This is the monthly newsletter of the Eagle Computer Users Group, P.O. Box 3381, Saratoga CA 95070. Deadline for submission of material for the newsletter is two weeks before the following meeting. The 1989 deadlines areJan. 27, Feb. 24, Mar. 24, Apr. 28, May 26, June 23, July 28, Aug. 25, Sep. 29,Oct. 27, Nov. 24, and Dec. 29 (for the Jan. 1990 newsletter).
The material in this newsletter is copyright ~=105~q~=083~ 1988 by the authors. Unless otherwise noted, the author is the editor of the newsletter. Permission is hereby given to reproduce material belonging to the editor, aslong as the notice ~=109~Q~=083~Copyright ~=105~q~=083~ 1989 David A.J.McGlone~=109~q~=083~ is included in the reproduction. For permission toreprint other material, contact its author or authors.
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~=103~|MEETING PLACE|~=083~
Meetings are held at Tandem Computers Incorporated, 10435 North Tantau Avenue,Cupertino. To get there, take 280 to Wolfe Rd. exit, left at Vallco Parkway,left at Tantau, over the bridge and turn in where it says ~=109~Q~=083~TandemComputers~=109~q~=083~ on the ~=094~left~=083~. This is ~=094~across thestreet~=083~ from our previous meeting place. Sign in with the guard at thelobby. The meeting will be in either the Strategy Room or the War Room.
Meetings are the second Saturday of every month, from 9 A.M. to Noon. Meetingsin 1989 will be Jan. 14, Feb. 11, Mar. 11, Apr. 8, May 13, June 10, July 8,Aug. 12, Sep. 9, Oct. 14, Nov. 11, and Dec. 9.
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~=103~|JANUARY 14 MEETING|~=083~
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|9:00| Meeting begins. No program has been planned.
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~=103~|NEWS|~=083~
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|Meeting place|
I have been able to reserve a meeting place for us for 1989. The room where wemet in December has been reserved for us on the second Saturday of each month. Since this Strategy Room is where Tandem's president and executives make plansfor the future, there may sometimes be something confidential on the whiteboards. If it isn't marked ~=109~Q~=083~Save~=109~q~=083~, I have permissionto erase it. If it is marked ~=109~Q~=083~Save~=109~q~=083~, we'll have tomeet instead in the War Room, around the corner.
~=094~Computer Currents~=083~ and the editor of the computer section of the~=094~San Jose Mercury News~=083~ have been notified of our meeting dates andour new meeting location.
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|Cash in your class certificates|
Back when our group was run like a business, a Regular membership of $50 gottwo coupons, each worth free attendance at a class. The cost of classes was$35, so it is easily calculated that these coupons were worth $17.50 apiece.
It has been a while since we had Saturday classes. The last few such classeshad not enough people turn out to cover the cost of paying the instructor,despite that they were on subjects people had indicated they wanted to see inour survey. Unless a lot of people requested them and guaranteed theirattendance, there will be no others. Instead, individual help has been our~=094~modus operandi~=083~.
What to do about those coupons people paid for? Last month, the Board agreedto accept them in lieu of money for membership. Each certificate turned inwill be good for a year of Regular membership (which is presently $15). If youstill have both your certificates, you can extend your membership for two yearsby mailing them to our Secretary, Shirley Welch, at P.O. Box 3381, Saratoga CA95070. You can also see her at meetings.
However, this offer is only good through June 1989. As of July, 1989, thosecertificates will be worthless forever. So use them now!
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|CP/M TURBO Pascal available again|
It has been a long time since Borland International Inc. has sold the CP/Mversion of TURBO Pascal. There has been no legal way for owners of Eagles IIeand other CP/M machines to get copies of this software, until now. AlphaSystems Corporation (Joe Wright and I) has signed a contract with Borland,under which Alpha sells and supports the CP/M TURBO Pascal, with Borlandgetting a royalty on each copy sold.
Orders could not be filled right away, however, because Borland had no stock ofTURBO Pascal manuals to hand over, nor did they have the text of the manual ondiskette. After pursuing various options such as scanning services and the useof PC scanners, Alpha paid Home Word Shop (Shirley Welch and Bill Lockwood) totype the CP/M chapters of my copy of the TURBO Pascal manual onto Eagle IIdiskettes, using Spellbinder.
Shirley and Bill did this within a week. It then took me about a month to gothrough the files on my machine, again with Spellbinder, correcting mistakes(both Home Word Shop's, and the mistakes they copied perfectly from Borland'smanual), editing, putting in typesetting codes, and producing the Table ofContents and Index. The resulting pages, straight out of my LaserJet Plus,have come back from the printer as loose-leaf manuals.
