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SPACE - Library 1 - Volume 1.iso
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ps2pm.prg
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1988-04-13
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7KB
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199 lines
PRINT SHOP to PRINTMASTER CONVERTER
by
The Cryptic Wizard
CHQ BBS 216-758-0284
So, you've upgraded to an ATARI ST. Splendid! Not that
the ole 8-bit is now a door stop, but you've likely dedicated
your printer to the ST leaving the XL or XE to do the soft
work (like entertain the kids) while you write the great
American novel with ST Writer or make signs for the Rotary
club with Printmaster. But wait a minute! What about all
those Print Shop Graphics you collected over the years? You
might have over a thousand of them. Are they lost? Must you
make the kids put away MS Pacman while you cart your
dot-matrix into their room to print your Print Shop signs
since all your graphics are on 5 1/4 floppies readable only
by Broderbund's workhorse? Oh what a bother! Jeez! And you
used the Wizard's modified JACS catalogue program to print
all those graphics and put them all in a nice ringbinder that
would make a greeting card salesman jealous. You could, of
course, use some PD programs out there that let you extract a
single graphic off a Print Shop data disk then port them over
one at a time to the ST in Printmaster format. Good Gravy!
You have almost 1000 Graphics! That means to save them all
from oblivian you'll have to type each filename FOUR times!
FOUR THOUSAND FILENAMES! Job himself would throw up his hands
in surrender! Oh well, maybe just a few of the important ones
... of course you'll have to search for them ... swap disks
until the 1050 door lever screams in pain along with your
elbow ... then set up the null ... port them over ...
restructure ... oh fooey!
But wait! Don't format those graphics disks! To the
rescue comes the Wizard's 8-bit Print Shop to Printmaster
converter which compiles an ENTIRE Print Shop data disk into
a single file which you then port over to the ST where the
Wizard's ST PSX2PFM program will de-compile the file into
Printmaster format graphics with a click of the mouse! And
they're still all together in a nice little package so your
catalogues are still usable! Let's see ... you've got 12 data
disks ... that's 12 filenames to type ... compiling takes
about 5 minutes ... transfer at 9600 baud takes about 5
minutes per disk ... uncompile takes about 5 minutes ... You
can convert your entire library in just a few hours! And no
need to reprint the catalogues! Glorious!
HERE'S WHAT TO DO
The PS2PM.ARC file will xarc into three files:
PSPM8BIT.BAS, PSX2PM.PRG, and PS2PM.DOC. You already know
(hopefully) what PS2PM.DOC is. We will discuss below what you
must do with the other files.
PSPM8BIT.BAS:
This is an 8-bit ATARI BASIC program that must first be
ported over to the 8-bit with a null modem (I use FLASH! and
A-modem 7.5 at 9600 baud for this). It was designed and
written in ATARI BASIC. Just boot up with your favorite DOS
and BASIC and type RUN "D:PSPM8BIT.BAS" to get it going.
CAUTION! PSPM8BIT.BAS requires two (2) drives to operate! The
Print Shop data disks must go in drive one. The destination
files are written to drive 2 thru 9 at your choosing. The
destination files are rather large being from 5 to 650 single
density sectors long (half in double). If you have only one
real drive, you can use a RAMDISK for the destination, but
the standard DOS 2.5 RAMDISK is too small. MYDOS and a
modified XL/XE with at least 256k will work. With MYDOS set
up properly, you can compile two data disks to the the 1522
sector RAMDISK before you must exit and copy them to a real
disk. With one drive or two, its a good idea to have one
blank formatted disk available for EACH Print Shop data disk
you wish to transfer.
From the main menu, you can set your destination drive,
format the destination, get a directory of the destination,
or exit painlessly to BASIC or DOS to copy from the RAMDISK
if needed. The program is very easy to use, and will even
query before each graphic during compilation if you desire.
It automatically skips border, font, or screen magic files if
you have them mixed with graphics on the data disk. Enter up
to 8 characters with no device name or extender for your
destination files. PSPM8BIT.BAS will add the extender ".PSX"
to your filename since transfer files must always have this
extender. Compilation of a full data disk (up to 128
graphics) takes about 5 minutes. Press ESC to abort the
compiler at any time.
PORTING OVER YOUR ".PSX" FILES
I use FLASH! on the ST and A-modem 7.5 on the 8-bit with a
null cable to tranfer files. Set both up for HALF DUPLEX,
ACSII Translation, and 9600 baud. A full file takes about 5
minutes under xmodem. DO NOT change the ".PSX" extender for
transfer. The PSX2PM.PRG requires this extender. Roughly 8 to
10 full ".PSX" files will fit on a ds/dd ST floppy.
PSX2PM.PRG
Click on this icon or filename from the desktop to
de-compile your transfer files onto Printmaster data disks.
The program is mouse driven and easy to use. You can choose
your source and destination drives from A: to C: on the ST.
If you're using a hard disk as a destination, it's a good
idea NOT to have the program check free space on the drive
since this will slow down the process considerably. REMEMBER:
PSX2PM.PRG requires the extender ".PSX" on the files
transferred from the 8-bit. Make sure it's there! The program
uses the filename you've chosen for the destination as well.
The names show up in Printmaster as the "folders" (not real
desktop folders) when you choose the path within Printmaster
while extracting graphics from "ANOTHER DISK." If youve
printed catalogues with the Wizard's modified JACS utility,
they're still accurate and usable!
We certainly hope you haven't already formatted your
Print Shop data disks in the hoplessness of never using them
again. Now you can use them both on the ST and the 8-bit! If
you think this program has been valuable to you and you'd
like to see more PD stuff for the ST or 8-bit, send a nominal
donation to:
The Wizard's Corner
CHQ BBS
P.O. Box 45
Girard, OH 44420
Call us! --216-758-0284-- We support ATARI ST, ATARI
XL/XE, MAC, IBM, and AMIGA. We're growing by leaps and
bounds!!
Print Shop is a trademark of Borderbund.
Printmaster is a trademark of Unison World.
Neither the Wizard nor CHQ BBS is affiliated with either.