PsL Monthly 1994 July/PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (Public Software Library) (July 1994).iso/reviews/p2_01

Text File | 1994-02-23 | 20KB | 553 lines

P2-01:  For Epson and Compatibles


------------------------
2003 Fonts/File Printing          Small Programs Disk
------------------------

ColrView
   prints text files in color on the Epson JX-80.

Convert 1.1 (CONVEPS)
   Root, John
   $15
converts files from 9-pin double density to 24-pin hex density.  Also included
is a utility for use with Mirage and a utility to print graphics files which
have been output to a disk file rather than to a printer.

FontGen
   $?
lets you design character fonts to be downloaded into your Epson FX-compatible
printer.

Just-LQ
   Ford, Nelson ASP
   $?
prints files using proportional print and micro-justification for a near
typeset appearance on the Epson LQ printers.

LQChar 1.23
   Meyer, Eric
   $0
is a small, efficient utility for designing downloadable character fonts for
Epson LQ-compatible 24-pin dot matrix printers.  It has LQ to Draft
conversion; the ability to copy characters from another font; to preview fonts
on EGA.

LQ-Print
   letter-quality file printer for FX-series printers.

Micro Print (MP-KW)
   Whitney, Kenneth D.
   $?
prints text files at 17 characters per inch and 12 lines per inch on IBM and
compatible printers.  Options allow you to format the printout to fit into
IBM-sized binders and to skip every other page so that you can turn the paper
over and print on the other side.

PPS3
   Cox, Doug
   $0
reformats and prints a file in proportional spacing on an Epson LQ printer.

Prnchr 1.3
   WyNiWyG Group
   $5
lets you redefine fonts on an Epson 9 or 24-pin printer. After you edit the
characters, the program automatically creates a file for you to send to your
printer. This is very easy and powerful system for designing your own fonts, or
creating special characters. English and French instructions are provided.

Print150 1.00 (PRINT15)
   Software, Etc.
   $0
will print 120 or 150 lines per page on IBM/Epson Graphics printer.  BASIC is
required.  (In PsL tests, it did not work on an LQ-series printer.)

PRWide
   is designed for printing files on wide paper on Epson compatible printers.
PRWIDE automatically determines which of three formats to use.  Files with
long lines (greater than 135) will print single file.  Files with medium size
lines (between 88 - 135) will print two pages on each sheet side by side.
Files with short lines (less than 88) will print three pages per sheet.

SimPrint 1.0 (SIMPRIN)
   Lujanac, Paul
   $17
is a file printing utility for the Epson LQ-500 printer and other
Epson-compatible printers.  It will optionally strip high bits to help convert
files to straight text.  It lets you enter ASCII characters to signal it to
invoke different printing features, such as expanded print.

TL
   prints files using compressed, subscripted print.

--------------------------------
END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2003
--------------------------------


--------------------
0194 Printer Control          Small Programs Disk
--------------------

BuzOff
   turns off the paper-out alarm.

EZ Epson 1.09 (EZEPSON)
   Celista Software
   $5
allows access to some of your printer's capabilities that are not available
through use of the front panel switches. One option available is the "feed
paper". It feeds the paper ahead just enough to remove the document, and then
reverses the paper so printing can resume on the next empty page. This avoids
wasting a lot of paper. It works with many Epson and Epson-mode printers.

EPset 3.1
   Monroe, Gerald A.
   $15
is an Epson printer set-up and control program.  It also allows you to print
WordStar document files without converting them to ASCII first.

EpsonSet (EPSONSE)
   memory-resident set-up utility for FX compatibles.

FX2LQ 1.0
   Naff, Ric
   $0
is a TSR that will monitor printer output and translate FX vertical-spacing
codes to LQ vertical-spacing codes.  It takes 10k of DOS RAM.

FXMaster 3.31E
   Raub, Brian
   $15
uses one menu (or command line parameters) to let you select all 160+ Epson
FX-series fonts from your keyboard or batch files. The program can issue a
reset, linefeed, or form-feed, and can variably set margins, skip-over-perf,
line spacing and form length, and initial character sets. It also toggles
on/off: sheet-feeder, paper-out sensor, typewriter mode, and quiet (half-speed)
mode. It also supports "Dots Perfect" upgrade from Dresselhaus Industries.

LQ-1500
   is the same as EpsonSet, but for the Epson LQ-1500.

LQ800
   is a memory resident program which is designed to allow the user to select
from among 30 different fonts and options for Epson LQ800 printers.

