FASTDUMP : Ultimate speed in text and graphics dumps Program written by PP van Mierlo, c(0) 1988-1995 WHY MAKE SCREEN DUMPS ? As far as text screen dumps are concerned, the use is obvious, ranging from hardcopies of your directory to snap shot hardcopies of parts of a program or data file. All computers have a built-in text dump, which typically makes heavy use of the BIOS. By by-passing the BIOS, FASTDUMP manages to increase dumping speed considerably. One may wonder why in this age of high performance pen plotters and laser printers one should still bother to make graphics screen dumps on a matrix printer. The answer is simple: while the quality may be somewhat lower, making a screen dump on a matrix printer is a lot faster than a plot or laserprint (always assuming a plotter or laser printer is available). When compared to the high quality matrix dumps supplied by programs like Lotus Printgraph or Slidewrite the difference in quality is even less, while the speed advantage remains. FASTDUMP has been written to supply you with ultimate dumping speed, in all standard text and graphics screen modes, including hercules and VGA text and graphics. It currently works with 9- and 24-pin dot matrix printers, with or wihout colour support. FEATURES The main feature of FASTDUMP is its speed, but there is more. Some features may be invoked from the keyboard. Some may be used by adding options to the fastdump commandline. Below we will first discuss some general features, then the commandline options, and finally options you invoke by pressing certain key combinations. Remember that you can always get an overview of commandline options and key combinations by executing FASTDUMP /? or FASTDUMP /h GENERAL FEATURES Having the printer offline If the printer is offline when you invoke the screen dump, FASTDUMP warns you by generating a 1000 Hz beep, and immediately returns control to the current program. Seeing how far the dump has progressed FASTDUMP inverts the part of the screen that has been dumped (i.e. sent to the printer) so far. When the dump is finished, the screen will be restored to its original status. Note that, depending on the amount of buffer memory your printer has, the computer may finish the dump way earlier than the printer. One of the most powerful ways in which FASTDUMP shortens the time the computer takes to generate a screen dump is to make optimum use of the printer's buffer space. The data compression technique used for this just happens to also speed up the actual printing process. Interrupting a dump If you decide you do not want the dump after all, or just want the part that has already been done, simply hit the ESC key. This will stop the computer sending output to the printer after it finishes with the current line of text or graphics. Your printer may take a while to print its buffer contents. If you have executed the FASTDUMP /9- commandline option you can no longer interrupt printing in this way. DOS 4 note: if you invoke FASTDUMP by pressing PrtSc (not the "FASTDUMP key") you cannot interrupt the dump by means of the ESC key. COMMANDLINE OPTIONS A commandline option is chosen in either of two ways: DOS style: FASTDUMP /option /option or UNIX style: FASTDUMP -option -option or a combination of both. In the rest of this manual we will use the DOS convention, as FASTDUMP is a program that runs under DOS. If you have already loaded FASTDUMP into memory executing FASTDUMP /option will not load the program again, but the settings will be changed in accordance with the specified option. Printing density When creating a graphics hardcopy FASTDUMP can dump in single, double, or quadruple density. Of course single density dumps are considerably faster than quadruple density ones (though not actually 4 times as fast). Except with some horizontally oriented graphics dumps, where higher densities may be required because of the printer's limited page width, we suggest limiting the use of the double and quadruple density modes. Printing density is set from the commandline by executing FASTDUMP /Dn with n=1,2,4 for single, double and quadruple Density, respectively. You may also set the printing density from the keyboard by pressing Alt-1, Alt-2 or Alt-4 (even in mid-dump !). Refer to the section on keyboard options for details. TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO has an option to print a graph in single, double and quadruple density. Use this to decide which is the best density for you. 24pin: If you have a 24 pin matrix printer and a version of FASTDUMP that supports 24 pin dumps, you may use FASTDUMP /D3 to select triple density 24 pin graphics printing for EGA screens (unless Laser Printer dumps are being generated). EGA colours will be simulated by dithering. Non-EGA screens are