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Laserjet Setup Utility
version 5.04
Guy Gallo
January 23, 1989
Table of Contents
1. Introduction...........................................1
1.1 Purpose..........................................1
1.2 Modes of operation...............................1
1.2.1 Standard Application Mode.................1
1.2.2 Memory Resident (TSR) Mode................1
1.2.3 Batch Mode................................2
1.3 Requirements.....................................3
1.4 Setting up LSU...................................4
1.4.1 The Mode Command..........................4
1.4.2 Gotta Use the Serial Port,
and Only the Serial Port........................6
1.4.3 Big Warning...............................6
2. Some Notes:............................................9
2.1 Internal fonts...................................9
2.2 Pitch and Points.................................10
2.3 Symbol Sets......................................11
2.4 Styles...........................................12
2.5 Command Selection................................13
2.6 The <Esc> key, the Escape Code:..................14
3. The Program Itself.....................................16
3.1 The Fonts Menu...................................16
3.2 The Symbol Menu..................................17
3.3 The Style Menu...................................17
3.3.1 Bold/Italic/Underline ON/OFF..............17
3.3.2 Alt Bold/Italic ON/OFF....................18
3.4 The Commands Menu................................20
3.4.1 Reset printer.............................20
3.4.2 Eject current page........................20
3.4.3 Manual feed...............................20
3.4.4 Cassette feed.............................20
3.4.5 Wrap lines ON/OFF.........................21
3.4.6 Number of copies..........................21
3.4.7 Printer self test.........................22
3.4.8 Font Example..............................22
3.5 The Layout Menu..................................22
3.5.1 Left offset...............................22
3.5.2 Right limit...............................22
3.5.3 Top margin................................23
3.5.4 Clear margins.............................23
3.5.5 lines per Inch............................23
3.5.6 Text length...............................25
3.5.7 Sixty-six.................................26
3.5.8 Fifty-one.................................26
3.5.9 Eighty-six................................27
3.5.10 Print pitch..............................27
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Table of Contents
3.6 The Envelope Menu................................27
3.6.1 New envelope..............................27
3.6.2 Edit envelope.............................28
3.6.3 Save envelope.............................29
3.6.4 Load envelope.............................29
3.6.5 Business (9x4)............................29
3.6.6 Check (6x8)............................29
3.6.7 Page (8x11)............................29
3.6.8 Halfpg (5x8)............................29
3.7 The Print menu...................................30
3.7.1 Portrait 6 lpi...........................30
3.7.2 Landscape 6 lpi...........................31
3.7.3 porTrait 8 lpi...........................31
3.7.4 landScape 8 lpi...........................31
3.7.5 Directory.................................31
3.8 The Options Menu.................................32
3.8.1 LSU 5.04..................................32
3.8.2 Unload LSU................................32
3.8.3 Hotkey: Alt-F10..........................32
3.8.4 Force mono YES/NO.........................33
3.8.5 Model I/II................................33
3.8.6 Customize fonts...........................33
3.8.7 Port LPT1/COM1............................35
3.8.8 Save defaults.............................35
4. Warranties and things..................................37
- ii -
___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_______________ 1. Introduction
___________ 1.1 Purpose
Laserjet Setup Utility functions as either:
1) a utility to set various parameters on
the Laserjet family of printers so that
software which does not fully address these
printers can be made to use fonts and
functions that would otherwise be
inaccessible, or
2) as a stand alone program to print ASCII
text files, and to address envelopes.
______________________ 1.2 Modes of operation
Laserjet Setup Utility can be run in any of three modes:
_______________________________ 1.2.1 Standard Application Mode
As a standard DOS application, invoked from the DOS
command line:
Example:
C:>LSU <Enter>
In this mode, the program loads, selected options are sent
to the printer, and the program is exited. The selected
options remain in effect until reset either by a
subsequent selection via LSU, or by a subsequently run
program which addresses the Laserjet directly.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
________________________________ 1.2.2 Memory Resident (TSR) Mode
When executed with the "/L" (as in "Load") parameter, LSU
will run as a Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) program.
Example:
C:>LSU /L <Enter>
A copyright notice is printed to the screen, and the
current Hotkey is displayed. The Hotkey is that
combination of keystrokes which will invoke LSU from
within another application.
The default Hotkey is Alt-F10. However, the Hotkey can be
changed and saved to disk. How to do so, and how to save
the selected Hotkey permanently, will be described later
in this manual (see Options.Hotkey, section 3.8.3).
Options selected will remain in effect until reset by a
second accessing of LSU or by a second application
program.
NOTE: TSR mode is not available if your
application places the computer in
"graphics mode". If you inadvertently call
up LSU over a graphics program, the
computer will seem to freeze. Pressing Esc
(and exiting the invisible LSU) should
rectify things.
________________ 1.2.3 Batch Mode
As a single function batch command, LSU can be used to
send a user defined code to the printer from the command
line or from within a batch file.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Batch mode is useful if you have a specific command which
you are regularly going to send to the Laserjet. Batch
mode allows you to do so without having to interact with
the menu interface.
Batch mode is invoked by the parameter "/B" (which stands
for "Batch"). Case is insignificant.
