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- ▌ ▐
- ▌ D I S K S P O O L II v2.05 ▐
- ▌ ┌─────────┐ ▐
- ▌ (c) Copyright 1986,1990 ┌─────┴───┐ │ (tm) ▐
- ▌ Budget Software Company ──│ │o │────────────────── ▐
- ▌ P. O. Box 12282 │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of ▐
- ▌ 12162 E. Mississippi Ave. │ │ │─┘ Shareware ▐
- ▌ Aurora, CO 80012-3499 └───│ o │ Professionals ▐
- ▌ ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── ▐
- ▌ (303) 695-9095 CompuServe 70033,643 └────╨────┘ MEMBER ▐
- ▌ ▐
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-
-
- W E L C O M E T O D I S K S P O O L II
-
- Use the PageUp, PageDown, and the keys to move about this display.
- When you're ready to exit, press the ESC key.
-
-
-
- INTRODUCTION
- ------------
- Welcome to DISK SPOOL II. There are several ways to get to know
- DISK SPOOL II better. First, every menu tier has a HELP selection.
- By pressing the letter 'H', help text pertaining to this tier
- will be displayed. Second, you can view the User's Guide by taking
- the 'L' (Learning) menu selection from the primary tier, and then
- the 'U' (User's Guide) menu selection (Also, you can print the User's
- Guide ... it's the file SP2.DOC). Lastly, a very good way to
- get to know DISK SPOOL II is to go into the configuration program
- (SP2CFG). As you move the cursor over the various options, a
- complete description of the option is shown at the bottom of the
- display.
-
- Please note that you may tailor the Help Text file (SP2.HLP) if
- you want to include your own helpful hints and information. To do
- so, simply go into your text editor, locate the menu tier, and add
- or change the text to suit your needs. DISK SPOOL II uses the
- first letter(s) of the menu keying sequence preceded by a special
- control character (that looks like a period when displayed interactively)
- in order to find the appropriate help text. Therefore, the only thing
- you need to worry about is not destroying these control lines.
-
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'S' (Spooling)
- --------------
- Allows you to control the Spooler; namely, to enable it or to
- disable it. When Spooling is enabled, then data sent to LPT1,
- or to whichever port you designate (refer to (V)alues (S)poolport
- menu selection) will be intercepted and re-routed to the "current"
- Spool File. Note that the top part of the pop-up menu tells you
- which file is the "current" Spool File. With the SP2.COM version
- of DISK SPOOL II, you can also spool data being sent to a COM port
- from an external source. This "COM port monitoring" function takes place
- in the background.
-
- When Spooling is disabled, then all data goes directly to the
- output port, thus bypassing DISK SPOOL II altogether.
-
- Regarding the Spooler, there is another feature of DISK SPOOL II
- called Auto Spool File. With this feature enabled, DISK SPOOL II
- will automatically create a new spool file for each document.
- By default, it will create the spool file with the following attributes:
-
- Copies - 1
- Despool Port - The Despool Port as designated in the configuration
- program (SP2CFG).
- SAVE status - If the Dynamic Resize parameter as designated in the
- configuration program is set to YES, then the file will
- be deleted after printing. Otherwise, it will be saved.
- HOLD status - NO (refer to the discussion about Auto Despool in the
- section just below where option 'D' Despool is described.)
-
- However, you may use the file SP2.DAT to override these default values.
- In SP2.DAT key in a line for each program application you wish to override.
- The following example overrides the default attributes for any spool file
- created by the application SP2PRT:
-
- SP2PRT COPIES:2 SAVE:Y HOLD:N PORT:LPT1
-
-
- DISK SPOOL II senses the end-of-document by two means:
-
- - A time delay (the length of which you may designate
- using the configuration program SP2CFG).
- or, - When an application ends.
-
- The (F)iles (L)ist menu option will show you all of the files that
- have been thus created. From this display, you can view the
- contents of a spooled file (or any other file, for that matter),
- delete a file, designate a file to be printed, or change the
- attributes.
-
- Auto Spool files are placed in the same directory that you have
- designated in configuration to be the default spool directory.
- So, if you utilize this feature, it is wise to configure a
- directory other than the root directory, since DOS places a
- restriction on the number of files that the root directory
- may contain.
