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PrintCAD 1.05 resident ADI/HP-GL pen plotter emulator for use as a printer driver with MS-DOS CAD packages including AutoCAD and Microstation (C) Copyright Ravitz Software Inc. 1991 Ravitz Software Inc. P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA p-1 Contents ------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction ..................................................... 2 License and Registration 3 What Is New ...................................................... 3 Installation 4 Operation ........................................................ 4 Suggested Startup .BAT Files 5 Syntax ........................................................... 6 Overview of Options 7 /A - Location Option ............................................. 7 /C - Pen Color Option 8 /D - Output Destination Option ................................... 8 /F - Output Format Option 9 /J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options .................... 10 /L - Page Layout Option 11 /M - Magnification Option ....................................... 12 /O - Origin and Orientation Option 12 /P - Intercept Mask Option ...................................... 12 /R - Internal Resolution Option 13 /S - Pen Shading Option ......................................... 13 /T - Temporary File Option 13 /W - Pen Width Option ........................................... 14 /X - Control Option 14 /Z - Chord Angle and Enhanced Font Option ....................... 14 Large Paper 15 Canon BJ Printers ............................................... 16 Canon LBP Printers 16 Epson 9 Pin Printers ............................................ 16 Epson, NEC, Toshiba 24 Pin Printers 16 HP LaserJet, DeskJet ............................................ 16 HP PaintJet 16 IBM LaserPrinter ................................................ 17 Kodak Diconix Color 4 17 PostScript Printers ............................................. 17 Compatibility and Technical Information 18 User Support .................................................... 19 p-2 Introduction --------------------------------------------------------- PrintCAD is a pen plotter emulator that acts as a printer driver for most CAD packages. It lets you print drawings directly from CAD programs, via the CAD program's pen plotter driver - either AutoCAD's ADI plotter driver or an HP-GL driver. PrintCAD works with AutoCAD, AutoSketch, Microstation, Generic CADD, and other CAD programs. It will print on Epson compatible 9 and 24 pin printers, NEC and Toshiba 24 pin printers, HP LaserJet, DeskJet, and PaintJet, Canon LBP and BJ printers, IBM LaserPrinter, Kodak Color 4, and PostScript printers. PrintCAD outperforms most native CAD printer drivers and provides additional flexibility, such as pen width, shading, and color (with color mixing), and paper size, orientation, magnification, and positioning. PrintCAD uses the best graphics modes available for each printer that it supports. PrintCAD is a swapping resident program, using 5K of base memory and 368K of EMS or XMS memory. Either 368K of EMS or 368K of XMS is required. PrintCAD automatically loads high if a 5K XMS upper memory block is available. PrintCAD has been tested in a variety of environments. However, because it is a swapping resident program, unusual situations may cause it to hang the system. Please test it thoroughly on your system before using it with unsaved data. PrintCAD has not been tested under Windows, and you should not expect it to work in this environment. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. p-3 License and Registration --------------------------------------------- PrintCAD is provided as is. There are no warranties expressed or implied. PrintCAD is a swapping resident program that may have problems with MS Windows and unusual DOS enviroments. PrintCAD is distributed as shareware. You may use PrintCAD without charge on a trial basis to determine its suitability for you. If you continue to use it after your evaluation, a $39 registration is requested. This registration covers use by a single person (on multiple computers) or installation on a single computer (may be used by a group of people). There is no cost to use a later 1.** version after registering any 1.