Examples:
From the command line:
LSU /B <Enter>
From within a batch file:
@Echo off
rem this is my Autoexec.bat
DATE
TIME
MODE COM1 9600,n,8,1,[p]
MODE LPT1 = COM1
LSU /B <-- [this invokes LSU in batch
mode code]
CD\MyWPDir
MYWP
The code which is sent to the printer when LSU is loaded
in batch mode is called the Custom/Auto code (because it
is customizable by the user, and because it is
automatically sent...).
NOTE: by default the Custom/Auto Code sets
the Laserjet to a printable page of 66
lines. The Custom/Auto code, which is the
last item on the Fonts menu, can be edited
and saved to disk. (See Options.Save
Defaults, section 3.8.8).
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
________________ 1.3 Requirements
-- An IBM PC, PS/2 or close compatible computer.
-- 128K of available memory for Standard and Batch modes.
-- 60K memory over and above memory needed for running
your application if you intend to use LSU in TSR mode.
-- The Hewlett Packard Laserjet, Laserjet Plus, or
Laserjet Model II.
-- Any additional font cartridges.
-- Paper and a little patience.
__________________ 1.4 Setting up LSU
By default, LSU uses the parallel port to communicate with
the printer. This means that if you have 1) a Standard
Laserjet or a Laserjet Plus, or if you have 2) your Model
II/IID connected to your computer's serial port, you must
configure your system in one of two ways to accommodate
this:
1) Either issue the MODE command to
initialize the serial port followed by the
MODE command to redirect all output from
the parallel port to the serial port, or
2) Issue the MODE command to initialize the
serial port and configure LSU to address
the Laserjet via the serial port directly
(see Options.Port, section 3.8.7)
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
______________________ 1.4.1 The Mode Command
MODE is an external "command" (a small utility program)
that comes with DOS. If you have never used a serial
printer, then it is likely you have never had need of this
little utility. But, now you do.
Among other things, MODE initializes the serial port,
preparing it for any kind of communication. Most
telecommunications programs take care of this
initialization themselves. But to use a printer, you have
to do so manually.
Initialization has three, or, optionally, four parts.
The format for running MODE is:
MODE [port]:[speed][parity][databits][stopbits][P]
The meaning of all these arcane terms can be found in your
DOS manual.
Laserjets require the following setting (you should place
it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file):
MODE COM1 9600,n,8,1,[p]
This initializes your serial port. Which translates into:
"Please tell my Laserjet that I will be sending data at
9600 baud, with no parity checking, 8 data bits, with 1
stop bit, and if I get a time-out error, I will continue
to try until something gives." This last part of the
command, the "p", is not required for LSU to work, but
*is* required for many programs. Like Microsoft Word.
So, you might as well include it. Doing so will cost you
about 368 bytes of memory.
But that's not the end of it. Since LSU uses the parallel
port by default, if you have a Standard Laserjet or a
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Model II connected to the serial port, you *also* must
issue the following command.
MODE LPT1 = COM1
This "redirects" output that is sent to the parallel to
the serial port.
Any program which would normally only print to the
parallel port will now work with your serially connected
printer.
Refer to your DOS manual for a more detailed explanation
of the MODE command.
The Laserjet Model II can be configured either as a
parallel or a serial printer. If you have a Model II
connected to your serial port, follow the above
instructions. If your Laserjet is connected to your
parallel port, no special initialization is required.
_________________________________________________________ 1.4.2 Gotta Use the Serial Port, and Only the Serial Port
If, for whatever reason, you *must* use the serial port
only -- that is, the "parallel redirection" trick outlined
above won't work for you -- then you can tell LSU to
address the printer directly through the serial port.
You select the port via the Options.Port command (see
below, section 3.8.7). Your preference can be saved to
disk with the Options.Save defaults command.
_________________ 1.4.3 Big Warning
LSU has gotten slightly smarter with version 5.04. The
program now can test whether a Laserjet, which is
connected to a parallel port, is ready to receive input.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
If you have a Laserjet Model II or later, connected to the
parallel port, then you will get a polite error message if
the printer is Off, or Off-Line, or Out of Paper.
However. There are still some precautions to take if you
have a Laserjet I (which was a serial printer).
Please be aware that LSU (at this time) has no way to know
if you have correctly configured a serial printer.
If you try to send a code directly the serial port without
having sent the appropriate MODE command, you will get a
constantly flashing "40" on the status indicator. It
won't go away until you turn off your Laserjet or you
empty the printer buffer by placing the printer Off-line
and executing a Form Feed. This is benign enough, and you
probably won't lose any data, even if you are using LSU in
TSR mode while writing a terrific novel.
HOWEVER: if you try to send a code through the parallel
port and you have failed to BOTH initialize the serial
port properly, AND redirect all output from LPT1 to COM1,
then you are in for a big surprise. Your computer will
lock up and you'll need to reboot (Ctrl-Alt-Del). This is
benign enough if you were just running LSU, but if you
have data stored on a ram disk, or if you are using LSU in
TSR mode and are in the middle of doing your taxes, you
won't be very happy.
If you have a serial printer PLEASE take care to write one
or both of the following lines into your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file:
MODE COM1 9600,n,8,1,[p] (initialize)
MODE LPT1 = COM1 (redirect)
The safest bet, even if you will be addressing the
Laserjet directly through the serial port when using LSU,
is to include both lines. It can't hurt. And you will
eventually come across a program that can only print
through the parallel port (in which case the redirection
line will be necessary.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
If you are not addressing a serial Lasrjet directly
through COM1, and you have entered the above MODE
commands, then your serial printer will act just like a
parallel printer when there is an error condition. That
is, you will also get the error messages stating that
there is a "Printer not ready" error.