Owners of CP/M Eagles can order TURBO Pascal version 3 from Alpha SystemsCorporation, 711 Chatsworth Place, San Jose CA 95128, phone (408) 297-5594. The cost is $60 plus $4 shipping and handling plus sales tax (for Californiaresidents).
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~=103~|ECUG LIBRARY|~=083~
The contents of the ECUG Library reside at the editor's house. Regular membersmay borrow material between one meeting and the next. Either call me eveningsat (408) 293-5176 and ask me to bring what you want to a meeting, or phone toarrange a time to come over.
~=094~The Convocation~=083~, newsletter of the Screaming Eagles User Group,issues 1/1, 1/3, 2/2, 2/3, and 3/4. These were already in our library, butwere accidentally left out of last month's listing (I've got to get this placebetter organized!)
~=094~README.DOC~=083~, the newsletter of the Orange Coast IBM PC User Group,Volume 4, Number 10, October 1988. Donated by David Banoff.
~=094~Software to Tame Your Computer,~=083~ the catalog of California Freeware,5th edition, October 1988. Donated by David McGlone.
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~=103~|PC SOFTWARE LIBRARY|~=083~
David Glick is our PC Software Librarian. Call him at (415) 962-1948 to borrowdemo disks in that collection, or to get copies of public-domain software.
California Freeware disks donated to this library this month by David McGlone:
#168, LaserJet Utilities / 1.
#215, 3D Chess v. 1.01.
#328, LaserJet Utilities / 2.
#423, CP/M Emulator v. 3.1.
#471, LaserJet Fonts / 2 (1 of 2).
#472, LaserJet Fonts / 2 (2 of 2).
#761, LaserJet Fonts / 3.
#765, LaserJet Fonts / 1 (1 of 2).
#766, LaserJet Fonts / 1 (2 of 2).
#767, LaserJet Fonts / 4.
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~=103~|CONSULTANTS|~=083~
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|Jerry Davis| Eagle software, hardware & service; modem software and hardwareservice. Call (408) 972-1965 for rates.
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|David McGlone| SELECTOR V, Nevada COBOL, Turbo Pascal, Turbo Modula-2, CBasic,Spellbinder macros, disk copying and translation. Rates vary with services. Call (408) 293-5176.
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Eagle PC-2, September 1983, serial no. 502L0283, model 16EM12-P39-4, very goodcondition, will include 50 diskettes with sale of computer. IncludesEaglewriter (Spellbinder) software. Asking $295 or best offer. Call GlenPutnam to inspect it, or arrange to pick it up, at (415) 948-6641 evenings, or(415) 949-5737 during the day.
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~=109~t u t u t u t~=083~
Eagle II, CP/M, CBasic, dBase II, Spellbinder, UltraCalc, manuals, Radio ShackDMP-120 printer, cable, and sound-insulated printer enclosure. Low hours ofuse. Complete system $440, or computer and software and manuals (withoutprinter) for $225. I desperately need to sell this equipment, so if the aboveprices are not in the ball park, call and make an offer. Jim McKinley, (415)427-7725.
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~=094~(These ads are posted for the second time)~=083~
Eagle I for sale with Eagle manual, Spellbinder, CP/M and CBasic, UltraCalc,Alphacomm printer. $100. Pat Raskowsky, (408) 336-8430.
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~=109~v w v w v w v~=083~
For sale, 20MB hard disk drive and controller board (for external box, not on aPC card). $125 or best offer. R. Dethlefsen, (408) 246-5378.
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~=109~A B A B A B A~=083~
Eagle II for sale, in fully working order, with original documentation, forsale for best offer. I hate to give it up, but in any event I'd like it to goto a good home. Janet Fairchild, (415) 843-6330.
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~=094~(These ads are posted for the first time)~=083~
Eagle PC2 for sale, 512K, 2 floppies, external 10Mb hard drive, Herculesgraphics card, new enhanced 101 keyboard, mouse (Genius w/Dr. Halo), set up torun copy-protected software. Includes NEC V20 and new BIOS chip. $800. MaryAlexander, (415) 449-6007 (message machine).
Diablo 630 API daisy-wheel printer, 45 cps, with ribbons, original owner. $500. Mary Alexander, (415) 449-6007 (message machine).
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~=103~|REMINDER|~=083~
If you have something for sale, or wish to be listed as a consultant, contactDavid McGlone. For membership matters, contact Shirley Welch.
