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PRINTGL 1.09 REFERENCE **** TEST VERSION *** TEST VERSION **** (C) Copyright Ravitz Software Inc. 1990 Ravitz Software Inc. P. O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 g-1 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................... 2 LICENSE AND REGISTRATION 3 ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS ........................... 3 WHAT IS NEW 4 INSTALLATION ..................................................... 5 OPERATION 6 SYNTAX ........................................................... 7 /A - LOCATION OPTION 8 /C - PEN COLOR OPTION ............................................ 8 /D - OUTPUT DESTINATION OPTION 9 /F - OUTPUT FORMAT OPTION ....................................... 10 /I - SCALING POINT LOCATION OPTION 11 /L - PAGE LAYOUT OPTION ......................................... 12 /M - MAGNIFICATION OPTION 13 /N - PAGE NUMBER OPTION ......................................... 13 /O - ORIGIN AND ORIENTATION OPTION 13 /P - PLOTFILE OPTION ............................................ 14 /S - PEN SHADING OPTION 14 /T - TEMPORARY FILE OPTION ...................................... 14 /W - PEN WIDTH OPTION 15 /X - SUPPRESS MESSAGES .......................................... 15 /Y - Y/D SWITCH SETTING OPTION 15 /Z - CHORD ANGLE OPTION ......................................... 15 MESSAGES 16 SERIAL PRINTER INTERFACE ........................................ 16 EPSON 9 PIN PRINTERS 17 EPSON AND NEC 24 PIN PRINTERS ................................... 17 HP LASERJET 18 HP PAINTJET ..................................................... 18 IBM LASERPRINTER 19 IBM PROPRINTER .................................................. 19 IBM PROPRINTER X24 COMPATIBLE PRINTERS, IBM QUICKWRITER 19 IBM PROPRINTER X24 .............................................. 19 IBM QUIETWRITER 2 AND 3 19 CGA DISPLAY ..................................................... 20 EGA DISPLAY 20 HERCULES DISPLAY ................................................ 20 MCGA DISPLAY 20 VGA DISPLAY ..................................................... 20 BIT MAPS 21 GEM .IMG BIT MAPS ............................................... 21 PRINTGL MENU INTERFACE (PMI) 22 PMI SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS .......................................... 22 PMI INPUT AND OUTPUT CHOICES 23 PMI PLOT OPTIONS ................................................ 23 PMI PEN OPTIONS 23 PMI PAGE LAYOUT OPTIONS ......................................... 23 PMI OTHER OPTIONS 24 HP-GL ........................................................... 25 HP-GL CHARACTER SETS 33 COMPATIBILITY AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION ......................... 37 SUPPORT BULLETIN BOARD 38 SUPPORT BY MAIL ................................................. 38 g-2 INTRODUCTION PrintGL prints an HP-GL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language - HP 7475 subset) plotfile on a matrix printer. HP-GL is widely supported by graphics programs including AutoCAD, Generic CADD, MathCAD, SAS, MICROCADAM, Schema, and many more. PrintGL has native mode drivers for Epson and NEC compatible 9 and 24 pin dot matrix printers, HP Laserjet, Deskjet, and PaintJet, and IBM 9 and 24 pin Proprinters, Quietwriter 2 and 3, and LaserPrinter. It will also display plots with a CGA, EGA, VGA, enhanced VGA, or HGC and output a bit map or GEM .IMG file. Even if your graphics program supports your printer, you may find that PrintGL gives better print quality. PrintGL uses the best graphics modes available for each printer that it supports. If you need printed graphics output from personal software, you can output HP-GL and use PrintGL to do the printing. This gives immediate support to a wide range of printers. PrintGL interprets all of the HP 7475 command set that is applicable to plotfiles except for character set 8 (Katakana). None of the digitize, output, or device control commands (except plotter on and off) are supported as these are only used with direct control of a plotter. And the error mask command is not supported. In addition to the HP 7475 commands, PrintGL handles paper feed commands so that you can put multiple plots in one plotfile. PrintGL Menu Interface (PMI) is a menu driven program that lets you choose any PrintGL options, select a list of plotfiles, and run PrintGL. This simplifies the selection of PrintGL's many options and lets you run multiple plotfiles without intervention. PMI lets you save three configurations, so after initial setup you can run PrintGL with minimal effort. g-3 LICENSE AND REGISTRATION PrintGL is distributed as shareware. You may use PrintGL without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, a $25 registration is requested. There is no cost to upgrade from any 1.** version to any other 1.** version. PrintGL and PrintGL Menu Interface are provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied. You may distribute PrintGL if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, including this license explanation, and do not charge more than $10. To register your copy of PrintGL, send your name, address, and $25 check, and specify PrintGL 1.09, to: Ravitz Software Inc. P. O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 You will not receive a new copy of PrintGL. The bulletin board distribution package is the complete, full function program. A receipt will be sent, usually by postcard. Include an additional $10 to get the current version of PrintGL (or you may specify the next significant release) on diskette (3 1/2" unless you specify 5 1/4"). If you are interested in using PrintGL as a printer driver in a commercial program, send a note. Special license agreements and special versions are available for this purpose. ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536 g-4 WHAT IS NEW For version 1.09: three configurations are contained within PMI HP 7475 support HP-GL reference section in PRINTGL.DOC GEM .IMG output format colors may be mixed with any PrintGL shading pattern For version 1.07: plotfile masks are supported improved messages slightly revised font (*,f,t,j,0) unsupported HP-GL commands are noted (and then ignored, as before) /X[S[F]][U] option suppresses messages PrintGL Menu Interface is included with the PrintGL package For version 1.05: DOS environment variable PRINTGL can be used to set defaults slightly revised command line parser PrintGL Menu Interface is available to registered PrintGL users For version 1.04: /F9* supports NEC 24 pin printers in 360x360 dpi mode For version 1.02: /FVP, /FVT replaced by /FV*88, /FV*91 any 720x540 VGA is supported with /FV+modenum any 800x600 VGA is supported with /FV*modenum slightly changed line type patterns for improved speed The latest version of PrintGL is available from the support bulletin board at 606-268-0577 (1200/2400,N,8,1 24 hours/day, XMODEM or YMODEM (1K XMODEM) download), packed in .ZIP format. g-5 INSTALLATION The PrintGL package includes of these files: PRINTGL.EXE program PRINTGL.DOC documentation CHARSET.PLT HP-GL character set plotfile PMI.EXE menu interface program SAMPLE.PLT sample plotfile