-
- Important Note: Due to limitations in DOS, using a DOS command
- to effect printing does not work along with DISK SPOOL II. Do not,
- for example, use the PRINT command. And, do not key in the command
- TYPE filespec > LPT1 to print text files. Use, rather, the command
- supplied on your diskette called SP2PRT. This will perform the
- same functions as using a DOS command ... namely, it will effect
- the printing of a text file. In fact, you can use this command
- whether or not spooling is enabled. Here are some examples:
-
- SP2PRT filespec LPT1 -- prints a file to LPT1 (and if DISK
- SPOOL II is spooling LPT1, it will
- re-direct the output to disk.
-
- SP2PRT filespec COM2 -- prints a file to COM2.
-
- SP2PRT filespec -- prints a file to LPT1.
-
- Note however, that if you cannot get away from using the TYPE or
- the COPY commands to effect printing, then load SP2 with an "L"
- command line parameter (Ex: SP2 L). This will create the largest
- possible internal buffer, and will therefore allow this many bytes
- to be spooled from within such a DOS command. The undesirable part
- of this, though, is that DISK SPOOL II will take up 64k of memory
- if loaded with the "L" command line parameter.
-
- 'D' (Despooling)
- ----------------
- Allows you to control the Despooler. When the Despooler is enabled,
- it works in the background sending data to the output port. When the
- Despooler is disabled, then this does not take place.
-
- There are two different modes of operation regarding the Despooler:
- Auto Despool enabled, or disabled.
-
- With Auto Despool disabled, then the Despooler is "attached" to only one
- file. If you spool data into that file, the Despooler will print from it.
- You may manually "attach" the Despooler to a different file by taking the
- (F)iles (A)ttach (D)espooler menu sequence, or by keying a 3 next to a
- file from within the (F)iles (L)ist display.
-
- With Auto Despool enabled, as soon as the Despooler finishes with one file,
- it looks for the another one to print. Auto Despool goes hand-in-hand with
- the Auto Spool function described just above. With Auto Spool, seperate
- files are created for each application. The Autodespooler then prints
- these files. Any file that is not HELD (or "finished") is available for
- printing. If a file is HELD, you may release it by keying a 6 next to it
- from within the (F)iles (L)ist display.
-
-
- 'F' (Files)
- -----------
- Allows you to perform functions pertaining to the spooled files;
- namely, to designate a different Spool File or Despool File; to
- display the contents of the "current" Spool or Despool Files; and
- to clear the data contained in either of these files. Additionally,
- there is an option to List files. This option displays a list of
- files whose names meet a user definable selection criteria. And
- from this display, you can do things like selecting one or more of
- the files for viewing; deleting one or more files; and attaching
- the Spooler and/or the Despooler to one of the files.
-
- 'V' (Values)
- ------------
- From this menu selection you are able to change various DISK SPOOL II
- values. These include, the ports that are to be spooled,
- the port to send despooled data to, and the printer speed values.
-
- 'L' (Learning)
- --------------
- Takes you to the menu tier from where you can display the User's
- Guide. Another selection from that tier, called TimingTests,
- gives you the ability to do both Spooling and Despooling timing tests.
-
- In the case of Spooling timing tests, you can see how long it takes to
- spool a document with DISK SPOOL II versus the time it takes to print the
- same document without spooling enabled. This timing test gives you a
- way of measuring the effectiveness of a spooling environment on your machine.
-
- In the case of Despooling, the timing tests show you how quickly DISK SPOOL II
- is despooling information versus how quickly data is printed in a non-spooling
- environment. It literally shows bytes/second averages for data being printed
- out. This timing test function can also be used to fine tune your despooling
- speed. (See the chapter in the User's Guide entitled Fine Tuning Printer
- Speed for more information.)
- ∙S
- ┌────────────┐
- │ (S)pooling │
- └────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'E' (Enable)
- ------------
- Allows you to enable to spooling process. Once spooling is enabled,
- data sent to any of the ports that you have designated from the
- (V)alues (S)poolport menu will be re-routed to the "current" Spool
- File. Note that the name of the "current" Spool File is displayed
- at the top part of the pop-up menu.
-
- If the Auto Spool File feature is enabled, then DISK SPOOL II will
- create a new file for each document printed.