** version. You may distribute PrintCAD as a stand alone product if you keep the entire package together, unchanged, including this license explanation, and do not charge more than $10. You may not distribute PrintCAD as part of another product. To register your copy of PrintCAD, send your name, address, and $39 check, and specify PrintCAD 1.05, to: Ravitz Software Inc. P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA You will be sent a current disk (specify 3.5 or 5.25). If you previously registered PrintCAD, you may send $10 to get a current disk. It would be helpful if you note your CAD package, operating environment, and PrintCAD startup parameters. For users outside the USA, please make checks payable in US dollars, and except for Canada, please use a check or money order from a US bank if possible. And don't forget to include your country in your address. For users who register through a business, don't forget to include your name. What is New ---------------------------------------------------------- version 1.04, 1.05 - updated to handle DOS 5.0 and DESQview better version 1.01..1.03 - fixes problems with /FN, /FS The latest version of PrintCAD is available from the support bulletin board at 606-268-0577 (1200/2400,N,8,1 24 hours/day, XMODEM or YMODEM (1K XMODEM) download), packed in .ZIP format. p-4 Installation --------------------------------------------------------- The PrintCAD package includes these files: PCAD.EXE program PCADDV.EXE special loader for DESQview PCAD.DOC documentation README.* quick information To install PrintCAD copy the distribution files to your working disk or directory. PCAD.EXE is a stand alone executable file. There are no extra printer driver files or overlays. PCAD.DOC is this manual. You can print it with "COPY PCAD.DOC PRN". PCADDV.EXE is a loader for setting up PCAD underneath DESQview. The README.* files are not needed to run PrintCAD, but they must accompany the rest of the files if you distribute the package. Operation ------------------------------------------------------------ When PrintCAD is run for the first time, it installs itself and swaps most of its code to EMS (expanded memory) or XMS (extended memory). Subsequent runs look for the resident copy and send control information to it, updating the parameters. When resident, PrintCAD intercepts calls to DOS that the CAD package makes to output HP-GL. This data is used to drive the printer. To make this work, you must tell PrintCAD how to recognize that HP-GL data is being output from your CAD pacakage. Choose a filename mask that you can match with your CAD package, such as *.PLT. Set this with the /P option (/P*.PLT). Inside your CAD package, output HP-GL (HP 7475, HP 7440/17440, or HP 7550) to a file name that matches the mask. PrintCAD intercepts the data and prints the picture. For AutoCAD and AutoSketch, use ADI for the filename mask (/PADI). Configure AutoCAD for an ADI plotter driver on interrupt hex 78 - up to 15 pens, and 1016 dots/inch resolution. Then all output to this driver goes to PrintCAD via interrupt 78. After making PrintCAD resident, you can verify that it is functional by copying an HP-GL file to "pcad" with the DOS COPY command. PrintCAD causes a high beep after swapping in its code and a low beep before swapping it out, to let you know that your plot is progressing. PrintCAD can be used with DESQview (DV). If you load PrintCAD inside a DV window, it will only be visible from that window. No special steps are needed for this. If you load PrintCAD before running DV, there may be problems, depending on your configuration. If you have problems, instead of running PCAD to install PrintCAD, run PCADDV. This loads PrintCAD at the top of lower memory, preventing it from overwriting DV code. You must have a 5K XMS upper memory block for PCADDV to work. Do not use the /XL option with PCADDV as it will cause PCAD's resident block to split lower memory. p-5 Suggested Startup .BAT Files ----------------------------------------- Below are some sample one line .BAT files for various situations. Such .BAT files may be used to install PrintCAD or change its parameters. You should not install PrintCAD from under a DOS shell, but you can change parameters in this situation. AutoCAD or AutoSketch, DeskJet or LaserJet IIP/III, 1/1 prints PCAD /padi/fi Microstation, Canon BJ330, 1/1 print, 11x17 paper PCAD /p*.000/f7/l10,16,.25,.25/j27 67 0 17 AutoCAD or AutoSketch, LaserJet II, legal paper, best fit, center PCAD /padi/mf1/a/fl/j27 38 108 51 65 p-6 Syntax --------------------------------------------------------------- The calling syntax of PrintCAD is: PRINTCAD /option1 /option2 ... Spaces between parameters are not required. Except for the /X and /P options, if a given option is entered more than once, only the last entry is used. And if an option is invalid (but not incorrect), it is ignored. Only one /X and one /P option is allowed. If you do not enter any parameters, PrintCAD displays its option reminder screen. Below, [ and ] enclose optional suboptions and | separates mutually exclusive suboptions. The options and suboptions may be in any order except that multiple numeric suboptions are ordered and numeric suboptions must follow character suboptions where the characters may be digits. "c" refers to a suboption