To install PrintGL copy the distribution files to your working disk or directory. PRINTGL.EXE is a stand alone executable file. There are no extra printer driver files or overlays. PRINTGL.DOC is this manual. You can print it with "COPY PRINTGL.DOC PRN" (39 pages). The HP-GL character set should be printed with the command PRINTGL CHARSET.PLT /M1 /AO0,0 (and a /F option specific to your printer) and inserted in the manual. PMI.EXE is the executable file for PrintGL Menu Interface. PMI needs to be able to find itself (PMI.EXE) and PRINTGL.EXE, so both of these files should be in a directory that is in your DOS PATH. SAMPLE.PLT is a sample plotfile to help you try out PrintGL. g-6 OPERATION PrintGL reads a plotfile, does arc, character, fill, etc. to line conversion, stores the data in a coordinate list, and if needed, puts the list on disk. It then reorients the data and determines the plot size. Next the data is resized and relocated. Finally the coordinate list is rasterized and printed in swaths. You are likely to see the printer print a swath and stop while PrintGL is processing the next swath. When you display a plot, press Esc to return to the DOS text screen. Ctrl-Break stops PrintGL at the next break point. Ctrl-Break is ignored when PrintGL is waiting for user input. If your plotfile contains any IW (input window) commands and there is data outside the clipping window, then if PrintGL's automatic sizing or centering is in effect (/A and /MF options), PrintGL sizes and centers assuming that you want to see the entire window, whether is contains data or not. PrintGL works within a printer's current margins and starts at the current print position. If you decline the form feed suboption of the /L option then PrintGL leaves the printer at the start of the line directly below the plot. All printing is done in printer lines that cover the full width of the printhead. Internally PrintGL uses two byte coordinates on a 1016 dots per inch grid. This allows for plots with coordinates of over 30 inches - far larger than an HP 7475 can handle. However if you are using PrintGL to emulate a large plotter, you may overflow the internal coordinate system. This condition is not checked, and it will cause garbage output. You can change the internal resolution to 508 dots per inch (giving 60 inch maximum plot sizes) by editing PRINTGL.EXE with a binary editor - search for the string "indpi" and change the next two bytes from hex F803 to hex FC01. g-7 SYNTAX The calling syntax of PrintGL is: PRINTGL plotfile /option1 /option2 ... Spaces between parameters are not required. The plotfile may be specified with the /P option if it is inconvenient to make it the first parameter. If a given option is entered more than once, only the last entry is used. And if an option is invalid (but not incorrect), it is ignored. This lets you set up a batch file with your preferred options but override them as desired. For example, create PHP.BAT with the line: PRINTGL /FL /M1 /P %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9 Then PHP can be called just like PRINTGL but it defaults to HP LaserJet format with magnification 1. The DOS environment variable PRINTGL is examined by PrintGL and if it is nonblank then it is put in front of the command line parameters. If you put "SET PRINTGL=/FL/M1" in your AUTOEXEC.BAT then PrintGL will default to Laserjet format with magnification 1. If you do not enter any parameters or if any parameter is incorrect, PrintGL displays its option reminder screen. Below [ and ] enclose optional suboptions and │ separates mutually exclusive suboptions. The options and suboptions may be in any order except that multiple numeric suboptions are ordered. "c" refers to a suboption character, "x" and "y" to suboption floating point numbers, "i" and "j" to suboption integers, "b" to a suboption byte, and "f" to a DOS file or device name. For floating point numbers a decimal point is allowed but not required, and scientific notation is not allowed. "-" is allowed but not "+". For integer input, only base ten integers from 0 to 32767 are allowed. A byte must be a base ten integer from 0 to 255 or a hexidecimal number prefixed with $ from $00 to $FF. Further range checking is done for most options to flag unreasonable input. If an option has multiple numeric suboptions, these may be separated with commas or blanks. ******************************************************************** It is very important to choose the right output format (/F option). It is likely that the default output format will work on your printer, but it is equally likely that it will not produce optimal results. Please look carefully at the entire list of output formats before choosing one, and do not assume that because a format works that it is the best one to use. ******************************************************************** g-8 /A - LOCATION OPTION /A[O][x,y] - location - default /A The A option determines the location of the plot in the printer window, by specifying a point on the plot that is to be aligned with a point in the printer window. The point on the plot is normally its center, but you can specify a point with x,y in inches from the plot's origin. The point in the printer window is normally the center, but O says to make it the origin. The default /A puts the center of the plot at the center of the printer window. When PrintGL is finding the center of a plot, the entire rectangle defined by any IW command is included in the overall size of the plot. /A puts the center of the plot at the center of the print /AO0,0 puts the plot 0,0 at the print origin /C - PEN COLOR OPTION /Cc.. - color - default /CL The C option specifies the color of each of the eight pens. The colors are B for blue, C for cyan, G for green, L for black, M for magenta, R for red, and Y for yellow. Unspecified pens use the last specified color (/CRGB is the same as /CRGBBBBBB). If the output format does not allow color then this option is ignored. Additional colors can be created with shade mixing. These colors use the pen's specified shading pattern (/S option) to mix the seven pure colors. If the shade value is 0 (solid) it is replaced by 2 (one pel checkerboard) which produces the most uniform mixed colors. The colors may not look good with multipass dot matrix formats, and they need line widths of at least 2 (4 for 2 pel shading patterns). Mixed colors may have visual artifacts on edges near 45 degrees angle. The colors are: .bc blue cyan .lb black blue .wb white blue .bm blue magenta .lc black cyan .wc white cyan .gc green cyan .lg black green .wg white green .gy green yellow .lm black magenta .wm white magenta .rm red magenta .lr black red .wr white red .ry red yellow .ly black yellow .wy white yellow .wl white black The following output formats handle colors: /F9 (NEC 24 pin), /FN (Epson 9 pin), /FP (HP PaintJet), /FT (Epson 24 pin), /FB (bit map), /FG (GEM .IMG), /FE (EGA), and /FV (VGA). Shading may be used to emulate color on black only printers (see /S option). /CL sets pen 1..8 to black /CLRG.BM.LY sets pen 1 to black pen 2 to red pen 3 to green pen 4 to blue/magenta checkerboard pen 5..8 to