-
- 'D' (Disable)
- -------------
- Allows you to disable the spooling process. Any data sent to an
- LPT or a COM port will go directly to that port, thus bypassing
- DISK SPOOL II altogether. Note that the status of the spooling
- function does not affect what is happening with the despooling
- process. In other words, even though spooling may be disabled,
- you can still be despooling. In fact, if you have two printing
- devices, you could be despooling to one of them, while in the
- foreground -- with spooling disabled -- be printing to the other.
- In this manner, both printers will be active at the same time.
- (Note: another more affective means of driving multiple printer devices
- at the same time is to load multiple copies of DISK SPOOL II into memory
- at the same time. Refer to the User's Guide under the chapter Other Features
- of DISK SPOOL II for further information.)
-
- 'A' (Autospool)
- ---------------
- With Auto Spool enabled, the Spooler will create a different spool
- file for every document that is printed. With Auto Spool disabled, data
- is spooled to the "current" Spool file. Refer to the Help text in the
- (S)pooling (A)utospool tier for a more detailed discussion of the
- Auto Spool function.
-
- ∙SA
- ┌─────────────────────────┐
- │ (S)pooling (A)utospool │
- └─────────────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'E' (Enable)
- ------------
-
- With Autospool enabled, DISK SPOOL II will automatically create a new
- file for each document. By default, the file will be created with the
- following attributes:
-
- Copies - 1
- Despool Port - The Despool Port as designated in the configuration
- program (SP2CFG).
- SAVE status - If the Dynamic Resize parameter as designated in the
- configuration program is set to YES, then the file will
- be deleted after printing. Otherwise, it will be saved.
- HOLD status - NO (refer to the discussion about Auto Despool in the
- section just below where option 'D' Despool is described.)
-
- However, you may use the file SP2.DAT to override these default values.
- In SP2.DAT, key in a line for each program application you wish to override.
- The following example overrides the default attributes for any spool file
- created by the application SP2PRT:
-
- SP2PRT COPIES:2 SAVE:Y HOLD:N PORT:LPT1
-
-
- DISK SPOOL II senses the end-of-document by two means:
-
- - A time delay (the length of which you may designate
- using the configuration program SP2CFG).
- or, - When an application ends.
-
- The (F)iles (L)ist menu option will show you all of the files that
- have been thus created. From this display, you can view the
- contents of a spooled file (or any other file, for that matter),
- delete a file, designate a file to be printed, or change the
- attributes.
-
- Auto Spool files are placed in the same directory that you have
- designated in configuration to be the default spool directory.
- So, if you utilize this feature, it is wise to configure a
- directory other than the root directory, since DOS places a
- restriction on the number of files that the root directory
- may contain.
-
- The Auto Spool function works hand-in-hand with the Auto Despool function.
- With Auto Despool enabled, the Despooler will go right down the list of
- spooled files, and print those that are not HELD. If Auto Despooling is
- not enabled, then to print a spooled file, take the (F)iles (L)ist
- menu sequence and key a 3 next to the file you wish to print.
-
- 'D' (Disable)
- -------------
- Disables the Auto Spool feature. Spooling reverts back to the
- file that was the current Spool File at the time the Auto Spool
- feature was enabled.
-
- ∙D
- ┌──────────────┐
- │ (D)espooling │
- └──────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'E' (Enable)
- ------------
- Allows you to enable the despooling process. With despooling
- enabled, spooled data is sent to the printer in the background.
- With despooling disabled, this process does not take place. Note
- that the despooling status is not tied to the spooling status. If,
- for example, spooling were enabled and despooling disabled, then
- data would be stored in the Spool File for printing at a later time,
- or on a different machine.
-
- The way in which the Despooler behaves depends on whether or not
- the Auto Despool function is disabled or enabled:
-
- Auto Despool disabled
- ---------------------
- Data contained in the file to which the Despooler is currently attached
- is printed. When all of the data is printed, the Despooler suspends itself
- until more data is spooled to that file, at which point the Despooler
- becomes active again. You may change the despool port by taking the
- (V)alues (D)espoolport menu selection.
-
- Auto Despool enabled
- --------------------
- Auto Despooling goes hand-in-hand with Auto Spooling. Auto Spooling
- creates seperate spool files for each document printed. The Autodespooler
- prints one document, and then goes on to the next. It constantly monitors
- the files being created by the Autospooler. If the file is not HELD, then
- it gets printed. When the file has been printed, and if the SAVE status
- is NO, then it is deleted off of disk.