character, "x" and "y" to suboption numbers, "i" and "j" to suboption integers, "b" to a suboption byte, and "f" to a DOS file or device name. For numbers (x, y), a decimal point is allowed but is not required, and scientific notation is not allowed. "-" is allowed but not "+". For integer input (i, j), only base ten integers from -32768 to 32767 are allowed. "+" is not allowed. A byte (b) must be a base ten integer from 0 to 255 or a hexadecimal number prefixed with $ from $00 to $FF. Further range checking is done for most options to flag unreasonable input. If an option has multiple numeric suboptions, these may be separated with commas or blanks. ******************************************************************** It is very important to choose the right output format (/F option). It is likely that the default output format will work on your printer, but it is equally likely that it will not produce optimal results. Please look carefully at the entire list of output formats before choosing one, and do not assume that because a format works that it is the best one to use. ******************************************************************** p-7 Overview of Options -------------------------------------------------- PrintCAD's options fall into several categories. The first is input and output choices. The input option (/Pmask) lets you choose an intercept filename mask, or you may select ADI interrupt 78 by using "adi". "pcad" is always intercepted. The output options are /F, the output format (printer model), and /D, the destination port, device, or file. The second category is the page layout, which is all contained in the /L option. This includes the size and location of the print window (which defines the hard clip limits of the plot), and the option to box the window. The third category defines how the plot looks within the print window. /M, the magnification, sets the size of the plot. /A determines the location of the plot within the print window. /O sets the origin and orientation, and is used to rotate or mirror the plot. The fourth category defines the pens, /W for the width, /C for the color, and /S for the shade. And the last category determines how PrintCAD processes the plot. This includes the temporary file /T, the default and minimum chord angle /Z, the internal resolution /R, and /J and /K which let you set up and reset the printer for special situations. /A - Location Option ------------------------------------------------- /A[O][x,y] - location - default /AO0,0 The A option determines the location of the plot in the print window by specifying a point on the plot that is to be aligned with a point in the print window. You can specify the plot alignment point with x,y in inches from the plot's origin (before PrintCAD's magnification is applied), or let it default to the plot center. For the print window alignment point, you can default to the center or specify the origin with O. By default the plot 0,0 is aligned with the print window origin. /A puts the center of the plot at the center of the print /AO0,0 puts the plot 0,0 at the print origin p-8 /C - Pen Color Option ------------------------------------------------ /Cc.. - color - default /CK The C option specifies the color of each of the eight pens. The colors are B for blue, C for cyan, G for green, K (or L) for black, M for magenta, R for red, W for white, and Y for yellow. Unspecified pens use the last selected color (/CRGB is the same as /CRGBBBBBB). If the output format does not allow color or color is suppressed in the /F option then every color except white is converted to black. Additional colors can be created with shade mixing. These colors use shading patterns to mix the eight pure colors. The format for a mixed color is .?? where each ? represents any of the eight pure colors. The first color is printed with the pen's shading pattern (/S option) and the second is printed with the inverse shading pattern. If the shade value is 0 (solid) it is replaced by 2 (one pel checkerboard) which produces the most uniform mixed colors. The mixed colors need line widths of at least 2 (4 for 2 pel shading patterns) to look good, and they may have visual artifacts on edges near 45 degree angles. Multipass dot matrix formats may not handle color mixing very well. Only a few of the printers that PrintCAD supports can handle color. These are marked with ~ in the printer list (see /F option). Shading may be used to emulate color on black only printers (see /S option). /CK sets pen 1..8 to black /CKR.MB.KY sets pen 1 to black pen 2 to red pen 3 to magenta on blue pen 4..8 to black on yellow /D - Output Destination Option --------------------------------------- /D[+]f - destination - default /D1 The D option specifies the output printer port, device, or file. The + suboption causes files to be appended rather than overwritten (it has no effect on printer port or device output). 