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JETCOL
Shareware Version 2.3
A Compressed Print Utility
Copyright 1990-1993
by
ARCaine Technology
960 Neilson St
Albany, CA 94706
(510) 527-9859
All Rights Reserved
YE OLDE DISCLAIMER
This software and manual are sold "as is" and without warranties
as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties
whether expressed or implied. Because of the various hardware and
software environments into which this program may be put, no
warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The user
must assume the entire risk of using and evaluating this program.
Any liability of the seller will be limited exclusively to product
replacement or refund of purchase price.
Introduction
JETCOL prints two columns, each up to ninety characters wide, on
laser printers in portrait mode. It is intended to greatly
reduce the huge volume of paper that results from printing
reference material (such as shareware manuals), word processing
drafts and text files. Regular use of this program should cut your
paper bill by 60 or 70 percent. It can also save you money when
faxing or mailing documents.
JETCOL has been designed to be very easy to use. Its default
settings should cover most printing needs. To print a document you
simply type:JETCOL filename <enter>. For example, to print the
manual type:JETCOL JETCOL.DOC <enter>.
It provides better readability than other compressed print
programs because it normally ignores page breaks and eliminates
consecutive blank lines (at your option).By eliminating
more unnecessary white space on the page JETCOL can use a
larger,more readable, type face while printing the same number of
average pages/sheet as other compressed print programs. It is
designed to take maximum advantage of laserjet features to further
enhance readability. JETCOL will print anywhere from two to ten
pages of source material on one side of a sheet of paper. By using
its even/odd alternate side print feature four to twenty pages of
text can be printed using both sides of a page.
By reducing the volume of paper, JETCOL also reduces storage
requirements and the bulk one has to carry around when traveling.
As a side benefit, many JETCOL users actually find it easier and
faster to read the compressed versions than the originals because
they can take in more words at one time without having to scan
across the page.
JETCOL has been tested on several brands and models of laser
printers. If you run into difficulty with your model, please let
me know and I will try to provide a version that is compatible
with your printer.
Eight different font sizes have been specially designed for
JETCOL. These fonts are automatically selected and downloaded
according to the degree of compression requested when you specify
the number of lines each column should contain with the -Lxx
option (anywhere from 50 to 240).Also at the user's option JETCOL
will override its automatic font selection and pick either a
larger or smaller font for a given line spacing to provide either
more or less white space between lines.
The font is nominally pitched at 21.5 characters/inch to allow
adequate space for a left margin and two 80 character columns.
When either a smaller margin is specified (-Mx) or the number of
characters/column is reduced (-Wx) the character spacing is
automatically expanded for further readability. The default margin
is seven spaces and the default column width is 80 characters.
Some users have said that they would prefer a thinner font for
JETCOL. I have provided a new thin font in the two most often used
sizes: Fonts 6 and 7.
A demo mode (-K) is now available to help you explore the
registered features. The demo mode will activate all registered
features but will only print one page. By running the file
DEMOJET.BAT you will see examples of the many possible printing
modes of JETCOL.
JETCOL may be executed via a path statement but all font files
must be located in the same sub-directory as JETCOL.EXE if they
are to be found by the program when it comes time to download
them.
Suitability
Compressed print programs are not for everyone. You should
carefully explore how much compression you are comfortable with
before eyestrain becomes a problem. The greater degrees of
compresssion are intended more for archival use than for documents
which will be frequently read.
This program should run on any PC compatible computer with at
least 256K of memory.
Registration
I will keep improving the program if I know enough people are
finding it useful.
My registration policy is very flexible. The nominal fee is $30 US
If you don't feel you will get $30 worth of use out of the
program,then send whatever it is worth to you.
Those who register for the full amount (and include $3 S&H) will
receive the latest JETCOL plus a set of related shareware programs
including 2COL for dotmatrix and DeskJet, a label making program,
and conversion utilities which may help you print word processor
formatted files.
This is not freeware or public domain. Shareware is simply a
distribution method for commercial software. You are required to
register if you intend to use this program after a reasonable
trial period.
The registered version of JETCOL permits multiple document names
and wildcards to be used on the command line and eliminates the
registration screen. It allows output to be directed to a file
instead of the printer. It also allows the automatic font
selection to be overridden to customize the document appearance to
your taste as well as selection of thinner fonts. The standard
registered version comes with 2 thin fonts and 8 regular fonts.
The registered version also allows customizing of default
settings.
