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PC-SIG: World of Utilities
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TP-ET.DOC
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1991-03-22
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*************************************
* THUMB PRINT SOFTWARE'S *
* TP-ET *
* (Electric Typwriter) *
*Copr. (C) Thumb Print Software 1989*
* All Rights Reseved *
*************************************
DISCLAIMER:
These program/s are provided on an "AS IS BASIS". All risks
are with you the "USER". At no time will Thumb Print Software
or Duane J. Schnur be liable to you for any damages, including
any lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or
consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to
use these programs. Even if Thumb Print Software or Duane J.
Schnur have been advised of the possibility of such damage.
You acnowledge that you have read this agreement, understand
it, and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions.
(1)
Files needed:
Your Shareware version of TP-ET should contain the folowing
files:
TP-ET.EXE
TPET.SLB
TP-ET.DOC
PRINTMAN.BAT
READ.ME (May or May Not be present. Depends on bugs
fixed or updates not in the Manual.
File Usage:
TP-ET.EXE:
This is the program file. Bring it up from the
Dos Command line ie: TP-ET [Enter/Return]
TPET.SLB:
This file MUST be on the same Drive/Path as
TP-ET.EXE. This file is a binary file and contains
the help screens used by TP-ET.EXE. If this file
is missing TP-ET.EXE will display an error message
and return to DOS.
TP-ET.DOC:
This documentation file (manual).
PRINTMAN.BAT:
The Batch file used to print this manual.
READ.ME:
This file may or may not be present. It is it will
contain any updates or bug fixes.
WHAT IS TP-ET?
TP-ET is an electric typewriter program. It turns your
computer and printer into an electric typewriter. All margins
are programmable. You can adjust how far from the top of a
page your first line of text starts. Both left and right
margins are adjustable. You decide how many blank lines are
at the bottom of each page after your last line of text.
You set your tab stops; whether you want an end of line bell.
If your printer is IBM/EPSON compatible you can pick from 6
printer font/quality settings. If not you can input your own
printer codes. TP-ET will (if you choose so) save a
configuration file to disk. Every time you bring up TP-ET the
configuration file will be read. You can edit an entire line
of text before it is sent to the printer and disk (if you
chose the save option). This way you can read over a line for
spelling errors or syntax errors before pressing
Enter/Return.
From the Main Menu (1-2-3 type) you can select Doc.Settings
to adjust any parameters (tabs,margins,etc). Start will use
the current settings and begin your document/letter. Help
will pull down 9 Help windows. Each window has a brief
explanation of the adjustable settings of the Doc.Settings
function. These windows are brought in from disk from the file
TPET.SLB. This is a special file that contains 13 help
screens. It is a highly compressed file.
(2)
It is mandatory that this file exist on the same Drive/Path
that TP-ET.EXE does. If it doesn't TP-ET.EXE will display an
error message and abort to DOS. This system of keeping Help
Screens was used to greatly reduce the overall size of the
program. If conventional methods would have been used the
size of the program would have been more than 30K larger than
the combined size of the TP-ET.EXE & TPET.SLB. When you
select the Start function from the Main Menu and are at the
work screen pressing F1 will pull down another Help Screen
listing all the Word Processor functions available. A second
Help Screen is available by pressing the Tab key. This screen
lists all the ALT-FKEY combinations used to draw double
horizontal double vertical boxes. You can call on these Help
Screens at any time from the work screen. Your document
screen will be saved in a reserved buffer. When you press the
ESC key your screen will be restored as it was and your cursor
will be right where you left off. You may program Auto Insert
keys. You have 4 auto insert keys to program. F2-F5 will
automatically insert whatever you have programmed in them.
Such things as your name - address - city state zip -
telephone number etc. F6 will automatically insert the
current date. Of course if you don't have a clock/cal board
or chip you will have to set the date at boot up. F10 ends
your document.
Work Screen:
The work screen is loaded with information. The top four
lines remind you of what keys to press for the auto insert.
