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PRINTGAL.TXT
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1990-02-27
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-------------------
-- PrintGal v2.4 --
-------------------
David Steiner
DES Software
February, 1990
Table of Contents
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Source Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
STATUS LINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
FILE MODE TOGGLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
LOAD ART GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
WRITE TO GALLERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
SORT GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
VIEW GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CONVERT NM TO PM/PS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PRINT GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
BATCH PRINT GALLERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
TAG ALL GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
UNTAG ALL GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
REVERSE GRAPHICS TAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
DIRECTORY SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
GRAPHICS/PRINTER SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
GRAPHICS DRIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PRINTER SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
RESET PRINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
COMPRESSED PITCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
EXPANDED PITCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
START GRAPHICS MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
START GRAPHICS LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
END GRAPHICS LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
END GRAPHICS MODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CHANGE LINE SPACING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
ACCEPT SPACING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
CR + LF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
FORM FEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHARACTERS PER LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
EXPANDED CHARS PER LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
LEFT MARGIN (CHARS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
LINES PER PAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
TOP MARGIN and BOTTOM MARGIN . . . . . . . . . . 16
CHARS BETWEEN GRAPHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
DOTS PER CHARACTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
DOTS PER LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
PRINT EACH LINE # TIMES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
IS THIS A LASER PRINTER? . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
CHECK FOR MOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
BIOS VIDEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
SNOW CHECKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
BACKGROUND COLOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
OVERSCAN SET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
MENU COLORS & STATUS COLORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
------------------
-- Registration --
------------------
PrintGal is SHAREWARE. Yes, I said it. I have been getting
enough phone support calls to justify calling this program
shareware now. If you use this program beyond a few week trial
period you are required to register.
To register print and fill out the form in the PRINTGAL.REG
text file. This file also contains cost information, my address
and phone number.
-----------------
-- Source Code --
-----------------
PrintGal was written in Turbo Pascal version 5.0. Although
source code was available for the earliest versions of PrintGal,
I have decided not to distribute it any longer. I'll be happy to
answer any technical questions though.
For those of you on GEnie who may have noticed a couple of
messages I left in the Borland RT, I got the printer problems
sorted out. My thanks to:
Scott Bussinger
Professional Practice Systems
110 South 131st Street
Tacoma, WA 98444
(206)531-8944
Compuserve 72247,2671
Scott wrote the replacement printer unit, PRINTR, that takes
care of the problems I was having.
Page 2
--------------
-- Overview --
--------------
Unlike the earliest versions, PrintGal now reads all
information for an art gallery into memory at once. The absolute
maximum number of graphics it can hold at one time is 1,000. The
practical limit seems to be about 800 on a machine with 640K of
memory. Although PrintGal is now much more advanced, it is far
from perfect. If you are loading a file and PrintGal runs out of
memory, the program will simply abort. This isn't serious since
you probably won't want a gallery to contain that many graphics
anyway.
Disk access is much faster than before. In prior versions
of PrintGal the conversion process took a lot of time simply
because Turbo reads files slowly. I accessed DOS directly for
reading and writing graphics shapes and was shocked by the speed
difference. This version is about ten times faster than the old.
PrintGal is capable of reading, writing, converting, or
printing galleries from NewsMaster, PrintMaster or PrintShop.
PrintMaster and PrintShop graphics are identical, so there is no
problem converting between them. However, NewsMaster graphics
may be of variable sizes so the graphics must be converted to be
used by PrintMaster or PrintShop.
Files may be merged by loading more than one into memory at
a time. When files are merged, PrintGal only remembers the name
of the last one loaded.
Page 3
------------------
-- Installation --
------------------
Installing PrintGal is as simple as copying the PRINTGAL.EXE
and *.BGI files to the art gallery directory, changing to that
directory and running PrintGal. You may put PrintGal in a
separate directory, but you will then have to set the directories
used for data and graphics drivers as per the DIRECTORIES menu
option discussed below.
Example of installing PrintGal, assuming PrintMaster is
installed in the directory C:\PRTMSTR and PrintGal is currently
on a disk in drive A:
COPY A:\PRINTGAL.EXE C:\PRTMSTR
COPY A:\*.BGI C:\PRTMSTR
C:
CD \PRTMSTR
PRINTGAL
After the first time PrintGal is run the file PRINTGAL.CFG will
be created to keep track of changes you may have made to the
configuration. For this reason you should always run PrintGal
from the same directory.
