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PsL Monthly 1994 February
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DOS
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UT_SYSTM
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TSHOT.ZIP
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MANUAL.DOC
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1993-11-12
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Textshot Version 3.1
+++++++++
by McAdams Associates
*****************************************************************
**IMPORTANT**
To register Textshot, see "Registering Textshot" on page 10 of
this manual.
Contents Page
-------- ----
Description................................ 2
Hardware Requirements...................... 2
Loading Textshot........................... 2
Removing Textshot From Memory.............. 3
Activating Textshot........................ 3
Using Textshot............................. 4
Saving a Screen............................ 6
Image Editing.............................. 6
A Word About Palettes...................... 7
If There Are Problems...................... 7
Tips For Getting a Good Picture............ 8
Disclaimer & Agreement..................... 9
Registering Textshot....................... 10
Index...................................... 11
(C)Copyright 1993 by T.C. McAdams. All Rights Reserved.
Textshot Description
--------------------
Textshot is a pop-up TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) program
designed to be a text screen counterpart to ZSoft's FRIEZE(tm),
producing output files for use in word processors and desktop
publishing applications. The user loads Textshot into memory,
presses the hot key from within a character-based application,
and a menu pops up permitting entry of a filespec and a choice of
various file options. When the [ENTER] key is pressed, the
screen is restored and is saved to disk in the form of either a
16-color or monochrome (2-color) PC Paintbrush-format .PCX
graphics file. This file can be loaded into any application that
accepts .PCX files or into ZSoft's PC Paintbrush(tm) itself, for
editing. PC Paintbrush is not needed to use Textshot. Textshot
also permits image "clipping" prior to writing an image to disk,
as well as the optional preservation of image settings between
pop-ups. Textshot should work on any DOS computer running DOS
2.11 or above.
Hardware Requirements
---------------------
Textshot will work with any of the common PC video standards.
Specifically: MDA/Hercules, CGA, EGA and VGA. Textshot is
intended to work only in text modes, not in graphics modes.
Textshot will capture 80x25 screens (all standards), 80x43
screens (EGA and VGA) and 80x50 screens (VGA). Screen formats of
other than 80 columns are not supported.
Since Textshot relies on a computer's internal graphics fonts for
its output, the computer on which it's run must have, at minimum,
a complete CGA font set. In instances where this is not the
case, a DOS utility called GRAFTABL must be run to supply the
"upper half" of the necessary font set. EGA and VGA cards supply
their own complete font sets.
Loading Textshot
----------------
Textshot is loaded into memory by typing
TEXTSHOT [ENTER]
at the DOS command line. If you use an expanded memory manager,
Textshot will function happily in high memory, leaving your DOS
memory free for other things. For example, if you use
Quarterdeck's QEMM, you can load Textshot into high memory by
typing
LOADHI TEXTSHOT [ENTER]
2
When Textshot is loaded a message appears telling you so. As
mentioned above, on some machines a full (256-character) ROM font
set may not be available; Textshot checks to see before loading.
If this is the case, you are told to run the DOS GRAFTABL utility
before proceeding. Screen printing is disabled while Textshot is
resident.
Removing Textshot From Memory
-----------------------------
To remove Textshot from memory simply type
TEXTSHOT [ENTER]
from the command line, just as if you were loading it. Note: If
you loaded Textshot into high memory through a memory manager,
don't bother invoking the memory manager a second time to remove
Textshot. Just type "TEXTSHOT [ENTER]".
Textshot will tell you it's unloaded itself, else it will tell
you that it CAN'T unload itself. There are many reasons why a
TSR could be unable to remove itself from memory, but most of
them come down to some other program, used after Textshot was
loaded, altering the computer's interrupt table. In these cases,
the only way to unload Textshot is to reboot.
Activating Textshot
-------------------
Textshot's hot key is [PrScr] or, on some machines,
[SHIFT + PrScr], which means hold down the [SHIFT] key while
pressing [PrScr].
If the hot key is pressed while in a graphics mode, you'll hear
two beeps. This is Textshot's way of telling you to stop doing
that. You will also hear two beeps if your video adapter is in
other than an 80-column text mode. In the special case of the
Hercules adapter, it doesn't seem to be possible to tell with
100% reliability when it is and isn't displaying graphics;
sometimes, if you press the hot key while Hercules graphics are
being displayed, instead of hearing beeps you'll see "splotches"
appear at the top of the screen. This means that Textshot has
failed to accurately gauge modes and you'll see what ASCII
characters written to a graphics screen look like. Solution:
press [ESC] to leave Textshot. Your graphics screen will be
restored.
Another potential problem lies with other programs that play with
a computer's interrupt table, particularly the keyboard
interrupts. Textshot attempts to be good to your computer's
interrupt table, taking over and using no more of your computer's
resources than it absolutely has to; but it has to have access to
some things simply to function. If Textshot refuses to pop up,
or if you have trouble typing inside Textshot, try changing the
loading order of any other TSR programs you might be using. If
3
you're not running any other TSRs simultaneously with Textshot
and it still refuses to function correctly, the problem probably
lies with the running application, and there may not be much to
be done about it.
Using Textshot
--------------