Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/utils/lq.zip/DOC.ARC/LQPCWRIT.DOC

Text File | 1989-09-06 | 13KB | 275 lines

          Using LQ's proportional spacing with PC-Write.

     PC-Write is a superb Shareware word processor which can fully
exploit LQ's features.  In particular, PC-Write (version 2.6 and
later) lets you communicate the size of LQ characters in any font
or mode so that proportional spacing works in conjunction with
justification.  For example LQ's HELV font is narrower than
COURIER so more characters can be put into a given space.  PC-
Write also supports micro-justification so that white space is
evenly distributed across a line when fill-justification is used
(even when fonts and modes are mixed in the line).  To see how
nice the result can look, run LQDEMO (which prints a text file
edited with PC-Write).

     PC-Write is available from Quicksoft, 219 First N. #224,
Seattle, WA 98109, [phone] and from many PC bulletin boards
and disk distribution centers.  Versions 2.70 and 3.0 work fine
with LQ, but you may run into a slight problem with 2.71.  The
print program in this version (PR.EXE) handles margins differently
and fill-justified, micro-justified lines with leading spaces
(past the normal left margin) may not print right.  One solution
is to use PR.EXE 2.70 with ED.EXE 2.71; Granny's will provide the
older program for $2 if you wish to take this route.  A better
solution is to obtain the most recent version of PC-Write directly
from Quicksoft.

     You can use the LQ/PC-Write/proportional spacing combination
at a couple of different levels.  If you are content with LQ's
default fonts (COURIER, COURITAL, HELV, PALATINO) then simply
use the PR.DEF file from the LQ disk as described below.  If you
want to load other fonts you will need to create new width tables
to be included in your PR.DEF file and you'll have to get a little
more involved.  In either case a little experimentation will be
well worth the time - after a one-time modification of your PC-
Write environment you can obtain really polished printouts with no
extra effort from then on.


The PR.DEF file.

     PC-Write's print program expects to find information on font
control commands and various printing parameters in a file called
PR.DEF.  If you use PC-Write then you already have such a file; it
may have been created automatically as part of PC-Write's
installation procedure, or you may have created (or modified) this
file yourself.  The LQ disk includes a PC-Write print control file
called PR.LQ - by copying this to the right place under the name
PR.DEF you can make convenient use of LQ's features.  You will
want to keep your original PR.DEF file for draft printing; how you
organize your files for LQ or draft printing depends on whether
you use a hard disk or floppy disk system.

     Floppy disk users should simply make a new work disk for LQ
printing.  If you already have a work disk just use DISKCOPY to
make a duplicate; otherwise run the WORKDISK program on the PC-
Write disk to create one.  Copy PR.LQ from the LQ disk to your new
work disk under the name PR.DEF; e.g.,
  COPY A:PR.LQ B:PR.DEF
The last modification is to edit the ED.DEF file to include the
line

  !PR.DEF
(which communicates the information in the new PR.DEF to ED.EXE).
Your work disk is now ready to go - you can use it as described
below to edit and print files with LQ.

     Hard disk users should use separate subdirectories for LQ and
draft documents.  Let's assume for example that you have a
directory \PW and a subdirectory \PW\LQ.  The PC-Write program
files (ED.EXE, PR.EXE, ED.DEF, etc.) and all draft documents are
under PW, while the documents to be printed with LQ are under
PW\LQ.  (Note: there is no PR.EXE in version 3.0; this reference
pertains only to older versions.)  Keep your old PR.DEF under PW
and copy PR.LQ from the LQ disk to PW\LQ under the name PR.DEF.
Put the line
  !PR.DEF
in the ED.DEF file.  (You don't need a separate ED.DEF file under
PW\LQ.)  The last change is to put the PC-Write directory in your
your DOS path so that ED.EXE and PR.EXE can be executed from any
subdirectory.  For example if the line
  PATH \;\UTIL;\DOS;\PW;\TB;\NT;
is included in AUTOEXEC.BAT, then DOS will search first the
current directory, then the root directory, then \UTIL, then \DOS,
then \PW and so on when looking for programs to execute.  To edit
draft or LQ documents, change your working directory to \PW or
\PW\LQ, respectively.