Please tell me the version number you have when registering and
where you obtained your copy of JETCOL. Registration checks should
be made payable to "Tony Caine". JETCOL should be registered for
the number of copies that can be used simultaneously. In other
words, treat it like a book.
Site fees for commercial users can be negotiated.
JETCOL comes with a full money-back guarantee.
Optional Extras:
Complete set of thin fonts (1-8) $10
Complete set of foreign langauge chars (ASCII 128-159) $10
ATTENTION CURRENTLY REGISTERED USERS:
The new customized default settings required that I change over to
individualized registration numbers. This means that registered
users of versions 1.4 and below will need to upgrade ($10 fee) to
use this new version.
Registered version features
(Most of these features are activated by the (-K) demo mode option.)
*Custom default settings
JETCOL's default settings can be modified by the user. This
eliminates the need for the user to enter a string of options
whenever they run the program. They need only enter the filename.
* Automargin
The automargin option significantly improves the readability and
appearance of your document. It scans the entire document before
printing, determines how much blank space there is and expands
the lines to utilize this wasted space. The result is a less
crowded, easier to read document. Automargin also automatically
activates the wordwrap (-&) feature if any line in the document
is greater than the specified columnwidth (-W).
To get an idea of what the automargin does, first type: JETCOL
JETCOL.DOC <enter>. This prints with the default settings which
are designed to accommodate any documents up to 80 characters
wide. Next type: JETCOL JETCOL.DOC -K -U9 <enter>. Compare the
two printouts for readability and appearance.
*Fixpage
Prints an exact number of pages/column. Original pagebreaks and
formatting retained.
*Biasfont
Modify font selection process to give you either more or less
white space between lines.
*Thinfont
Selects a thinner (less bold) font.
* Multiple document names
Multiple document names and wildcards can be entered on the
command line.
* Append
When specifying multiple documents to print, registered users
have the choice of starting each file at the beginning of a page
or treating all documents as one continuous file without breaks.
* Redirection of output
Registered users can choose to send the output to a disk file for
later printing in background (while running other programs) or
send to LPT2, COM1, COM2, etc.
* The registration screen is eliminated, of course.
Terminology
Since several pages from the original source file are combined
onto a single page of printer output, there may be some confusion
about the word "page." We will always refer to the original
document pages as "source pages." What is actually printed will
simply be called "pages."
Usage:
JETCOL [options] path\filename [options] [path\filename]...
Options may be specified in any order before and/or after the file
name(s). Options must be separated from each other by spaces and
preceded by a "-". Upper and lower case are interchangeable. Each
option, no matter where it is located, will affect the printing of
all files equally.
Options are defined as follows:
-Lxx = Each column will be xx lines long
-Cxx = No more than xx consecutive blank lines will be printed
-Sxx = Skip xx pages before starting to print
-O = Print only odd # pages
-E = Print only even # pages
-Wxx = column width (number of characters in each column)
-P = Pause before printing each page.
-N = Prints filename and page # at lower left corner
-D = Delimit each (source) page with a line and page #
-T = Truncate long lines instead of wrap.
-Fx = Put a margin of x blank lines at the top of each page.
-Mx = Set left margin x spaces from the edge.
-Rx = Create a right margin of x spaces.
-K = Activates registered options for a one page demo.
-? = JETCOL will ask for filenames to print
-V = Report # pages to print.Modify spacing to fill last page
-&xx = Wordwrap long lines. (useful for .WRI and similar files)
? = (no dash) Prints help screen. Must be the only option.
***Options below are available in the registered version only***
-A = Append multiple files.
-Z = Route output to disk or another port.
-Bx = Biases font selection toward larger or smaller fonts.
-Ux = Automatic margin and column width adjustment.
-Xx = Print an exact number of pages/column keeping page breaks.
-H = Select a thin (light) font
-Yx = Customize default settings
Defaults: 80 characters/column;96 lines/page;1 consecutive blank
line; no pause before printing page; do not number pages;
wrap (not truncate) long lines;4 blank lines at top of
page.
Description of options
-Lxxx
Each column will contain xxx lines of data. Line spacing will
be automatically adjusted to fill the page. As more lines per
page are requested smaller fonts are automatically selected.
-Cxx
Pages of text frequently contain many blank lines of data.
Experience has shown that most of these can be discarded
without sacrificing readability. This option specifies that
when there are more than xx consecutive blank lines, the
excess will be discarded. The default value is 1.
-Sxx
This feature is useful if you have a paper jam or decide to
print part now and part later. Using this option will cause xx
pages to be skipped before printing begins. For example,
specifying "-S2" will cause printing to begin with page 3.