Page 4
-----------------
-- Terminology --
-----------------
For the purposes of this program the following terms are used:
PM PrintMaster.
NM NewsMaster.
PS PrintShop.
NewPS New PrintShop
Graphic A single picture.
Gallery A collection of graphics. These collections are stored
on disk in two files. One file contains the names and
the other contains the actual graphics.
Tag PrintGal allows you to edit the contents of a gallery.
This is done by loading the gallery and then choosing
which files are to remain in the gallery or to be
thrown out. The method used for this is to 'tag' the
graphics you wish to keep. Tags are discussed in more
detail under the 'View Graphics' and 'Batch Printing'
menu selections.
Page 5
-------------
-- Details --
-------------
This section covers each of the main menu options in depth.
Before starting here are a few notes about the menu system. You
select an option by using the cursor keys to move the highlight
bar and pressing ENTER on the option you want. Note that if
there are no graphics in memory, many of the main menu options do
not work and no window is popped up.
STATUS LINES
------------
Version 2.0 used a single status line at the bottom of the screen
to show help information and the name of the file currently
loaded. With version 2.1 I needed more room due to the addition
of more status information. The bottom line of the screen is now
dedicated to brief help messages.
The top line of the screen shows the currently loaded art
gallery, what disk file mode PrintGal is in (see the next
section), how many graphics are in memory, how many of the loaded
graphics are tagged, and the percentage of memory in use.
Most of the status indicators are self-explanatory. The
percentage of memory in use is a rough estimate, since the area
used to store graphics is also used for other things, like
popping up windows. So don't fret if you don't have any graphics
loaded into memory but the status bar claims the program is 1%
full. Be careful when loading PrintGal more than 80% full, since
it still aborts if it runs out of memory.
FILE MODE TOGGLE
----------------
In the top PrintGal status bar there is a cryptic File Mode
indicator that will either be 'PM/NM', 'PS' or 'NewPS'. This
tells you whether PrintGal is in PrintMaster/NewsMaster
compatibility mode PrintShop compatibility mode or New PrintShop
compatibility mode. This mode is only important for reading from
or writing to the disk. Once graphics are in memory it doesn't
matter what mode the program is in.
The ability to switch modes once graphics are in memory means
that you can use PrintGal to convert art galleries between
PrintMaster and PrintShop. Simply load a graphic while in one
file mode, switch modes, and write it back out (see the load and
write options below for special notes).
Page 6
The only thing you will notice immediately when selecting this
menu option is that the top status line changes. Later, if I add
support for other icon-oriented programs, I'll pop up a menu for
choosing the File Mode. For now, I think it would have been a
waste to do that with only two modes.
This option defaults to PrintMaster compatibility the first time
PrintGal is run. After that, it remembers what mode you left it
in last.
LOAD ART GALLERY
----------------
Selecting this option will pop up a window showing all art
galleries in the current directory that match the current file
mode. Use the cursor keys to select the art gallery you wish to
load and press ENTER.
I should mention here how files are stored on disk. PrintMaster
and NewsMaster art galleries are stored in two separate files
having the extensions .SDR and .SHP. The files hold the
graphic's names and actual pictures respectively. PrintShop uses
the same method, but uses different file name extensions (.NAM
and .DAT). PrintShop has the additional requirement that all art
gallery names begin with the two letters 'GR'.
The New PrintShop uses a similar technique, but has two graphic
file extensions .PNG and .POG for New graphics format and Old
graphics format. The graphic names are kept in a file with the
.PNM extension.
The New PrintShop graphic file format supports high
resolution copies of the graphics in a .PNG file, however
PrintGal does not access them. There is more than one copy of
each graphic in a .PNG file. The first part of the file contains
the same type of data as the old PrintShop program. The second
part of the file stores a second copy of the pictures at a higher
resolution. These high resolution graphics normally only show
more detail, so I did not consider it vital to support them. The
only major problem this creates is that I can't write out .PNG
files, so they may not be written back out to disk.