printed in double density. Reversed printing Normally, when dumping a page of graphics, what's black on the screen becomes white on the dump. In other owrds, the background is not printed. After executing FASTDUMP /I+ for "start Inverting" graphs are inverted before they are printed, so that what's white on the screen will be white on the dump. Reversed printing may be deselected by executing FASTDUMP /I- TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO contains an option to print a sample graph in reversed mode. Issuing a form feed after a dump It is sometimes convenient if a new page is selected after each graphics dump. You may instruct FASTDUMP to issue a form feed after each graphics dump by executing FASTDUMP /F+ Form feeds are no longer issued if you execute FASTDUMP /F- Selecting which printer port to use Some computers have more than one printer port. By executing FASTDUMP /Ln where n=1,2,3 designates the port to be used, you may instruct FASTDUMP to use a port other than LPT1. You will get an error message if you specify n other than 1,2, or 3, or if FASTDUMP cannot find the port you specified. FASTDUMP does not check if a printer is in fact installed on a port, but will sound a beep if you try to make a dump and the printer does not acknowledge. Leaving the original print screen function intact If you want to be able to invoke the original PrtScr routine, or one loaded into memory using the GRAPHICS command (refer to your DOS manual for details on GRAPHICS) you should execute FASTDUMP /5- This instructs FASTDUMP not to handle the Interrupt 5 routine (which is the routine that is invoked by pressing the PrtScr key). To start rerouting the PrtScr routine to FASTDUMP use FASTDUMP /5+ Invoking FASTDUMP from a program If you want to invoke FASTDUMP from within a program you should first make sure the interrupt 5 is routed through FASTDUMP by executing FASTDUMP /5+ (which is the default). Then, make your program call interrupt 5 whenever you want the current text or graphics display to be printed. Of course, this is not an ideal situation: you always have to make sure FASTDUMP is configured correctly etc., and for those of you who write software for other people, you always have to make sure that they buy FASTDUMP too. In these cases, the FASTDUMP procedures FASTPROC may be what the doctor orders. FASTPROC is available for MS Pascal, Turbo Pascal (4.0 and up), and Quick Pascal. It contains procedures to do all the configuring you can do with FASTDUMP from the commandline, so you have the same amount of controll over the dumps that are generated, apart from not being able to interrupt dumps by pressing the ESC key. There is one added major advantage in that FASTPROC lets you make print files, that contain the exact bytes that would normally be sent to the printer. This lets you turn your graphics displays into something that can be imported into word processors ! FASTPROC is available from the author of FASTDUMP. Disabling the keyboard features By default FASTDUMP has a number of features that may be invoked from the keyboard. To be able to do this, FASTDUMP leaves a so-called interrupt server in memory that is invoked every time you hit or release a key. This may interfere with other programs (though we never found it to). To make FASTDUMP stop handling the keyboard interrupt execute FASTDUMP /9- (The 9 is derived from the fact that the keyboard interrupt is interrupt number 9). To rerout the keyboard interrupt to FASTDUMP again, once again enabling you to use the keyboard features, execute FASTDUMP /9+ Mutual exclusivity of /5- and /9- options It is not possible to have both the /5- and /9- options active at the same time, because that would make the presence of FASTDUMP in memory useless: it wouldn't handle any interrupt - it would in fact just take up space. If you try to execute /9- if /5- has already been excuted, or vice versa, you will get an invalid switch message, and the latest option will be ignored. To have /9- active if /5- is already active use FASTDUMP /5+ /9- Selecting graphics dump orientation The graphics dumps generated by FASTDUMP by default have their horizontal axis along the side of the printer paper. We will call this left or right oriented dumps because the graph has been rotated 90 degrees to the left or to the right. The reason for rotating the graph is that standard 8" wide printer paper is too narrow for a horizontally oriented dump of most graphics modes. Having the graphs rotated is sometimes inconvenient, especially if your prints contain a mixture of text and graphics. In this case you may execute FASTDUMP /Oh to make the graphics dumps be horizontally oriented. Note that if the paper is not wide enough for the dump to fit on, the image will be shrunk (refer to /S