When using -S with the -O or -E options, remember to count all
pages - odd and even.
-O
This and the -E option allow you to print on both sides of
each sheet of paper. By specifying "-O", only the odd numbered
pages will be printed. When printing is complete,reload the
paper back into the feeder so that it will print on the blank
side and rerun JETCOL using the -E option.
Alternatively, JETCOL will ask you whether you want to print
even pages after it has finished printing the odd. Respond "Y"
after the paper has been reloaded or type "X" to terminate.
-E
Prints only even numbered pages. When using this option after
the -O option be sure to use a left margin setting of 0 to
allow space for hole punching or other binding requirements on
the right side of the sheet (this adjustment is made
automatically when using the automargin option).
-Wxx
This option specifies how many characters will print across
each column. Wrapping or truncating will begin at this
position. It also determines the print pitch. The more
characters/column you specify the smaller the space between
characters.
-P
Program will pause before printing each page. Hit any key to
print a page. This option is useful if you are feeding single
sheets to the printer.
-Nx
This will cause the filename and page number to be printed in
the lower left-hand corner of each sheet. To avoid confusion
when using the -S, -O and -E options the page numbering is not
reset for each document when multiple documents are specified
on the command line(registered version only).
If x=2 the current date will also be printed at the bottom. If
x=1 or blank only the filename and page number will print.
-D
If you need to keep track of each source page, this option
will print a dashed line with a page number in the middle
whenever a form feed is encountered or after 66 lines of data.
Experience has shown that this option will be rarely used
because most documents either number their own pages or it is
just not important to keep track of original page breaks.
-T
Normally when lines longer than the specified column width are
encountered,JETCOL will wrap the data to the next line. If you
prefer to truncate or discard excess characters on a line, you
should invoke this option.
-Fx
JETCOL will insert x blank lines at the top of each page
before printing. The default is 4.
-Mx
This command sets the left margin x spaces from the edge of
the page. Default is 9. This option also affects print pitch.
The wider the margin you request the more crowded the
characters will be on the page.
-Rx
Creates a right margin x spaces wide (in addition to the 1/3"
non-printing area already on right side).Default is 0.
-?
Instructs JETCOL to ask for files to print once it is running.
You can specify files both on the command line and when 2COL
asks for filenames. Separate the file names with spaces. This
option is useful when JETCOL is run from a menu or a Windows
icon.
-V
This option prescans the document and tells you many pages
(odd+even) will print. If you are printing only odd or even,
you must divide by two.
If the last page is only partially filled you will be given
the option to compress the line spacing to eliminate the
partial page or increase the spacing to fill it. "C"
compresses the lines. "E" expands the lines. "N" preserves
the original spacing.
If you are printing multiple documents without the Append (-A)
option or using the fiXpage (-X) option, you will not be able
to modify the line spacing.
Note: It is impossible to always adjust the spacing to exactly
fill the page. JETCOL will come as close as possible.
-&xx
Wordwrap lines to a maximum of xx characters. When this option
is off (default), JETCOL will wrap in mid word.
This wordwrap feature is intended for printing some word
processor documents (such as .WRI) where carriage return/
linefeeds occur only at the end of paragraphs. The current
implementation is not intended to reformat a document to
increase the length of lines which have CR/LFs at the end.
Some wordprocessor programs imbed graphics and other control
information in their files. The wordwrap feature eliminates
ASCII characters outside of the range 32-126. This will
greatly reduce but not eliminate "garbage" when printing these
files. WRI files, for example, have graphics at the end and
you will almost always see at least a few lines of garbage
when printing unconverted .WRI files.
***Options below are active only in the registered version***
-A
When multiple files are specified on the command line
(registered version only) you have the option of either
starting a new page for each file (default) or appending them
as though they were one continuous file. The -A option causes
them to be appended.
-Zfilename
Allows output to be routed to a file instead of to the
printer. The file can then be printed in background while
running other programs. For example, to send output to a file
called PRINT.TXT, you should include -ZPRINT.TXT on the
command line.If PRINT.TXT does not exist, it will be created.
If PRINT.TXT already exists, JETCOL output will be appended to
the end of the file. This command is only active in the
registered version of JETCOL. This option can also be used to
redirect output to LPT2, COM1, COM2, etc.
-Bx
This option biases the font selection to pick either a larger
or smaller font than would ordinarily chosen by JETCOL.