Initially, there is no art gallery in memory so PrintGal just
loads the file you selected. However, subsequent loads from disk
will first ask if you wish to merge the graphics in memory with
the new gallery. If you answer yes to the merge option the
graphics in the selected file will be appended to those in
memory. The default answer for this question is no, since it has
been assumed that you will not want to merge files often.
Page 7
WRITE TO GALLERY
----------------
This option writes the graphics in memory to disk. PrintGal only
writes those graphics that you have tagged. When a file is
loaded all graphics are tagged automatically, so if you don't
wish to mess with tagging you may safely forget about it.
Before writing, PrintGal checks whether or not all of the
graphics in memory are tagged. If not, a warning message is
displayed to make sure you really wish to leave some of the
graphics out of the new disk file.
Next you are prompted for a file name. You are only allowed to
enter eight characters since the extensions are defined by the
File Mode. The default file name is the name of the file last
loaded, but any valid DOS name may be entered instead. If you
enter a name that is unacceptable to DOS you receive an error
message and will have to try again.
Finally, PrintGal checks to see if the output file name you
entered is already present. If it is, PrintGal asks to make sure
you wish to replace the old file.
As mentioned above, PrintShop gallery names must start with 'GR'.
PrintGal makes sure that all file names start with these two
characters when writing PrintShop files. If necessary the 'GR'
will be inserted at the beginning of the default file name in
order to remind you of this. You don't have to keep this naming
convention, but if you don't PrintShop won't recognize it as a
valid file, and neither will PrintGal later when loading
PrintShop files.
Note that this option is the only one that actually writes
anything to disk. All other PrintGal operations are performed on
the data in memory.
As mentioned above, PrintGal does not fully support the New
PrintShop .PNG file format. For this reason it will not write
out a .PNG file. If you simply must output a .PNG you will have
to settle for renaming it and saving it as a .POG file. This may
done at the cost of the high resolution capability.
SORT GRAPHICS
-------------
Selecting this option will sort all of the graphics currently
loaded into memory. A window pops up to let you know PrintGal is
working, though sorts on normal sized galleries (100 graphics)
take little time.
Page 8
VIEW GRAPHICS (TAG, UNTAG AND RENAME)
-------------
The name for this menu option not entirely accurate, since
viewing is not the only thing allowed here. After selecting this
option, a window pops up showing the names of all graphics
currently in memory. Graphics that have been tagged are shown
highlighted. While you are in this menu several keys are active:
N,F1 : Rename the currently highlighted graphic.
T,F9 : Tag the currently highlighted graphic.
U,F10 : Untag the graphic.
ENTER : View picture in graphics mode.
ESC : Return to Main Menu.
Pressing R or F1 pops up a window that allows you to rename the
current graphic. This renaming may also be done while viewing
pictures in graphics mode.
The main use for tagging is to delete graphics. The graphics are
not actually deleted from memory, but when the WRITE TO GALLERY
option is chosen, untagged graphics will be left out of the
output gallery.
Pressing ENTER puts PrintGal into graphics mode. The chosen
graphic is displayed on the screen, along with a bit of
information about it. You may return to text mode by pressing
ESC.
While in graphics mode you may step through the graphics in
memory by using the SPACE and BS keys to step forward and
backward. The cursor keypad may also be used to move through the
graphics.
The 'T','U','F9' and 'F10' keys work here also to tag or untag
files.
--> A graphic that is tagged will have a frame around it. <--
Note that if PrintGal cannot initialize graphics mode, when it
should be able to, there are three possible causes:
1) PrintGal is not autodetecting the proper graphics
adapter. Go to Setup and explicitly tell PrintGal
which driver to use.
2) PrintGal could not find the graphics driver files (.BGI
files). Go to the Directories option and make sure the
graphics driver directory is set correctly. If that is
not the problem then make sure that the following files
are in the directory you specified:
Page 9
ATT.BGI
CGA.BGI
EGAVGA.BGI
HERC.BGI
PC3270.BGI
3) PrintGal does not have enough free memory to start
graphics mode. This is possible when a large number of
graphics are currently in memory. To determine if this
is the problem, load a smaller file and try viewing the
graphics again.
CONVERT NM TO PM/PS
-------------------
This menu option allows you to convert NewsMaster files to PM or
PS format. This is necessary since NewsMaster allows variable
sized graphics, while the other two programs do not. The
standard graphic size for PM and PS is 88 by 52 pixels.