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~=103~|NEW MEMBERS|~=083~
Please welcome new member Len Reinsmith. Len works in Continental-EasternSales and has an Eagle Turbo XL, an Epson LQ1500 printer, and a Hayes modem. He uses Lotus 1-2-3, release 2.0. Len lives in Coral Springs, Florida, and hisphone number is (305) 344-6248.
See also the LETTERS section following, as some new members had questions toask!
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~=103~|LETTERS|~=083~
~=094~We received an unprecedented number of letters since last issue! No, Iam NOT complaining! I have tried to keep my answers as short as possible, sothat we can print as many letters as possible. Please feel free to writeletters on any aspect of computers that concerns you. If you're wonderingsomething, odds are that others are, too. Articles are always welcome,too.~=083~
Mr. Jerry Davis, or to whom it may concern,
Please add me to your newsletter mailing list for the Eagle Computer UsersGroup. Enclosed is a check for the $15 membership.
I have a 1985 vintage Eagle PC Spirit, 2 360K disk drives, 640K, 8087 chip,switch to run Lotus version 2. I have recently dragged it out as I havechanged jobs and lost my company AT, EGA, and enhanced color display. Forupgrade I am examining the following: (1) hard disk or hard card ~=109~-~=083~Seagate, Miniscribe, ??? (2) VGA ~=109~-~=083~ Orchid Designer VGA, ParadiseProfessional VGA (3) Monitor ~=109~-~=083~ NEC Multisync II, Zenith ZCM 1490,Amdek 732 (4) Speedup kit from Wilkinson Software (5) Clock from WilkinsonSoftware. I'd appreciate any comments!
Primarily my expertise lies with Lotus v. 2.0, QuickBASIC v. 3.0, Generic CADD3.0, and Labtech Notebook (automation). I plan to get good at dBase III+.
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Robert M. Tullman
2 Adolph Street
Worcester MA 01605
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~=094~Anyone who has information about the upgrades Robert is contemplating,please write him. With names that specific, he's probably read what's in thePC magazines, so it sounds like he's after personal experience here.~=083~
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November 22, 1988
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Please send me any information you have on what is available for the Eagle II,including programs to translate data to IBM. My mailing address is P.O. Box19324, San Diego, CA 92119. Thank you, (s) Louis B. Hansotte
~=094~Louis, there are a number of programs around that translate data from oneformat to another. Both the Eagle II format (used by Eagles I also) and theEagle III format (also used by Eagles IV and V, and all three can read andwrite Eagle II as well) are included in ALL these programs. But none of theseprograms RUN on a CP/M Eagle. A format translating program written for theEagle, called SetDisk, allows an Eagle to read or write several single-sidedformats, but IBM PC is not among them.
Presumably you have a PC of some kind that you want to transfer Eagle files to. I suggest you get Uniform, MediaMaster, or XenoCopy for your PC and use it onyour PC to copy Eagle files. None of these are available to run on an EagleII. The address for Uniform is Micro Solutions, 125 S. Fourth Street, DeKalbIL 60115, phone (815) 756-3411. Check with them on the phone before orderingto make sure that Uniform will work with your model of PC. For instance, itwill work with an Eagle Spirit or PC, but Micro Solutions says it won't workwith an Eagle PC II, PC Plus, XL, or 1600.~=083~
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November 28, 1988
Dear Sirs:
I am an Eagle computer owner. I saw your name and address in the last issue of~=094~PC Computing~=083~ magazine. I figured all Eagle owners were leftholding the bag with what they had. My computer was purchased in December1983. I have an Eagle PC II computer with two 5~=109~$~=083~" floppy drivesand a green monochrome monitor by Eagle. It originally had 256K of RAM and Ihad MS-DOS version 1.25. In 1985 I was fortunate enough to upgrade to BIOS 2.5and had my RAM increased to 512K. At the same time I bought MS-DOS v. 2.11. Ihave also installed an STB Chauffeur AT Board.
Please send me any information you can concerning your User Group. Are youaffiliated with other user groups? Do you have a sample of your newsletterthat you could send me? I would appreciate hearing from you. I am interestedin hardware and software compatibility, and what is available. If the cost ofupgrading is reasonable, I would consider doing it. My computer so far hasworked just fine, even though it is obsolete.
