Before you can run ORCHIS, you need to answer two questions about your hardware configuration: 1. What kind of a printer do you have and 2. How does your computer send data to your printer? To supply this information to ORCHIS, run the installation utility, INSTALL.EXE. INSTALL is a simple, menu-driven program, and you should have no difficulty in using it. If you have a hard disk, begin by making a directory for ORCHIS and copying the contents of your ORCHIS disk into that directory. Then run INSTALL. If you do not have a hard disk, you can run INSTALL on a diskette drive. In that case, you should start by making a backup copy of your ORCHIS disk. When you start up INSTALL, you are presented with a short series of menus. Each menu item begins with a digit. Type the digit of the item you want to select, and the next menu appears. At any point, you can use the escape key to cancel the last choice and return to a prior menu. When you have finished specifying your hardware configuration, INSTALL displays the choices that you have made and gives you the option of installing those choices or restarting from the beginning. Later, if you change your hardware configuration, you can just run INSTALL again. Then you will be able to use ORCHIS with the new configuration. After installing ORCHIS, you will probably want to add the ORCHIS directory to your DOS path. (Running INSTALL does not change your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files). Putting ORCHIS in your DOS path makes it more convenient to keep org chart data files in directories other than the ORCHIS home directory.

ORCHIS supports seven kinds of printer: the HP DeskJet, the HP LaserJet, the Canon Bubble Jet, the Postscript printers (such as the Apple LaserWriter), the Epson printers (FX80 or later), the IBM graphics printer, the IBM color printer, and any printer compatible with one of these. If you specify an Epson printer, you have an additional choice. There are two types of Epson printer: 9 pin and 24 pin. The 24 pin printers offer higher resolution and faster printing speed. If you choose the 24 pin option, ORCHIS will print at 180 dots per inch resolution. If you choose the 9 pin option, ORCHIS will print at 144 by 120 dots per inch resolution. If you have a 24 pin printer, you should select the 24 pin installation option. (However, you may select the 9 pin option if, for some reason, you wish to print at the lower resolution.) If you have a 9 pin printer, you must choose the 9 pin option. The registered version of ORCHIS offers enhanced printing for the LaserJet III and IV. If you specify a LaserJet printer, you will be asked whether you have an earlier version (LaserJet I or II), or a more recent version (LaserJet III or IV). The latter printers use compression techniques that speed the transfer graphic data from the computer. The driver for these printers also includes an extra resolution option that enables 600 dot per inch output for the LaserJet IV. These LaserJet enhancements are available in the registered version only. If you specify a Postscript printer, you also have an additional choice. You need to choose whether to produce color output or black and white output. Black and white Postscript printers will render colors as various shades of gray using halftone screens. This is seldom desirable when printing org charts. If you choose the black and white option here, the color information is removed before the chart is sent to the printer so that the entire chart will be printed in solid black. If you use color in your charts for display purposes, but want to print them in black and white, you can choose the black and white option here even if you have a color printer.

If your printer is connected directly to your computer by either a parallel or a serial port, specify which port is used. ORCHIS will send printer data directly to that port, bypassing DOS for maximum printer speed. Alternatively, you can choose to output via DOS to the printer device, PRN. You can also choose to capture printer data to a file. If you choose this option, each time you print from ORCHIS, the print data will be turned into a file named PRINTER.OUT. You can later copy this file to your printer.