option for information on printers wider than 8"). One way to prevent this is to use a higher printing density, or to print only part of the image on the screen (refer to /D and /W options, respectively). For us, the preferred way to dump a graphics image is to have it left or right oriented. A left oriented dump has the lower x axis of the original image along the left edge of the paper, a right oriented dump has it along the right edge. By default FASTDUMP selects the orientation that makes most printed information end up near the left side of the printer paper, because this makes the dump faster. If you want to override dump orientation optimization, execute FASTDUMP /Ol FASTDUMP /Or to force the dumps to be oriented to the left or to the right. Executing FASTDUMP /Oo lets FASTDUMP optimize the orientation again. Customizing graphics shrinking As was mentioned in the section on dump orientation, a standard 8 inch wide printer cannot print a full-width horizontal dump of most graphics screens. Therefore, by default if the dumped image would exceed 8" in width it will be shrunk, unless you have selected double or quadruple density printing, in which case instead of shrinking the extra density bytes will be used. If your printer is wider than 8", you may use FASTDUMP /S0 to prevent image shrinking. Also, you may force FASTDUMP to use a certain shrinkage ratio: FASTDUMP /S1 will print 1 for every 2 bytes FASTDUMP /S2 will print 2 for every 3 bytes FASTDUMP /S3 will print 3 for every 4 bytes To go back to the default automatic shrink ratio use FASTDUMP /Sa TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO contains an option that makes copies of a circle and two metric rulers on the printer in all available shrinkage ratios. You may use this to see the effect of shrinking. Centering the dump Especially when a horizontal dump is rather heavily shrunk, it may look better if the dump is centered on the paper. In order to let FASTDUMP center horizontal graphics dumps, assuming your printer output is 8" wide, use FASTDUMP /Y+ Use FASTDUMP /Y- to stop centering. You may think of the Y as two lines converging to the middle to help you remember that the Y option stands for centering. Dumping only a part of the screen Sometimes you do not need or want to print the entire screen. This might for instance be the case if you're working under Windows, and you want to dump only the contents of a certain window, without including the Windows menu line. In these cases you may instruct FASTDUMP to print only part of the screen by issuing FASTDUMP /Wx0,y0,x1,y1 where x0,y0 is the upper left and x1,y1 the lower right corner of the window you want printed, in text coordinates. Text coordinates range from 1 to 80 in horizontal direction, and from 1 to 25 in vertical direction (except on some EGA/VGA text displays, where the vertical range is 1..43 or 1..50). In some graphics modes, most notably the hercules graphics mode, some roundoff error will occur when determining which part of the screen is to be printed. Making FASTDUMP use colours FASTDUMP supports the use of colours in graphics dumps of EGA and VGA screens (the 3 colour 320*200 native CGA mode 4/5 cannot be dumped in colour. Instead different colours will dump with different dot densities). To indicate to FASTDUMP that a colour printer is attached use FASTDUMP /C+ This will also activate colour masks for all printing colours (refer to /E option for details on colour masks and the default values). To stop colour support and reload the default colour mask for black printing use FASTDUMP /C- To simulate colours on a black and white printer use FASTDUMP /Cs This has the same effects on the colour masks as FASTDUMP /C+ Colours will only be simulated in double and quadruple density dumps. IMPORTANT: you must specify the /Cs option the first time you invoke FASTDUMP, otherwise the program will not reserve the extra space needed for simulated colour dumps. If you only want to reserve the extra space, but do not want to simulate colours yet, use FASTDUMP /Cs /C- UPDATE INFORMATION In the 24pin and laser printer versions the /C option has some extra functions. To start making 24pin triple density dumps, use FASTDUMP /C3 This will set the density to 3. If you later use FASTDUMP /C- or FASTDUMP /C+ or FASTDUMP /Cs to stop making 24pin dumps FASTDUMP will still report the density as 3, but in fact double density dumps will be produced. To generate laser printer dumps, use FASTDUMP /Cl or FASTDUMP /Cll for 'simulated colour'-style and '24pin dithering'-style dumps respectively (refer to the /E command for more details). Both these commands should be issued the first time FASTDUMP is invoked, because they take care of reserving buffer space. Therefore, if you invoke FASTDUMP the first