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Sincerely,
Jerry Tomlin
13810 Ivymount Drive
Sugar Land TX 77478
(713) 494-1625 H 855-3200 W
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~=094~Well, Jerry, (1) we are affiliated with FOG and with the Screaming EaglesUser Group (who meet online on Compuserve). (2) It is our policy to send threeissues of the newsletter on request; hope you're enjoying yours. After thethree issues, it's up to you to join if you want the newsletter to keep coming. (3) Several letters express an interest in upgrading Eagle PCs; any PC expertsin the club want to write an article or a series of articles about that? (4)Don't worry about your computer being ~=109~Q~=094~obsolete~=109~q~=094~. Itisn't ~=109~Q~=094~obsolete~=109~q~=094~ if it does the work you need it to do,no matter what the computer salesmen say.~=083~
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November 29, 1988
Dear Mr. Davis:
Enclosed please find $15.00 check for one year membership in the User Group. Iam looking forward to receiving your newsletter and other materials you havefor your members.
I am a freelance translator of books and articles. I have had my Eagle 2 PCfor about 6 years and have been very happy with it. I have just upgraded mySpellbinder and hope to enjoy the system for some time to come.
There is no one in Denver taking an interest in providing service for Eagleowners and the article in ~=094~PC Computing~=083~ regarding the orphan systemshas really been a godsend. I found your address there.
Is there anyone in your group who can answer specific questions? If so, pleaselet me know.
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Yours sincerely,
Joanne M. Peckham
Denver CO 80235
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~=094~Joanne: You can address PC repair questions to Jerry Davis. If he feelsa particular question is of interest to the group as a whole, he will pass itto me to publish, as he did this letter of yours. Welcome to our group.~=083~
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December 7, 1988
Dear Mr. McGlone:
In response to your notice in the latest newsletter, the following statisticalinformation is submitted:
1. See letterhead for name address and telephone number.
2. My computer ~=109~-~=083~ Eagle IIE.
My husband's computer ~=109~-~=083~ Eagle II.
3. We both use TTX Daisy Printers.
4. We do not have a modem.
As a biographic detail, my husband, Benjamin, is a former IRS agent whohandles a small investment-counselling and tax-preparation business. I am alsosemi-retired, conducting a very limited practice. We both maintain offices inour home.
Since our Eagle computers, though limited in capacity, are totallysatisfactory for us in our businesses, we have seen no reason to change, andwelcome the opportunity to hear from other Eagle users. In September 1989, Iintend to join your group and pay the subscription cost.
If you have any use for additional copies of ~=094~The Convocation,~=083~ Ihave the following issues available and would be glad to furnish you with acopy: 2/1(c) March 1986, 2/2(c) June 1986, 2/3 Fall 1986, 3/1 Spring 1987.
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Sincerely yours,
Dorothy M. Wolfe
Attorney At Law
619 Southview Court
Belmont CA 94002
(415) 591-8664
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~=094~Thanks, Dorothy, for writing. David Banoff has provided me with copiesof The Convocation on disk for 1985, 1986, and 1987. If I can reprint them onmy laser without spending a lot of time on it, that would be preferable tophotocopies. If anyone has ORIGINALS they are willing to part with (extracopies, presumably), please send them to me at 720 S. 2nd St., San Jose CA95112. We have original copies of issues 1/1, 1/3, 2/2, 2/3, 2/4, 3/4, and 4/1in the Library.~=083~
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December 12, 1988
Dear Mr. McGlone:
Thanks for the effort you have devoted to include Screaming Eagles in thereadership of your newsletter. Here is the information you requested:
Ralph E. Leach, P.O. Box 336,
Mattaponi VA 23110 (805) 785-2494
Eagle II and Eagle III computers
Toshiba P321 3-in-1 printer (no modem)
Software: Spellbinder 5.3, dBase II, Electric Webster, Data Plotter, SetDisk2,Ultracalc
I cannot respond definitely to your request about interest in upgrading my CP/MEagles to the Z-System because I don't know what the Z-System is or does. Iwould be interested in spending $77.50 on an upgrade that did things useful tome.
Finally, even if I were a regular member I would still be a continent removedfrom the ECUG Library. How about considering a way to borrow by mail? I'd bewilling to pay the regular membership fee and two-way mail costs (library rate4th class) if I could borrow the Lexisoft/Spellbinder ~=094~Dealer Notes~=083~and the ~=094~Spellbinder Application Notes.~=083~
~=094~It sounds, Ralph, like it's time for me to put some information about theZ-System into the newsletter. I talked about its features at meetings a whileback, but we've gained new members, especially absentee members, since then. I'll get something into the next issue. Basically, the Z-System is the stateof the art in CP/M-compatible operating systems. It gives you lots of greatnew features, while still running all your old CP/M software.