black/yellow checkerboard g-9 /D - OUTPUT DESTINATION OPTION /Df - destination - default /D1 The D option specifies the output printer port, device, or file. 1, 2, or 3 causes PrintGL to use the BIOS printer routines, bypassing DOS. This is normally faster than specifying the DOS device (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3), but it may cause problems with print spoolers or multitasking systems. Use COM1, COM2, etc. for serial printers. Display output can only go to the screen and causes this option to be ignored. /D2 sends output to the second parallel port via BIOS /DLPT3 sends output to the DOS device LPT3 g-10 /F - OUTPUT FORMAT OPTION /Fc[+[b]│-│*[b]│=│i,j] - output format - default /FN The F option specifies which output format to use. The format is chosen with a device character and, optionally, a resolution modifier (-, +, *) or alternate modifier (=), and in some cases a display mode. *, +, and - are allowed even where they have no affect. For bit maps you can choose a specific resolution in dots per inch. Resolutions here are given in horizontal x vertical dots/inch. To return to DOS from a displayed plot, press Esc. /F1 IBM Proprinter ..................................... 120x72 /F1+ IBM Proprinter (2 pass) 120x144 /F2 IBM Quietwriter 2 .................................. 240x240 /F3 IBM Quietwriter 3 240x240 /F4- IBM LaserPrinter ................................... 150x150 /F4 IBM LaserPrinter 300x300 /F4= IBM LaserPrinter ................................... 300x300 /F5 IBM Proprinter X24 compatible printers 180x180 /F5+ IBM Proprinter X24 compatible printers (2 pass) .... 360x180 /F6 IBM Proprinter X24 180x182 /F6+ IBM Proprinter X24 (2 pass) ........................ 360x182 /F9 NEC 24 pin compatible printers 180x180 /F9+ NEC 24 pin compatible printers (2 pass) ............ 360x180 /F9* NEC 24 pin compatible printers (4 pass) 360x360 /FB bit map ............................................ 100x100 /FBi,j bit map ixj /FC CGA display ......................................... 62x25 /FE 128K EGA color display 62x45 /FG GEM .IMG bit map ................................... 100x100 /FGi,j GEM .IMG bit map ixj /FH Hercules graphics card display ...................... 70x45 /FL- HP LaserJet compatible printers 150x150 /FL HP LaserJet compatible printers .................... 300x300 /FL= HP LaserJet compatible page printers 300x300 /FM 128K EGA monochrome display ......................... 62x45 /FN Epson 9 pin compatible printers 120x72 /FN+ Epson 9 pin compatible printers (3 pass) ........... 120x216 /FN* Epson 9 pin compatible printers (6 pass) 240x216 /FP HP PaintJet ........................................ 180x180 /FT Epson 24 pin compatible printers 180x180 /FT+ Epson 24 pin compatible printers (2 pass) .......... 360x180 /FT* Epson 24 pin compatible printers (4 pass) 360x360 /FV VGA display ......................................... 62x62 /FV+ enhanced VGA display 720x540 mode - mode $63 70x70 /FV+b enhanced VGA display 720x540 mode - mode b .......... 70x70 /FV* enhanced VGA display 800x600 mode - mode $64 78x78 /FV*b enhanced VGA display 800x600 mode - mode b .......... 78x78 The display mode with /FV+ and /FV* may be specified in hex by prefixing it with $, for example /FV*$64 is the same as /FV*100. g-11 /I - SCALING POINT LOCATION OPTION /IA│R│W[N] - IP point location - default /IA The I option sets the initial scaling points (P1, P2 - the scaling points may be set in the HP-GL file with the IP command). A (absolute) sets the points to the default for the paper size (see below). R fits P1 and P2 to the plot window with at least .25 inch margins and an x/y ratio of 10/7.2 (the same ratio as the HP 7475 with small paper). W fits P1 and P2 to the plot window with a .25 inch margin. N makes the margin 0 for R or W and is ignored with A. The default scaling points depend on the paper size (/L option) and the plot orientation (/O option). paper options default scaling pts with RO90 command A /O1 /L 7.84,10.20 250,596 10250, 7796 154,244 7354,10244 A4 /O1 /L 7.60,10.87 603,521 10603, 7721 0,610 7200,10610 B /O1 /L10.20,16.38 522,259 15722,10259 283,934 10283,16134 A3 /O1 /L10.87,15.90 170,602 15370,10602 607,797 10607,15997 A /O2 /L10.20, 7.84 250,596 10250, 7796 154,244 7354,10244 A4 /O2 /L10.87, 7.60 603,521 10603, 7721 0,610 7200,10610 B /O2 /L16.38,10.20 522,259 15722,10259 283,934 10283,16134 A3 /O2 /L15.90,10.87 170,602 15370,10602 607,797 10607,15997 anything else 250,279 10250,7479 279,250 7479,10250 /O3 and /O4 gives the same default scaling points as /O1 and /O2. The default paper size is 7.53 by 10.14, the HP 7470 standard paper size. This causes "anything else" values. This is because a number of printers can't handle the slightly larger HP 7475 A size plots. You must use the /L option to get HP 7475 standard paper sizes. /IA uses the default default scaling points /IWN sets the scaling points to fit the print window g-12 /L - PAGE LAYOUT OPTION /L[B][F][R][x,y[,x,y]] - page layout - default depends on printer The L option defines the page layout. B boxes the plot at the hard clip limits using pen 8. This generally increases the amount of data sent to a printer, but not bit maps or displays. F causes a form feed after the plot. This is ignored for bit maps and display output. R causes reverse image (black on white) on one color display plots and bit maps and is otherwise ignored. The first optional x and y are the plot width and height in inches rounded to .01. These define the hard clip limits. These values are not checked against your printer's capabilities. If you specify a page layout larger than the output device can handle, the results are unknown. You may need to reset your printer's margins, maximum line length, or page length to get large plots. The size needed for a given width and height exceeds x and y by 8 pels to allow for line widths. The second optional x and y are the left and top margins, measured from the printer's left margin and current vertical position to the hard clip limits. The left margin is rounded to .01 inch. The top margin is rounded to a 1/6 inch and line feeds (assumed to be 1/6 inch) are used to position the paper. The margins are subject to printer resolution and efficiency considerations, and may not be exact. Margins are ignored for display output and bit maps. Each printer has a default page layout. The default width and height are 7.53x10.14 for printers and bit maps and 10.14x7.53 for displays. These correspond to HP 7470 A size paper, which is slightly smaller than HP 7475 A size paper. This is the default because some printers can't handle the extra .06 inch length of the HP 7475 A size. The margins are printer specific to compensate for different default margins. In evaluating user options, PrintGL processes each option and when finished reprocesses the default page layout for the last chosen printer and then reprocesses the last user /L option. This procedure gives good default values so that your /L option can change the letter or size suboptions and still have good margins. /LB7.5,3,.5,0 makes the print window 7.5 inches wide and 3 inches high, with a .5 inch left margin and no