By the way, it is possible for LSU to *seem* to crash when
it hasn't if the On-Line indicator is not illuminated.
Before you reach for the Big Red Switch, please check that
the printer is in fact on, and on-line.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
______________ 2. Some Notes:
__________________ 2.1 Internal fonts
LSU does not create fonts. That is, even if a font is
visible as an option on the Fonts menu, the availability
of that font depends upon which cartridges you own, and
which cartridge is loaded into the printer.
Each of the Laserjet models have several internal fonts
built into the machine. These fonts are available no
matter what other cartridges you own and have loaded.
The internal fonts built into the Laserjet printers are as
follows:
Standard Laserjet:
Courier 10 portrait
Courier 10 landscape
Laserjet Plus and Laserjet 500 Plus
Courier 10 portrait
Courier 10 landscape
Line Printer 16.66 portrait
Laserjet II
Courier 10 portrait, + bold
Courier 10 landscape, + bold
Line Printer 16.66 portrait
Line Printer 16.66 landscape
Laserjet IID - (can rotate fonts, so all fonts are
available in Portrait and Landscape):
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Courier 10 + bold, italic
Courier 12, + bold, italic
Line Printer 16.66
The S2 font cartridge is bundled with the IID, so you
could consider the following built in:
Times Roman 12 pt, + bold, italics,
Times Roman 8 pt
Helvetica 14 pt bold
If you wish to access additional fonts, such as Times
Roman, or Helvetica, or Letter Gothic, you must purchase
the appropriate font cartridge.
LSU's default configuration contains font selection
information for several HP font cartridges. Further, the
Font menu can be customized to suit the cartridges you
possess.
NOTE: if you select a font from LSU's Font
menu for which you do not actually possess
the appropriate font cartridge, LSU will
send the code to the printer; the Laserjet
will attempt to set the printer to the
available font that most closely matches
your choice.
Example:
If you have the Times Roman B cartridge
(which only has Times Roman in 8 and 10
point), and you select Times Roman 12 point
-- you will in fact get Times Roman 10
point.
____________________ 2.2 Pitch and Points
One of the great virtues of laser printing is the ability
to format documents with different fonts. A font is a
mixture of several qualities:
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
With a fixed font each character is the same width. As a
result you can calculate line length by the number of
inches to a line, and the number of characters to an inch.
This is identical to a typewriter. For example, one of
the most common fonts (both in Laserjets and on
typewriters) is Courier 10. The "10" here refers to Pitch
-- that is, Courier 10 prints 10 characters per inch.
Prestige Elite 12 prints 12 characters per inch. Line
Printer 16.66 prints 16.66 character per inch.
Proportional fonts cannot be described in terms of pitch,
since each character has a different width (for example,
"i" is much narrower than "a"). Therefore, the size of a
proportionally spaced font is described by it's height in
points. One point is equal to approximately 1/72th of an
inch.
Pitch should not be confused with Points. Pitch refers to
how many characters fit within an inch. Point size refers
to the height of the font measured in 1/72nds of an inch.
Some confusion arises because fixed fonts are often de-
scribed using both measurements. So, you have Courier 10p
12pt (10 pitch 12 point) and Prestige Elite 12p 10pt. The
fact that the numbers are identical, but reversed can eas-
ily befuddle. Just remember, pitch is the most meaningful
description of a fixed font, and point size is the most
meaningful description of proportionally spaced fonts.
For the purposes of LSU and its documentation, pitch will
be represented by a single 'p', and point size by the
abbreviation 'pt'.
_______________ 2.3 Symbol Sets
Another aspect of HP Laserjet fonts that sometimes creates
confusion is Symbol Set.
Most fonts default to the Symbol Set called Roman-8. The
Internal fonts are Roman-8. But on some cartridges, you
have a choice of Symbol Sets.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
The reason for selecting an alternative Symbol Set has to
do with the "extended" characters. For example, what
appears when you hit the "~" (tilde) or the "'" (single-
quote) key? Or, what foreign characters are available?
USASCII and Roman Extension have the alphabet with accent
marks mapped into the extended range (160-255).
On the HP92286Z cartridge, there are two possible symbol
sets, ASCII and ECMA-94 Latin 1, 7 bit. Neither of these
symbol sets have the extended foreign language characters,
but their difference might be instructive about symbol
sets in general.
The Fonts menu has a pre-determined Symbol Set, formulated
according to my own, limited, font cartridges. If you
have access to other Symbol Sets, you have two options:
edit the Font menu (see Options.Customize fonts, section
3.8.6), or select the alternate Symbol Set from the
Symbols menu *after* you have selected the font.
For example:
If wish to use Helv 10 pt in EMCA, you must do so in two
steps:
1) select option "J" from the Fonts menu.
This will set Helv 10pt USASCII.
2) select EMCA from the Symbol Menu
Alternatively, you could configure option "J" on the Fonts
Menu to *always* set EMCA by editing the code sent to the
printer. (Options.Customize fonts, section 3.8.6)
__________ 2.4 Styles
Underlining, though it definitely changes the look of a
document, is not considered a change in the font. All
fonts can be underlined. Bold and italic, however,
actually change the look of the font itself.