time as FASTDUMP /Cl you cannot later issue a FASTDUMP /Cll command (the other way around does work because the /Cl version needs less space than the /Cll version). Setting colour masks for EGA/VGA dumps First we will discuss the use of a colour mask on a black and white printer. After that, extending the principle to colour printers will be easy. There are four 16-colour EGA/VGA screen types, having a resolution of 320*200, 640*200, 640*350 and 640*480 pixels. On a 9-pin dot matrix printer it would not be practical to try to print all these colours as hash patterns, so FASTDUMP does not. Instead it lets you choose which colours to print, and which not to. For instance, in many scientific applications, you will have a graph with a black background, and you want to print everything that is not black. Or in SlideWrite, you want to print everything that is not black or blue (because those are the background colours). Under Windows, you want to print everything that is not white. You select which colours to print and which not to by executing FASTDUMP /EB................ where you substitute each of the 16 '.' with a 1 to start printing the corresponding colour 0 to stop printing it ? to leave its status unchanged Omitting trailing '.' is the same as typing '?' for them. The 16 colours are, in the correct order: 15 white 7 light grey 14 yellow 6 brown 13 bright purple 5 purple 12 bright red 4 red 11 cyan 3 cyan 10 bright green 2 green 9 bright blue 1 blue 8 dark grey 0 black The default setting is /EB1111111111111110, so only black will not be printed. This default is loaded when you first start the program, and also each time you execute FASTDUMP /C- to stop colour printer support. The settings you would use for the examples mentioned earlier would be: for the scientific application FASTDUMP /EB1111111111111110 (same as default) for SlideWrite FASTDUMP /EB1111111111111100 under Windows FASTDUMP /EB0111111111111111 or the default and inverted printing: FASTDUMP /EB /I+ If you have used FASTDUMP /C+ or FASTDUMP /Cs or FASTDUMP /Cl to indicate you are using or want to simulate a colour printer, or that you are using a laser printer, you may also specify masks for the additional printing colours red, yellow and blue. The syntax is the same as for setting the black mask, except instead of /EB you use /ER, /EY and /EU, respectively. By default the EGA colours are dumped as follows on a colour printer: print BRYU print BRYU 15 white 1000 7 light grey 1000 14 yellow 0010 6 brown 0010 13 bright purple 0101 5 purple 0101 12 bright red 0100 4 red 0100 11 cyan 0001 3 cyan 0001 10 bright green 0011 2 green 0011 9 bright blue 0001 1 blue 0001 8 dark grey 1000 0 black 0000 These default colour masks are active when you first load FASTDUMP. Executing FASTDUMP /C+ or FASTDUMP /Cs does not affect the masks for red, yellow and blue, but does have /EB1000000110000000 as a side effect. This means your settings of the masks for the RYU colours will be preserved if you make a small excursion into black and white territory. TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO contains a very convenient procedure that lets you customize the colour masks. It lets you specify for each of the 16 EGA colours if the black, red, yellow and blue masks should contain that colour. It even lets you preview the printer output on the screen (though not for simulated colour). All current mask settings are displayed in the commandline form for you to copy and use in your commandlines. 24pin: If you use a 24 pin matrix printer and have a version of FASTDUMP that supports 24 pin dumping, you may use FASTDUMP /E*n0,n1,n2,...,n14,n15 to set dithering patterns (remember that 24 pin graphics are generated only for EGA screens, and that 24 pin mode needs to be invoked using FASTDUMP /C3). FASTDUMP will report the current dithering patterns each time you set the density to 3. Each of the numbers n0 .. n15 is used for the corresponding colour. The way in which they are used is as follows: each screen pixel is converted to a matrix of 3*3 printer dots, where a printer dot is set if its corresponding bit is set in the dithering pattern. Hence, dithering numbers with more set bits will generate darker colours on the printer. UPDATE INFORMATION In '24pin dithering'-style Laser Printer dumps colours are simulated by dithering in much the same way as described above for 24 pin matrix printer dumps. Each pixel is converted to a matrix of 2*2, 3*3 or 4*4 dots on the printer. Invoke this kind of dithering using FASTDUMP /Cll Specifying the FASTDUMP key As will be discussed in the section on keyboard features, FASTDUMP may by default be invoked in one of two ways: by pressing the (shift-)PrtScr key or by pressing ALT-. By default the FASTDUMP key is the PrtScr