Collection of Tools & Utilities/Collection of Tools and Utilities.iso/print/spoolrii.zip/SP2.DOC

Text File | 1980-01-01 | 21KB | 422 lines

                                  DISK SPOOL II

                             by BUDGET SOFTWARE CO.
                                  P.O.Box 12282
                            12162 E. Mississippi Ave.
                             Aurora, Colorado  80012

                                 [phone]



     Sets up a print spooling environment where printed output is spooled to
     disk, rather than to memory.

 FEATURES:

     * Works in background to save you valuable computer time.

     * Works with virtually all DOS applications.

     * Pop-up menu obtainable from within almost any application, controls
       starting and stopping spooling, starting and stopping the printer,
       displaying the contents of the spool file, re-positioning the printer to
       start at any palce within the spool file, attaching the spooler and/or
       the de-spooler to different files, and much more.

     * Can be set up tp spool data being sent to COM1, COM2 LPT1 and /or LPT2,
       or to any combination.

     * Can print the contents of the spool file to COM1, COM2 LPT1, and/or LPT2;
       or you can have the program send the output to the same port from which
       it was spooled.

     * Can re-direct the printed output to a device driver, or to a disk file.

     * Fine tune for optimal printer speed.


 REQUIREMENTS:

     An IBM PC, XT, AT or PS/2; or any compatible; takes up about 30K of memory.

     DOS 2.0, or later.





  I. INTRODUCTION


     DISK SPOOL II is a program that fundamentally changes the manner in
     which printing takes place on your computer.  Without DISK SPOOL II,
     whenever an application prints information, it sends it directly to
     the printer.  If you don't have a printer attached to your computer,
     then you can't run the application.  If your printer halts for
     whatever reason, then the application halts.  More importantly,
     your application's execution speed is held back by the printer,
     regardless of how fast your computer is, or how well designed the
     application is.

     With DISK SPOOL II, your applications do not have to contend directly
     with the printer, since DISK SPOOL II sits in the background and
     intercepts your printer data, then re-routes it to a disk file.  Two
     benefits are immediately derived from this:  A disk file doesn't jam,
     and you don't have to worry about its ribbon, so you know that your
     application will run to completion.  Secondly, even the fastest
     printers cannot process data as quickly as a disk drive.  So, your
     applications finish sooner, and you are able to do more work in
     less time.

     But what good is the data out in a disk file?  Here is where the
     second main part of DISK SPOOL II comes into play.  With your data
     safely out on disk, and while you are busy doing other things on your
     computer, DISK SPOOL II works behind the scenes to send the data from
     the disk file to the printer.  How is it possible for the computer to
     be doing two things at the same time?  The answer is that your
     computer has a generous supply of excess processing cycles on its
     hands, and DISK SPOOL II merely puts these cycles to work. The
     computer isn't really doing two things at once, it just acts like it
     is.

     You may be asking yourself why the concepts described above have not
     been made part of your computer's operating system by the manufacturers,
     since the time savings is apparently so dramatic and so universal.
     The answer is that personal computers are following the same evolutionary
     path that mainframes did.  Just like mainframes, the first operating
     system (and the one we are still using today) was not designed to be able
     to handle multitasking easily.  It is a sure thing that the new operating
     system being developed for the PC, just like second generation mainframes,
     will have spooling environments built in.  In the meantime, DISK SPOOL II
     enables you to tap into this kind of operating power right now on your
     present PC.





 II. GETTING STARTED QUICKLY

     Getting DISK SPOOL II to start working for you is as simple as keying
     in the program name SP2, and pressing the Enter key.  DISK SPOOL II
     will begin spooling printed data to a file called SPO.SPL in the root
     directory of drive c:.  If you want your spool file to reside on a
     different drive, just key in the drive letter following the SP2.
     Example:  SP2 d.

     There's only one thing some people will have to do differently.  If
     you are in the habit of using DOS' command PRINT to print a file, use
     the command SP2PRT instead.  This command is found on your diskette.
     To use it, merely key in SP2PRT followed by the name of the file you
     wish to print.  Also, some users utilize the COPY command (e.g. COPY
     XXXXX LPT1) or the TYPE command (TYPE XXXXX > LPT1) in order to print
     files.  Again, use the SP2PRT command instead.   You may want to try
     DISK SPOOL out right now to see how well it works by printing this
     document.  Just load DISK SPOOL II by keying in SP2, and then key in:
     SP2PRT sp2.doc.

     Finally, a quick word about printer speed.  If you notice that your
     printer speed is slower than usual, or that your computer appears to
     be less responsive, then read the section of this document entitled
     "Fine Tuning DISK SPOOL II".

     That's all there is to it, except that there's a lot more.  However,
     every effort has been made to make DISK SPOOL II easy to learn and to
     use; so you are likely to find that you can pick most of it up by
     simply getting started.  Then use the rest of this manual as a
     reference guide.




III. THE MENU

     DISK SPOOL II is a memory resident program whose facilities are
     controlled by means of a pop-up menu.  This means that you can be in
     the middle of any application and access DISK SPOOL II's menu by
     simply pressing the two "hot keys".  DISK SPOOL II comes
     pre-configured with the Alt and Left Uppershift keys as the "hot
     keys".  You can, however, configure the "hot-keys" to be anything you
     wish.  The menu style is the popular Lotus-style "single tier" menu.
     The top row of the menu displays several keywords, each of which
     represents a menu selection.  And at the onset, the leftmost keyword
     is shown in reverse image.  The second line of the menu gives a
     description of the menu item that is currently in reverse image.  There
     are two ways to make a menu selection.  You either position the reverse
     image "bar" using the left and right arrow keys so that the keyword you
     wish to select is highlighted, and then press the Enter key; or, you
     simply tap the first letter of the keyword you wish to take.  Often, one
     menu selection leads to another menu tier.  If you don't want to take any
     selection from a given tier, tap the Esc key to go back a tier.  As
     you become familiar with DISK SPOOL II, you will quickly learn the
     letter sequences needed to perform a given task.  Learning these
     sequences is made all the more easy since the letter you key in is
     always the first letter of the function you wish to perform.  For
     example the keywords to enable the Despooler at the beginning of the
     file are: Despooler, then Enable, then Beginning.  You will quickly
     learn to key in DEB to perform this function.




 IV. THE SPOOLER AND DESPOOLER

     Disk Spool II has two main components:  the Spooler, whose job it is
     to intercept printer data and re-direct it to a disk file; and the
     Despooler, whose job it is to work in the background sending the
     contents of the disk file to the printer.  By means of the pop-up
     menu, you have the ability to enable and/or disable both components.
     When the Spooler is enabled, it does its job of spooling printer data
     out to disk.