LQ8Prnt 1.5
   Forrest, Rob
   $5
is a printer setup program for Epson LQ800 printers.  It should also work with
the newer LQ series.

LQSeries
   Grimmer, Dave
   $10
will allow you to get any of the 224 different print styles from your Epson LQ
series printer.

Margin
   is a menu-driven utility to set printer margins.

NU-Epson
   is a "pop-up" printer set-up utility for Epson-compatible printers.  We
already have one, but this one has different options.

P
   is a menu-driven printer set-up program.

PerfSkip (PERFSKI)
   skips designated number of lines over perforation.

PMenu3
   is a resident printer setting utility.

PrnFiltr (PRNFILT)
   Frank, Tom
   $0
allows an EPSON LQ (or compatible) printer to more closely emulate an FX-80
class printer.  This allows most graphics and word processing programs to work
properly.  The main symptom is that pages printed are longer than 1 page.
This is due to the fact that the LQ uses the same escape sequences as the FX
but interprets the spacing codes differently.

Tiny
   sets the printer to 17 cpi and 14 lines-per-inch.

--------------------------------
END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #0194
--------------------------------


-------------------------------
0649 Epson Printer Applications          Small Programs Disk
-------------------------------

0649 Sideways Printing
---------------------
LUM
   LCS
   $45
is a pop-up, sideways-printing utility for spreadsheet and text files for
Epson compatible printers.  LUM supports reverse high-lighting, superscript,
subscript, up to eight types of underlining types or overstrikings, and
extended ASCII characters.  LUM comes with a 10x6 dot font and a 40x24 dot
uppercase ASCII font.  LUM invokes a secondary copy of COMMAND.COM, which it
requires to be on drive A:. 81k

PrintUp
   DPI Services
   $20
is a utility that can be used to intermix regular text with text that is
printed 90 degrees to the left of normal.  PRINT-UP will give you the ability
to print the turned text to the left, right or in the middle of regular text.
PRINTUP has the ability to prescan the data file (what you see on your monitor
is what will go to your printer) that has PRINT-UP areas marked in the file.
The use of the prescan feature along with the ability to chose the lines of
the file that you want to prescan can save you a large amount of time.  The
other timesaver of Print-up is that you can create a disk-file of the output
data and print it at your convenience.

SidePrnt (SIDEPRN)
   $0
prints plain text files sideways. Enter: SIDEPRNT filename [/D] - "/D" doubles
the print quality. Pascal source code comes with it.

Sidewrite (SW)
   DEA Software
   $?
prints text files sideways to allow very long lines.  For example, it will
print a spreadsheet (which has been printed to a disk file) that has too many
columns to fit across a page horizontally.  Works on the IBM, Epson and HP
ThinkJet printers.

0649 General Labels
-------------------
CLM
   Updyke, Merwin
   $?
prints fancy labels on Star NX-10, Epson and IBM printers for various uses
such as labeling disks and books and making address labels.

Label Paint 1.0 (LPAINT)
   XPoint Systems
   $15
prints custom labels using several different font styles, drawing tools, and
features the ability to import Print Master graphic icons. Requires 512K RAM, a
mouse, EGA/VGA or monographics monitor, and an Epson or compatible printer.

LBL-JX
   Ford, Nelson ASP
   $0
prints color labels on the JX color printer.  Can also be used on non-color
Epson printers.  Allows mixing different print sizes, printing 5, 6 or 7 lines
per label, auto-centering, serial numbering, saving label layouts.

--------------------------------
END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #0649
--------------------------------


-----------------------------
2168 Printer Output: Graphics          Small Programs Disk
-----------------------------

EGAEpson
   Van Horn, Dr. R. Brooks Jr.
   $?
lets you do a graphics PrtSc from an EGA monitor to an Epson printer.

Gfx
   MacLean, Randy ASP
   $?
is a utility designed to simplify the generation of graphics on Epson
compatible printers.  It allows you to quickly create a small graphic image
which GFX will store in a small disk file which will reproduce the graphic
when dumped to the printer.  A mouse is required.

Grafx
   downloads the upper ASCII set into an FX.

IBMChr
   is a resident utility to print upper ASCII characters.

Letrhead (LETRHEA)
   lets you create letterheads for your stationary.  In testing on an Epson
LQ-850 at 6 lines per inch, gaps in the graphics were left between lines.
After setting the printer to 8 lines per inch, the problem was minimized.

RLEPrt 1.2
   Harper, Richard G. ASP
   $5
will print a high-resolution run-length-encoded file in 128 x 96 black and
white format directly to your Epson or IBM compatible printer.

