LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information LOAD AND RUN INFORMATION FOR LaserMate400-v1.0 (C) Copyright by E. R. Hunter 1992 SHAREWARE ================================================================== = !!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!! = = GO TO DOS AND ENTER {README1 P} TO PRINT THESE INSTRUCTIONS = ================================================================== =========================================================== = !!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!! = = AFTER YOU INSTALL AND FIND USEFUL TO YOU, PLEASE GO TO = = DOS AND ENTER {REGISTER} TO PRINT REGISTRATION FORM. = =========================================================== ==================================================================== = !!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!! = = Ernest Hunter is a member of the Association of Shareware = = Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware = = principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a = = shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the = = member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can = = help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but = = does not provide technical support for members' products. Please = = write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI = = 49442 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP = = Ombudsman 70007,3536. = ==================================================================== ABOUT LaserMate400 LaserMate400 is a Terminate-and-Stay (TSR) laser printer control program that gives you complete control of your OKIDATA OL400 Laser Printer and other HP LaserJet Series II compatible laser printers. Note that the author has tested LaserMate400 only on the OKIDATA OL400. If you use a printer other than OKIDITA OL400, LaserMate400 may not behave exactly as predicted. Since the Author is working on upgrades and enhancements, he is especially interested in comments from those of you with other printer models. Please mail comments to E. R. Hunter at 993 Highland Oaks, St. Marys Ga. 31558. Please include the printer type you are using comments regarding compatibility. Even if you find LaserMate400 to be 100% compatible with you printer, the author would like you comments. Likewise, the author would like to hear from your comments concerning compatibility with other software. LaserMate400 has 1 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information been tested with major applications such as Lotus 123, Word Prefect with known conflicts. The only conflict the author has found occurs when LaserMate400 is activated by the Hot-Key while in TSR mode while in the DOS 5.0 EDIT screen (this conflict will be addressed in future upgrades). LaserMate400 is rich in features in TSR or NON-TSR mode. It lets you access all of your laser printer features without using the awkward printer control buttons. The ability to send the form feed from the keyboard alone make LaserMate400 worth your time to evaluate. Here are a few of LaserMate400 many features: - Pop-Up menus. - On-screen context sensitive HELP. - Send form feed/eject page. - Master reset printer to default settings. - Download nine fonts file at a time to the printer. - Select any resident and soft font from Pop-Up menu. - Change primary and secondary font. - Select primary and secondary font. - Select paper trays and sizes. - Make settings files to save printer setting for different applications (ie;font, margins, paper size,soft font etc.) - Set all printer margins. - Reset printer margins to default values. - Select symbols set from Pop-Up menu. - Select many Hot Key. - Execute printer self test. - Execute expanded font and symbol set print test. - Turn underline on and off. - View directory on any disk. DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy 2 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT Users of LaserMate400 must accept this disclaimer of warranty: "LaserMate400 is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or conse- quential, which may result from the use of LaserMate400." LaserMate400 is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using LaserMate400 and continue to use LaserMate400 after a reasonable trial period (15 days) you must make a registration payment of $15.00 to E. R. Hunter. The $15.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of LaserMate400 must register and pay for their copies of LaserMate400 within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by con- tacting E. R. Hunter at 993 Highland Oaks, St. Marys, Ga. 31558. Anyone distributing LaserMate400 for any kind of remuneration must 3 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information first contact E. R. Hunter at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering LaserMate400 immediately (However E. R. Hunter must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of LaserMate400.). You are encouraged to pass a copy of LaserMate400 (LM400PKG.EXE, INSTALL1.BAT, README1.BAT, README2.TXT) along to your friends for evaluation. DO NOT distribute the individual LaserMate400 files. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a (1) a registration number , (2) copy of the latest version of the LaserMate400 system if it is later than the unregistered version you have, (3) mail support for 12 months, and (4) notification of major upgrades for one year with a right to the upgraded version for a $5.00 upgrade charge. If the version that you already have is the latest version you will receive a registration number and rights to the next upgrade for a $5.00 upgrade charge. 1.0 BACKING UP YOUR LaserMate400 DISTRIBUTION DISK ================================================== Before you install or run LaserMate400 MAKE A BACKUP COPY OF YOUR LaserMate400 distribution DISK!! PUT YOUR BACKUP LaserMate400 DISK IN A SAFE PLACE!! To make the backup copy with a single floppy drive "A" execute the following steps. 1. Place your LaserMate400 disk in drive "A". 2. Enter DISKCOPY A: A: 3. Your computer will tell you when to swap disks. To make the backup copy with two identical floppy drives "A" and "B" execute the following steps. 1. Place your LaserMate400 disk in drive "A". 2. Place a blank disk in drive "B". 3. Enter DISKCOPY A: B: 4. Your computer will tell you when the copy is done. To make the backup copy with two different floppy drives 4 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information "A" and "B" execute the following steps. 1. Place your LaserMate400 disk in drive "A". 2. Place a formatted blank disk in drive "B". 3. Enter COPY *.* B: 2.0 ABOUT THE DISTRIBUTION DISK: ================================ The LaserMate400 distribution come with a self-extracting file named LM400PKG.EXE that must be executed before you can run LaserMate400. The other files, INSTALL1.BAT and README1.BAT are included to assist in installing the LaserMate400 files onto your hard drive or floppy disk. LaserMate400 includes 24 files totaling over 550,000 bytes of disk space when installed. As you will see later, the only file that is absolutely needed for LaserMate400 to run is LM400.EXE. However the other files contained within LM400PKG.EXE are needed to provide the full capability of LaserMate400, such as on-line help screens, example font files, example settings files, this ASII file README2.TXT a formatted laser printer ready print file called DOCLM400.PRN. 3.0 INSTALLING LaserMate400 FROM THE DISTRIBUTION DISK: ======================================================= LaserMate400 basic installation is very simple. You will be shown a number of different ways to accomplish. Basically the step are as follow: 1. Create a subdirectory for LaserMate400 (recommend LM400) on the disk of your choice. 2. Copy LM400PKG.EXE to the subdirectory you created in step 1. 3. Run LM400PKG.EXE by simple typing LM400PKG and pressing the RETURN key. 4. The necessary files will be created by LM400PKG.EXE and you are now ready to run LaserMate400 by entering LM400 or LM400 /r as explained below. Note that a 5-1/4, 360K diskette is not big enough to hold LM400PKG.EXE and the files that it creates. Therefore, if you wish to run LaserMate400 from a 5-1/4, 360K floppy, you will have to use the INSTALL1.BAT file as explained below. INSTALL1.BAT will automatically install LaserMate400 on a hard drive, one 720K floppy, one 1.44K floppy, one 1.2K floppy or TWO 360K floppys. If installing on floppy, make sure 5 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information they are formatted before you start. You will need at least two floppy drives. The steps are as follows: 1. Place the LaserMate400 distribution disk in one of the floppy drives. 2. Type INSTALL1 S: D: 3. Press RETURN. NOTE: S = source drive where you placed the distribution disk. , D = destination drive where you want to install LaserMate400. EXAMPLE: INSTALL A: C: 4.0 RUNNING LaserMate400 FROM FLOPPY ===================================== Unless you have included the LaserMate400 subdirectory path name in the "PATH" line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, it is best to be in the same directory with LM400.EXE when you run it. To run LaserMate400 as a TSR program from a single floppy drive "A" follow the steps below: 1. Place LaserMate400 in the drive A. 2. Enter A: 3. Enter LM400 /R NOTE: You can substitute any character for "R" in the command line if you wish. 4. LaserMate400 will load into memory and present a popup window indicating the default Hot-Key is F10. 5. Press [RETURN]. 