When this option is selected PrintGal pops up a window showing a
bit of information about the graphics currently in memory. It
tells you how many of the graphics are already compatible, how
many are too small for PM/PS, and how many are too large.
In order to let you look at this information and give you a
chance to abort the conversion PrintGal then asks whether or not
you really want to perform the conversion.
Graphics that are too small will be filled in with whitespace and
centered. Graphics that are too large will be untagged so that
they will not be written back to disk. Version 2.0 deleted large
graphics from memory, but I changed it because this seems more
consistent.
PRINT GRAPHICS
--------------
Well, there isn't much to say about this one as there isn't a
whole lot that isn't obvious. However, you should note that you
can configure how the output is printed by changing the margins
and such from the Setup menu.
Also, for those of you printing NewsMaster files, take notice
that the graphic spacing is based on the largest graphic in
memory. This could potentially create a printout with a lot of
space around some graphics. I don't know exactly how well this
method will work so let me know if something needs to be done.
One new feature as of version 2.1 is that PrintGal will put the
number of the first graphic in each row in the left margin. This
will be done as long as there is enough room on the paper. To
Page 10
make sure, set the left margin to at least five characters in the
Printer Setup section (it defaults to 17).
BATCH PRINT GALLERIES
---------------------
Here is an option that I think everyone wanted. After selecting
it a window pops up showing all of the galleries that match the
current File Mode. Simply tag any art galleries you want to
print and hit ENTER. PrintGal goes into batch mode: loading each
gallery and then automatically printing.
Now you can stick the computer in the basement and let it print
all night if need be (may your printer never jam).
TAG ALL GRAPHICS
----------------
This selection marks all graphics in memory for output to disk.
You will not normally need to use this since all graphics are
tagged by default when loaded from disk.
UNTAG ALL GRAPHICS
------------------
This option is supplied to give you the option for how you like
to think of tagging. Since all graphics are tagged by default,
the default method of tagging is to look through the graphics and
decide which are to be left out (untagged). By clearing all tags
first, you may instead look through the graphics and decide which
ones you want to keep.
REVERSE GRAPHICS TAGS
---------------------
Selecting this option will reverse all tagged graphics to
untagged and vice versa.
This may not have any obvious uses, until you wish to split an
art gallery into two smaller files. To do this, load the large
gallery and tag all the graphics you want in the first file.
Save these graphics to disk and then reverse the tags and save
again to the second disk file.
DIRECTORY SETUP
---------------
This menu option is useful for hard disk owners. Its main use is
for setting where the graphics galleries are found. You may
elect to keep PrintGal in its own directory rather than in the
art gallery directory. Also if you use more that one of the
Page 11
programs, PM, NM, or PS then you may change to the graphics
directory of each program without exiting PrintGal.
The graphics driver directory is provided mostly for my own use.
I prefer not to have to keep a copy of the .BGI files everywhere
they are used. Instead I just leave them in the same place as
the Turbo compiler and tell PrintGal where to find them. You may
have use for this option also if you use other programs that
require .BGI files.
GRAPHICS/PRINTER SETUP
----------------------
This option allows access to most of the remaining PrintGal
variables. Selecting it pops up submenus that allow you to set
the graphics driver, configure the printer, or change the screen
colors used.
GRAPHICS DRIVER
---------------
By default PrintGal takes a guess at what video mode to use. It
determines what type of graphics adapter you have and then
selects the video mode that will provide the highest resolution.
I recommend that you leave the graphics driver as DETECT, unless
you encounter specific problems or prefer a video mode other than
the default.
After selecting a graphics driver a submenu will appear listing
available video modes for that driver, if applicable. Some of
the graphics drivers only have one mode, so the submenu only
displays one option and you don't really have a choice.
PRINTER SETUP
-------------
Selecting this option allows about as much control over the
printer driver as I could manage. The first set of prompts are
for strings that are sent to the printer to perform the stated
action. These strings are entered as the decimal character
values, separated by spaces. There is room for quite long
entries for these, but normally no more than two or three codes
are required.
The default codes used by PrintGal are set for Epson compatible
printers. They will also work for IBM compatible printers with a
few minor modifications.