- 12 -
___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
The availability of bold and italic depends upon the model
of your Laserjet, and the active cartridge.
_____________________ 2.5 Command Selection
Selecting a main menu item and pressing <Enter> invokes a
sub-menu. Alternately, pressing the first capitalized
letter of the main menu item will access the appropriate
sub-menu.
For example:
At the main menu, pressing 'F' will bring
down the Fonts menu.
Pressing 'S' will bring down the Symbol
menu.
Pressing 'T' will bring down the sTye menu.
Similarly, menu items can be accessed either by selecting
the item with the cursor movement keys and pressing
<Enter> or by selecting the *first* capitalized letter of
the appropriate selection.
Example:
The first Font menu selection is "A:
Courier 10p USASCII [A,C,H,L,Q,Y]" This
item can be selected (and the appropriate
code sent to the printer) either by
highlighting and pressing <Enter>, or by
pressing the 'A' key. Note that although
there are many capitalized letters in this
menu selection, 'A' is the first.
The Esc key is an all purpose exit key. It exits any
active menu or prompt, exits the envelope editor, and,
when pressed from the main menu, exits LSU.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
___________________________________ 2.6 The <Esc> key, the Escape Code:
Pressing <Esc> from any selection prompt aborts the
command; from any sub-menu it returns to the main menu;
from the main menu it Quits the program.
This key (as it actually exists on your keyboard, and as
it is used to "escape" from a command in progress) should
not be confused with the Escape Code -- a term you may
have found in your HP Manual.
Almost all printers, including the HP Laserjets,
communicate with programs via a series of codes -- and the
way in which the computer tells the printer that the
following series of characters are *not* to be printed,
and *are* to be taken as formatting commands, is to
preface the command string with a very special character,
which, unfortunately, is called "Escape". You would think
that for a character so often used, they (those people who
invented keyboards and computer codes) could have found
two discreet names for the physical Key and the character.
Anyway...
This character is usually represented in texts as either
Ec, or <ESC>, or Esc, and is variously called Decimal 27,
Hexadecimal 1b, or just plain "escape". In an actual disk
file (for instance, if you peek into the program file
LSU.COM), this character looks like a small left pointing
arrow. That's what it looks like on LSU's Customize fonts
screen.
But how do you enter this mysterious key?
Well, this is often a source of confusion (and one of the
reasons setup programs like LSU are necessary). The
answer is simple. And the answer is necessary if you are
going to customize LSU's Fonts menu. The answer, which I
will repeat in the section on customizing LSU, is: hold
down the Ctrl key with your left pinky, and press (once)
the LeftBracket key ('['). In the remainder of this
document, and in LSU itself, this key, the Escape Key, is
referred to as '^[' or as Ctrl-LeftBracket.
- 14 -
___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
In summary, you are being asked two very different things
when a program says "Press <Esc> to cancel", and when it
asks you to enter the escape code. The former is the
physical key marked "Esc" on your keyboard; the latter is
the escape code (^[, 1bh, #27).
- 15 -
___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_____________________ 3. The Program Itself
__________________ 3.1 The Fonts Menu
When invoked, the Fonts menu presents the following:
A: Courier 10p Roman-8 [A,C,H,L,Q,Y]
B: P.Elite 12p Roman-8 [A,C,H,L,Q,Y]
C: LtrGoth 12p USASCII [E,N,Q]
D: LinePR 16p Roman-8 [C,F,L,Y]
E: TmsRmn 8pt USASCII [B,F,K,S2,Z]
F: TmsRmn 10pt USASCII [B,F,K,P,Z]
G: TmsRmn 12pt USASCII [S2,Z]
H: TmsRmn 14pt USASCII [Z]
I: Helv 8pt USASCII [B,F,K,S2,Z]
J: Helv 10pt USASCII [B,F,K,P,Z]
K: Helv 12pt USASCII [S2,Z]
L: Helv 14pt USASCII [Z]
M: C.Land 10p Roman-8 [internal]
N: LP.Land 16p Roman-8 [[A,B,C,L,Y,Z]
O: Landscape current font
P: Portrait current font
Q: Send the custom/auto code
Entries A through N present four pieces of information:
The short cut key: e.g. A
The font name: e.g. Courier
The font size e.g. 10p
The symbol set: e.g. Roman-8
A listing of the
font cartridges: e.g.
[A,C,H,L,Q,Y]
Selecting any of these choices (either by pressing the
shortcut key or highlighting the selection and pressing
<Enter>) will send that code to the printer immediately,
and exit the menu.
If you do not have one of the cartridges listed within the
brackets, the font which most closely approximates your
choice will be loaded.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Entries O and P select the orientation for the font as
Landscape or Portrait. If the currently selected font
does not have a landscape mode, the printer will usually
default to Courier 10p landscape.
Entry Q holds the Custom/Auto code. This is the code that
will automatically be sent to the printer when LSU is
invoked with the "/B" parameter. By default this code
sets the page layout for 66 lines per page (the same as
the Layout.Sixty-six lines command).
NOTE: all of the entries in the Fonts menu
can be customized. Both the menu text and
the code sent to the printer can be changed
to suit the fonts you most regularly use.
(See Options.Customize fonts, section 3.8.6
___________________ 3.2 The Symbol Menu
This menu allows you to over-ride whatever symbol set you
have defined (or whatever default you have accepted) in
the Fonts menu for the symbol set of a given font.