-
- The Auto Spool and Auto Despool combination make for a very powerful spooling
- environment. You set up spool file attributes for each of your commonly run
- applications in the SP2.DAT file. Then let DISK SPOOL II handle all of your
- printing requirements in the background.
-
- One interesting note: although data is generally despooled directly to
- a printer device, DISK SPOOL II also gives you the ability to
- direct the Despooler to send data to a disk file or to
- a device driver. One reason why you might want to despool to a disk
- file would be to feed the spooled data into a work processor or into
- a spread sheet. You see, DISK SPOOL II comes pre-configured to
- compress spooled data onto disk so that as little disk space as is
- necessary is taken up. You could change this configuration using the
- SP2CFG program, or you could simply despool to a disk file.
-
- A reason for wanting to despool to a device driver might be, for
- example, if instead of having spooled data be despooled directly to
- a port, you wanted to feed it into another process. A case where
- this would be appropriate is where your system is hooked up to a
- printer hardware sharing program, which program is expecting to
- receive data being sent to LPT1. If the despooler were sending
- data directly to the port, then it would bypass that program. So,
- to get around this, you despool instead to device driver LPT1.
- (Note: another -- and probably more effecient -- manner to feed data to
- another process is to configure DISK SPOOL II to send data by means
- of BIOS routines, as long as that process hooks into the BIOS interrupts.)
-
- To despool to a disk file or to a device driver, you key in
- SP2 @xxxxxxxx, where the 'x's represent the name of the file or of
- the device driver. You can reconfigure DISK SPOOL II in this manner
- without having to take DISK SPOOL II out of memory. You can cancel
- this "redirecting of the Despooler" function by keying in SP2 @.
-
- Note that only 8 characters are allowed after the @ when designating
- the name of the disk file. This includes the disk drive and path
- descriptions. Furthermore, when despooling to a disk file, it is
- wise to designate a drive and a path, even though these items are
- optional. This is because the despooler is operating in the
- background, and if you should change your current directory, then
- part of your disk file would possibly end up in this new directory.
-
-
- 'D' (Disable)
- -------------
- Allows you to disable the despooling process. With despooling
- disabled, background processing of the Despool File does not take
- place.
-
- Note that you can disable the despooler, and then pick up exactly
- where you left off by taking the Despooling Enable End menu option.
- This might be useful if you just wanted to quiet the printer while
- you did your work. Also, you can disable the Despooler, and then
- start it back up so that it begins printing at the beginning of
- the document that was currently printing. This is useful if you
- get a paper jam.
-
- Note that sometimes when you take the Disable option, a little
- time passes before the Despooler is actually stopped. This is
- so that it can finish what is currently in the despooler buffer.
- If you truly want to be able to instantaneously stop the Despooler,
- then go into the configuration program (SP2CFG) and disable the
- Compress feature.
-
-
- 'A' (AutoDespool)
- -----------------
- Allows you to enable or disable the Auto Despool function. With
- Auto Despooling enabled, the Despooler processes all files created by
- the Auto Spooler. It goes from one file to the next, automatically.
-
- With Auto Despooling disabled, the Despooler remains "attached" to the
- current Despool file. Any data sent to that file will be despooled.
-
-
- ∙DE
- ┌───────────────────────┐
- │ (D)espooling (E)nable │
- └───────────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'B' (Beginning)
- ---------------
- Tells the Despooler to start printing at the beginning of the
- "current" Despool File.
-
- 'D' (Document)
- --------------
- Tells the Despooler to start printing at the beginning of the
- "current" document of the "current" Despool File. To understand
- what this means, you must first understand a little about how
- DISK SPOOL II functions. If after spooling data, a certain amount
- of time elapses before another character is spooled, DISK SPOOL II
- places a special control character out in the Spool File. The
- Despooler keeps track of where it encountered such a control
- character, thus enabling it to know where to start printing when
- you take this menu option. You can configure the length of the
- elapse time by using SP2CFG.
-
- This menu option is particularly useful when your printer jams.