PrintGal now supports laser printers. Laser printer control
codes are considerably longer than those for a dot matrix
printer, so the string format has been changed. Decimal numbers
listed will be converted to the corresponding characters.
Page 12
Additionally, strings of characters may be input if they are
inside of single quotes. A single quote character may be
specified by two consecutive single quotes.
For each of the configuration options below I will list the
default Epson setup string, what it must be changed to for a
laser printer and what minor changes may need to be made for
other IBM compatible printers. Note that the (IBM) codes given
will not always be required, they are given only to offer some
direction to try to get your printer working.
Here is a summary of what each string is used for:
RESET PRINTER
Laser: 27 'E'
Epson: 27 64
This is the string required by your printer to reset it to the
power-up defaults. The string is sent before each gallery is
printed to make sure the printout is not affected by settings
from programs previously using the printer. It is also sent
after each printout to restore the line spacing and pitch
settings that were changed by PrintGal.
COMPRESSED PITCH
Laser: 27 '(8U' 27 '(s0p16.66h8.5v0s0b0T'
Epson: 15
(IBM): 27 15
This string will cause all text to be output at 17 characters per
inch. For normal PrintMaster galleries the maximum graphic name
length of 16 characters is long enough to make each name print
wider than the actual picture. If compressed pitch were not used
the names would be nearly twice as wide as the graphics.
Among the many assumptions made about printer output, is the one
that the dots per inch of the text pitch chosen is the same as
that in graphics mode. For Epson printers this is true for
double-density graphics and compressed pitch and these are the
default modes. If you try to change the text pitch you will need
to take this into account (see CHARACTERS PER LINE and DOTS PER
CHARACTER).
If your printer is not using compressed pitch then you may need
to set this string to "27 15". Compressed pitch will look much
narrower than the normal 10 pitch printer text.
Page 13
EXPANDED PITCH
Laser: 27 '(8U' 27 '(s0p10h12v0s3b3T'
Epson: 14
Epson printers allow the text pitch to be changed to a wider
font. This code selects expanded pitch for printing the page
headers and footers. On a dot matrix printer this is an extra
wide font. On a laser printer this is merely a bold courrier 10
pitch font.
START GRAPHICS MODE
Laser: 27 '*t150R' 27 '*r1A'
Epson: (nothing)
Laser printers must be told to enter a graphics mode where they
will recieve a block of graphics information one raster line at a
time. Dot matrix printers have no corresponding command.
Note also that this command contains a command for setting the
graphics resolution. By changing the 150 in the command string
to 300 you can nearly double the number of graphics that can fit
on a page. However, since these graphics are very small I chose
to use 150 dots per inch. If you wish to try 300 dpi then you
will also need to change the DOTS PER CHARACTER and DOTS PER LINE
settings discussed below.
START GRAPHICS LINE
Laser: 27 '*b'
Epson: 27 76
For each line of graphics information sent to a dot matrix
printer this code is sent. Assumptions are that graphics
information is sent to the printer in eight dot tall columns and
that the first two characters sent after this graphics mode
string will be the number of such columns being sent:
GraphString <lo(N)> <hi(N)> graphics data
where N is the number of columns of graphics data being sent.
For each raster line of data sent to a laser printer this code
will be a prefix to the line size. The characters following this
prefix code will specify how many bytes of raster data will be
sent. The number is sent as an ASCII string.
Page 14
END GRAPHICS LINE
Laser: 'W'
Epson: (nothing)
On a laser printer this suffix must be sent after the number
following the START GRAPHICS LINE command. Immediately following
this prefix will follow the specified number of bytes of binary
raster data.
END GRAPHICS MODE
Laser: 27 '*rB'
Epson: (nothing)
This code tells a laser printer when all raster graphics
information has been sent for a block of graphic information.
The printer will then switch back to text mode.
CHANGE LINE SPACING
Laser: 27 27 '&l8D'
Epson: 27 65 8
(IBM): 27 51 24
Graphics printing normally requires that the lines not be spaced
as far apart as when printing text. If the line spacing is not
shortened, thin white lines will appear in the graphics when they
are printed. For Epson printers the line spacing that needs to
be used is 8/72 per inch.
For laser printers, the only reason this command needs to be set
is to increase the number of graphics that may be fit on a page.
By setting the line spacing to 8 lines per inch the text takes up
less vertical space, allowing more rows of graphics on a page.