Be sure that you select this option *after* setting the
desired font using the Fonts menu.
Any choice made under the Symbols menu will be overridden
by a subsequent selection from the Fonts menu.
__________________ 3.3 The Style Menu
__________________________________ 3.3.1 Bold/Italic/Underline ON/OFF
This menu allows you to toggle on and off several special
effects.
When you select Bold, Underline, or Italic, any subsequent
print to the Laserjet will be formatted *entirely* with
that style.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Selecting Bold and/or Italic has no effect if the fonts
currently available to the printer do not support these
styles.
Underline, however, is available for all fonts, including
landscape.
____________________________ 3.3.2 Alt Bold/Italic ON/OFF
You may have noticed in your HP Laserjet manual a lot of
talk about Primary and Secondary fonts, about Shift In and
Shift Out. I would venture to say that you ignored it,
either because it was confusing (which it is) or because
it never proved useful (which, for the most part, it
isn't).
Well, I'm here to tell you what it is, and give you
something to do with it.
Simply put, by shifting the direction of the parenthesis
in any font description code you tell the Laserjet to
alter one of two fonts. For example
<Esc>(0U<Esc>(s1p14.4v0s1b4T
This sets the Laserjet's Primary font to (in order,
reading from left to right): USASCII, Proportionally
Spaced, 14.4pt, Upright, Medium Stroke Weight, Helvetica
(not having to remember all these things is what LSU is
for...). While:
<Esc>)0U<Esc>)s1p14.4v0s1b4T
This sets the Secondary font to the same thing. Notice
the left close parenthesis instead of open parenthesis.
So what's the big deal? Well, theoretically, once you
have set both a Primary and Secondary Font, you can easily
switch between the two by issuing a single Control Code.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
That's the Shift In (read from Primary) and Shift Out
(read from Secondary) commands.
This would allow you, for instance, to create a document
with any old editor or word processor, and as long as you
can insert the control codes ^N and ^O (ascii 014 and
015), you could toggle from one to the other.
So you could have Primary as Upright (normal) and
Secondary as Italic, and when you wanted to italicize, you
would write the following:
This next ^NWord^O was italicized.
As it turns out, no word processor (that I know of) uses
this method for formatting text. The Secondary Font has
been universally ignored. Until now.
On the sTyle menu you will see two entries, alt bOld OFF
and alt iTalic OFF. If you toggle either or both of these
to on, then the Secondary Font will be set to Bold and/or
Italic.
Why? Well, LSU has a built in envelope editor (described
in detail below, section 3.6). Using ^N and ^O you can do
some fancy formatting of your envelopes, if you have the
necessary landscape fonts loaded.
The envelope editor will accept ^N and ^O as characters.
They are entered by holding down the Ctrl key and tapping
"N" or "O".
If you wanted to get even fancier, you could enter entire
control strings. For example, you could enter the code
for underline. To see an example of such formatting, load
LSU and select Envelope.New Envelope. You will be
presented with an envelope form which contains my return
address formatted with the first line using the Secondary
font, and the second line using underline.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_____________________ 3.4 The Commands Menu
___________________ 3.4.1 Reset printer_
This command clears all settings from the Laserjet's
memory and returns it to it's default status (as if it had
just been turned on). This usually means: no margins,
casette feed, and Courier 10p 12pt as the active font.
NOTE: The exception is when you have a
font loaded, such as Prestige Elite, or
Letter Gothic, whose cartridge default font
overrides the built in default font. The
cartridge information sheet specifies
whether or not the cartridge fonts over-
ride the internal fonts as default.
________________________ 3.4.2 Eject current page
This sends a Form Feed command to the Laserjet. This is
useful at those times when an application (for whatever
mysterious computer reason) sends a partial page to the
printer, or a left-over character. You can tell if this
is the case if the Form Feed indicator is illuminated on
the control panel.
_________________ 3.4.3 Manual feed
Activates manual feed (this can also be done manually by
placing the printer off-line and pressing the "Manu Feed"
indicator on the Standard Laserjet or by using the Menu
function on the Model II/IID).
This is useful if you are printing letter head stationary,
labels, postcards, etc.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
___________________ 3.4.4 Cassette feed
Activates casette feed. Paper will be feed through the
Laserjet from the currently loaded paper tray.
This is the default, and can also be activated by toggling
the "Manu Feed" indicator off.
_______________________ 3.4.5 Wrap lines ON/OFF
This command is a toggle.
When it is set to ON:
Lines that extend into the non-printing area will be
wrapped to the next line.
This command is useful for making sure that all text is
printed.
However, if it proves necessary (that is, you have lines
in your text file that are too wide for the selected font)
it usually means you will adversely affect the pagination.
When set to OFF:
Lines that extend into the non-printing area will be cut
short. This is the default setting.
If lines extend into the non-printing area of the page,
the optimum fix is to re-edit the file into shorter lines,
or select a smaller font before printing.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
______________________ 3.4.6 Number of copies_
Select the number of copies to print of the next document.
Whether you are printing through LSU, or through your word
processor, this command tells the Laserjet to print x
number of copies.
_______________________ 3.4.7 Printer self test
This command sends the Laserjet into test mode. A single
sheet filled with diagonally shifted characters will be
printed, a series of internal tests will be performed, and
any error conditions will be reported on the front panel
indicator. A key to the possible error codes can be found
in the Laserjet manual.