-
-
- 'E' (End)
- ---------
- Tells the Despooler to pick up exactly where it last left off. You
- may, for instance, want to disable despooling in order to quiet the
- printer, or to change the ribbon. Then you can pick right up
- where you left off by taking this menu selection.
-
-
- Note that there is another very useful way of designating where the
- Despooler is to begin printing. You can start the Despooler at any
- spot you wish within the Despool File by taking the Files Display
- Despooler menu selection, positioning the display to where you
- want to begin printing, and then pressing the 'P' key.
- If the Despooler is disabled when you do this, then start the
- Despooler using the (D)espooling (E)nable (D)ocument menu sequence.
-
-
-
- ∙DA
- ┌─────────────────────────────┐
- │ (D)espooling (A)utoDespool │
- └─────────────────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'E' (Enable)
- ------------
- With Auto Despooling enabled the Despooler behaves in this manner:
-
- Auto Despooling goes hand-in-hand with Auto Spooling. Auto Spooling
- creates seperate spool files for each document printed. The Autodespooler
- prints one document, and then goes on to the next. It constantly monitors
- the files being created by the Autospooler. If the file is not HELD, then
- it gets printed. When the file has been printed, and if the SAVE status
- is NO, then it is deleted off of disk.
-
-
- 'D' (Disable)
- -------------
- With Auto Despool disabled, the Despooler behaves in this manner:
-
- Data contained in the file to which the Despooler is currently attached
- is printed. When all of the data is printed, the Despooler suspends itself
- until more data is spooled to that file, at which point the Despooler
- becomes active again. You may change the despool port by taking the
- (V)alues (D)espoolport menu selection.
-
- ∙F
- ┌─────────┐
- │ (F)iles │
- └─────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'A' (Attach)
- ------------
- The "current" Spool and/or Despool Files may be changed by taking
- this menu selection.
-
- 'L' (List)
- ----------
-
- By default, when this display first comes up, it shows all files
- in the default spool directory (as configured by SP2CFG) whose extention
- is the default spool file extenion as configured by SP2CFG. Furthermore,
- if either Auto Despool or Auto Spool is enabled, then only those files
- created by the AutoSpooler are displayed. By pressing F6, different
- scan criteria may be designated. Note that if Auto Despooling is enabled,
- then this is the display that comes up first when the hot-key sequence is
- depressed.
-
- The following options may be taken from this display:
-
- 1 - display the contents of the file. Note that you can display the contents
- of any file, whether it be one that was created by DISK SPOOL II, or not.
-
- 2 - attach the Spooler to this file. Subsequent printed data will be added
- to the end of this file. You can only take this option on a spool file
- created by DISK SPOOL II. If you wish to have a non-DISK SPOOL II file's
- data be part of a spool file, use the SP2PRT command, which spools that
- file's data into the "current" spool file. Note that if Auto Spool is
- enabled, then the 2 option is not available. This is because in Auto
- Spool mode, DISK SPOOL II is creating a new file for each document printed.
-
- 3 - attach the Despooler to this file. This file's data will be despooled.
- You can only take this option on a file created by DISK SPOOL II. If you
- wish to despool the contents of a non-DISK SPOOL II file, use the SP2PRT
- command to first spool the file's data. Note that if Auto Despool is
- enabled, then the 3 option is not available. If you want to start printing
- a particular file, then HOLD the other files by keying option 4. If the
- file you wish to print has a status of HELD or FINISHED, then release it
- by taking option 6.
-
- 4 - HOLD a file. This makes it so the Auto Despooler bypasses printing this
- file. To release it for printing, take option 6.
-
- 5 - change a file's attributes. You may change the description, the number
- of copies, the output port, and the SAVE status.
-
- 6 - release a file. The Auto Despooler will process this file.
-
- 9 - Delete the file. Any file, whether it be a DISK SPOOL II file or not can
- be deleted using this option.
-
-
- An extremely useful feature of DISK SPOOL II is that if it should
- happen that your disk drive fills up while spooling is taking place,
- then DISK SPOOL II pops up the menu. You can then go into this (F)iles
- (L)ist display a delete files in order to make more room out on disk.
- You can also change the Spool File drive designation by taking the (F)iles
- (A)ttach (S)pooler menu sequence. In this case, the remainder of the data
- being printed will reside out on the new drive. No data will be lost.