It also tells you if F9 is active. In the Shareware version
F9 is never active. See the section of the manual that tells
you what you get in the Registered version that is not
available in the Shareware version. The fifth line is a ruler
line. You will see a capital L at the left margin and a
capital R at the right margin. As you type a moving cursor
will follow on the ruler line to tell you where you are on a
line. The next 14 lines are were you type in your
document/letter. When all 14 lines are full they will clear
and you will have 14 blank lines to use. The bottom 4 lines
tell you the line you are on; the page number; the documents
disk name if you are saving it to disk. It also tells the
printer font/quality in effect; how many characters in the
document (minus spaces); how many actual words; and how many
bytes of disk space the document will take. You will see how
many available bytes of disk space found by TP-ET when you
started the document. This gives you a gage to go by so you
don't let your document become larger than you have room to
save it. At the top of the screen is a real time clock in 12
hour format. Once again if you don't have a clock/cal board
chip you will have to set the actual time at DOS for this
clock to be accurate. If you are using a CGA/EGA color
board TP-ET will be in color. White on Blue. If you have a
Mono system TP-ET will be White on Black. Only a color board
is checked not the type of monitor. If you are using a Mono
Monitor with a color board you shouldn't have any problems
with White on Blue. This combination was checked with a Mono
Monitor and it is perfectly legible.
(3)
Minimum Requirements:
PC/MS DOS compatible PC.
256K memory
1 disk drive
DOS 2.X or higher
Printer (IBM/EPSON compatible to use the built in printer
fonts. Or user supplied printer codes)
Installation:
TP-ET is very easy to install. Simply copy TP-ET.EXE &
TPET.SLB to a system disk or a sub-directory on your hard
drive. It is strongly suggested that before you use the
program you make a backup disk. DON'T use your master disk as
your program disk. TP-ET will run off of a formatted only
disk. Be aware that if you are using only 1 disk drive and
you run TP-ET off of a formatted only disk when you exit the
program DOS will look for a copy of COMMAND.COM. I suggest
you keep TP-ET on a system disk on a 1 drive system. To
create a system disk place a blank disk in drive A:
From the DOS prompt type in:
FORMAT A:/S [ENTER/RETURN]
This will make a bootable system disk. You now can copy
TP-ET.EXE & TPET.SLB to this disk.
Using TP-ET:
To load TP-ET from DOS enter the following on the command
line at the DOS prompt:
TP-ET [Enter/Return]
As TP-ET loads it will look for the file TPET.SLB. If it
finds this file it will load the opening logo screen. If this
file is not in the same Drive/Path as TP-ET you will be
returned to DOS with an error message. The logo screen
contains the copywrite notice and registration info. By
pressing any key you will be at the Main Menu Screen.
The Main Menu uses a 1-2-3 type menu. You can use the arrow
keys to move the Highlighted bar or press the first letter of
any of the 5 Menu functions.
Doc Settings:
Use this function to change any of the parameters of TP-ET.
All parameters are selected by pressing the appropriate
letter that appears in the front of each parameter. You can
use the Doc Setting function to check the parameters or
change them. When the parameter window opens up each
parameter's current setting is displayed. At the bottom of the
window you are asked if you want to change any settings or
accept the current settings. Press C to change A to accept.
If you elect to change a setting once you have inputted your
answer the bottom of the window will ask to change any other
parameters or quit.
(4)
By pressing Q to quit the bottom of the window will ask if
you want to save these changes to disk in the file TP-ET.DEF.
You may answer (Y)es or (N)o to the question. Depending on
your answer if yes your changes will be saved to disk. If no
then you will be returned to the Main Menu.
When TP-ET first loads it looks for the file TP-ET.DEF. If it
finds it it uses the parameter settings from this file. If
the file does not exist it uses internal default settings.
The first time you use the program you should take a look at
the default settings. If they are not to your liking then you
should change the parameters to what you want. When you have
all parameters changed save the parameters to disk. From now
on every time you use TP-ET it will use these settings as the
default.