This is useful for examining uniformity of print quality,
and as precautionary maintenance.
__________________ 3.4.8 Font Example_
Prints a short test at the current settings. This shows
font, symbol set, orientation, style, margins, pitch, etc.
___________________ 3.5 The Layout Menu
_________________ 3.5.1 Left offset
Sets the beginning column of the left margin offset. The
measurement depends upon the currently selected pitch.
For example, entering 10 while Courier 10p is active would
give you a left margin of 1"; while a setting of 12 would
be needed for a 1" offset if Prestige Elite 12p were the
active font.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_________________ 3.5.2 Right limit_
Sets the column number beyond which characters will not
print.
In effect, this setting, minus the left offset, is equal
to the number of characters per line when you are using a
fixed font.
For example, a left margin of ten and a right margin of 80
would allow for 70 characters per line.
________________ 3.5.3 Top margin_
Sets the number of lines to skip from the top of the page;
uses the currently selected number of lines per inch.
___________________ 3.5.4 Clear margins_
Clears all margin settings, resetting them to the Laserjet
defaults.
____________________ 3.5.5 lines per Inch
This command alters the spacing between lines, and
therefore alters the number of lines per inch the Laserjet
will print. The default line spacing is 6 lines per inch.
However, with some fonts, such as Prestige Elite, or Line
Printer, you can squeeze more lines into an inch (and
therefore more lines onto the page), without sacrificing
legibility.
This command uses the Vertical Motion Index (see HP
Manual) to set the line spacing. It tells the Laserjet
how many 1/48th of an inch increments to skip between
lines.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
The formula to calculate the VMI is:
(48/x)*(1/48) where x is the number you enter into LSU.
For example, if you were to enter 8, LSU would calculate
the following:
48/8*1/48 = 6/48 -- this would tell the Laserjet to skip
6/48ths of an inch (or 1/8th inch) between each line.
A more complicated example would be setting LPI to 9:
48/9*1/48 = 5.3333/48 -- this would tell the Laserjet to
skip 5.3333 48ths of an inch between each line.
Most frequently, you will use even numbers, such as 3, 6,
8, 12. But the four decimal places are there if you need
them.
However, just setting the number of lines per inch will
not format a page of text properly. You still must tell
the Laserjet how many lines constitute a page.
If you are using the default 6 LPI, then the Laserjet will
print approximately 60 lines per page. This number
changes, however, when you change the LPI.
If you are using a standard DOS application, such as
WordStar or any other program in which you can specify the
number of lines per page, you must adjust the page length
(in the program) to accommodate the increased number of
lines per inch. The printable page area on a Laserjet
using 8.5 x 11 paper is approximately 10 inches.
Therefore, you can calculate the number of lines per page
by using the formula:
10 * LPI.
For example
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
At 8 LPI you would be able to print 80
lines, including, of course, top and bottom
margins. So, if you had WordStar set to
produce a top and bottom margin of 5 lines
each, with a .PL of 80 the actual number of
text lines would be 70.
If, however, you are printing a file
directly from DOS, using the command COPY
FILE.TXT PRN <Enter>, then you must
directly change the number of lines the
Laserjet will print on a page before
executing a form feed. That is done with
the Text Length Command.
_________________ 3.5.6 Text length_
Specifies the page length in number of lines (using the
currently selected line spacing) printable on a single
page. It is used in conjunction with Top Margin, Bottom
Margin, and LPI.
This command, in combination with the lines per inch
command, will determine the exact size of the printable
area of a page, using the following formula:
(lines per inch) * (x inches per page) - (top margin +
bottom margin)
For example:
If you had a text file captured from an on-line service
such as CompuServe -- a file that has no formatting, no
form feeds, just one line after another, you could format
it rather nicely by following these steps:
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Set left margin offset to, say, 10.
Set top and bottom margin to 5.
Set LPI to 8.
Set Text Length to 70, (80 - (5+5).
Exit LSU
Execute the command COPY CAPTURE.TXT PRN
<Enter>.
_______________ 3.5.7 Sixty-six__
Most PC-DOS programs assume that a printer is capable of
printing 66 lines (6 lines per inch, 11 inches per page).
This is not the case on the Laserjet family, since there
is a border around a page of "unprintable space" As a
result the Laserjet prints approximately 60 lines per
page.
This command sets the Laserjet to print 66 lines per page
by creating slightly larger than normal top and bottom
margins, and slightly smaller vertical increments between
lines.
This command is extremely useful when using PC-DOS
programs that do not know how to manipulate the Laserjet.
Simply execute the Layout.Sixty-six lines command before
running such a program, and all output should be properly
formatted.
_______________ 3.5.8 Fifty-one__
Simply sending a normal ASCII text file to the Laserjet in
landscape mode will result in erratic pagination: the
Laserjet still expect to print 60 lines per page. As a
result, page one will print fifty-odd lines, the second
page will print nine lines, and one line (more or less)
will be lost into the never never land of "unprintable
space".
This command tells the Laserjet to expect precisely 51
lines per page.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
This command is *necessary* if you are printing a file in
landscape mode from the DOS command prompt using COPY
FILENAME.TXT PRN <Enter>.