top margin, boxes the window, and does not do a form feed /LF7.53,10.14 sets HP 7470 A size paper /LF7.53,10.73 sets HP 7470 A4 size paper /LF7.84,10.20 sets HP 7475 A size paper /LF7.60,10.87 sets HP 7475 A4 size paper /LF10.20,16.38 sets HP 7475 B size paper /LF10.87,15.90 sets HP 7475 A3 size paper g-13 /M - MAGNIFICATION OPTION /M[F]x - magnification - default /MF.9 The M option specifies the magnification. F fits the plot to the printer window size. The default is /MF.9 which makes the plot 90% of the largest size that will fit in the printer window. /M1 gives the same size plot as an HP 7475 plotter. /MF.9 fits the plot to the print window and shrinks it 10% /M1 plots at the same size as an HP 7475 /M.5 plots at half the size of an HP 7475 /N - PAGE NUMBER OPTION /N[i] - page number - default /N Ni says to print only page i of the plotfile. If you do not specify i then all pages in the plot will be printed (this is the default). /N prints all pages in the plot file /N3 prints only page 3 /O - ORIGIN AND ORIENTATION OPTION /O1│2│3│4[L] - origin, orientation - default /O1 or /O2 The O options sets the printer's origin and orientation. The origin is one of four corners numbered 1..4 for upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right. The L suboption specifies a left handed coordinate system (this should never be needed). 1 is the default origin for printers and matches the plotter's coordinate system. 2 is the default origin for displays which also matches the plotter's coordinates due to the reversed width/height ratio. Here are pictures of PrintGL's view of the output media compared to an HP 7475's view, to help with choosing a /O option. HP 7475 A HP 7475 B PrintGL y┌────────┐ 0,0┌────────┐y ul ┌──────┐ur ul┌────────┐ur │ │ │ │ │paper │ │screen │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 0,0└────────┘x │ │ │ │ ll└────────┘lr │ │ │ │ │ │ ll └──────┘lr │ │ x└────────┘ /O1 puts the print window's origin in the upper left corner /O2 puts the print window's origin in the lower left corner g-14 /P - PLOTFILE OPTION /Pf - plotfile - no default The plotfile may be specified as the first parameter without any prefix, or it may be specified anywhere in the option list with the /P prefix. The plotfile may be a standard DOS mask with "*" and "?" characters. In this case each matching file is processed, but the first failure or user break stops all processing. /S - PEN SHADING OPTION /Sc.. - pen shading patterns - default /S0 This option assigns a shading pattern to each pen. Unspecified pens use the last specified shade. The shade values are 0..8. 0 is the default solid line. 1..4 are 1 dot patterns (75%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%) and need line widths of at least three to give good looking lines. 5..8 are 2x2 dot patterns (75%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%) and need line widths of at least five to give good looking lines. Some printers may wash out shading because they have a dot size that is large relative to the dot spacing. This is often the case with dot matrix printers in multipass modes. 1 2 3 4 █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ 5 6 7 8 ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ /S0236 sets pen 1 to solid pen 2 to 1 pel checkerboard pen 3 to 1 pel dots pen 4..8 to 2 pel checkerboard /T - TEMPORARY FILE OPTION /Tf - temporary file - default /TPRINTGL.TMP PrintGL uses a temporary file when it does not have enough memory to handle a plotfile. It does not use extended or expanded memory so you can best utilize this memory by putting the temporary file on a RAM disk in the extra memory. If you have 640K of memory and average size plotfiles then it is likely that PrintGL will never use a temporary file. g-15 /W - PEN WIDTH OPTION /Wc.. - pen widths - default /WA The W option assigns a line width to each pen (1..8). Each width may be 1..8 pels or A..H for the default width of the output format plus 0..7 (maximum 8). Unassigned pens use the last assigned width. The default line width is 1 for all output formats except 240 and 300 dpi printers which have a default line width of 2. /WA sets pen 1..8 to the default width for the chosen printer /WABC123 sets pen 1 to the default width for the chosen printer pen 2 to the default width + 1 pel pen 3 to the default width + 2 pel pen 4 to 1 pel pen 5 to 2 pels pen 6..8 to 3 pels /X - SUPPRESS MESSAGES /X[S[F]][U] - suppress messages - default /X The X option lets you suppress some PrintGL messages. The S suboption suppresses location and size messages. With S you can also specify F, which suppresses file names and page numbers, substituting "Plot 1", "Plot 2", etc. The U suboption suppresses unsupported command messages. /X gives all the normal messages /XS gives only the most important messages /Y - Y/D SWITCH SETTING OPTION /YD│Y - Y/D switch setting - default /YD The Y option sets the plotter's rear panel Y/D switch to D or Y. Y starts with the plotter off and responds to esc.(, esc.Y, esc.), and esc.Z commands. D starts with the plotter on and ignores these commands. /YD puts the YD switch in the usual D position /Z - CHORD ANGLE OPTION /Zi,j - default and minimum chord angle - default /Z15,5 The HP 7470 defaults to a chord angle of 5 and has no minimum. Because PrintGL stores each chord in a circle in its internal database, this can be very time consuming. And because of the low resolution of printers it does not produce a corresponding improvement in print quality. The Z option specifies the default and minimum chord angles. The default is /Z15,5. For better emulation use /Z5,2. /Z5,2 sets the default chord angle to 5 degrees, and the minimum to 2 degrees g-16 MESSAGES PrintGL displays a number of messages to keep you informed of what it is doing. The output looks like this. Reading SAMPLE.PLT Plotfile has 1 page(s) Processing page 1 2283 data records Overall magnification 0.9964 Print window Horizontal 0.00 7.53 Vertical 0.00 10.14 Plot area Horizontal 0.42 7.13 Vertical 0.61 9.54 Output format /FN 120x72 dots/inch (HxV) Writing to device LPT3 The first line is the plotfile that is currently being processed. The second line tells how many pages are in the plofile, which page is being processed, and the number of data points in that page. The number of data points is the number of pen moves in the page and is shown to give you an indication of the plot's complexity. The overall magnification is either the magnification that you specified with the /M option or the effective magnification after fitting to the page with /MF. The print window line gives the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the print window, always starting at 0,0 and in inches. The plot area gives the horizontal and vertical coordinates of a box that just covers the plotted data. This uses the same coordinate system as the print window, so you can tell where the plot is relative to the print window. The output format and resolution are given and then the output device is noted (except for screen plots). If three plane color is being used, the word "color" is displayed. If you have a black only printer, but the output format allows