1, 2, or 3 causes PrintCAD to use the BIOS printer routines, bypassing DOS. This is generally preferred to using the DOS printer devices (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3). If your printer is attached to a serial port, specify /DCOM1, /DCOM2, etc. PrintCAD cannot set up the port. This is usually done in the AUTOEXEC.BAT with MODE (probably MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P). /D2 sends output to the second parallel port via BIOS /DLPT3 sends output to the DOS device LPT3 /D+TEMP.PRN appends output to file TEMP.PRN p-9 /F - Output Format Option -------------------------------------------- /Fc[+|*][!][~][x,y] - output format - default /FN~ The F option specifies the output format. +, and * are resolution modifiers, ! selects a compression mode driver, and ~ turns off color processing on color printers. +, *, !, and ~ are allowed even where they have no effect. You may enter the horizontal and vertical resolution of the output device in dots/inch. This overrides PrintCAD's normal output device resolution, but does not affect the structure of the output format (+, and * generally do alter the output structure). These numbers must follow the format character. In addition to letting you choose any resolution for a bit map, this feature lets you compensate for print size error. For example, a 360x360 dpi printer consistently under indexes so that a 6 inch high box comes out 5.95 inches. Using 360,363 (6/5.95*360 = 363) removes the error. Drivers marked below with ! have a compression mode driver, selected with "!". This may be very useful, but it depends on your printer. These drivers compress the output data by breaking bit map strips with printhead positioning commands. This saves data transmission time, but some printers spend more time positioning the printhead than is saved by not sending the data. Drivers marked below with ~ are color devices. Using ~ suppresses color processing, substituting black for all colors except white. /F4 IBM LaserPrinter (PPDS mode) ...................... 300x300 /F7 Canon BJ (130E, 10E, 300, 330 - Proprinter mode) 360x360 /F9 !~ NEC 24 pin printers ............................... 180x180 /F9+ !~ NEC 24 pin printers (2 pass) 360x180 /F9* !~ NEC 24 pin printers (4 pass) ...................... 360x360 /FD Canon LBP (ISO mode) 300x300 /FI HP LaserJet 2P/3, DeskJet ......................... 300x300 /FK ~ Kodak Diconix Color 4 192x192 /FL HP LaserJet compatible printers ................... 300x300 /FN ~ Epson 9 pin compatible printers 120x72 /FN+ ~ Epson 9 pin compatible printers (3 pass) .......... 120x216 /FN* ~ Epson 9 pin compatible printers (6 pass) 240x216 /FO !~ Toshiba 24 pin printers ........................... 180x180 /FO+ !~ Toshiba 24 pin printers (2 pass) 360x180 /FO* !~ Toshiba 24 pin printers (4 pass) .................. 360x360 /FP ~ HP PaintJet 180x180 /FS ~ PostScript printers .............................. 1016x1016 /FT !~ Epson 24 pin compatible printers 180x180 /FT+ !~ Epson 24 pin compatible printers (2 pass) ......... 360x180 /FT* !~ Epson 24 pin compatible printers (4 pass) 360x360 p-10 /J, /K - Printer Code Prefix, Suffix Options ------------------------- /J[b,b,..] - printer code prefix - default /J /K[b,b,..] - printer code suffix - default /K /J lets you send codes to the printer before PrintCAD's usual data is sent and /K lets you send codes after PrintCAD's usual data is sent. This lets you set up and reset the printer for special situations. These are not needed in the normal use of PrintGL. The codes are specified with byte values (0..255 or $0..$FF) separated with blanks or commas. There is a limit of 64 characters for any option, so very long sequences must be handled outside of PrintCAD. /J27 79 sets skip perforation off to allow plots larger than one page on most continuous form printers /K10 10 sends two line feeds after the plot p-11 /L - Page Layout Option ---------------------------------------------- /L[B][x,y[,x,y]] - page layout - default depends on printer The L option defines the page layout. B boxes the plot at the print window edge using pen 8. The first optional x and y are the print window width and height in inches rounded to .01. These define the hard clip limits. These values are not checked against your printer's capabilities. If you specify a print window that exceeds the output device limits, the results are unknown. You may need to reset your printer's margins, maximum line length, or page length to get large plots (see Large Paper). The size needed for a given width and height exceeds x and y by 8 pels to allow for line widths. The second optional x and y are the left and top margins, measured from the