________________ 3.5.9 Eighty-six_
Similarly, if you have legal sized (8.5 x 14) paper loaded
into the Laserjet, it will still, by default, expect only
60 lines per page.
This command sets the Laserjet to print 86 lines per page
__________________ 3.5.10 Print pitch_
Sets the print pitch. This setting uses Horizontal Cursor
Spacing to determine the fraction of an inch skipped
between characters, and overrides the normal pitch for the
selected font. This allows you to print Courier at 12
pitch, or Elite at 10 pitch. Enter the pitch - the number
of characters per inch desired.
This command uses the formula 120/x*1/120 to tell the
Laserjet precisely how many 1/120ths of an inch to skip
between characters.
NOTE: when using proportional space fonts,
only the SPACE character is affected by the
Pitch command. The result is that the
*characters* are no closer together (or
further apart), but the *words* are.
_____________________ 3.6 The Envelope Menu
__________________ 3.6.1 New envelope
Loads a blank envelope with the default Return Address
already inserted.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
There are five lines for Return Address and five lines for
Addressee
The envelope remains in memory. You can then save it to a
file, print it, or return to it with the Edit envelope
command.
A default Return Address is built into LSU. When you
first run LSU, that default address is mine. You can save
a new default by entering the Return Address you wish
saved, then executing the Options.Save defaults command.
NOTE: If you do not want a default return
address to be inserted with each run of New
Envelope, then simply edit out the return
address and Save defaults.
Usage:
First envelope: this command will load a blank form, with
only the Return Address portion filled in.
After editing an envelope, and changing the Return Address
and/or Addressee, selecting New will remove the edited
envelope from memory and replace it with the default
format (either completely blank, or blank addressee and
default return address...).
___________________ 3.6.2 Edit envelope
If you have loaded an envelope from disk, or made changes
to the default envelope, executing Edit envelope allows
you to edit that envelope (that is, without defaulting to
the standard Return Address).
If you execute Edit envelope *first*, that is, before
selecting New -- then you will be presented with a
completely blank form (no default return address).
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
___________________ 3.6.3 Save envelope
Saves the envelope currently in memory to disk. You will
be warned if the filename given already exists on disk.
It is recommended that you use a consistent file
extension, such as ENV for all envelope files.
___________________ 3.6.4 Load envelope
Loads a previously edited and saved envelope file. You
will be prompted for a filename. Paths are recognized.
____________________ 3.6.5 Business (9x4)
Prints the envelope currently in memory on a business-
sized envelope.
____________________ 3.6.6 Check (6x8)
Prints the envelope currently in memory on a small, check-
sized envelope.
____________________ 3.6.7 Page (8x11)
Prints the envelope currently in memory on a page-sized
envelope
WARNING: printing manilla envelopes that
have metal tabs on the closure will most
likely result in severe paper jams. Not
recommended.)
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
____________________ 3.6.8 Halfpg (5x8)
Prints the envelope currently in memory on a half-page-
sized envelope.
__________________ 3.7 The Print menu
Printing a file through Laserjet
The Print menu allows you to print an ASCII document file
to the Laserjet in either portrait or landscape with page
numbers and optional header.
When prompted for Header Text, pressing <Enter> with no
text will disable header printing. Page numbers will
still be printed.
Note: The Landscape option of the Print
command sets the right hand margin (line
length) to 160. This enables you to take
advantage of the Line Printer Font (16.6p)
on cartridge 92286B. If, however, you have
only the internal (ROM) landscape font
(Courier 10p), be aware that any characters
beyond 80 (minus left margin) will not be
printed.
The left margin is left at zero for both portrait and
landscape under the Print command. You must set the left
margin manually under Layout.Left Margin in order for the
text file to be formatted properly.
Font selections and margins in effect for a print job will
remain afterwards, LPI chosen by Print will also remain in
effect after printing.
This is true *unless* the print job was executed in either
of the landscape modes. In those cases, the printer will
be reset to power-on defaults.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_____________________ 3.7.1 Portrait 6 lpi
Prompts for filename, header, and prints a text file in
portrait orientation, six lines per inch
In portrait mode, 6 lpi will allow 58 text lines.
_____________________ 3.7.2 Landscape 6 lpi
In landscape mode, 6 lpi will allow 46 text lines.
A complete RESET will be sent to the printer after
printing.
_____________________ 3.7.3 porTrait 8 lpi
In Portrait mode, 8 lpi will allow 78 text lines.
_____________________ 3.7.4 landScape 8 lpi
In Landscape mode, 8 lpi will allow 58 text lines.
A complete RESET will be sent to the printer after
printing.
_______________ 3.7.5 Directory
Shows a directory according to DOS command line
conventions.
For example, entering
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
*.doc - shows all files in current directory with file
extensions of doc.
e:\dir\*.bak - shows all files on drive E:, directory
\DIR, with file extensions of BAK.
____________________ 3.8 The Options Menu
______________ 3.8.1 LSU 5.04
Displays address for license registration of LSU.
________________ 3.8.2 Unload LSU
If LSU is in TSR mode, this command will remove LSU from
memory, and return used memory to other applications.
WARNING: this must ONLY be invoked from
the DOS command line. If you invoke this
command (and answer yes to the Continue?
question) while you are inside an
application program, you will be dumped to
DOS and any unsaved work will be lost.
In order for this command to return memory to DOS for use
by other applications, LSU *must* have been the last TSR
program loaded.