key, or, on an AT style keyboard, the * key on the numeric keypad. However, some other applications, like HP's CAPTURE, or Dr. Halo's GRAB, also use this key combination to be invoked. Therefore, FASTDUMP lets you define an alternative FASTDUMP key. To do so, use FASTDUMP /knnn where nnn is the scan code of the key you want to make FASTDUMP key. Refer to your computer's manual for scan codes. For now, knowing that FASTDUMP /k25 makes the "p" key the FASTDUMP key will probably do just fine. TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO contains a section that lets you choose a FASTDUMP key by telling you the scan code of any (appropriate) key you hit (menu option FASTDEMO/features/define FASTDUMP key) Some printer installation One of the reasons FASTDUMP is so fast is its use of data compression to minimize the amount of output sent to the printer. Some fine-tuning may be called for here. By default FASTDUMP is configured in a way that lets it work with most dot matrix printers. However, for some printers it may be possible to get better performance still. This is done by specifying the so-called zero graphics bytes lowest skip count. What this means is explained in some detail in the technical section of this manual. For now, particularly if you have a 24-pin printer, try using FASTDUMP /q0 to tell FASTDUMP to always skip zero graphics bytes (the Q stands for quantity of bytes needed for a skip). If the print head starts moving to and fro when printing a line of graphics, increase the lowest skip count. The default value is 30, so FASTDUMP /q30 should definitely let the print head move in a smooth way again. TIP: the demonstration program FASTDEMO contains an option that prints a test pattern using several values for the lowest skip count. You may use this to see what value applies on your printer. More printer installation You may change the data compression algorithm that FASTDUMP uses to minimize the amount of data sent to the printer by using the FASTDUMP /Zn option, where n is the sum of the codes for any of four compression techniques you want to use: code technique 1 substitute spaces for empty graphics 2 use enlarged spaces (and tabs) 4 substitute tabs for empty graphics 8 use <$> 1/60" dot tabulations In order for the above techniques to work correctly some conditions need to be met: 1: the printer needs to be in a 10 pitch non-proportional mode. FASTDUMP issues an

and a chr(20) to try to set the printer to Pica (10 pitch) and cancel enlarged mode. 4: tab stops need to be set every 8 positions (in 10 pitch) 8: Some printers need to be in NLQ mode in order to support <$> commands (e.g. the Epson FX85). FASTDUMP does not take care of this, so you should set the printer to NLQ mode manually. UPDATE INFORMATION The /z command is also used to indicate which Laser Printer compression techniques may be used. The codes are code technique 16 use ESC*b#Y to emit empty lines 32 use TIFF version 4 compression 64 use delta row compression These compression techniques are available in modern Laser Printers like the HP Laserjet III, but not in earlier models like the HP Laserjet I. Stil more printer installation By default FASTDUMP issues a line feed character (ASCII 10) only to start a new line, and no carriage return character (ASCII 13). This is done because it will save from 25 characters in text dumps to 80 characters in some graphics dumps. However, on some printers (e.g. laser printers) a carriage return is required. In that case you may use FASTDUMP /J- to start issuing carriage returns. Turn this of with FASTDUMP /J+ NB if you use /Cl to start making laser printer dumps, /J- will automatically be issued as a side-effect. The NO OPERATION option You may suspend FASTDUMP, i.e. simulate a printer off-line condition, by executing FASTDUMP /N+ From then on, if you hit (shift-)PrtScr or ALT-, a beep will be sounded, just as if the printer was off-line. To start making dumps again, use FASTDUMP /N- COMMANDLINE OPTIONS THAT ARE VALID ONLY WITH A HERCULES ADAPTOR Selecting text or graphics dumping on a hercules If your computer has a Hercules Adaptor installed, normally you would be in trouble if you wanted to make dumps. This is because on a Hercules Adaptor there is no easy way to determine if text or graphics is currently being displayed. We have included an algorithm in FASTDUMP that nevertheless does just that. It has been tested with programs like SlideWrite, Lotus, DOS and some of our own graphics programs, and has not failed once. You may however force FASTDUMP to dump text by executing FASTDUMP /T or by pressing Alt-T (one of the keyboard features). Executing FASTDUMP /G or pressing Alt-G makes it dump graphics. To start using the mode detection again execute FASTDUMP /A where A stands for