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1993-05-26
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SET PRiNter
Version 3.1
Copyright 1993
Castle Oaks Computer Services
Post Office Box 36082
Indianapolis, IN 46236-0082
SET PRINTER is a shareware utility that allows you to set several printer
options through software instead of setting them through front panel or dip
switches. If you find this program useful, you should send in a registra-
tion fee of $10 to Castle Oaks. When you register, you will be sent the
latest version of SET PRINTER and some initialization files for various
printers. Registered users are informed of any upgrades to this program and
other programs offered by Castle Oaks.
Most printers offer a variety of options that a user can select by manually
setting switches or by imbedding commands in a file that is to be printed.
SET PRINTER offers a third alternative. You can set several of your printer
options from this program and they will stay in effect until your printer
receives other commands or until you turn off the printer.
This utility is most useful for when you are going to print a file by using
the PRINT or COPY or PRinT SCreen command of DOS, or when you use some
application that sends output to the printer without sending printer com-
mands. For example, sometimes I want to make a printout that is double or
triple spaced so that I can write on the output between the printed lines.
To do so, you execute SETPRN and set the lines per inch to 2 or 3; then
exit and make your printout. You probably CANNOT use it with a word proces-
sor, since most word processors have special drivers that control your
printer.
SET PRINTER contains a setup option that allows you to customize it for
your particular printer. Your custom setup can be stored in an initializa-
tion file so that it will be automatically loaded each time you use the
program. In fact, you can have initialization files for more than one
printer. This will be described later.
The default settings for SET PRINTER are for use with an Epson LQ-2500
printer and any printer that has compatible commands (e.g Panasonic 1124.)
When the program is initiated by entering SETPRN from the command line (or
by using a DOS icon in Windows), the following main menu will appear:
Parameters now set for - LQ-2500
0 Set draft or letter quality
1 Select font
2 Set pitch
3 Set enhancements
4 Set lines per inch
5 Set specials
6 Print test page
7 Initialize printer
8 Set up for a different printer
9 End program
?
Also, the program will send an initialization command to your printer to
choose its default settings. Therefore, your printer should be turned on
and on-line before starting SET PRINTER.
Each of the above options will be described in detail. However, option 8
will be discussed last because it is very extensive and you may not need to
refer to it at all.
0. Most printers provide a draft and letter quality (or near letter quali-
ty) mode. Option 1 allows you to select a command sequence to tell the
printer which mode to use.
1. When you select option 1, the following (or similar) screen will appear:
Present font is (name of current font or 'UNKNOWN')
Select one of the following:
a Bold PS
b Sans Serif
c Courier
d Prestige
e Script
f Tiny OFF
g Tiny ON
h Spare
i Spare
j Spare
k Spare
l Spare
m Spare
n Spare
Any other, causes a return to the main menu. ?
By selecting one of the above options, the program will send the appro-
priate command to your printer to set that font. In this example, the tiny
font requires both an OFF and ON option. These fonts are usually meaning-
less if the printer is in draft mode.
(Note: If your printer does not provide the same fonts, or if you want the
menu to display different names, or in a different order, you can customize
via the setup option. This customizing is possible for all of the following
menus.)
2. When you select option 2, the following (or similar) screen will appear:
Present pitch is (name of current pitch or "UNKNOWN')
Select one of the following:
a Pica
b Elite
c Micron
d Comp. Pica
e Comp. Elite
f Prop. OFF
g Prop. ON
h Spare
i Spare
j Spare
k Spare
l Spare
m Spare
n Spare
Any other, causes a return to the main menu. ?
Each of these options will send the appropriate command to your printer to
set the desired pitch. In the above example, an OFF and ON option is re-
quired for proportional spacing. Note: Proportional may not be meaningful
if the printer is in draft mode.
3. Option 3 provides a method to select one or more special print enhance-
ments. When selected, the following screen appears:
Enhancements - most recent chosen was: (name or UNKNOWN)
Select one of the following:
a Emphasized OFF
b Emphasized ON
c Underline OFF
d Underline ON
e Italic OFF
f Italic ON
g Height SINGLE
h Height DOUBLE
i Width SINGLE
j Width DOUBLE
k Spare
l Spare
m Spare
n Spare
Any other, causes a return to the main menu. ?
