Print Commander! MANUAL March, 1993 v 1.03 ***************************************************************************** INTRODUCTION Print Commander! is a memory resident* DOS file that allows the user to configure certain printer functions from the keyboard and screen without having to touch the printer itself. By pressing the combination of the Ctrl-Alt-P keys simultaneously, Print Commander! will appear on the right side of your screen and allow you to stay at the keyboard and advance or reverse paper position, switch between draft and near letter quality mode of print, and select which font-- already supported by your printer-- you wish to use. Then when you are finished, just hit the escape key and Print Commander! will vanish, leaving you back where you started. Print Commander! was designed to run on IBM compatible personal computers using the Microsoft or IBM (PC) disc operating system (DOS). Print Commander! was originally written on and for DOS version 5.0 but has been tested and run successfully on versions 3.3 up to 5.0. It should also run properly on DOS based systems using graphical interface programs (see below under "COMPATIBILITY"), or other operating systems designed to be compatible with DOS. The shareware version of Print Commander!, when resident, occupies approximately 2.7 kb of conventional memory (hereafter referred to as "RAM") and a roughly equivalent amount of memory for storage on your hard disc. This version was written to be compatible with the entire Intel 80x86 family of processors and therefore is not optimized for speed or size. Registered versions of Print Commander! are coded specifically for the user's processor, and therefore the registered versions will take up less disc space, occupy less RAM when resident, and operate faster and more efficiently than the shareware version (see below). Print Commander! was designed to be run with dot matrix printers. Most printers use either Epson or IBM emulation, with Epson being the most common of the two. Print Commander! was therefore written to operate in Epson emulation mode. This does NOT mean you need to have an Epson Printer. Epson/IBM just describes the mode (of software emulation) your printer uses. If you are curious, further information can be found in your printer manual. If your printer uses the IBM emulation exclusively, a compatible version of Print Commander! can be provided to you. Please contact us for details. Print Commander! can be customized for your processor and printer fonts. Just load the invoice file (PCOM_INV.TXT) into your word processor or a standard ASCII text editor (such as EDIT.COM which comes with DOS 5.0) and fill in the blanks. If you have additional specific needs not addressed in the registration form, or would like to obtain copies of Print Commander! for a school, business, or other site, please contact us for rates and to discuss your needs. (continued on next page) page 2 ***************************************************************************** OPERATION All Print Commander! files begin with "PCOM" so that your operating system will keep them together, assuming it categorizes alphabetically. Regardless, we recommend keeping all files in their own directory, such as C:\PCOM. Print Commander! is most efficiently loaded by including it in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. If you are unsure how to do this, please consult your DOS manual. You can also load Print Commander! from the command line (DOS prompt) by entering "PCOM_SW" . You will then be greeting by a short message verifying that Print Commander! was installed. If you later try to re-install Print Commander!, you will be informed that it is already resident. This feature prevents you from using up precious RAM by accidently reloading Print Commander! Once resident, Print Commander! remains silent until activated. Simultaneously pressing the combination: Ctrl-Alt-P will cause Print Commander! to pop up on your screen. Print Commander can be called while working at the DOS prompt (command line) or from within most programs. Some programs, especially those that operate in a graphic mode (Prodigy, for example), present certain conflicts but are operable and will produce reliable results when used with Print Commander! (see below under "COMPATIBILITY"). Once activated and on your screen, Print Commander! has several options to allow you to control your printer without having to actually change the printer's settings. On most printers, however, Print Commander! will not be allowed (by the printer) to change settings unless you initially turned your printer on using the default (probably "draft mode") settings. For most users, there is never any need to change the printer's setting except through Print Commander! Here are your choices-- Draft: For fast printing when speed is important and quality of type is not. Near Letter Quality: Slower, but higher quality print. Linefeed: Advances the paper 1 line. Capital (shift) L advances the paper 6 lines. Reverse linefeed: Reverse feeds the paper 1 line. Capital (shift) R reverse feeds the paper 6 lines. Formfeed: Advances the paper 1 page. (continued on next page) page 3 In the right hand column you may choose different fonts if you first selected Near Letter Quality (NL Quality) from the first column. There are up to 6 different fonts that may be available to you, depending on your printer. If your printer supports only three fonts, there will then be only 3 available to you. In other words, Print Commander! does not create new fonts. It just makes your printer's fonts more easily and readily accessible to you. In the registered version, the actual names of the fonts (such as Courier, Script, Orator, etc.) are used. In this shareware version the user must determine which fonts correspond with which settings by trial and error. This is another good reason to register and obtain a version of the program with fonts specific to your printer! Examples: Here are two sample font layouts (right hand columns), for the Panasonic 1123 and the Star NX-1000 printers, respectively: Print Commander! Print Commander! v 1.10 v 1.10 1 Courier 1 Courier 2 Prestige 2 Sanserif 