6. LaserMate400 will remain there until you unload it or until you turn your computer off. 7. Press [F10] to activate LaserMate400. To load LaserMate400 as a NON-TSR program follow the same steps as above except in step 3 enter LM400. There is no need to unload LaserMate400 when running in NON-TSR mode, simply use the QUIT option of press ESC until LaserMate400 quit. 6 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information 5.0 RUNNING LaserMate400 ON A HARD DRIVE: ========================================= If you have a hard drive, it is best to install LaserMate400 in a sub-directory on your hard drive as described above. The step are as follow: 1. Change to the LaserMate400 sub-directory {example: CD \LM400} 2. Run the program {example:LM400 or LM400 /r} NOTE: If you have not included the LaserMate400 subdirectory path name in the "PATH" line of your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, it is best to be in the same directory with LM400.EXE when you run it. 6.0 STARTING LaserMate400 AUTOMATICALLY AT STARTUP ================================================== If you want LaserMate400 to load up into memory each time you start up your computer, you should add LM400 /r to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Below is an example of an AUTOEXEC.BAT file configured for automatically loading LaserMate400 at startup assuming the sub-directory name for LaserMate400 is LM400 (...... represent other existing lines). @ ECHO OFF PROMPT $p$g PATH C:;C:\DOS;C:\UTILITY;C:\LM400 SET TEMP=C:\DOS ...... ...... LM400 /R ...... ...... 7.0 ABOUT LaserMate400's FILES: =============================== LaserMate400 comes with 5 program files including LM400.EXE and a number of support files and example files. None of the support files are needed to run LaserMate400. In fact, LaserMate400 will run with LM400.EXE alone. But the other files make LaserMate400 easier to install and learn to use. The files are listed below. README1.BAT is a quick information file that should be read first to assist in installing the distribution files and to get a summury of LaserMate400's features. INSTALL1.BAT installs LaserMate400 from the distribution disk to to a hard drive or floppy diskette. README2.TXT is this file which includes 7 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information quick load and run instructions in ASCII format for ease of viewing and printing. LM400DOC.PRN is a reproduction of all of the on-line help screens in Laser Printer format. PRINTDOC.BAT will print DOCLM400.PRN to a laser printer and README2.TXT to any printer. LM400.HLP is the on-line help file used by LaserMate400. VIEWHELP.BAT allows on screen view of VIEWHELP.BAT and this file. LM400.EXE is the executable file which while it is over 120K bytes, it takes up about 86K when loaded as a TSR. LM400.HLP and LM400.IDX both files together make up LaserMate400's on- line HELP system. Both files must be in the default HELP directory if you intend to use the HELP system. LM400.SET is a settings file that should be in the default SETTINGS directory if you want LaserMate400 to automatically find the default SETTINGS directory upon startup. LM400.FNT is a font file that should be in the default font directory if you want LaserMate400 to automatically find the default font directory upon startup. Again, these files are not required for LaserMate400 to function. The other files with .SET and .FNT extensions are example settings and example font files respectively for demonstration purposes only. REGISTER.BAT is a file that will print the registration form to register as a LaserMate400 user. REGISTER.FRM is the registration form. Note that LM400PKG.EXE, DOCLM400.PRN and all the other files will be copied to your hard disk when you install LaserMate400 using INSTALL1.BAT. These are large files and you can delete them once you have printed them in order to conserve disk space. 8 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information 8.0 LaserMate400's Files: ======================== SUPPORT FILES PROGRAM FILES ============= ============= INSTALL1 BAT LM400 EXE PRINTDOC BAT LM400 HLP VIEWHELP BAT LM400 IDX REGISTER BAT LM400 FNT README1 BAT LM400 SET DOCLM400 PRN REGISTER FRM README2 TXT EXAMPLE FONT FILES EXAMPLE SETTINGS FILES ================== ====================== EXFONTP1 FNT EXSET1 SET EXFONTP2 FNT EXSET2 SET EXFONTP3 FNT EXSET3 SET EXFONTL1 FNT EXSET4 SET EXFONTL2 FNT EXSETA1 SET EXFONTL3 FNT EXSETA2 SET 9.0 LEARNING TO USE LaserMate400: ================================ LaserMate400 is so easy to use that you will not need to read any instructions to use it immediately. HOWEVER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND AND GET FULL BENEFIT OF ITS POWER, IT IS RECCOMMENDED THAT YOU PRINT OUT ALL DOCUMENTATION. Once LaserMate400 is activated, you can get help just by pressing the [LEFT ARROW]. The best way to learn LaserMate400 is to simply try each option on the three Main Menus one at a time, going to the HELP screen as required and observing the printer reaction to your selections. The on-line help screens are reproduced in DOCLM400.PRN which can be printed to a laser printer by going to DOS and executing PRINTDOC.BAT. This will print the laser printer formatted file DOCLM400.PRN. 9 LaserMate400-v1.0 Copyright 1992 by E. R. Hunter Load and Run Information 10