There may be times when you want a special set of parameters
for a particular document/letter. Simply change the
parameters you want by using the Doc Setting function. DON'T
save the settings to disk. When you are finished with this
document/letter use the Reset function from the Main Menu to
re-load the default settings.
Re-Set Function:
The Re-Set function serves only one purpose to reload the
default settings. This may be from the disk file TP-ET.DEF or
from the internal defaults of TP-ET.DEF cannot be found.
Help Function:
By pressing H from the Main Menu or moving the highlighted
bar to Help a window will open. There are 9 Help Screens
available. They describe the various parameters that are
adjustable from the Doc Setting function of the Main Menu.
All of these help screens are contained in the file TPET.SLB.
As you press the up/down arrow keys the next or preceeding
help screen is loaded. If you are using a Hard Drive these
screens will seem to load instantly. Using a floopy drive you
will have about .75 of a second between screens. You should
study these 9 screens. They explain in detail what effect
changing a parameter has on the docoument/letter you are
working on. To return to the Main Menu press the ESC key.
Exit Function:
Use this function to leave TP-ET and return to DOS.
Entering Printer Codes:
There are two situations when you may want to enter a special
printer code.
1: If you have an IBM/EPSON or compatible printer and want to
use a font/quality not available from the print selection of
the Doc Settings function.
2: If your printer is not IBM/EPSON compatible.
In either case you must follow some rigid rules of entry.
(5)
To change fonts/quality select from the Doc Settings screen
the printer fonts selection. Once you do a window will open
up with 7 selections. The first 6 are for IBM/EPSON
compatible printers. The 7th selection (USER) can be used if
you do not know the printer codes for you printer; you know
the printer code your printer uses; or you want a special
font/quality for which you know the printer code.
In the first case where your printer is non IBM/EPSON
compatible you should select USER. Another window will open
up asking for the printer code. Just press Enter/Return
without entering a code. TP-ET will not send any printer code
to your printer and your printer should print in it's normal
turn on default state. You will be asked for a name for this
font. If you just pressed Enter/Return for the printer code
you can give any name you want ie: Normal or whatever.
In the second and third case it is assumed you know the
printer codes required by your printer. For instance lets say
your printer manual says for condensed print you must enter a
code of ESC 18. ESC always 27 (CHR$ 27). Unless your printer
manual says different. TP-ET recognizes four different CHR$
numbers directly 27 - 18 - 15 - 14.
It is always a good idea to reset your printer to it's normal
turn on state before entering a new code. In an IBM/EPSON
printer this ESC @. This would translate to 27 @ before the
code in the example above. The entire entry would be
27/@/27/18
Notice the slant bars (/) after each code entry. These should
be there. TP-ET strips all codes and recognizes the / bar as
a separator.
Now suppose you have a real strange looking code to enter.
This is easy to do. Suppose for the font/quality you want the
manual says 27 "x1" 27 CHR$(140) 27 "P"
First of all notice the codes inside the parens. These codes
are entered as is. Notice the CHR$(140) this is a special
case. Now assuming the reset code is 27 @ the entire code
would be 27 @ 27 "x1" 27 chr(140) 27 "P"
This code is purely fictional and doesn't represent any code
just for display purposes.
How would we enter this code ?
27/@/27/x1/27/HOLD THE ALT KEY DOWN AND TY[E 140 ON THE
KEYPAD/27/P
As stated above the CHR$ numbers 27 18 15 14 can be entered
as numbers. TP-ET does not recognize CHR$(140) in the example
above. Therefore NOTICE the instruction for entering it.
HOLD THE ALT KEY DOWN AND TYPE 140 ON THE KEYPAD.
DO NOT TYPE 140 ON THE TOP ROW OF KEYS. This is not the same
as the Keypad.
The "x1" and "P" were entered as is minus the quatation
marks. Any code in quatation marks are entered in this
fashion. If your manual shows lower case enter it as lower
case. If upper case enter it as upper case.
If you follow these rules you will have no problems producing
the effect on the printer that you want.