Note that in the enhancements group, separate options are required for OFF
and ON commands. (Some printers allow you to use some enhancements in
combinations and others do not.)
4. This option selects the vertical spacing of the printer. When you choose
option 4, the following screen appears:
Lines per inch is now (one of the descriptions below or 'UNKNOWN')
Select one of the following:
a Two
b Three
c Four
d Five
e Six
f Seven + half
g Eight
h Nine
i Spare
j Spare
k Spare
l Spare
m Spare
n Spare
Any other, causes a return to the main menu. ?
Choosing one of the above options will send the appropriate command to the
printer to select the desired vertical line spacing.
5. Although options 1 through 4 provide spares for functions of your choos-
ing, you may need even more spares and/or you may prefer not to put func-
tions into menus 1 through 4 that are not related to those categories.
Option 5 is provided with 14 spares for your use. If, for example, you have
a color printer you might put the commands for colors in this sub-menu.
6. After selecting some of the above options, you may want to run a test.
This option gives you a choice of three options. The following screen
appears:
Select one of the following:
a Print short test; (10 lines, no form feed)
b Print full test; (55lines, form feed)
c Print a file
If you choose the short test, 10 lines will be printed followed by a blank
line. If you choose the full test, 55 lines will be printed followed by a
form feed. If you choose 'c', you can print any ASCII file you desire. When
you choose option 'c', the following screen is displayed:
Enter name of file to print
(Include drive and/or directory, if needed)
Ifyou print a file while running SET PRINTER, the file may contain imbedded
printer commands. A printer command consists of a lead-in character, a
tilde (~), followed by a main menu option number and a sub-menu letter (if
needed.) Thus, to set the printer to draft mode, the command is:
~0d
To set it back to letter quality, the command is:
~0L (Actually, any letter other than 'd' is OK)
The sub-menu letter may be either upper or lower case. Only the main menu
options, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 may be used in embedded commands. In the
case of option 7, no sub-menu letter is required. If you need to print a
tilde, use two consecutive tildes. The first will be ignored and the second
will be printed.
The file, TEST.FIL, has been included for use to test the use of imbedded
printer commands. Print it using PRINT or COPY, then print it from within
SET PRINTER. Compare the two printouts to see how the imbedded commands
work.
7. This option will send an initialization command to the printer and then
return to the main menu. If, during set up, you have entered a new initial-
ization command, you should then select option 7 to reset the printer.
9. Option 9 terminates SET PRINTER and returns the system to the DOS prompt
(or to Windows.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SET UP
(Option 8)
Although the setup option may lead to a lengthy process, a user will usual-
ly only need to do it once for each printer.
The first thing you must do is to study your printer's manual. Look up the
various options discussed in these pages and write them down for easy
reference. Remember, your printer may not provide all of the options de-
scribed earlier and/or it may have options not included in SET PRINTER.
This discussion will deal with both of these possibilities.
When you select option 8 from the main menu, the following set up screen
appears:
0 Draft and LQ sequences
1 Font sequences
2 Pitch sequences
3 Enhancements sequences
4 Lines per inch sequences
5 Special functions
6 Change printer name
7 Printer initialization sequence
8 Write changes to file, and exit setup
9 Exit setup without saving changes to file
Any other causes a return to the main menu
?
(Note that screen colors are changed to remind you that you are in set up
mode.)
0. This option asks for the command to put the printer in draft mode. The
following screen will appear:
Present draft command is:
In decimal:
ddd ddd ddd (Will display current command for draft mode.)
In ASCII (If less than 32, mnemonic is shown in dim letters.):
xxxxxx (Will display current command in ASCII)
If you want to make a change, enter the new sequence
Use decimal numbers (or actual characters, see documentation)
Separate decimal numbers with one or more spaces (none for ASCII)
If you do not want to make a change, press ENTER
If your printer does not support this option, you
must still enter something such as a single zero.
After you enter the draft command, the following screen will appear:
Present LQ command is:
In decimal:
DDD DDD DDD (Will display current command for letter quality mode.)
