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Text File
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1993-07-08
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14KB
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286 lines
ColPrint version 2.0 (Column Printer)
Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 by Thomas M. Roddy
All Rights Reserved.
Introduction:
ColPrint reformats a text file into two or three 80 line columns for printing
on standard 8 1/2" x 11" paper. ColPrint removes excessive blank lines and
original form feeds and uses a small font to fit up to three or four
times as much text on a page compared to regular printing. Many printers,
from 9 pin dot matrix to laser printers, are supported. Several command line
options allow you to control the actions of ColPrint.
The shareware version of ColPrint is restricted in one way. To encourage
registration, it will only process the first 5000 or so lines of a file. This
should be adequate to test the usefulness of the program. Please register
if you find ColPrint useful. You will mailed the latest version of the program
without the shareware notice and with the 5000 line restriction removed.
Rap is a word wrap program which is included in this distribution, but has a
registration fee separate from ColPrint. Rap is useful for reformatting text
files into specific line lengths in order to print the text files into
columns. See RAP.DOC for more information.
License and distribution information:
ColPrint is shareware. It is not public domain or free software. An order form
is enclosed in the file named ORDER.FRM. After trying it out for 14 days, if
you like it and want to continue using ColPrint, please register by sending the
registration fee (located in ORDER.FRM) with your name and address along with
any comments or questions to the address listed. A companion word wrap program,
Rap which is included in this distribution, must also be registered after 14
days of use according to the instructions in ORDER.FRM.
You may NOT alter the code nor may you sell this program or any of its
associated data files for any price. You may charge a reasonable copy
fee of not more than US$10 when distributing it to others as long as you
clearly stipulate that ColPrint and Rap must be registered with its author
if it is used beyond the trial period. Every copy of the ZIP distribution
file must contain all of the files listed below.
You may (and are encouraged to) distribute the shareware version of ColPrint.
Under no circumstances may you distribute a registered version of ColPrint
to others.
Disclaimer:
The author makes no claims or guarantees about the use of ColPrint and will
not be held responsible for any loss of data or profits due its use or misuse.
Compatibility:
There is no guarantee that ColPrint has been tested on your specific printer,
but I believe it should work on all of the following printers or printers
compatible with the following: Panasonic KX-P1124, All Epson dot matrix 9
and 24 pin printers (LQ series, FX series, etc.), HP laser printers, HP
DeskJet printer, IBM Proprinter X24, and NEC P2200XE. Please let me know if
you can not get ColPrint to work on one of the above listed printers. I'm
sure there are others that ColPrint will work with. Try it! Many dot matrix
printers are compatible with one of the above.
Files in distribution:
COLPRINT.EXE - Program which prints a document using two columns
COLPRINT.DOC - This file - Documentation for ColPrint
RAP.EXE - Program which reformats text files to specified line lengths
RAP.DOC - Documentation for Rap
ORDER.FRM - Printable order form for registering ColPrint
Product description:
ColPrint is my answer to the overwhelming amounts of paper that piles up
from printing various large document files. If you prefer to read them on
paper rather than on the PC, as I do, and you want to save a few trees, I
think you will find this program useful.
ColPrint can print the same text on a fraction of the amount of paper normally
required. It is not unusual to reduce a 100 page document to 30 pages (or
15 if you use both sides of the paper).
ColPrint was initially developed to take advantage of the 20 character per
inch mode (pitch) of many 24 pin dot matrix printers, HP DeskJet, and laser
printers. This mode permits 160 characters per line to be printed which fits
two 80 character columns nicely on a single page with no space between the
columns.
NOTE: Not all printers support 20 cpi (160 cpl), but most support around 17
cpi (137 cpl). If you have a laser printer, check your manual to see if a 20
pitch internal font comes with it.
If your printer does not support 20 cpi mode and you have a document which
has 80 character lines then you need to reformat it into shorter lines using
the enclosed word wrap utility, Rap, to print two columns of about 66
characters on a 137 character line. If you prefer three columns, you will
need to use the word wrap utility first to reformat to about 42 character
lines. Otherwise the lines will be truncated when printed using ColPrint.
Rap is a word wrap program which is distributed with this program, but its
use beyond 14 days requires a separate registration fee.
By default, ColPrint Reads an ASCII file, removes form feed (advances to
new page) characters, removes blank lines (except for one) which occur
between text, sets printer for compressed print, 8 lines per inch (80 lines
per page), either 137 or 160 characters per line depending on printer type,
and formats the text into columns for output. The original document remains
unchanged. You can still print it out in the traditional way. ColPrint makes
a guess regarding the maximum pitch of your printer. If that guess is wrong,
specify a smaller line length on the command line (/L) to create smaller
widths of columns.
Optionally, you can print out just the odd or just the even pages thereby
allowing you to print on both sides of the paper. For example, you would
print all the odd pages, flip the paper over and feed it back into the
printer. Then print all the even pages. This allows you to minimize your
use of paper.
I usually send the output to a file and then use DOS's print command to
send it to the printer. This way the print job is queued up and I can still
use my computer for other things. There is no such print spooling built
into ColPrint so the computer remains occupied until the printing is complete
if you send it directly to the printer (the default action).
There are several options that you can give to control the formatting of the
text. For example, you can specify a left margin so that there will be space
on the left side of the paper which could be hole punched for a binder. Just
make sure that you shorten the line length and possibly reformat your file
using Rap in order to make room for the margin. Also, you can set the number
of columns, column width, and total line length of the output file (includes
all columns). You can specify which type of printer you are using and whether
to print just odd or even pages.
Remember, ColPrint will not automatically wrap lines (to the next line) that
are longer than the column width. The lines will be truncated. Please use
Rap to format the file into shorter line lengths if necessary. Then print
the file using ColPrint.
Enclosed are a few batch files to help automate the reformatting of line
lengths with Rap followed by the reformatting into columns by ColPrint.
Consult your DOS manual if you don't understand the batch files.
Usage: ColPrint InFile [OutFile] [/O] [/E] [/Tn] [/Cn] [/Mn] [/Wn] [/Ln] [/Pn]
where InputFile = File to be printed
OutputFile = Destination File or printer device such as
LPT1 (default), LPT2, COM1, or COM2,
/O = Print Odd numbered pages only
/E = Print Even numbered pages only
/Tn = Use printer commands for printer type n, where n is one of:
2 = Epson 20 cpi compatible printer - 160 chars per line (default)
1 = Epson 17 cpi compatible printer - 137 chars per line
I = IBM Proprinter X24 compatible printer - 137 chars per line
L