As for borrowing by mail, I can't see how that would be practical. However,the things you mentioned can be photocopied and sent to purchasers very easily,without risking losing the originals. Next issue I'll list prices for copiesof certain things in the Library, after I figure the costs.~=083~
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December 17, 1988
Dear Dave,
Thanks for your letter of December 13. It's good to know that your Eagle UsersGroup is still going strong. Unfortunately, the Washington Area Eagle User'sGroup disbanded a couple of years ago. I was no longer an officer at thattime, so I am in no position to speak about the organization's status inlinking up in some way with your group.
As far as I know, the last president of the group was Fred Blum, Fairfax, VA,tel. xxx-xxxx. The newsletter editor at that time was John Bledsoe, Annandale,VA, tel. xxx-xxxx. I'm sorry that I do not have full addresses for them. Goodluck to you. (s) Ron Landa
~=094~The letter to which Ron refers is one I sent to the addresses we had forthree other Eagle groups. His is the only reply I've had so far. Thanks, Ron. I'll follow up on the names and phone numbers you provided; perhaps they'lllead to orphan Eagle owners.~=083~
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RIBBON WARNING
by Eugene Austin
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It cost me $100 to learn this. Maybe you can avoid it. I have a daisy-wheelprinter. They supposedly use multistrike ribbons that come in the samecartridge used by correcting typewriters made by the same companies. Aroundhere, you can't get multistrike ribbons, only correctible carbon. Like anidiot, I paid the ripoff and used carbon.
The ink on both General and Nukote correctible carbon flakes off, gets downinto the print head, jams it and tears up wheels. My print head is rated at 6million characters. I got less than 2 million, using carbon ribbons.
Olympia Service Department in Omaha confirms the problem. Asking around, Ilearned that Tilden businessmen with the same kind of print head and wheel intheir typewriters have had company trouble shooters asking about torn-upwheels. It seems that carbon ribbons do the same thing to wheel typewriters. Some of you people with wheel typewriters in your offices better do a littleresearch of your own.
We need ribbons that don't flake. Anybody got any ideas? Meanwhile, I suggestan irascible disposition when buying ribbons!
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Eugene Austin
P.O. Box 115
Tilden NE 68781
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~=094~Thanks for the tip, Gene. Your letter was full of interesting materialand rash promises to write programs and articles for the newsletter. You'llregret those, my friend, because I'll take you up on it. Expect a letter backin a week or so about the other items in your letter. As they are finished,I'll pass them on in the newsletter.
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~=109~H I J K H I J K~=094~
Other letters asked things that I did not consider of general interest to themembership, such as requests for the address of a Kaypro users' group, andanother asking whether anyone has written a driver to enable a Macintosh to usean Okidata 2350 printer. I'll answer these personally.~=083~
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~=103~|PROGRAMMING IN SPELLBINDER|~=083~
Sorry, gang, I've had no time to write any articles this month, because ofworking on the TURBO Pascal reference manual (see under NEWS, above). But letme deal with two matters from last month.
THE CASE OF THE MISSING TYPEFACE
Here is a sample of Digi-Font's typeface #1005, which is a symbols typeface. Iprinted the others of the basic set last month, but had forgotten to make afont from this one. So here it is:
~=105~ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
0123456789!@#$%^&*()
-=`\[_+[~[|[[[];':",./[<[>?{}~=083~
PRINTER PROBLEMS
Jerry Davis and Don Larsen patched the Spellbinder macro TCPRNT.WPM as Ispecified last month and it still wasn't working right on Don's dot-matrixprinter. While I can't say for sure without seeing Don's printer in action,the symptoms Jerry describes sounds like the macro is working, but the wrongnumbers are being chosen. For the two-column macro to work correctly, yourprinter must be properly configured for Spellbinder. For instance, when youset your left margin with a value of 10 in the Y or YT table, the resultingleft margin should be an inch. If this is not the case, Spellbinder will besetting the margins wrong. There are ~=094~four~=083~ margins in a page withtwo-column print: the left margin of the left-hand column, the right margin ofthe left-hand column, the left margin of the right-hand column, and the rightmargin of the right-hand column. Errors in configuration really mount up here!
Another possibility is that wrong values are being chosen when configuring themacro before running it. You must choose values for the left margin, the rightmargin, and the width of the columns such that the left margin plus the widthof the left-hand column plus the space between column plus the width of theright-hand column plus the right margin is less than or equal to the width ofthe page. If these values add up to more than the width of the page, theresulting mess will be your fault, not Spellbinder's.
Remember when consulting with anyone on printer problems that it is best if thetwo of you can get together with your computer, your copy of Spellbinder, yourprinter, and the manual for your printer. There is nothing more frustratingthan watching someone run the program or macro successfully on his printer orcomputer, when you know but can't show him that it doesn't run on yours.
See you at the meeting, or if not, then right here next month.