Setting x to 1 picks the next larger font. If x is set to -1,
it picks the next smaller font. If x is set to 2, it will skip
two font sizes larger, and so on. This option is active for
registered users only. Examples: -B1,-B2,-B-1,-B-2...etc. (do
not insert any spaces).(registered version only)
-Ux
X is the number of left margin spaces you request. JETCOL
scans the entire document to be printed to determine its
formatting. Leading blanks in the document are taken into
account to give you the exact left margin you requested.
Column width is adjusted to accommodate the widest line
in the document. The result is that lines are fully spread
across the page and character spacing is maximized for best
readability. (registered version only)
The automargin option automatically puts the margin you
requested on the right side of the page (for binding) if you
are printing with the -E option (on the reverse side of the
page.)
Automargin automatically turns on the wordwrap feature (-&)
whenver lines longer than the columnwidth (-W) are encountered
in a document if the truncate (-T) option is off.
-H
Selects a light (thin) font instead of the standard font. If
the thin font in the required size is not available the
regular, bolder, font is substituted. The only thin fonts
supplied with the standard registered version are sizes 6 and
7.(registered version only)
-Xx
Prints exactly x pages/column retaining original formatting
and page breaks. The value of x may be from 1 to 3.(registered
version only)
-Yx
The -Y option allows you to modify JETCOL's default settings.
This MUST always be the first option on the command line
whenever you use it.
Typing "JETCOL -Y1 <enter>" will cause JETCOL to display all
current default settings.
Typing "JETCOL -Y2 [options....] <enter>" will cause JETCOL to
permanently remember those options by modifying the JETCOL.EXE
program itself. Your personal registration code MUST always be
one of the options specified whenever you modify the default
settings. Whenever the -Y2 option is used, any options not
specified on the command line will be reset to the standard
defaults. Therefore, even if you change only one of your
custom options, you must reenter them all at the same time.
The next time you run JETCOL the options you specified will
automatically be used.
For example, if you want to set the number of lines/page to
102 and print the page numbers at the bottom, you would type:
JETCOL -Y2 -L102 -N registration code# <enter>. The next time
you type JETCOL [filename] <enter> It would be as though you
had typed: JETCOL -L102 -N registration code# [filename].
If there are several different option profiles you wish to
use, you can create different copies of JETCOL.EXE with
different names, such as JETCOL1.EXE, JETCOL2.EXE, etc. The
-Y2 option only modifies the EXE file having the same name and
path that you type on the command line.
All defaults with an 'x' value can be temporarily overridden
with a different value on the commmand line. Use an 'x' value
of 0 to temporarily deactivate Automargin or Pagefix.Any
option without an 'x' value can be activated simply by putting
it on the command line. To temporarily deactivate an option
set as a permanent default, type a minus after the option. For
example, to temporarily deactivate the N option, you would put
-N- on the command line: JETCOL -N- [filename]
THIS FUNCTION WILL NOT WORK ON .EXE FILES THAT HAVE BEEN
COMPRESSED WITH PKLITE. You must first decompress, use the -Y2
option and then recompress.
Using JETCOL with a word processor
The wordwrap feature (-&) provides a useful, but not always
perfect,way of printing many wordprocessor (such as .WRI) files.
In those cases where you cannot get a satisfactory printout
directly from a document in its original form, most word
processors have what is called an ASCII output or DOS output
mode which JETCOL will work with.
For example, with WordPerfect, you can create a JETCOL usable
file with the sequence: Control-F5,1,Save. Wordperfect also
supplies a freestanding program called CONVERT.EXE. When
combined with JETCOL in a batchfile it allows WP documents to be
printed directly with one command.
The JETCOL registration disk provides shareware reformatting
programs which may help in printing other wordprocessor formats.
If you specify your word proccessor when registering, I may be
able to provide you with a conversion program.
Distribution
Permission is hereby given to copy and distribute this program
as long as no more than $10 is charged. It must be made clear to
the buyer that this is only a handling charge and not a
registration fee.Please include all files in their original
unmodified form when distributing this program. Permission to
distribute may be revoked by the author at any time for any
reason.
If you list JETCOL in a catalog,I would appreciate a copy of the
catalog to be sure that the description is correct. I will also
then know to send you updated versions as they become available.
YOU MUST NOT DISTRIBUTE ANY COPY WHICH HAS BEEN BRANDED WITH
A REGISTRATION CODE. A program can be unbranded by typing
JETCOL -Y2 <enter>.
All trademarks used in this document are the property of their
owners.
-Tony Caine-
GEnie mail:A.CAINE