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1990-04-13
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6KB
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143 lines
Using VDE With the
Star Gemini 10-X Printer
26 June 1988
Copyright 1988 by Benjamin H. Cohen
All rights reserved
Permission is hereby given to individual users,
non-profit computer user groups and to bulletin
boards <in the traditional sense> which do not
charge for connect time to reproduce this document
and the related VDP file so long as no charge is
made except a nominal charge for media and copying
service when the same are provided.)
Here's how I have set up my copy of VDE Version
65 for use with my Star Gemini 10-X printer. The
following toggles have been enabled:
^B Bold
^D Double-Wide
^Y Italics
^S Underscore
I have installed ^D (normally double strike) as
double-wide printing. The double strike feature
doesn't seem to terribly important.
The following switches have been set up:
^Q Elite On
^W Pica On
^E 8 lines per inch
^R 6 lines per inch
You can install these toggles and switches in your
copy of VDE with the GEMINI.VDP file in this
library. Simply enter:
VINST265 VDE265.COM GEMINI.VDP<cr>
At the menu enter S to save (after making any
changes you want).
If you want to make changes you can select the "P" option from the menu and
make any changes you want. Most of the entries come up with a prompt that
ends something like this: (00):
That means you should enter the number of bytes and the HEX code for the bytes
to be sent. The following table shows most of the possibilities that you
might want to use.
When entering the bytes in VINST do not attempt to enter the comma. I have
shown it in the table below only to clarify that there are two characters to
each byte that you will enter. That's because you are entering hexadecimal
codes rather than the characters themselves. For example, to turn elite (12
characters per inch) on you need to enter ESC,E. In hex that translates to
1B,45.
There are two types of embedded commands you can control with VDE's printer
installation, toggles and switches. The toggles (with their usual WordStar
uses) are ^S (underscore), ^B (bold), ^D (WordStar's double strike toggle )
and ^Y (ribbon color). Each toggle has two values, an ON value and an OFF
value. As long as you understand that your documents will work very
differently if others use them or if you use them with other printers or other
programs (unless you have customized them in the same way) you can assign any
function to any toggle. It's not, however, a very good idea if you put any of
these commands in files that you give to others, so unless you're a real lone
wolf it's probably best to stick with the usual WordStar uses of these (though
I have strayed by using ^Y for proportional spacing and ^D for double wide.)
The switches are for commands, ^Q, ^W, ^E, and ^R that are 'user assignable'
in WordStar. As you can see I choose to use them for elite on and off and to
change the line spacing to eight lines per inch and back to six lines per
inch. Select the commands that you find most useful.
Because VDE allows you to store selections in a VDP file you can do several
installations, saving the results in VDP files, and then loading them onto VDE
whenever you need them. Each VDP file is only one unit of space on your disk
while extra copies of VDE itself are about 14K for version 2.65. If you want
a special copy that gives you three types of double-wide fonts for flyer type
memos, make a special VDP file or a special VDE file just for that.
--------------------------------------------------
Function: Hex Bytes
------------- ------------
Pica on: 1B,42,01
Elite on: 1B,42,02
Condensed on: 1B,42,03
Double wide on: 1B,57,01
Double wide off: 1B,57,00
Emphasized (Bold) on: 1B,45
Emphasized (Bold) off: 1B,46
Double-strike on: 1B,47
Double-strike off: 1B,48
Super-script on: 1B,53,00
Sub-script on: 1B,53,01
Super/Sub-script off: 1B,54
Underline on: 1B,2D,01
Underline off: 1B,2D,00
Six lines per inch: 1B,4D,08
Eight lines per inch: 1B,4D,06
Italics on: 1B,34
Italics off: 1B,35
--------------------------------------------------
To be sure that the ^B toggle works correctly (with WordStar as well as VDE)
be sure that you set DIP switch 1-2 to the "ON" position to start the printer
with emphasized print OFF. Otherwise the printer will be ind
emphasized/bold status until you hit the second embedded ^B and then
switch to 'normal' print.
Note that the left margin is set according to the 'current' pitch setting.
Thus, if you switch from one setting to another on a line be sure to terminate
the alternate setting before or at the end of the line. If necessary, turn it
on at the beginning of the next line, if necessary. For example, if the title
to this article were set to double-wide with ^PD at the beginning of the first
line and reset to normal width with ^PD at the end of the second line the
second line would be offset to the right by several spaces because the left
margin offset would be set in double-wide spaces like this:
Using VDE With the
Star Gemini 10-X Printer
To preserve the left margin setting ^PD was set at
the beginning and the end of each line.
Note, that if you are using a line of double-wide text you need to cut the
margin in half. If you want to embed double-wide text characters in the text
you need to adjust the margin setting for that line by adding extra spaces or
characters and deleting them later.
No doubt experience will teach additional tricks.
--------------------------------------------------
Benjamin H. Cohen
Co-Sysop, CFOG II [312] 764-5162
Box 1674
Chicago, IL 60690