-
- 'D' (Display)
- -------------
- Allows you to display the contents of the "current" Spool or
- Despool file.
-
- 'C' (Clear)
- -----------
- Allows you to clear the "current" Spool or Despool file. Note that
- DISK SPOOL II really does shrink the file down to 33 bytes. Thus
- your valuable disk space is not taken up.
-
- There are other ways that your Spool and/or Despool files can be
- cleared:
-
- -- You can always use DOS' DEL command. Don't worry if you delete
- the "current" Spool File. DISK SPOOL II will create a new one
- if it needs to.
-
- -- You can configure DISK SPOOL II to clear the "current" Spool
- and Despool files if, upon loading the program into memory,
- it senses that these files have been completely despooled.
-
- -- You can configure DISK SPOOL II to dynamically resize the
- "current" Despool File as it get despooled. This is the option
- to take if you do a heavy amount of printing, or if you are
- limited to disk space. If DISK SPOOL II is configured this way, then
- every spool file created by DISK SPOOL II will have the attribute of
- SAVE NO by default. However, data in SP2.DAT overrides this default.
-
- ∙FA
- ┌──────────────────┐
- │ (F)iles (A)ttach │
- └──────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'D' (Despooler)
- ---------------
- Enables you to designate which file to despool from.
-
- 'S' (Spooler)
- -------------
-
- Enables you to designate the name of the file to spool to. An
- interesting designation is to leave out the drive id and/or the
- path. In this manner DISK SPOOL II will create a spool file in
- whichever drive/directory it currently finds itself. This is
- a good way to keep spooled files segregated. (Note that another
- way to keep spooled files segregated by document is to take the
- (S)pooling (A)utospool (E)nable menu sequence, or to configure DISK
- SPOOL II with Autospool enabled.)
-
-
- ∙FC
- ┌─────────────────┐
- │ (F)iles (C)lear │
- └─────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'D' (Despooler)
- ---------------
- Enables you to clear the "current" Despool File.
-
- 'S' (Spooler)
- -------------
- Enables you to clear the "current" Spool File.
-
- ∙FD
- ┌───────────────────┐
- │ (F)iles (D)isplay │
- └───────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'D' (Despooler)
- ---------------
- Enables you to display the contents of the "current" Despool File.
- From that display, you can instruct the Despooler to begin printing
- at any location in the file by first positioning the top line of
- the display to where you wish to begin printing, and then pressing
- the 'P' key. If your De-spooler is disabled when you do this, then
- start it up using the (D)espooling (E)nable (D)ocument menu
- sequence.
-
-
- 'S' (Spooler)
- -------------
- Enables you to display the contents of the "current" Spool File.
-
- ∙L
- ┌────────────┐
- │ (L)earning │
- └────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'U' (UserGuide)
- ---------------
- Display the User's Guide (found in file SP2.DOC).
-
- 'T' (TimingTests)
- -----------------
- TimingTests gives you the ability to do both Spooling and Despooling
- timing tests.
-
- In the case of Spooling timing tests, you can see how long it takes to
- spool a document with DISK SPOOL II versus the time it takes to print the
- same document without spooling enabled. This timing test gives you a
- way of measuring the effectiveness of a spooling environment on your machine.
-
- In the case of Despooling, the timing tests show you how quickly DISK SPOOL II
- is despooling information versus how quickly data is printed in a non-spooling
- environment. It literally shows bytes/second averages for data being printed
- out. This timing test function can also be used to fine tune your despooling
- speed. (See the discussion in the User's Guide in the Fine Tuning DISK SPOOL II
- chapter for more information.)
-
- ∙LT
- ┌──────────────────────────┐
- │ (L)earning (T)imingtests │
- └──────────────────────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
-
- 'E' (Enable)
- ------------
- By taking this menu selection, you are instructing DISK SPOOL II
- to maintain timing tests statistics. You can view these statistics
- by taking the (O)pen menu selection.
-
- There are two types of timing tests that can be performed. Only one type
- of timing test can be performed at a time by DISK SPOOL II ... either
- spooling or despooling. To switch between one or the other, take the Toggle
- menu option. With the timing tests window open (see menu selection (O)pen,
- below), you can see which timing test is in affect at the moment. If it's
- the despooling tests, the highlighted heading says "Bytes printed/second".