In ASCII (If less than 32, mnemonic is shown in dim letters.):
xxxxxx (Will display current command in ASCII)
If you want to make a change, enter the new sequence
Use decimal numbers (or actual characters, see documentation)
Separate the numbers with one or more spaces
If you do not want to make a change, press ENTER
If your printer does not support this option, you
must still enter something such as a single zero.
After you enter the command for letter quality mode, the program will
return to the set up menu.
----------------- NOTE ABOUT ENTERING COMMAND CHARACTERS ------------------
You may use the digits 0 through 9 to form each command character followed
by a space; or you may use the ASCII character for each command character;
or you may use the decimal value(s) of some of the command character(s)
followed by ASCII characters. Your printer manual will probably show each
command as ASCII characters, their decimal equivalents, and their hexideci-
mal equivalents. Your manual might show for the draft sequence the follow-
ing:
ESC x 0
Dec 27 120 48
Hex 1B 78 30
You may enter: 27 120 48
or: 27 x0
or: ^[x0
In the last example, ^[ means hold down the control key and press [. This
will enter an ESCAPE character. Once you have entered a non-numeric charac-
ter, the rest of the command must be in ASCII characters. When entering
characters as decimal values, they may be 1, 2, or 3 digit numbers, and
each value must be separated from the next value by one or more spaces. (A
command sequence for this option and for all others must not exceed 40
characters.) If an option is not available for your printer, you must still
enter a value. If you enter a single zero as a dummy value it will not be
sent to the printer when you select the corresponding option. You could
leave the default sequence in place but you should not use that option
because the command might put your printer into a state that you do not
want.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Option 1 allows you to set up the names of the fonts available and their
corresponding commands. You may have up to 14 different fonts. When you
select one of the options, a screen similar to the following will appear:
Present name of font N is:
(Name currently assigned to font N.)
Enter a new name
(To leave unchanged; press ENTER only)
(Note: N will be one of the values a through n. The maximum length that you
may enter for this option and each other option is 20 characters. After
entering a new name (or accepting the old one), the next screen is dis-
played:
Font N command is:
In decimal:
ddd ddd ddd (Command to select font N.)
In ASCII (If less than 32, mnemonic is shown in dim letters.):
xxxxxx (Will display current command in ASCII)
If you want to make a change, enter the new sequence
Use decimal numbers (or actual characters, see documentation)
Separate decimal numbers with one or more spaces (none for ASCII)
If you do not want to make a change, press ENTER
If your printer does not support this option, you
must still enter something such as a single zero.
Note that in the font (also pitch, lines per inch, and specials) group not
all of the 14 options are used. The unused ones are designated as spares.
You can use these spares for anything you wish. Some examples of the use of
spares will be given later. If you do not have a particular font, you might
enter 'N/A' or 'Unavailable' or 'Spare' as the name and zero as the com-
mand.
After entering the information about a particular font, the program again
displays the font names. When you are done changing fonts, press any char-
acter other than a through n and the program will return to the set up
menu.
2. Option 2 allows you to set up for 14 different pitch commands. These
commands determine how many characters per inch will be printed. Changing
the pitch menu and commands is similar to that described for fonts.
3. Option 3 allows you to have 14 enhancements commands. (Some enhancements
may require two menu options.) The default ones are: emphasized, underline,
italic, height, and width. You may have different ones; or, you may want to
use these for other features. Some printers do not allow all combinations
of enhancements. Refer to your printer manual to determine any limitations.
For example, your printer may not allow you to combine emphasized with
draft mode. Changing the enhancements menu and commands is similar to that
described for fonts.
4. Option 4 allows you to provide for up to 14 different commands to set
vertical spacing in lines per inch. Changing the lines per inch menu and
commands is similar to that described for fonts. Your printer may provide
two or more ways to select lines per inch. You must choose the one(s) that
is suitable to get what you want. One printer lets you choose vertical
spacing in 72nds of an inch and also in 216ths of an inch. Another printer
offers spacing in 60ths of an inch, 120ths of an inch, and 360ths of an
inch.
5. Option 5 allows you to have up to 14 different special commands. The set
up procedure is similar to that described for fonts.
6. When you select option 6, the following screen appears:
Current printer name is:
(name of printer)
Enter a new name
(To leave unchanged; press ENTER only)
You can enter a name up to 30 characters in length.