printer's left margin and current vertical position to the print window. The top margin is modified to match the printer's native indexing, but is accurate to .02 inch. The margins for PostScript are measured from the device's 0,0 (left, bottom). Each printer has a default page layout. The default print window is 7.54x10.14. This corresponds to HP 7440 A size paper. The margins are printer specific to compensate for different paper handling. In evaluating user options, PrintCAD processes each option and when finished reprocesses the default page layout for the chosen printer and then reprocesses the last user /L option. This procedure gives good default values so that your /L option can change the letter or size suboptions and still have good margins. /LB7.5,3,.5,0 makes the print window 7.5 inches wide and 3 inches high, with a .5 inch left margin and no top margin, and boxes the print window /L7.54,10.14 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A paper /L7.54,10.74 sets window equivalent to HP 7440 with A4 paper /L7.84,10.20 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A paper /L7.60,10.88 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A4 paper /L10.20,16.38 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with B paper /L10.88,15.90 sets window equivalent to HP 7475 with A3 paper p-12 /M - Magnification Option -------------------------------------------- /M[F]x - magnification - default /M1 The M option specifies the magnification. F fits the plot to the print window size. The default, /M1, gives the same size plot as an HP 7475 plotter. /MF.9 fits the plot to the print window and shrinks it 10% /M1 prints at the same size as an HP 7475 /M.5 prints at half the size of an HP 7475 /O - Origin and Orientation Option ----------------------------------- /O[1|2|3|4[L]] - origin, orientation - default /O1 The O option sets the printer's origin and orientation. The origin is one of four corners numbered 1..4 for upper left, lower left, lower right, and upper right. The L suboption specifies a left handed coordinate system (this should never be needed). Here are pictures of PrintCAD's view of the output media compared to an HP 7475's view, to help with choosing a /O option. HP 7475 PrintCAD A size B size y┌────────┐ 0,0┌────────┐y ul┌──────┐ur │ │ │ │ 1│ │4 │ │ │ │ │ │ 0,0└────────┘x │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ll└──────┘lr │ │ 2 3 x└────────┘ /O1 puts the print window's origin in the upper left corner /O2 puts the print window's origin in the lower left corner /P - Intercept Mask Option ------------------------------------------- /PADI|mask - intercept mask /PADI sets up PrintCAD for AutoCAD. /Pmask lets you choose a DOS file mask as PrintCAD's intercept mask. The mask should not include disk or directory information - PrintCAD ignores this information when looking at file names. /Padi sets up PrintCAD to take data from AutoCAD interrupt 78. /P*.plt sets up PrintCAD to intercept data written to *.plt p-13 /R - Internal Resolution Option -------------------------------------- /Ri - internal resolution - default /R1016 /R sets the internal grid resolution in dots/inch. It is normally 1016 and rarely needs to be changed. To fit very large plots into the -32768..32767 coordinate limit, use /R508. Setting the resolution to a multiple of the output device resolution times the magnification may yield a small improvement in print quality. /S - Pen Shading Option ---------------------------------------------- /Sc.. - pen shading patterns - default /S0 /S assigns a shading pattern to each pen. Unspecified pens use the last specified shade. The shade values are 0..8. 0 is the default solid line. 1..4 are 1 dot patterns (75%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%) and need line widths of at least three to give good looking lines. 5..8 are 2x2 dot patterns (75%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%) and need line widths of at least five to give good looking lines. Some printers may wash out shading because they have a dot size that is large relative to the dot spacing. This is often the case with dot matrix printers in multipass modes. 