TAPELESS BY ROBERT GRUNBOK (Originally published in the August '87 Antic) (A commercial program that prints IBM spreadheetssideways in a continuous strip is a big seller. Now you cantype in an 8-bit Atari program that does the same thing forSynCalc, VisiCalc and SpeedCalc spreadsheets. TapelessSpreadsheet Printer is a BASIC program that works on 8-bitAtari computers with a minimum of 48K memory and a diskdrive.) I use my Atari 130XE and Broderbund's SynCalcSpreadsheet for both home and business budgets. I had toconvince a board of directors that the Atari could do the jobof the "big business" computers, but now that I've crossedthat bridge, each board member seems to need his or her owncopy of the budget. Connecting spreadsheet printouts with transparent tapesoon became boring, especially after hearing "Let's changethis figure to that amount" a few times. Tapeless, mysideways spreadsheet printer for the 8-bit Atari, was bornout of the tedium of taping page after page of spreadsheets.This published version works with SynCalc, VisiCalc andSpeedCalc spreadsheets. Tapeless supports four major printer families -- theEpson FX-80, Gemini 10X, Star SG-10 and Okidata 92. One ofthese drivers should work for most printers on the markettoday. BUILDING IT Download TAPELESS.ARC and use ARCX to extract alleight TAPELESS files. These files are: MAKEAUTO.BAS TOPDOT1.LST BOTMDOT1.LST TITLE.BAS TAPELESS.BAS FX80LOAD.BAS OKILOAD.BAS G10XLOAD.BAS To enable you to use maximum-size strings, yourversion of Tapeless will be constructed from several smallerfiles. This isn't as complex as it sounds. Just check thelistings that apply to your printer and follow theinstructions below. Don't renumber the listings: I deliberately have somelines overlaying others during "construction" for yourprinter. Follow these steps and SAVE or LIST to disk asinstructed: 1. Make sure Listing 1, TAPELESS.BAS, is SAVEd on yourdisk. 2. Make sure Listing 2, MAKEAUTO.BAS, is SAVEd on yourdisk. (This creates an AUTORUN.SYS file needed to RUN otherfiles.) 3. Make sure Listing 3, TITLE.BAS, is SAVEd on yourdisk. 4. Choose the file containing character set data foryour printer -- either TOPDOT1.LST for Okidata & Gemini 10Xprinters, or BOTMDOT1.LST for Epson FX-80 & Star SG-10printers. Make sure it is LISTed to your disk. 5. Choose the character loader file for your printer.(For example, if you own an Okidata printer you would chooseOKILOAD.LST.) Make sure it is LISTed to your disk. 6. Type NEW. 7. To construct your actual printer character loader,type LOAD "D:TITLE.BAS", then ENTER the files from your diskin this order: - One character set data file (either TOPDOT1.LST or BOTMDOT1.LST) - One character loader file (FX80LOAD.LST, G10XLOAD.LST, SG10LOAD.LST or OKILOAD.LST) For example, if you own an Okidata 92 printer, type LOAD"D:TITLE.BAS". Then ENTER "D:TOPDOT1.LST" and then ENTER"D:OKILOAD.LST". 8. SAVE this constructed program as PRNTLOAD.BAS. 9. RUN MAKEAUTO.BAS. This creates an AUTORUN.SYS filefor PRNTLOAD.BAS. 10. You have now constructed the three major filescomposing the Tapeless program -- AUTORUN.SYS, PRNTLOAD.BASand TAPELESS.BAS. Transfer them to a freshly formatted disk(containing DOS 2.0 or 2.5) and retain the other files onyour "construction disk" both for backup and for makingdifferent versions of Tapeless for different printers. 11. Don't be tempted to combine PRNTLOAD.BAS andTAPELESS.BAS into one file. Chaining these programs allowsthe simulated string array, "P$" in TAPELESS.BAS, to be aslarge as possible. PRINTING If your form has more than 80 horizontal rows, you'llhave to tape a horizontal joint. However, most spreadsheetmemory restrictions don't allow a very tall and wide form. To speed up the program, the screen is blank most of thetime while Tapeless RUNs. However, you'll still hear thebeeps of the disk being read to let you know that Tapeless isworking. If you have BASIC XL or BASIC XE ($79, OSS), theprogram will run even faster. Just don't forget to copy theBASIC XE Extensions file to your Tapeless disk.) If your form is exceptionally large or your Atari'smemory is less than 48K, Tapeless will do multiple loads andprints until the entire form is finished. So always be sureto load your printer with plenty of paper. IMPORTANT: If the program instructs you to check a DIPswitch, make sure you've turned off the printer power beforesetting switches. Otherwise, you could blow an integratedcircuit in your printer. PROGRAM OPERATIONS 1. While in your spreadsheet program, turn off windowand title options and remove any printer commands (such ascondensed print). 2. PRINT your file to disk -- don't SAVE it. 3. If the form is taller than 80 rows, you will need toprint your form to disk in horizontal sections (80 rows hightimes the width of your form). Those with wide carriageprinters can change the 80 in lines 90, 220, and 520 ofTAPELESS.BAS to allow for the number of columns your printercan accommodate at 10 characters per inch). 4. Turn off the computer and insert your Tapeless disk.Turn on the computer and follow the instructions on thescreen. SYNCALC TO DISK 1. Press [OPTION]. 2. Choose LOAD/SAVE. 3. Choose SAVE. 4. Choose TEXT. 5. Set RANGE by cell numbers. Remember: 80 rowsmaximum per horizontal section to print out. 6. Enter filename. (SynCalc adds a .TXT extenderautomatically.) 7. Press [RETURN]. 8. Load the Tapeless disk and follow the instructionsonscreen. VISICALC TO DISK 1. Position the cursor at cell A1. 2. Press [/] to get the command menu. 3. Press [P] for Print. 4. Press [F] for File. 5. Input D:FILENAME.TXT 6. Press [RETURN]. 7. Specify the lower right cell (Remember: 80 rowsmaximum per horizontal section to print out.) and press[RETURN]. 8. Load the Tapeless disk and follow the instructionson the screen. SPEEDCALC TO DISK 1. Position the cursor on the lower-right cell to beprinted. 2. Press [CONTROL] [P] to print. 3. Enter D:FILENAME 4. Now move the cursor to the upper-left cell to beprinted. (Remember: 80 rows maximum per horizontal sectionto print out). Press [RETURN]. 5. Load the Tapeless disk and follow the instructionson the screen. Bob Grunbok is a water treatment plant operator fromNewhall, California. He has been programming Atari computerssince 1981.