7. This option allows you to enter a new initialization command. When you
select this option, the following screen appears:
Present initialization sequence is:
In decimal:
027 064 (This example shows the default initialization.)
In ASCII (If less than 32, mnemonic is shown in dim letters.):
ESC@
If you want to make a change, enter the new sequence
Use decimal numbers (or actual characters, see documentation)
Separate decimal numbers with one or more spaces (none for ASCII)
If you do not want to make a change, press ENTER
If your printer does not support this option,
you must still enter something such as a single zero.
8. After changing all of the options that you want to change, you may save
these settings by using option 8. It will create (or overwrite) a file
named SETPRN.INI in the currently logged directory. The next time you use
SET PRINTER, it will load the commands from SETPRN.INI, if present on the
currently logged directory. By doing your set up in different directories,
you may have initialization files (SETPRN.INI) for various printers.
9. Option 9 allows you to exit set up without saving the changes. You may
just want to abort set up; or you may use set up to change one (or more)
options, leave set up, use the new feature to command the printer, and then
exit the program.
Earlier, I mentioned that your printer may (probably certainly) have other
features that you would like for SET PRINTER to use. You may include some
of these by using the spares that are provided. If you use all of the
spares, then it may be necessary to sacrifice some other options that you
may not need. Although the spares occur in five different groups, there is
no requirement that the function you implement be in a particular group.
You must remember the group in which you have placed each special command.
For example, you may want to have commands to disable/enable the paper-out
sensor. You can use one spare for a 'Paper-out OFF' and another for 'Paper-
out ON'. You might substitute a form feed or a line feed for one of the
other spares. Other features you might implement are left and right mar-
gins, skip perforation, unidirectional printing, reverse feed the paper,
etc.
Under option 8, I mentioned that you might put initialization files for
different printers in different directories. You might also have initiali-
zation files stored under different names in the same directory. In the
latter case, you have to copy the needed intialization file to SETPRN.INI
before executing SETPRN. For example, you might save the LQ-2500 initiali-
zation values in SETPRN.INI and then rename it LQ-2500.INI. Then run SETPRN
again changing the commands to those needed for an LX-800. Save these
commands in SETPRN.INI and then rename the file to LX-800.INI. At a later
session before using SETPRN, COPY either LQ-2500.INI or LX-800.INI to
SETPRN.INI.
When a person has more than one printer on a computer, he usually has them
wired through a switch box. However, some people have multiple printers
connected to their computer through separate ports. They can redirect their
printer output by using the MODE command. However, some people prefer to
send their output to the appropriate port. For example, let's say that you
have a laser printer connected to LPT1 and a dot matrix printer connected
to COM1. Furthermore, the computer's default is that LPT1 is the PRN de-
vice. If you want to use the dot matrix printer, you can use the MODE
command to redirect the print output to COM1 or you could print a file by
using the copy command:
COPY <file name> COM1:
SETPRN is compatible with the latter usage, SET PRiNter provides the option
of including a device name on the command line. Thus:
SETPRN COM1
will send output from SETPRN to the COM1 port instead of the default which
is PRN. (Note, do not include the colon when entering a device name.) This
provides yet another option, the device you may specify can be a file name.
You might initiate SETPRN with the command line:
SETPRN DBLESP.DRF
Then while in SETPRN, set the number of lines per inch to 3 and send the
command for draft mode. After exiting SETPRN, the file DBLSP.DRF will
contain the commands to set the printer for double spacing vertically and
put it in draft mode. Then, any time you want to set your printer to that
combination, just:
COPY DBLESP.DRF PRN:
Thus, you could have several different files that set your printer without
using SETPRN each time.
The above capability (sending output to a different device or file),
provides a way of avoiding a possible problem. When you execute SETPRN, it
sends an initialization command to the printer. This will be either the
default command (ESC @) or the initialization command that you have saved
in an initialization file. Suppose that you want to set up for a new
printer and you don't want SETPRN to send an initialization sequence to the
printer. If you start the program with the command line:
SETPRN NUL
the program will send all output to the NULL device. You may then proceed
with the set up (including a new initialization sequence.) After saving the
commands in SETPRN.INI, exit the program. The next time you run SETPRN, the
new initialization command from SETPRN.INI will be sent to the printer.