color (this is common with 9 and 24 pin printers), using color will triple the PrintGL run time with no improvement in print quality. During processing, PrintGL informs you when it is processing and writing data, and you can watch the progress from 0% to 100%, along with the elapsed time. SERIAL PRINTER INTERFACE If your printer is attached to a serial port, specify /DCOM1, /DCOM2, etc. PrintGL cannot set up the port. This is usually done in the AUTOEXEC.BAT with MODE (probably MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P). At 9600 baud, the normal printer interface speed, a serial interface is far slower than a parallel port. A full page of 180x180 dpi graphics takes about 5 minutes. And if you are using color, which requires sending three independant color planes, this jumps to 15 minutes. g-17 EPSON 9 PIN PRINTERS /FN covers a wide range of 9 pin dot matrix printers. You need a cyan/magenta/yellow ribbon to get color prints. /FN+ uses 1/216 indexing and /FN* uses 1/216 indexing and 1/240 graphics. The IBM 9 pin Proprinters do not do 1/216 indexing and do not correctly handle 1/240 graphics. /FP is a special Proprinter driver. The /FN drivers use the following printer escape codes: esc J - index esc L - graphics command for /FN and /FN+ esc Z - graphics command for /FN* esc r - set ribbon color (only if color is specified) EPSON AND NEC 24 PIN PRINTERS /FT covers the entire line of Epson LQ printers and many compatible printers (Panasonic, etc.). You need a cyan/magenta/yellow ribbon to get color prints. /FT+ uses 1/360 graphics mode. /FT* uses 1/360 graphics mode and 1/360 indexing and resets the printer's line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. A clean paper path with equal tension on both sides is needed for good 360x360 graphics. /F9 and /F9+ are identical to /FT and /FT+. /F9* is the NEC equivalent to /FT*. The above notes apply to the /F9 drivers also. These drivers will not work with IBM Proprinter X24s in alternate graphics mode because they use the absolute tab command. The /FT and /F9 drivers use the following printer escape codes: esc $ - absolute tab esc * ' - graphics command for /FT, /F9 esc * ( - graphics command for /FT+, /FT*, /F9+, /F9* esc + - set n/360 indexing for /FT* esc 2 - start esc A indexing for /FT*, /F9* esc A - set n/72 indexing for /FT*, /F9* esc J - index esc r - set ribbon color (only if color is specified) fs 3 - set n/360 indexing for /F9* g-18 HP LASERJET /FL works with any LaserJet or DeskJet. This driver assumes that your printer is in portrait mode. At 300 dpi (the default), if you have just 512K in a LaserJet then your plot can cover about half the area of the page. 1.5M is sufficient for a full page of graphics. At 150 dpi (/FL-) 512K handles a full page. (All DeskJets can handle a full page of graphics at 300 dpi.) /FL- defaults to a page height of 10.11 inch instead of 10.14 inch, so that plots fit on a page without changing margins. /FL= is the same as /FL except that it reduces the amount of data sent to the printer at the expense of processing time. This may run faster than /FL and may allow larger plots on 512K printers. It only works on page printers - not the DeskJet. HP PAINTJET /FP should work with any 180 dpi HP-PCL printer, including the HP Rugged Writer, but this has not been tested. If your PaintJet has a serial interface, please see SERIAL PRINTER INTERFACE. g-19 IBM LASERPRINTER /F6 drives the LaserPrinter in native mode. /FL will work if the LaserPrinter is in HP LaserJet mode. At 300 dpi (the default), if you have just 512K in your LaserPrinter then your plot can cover about half of the page. 1.5M is sufficient for a full page of graphics. At 150 dpi (/F6-) 512K handles a full page. /F4= is the same as /F4 except that it reduces the amount of data sent to the printer at the expense of processing time. This may run faster than /F4 and may allow larger plots on 512K printers. IBM PROPRINTER The /FP driver is for all 9 pin Proprinters. The high resolution driver (/FP+) uses 1/144 inch indexing and it does not work with Epson 9 pin compatible printers that have 1/216 inch indexing. There is no /FP* resolution, which would be 240x144, because Proprinters do not handle 1/240 graphics correctly. IBM PROPRINTER X24 The /F5 driver covers all Proprinter X24s. These printers can use the X24 compatible driver (/F4), but because they do 1/144 indexing, the print will have horizontal white streaks every 2/3 inch. The /F5 drivers compensate for the indexing by defining the vertical resolution as 182 dots per inch and indexing 19/144 inch per line. To work properly the printer must be on a 1/144 boundary when the graphics are printed. If you keep the line feed distance a multiple of 1/144 (1/6, 1/8, 1/9) then this will always be the case. Proprinter X24 and XL24 are very slow with graphics, making many passes per line. This limitation cannot be overcome with software. The X24E and XL24E are significantly faster, and are much preferred to the original X24s. IBM PROPRINTER X24 COMPATIBLE PRINTERS, IBM QUICKWRITER The IBM Quickwriter is a Proprinter X24 compatible printer except that it does 1/180 indexing. This is probably the case with most Proprinter X24 compatible printers. /F4 is the correct driver to use for such printers. /F5 (the Proprinter X24 driver) is not recommended. IBM QUIETWRITER 2 AND 3 Line widths should be at least two for these printers. The Quietwriter drivers reset the line feed distance to 1/6 inch upon completion. g-20 CGA DISPLAY The CGA driver (/FC) does not give color. The CGA card has no graphics mode that supports the 7 colors used by PrintGL. EGA DISPLAY The EGA drivers (/FE, /FM) require a 128K or 256K EGA. If you have a 64K EGA, the CGA (/FC) driver will work. /FM is for an EGA card with a digital monochrome monitor attached. If your display adaptor supports Hercules modes, /FH will give better resolution. HERCULES DISPLAY /FH supports the Hercules monochrome graphics card. There is no support for the Hercules InColor card. MCGA DISPLAY /FV will work with an MCGA if you do not use color. VGA DISPLAY The /FV+ output format requires a VGA card that supports 720x540 mode. /FV* requires a VGA card and multisync monitor that support 800x600 mode. PrintGL sets up the screen by setting BIOS display modes $63 and $64 ($ means hex). Your VGA card must use these modes to work with /FV+ and /FV*. If your VGA card uses other mode numbers to select 720x540 or 800x600 mode, you can specify this number in the /F option. Here is a list of /FV options for common VGA cards. You may need to run a special driver that is supplied with the card to get these modes. ATI /FV*$54 Genoa /FV*$29 Paradise /FV*$58 Renaissance /FV+$63 /FV*$64 Trident /FV*$5B Video Seven /FV*$62 g-21 BIT MAPS Color bit maps are two pels per byte. Each pel nibble = 1*blue + 2*green + 4*red + 8*intensity. The intensity is 0 for black and 1 otherwise. The background is 15 - white, which is not a user selectable color. /CL (default) bit maps are 8 pels/byte with 1 meaning black and 0 background. This may be reversed with the R suboption of the /L option. The map size is the size specified by the L option plus 8 pels in each direction to give room for line widths of up to 8 pels. GEM .IMG BIT MAPS Here is the .IMG format used by PrintGL. It uses only a subset of the available commands. The file starts with a header composed of 8 word values (high byte first): 1 1 2 8 3 number of color planes - 1 or 3 4 1 5 pel width in microns - round(25400 / horizontal dots/inch) 6 pel height in microns - round(25400 / vertical dots/inch) 7 scan line width in pels (always a multiple of 8) 8 number of scan lines The rest of the file has the scan lines in order from top to bottom. For color plots, each complete scan line consists of a red scan line, a green scan line, and then a blue scan line. Each scan line is composed of these data commands: $01..