RXLate
   prints screen's box graphics to RX-80's characters.

ScrnDump (SCRNDMP)
   graphics screen dump utility for Herc, CGA, EGA.

2168 Banners/Signs
------------------
CarSign
   Mutant Software
   $?
lets you create your own variant of the "Kid on Board" sign to stick on your
car's rear window.  It displays a template to guide you in entering text, then
prints it.  The Epson MX/FX, IBM ProPrinter and HP ThinkJet printers are
supported.

2168 BarCode
------------
Barcode 2.0 (BRCD-ET)
   Electronic Technologies
   $10
prints a barcode on an Epson compatible dot matrix printer from command line
input. UPC, Interleave 2-of-5, and Code 39 barcodes are supported.

Code3of9
   Wood, Bill
   contains a BASIC program that will print standard 3-of-9 bar codes on
IBM or Epson graphics printers.

Quikzip 1.2
   Westcoast Software
   $49
prints the new Postnet Barcode and address on any size envelope, postcard or
label. Not only will this help your mail get delivered faster, it can save you
money on postage. Quikzip will read names and addresses from an ASCII file and
translate the zip code to a bar code. Requires an Epson compatible printer.

UPC-A Label Printer 1.4 (UPC)
   Matter, Robert J.
   $0
enables 9-pin Epson compatible printers to print UPC version A barcodes on
standard mailing labels. You can scan input from an existing label, and double
density printing is supported.

ZipCode4 (ZIPCODE)
   Unikey Systems
   $15
prints zip and zip+4 postal codes on 24 pin printers that have Epson graphics
emulation.

--------------------------------
END OF SMALL PROGRAMS DISK #2168
--------------------------------


Bradford
   Contorer, Aaron
   $40
   #7415/1281
prints files in very high quality in a large variety of fonts using the
printer's graphics.  It also allows you to give commands, either on the system
command line or within your document, to control how your document will be
printed.  Bradford works with printers compatible with Epson MX and FX, IBM
Graphics and Proprinter, and Star Gemini-10x printers.  In addition to the
large number of fonts that come on the disk, a utility is included with which
you can create your own fonts.


Fontastic
   IHS Systems
   $?
   #7415/1028 [2 disks]
uses dot graphics on Epson and compatible printers to print text in numerous
fonts and print sizes.  For example, among the font files on the disk are
Roman, Helvetica, caligraph, script, rotated, dark bold and others in sizes
from 8 point to 24 point.

Gunther Steinberg, Portolz Valley, CA, and Jakob Gysel-Jenni of Urdorf,
Switzerland report that the manufacturers of Fontastic have moved and left no
forwarding address nor phone. We know that Fontastic will not work on some
newer models of printers, so we are considering removing it from the library.
However, quite a few people get this disk and do not report problems, so we
are unsure if they have it working or are just not complaining.


CodeMaker 1.3
   Quinbar, Kirk
   $54
   #4978
prints barcodes on dot matrix and HP laser printers. The program supports
barcode styles 3 of 9, Int 2 of 5, UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN8, and EAN13. Predefined
quantity of the same label or a quantity of labels can be printed based on a
starting serial number. Serial numbers and other data can be saved to a disk.
Four predefined label sizes are provided; customized labels may be added.


DJR BarCode Database 2.5cl
   Ramsey, David J.
   $40
   #12277
prints Code 39 barcodes on Epson compatible printers for a customer or
parts database maintained by the program. Requires 540k RAM and 500+K
disk space.


Epson LQ Printer Utilities
   Argonaut Systems
   $25
   #2889
is a set of utilities for Epson LQ 24-pin printers. LQGraph allows you to create
a graphic logo. LQChar allows you to create font sets and/or single special
characters. PrnLQ prints IBM extended ASCII characters. ENV prints addresses on
business size envelopes. Requires EGA and a Mouse. (The authors are no longer
at the address listed in the documentation.)

F. Lee Newcombe, Seffner FL: "Two of these programs lock up machine after
displaying the main menu."

PsL: This program requires that your printer be turned on and your mouse loaded
prior to executing the program.


LQMatrix 4.41
   Jimmy Paris Software ASP
   $20 each
   #1410
allows you to create, store, and download fonts on the Epson LQ family
of 24-pin dot matrix printers. It also includes over fifty ready made
and ready to use fonts including Script, Italics, Cyrillic, Greek,
Hebrew, Large Type, Math symbols, OCR-A & B, and more.


FX_Setup & PC-Font
   #7394/200
are Epson printer control programs and design character sets.