- The spooling timing tests window's highlighted heading says "Seconds Bytes".
-
- - Spooling timing tests measure the amount of time that an application spends
- sending data for printing. With Spooling enabled, the number of bytes, and
- the amount of time are accumulated on the W/ DISK SPOOL line. If Spooling
- is not active, then these same statistics are accumulated on the Without
- line. By having an application print the same document twice, once with
- Spooling active, and once without, you can vividly see how much time
- DISK SPOOL II is saving you.
-
- - Despooling timing tests displays the speed at which the printer is actually
- printing data. If the Despooler is enabled, then the value is computed and
- displayed on the W/DISK SPOOL line. If the Despooler is not enabled, then
- the value is computed and displayed on the Without line. Note that although
- DISKS SPOOL II almost always will be despooling a very acceptable speed,
- under certain applications this will not be the case. If you are not
- satisfied with the printing speed, quite a bit of improvement can be
- achieved by "fine tuning". Refer to the chapter in the User's Guide
- entitled Fine Tuning Printer Speed. The despooling timing tests is used
- as a tool to measure printing speed.
-
- 'D' (Disable)
- -------------
- This menu selection instructs DISK SPOOL II to suspend the gathering of
- statistics. The values obtained thus far are not erased.
-
- 'O' (Open)
- ----------
- Open the timing tests statistics window. This window will be
- maintained and shown on the display even when you exit the pop-up
- menu.
-
- 'C' (Close)
- -----------
- Close the timing tests statistics window. If the timing tests
- statistics are Enabled, then they will still be maintainted, even
- though the window is not open.
-
- 'S' (SpoRst)
- ------------
- Resets the "W/ DISK SPOOL" statistics back to 0.
-
- 'N' (NonspoRst)
- ---------------
- Resets the "Without" statistics back to 0.
-
- 'T' (Toggle)
- ------------
- Toggles between the spooling timing test and the despooling timing test.
-
-
- ∙V
- ┌──────────┐
- │ (V)alues │
- └──────────┘
-
- Here is a description of the menu options for this tier:
-
- Please note: The Outbytes and the Retry values are used for
- fine tuning DISK SPOOL II's printing speed. Under most circumstances,
- DISK SPOOL II will drive the printer just as fast as possible, even if you
- have a laser printer. Just about the only exception to this is if the
- job running in the foreground runs for long periods of time without
- requesting input from the keyboard. If you have such a situation, then
- you will want to refer to the User's Guide chapter entitled DISK SPOOL II
- Performance for directions on how to determine the best Outbytes and Retry
- values to configure.
-
-
- 'O' (Outbytes)
- --------------
- If your despool method is configured to "Hardware Interrupts", then
- this value has no meaning, since with this setting, the printer
- device itself drives the despooling process. Otherwise, the
- Outbytes value represents the number of bytes of data that the
- computer is going to try to send at each "timer tick", which
- "timer tick" occurs approximately 18 times per second.
-
- 'R' (Retry)
- -----------
- Like the Outbytes value, if your despool method is configured to
- "Hardware Interrupts", then this value has no meaning, since the
- printer device totally drives the despool process. Otherwise,
- this value represents a relative amount of time that DISK SPOOL
- II will wait if it has not succeeded yet in sending Outbytes
- number of bytes during the "timer tick" before trying to send the
- the next byte.
-
- 'S' (Spoolport)
- ---------------
- This selection enables you to designate one or many ports that
- DISK SPOOL II is to spool. When a port is so designated, then
- any data sent to that port is re-routed to the Spool File.
-
- The COM1 Input and the COM2 Input designations allow you to
- intercept and reroute data coming in from an external source.
- DISK SPOOL II will route this data to a seperate file from the
- Spool File; namely, if the data came from COM1 the file name
- used is MONCOM1 and it is placed in the same directory and with
- the same file extension as the defaults of the Spool File. In a
- similar manner, if the data came from COM2, it is placed in
- MONCOM2.
-
- 'D' (Despoolport)
- -----------------
- This option enables you to designate the port to which the Despooler will
- send its output. Note that if the Autodespooler is active, then the
- proper way to designate the output port is to change a spool file's
- fttributes. To do this, take the (F)iles (L)ist menu sequence, and key a
- 5 next to the file that you wish to change.
-
-
- ∙zzzzz
-