers may not understand this code, in
which case they will not reset.
The other codes used are just formfeed and linefeed, with
embedded formfeeds being replaced by linefeeds to prevent
possible overprinting. Prin uses DOS services, and has been
tested under Desqview, with fine results. It should be the same
under other MULTITASKERS. You may find it works much better than
print does in this situation, and it is NOT memory resident.
Prin is written in ASSEMBLER, so it is very small and fast. It
could be optimized considerably and perhaps it will be, too, but
it's a lot faster than my printers already. I have run {Commo} in
one window of Desqview and prin in another with no noticable
slowing of print speed on an 8mhz XT. Prin can run in a 5k window under
Desqview. You will need more space if you use a batch file, also.
Prin depends on you to set the paper to the TOP OF FORM before
starting. 60 lines will be printed, and then a formfeed. When the
end of file is reached, another formfeed will be sent, and Prin
will exit. Hopefully, your printer does not have more than 6
blank lines above the first one printed. If it does, you must use the l
parameter to specify the number of lines you can print. You may be able
to print more than 60, in which case you can use the l parameter to fill
up the page to the end.
COMMAND LINE OPTIONS: use only lower case. uppercase will not work.
Spaces or forward slashes will have the same effect. Programmers refer
to these things as delimiters, because they mark the limits of the
filename and the command line parameters. If you use some that are not
needed, you will get a few dots on the screen after the last display.
Your printout is not affected. This is just to tell you you don't need
to type so much. There will soon be some more options.
The n option prevents the filename from being printed. You can say prin
myfile/n, or prin myfile n. Either will stop the filename from being
printed.
The l option sets the number of lines to the number following.
For example: Prin filename l55 would cause prin to print out the file
called filename at 55 lines per page. This number must be two digits.
The p option puts page numbers on in upper right.
The m option adds a left margin of five charactors unless the line is
too long. Currently the maximum line length is 80 charactors. This will
soon be configurable, and I will add a wrap feature to keep those
misbehaving lines from printing off your paper. In the meantime, you can
only use the margin feature on normal files. I add a margin to any line
that is not longer than 75 chars. Otherwise, I print it without a
margin. This feature keeps your printout away from the area that hole
punches punch in.
MULTIPLE FILE PRINTING: You can do this with a BATCH file. You can say
prin %1 ,and dos will substitute the filename you type first. Then prin
%2 and dos will substitute the second filename you type. You can add
parameters in these commands if you like. If your batch file calls prin
with more files than there are, they are just going to get ignored
because files without names aren't going to be found.
ERRCODES: On errors, I save the dos error code and return it on
termination, so you can find out what went wrong if you want. On
successful termination, I return an errcode of zero. Have fun, batch
freaks!
Not for profit use of this program is authorized with no fee, but I ask
that you make a contribution. I would consider a buck generous. I
have a theory of shareware that it ought to be cheaper than commercial
stuff because we get rid of all the middlemen. Unfortunately, the small
area of distribution and the people who won't pay may make up for that.
One thing people could do is distribute the files all over the place to
help programmers get their work seen. I would like that done with this
program.
I NEED BETA TESTERS !
If you print things prin is good for, I would like to have you run the
latest versions of the program. In exchange for your comments, I offer a
lifetime licence to use all future versions. A $1.00 value, yours free
for God only knows how much of your time. It's just the sort of
ridiculous offer I would bite on, so if you're like me, let me know.
The best way to leave me a message about the program would be on :
Directory Assistance bbs (707) 538-8710
CC&C (707) 584 3441
Gravesend (707) 795 4939
VOR (707) 778 8944
Motherboard (707) 778 8743
If you want to write and you want an answer, the least you could do is
send a self addressed, stamped envelope, dontcha think? Oh yeah, and I
should put my address in here just in case somebody actually wants to
pay.
Drake Koefoed After Sept '90 I will be at the
8120 Tarwater road University of Oregon
Santa Rosa, CA 95404 Eugene Oregon
Desqview is the property of Quarterdeck. It's a great program.
{Commo} is the property of Fred Brucker. It's a greater program.