ImagePrint
   Image Computer Systems
   $46
   #7394/0657 [2 disks]
allows controlling the printer by embedding controls in the file to be
printed. Features include a menu from which fonts can be selected, the ability
to print only selected pages, support for wide carriages, 25 fonts up to 34
points in size, 24-pin Epson (and compatible) printer support, and a screen
preview mode. A text editor is included.


LQ-Font
   Hardy, Dr. James K.
   $?
   #7394/659
consists of a font editor, 7 sample fonts for use with the Epson LQ-800/1000
printers, and a program to upload the fonts to the printer.


LQ Fonts
   #7394/1270
is a collection of over 60 fonts for the Epson LQ800/1000 printers.  All you
have to do to load a font into the printer is type COPY <fontname> PRN.  From
then on, the printer will print everything in the requested font until you
reset the printer, turn it off, or load a different font.

While some of the fonts on the printout are hard to read, many of them looked
pretty good to us. Ron Hockemeier, Flemington, NJ, likes the fonts and passes
along the following tip: the LQ-1000 has a dipswitch in the back (switch #1-4)
which controls buffer size. In the On position, you get a larger print buffer,
but cannot download fonts to the machine, so to use LQ-FONTS, turn that switch
off.


NJLQP
   #719
is a relatively fast letter quality print program for Epson-compatible
graphics printers.  It uses a Roman Serif font and prints at about 17 cps on
an 8088-based computer.


On-Side
   Expressware Corporation ASP
   $20
   #1340
is a sideways printing program you can use to print reports down the page
instead of across, and in a variety of character font styles. All the font
styles provided with ON-SIDE can be enlarged or magnified to stretch
themselves vertically or horizontally, or both. By magnifying the fonts in all
their various sizes and shapes, you have 175 different style/size combinations
to choose from. With the accompanying font editor, you can modify any of the
character's dot patterns or make your own fonts. Epson/IBM-Graphics compatible
printer required.

We noticed a problem running this program under DESQview. The program blanks
the screen and locks up the computer, even when the /Bios option is selected
on the command line. It works if you quit DV first.


PC-Print
   #205
allows you to print in Spanish or German or various other fonts on Epson.


Picture This (PTShare)
   Picture This Software, Inc.
   $?
   #1984
is a graphics and text label printing program for Epson/IBM compatible
printers. Six fonts and several dozen graphics come with the program. It
prints on standard 1" by 3.5" labels. CGA compatible video is required.


PMS Label
   Hastings, Clint
   $5-$25
   #1643
is a label maker program that lets you add Printmaster and Printshop graphics
to your labels.  This program is for Epson FX compatible printers only.


Rubot Labels
   Botbyl, Dick
   $10
   #1064
is a terrific utility for making disk directory labels for 3.5" disks.  We
happen to like all the cute start-up ASCII graphics and slick windowing and
colors. 3x3 lets you store an 18-line label header on disk that can optionally
be printed above the sorted list of file names.  Dick put a nifty sample
header (MYLOGO.TXT) on the disk with "P(s)L" in large letters created by ASCII
graphics.  The volume name of the disk (which you can override) appears on the
very edge of the disk in small print and on the back of the disk in expanded
print when the label is attached to the disk.  You can make up to 99 copies of
a label and, unlike Label Maker, you can process as many disks as you want
without returning to DOS.

"3x3" and "4x1.5" support multiple label sizes, better input editing and a
reverse gear (ESC back one screen). Setup is available for printers unable to
print the extended ASCII characters; direct support is built in for Epson RX,
FX and LQ printers, including the ability to print colors with the LQ color
option. Micro adjustment of the printer from the keyboard is also available.
For those who want to cut keystrokes the label size and the disk drive choice
can be entered on the command line.

POCKET, which comes on the same disk, is really slick. It prints the disk and
directory information on a 8.5" by 11" piece of paper in such a way that the
paper can be folded to neatly hold a 3.5" disk. This allows you to identify
the contents of a 3.5" disk without having to attach a label to it.


SignSmif
   Smith, Bryan B.
   $?
   #1029
is a sign-printing program primarily designed to make single-page signs,
transparencies, etc, using up to four fonts and dot graphics on Epson and
compatible printers.  Pascal source code is on the disk.  The program was
written for FX printers, but has been tested on (and works on) the Epson LQ
series printers.


Unikey Bar Codes
   Unikey Systems
   $0
   #2733
is a set of Bar Code printing programs, five of which print code 39 bar codes on
nine-pin Epson-compatible printers and one of which is for HP LaserJets.

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