Automatic. Selecting which page to take data from on a hercules If you have a Hercules Adaptor installed, there is a second, more serious problem. The Hercules Adaptor can use two different data areas, and once again there is no way (not even an inconvenient one) to determine which is currently being used. Fortunately, page 0 is by far the most widely used. If however FASTDUMP generates a dump of something that is not currently visible on the screen, it may be looking at the wrong data area. You may instruct FASTDUMP to take its data from hercules page 0 by executing FASTDUMP /P0 or from page 1 by executing FASTDUMP /P1 You may also let FASTDUMP toggle between data areas by pressing Alt-0 (a keyboard feature). The only instance where we needed to change the data area is with Lotus, which uses page 0 for text and page 1 for graphics. OVERVIEW OF ALL COMMAND LINE OPTIONS /5+ /5- to start/stop handling prtscr-key /9+ /9- to make FASTDUMP handle|not handle certain key combinations /A lets FASTDUMP determine if text or graphics are to be dumped (hercules adaptors only) (cf. /G /T) /C+ /C- /Cs to start stop simulate colour printing (only for ega dumps) sideeffects: C+s:/EB1000000110000000 C-:/EB1111111111111110 /Dn n=1,2,4 to select single, double, quadruple density dumping same effect is reached by pressing alt-1, alt-2,alt-4 /F+ /F- to (de)select formfeed after graphics dump /G select graphics dumping on a hgc adaptor (cf. /T /A alt-G) /H to get these help screens /I+ /I- to (de)select reverse graphics printing /J+ /J- to only/not only issue LF, and no CR to start a new line /Kn where n is a key scan code in decimal: redirect "print key" /Ln n=1,2,3 to select parallel port to be used (lpt1,lpt2,lpt3) /M+ /M- to stop | start FASTDUMP sounding the attack /N+ /N- to stop | start FASTDUMP making dumps (when /N+ is specified a printer off line is simulated) /Ol,/Or,/Oo,/Oh to select left,right,optimum (=fastest), horizontal dump /Pn n=0,1 to select display page 0 or 1 on a hgc adaptor. Same effect is reached by pressing alt-0,alt-9 /Qn number of null graphics bytes above which spaces are output /Sa /S0 /S1 /S2 /S3 to set shrink mode for horizontal dumps /Sa to let FASTDUMP shrink dumps automatically to <=8" wide /S0 to disable shrinking (e.g. for 15" printers) /S1 /S2 /S3 to shrink every 2nd, 3d, 4th byte onto the previous byte (giving a shrinkage ratio of 50, 33, 25%) /T select text dumping on a hgc adaptor (cf. /G /A alt-T) /W[x0],[y0],[x1],[y1] set limited dump window (text coordinates) /Y+ /Y- to start | stop centering horizontal dumps /EB................ where .=0,1,? lets you tell fastdump to print or not print certain ega colours 0 makes a colour not be dumped 1 makes it be dumped ? leaves a setting unmodified use ER EY EU instead of EB to set masks for red, yellow, blue on a colour printer (use /C+ to indicate you are using a colour printer) The 16 standard ega colours are: print BRYU print BRYU 0 black 0000 8 dark grey 1000 1 blue 0001 9 brite blue 0001 2 green 0011 10 brite green 0011 3 cyan 0001 11 cyan 0001 4 red 0100 12 brite red 0100 5 purple 0101 13 brite purple 0101 6 brown 0010 14 yellow 0010 7 lite grey 1000 15 white 1000 OPTIONS INVOKED FROM THE KEYBOARD FASTDUMP has a number of options that may be invoked from the keyboard, unless you have disabled keyboard options by executing FASTDUMP /9- In that case you may reenable the keyboard features by executing FASTDUMP /9+ All keyboard features, except the one that invokes FASTDUMP, will beep to acknowledge they have been invoked. If you invoke an option that was already active the keystrokes are ignored and passed on to the program you are currently running. This was done to make it possible to invoke certain options in programs that may use the same keystroke sequences as FASTDUMP. Invoking FASTDUMP You may invoke FASTDUMP (i.e. print the screen) either by pressing (shift-)PrtScr or by pressing ALT- The FASTDUMP key is the PrtScr key on an XT type keyboard, or the numeric * on an AT style keyboard by default. You may redefine the FASTDUMP key by executing fastdump /knnn where nnn is the scan code of the alternative key, e.g. 25 for the "p"-key. Interrupting a dump You may interrupt a screen dump by hitting the ESC key. DOS 4 note: if you invoke FASTDUMP by pressing the PrtSc key, not the FASTDUMP key, you cannot interrupt the dump by pressing the ESC key. Setting the graphics dumping density By pressing Alt-1, Alt-2 or Alt-4 you may change graphics dumping density to single, double or quadruple. This may even be done in mid-dump ! Refer to the /D command line option to see how to set dumping density from the command line. KEYBOARD FEATURES AVAILABLE ONLY WITH A HERCULES ADAPTOR The following keyboard features are available only if a hercules adaptor is