1 █▀█▀█▀█▀ 2 ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ 3 ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ 4 ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ █▀█▀█▀█▀ ▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ 5 ████████ 6 ██ ██ 7 ██ ██ 8 ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ /S023 sets pen 1 to solid pen 2 to 1 pel checkerboard pen 3..8 to 1 pel dots /T - Temporary File Option ------------------------------------------- /T[+]f - temporary file - default /TPRINTGL.TMP PrintCAD uses a temporary file when it does not have enough memory to handle a plotfile. You can use /T to put it on a RAM disk for extra speed. You can force the use of a temporary file, if the plot has over 1024 data points, with +. If you use a RAM disk this may speed printing. p-14 /W - Pen Width Option ------------------------------------------------ /Wc.. - pen widths - default /WA The W option assigns pen line widths. Each width may be 1..9, .10 .. .16 pels or A..I for 2..10 units of 4/1016 inch (.1 mm). A..I gives a device independent width, but it is an approximation, limited by the device technology. Unassigned pens use the last assigned width. For nonsquare matrix printers, PrintCAD uses "pens" that are optimized for an x/y ratio of .67, 1, or 1.5. The widths are figured in the direction of higher resolution, and are not accurate in the other direction. Two notes apply to lines of over eight pels width. They are distorted at the print window edge to fit within the four pel border. And they require additional processing time. /WA sets pen 1..8 to 0.2 mm /WB2.16 sets pen 1 to 0.3 mm pen 2 to 2 pels pen 3..8 to 16 pels /X - Control Option -------------------------------------------------- /XQ - queries PrintCAD installation /XR - removes PrintCAD if allowed /X[X][L] - controls PrintCAD's setup /X controls PrintCAD's setup. /XQ checks to see if PrintCAD is installed. /XR removes PrintCAD from memory, if allowed. /XQ and /XR disallow all other options. /XX forces the use of XMS rather than EMS for swapping. This may work in environments where EMS will not. /XL forces PrintCAD to load in low memory. Otherwise it will try to load its resident part in a an XMS upper memory block. X and L may be used together. They only have an effect when first loading PrintCAD. /XL sets up PrintCAD in low memory /Z - Chord Angle Option ---------------------------------------------- /Z[E]i,j - default, min chord angle, enhanced font - default /Z10,5 The Z option specifies the default and minimum chord angles for circles and arcs. The HP 7475 defaults to a chord angle of 5 with no minimum. But using chord angles of less than 10 returns little print quality improvement and takes a lot of processing time. So the default Z option is /Z10,5. For better emulation use /Z5,2. The suboption E says to use the enhanced font, which doubles the number of chords on curves in text, improving the curve smoothness. This is only effective on character heights above .5 cm. And for CAD packages (including AutoCAD) that use vectors to create text (instead of the HP-GL label command), this option is ineffective. /Z5,2 sets the default chord angle to 5 degrees, the minimum to 2 p-15 Large Paper ---------------------------------------------------------- PrintCAD can handle printing on paper larger than the usual 8.5x11, but this takes some extra work. First you need to increase PrintCAD's print window to cover the large paper. This is done with the /L option. The print window plus the margins (/L) must fit on the paper. And then you must make sure that your printer recognizes the larger paper height. For continuous forms paper this is best done by setting skip perforation to off, either by printer switch or with PrintCAD prefix codes. For Canon, Epson, and NEC line printers (dot matrix, ink jet, thermal) use /J27 79. For cut sheet paper, on Canon, Epson, and NEC line printers use /J27 67 0 n, where n is the page length in inches. For page printers and HP-PCL line printers, legal size paper may be specified with these printer code prefixes: HP-PCL printers /J27 38 108 51 65 (/K27 38 108 50 65 to reset to 11 inch paper), IBM LaserPrinter /J27 67 0 14 (/K27 67 0 11 to reset), Canon LBP printers /J27 91 51 50 59 59 112 (/K27 91 51 48 59 59 112 to reset). To get a 10x16 print window on 11x17 paper with a Canon, Epson, or NEC line printer, use these options: /L10 16 .4 .25 /J27 67 0 17. You will probably need to adjust the margins (.4 .25) for best centering. p-16 Canon BJ Printers ---------------------------------------------------- /F7 supports the BJ130E, BJ10E, BJ300, and BJ330 in Proprinter mode at 360 dpi. The BJ130 is not supported. These printers have an image density option (switch 1-9 on the BJ130, 1-4 on the BJ300). Low density eliminates every second pel. To get the full 360 dpi resolution, use high density. Canon LBP Printers --------------------------------------------------- /FD works with any Canon LBP printer in ISO mode. It takes up to 1 meg of memory to print a full page of graphics. You may need to set the printer memory mode with /J 27 59 27 91 50 38 122. If the printer is in Diablo mode, PrintCAD switches to ISO mode. To switch back to Diablo mode on completion, use /K 27 58. Epson 9 Pin Printers ------------------------------------------------- /FN covers a wide range of 9 pin dot matrix printers. You need a cyan/magenta/yellow ribbon to get color prints. /FN+ uses 