Loadstar 128 26/q26.d81/t.multilist 128

Text File | 2022-08-28 | 6KB | 137 lines

                         M U L T I L I S T   1 2 8

               Program by e. g. bell   Text by Fender Tucker


    ed bell never does anything in a small way, and this time he's tackled
mass printing.  If you print out one or two letters a week, your word
processor will do that quite nicely, but if you produce even half as much
printout as ed bell does, you can save time and hassle with MULTILIST 128.
It will allow you to take a bunch of text or program files that are in
different formats and print them all out...while you are away from your
computer doing something else.


 MODIFYING MULTILIST
 -------------------

    MULTILIST 128 is a one-file program with 17 pages of docs.  The program
is mostly ML but it can be loaded and saved like a BASIC program.  The ML
is "tacked on" to the end of the BASIC part, which means that if you modify
the BASIC code you MUST keep it the same number of bytes long.  ed has
added REM statements to the BASIC code that explain what you can do by
changing certain bytes in the code.  For instance, line 60 has a variable
(rl%) defined as "00".  If you have a CMD device with RTL clock (like
RAMLink, an HD or a SmartMouse) change the "00" in line 60 to the number of
the CMD device and MULTILIST 128 will boot up with the correct time.  If
your CMD device is numbered 8 or 9, be sure to change "00" to "08" or "09"
rather than "8" or "9".  The warning applies to any byte you change in the
BASIC code.

    When done modifying the BASIC code, save the program before running it.
Other parameters you can change in the BASIC code are the drive number and
partition you want the program to return to LOADSTAR on.


 PRINTING THE DOCS
 -----------------

    There is a 64 mode program on this disk that will print out the
extensive, helpful docs that ed wrote for MULTILIST 128.  It's a 190-block
file that's been crunched down into 98 blocks (which includes code that
prints the 17 pages of instructions).  Since we don't have a good 128-mode
cruncher, I'm afraid you must quit LS 128 and go to the 64 mode and run
"multilist docs".

    The docs are just as ed wrote them, formatted for 78 columns and ready
to be indexed by INDEXER (ed's index-making program on LS 128 #22), except
they're packed.  To print them, all you have to do is run the 64-mode
program "multilist docs" and follow the prompts.

    If you want the docs in an unpacked form so you can INDEX them, read
them off the screen with JiffyDOS' @t command, or load them into a word
processor (a big one like THE WRITE STUFF 128), then all you have to do is
once again change the BASIC part of a program.  Here's how to print the
docs to disk, creating a 192-block PETASCII file.

 (1) Run the program and when you see the colorfully tiled screen of the
docs printer, press STOP to break out of the program.

 (2) Change the OPEN4,4,7 in line 150 to OPEN4,8,7,"DOCS,P,W"

 (3) Run the program with a disk in drive 8 that has at least 200 blocks
free.  If you want to use a drive other than 8, just change the 8 in line
10 to the number of your drive.

    If you would like to just quickly see the docs on the screen, you can
change OPEN4,4,7 in line 150 to OPEN4,3,7 and run the program.  Keep your
finger on the CONTROL key to slow it so you can read it.  You'll be looking
at text formatted for 80 columns on a 40-column screen so every other line
won't be wordwrapped.

    MULTILIST 128 is fairly straightforward but it's a good idea to read
the docs.  ed not only supplies some good information about printing but he
addresses little quirks you may find as you use the program.


 MULTILIST ITSELF
 ----------------

    It's essentially a one-screen program that shows you all of the
parameters you can change before printing.  "P" is the key to hit to start
the printing so as long as you don't hit that key you can try all of the
other options to see what they do.  Here's a quick description of the hot
keys:

 A) Here you can customize MULTILIST 128 to recognize your word processor's
files, even if you use an oddball or unknown word processor.

 C) Issue DOS commands like Initialize, Rename or Copy.

 D) See the directory of the current drive.

 E) Set the screen colors.

 F) Set the margins, line feeds, paging and other options of the printout.

 H) Give the printout a header.

 P) Print the file(s).

 R) Reset the date.

 S) Set the printer parameters (device number, secondary address, number of
columns, source and destination numbers and paths, etc.)

 T) Select which types of translation you want (GEOS Cvt., Screen code,
PETASCII, pure ASCII, etc.).  There's even one mode that will automatically
select for you.

 W) Once you get MULTILIST 128 exactly set up as you want it, do this and
it'll create a version of the program with those parameters.

 X) Exit to BASIC or LOADSTAR 128.

 Z) Send ESC and printer codes to the printer.  You can make your printer
do things like italics, underline, bold print, etc.

    That's it.  You must have a printer connected and on for MULTILIST 128
to work.  Play with the parameter screen, print out some small text or
program files, and see how it works.  The initial setup may take some time
to get every parameter tweaked just right, but like GEOS, once you have it
set up and saved, you don't have to do it again.


 FINAL REMINDER
 --------------

    The program that prints the docs to printer, screen or disk is a 64-
mode program.  It won't work in the 128 mode.  Happy printing!

FT

                      \\\\\ R - Run    RETURN - Menu \\\\\