installed. Changing the data area A hercules adaptor may display data on one of two pages. Because FASTDUMP cannot determine which page is currently being used, it may dump the contents of the wrong page. In this case, press ALT-0 and try again. Refer to the /P command line option for details on how to set the default data area for FASTDUMP to get its data from. Switching from text to graphics printing and vice versa There is no easy way to determine if text or graphics are being displayed on a hercules adaptor. FASTDUMP has an analysis algorithm which it uses to try and determine which is the case. If this algorithm fails, you may instruct FASTDUMP to dump text from now on by pressing ALT-t, or to dump graphics from now on by pressing ALT-g. Refer to the /A, /G and /T command line options for details on how to achieve the same from the command line. OVERVIEW OF KEYBOARD FEATURES alt-"print key" starts screen dump "print key" defaults to printscreen key but may be redirected using /k option ESC interrupts screen dump alt1,alt2,alt4 selects dumping density alt-0 toggles between dumping page 0 or 1 on a hercules card alt-t selects text dumping (hgc only) alt-g selects graphics dumping (hgc only) SUPPORTED SCREEN MODES FASTDUMP will dump the following types of screens: On a CGA: all modes, viz. 0,1 40*25 16-colour alphanumeric 2,3 80*25 16-colour alphanumeric 4,5 320*200 4-colour graphics 6 640*200 2-colour graphics On a HGC: 7 80*25 2-colour alphanumeric or 720*350 2-colour graphics, with optional text/graphics mode detection On an EGA: all colour modes, viz. all CGA modes (including 43 line text) 0Dh 320*200 16-colour graphics (reduced size dump) 0Eh 640*200 16-colour graphics 10h 640*350 16-colour graphics On a VGA: all colour modes except 13h (320*200 256-colour graphics), viz. all EGA colour modes (including 50 line text) 11h 640*480 2-colour graphics 12h 640*480 16-colour graphics On an AT&T 6300: all modes, viz. all CGA modes 40h 640*400 2-colour graphics On an OEC & monochrome adaptor (Olivetti M240,M280): all colour modes, viz. all CGA modes all AT&T 6300 modes all EGA modes AMOUNT OF MEMORY USED UP BY FASTDUMP FASTDUMP occupies less than 4 kilobytes of memory, unless you choose to simulate colour dumping of EGA displays. In that case an extra 2.5 kilobytes of buffer are needed. FASTDUMP does not request more memory during dumps. PRINTERS SUPPORTED BY FASTDUMP FASTDUMP supports IBM graphics printers, IBM Proprinter II, IBM Proprinter X24, NEC P6, NEC P7, and Epson FX,MX,RX and compatible printers. There is a special version for ESC/P printers that makes use of the possibility to do DOT space TABS in NLQ mode, which makes dumps marginally faster. LIMITATIONS FASTDUMP requires the printer to be set up to automatically generate a carriage return each time a line feed is received, and not to generate a line feed when a carriage return is received. These things are generally set up by setting DIP switches in the printer. more importantly, these settings are the defaults for all printer's we know, so they should not actually be limitations. OTHER PRODUCTS Other printer related products are FASTDEMO, which demonstrates most of the features of FASTDUMP, and FASTPROC, which is a linkable version of the FASTDUMP procedures for use in MS Pascal, Turbo Pascal, Quick Pascal, Quick BASIC, and, soon, MSC and Turbo C. DISCLAIMER The author cannot be held liable for damages of any kind resulting from the use of this product. The product is provided on an 'as is' basis, without any guarantee that it will work on a particular computer. COPYRIGHT FASTDUMP is not a free program, it is shareware. If you continue to use it after a four week trial period you need to register. To register send a cheque or money order for $25 or more to the address listed at the end of this document. If you send at least $50 you will receive FASTPROC, the procedural version of FASTDUMP. FASTPROC can be used from Turbo Pascal and Microsoft .OBJ languages. Demo code as well as extensive documentation is supplied along with the package. Companies, Institutions, Government agencies and other organisations are required to register each copy of FASTDUMP that will be used. Alternatively, a site license may be obtained. To obtain a site license for an unlimited number of users send a cheque or money order for $150 to the address listed at the end of this document. You are free to distribute FASTDUMP to other users, provided you distribute all the files in the package. TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR Registered users can expect prompt support in resolving any questions or problems they may have. Please contact me at: PP van Mierlo Liesbergstraat 9 NL-5628 ED Eindhoven The Netherlands fax + 31 - 40 44 13 68 Email 100272.3606@Compuserve.com