1/216 indexing and /FN* uses 1/216 indexing and 1/240 graphics. Epson, NEC, Toshiba 24 Pin Printers ---------------------------------- /FT covers all Epson LQ printers and many compatible printers (Panasonic, etc.). /F9 works with NEC 24 pin printers. /FO works with Toshiba 24 pin printers. /FO resets the line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. For all of these drivers, you need a cyan/magenta/yellow ribbon to get color prints. The + and * drivers use 1/360 graphics mode, and the * drivers use 1/360 (1/120 for /FO*) indexing and reset the line feed distance to 1/6 inch on completion. A clean paper path with equal tension on each side is needed for good 360x360 graphics. HP LaserJet, DeskJet ------------------------------------------------- /FL works with any LaserJet in portrait mode. Portrait mode may be set with /J 27 38 108 48 79 or you can reset the printer with /J 27 69. Full page plots take up to 1 meg of memory (white area reduces the required memory). Use /FI for DeskJets. For LaserJet 2P and 3* with at least 1.5 meg of memory, use /FI. HP PaintJet ---------------------------------------------------------- /FP drives PaintJet printers. PaintJet printers are sold with either a serial or parallel interface. The parallel interface is faster. p-17 IBM LaserPrinter ----------------------------------------------------- /F4 works with the LaserPrinter in PPDS (native) mode. It takes up to 1 meg of memory to print a full page of graphics. Kodak Diconix Color 4 ------------------------------------------------ /FK drives the Color 4. PostScript Printers -------------------------------------------------- /FS outputs PostScript. All characters, arcs, fill, and clips are converted to simple vectors. PrintCAD's pen width parameters are assumed to be in units of 4/1016 inch. Color and shading parameters are mapped into gray levels or RGB color levels. p-18 Compatibility and Technical Information ------------------------------ PrintCAD will run on any IBM compatible MS-DOS computer with 368K of EMS (3.0 or above) or 368K of XMS and a base memory region of 272K. Because it is a swapping resident program, it may have problems in some environments. PrintCAD can handle DOS extenders that use VCPI, but DPMI based programs (MS Windows) may cause problems. PrintCAD is a TSR that takes over interrupt hex 21 and watches for DOS 2.0+ file management open functions. If the filename on an open command matches either "pcad" or the mask specified with the /X option, then file handle dec 99 is returned and PrintCAD is awakened. It then responds to write, device information, close functions, seek, and set date functions. When awake, PrintCAD stores HP-GL commands (from the write command) until its buffer limit (16K) is reached and then it swaps in its 272K memory space, processes the data, and swaps the original memory back. You can update PrintCAD's parameters from any program. Open the file "pcad" and verify that the returned handle is dec 99. Then write one record with the new parameters, and close the file. The first byte of the record must be 0. Any /X option may follow, but the /X should not be included, and no blanks should precede or follow it. Any other options may follow this. If the write fails, the parameters are incorrect. You can cause PrintCAD to display the incorrect parameter by making your first parameter /XT. PrintCAD was written by Cary Ravitz and compiled with Borland's Turbo Pascal 6.0. p-19 User Support --------------------------------------------------------- The quickest way to resolve problems with PrintCAD is to use the support bulletin board. The Ravitz Software support bulletin board is at: 606-268-0577 1200/2400,N,8,1 24 hours/day. To ask a question (or make a comment or suggestion), first prepare a file with the details of your question. Please be very specific, and include any related information on your hardware, software, and operating environment. Then call the bulletin board and choose the upload question option. XMODEM file transfer protocol is required for this. Your question will be assigned a number (such as 1015) - remember this number. An answer file (with the assigned number) will be posted, usually within 24 hours. To get an answer, call the bulletin board, choose the download option, then the answer option, and then enter the answer number. XMODEM is also required for downloading answers. All question and answer files are public. You may send questions to Compuserve - 70431,32 Cary Ravitz. You may send questions by mail to: Ravitz Software Inc. P.O. Box 25068 Lexington, KY 40524-5068 USA Please send a diskette (360K, 1.2M, 720K, or 1.44M, 720K is best) with your question so that example files or newer versions of the software may be included with the response. Return postage is appreciated.