$7F - from 1 to 127 * 8 pels off $81..$8F - from 1 to 127 * 8 pels on $80 n b1 b2 .. bn - n bytes of bit mapped data Single plane files use 0 for the background. Three plane files use 1 for the background (red + green + blue = white). The map size is the size specified by the L option plus 8 pels in each direction to give room for line widths of up to 8 pels. g-22 PRINTGL MENU INTERFACE (PMI) To run PrintGL Menu Interface, enter PMI at the DOS prompt, and press Enter. There are no options. The PMI main menu is displayed at the top of the screen, and the bottom of the screen is used differently for each main menu option. The PMI main menu is divided into six groups - the top row and five columns. Each group is described below. When the cursor is on a main menu item, the current value of the corresponding option is diplayed. To modify that value, press Enter (or the left mouse button). The options are modified with cursor movement and sometimes entering numeric values. The Enter key returns you to the main menu with the new option values. Esc (or the right mouse button) returns you to the main menu with the option values unchanged. Whenever a cursor bar has a notch, then the value within the notch may be edited. PMI SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS The top row of main menu options is dedicated to PMI functions. These include running PrintGL, switching to alternate settings, exiting PMI, saving the current PMI settings, and setting PMI options. R runs PrintGL from any main menu cursor location, but PrintGL messages will not be saved unless the cursor is on "run PrintGL". The "alt settings" item rotates between three PMI configurations. The current configuration number is on line 2 column 1. The "save settings" item saves the current PMI configurations. All of the current PrintGL and PMI options for each configguration are saved. The plotfile list is not saved. PMI saves its configuration by writing to PMI.EXE. To find PMI.EXE it looks in the current directory and then searches the DOS PATH, saving to the first PMI.EXE that it finds. The "menu options" item lets you configure PMI mouse sensitivity, screen colors, and up to five initial plotfile masks. Screen colors are specified with the standard IBM BIOS attributes. For color displays, the left hex digit is the background color and the right hex digit is the foreground color. Bright colors are not available in the background. 0 black 4 red 8 gray (bright) C bright red 1 blue 5 magenta 9 bright blue D bright magenta 2 green 6 brown A bright green E yellow 3 cyan 7 white B bright cyan F bright white For digital monochrome displays, these attributes are useful. $01 underscored $09 bright underscored $70 reverse image $07 normal $0F bright g-23 PMI INPUT AND OUTPUT CHOICES Column one of the main menu lets you choose the plotfiles to plot (the /P option in PrintGL), the plot page number (/N), the output destination (/D), and the output format (/F). You may enter up to 99 plotfiles in the "plotfile" main menu option. To choose from a list of files, enter a mask name and press Enter (the cursor must be on the mask). PMI will then display a list of corresponding files. Select any number of the files by moving the cursor to the desired file and pressing Space (or the middle mouse button). If no files have been selected, then pressing Enter selects the file under the cursor. The selected files are added to the file list at or below the cursor. Files that would overflow the 99th position on the plotfile list are dropped. When you run PrintGL, PMI runs PrintGL for each file on the plotfile list. Masks are ignored. For any plotfiles that PrintGL does not successfully process, PMI inserts an arrow in front of the plotfile name. You can view the results from the "plotfile" main menu item. The arrow is not considered part of the file name by PMI, so you do not need to remove it to retry PrintGL. Printers in the output format list that support color have a color option. This lets you specify a black/white printer even though you may have set up colors with the "pen color" menu. Output formats that do not support color do not have this option and always ignore the selected colors. PMI PLOT OPTIONS The second column of main menu options define how the plot will appear on the page. The options include magnification (/M), orientation (/O), and position (/A). PMI PEN OPTIONS The third column of main menu options covers the pen characteristics: color (/C), shade (/S), and width (/W). Each of these menus use the up and down cursor keys to select a pen, and the left and right cursor keys to choose an attribute. For color selection, the one character colors (l,b,c,g,m,r,y) represent pure colors, and the two character colors are checkerboard mixes. The checkerboard mixed colors disable any shading option for that pen. PMI PAGE LAYOUT OPTIONS The fourth column of main menu options covers the page layout (/L). These are box, form feed, reverse image, print window, and left and top margins. g-24 PMI OTHER OPTIONS Options that are generally set once and then never touched are in column 5. These include the temporary file name (/T), default and minimum chord angle (/Z), plotter scaling points (/I), and plotter D/Y switch setting (/Y). g-25 HP-GL PrintGL's HP-GL specification is taken from the HP 7475A Interfacing and Progamming Manual, HP part number 07475-90001. PrintGL supports this HP-GL subset except for character set 8 (Katakana), digitize commands, output commands, the error mask command, and some device control commands. Supported commands are listed below. Commands that are not applicable to printing, such as pen velocity, are considered supported but are completely ignored. Commands that are not supported are flagged and then ignored. Some extensions are supported. Form feed commands are allowed and 15 pens are allowed instead of 6. To take advantage of the this, it may be useful to use a 7550 driver to create your plotfile. And fill angles (FT command) are not restricted to multiples of 45. In reading a plotfile, PrintGL ignores carriage returns, line feeds, and nulls except where they may be valid characters (LB, SM, DT, esc.), and ASCII EOF (dec 26) is interpreted as an end of file mark. AA x_center , y_center , arc_angle [, chord_angle] arc absolute AA draws an arc starting at the current pen position with the pen in the current up/down state. AF advance full page (extension) AF