     If you prefer to keep all your documents separate from
programs on your hard disk you can follow the above approach with
the directory structure
                             PW
                            /  \
                          LQ   DRAFT
The DRAFT subdirectory should contain the original PR.DEF.


Width tables in the print control file.

     Consider the following line from the PR.LQ file:
#F=28@A120i+27,27,49,27,27,80 (font 1, proportional spacing)
The 'F' indicates that the command <Alt F> (or <Alt G>.R:F as a
separate line) will be used to turn on the font described by this
line, and the '28' indicates which figure will show up on your
screen when you start this font.  The '@A120i' says to ED.EXE and
PR.EXE that table A in the print control file gives a list of
character widths in multiples of 1/120".  Finally,
+27,27,49,27,27,80 causes a control sequence (<Esc> <Esc> '1'
<Esc> <Esc> 'P') to be sent to LQ when the font is turned on.

     The '@A' prefix tells PC-Write to use the following table
which precedes the line in the print control file:
@A: 32=10,33=5,34=9,35=14,36=13,37=14,38=14,39=5,40=8,41=8
@A: 42=13,43=13,44=6,45=12,46=6,47=14,48=11,49=9,50=12,51=12
@A: etc
The table simply says that this font (LQ's default font number 1,
COURIER) has a space character (ASCII code 32) which is 10 units
wide, an '!' character which is 5 units wide, etc.  PC-Write can
now use this information to figure out how many characters will
fit in a line of text.

     There are width tables included in PR.LQ for six fonts.
Following is a list of these fonts and the associated font control
commands:

    <Alt F>  LQ font number 1, COURIER
    <Alt I>  Font 2, COURITAL
    <Alt P>  Font 3, HELV
    <Alt Q>  Font 4, PALATINO
    <Alt E>  COURIER bold
    <Alt D>  COURIER double width

(Any of these fonts can be made the default by using a '.R:' line
preceded by <Alt G>.)  Here are additional font control commands
from PR.LQ which don't use width tables:

    <Alt B>  Bold, even spacing
    <Alt H>  Superscript
    <Alt L>  Subscript
    <Alt C>  Font 1, even spacing
    <Alt J>  Font 2, even spacing
    <Alt O>  Font 3, even spacing
    <Alt V>  Font 4, even spacing
    <Alt U>  Underline
    <Alt W>  Double-width, even spacing

These are somewhat arbitrary assignments; to change them, read
'Customizing Font Control Lines' in the PC-Write User's Guide.
There is an '.R:F' line in the PR.LQ file which establishes font 1
(COURIER) with proportional spacing as the default.  Change this
to suit your taste; for example, change it to .R:C to make font 1,
even spacing the default.

     There is a limitation when changing fonts: variable-width
and even-spaced fonts may not be mixed on the same line.  If you
want to switch to an even-space font, do so at the start of a new
line.

     You may want to stop reading these instructions here.  You
should at least give PC-Write a try with the PR.LQ file provided
to see if it suits your needs.  If you want to develop more exotic
special effects later on, read the following information.


Adding or changing width tables.

     What if you want to use a font or mode for which a width
table is not included?  A new option has been added to the EDCHAR
program (the character editor included on the LQ disk):  pressing
'T' will bring up a window for creating a PC-Write width table for
the font which is currently loaded.  A width table can be created
for the font itself, or for the font in emphasized or double-width
mode.  Suppose you have installed (or plan to load) a new font
MYFONT.SET as LQ's third character set.  Here is a how your
session might go: First run EDCHAR and load MYFONT as the primary
character set.  Press 'T' to activate the width-table window; you
will see the following:
    PC-Write proportional spacing table.
    Write to what file?
Since the width table you generate will be merged with an existing
PR.DEF file later on, use a temporary file for the table.  Let's
suppose you type the file name TEMP.  Next you are prompted to
enter a table identifier from A to Z; this letter will be
referenced within the PC-Write print control file to link a font
control command to a width table.  The identifiers A - F are used
in PR.LQ to be associated with the font control commands F,I,P,Q,
E, and D, described above.  Since you are replacing the third font
with a new one you should stick with the 'C' identifier.  Finally,
you are asked
    Widths for which mode:
    1. Normal
    2. Bold
    3. Double-wide
    Which? (1-3)
Assuming that you want a width table for MYFONT as-is, select
option 1.  The width table is written as standard text to the file
TEMP.