______________________ 3.8.3 Hotkey: Alt-F10
Shows the current Hotkey, and allows you to change it.
Valid Hotkey possibilities are:
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
Alt + F1 - F10,
Shift + F1 - F10,
Ctrl + F1 - F10,
Alt + 1 - 0, -, =
_______________________ 3.8.4 Force mono YES/NO
Displays the current setting for whether or not you want
LSU to use monochrome color settings despite the fact that
you have a color monitor, because LSU *thinks* you have a
color monitor when in fact you are using a monochrome
graphics screen.
Laserjet can only determine whether or not you have a
Graphics adaptor. If you have a graphics adaptor, LSU
assumes it is a color adaptor and sets the colors
accordingly. However, if you are using a laptop with an
LCD or a monochrome graphics adaptor, these color setting
may not be legible.
To remedy this, simply select this option, save the new
default to disk, and re-load LSU.
________________ 3.8.5 Model I/II
This is a toggle -- it allows you to set the current model
of your Laserjet. Possible settings are I and II. If you
have a Laserjet Plus or Plus 500, leave the setting at I.
If you have a Laserjet IID, use the II setting.
This setting allows LSU to properly position envelopes for
printing.
_____________________ 3.8.6 Customize fonts_
This selection allows you to change the functioning of the
Fonts menu. You will be presented with a screen showing
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
both the menu text and the associated printer control
code.
Editing Menu Text
When entering a new menu text be aware that the shortcut
key (that is, the key you can press to execute the command
rather than highlighting the command and pressing <Enter>)
is the FIRST capital letter of the menu text. Also be
aware that you CANNOT have multiple shortcut keys in a
single menu.
For example
If you have two menu texts that read
TmsRoman 8pt
tmsRoman 10pt
Pressing T will execute the 8 pt; pressing R would
execute 10 point.
Having the following two entries --
TmsRoman 8pt
TmsRoman 10pt
-- is illegal, and would result in 8 pt *always* being
executed when T was pressed.
The maximum field length is 38 characters.
Editing Printer Control Codes
To the right of each Menu Text is a printer control code.
If you have never cracked the HP manual, best to leave
these alone. If, however, you understand such things,
enjoy. Just remember that the Escape Code (the little
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
left pointing arrow visible on this screen) is entered by
holding down CTRL and pressing "[" (Ctrl-LeftBracket).
Also bear in mind that an incorrectly entered control code
will result in what may seem random characters printed on
the first line of the next document you print. This is
because the Laserjet will understand the correctly entered
portion of a command string, and send the rest of it out
as if it were text and not a command. So, if you see
something like "l0H" or ")u" in the top left most corner
of a page, go back and check the control code for the menu
item just selected.
The maximum field length is 38 characters.
The ability to customize the menu text and commands of the
Fonts menu is an incredibly useful feature. For instance,
you could tailor the Fonts selections to encompass all of
your favorite fonts, deleting those you do not have
cartridges for, and adding selections for the cartridges
you do have. You could also implement downloading of soft
fonts to the Laserjet by entering the appropriate code and
soft font file name.
____________________ 3.8.7 Port LPT1/COM1
This setting allows you to tell LSU which port to send
information.
The choices are limited:
LPT1 - parallel port number one
COM1 - serial port number one
The latter choice may be required in situations when you
have two printers, or the Laserjet is connected via a
network accessible only through the serial port.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
___________________ 3.8.8 Save defaults
One of the nice things about LSU is the ability of the
user to configure several options to suit their needs and
preferences.
This is the command that makes those configuration choices
permanent. A completely new copy of the program file
LSU.COM is written to disk.
The options that are saved by this command are:
-- Hotkey
-- Force mono
-- Model
-- The Fonts menu text and control codes, including the
Custom/Auto code that is sent to the printer when LSU is
invoked with the "/B" parameter.
-- Port
-- Default Return Address - in order to change the default
return address (the address that is automatically loaded
into the Envelope Editor when you select Envelope.New
envelope) you must first edit the default, then Save
Setup.
NOTE: In order for Laserjet to create a new version of
itself, the program must reside in the currently active
directory and must be named LSU.COM.
If you are running LSU in TSR mode and want to save your
new defaults, but are not currently logged onto LSU's
directory, you must quit the program you are running and
CHDIR to the appropriate directory.
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___________________________________________________________ Laserjet Setup Utility 5.04 Gallo
_________________________ 4. Warranties and things.
This program has been tested on an IBM XT and an IBM Model
80. It should work with most compatible MS-DOS machines.
However, I can make no guarantees about its performance on
your specific hardware/software combination.
I cannot be held liable for any damages, either to
software, hardware, or user files caused directly or
indirectly by the use of Laserjet Setup Utility.
This program is distributed as Shareware. You are
encouraged to copy and freely distribute Laserjet on the
single condition that the program file be named LSU.COM,
that any archive be named LSUxx.ARC, where xx is the
version number, and that the archive contains this
documentation file.
If after a reasonable trial period, you are still using
LSU, you must obtain a license for continuing to do so.
Registration costs are as follows:
Single, non-commercial license: 25.00
Single, commercial licence: 35.00
Commercial, site licences:
2-10 : 30.00
11-20: 25.00
21 or more: 20.00
Send fee (and appropriate sales tax for New York State
residents) to:
Guy Gallo
219 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
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