starts a new plot. AP automatic pen pickup - IGNORED AR x_center_delta , y_center_delta , arc_angle [, chord_angle] arc relative AA draws an arc starting at the current pen position with the pen in the current up/down state. CA character_set designate alternate character set See HP-GL CHARACTER SETS for a list of character sets. CI radius [, chord_angle] circle CI draws a circle centered at the current position. The current up/down state and position are unchanged by a CI command. g-26 CP [spaces , lines] character plot CP moves the pen by character spaces (+ is along the text) and lines (+ is up), using the current up/down state. Using no parameters is the same as including a carriage return/line feed in an LB command. CS character_set designate standard character set See HP-GL CHARACTER SETS for a list of character sets. DF default values This sets default values for the following commands: CA, CS, DR, DT, FT, IW, LT, PA, PT, SC, SM, SL, SR, SS, TL. DI [run , rise] absolute character direction DI sets the baseline direction for labels. Using no parameters is the same as DI1,0. DR [run , rise] relative character direction DI sets the baseline direction for labels. Run and rise are a percentage of P2X-P1X and P2Y-P1Y. Using no parameters is the same as DR1,0. DTt define label terminator The label terminator denotes the end of each LB command. The default is ASCII 003. EA x_opposite_corner , y_opposite_corner edge rectangle absolute EA draws a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. EC enable cutter - IGNORED g-27 ER x_opposite_corner_delta , y_opposite_corner_delta edge rectangle relative ER draws a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. EW radius , start_angle , sweep_angle [, chord_angle] edge wedge EW draws a wedge centered at the current position. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. FT [type [, spacing [, angle]]] fill type These are the fill types. Type 2 is identical to type 1 for PrintGL. 1 solid lines spaced at the pen thickness (see PT command) 2 unidirectional solid lines spaced at the pen thickness 3 lines at the specified spacing 4 cross hatched lines at the specified spacing 5 type ignored A spacing parameter of 0 sets the spacing to 1% of the P1-P2 diagonal. Spacing is in x axis units (this is only relevant if the axes have differnet scaling). PrintGL supports any integer angle for fill (the HP 7475 requires multiples of 45 degrees). Cross hatched lines are at angle + 90. IN initialize IP [p1x , p1y [, p2x , p2y]] sets scaling points P1 and P2 IP sets the scaling points (P1 and P2) in plotter units. P1 and P2 are used by a number of commands to help with size independant plots. IW [x_lower_left , y_lower_left , x_upper_right , y_upper_right] input window IW sets a clipping window in plotter units. With no parameters, the clipping window is turned off. When a clipping window is in effect and there is data outside the window, if PrintGL's automatic sizing or centering is in effect, PrintGL sizes and centers assuming that you want to see the entire window, whether is contains data or not. g-28 LB...text...terminator label Labels use the current character set, based on CA, CS, SA, and SS commands. See HP-GL CHARACTER SETS for font specifics. LT [pattern_number [, pattern_length] line type PrintGL's line type patterns are close to, but not identical to HP's. Line type patterns are dynamically limited to a minimum length of 16 pels. 0 at endpoints only 1 ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ 2 ──── ──── ──── ──── ──── 3 ────── ────── ────── ────── ────── 4 ───── ─ ───── ─ ───── ─ ───── ─ ───── ─ 5 ──── ── ──── ── ──── ── ──── ── ──── ── 6 ─── ─ ─ ─── ─ ─ ─── ─ ─ ─── ─ ─ ─── ─ ─ no parameter ──────────────────────────────────────── Pattern length is a percentage of the P1-P2 diagonal with a default of 4%. Line type is a property of the line that is being drawn - it is not a property of the pen that is being used to draw the line. You cannot specify that a certain pen should use a specific line type. (Color, shading, and width are pen properties and can be assigned to pens.) PA [x , y] [, x , y] ... plot absolute PA moves the pen in current up/down state. PD [x , y] [, x , y] ... pen down PD sets the pen down and optionally moves it with the current absolute/relative mode. PG [i] new page (extension) PG starts a new plot. The parameter is ignored. PR [x_delta , y_delta] [, x_delta , y_delta] ... plot relative PR moves the pen with the current up/down state. g-29 PS paper size - IGNORED PrintGL ignores this command. You must set the paper size with the /L option. PT [thickness] pen thickness The pen thickness is the line spacing used in solid fills. (It does not cause a pen to be a certain width.) PU [x,y] [,x,y] ... pen up PU raises the pen and optionally moves it with the current absolute/relative mode. RA x_opposite_corner , y_opposite_corner shade rectangle absolute RA fills a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The rectangle edge is not drawn. RO [angle] rotated coordinate system RO with 0 or no parameters sets up a normal coordinate system. RO with 90, the only other allowed value, sets up a system that is rotated 90 degrees. The method of rotation depends on the paper size. The RO command does not change the scaling points, so an IP command is useful after an RO. The HP 7475 specifies two different meanings for RO90 depending on the paper size (A/A4 or B/A3). PrintGL decides which type of rotation to do based on the sum of the print window width and height. If this sum is greater than 23.75 inches then large paper rotation is used. Otherwise, small paper rotation is used. Small paper rotation: Large paper rotation: RO 0 RO 90 RO 0 RO 90 y┌────────┐ 0,0┌────────┐y 0,0┌────────┐y y┌────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 0,0└────────┘x x└────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ x└────────┘ 0,0└────────┘x g-30 RR x_opposite_corner_delta , y_opposite_corner_delta shade rectangle relative RR fills a rectangle with corners defined by the current position and the command parameters. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The rectangle edge is not drawn. SA select alternate character set SA specifies the alternate character set as current. The alternate character set is chosen with CA. SC [xmin , xmax , ymin , ymax] scaling SC sets user units for subsequent drawing. The units are defined by user values for P1 (xmin,ymin) and P2 (xmax,ymax). Using no parameters turns scaling off, and subsequent drawing is done in plotter units (1/1016 inch). SI [width , height] character size absolute SI sets the capital letter box width and height in centimeters. Letter spacing is 1.5 * width and line spacing is 2 * height. Using no parameters with B or A3 paper is the same as SI.285,.375 and any other paper is the same as SI.187,.269. SL [tan_angle] character slant SL sets the character slant. The parameter is interpreted as the tangent of the angle from vertical. Using no parameter sets the slant to 0 degrees. SM[c] symbol mode SM sets symbol mode, which centers the symbol mode character at any plotted point. Any character from ASCII 033 to