(6)
Whats left. Once you have changed all the parameters you want
changed you can save them to disk in TP-ET.DEF or not. If you
do save them to disk TP-ET will always use these parameters
when it loads from DOS provided that TP-ET.DEF is on the same
directory. If this is a special document and you don't want
these as your default settings simply answer no to the save
question. These settings will be in effect only for this
session. At any time you can reload your disk defaults by
using the Re-Set function from the Main Menu.
Start Function:
You use this function when you are ready to start the
document. If you have the Append parameter set the first
thing TP-ET does is check the current directory for any files
with the .LET extention. It then looks for a matching file
with the extention .APN. This file contains all the parameter
settings you were using for this document. If it finds a
matching .APN file you will be able to Append to it. If not
and you choose this file you will receive an error message.
If you are not appending to an existing document TP-ET will
list all files with the .LET extention. This is so you can
see what is on your disk. If you try to name the new file the
same as an existing file you will receive an error message.
This safeguards against overwritting an existing file. Once
you have entered a name for the new document you will be at
the action screen (for lack of a better name).
From here it is up to you what you type. You may edit the
line of text you are working on until you press Enter/Return.
Once you do that line of text is printed and sent to disk (if
you have the Save parameter set). You cannot correct any text
once you are off a line. You will have 14 lines of text on
your screen before the screen clears.
You have a Help Screen available at any time during the text
entry. By pressing F1 a pop up screen will appear. The first
screen tells you all the editing keys available while you are
entering text on a line. By pressing the Tab Key a second
help screen will appear. This will have the keys to press to
draw double line boxes. There 11 box characters available.
You can draw as complex a box as you want. By pressing the
ESC Key the Help Screen will disappear and you will be back
to the work screen right where you left off.
The top and bottom of your monitor screen contains a lot of
information. All the auto-insert keys are shown; the current
time of day. The bottom of the screen tells you what page you
are on; what line you are on; the current printer setting;
the file name etc. When you are finished with your document
simply press F10. The document will be concluded and you will
return to the Main Menu. If you had been appending to a
existing document your parameter settings would have been re-
set to whatever they were before you started appending to the
document.
TP-ET is very simple to use and at the same time quite
powerful. The best way to learn the program is to use it.
(7)
What is the difference between the Shareware version and the
Registered version ?
The Shareware version does not support the Screen and Page
modes. These are powerful editing features.
Screen Mode:
In the screen mode you may edit the 14 lines of text on your
screen. In other words you can move up and down among the 14
lines and correct or add to any line. The only thing that you
can't do is split a line or combine lines. Also there is no
word-wrap feature. The reason for this is in the Line mode
you may have made a mistake on a line. If there was a word-
wrap feature you would be on the next line with no way of
getting back to the previous line to correct it.
Page Mode:
In the page mode you can scroll through the entire page and
make corrections or additions. For example: If your
parameter settings allow you 54 lines of text per page you
would be able to scroll from the 1st line to the 54th line.
This is called a virtual window.
In either case when you where ready to print the text you
would press F9. All the text would then go to the printer and
the disk file (if you have the Save parameter on).
If TP-ET is accepted by you the user a word-wrap feature will
be added to the Screen and Page modes.
The Registered Version also comes with a printed manual and 4
months of telephone support. You are also notified of any
updates to the program.
You also receive a defective disk replacement form
Why register TP-ET ? Mainly to have the Screen and Page
modes and receive DATASCAN as a bonus.
BE ADVISED:
The Registered Version of TP-ET now includes TPLABEL and
TPED plus several other utility files. See the READ.ME
file on disk for the latest updates.
TP-ET Registration form:
Name: ____________________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________________
City: __________________________________
State: _________________________________
Zip: ___________________________________
Tele: ________________________________________
Date: ________________________________________
Price: $19.50 plus $3.50 shipping
$2.00 Additional for 720K disk
Michigan residents add 4% sales tax
Total Amt enclosed: $
Personal checks will be held 14 days to clear.
Mail to:
Thumb Print Software
1570 Colwood Rd.
Caro Mich. 48723