     The next step is to edit PR.LQ.  Delete the existing table C
which starts as follows:
  (HELV)
  @C: 32=10,33=5,34=8,35=13,36=11,37=14,38=13,39=5,40=6,41=6
  @C: 42=12,43=11,44=6,45=9,46=5,47=9,48=11,49=7,50=11,51=11
  @C: 52=12,...
Then insert the new table saved under TEMP by using PC-Write's
<Ctrl F3> function and save the modified PR.LQ file.  That's all
there is to it!


Microjustification.

     Normally if you embed a ruler line in your document with a
'J' at the right margin, PC-Write fill-justifies the text by
inserting spaces between words until the right margins line up.
'Microjustification' describes the process of inserting fractions
       of spaces so that the gaps are evenly distributed across the line;
the result looks much better.  PC-Write supports micro-
justification if '$H' lines are included in the print control file
to tell it how to insert these fractions.  The following lines are
included in the PR.LQ file:
    $H120i=1 (LQ microjustification codes)
    $H60i=2
    $H30i=3
    $H15i=4
    $H12960u=5
    $H25920u=6
For example the first line tells PC-Write that if it sends the
ASCII code 01 to LQ, the printhead will be advanced by 1/120".
The codes 2 - 6 are also interpreted as fractional advances
(multiples 2,4,8,16,32 of 1/120").

Important note:
LQ normally filters out otherwise unrecognized ASCII codes such as
1 - 6.  You can tell LQ to recognize fractional advances in one of
two ways:
When you load LQ, add 'MJ' (which stands for mode justify) to the
command tail; e.g., LQ F'TEMP' MJ, or
send the control sequence <Esc> <Esc> 'J' in your document.
If you use the PR.LQ file you won't have to worry about this because
the line '.S:6' instructs PC-Write to start a document by sending
the line space control sequence given by
    $S06= 27,27,83,36,27,27,74
(which PC-Write uses to set 6 lines/inch).  This results in
following sequence being sent:
  <Esc> <Esc> 'S' 36 (LQ's command for setting 36/216" per line,
  <Esc> <Esc> 'J' (microjustification)


Boxing with PC-Write version 3.

     The latest version of PC-Write has a variety of options for
manipulating text in boxes.  One of these options is to put a
graphics border around a box.  To get the graphics box you want
you will have to do two things:

1. When you load LQ, use IBM1.SET and IBM2.SET as character sets 3
   and 4; e.g. LQ C3'IBM1' C4'IBM2',
2. Change the line spacing to 1/9" before the box and back to 1/6"
   afterwards.  You do this by putting <Alt G>.S:9 on a line by
   itself before the box and <Alt G>.S:6 after the box.

Note that since line spacing is smaller in the box double spacing
is probably in order.  Also, you probably won't get the desired
results with proportional spacing - try running MENUPRT in PC-
Write and selecting an Epson MX-80 with Graftrax type III to
generate the right PR.DEF file for LQ.

BUG FIX: Through PC-Write version 3.02 there is a bug affecting
proportional spacing in header lines.  In the width table for a
font there needs to be an entry for ASCII code 250, even though
this code is never used.  In the PR.LQ file we have added 250=5 at
the end of each width table, but if you use EDCHAR to make new
width tables you will have to add this entry yourself.  A quick
look at PR.LQ will make the proper position for these entries
clear.  (The bug should be fixed in PC-Write 3.03.)