Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/graphic/vgaprn.zip/VGAPRN.DOC

Text File | 1988-06-12 | 16KB | 397 lines

            VGAPRN (c) Copr. 1988 Lawrence Gozum & Marvin Gozum
            ───────────────────────────────────────────────────

                                User Manual

    DISCLAIMER

    This  product  is distributed AS IS.  The authors specifically disclaim
    all  warranties  ,expressed  or implied, including ,but not limited to,
    implied  warranties  of  merchantability  and  fitness for a particular
    purpose  with respect to defects in the diskette and documentation, and
    program  license  granted  herein,  in particular, and without limiting
    operation  of  the  program  license  with  respect  to  any particular
    application  use  or  purpose.  In no event shall the authors be liable
    for  any  loss  of  profit or any other commercial damage including but
    not limited to special,incidental, consequential or other damages.


    LICENSING AGREEMENT

    You  may  use  this program on a TRIAL BASIS only;  this means that you
    may  freely  evaluate  the  usefulness of this program for a reasonable
    period.    Should  you  find  this program useful, you must register it
    (see  last  section  of  this manual).   You will then be provided with
    the  latest release of VGACAD (VGA Computer-Assisted Design) and latest
    updates of all released utilities.

    You  may  freely  distribute  copies  of this program in its UNMODIFIED
    state  provided  you do not include it in other software packages, with
    the  exception  of distributing it as part of a bundle of Public Domain
    or  shareware  programs  on a single diskette.  In addition you may not
    charge  more that $3.50 for copying and/or distributing this program in
    the absence of any recognized Users Group guidelines.


    WHAT IS VGAPRN ?

    VGAPRN  is  a printer utility for printing ANY viewable VGA 320x200x256
    color  picture  on  an  Epson  or  IBM-compatible dot matrix printer in
    seven  shades  of  gray  that  are  "user-assignable" from the program.
    VGAPRN  converts  your  256  color pictures to 7 gray shades, which you
    can  then  adjust  the  assignment  of  colors  to optimize the printed
    image's appearance.


    WHAT IS VGACAP ?

    VGACAP  is  a  terminate-stay-resident (TSR) utility that allows you to
    capture  the 256 color palette and screen in the 320x200x256 color mode
    and  save both the palette and screen in "Bloadable" formats.  VGACAP's
    main  purpose  is to capture and "Bsave" the pictures of commercial and
    shareware  viewing  programs  as  well  as  painting/graphics  and  CAD
    programs available now and in the future.

    VGACAD  (one  of  the  first  256  color  paint/CAD  shareware programs
    distributed  in  the Public domain) will load the captured pictures for
    extensive image processing and editing.









    REQUIREMENTS

    You  MUST have a VGA or MCGA adaptor (at least BIOS compatible) present
    and  an analog monitor to use VGACAP and VGAPRN.  VGACAP uses less than
    2K  of  your  available memory !  VGAPRN needs about 256KB of memory to
    run succesfully.

    Note:    When  in  DOS  or  using  a  picture  viewer (e.g., VGAGIF) or
    application  which  requires a keypress to continue, it is necessary to
    hit  any  key  or  a  specified  key  (e.g.,  spacebar or return) after
    hitting the 'HOTKEY' before VGACAP saves the screen and palette.


    COMPATIBLE PRINTERS

    VGAPRN  was  designed  to run on Epson and IBM compatible printers that
    support 120 dpi (horizontally) and 216 dpi (vertically).

              Epson (e.g., LQ,FX,GX,RX,JX, ...)
              IBM (e.g., Graphics Printer, Proprinter, ...)

    The  following  partial  list  of  manufacturers  have compatible "ESC"
    codes  to  run  VGAPRN;  if  your printer supports "ESC L" (sets double
    density  graphics)  and  "ESC  J" (sets n/216 inch single line spacing)
    VGAPRN will run on your system.  Check your printer manual.

              Canon (e.g., PW series)
              Centronics
              C.Itoh
              NEC (e.g., Pinwriter, ...)
              Okidata (e.g., 92/93, 192/193, 292/293, ...)
              Panasonic (e.g., 1080i,1090i, ...)
              Star (e.g., Gemini, Micronics SG series)
              Tandy DMP

    NOTE:     YOU  MUST  DISABLE  AUTO-LINEFEED;   THIS SETTING IS NORMALLY
              'OFF'  (BY  DEFAULT).  IF YOUR PRINTER HAS THIS FEATURE 'ON',
              YOU  MUST  SET  THE  DIP  SWITCHES TO TURN IT 'OFF' OTHERWISE
              YOUR PICTURE WILL BE PRINTED WITH 'SKIPPED' LINES.


    HOW TO USE VGACAP

    Simply  run  VGACAP  before  entering  your  painting/CAD  or digitized
    picture  viewer.    After loading,  press <ALT-F10>, while viewing your
    picture  in  any  drawing/paint/CAD  or  viewing  program. Your current
    screen  and  palette  will be saved in your default drive and directory
    in the standard Bsave format for all BASIC programs.

    The  first  time  you  run  the  program  it  will save your screen and
    palette  to SCREEN00.BLD and SCREEN00.PLT respectively.  If there is an
    existing  SCREENxx.BLD  or SCREENxx.PLT file, then it will increment to
    the  next  higher  number.    This  can  be  confusing  if you keep the
    captured  files  without  renaming  them  since  you can have unmatched
    screens  and  palettes.    You can use your favorite memory managers to
    remove this TSR or reboot to release it from memory.










    LOADING PICTURES INTO VGAPRN

    Every  captured  picture  or  picture created with VGACAD will have two
    files:  the  screen  and palette.  The screen should have the extension
    .BLD and .PLT for the palette.

         a)   WITH captured screens and palettes using VGACAP

              If  your  picture was captured with VGACAP, rename both files
              with  the  same  name with the corresponding extensions.  For
              example  rename SCREEN00.BLD to MYPIC.BLD and SCREEN00.PLT to
              MYPIC.PLT.

              e.g. while in DOS type "rename SCREEN00.*  MYPIC.*"

         b)   WITH created/edited screens palettes using VGACAD

              In  VGACAD you have the flexibility of using a single palette
              for  several  pictures.  If your screen was named "MYPIC.BLD"
              and  you  used  "GRAY64.PLT"  for  the screen, then rename or
              copy "GRAY64.PLT" to "MYPIC.PLT" file.

              e.g. while in DOS type "copy GRAY64.PLT MYPIC.PLT"

         c)   WITH BASIC Bsaved pictures using hardware palette

              In  BASIC, when you invoke SCREEN 13 the VGA card defaults to
              a  standard  hardware  palette.    You  can BSAVE you screens
              using the following lines:

              Screen 13: 'init MCGA 256 color mode
              DEF SEG=&HA000: 'point data segment to
               'screen buffer A0000H
              BSAVE"MCPIC.BLD",0,64000: 'bsave the screen
              DEF SEG: 'restore data segment

              Copy  and  rename the included file "BASIC.plt" to match your
              bsaved picture.

              e.g. while in DOS type "copy BASIC.PLT MYPIC.PLT"

              If  you  are  directly  making pictures from BASIC, I suggest
              using  VGACAP  to  save screen and palette changes instead of
              being  limited  by  the  standard  hardware palette.  BASIC's
              PALETTE  USING  does  not support reading (much more a way to
              bsave) palettes in a BIOS compatible format.

    Now  that you have the screen and palette type "VGAPRN MYPIC <return>".
    After  a  few seconds of initialization your picture will appear and it
    will  be  converted  into  256  gray shades then to 7 gray shades.  You
    will see the following menu.
















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