Some IBM compatible printers do not allow setting the line
spacing in 1/72 inch increments. It is then necessary to set the
line spacing in 1/216 inch units. The equivalent setting is then
24/216 inches. You may notice this problem occuring if you are
getting small vertical white lines in your printout.
ACCEPT SPACING
Laser: (nothing)
Epson: (nothing)
(IBM): 27 50
Some printers require that after you send the new line spacing
you wish to use, you then send another code to activate it. This
strikes me as redundant, but it is necessary. One printer that
Page 15
this is required for is the Okidata MICROLINE. IBM ProPrinters
and compatibles may also require this control code.
If you are getting very small horizontal lines in the printout
try setting this ACCEPT SPACING code to "27 50". If the spaces
between lines are fairly large see the CR + LF setting (coming up
next).
CR + LF
Laser: 13 10
Epson: 13 10
I decided to keep a separate string for sending linefeeds to the
printer. I believe that a common problem with printing programs
is that some printers require a CR/LF pair, while others only
need the CR. When a printer is of the second type, sending the
LF inserts an extra space and printouts are then double spaced.
If this problem occurs with your printer then set this string to
'13'.
FORM FEED
Laser: 12
Epson: 12
I believe the form feed code is pretty standardized, but you can
configure it anyway. I couldn't see any reason to leave it out
when I allowed access to all the other codes.
PRINTER SETUP (cont)
-------------
The remaining configuration prompts have to do with items such as
characters per line, or margins:
CHARACTERS PER LINE
Laser: 132
Epson: 132
This number indicates how many characters will fit on one line.
The main use for it is to set the carriage width. If you have a
wide carriage printer you can change this variable to take full
advantage of it. The secondary use is if you change the printer
pitch above you will need to adjust this also.
Page 16
EXPANDED CHARS PER LINE
Laser: 80
Epson: 68
Same as characters per line, but for expanded pitch.
LEFT MARGIN (CHARS)
Laser: 17
Epson: 17
Minimum space to leave as the left margin. This value is given
in characters, so pay attention to the printer pitch. The lines
will be right justified, so the actual margin used may be wider.
As mentioned above under the PRINT GRAPHICS menu option, the
number of the first graphic in each row is printed in the left
margin. To make sure that there is enough room to print this
number the margin needs to be at least five characters. Setting
it smaller disables the number printing function.
LINES PER PAGE
Laser: 80
Epson: 99
This is the total number of lines per page. This should take
into account the modified line spacing.
TOP MARGIN and BOTTOM MARGIN (lines)
Laser: 0 & 0
Epson: 0 & 9
My preference is to leave about an inch of paper above the print
head so I don't have to waste a sheet of paper to start a
printout right at the top of a page (boy am I a miser). The
default setting for PrintGal is 0 lines for a top margin and 9
lines for the bottom margin. If printing starts a bit down from
the top, this has the desired effect of leaving room for page
breaks.
A setting of four lines on top and five at the bottom should work
pretty well for users who leave their paper right at the top of a
page.
Laser printers normally enforce half inch margins at the top and
bottom of a page automatically, so the software needn't add any
extra margins.
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CHARS BETWEEN GRAPHICS
Laser: 0
Epson: 0
This is the number of characters to insert between each column of
graphics. The width of each graphic is determined by the wider
of the graphic itself or the maximum name length (16 characters).
For PM and PS files the name is always the wider of the two.
Since the names seldom reach the maximum length, no space between
graphics is sufficient for PM and PS files.
DOTS PER CHARACTER
Laser: 9
Epson: 7
This is the number of dots across each printed character. It is
used to determine how many columns of graphics can be printed on
a page.
You may compute what this number should be by dividing the dots
per inch resolution of the printer graphics by the compressed
pitch value. For example the number for a laser printer using
150 dpi graphics is 150 / 16.667 = 9. Note that fractions should
be dropped.
If you are printing 300 dpi on a laser printer the dots per
character should be set to 18.
DOTS PER LINE
Laser: 18
Epson: 8
This is the number of graphics dots each printed line of text is.
I should always be left at 8 for dot matrix printers. For laser
printers it may be calculated by dividing the graphics resolution
by the number of lines per inch and dropping any fractions.