3 Script 3 Orator/caps 4 Bold PS 4 Orator Other models and other makes of printers will have different fonts and a different number of fonts. The Okidata 321 Microline, for example, only supports 2 fonts, but the Panasonic 1124 supports 7. Special Keys: will exit Print Commander! and restore the page of the host program on which you were working. will return the printer head to the far left margin. ***************************************************************************** COMPATIBILITY We have found that certain software programs give Print Commander! a hard time. Here's what we have learned: Print Commander! works very well when called from the DOS prompt. Some of our users invoke it only when they are working here. But Print Commander! was intended to also be used from within other (host) programs. (continued on next page) page 4 Almost all text based programs, such as Procomm, Quicken, AskSam, the Dosshell, and so on, work perfectly. Some Norton products (made by Symantec Corp.) cause distortion of certain graphic characters on Print Commander!'s screen. This is harmless and does not impair performance of the host program or the TSR. Many graphic based programs, such as Prodigy and Print Shop, will accept Print Commander! but distort its screen and color pattern. This too seems to be harmless but can also cause the host screen to become distorted until a new screen is activated. Again, we know of no circumstance where Print Commander! harmed the host program, or vice versa. Programs in BASIC may present a problem. The text editor bundled with DOS 5.0 (EDIT.COM AND QBASIC.EXE) freezes when Print Commander! is activated and SHOULD NOT BE USED in this setting. Print Commander! will not pop up in Windows. However, there is a version of the program that will run quite well with Windows and is available FREE OF CHARGE to registered users (see below under "A Word About Shareware"). Finally some programs, usually word processors, have their own built in software to control font selection. In these programs, Print Commander! will not be able to configure a font for you. Functions in the first column should continue to work normally. ***************************************************************************** A WORD ABOUT SHAREWARE Shareware is a method of marketing, not a kind of software. Shareware is written by programmers who wish to market their products directly to the public but may not have the resources to advertise, distribute, and otherwise promote their products through more traditional retail or wholesale channels. As with any kind of software, shareware can be either good or bad, depending on the quality of the product and the needs of the user. At Sorcerer Software we try to offer only those programs that have been thoroughly tested and fill a need for computer users. If you think we have been successful please register your copy of Print Commander! Other reasons to register your shareware with us: 1) We will send you a version of this program that is written specifically for your computer's microprocessor. It will be smaller and faster because it won't have to be compatible with anyone else's computer or printer. 2) Your new program will not be labeled as "Shareware" and will not have a "nag" screen. This will reduce the amount of memory the program will occupy in RAM and on your hard disc. (continued on next page) page 5 3) Your registered Print Commander! copy will be written specifically for your printer's make and model. The fonts in the right hand column of the screen program will be the fonts YOU use with YOUR printer, not such generic fonts as "Font 1" and "Font 2". 4) We will send with your registered version of this program another copy of Print Commander! which, instead of being a TSR, can be run as you need it from the DOS prompt (command line) and therefore can also be used with Windows. It will run in a DOS box with Windows in 386 Enhanced mode, or as any other DOS program does in Standard mode. Since this copy is not a TSR, it will not take up any of your conventional memory except while it is being used. 5) You will be eligible for discounted upgrades to future releases of Print Commander! 6) Being on our mailing list, we can apprise you of other Sorcerer Software releases that may interest you and that would operate on your particular system. ***************************************************************************** LEGAL THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. ***************************************************************************** AND FINALLY... We would love to hear what you think about Print Commander!, including any constructive criticism you may have. We plan to make version 2.0 even better! (continued on next page) page 6 Please direct your feedback, special requests, and questions to: Sorcerer Software 16311 Ventura Blvd., suite #660 Encino, CA 91436 or Compuserve 71544,2475 Telephone support is available to registered users. ***************************************************************************** * A TSR (Terminate-and-Stay-Resident) is a program that, once loaded, remains in memory until it is unloaded by the user (an option not available in the shareware version of this program) or the computer is re-booted or turned off. Therefore the program (the TSR) can be called immediately, without having to search the disc, and can be initiated by pressing specific pre-designated keys (in this case, Ctrl-Alt-P). A TSR can also be run on top of another (or "host") program. Example: While using Procomm Plus and online with another computer (such as Compuserve), the user could press Ctrl-Alt-P and see Print Commander! pop up on the right side of the screen, assuming DOS is not busy at that moment. Computer control is then transferred to Print Commander! The user can then configure the printer-- position the paper and select a font, perhaps. Press escape at this point and Print Commander! will disappear, leaving the user back where he/she was with Procomm Plus and transferring control back to Procomm Plus. Isn't that slick? ***************************************************************************** Thank you for supporting shareware!