ASCII 126 except a ";" sets symbol mode. Any other character turns symbol mode off. SP pen_number select pen SP selects a pen. Using 0 or no parameter stores the pen without selecting a new pen. This is usually done at the end of a plot. PrintGL ignores any drawing with pen 0. g-31 SR [width , height] character size relative SR sets the capital letter box width and height as a percentage of P2X-P1X and P2Y-P1Y. Letter spacing is 1.5 * width and line spacing is 2 * height. Using no parameters is the same as SR.75,1.5. SS select standard character set SS specifies the standard character set as current. The standard character set is chosen with CS. TL [positive_length [, negative length]] tick length TL sets the tick lengths used by XT and YT. The parameters are lengths above and below the current position as a percentage of P2Y-P1Y for x-axis ticks and a percentage of P2X-P1X for y-axis ticks. UC [[pen_control ,] x_delta , y_delta] ... user character UC specifies a user defined character. Pen control number are 99 for pen down, and -99 for pen up. Pen movements are relative, with x_delta in units of 1/4 the character width and y_delta in units of 1/8 the character height. VA adaptive velocity - IGNORED VN normal velocity - IGNORED VS pen velocity - IGNORED WG radius , start_angle , sweep_angle [, chord_angle] shade wedge WG fills a wedge centered at the current position. The current pen position and up/down state are unchanged. The wedge edge is not drawn. g-32 XT x-axis tick XT draws a vertical line, with length specified by the TL command, at the current position. The pen position and up/down state are unchanged. YT y-axis tick YT draws a horizontal line, with length specified by the TL command, at the current position. The pen position and up/down state are unchanged. esc.( esc.Y plotter on Esc.( and esc.Y turn the plotter on. This is only relevant with the /YY option. It is not flagged as unsupported if /YD is set. esc.) esc.Z plotter off Esc.) and esc.Z turn the plotter off. They are only effective with the /YY option. The plotter on and off commands let you include comments or data to pass through to another device in the plotfile. These are flagged as unsupported commands if /YD is set, as an indication that you should set /YY. esc.@, esc.H, esc.I, esc.M, esc.N, esc.R RS-232 device control commands - IGNORED with /YY g-33 HP-GL CHARACTER SETS The HP 7475 includes the following character sets. PrintGL supports all of these except Katakana. 0 ANSI ASCII 1 9825 character set 2 French/German 3 Scandinavian 4 Spanish/Latin American 6 JIS ASCII 7 Roman Extensions 8 Katakana - NOT SUPPORTED BY PRINTGL 9 ISO International Reference Version 30 ISO Swedish 31 ISO Swedish For Names 32 ISO Norway Version 1 33 ISO German 34 ISO French 35 ISO United Kingdom 36 ISO Italian 37 ISO Spanish 38 ISO Portuguese 39 ISO Norway Version 2 The character sets specify a font for codes 33..127. Codes 000..032 and 128..255 are independant of the character set and are all no ops except these. 003 default label terminator 008 backspace 009 half backspace 010 line feed 011 reverse line feed 013 carriage return 014 select alternate character set 015 select standard character set 032 space g-34 The HP-GL characters cannot be printed with the standard ASCII character set. The file CHARSET.PLT is an HP-GL file with three pages that can be used to print these pages of PrintGL's manual. Use the command PRINTGL CHARSET.PLT /M1 /AO0,0 with a /F option specific to your printer to do this. g-35 g-36 g-37 COMPATIBILITY AND TECHNICAL INFORMATION PrintGL will run on any IBM compatible MS-DOS computer. It will work in a region as small as 92K but may need more memory for high resolution or wide prints. 116K should suffice for the worst case black/white prints - 13.2 inches wide, 360x360 dpi. Color output requires an additional 32K or more for high resolution / wide prints. 196K is needed for the worst case. A larger region may make things go faster by allowing larger buffers and averting the use of a spill file. By default PrintGL uses the BIOS printer interrupt to send data to a printer. If a file or device is specified for output then DOS 2.0 file handling is used instead. Messages are written to the screen with standard DOS CON output. Graphics screen modes (except Hercules) are set up with BIOS, and graphics screen updates are done by writing directly to the display buffer. PrintGL takes the BIOS break interrupt (hex 1B) and the DOS critical error interrupt (hex 24) in addition to those taken by the Turbo Pascal 5.5 startup code. PMI will run on any IBM compatible MS-DOS computer. It will work in a region as small as 152K. When running PrintGL, all but 40K is given to PrintGL. More memory may allow PrintGL to run more quickly. PMI runs PrintGL via a DOS shell. It searches the current directory and then the DOS PATH, calling the first copy of PRINTGL.EXE that it finds. PMI sets up a new environment with just a PRINTGL value to set PrintGL parameters. PMI can use any text or graphics display mode that allows at least 80 columns and 20 lines of text. In text modes, PMI writes directly to the display buffer, and in graphics modes, BIOS is used to display text. When under DESQview, PMI should be started in a text mode, and it writes directly to the DV selected screen buffer. The Microsoft mouse interface (interrupt hex 33) is used for mouse handling. Function 0 for reset, 3 for button presses, and hex B for motion are the only functions used. PrintGL and PMI were written by Cary Ravitz and compiled with Borland's Turbo Pascal 5.5 and Turbo Assembler 1.01. g-38 SUPPORT BULLETIN BOARD The Ravitz Software support bulletin board is at: 606-268-0577 1200/2400,N,8,1 24 hours/day. To ask a question (or make a comment or suggestion), first prepare a file with the details of your question. Please be very specific, and include any related information on your hardware, software, and operating environment. Then call the bulletin board and choose the upload question option. XMODEM file transfer protocol is required for this. Your question will be assigned a number, (such as 1015) - remember this number. An answer file (with the assigned number) will be posted, usually within 24 hours. To get an answer, call up the bulletin board, choose the download option, then the answer option, and then enter the answer number. XMODEM is also required for downloading answers. All question and answer files are public. The latest versions of PrintGL and Ravitz Editor are available from the bulletin board. These are packed in .ZIP format and may be downloaded with XMODEM or YMODEM (1K XMODEM). Anyone may use the bulletin board, however priority may be given to registered users of PrintGL and RE. SUPPORT BY MAIL You may send questions by mail to: Ravitz Software Inc. P. O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 It is best to send questions on diskette (360K, 1.2M, 720K, or 1.44M, 720K is best) in a standard ASCII file. The answer will be put on your diskette and it will be mailed back to you. This will make it easy to include example files or a new version of the software with the answer. Return postage is appreciated.