If you are printing 300 dpi graphics on a laser printer this
should be set to 37.
PRINT EACH LINE # TIMES
Laser: 2
Epson: 1
This option was added to help laser printers adjust for having a
1:1 aspect ratio. The dot matrix resolution used by PrintShop
and PrintMaster is closer to 2:1, meaning that the dots are twice
as tall as they are wide. To get circles to come out nearly
round each raster line is printed twice for laser printers.
Page 18
If you set this number to 1 on a laser printer you will be able
to fit more graphics on a page, but they will look squashed.
This option has no effect on dot matrix printers.
IS THIS A LASER PRINTER?
Laser: yes
Epson: no
Laser printers accept graphics information one row of dots at a
time. Dot matrix printers, however, use the bizarre method of
transfering a row of eight dot tall columns at a time. Because
of these radically different data transfer methods you will have
to specify which type of printer you are using.
CHECK FOR MOUSE
---------------
This y/n question defaults to no. If you want to use the mouse
you need to change it to yes. For most computers toggling this
option to yes won't hurt anything if your mouse driver is not
installed. However, some compatibles (such as older Compaq
Portables) lock up if the check for a mouse is made without a
mouse driver installed.
BIOS VIDEO
----------
Another y/n toggle. This defaults to yes, for doing all screen
writes through the BIOS. While screen updates using the BIOS
should make PrintGal somewhat more portable, this method is very
slow. Once you have the program up and running this should be
changed to no if possible in order to speed up screen writes.
SNOW CHECKING
-------------
If you are not using the BIOS for video I/O this y/n question
determines how quickly data is written to the screen. For most
CGA cards this toggle should be set to yes to avoid static during
screen writes. Most other cards such as monochrome, EGA, and VGA
may have this set to no for even quicker screen updates.
BACKGROUND COLOR
----------------
This version of PrintGal pops up windows that have a 'shadow'
behind them. For the black shadow to show up the color of the
background should be set to some color other than black. When
this option is chosen a window pops up showing 16 colors to
choose from. Just move the arrow to the color you want.
Page 19
The only special note is that the high intensity colors towards
the bottom of the color list aren't normally available for
background colors. Choosing a high intensity color will result
in the same low intensity color being used for the backgrounds
(i.e. choosing light red results in a background color of dark
red). The CGA card can be set to allow these high intensity
colors for text backgrounds, but this is very rarely done.
You must exit PrintGal and run it again to use the new colors.
OVERSCAN SET
------------
Color cards allow you to set the border of the text screen to a
color other than black. If your card will allow this you may set
this yes/no toggle to yes. It defaults to no to avoid trouble
with cards that don't allow this option.
MENU COLORS & STATUS COLORS
---------------------------
Selecting this option allows you to change the colors used by
PrintGal. It doesn't need much explanation so just try it out
and see what happens. Note that to get PrintGal to use the new
colors you have to exit the program and then run it again.
Page 20
------------------
-- Applications --
------------------
Well, before I close up shop I'll point out a couple of uses
that you may have missed if you scanned the above too quickly:
CONVERTING
Freely move galleries from PrintShop to PrintMaster and back.
You can do the same with NewsMaster galleries, but some files
will require you to explicitly convert them before going from NM
to PM or PS.
MERGING
PrintGal can take a bunch of teeny galleries and make one nice
regular sized one. Just load each file you want lumped together,
answering yes to the merge prompt and save it back to disk when
you are done.
DELETING
You can get rid of unwanted graphics from art galleries by
loading a file, untagging the offensive graphics and then saving
the file.
SPLITTING
You can break large galleries up by tagging all the graphics you
want in one gallery, saving it, and then reversing the graphics
tags. Then write these graphics to disk in a separate art
gallery.
GREATEST HITS
Create a gallery of your favorite graphics by combining the
techniques of merging and deleting. Simply merge a bunch of
galleries, untag all of the graphics, and then view the graphics
and tag any you wish to put in the goodies gallery. Finally,
write the tagged graphics to disk.
The only problem with this is that you'll have to be careful
about how many graphics you load into memory at one time. You
should try to avoid loading PrintGal more that 80% full at once.
When you approach this limit, write the currently tagged graphics
to your greatest hits file and reload it. This will free up some
memory and allow you to append another file and continue.