Documentation for GSET.LBR - 10/23/85 (c) Copyright 1985 by Merlin R. Null GSET.LBR should contain the following files: GSET.COM Star Micronics printer setup program GSET.ASM Source for the above GSET.DOC This documentation GSET.CRC CRCs and other stats for verification GSET is a modified version of PSET version 1.2, the latter written by: Barron F. McIntire III 3400 S. Greeley Hwy #8 Cheyenne, Wyoming 82007 RCP/M phone (307) 635-8366, 300/1200 baud, 24 hours PSET was written for Epson printers and did most of what I needed for my Gemini-10X printer. A few of the printer setup commands on the Epson do not work on Star Micronics printers and I especially wanted to add the option to suppress the 8th bit so that WordStar files could be printed directly from CP/M. I also wanted to speed up operation. I added a command mode. You can bypass the menu by entering GSET followed by as many option letters as you like. For example, to reset the printer to default settings, then set 17 pitch and 7/72 linefeeds enter: GSET ADP This is the same as selecting options A, D and P at the menu. The options will be sent to the printer and you will be returned directly to CP/M with messages indicating what was set. Installation The only installation you need to do is set the clear screen for your terminal. The distribution GSET.COM is set for the STM Pied Piper and will clear the screen in either the Hazeltine 1500 terminal emulation or in ADM-3A emulation. This should work on a lot of other computers, KayPro, Osborne and many others that use ^Z (1A hex) for a clear screen command. It should also work on any terminal that uses tilde ^\ (control-backslash). If yours uses something else, you will have to reset it at the label CLSCR: in the source file GSET.ASM and then reassemble. Why Use A Printer Setup Program? 1. To print a file directly from CP/M with TYPE ^P. The printer setup can give you a margin, set emphasized or double strike for darker copy or change the pitch to make a wide document fit on the page. 2. The printer output of the application program you are using may have no printer control. You can make up for that lack with the setup program. 3. Printing .PIC files, which are character graphic pictures, can be improved by printing them at 17 pitch and 7/72 linefeeds (options D & P). 4. The various large letter printing programs can be produce much more readable output if reduced in size. GOTHIC.COM will only fit on 8 inch paper if 17 pitch is used. As with the .PIC files, reduced linefeeds also help. 5. Sometimes you just have to squeeze those extra few lines on a page. Slightly reduced linefeeds will get more on a page with a little cost in readability. Menu Operation Select a letter between A and Y at the main menu. If no other input is required for the option you have chosen, the program description at the top of the menu will be replaced with a message echoing your choice. Enter any further choices with additional letters. Enter when you are finished, to exit GSET. A few of the options will require additional input before returning to the menu. OPTIONS A. Printer initialization This option resets all options back to whatever you have set for defaults with the dip switches in your printer. It also resets top of form, so you may want to set the paper to the start of a new sheet before using this option. B. 10 Pitch (Pica) 10 pitch is usually the default setting. This will cancel all other pitch settings, like Elite, condensed or enlarged. C. 12 Pitch (Elite) A slightly smaller print than 10 pitch. You have to look close to see the difference. On a 10 inch printer, there are 96 columns instead of 80, 164 columns on a 15 inch printer. D. 17 Pitch (Condensed) A very compressed line. Useful for squeezing large spread sheets on a single page. It may also be used with subscript or superscript to make "fine print" for maximum eye strain. Use option P in addition to cram a whole lot of tiny text in a small area. Use 17 pitch with option P prior to running the GOTHIC banner printer, 136 columns maximum on a 10 inch carriage, 232 on 15 inches. E. 5 Pitch (Enlarged) Very stretched print. Maximum of 40 columns with a 10 inch printer, 68 columns with a 15 inch one. Not bad for headings but looks somewhat flattened. F. 6 Pitch (Enlarged) A slightly less expanded print. Looks a bit better for headings. 48 columns maximum on a 10 inch printer, 82 on 15 inches. G. 8.5 Pitch (Enlarged) This one looks very similar to Pica (10 pitch). There is a maximum of 68 columns with a 10 inch printer, 116 columns on a 15 inch one. H. Emphasized mode Described as correspondance quality print. Can only be used on 5 or 10 pitch. When selected, this option defaults to those pitch settings. If 12 or 17 pitch had been selected, this option will reset to 10 pitch. If 6 or 8.5 pitch was previously selected, 5 pitch will be used. Print speed drops to half of draft mode, one fourth if combined with double strike. The print head pins hit the paper twice as often, with a slight offset. I. Double Strike mode Causes the print head to return to its starting position on the line and print a second time. This produces a coarser print than Emphasized. It prints at half the speed of draft mode. J. Italic character set All character printed in italics. It is compatible with all other options. K. Underline mode Causes all text, including spaces to be continuously underlined. One drawback is that the underline obscures the descenders on the lower case letters q, y, p and g. L. Ignore paper end detector The paper end detector is a safety to prevent printing on a bare platten when the printer is tractor fed or roll paper is used. This option allows you to temporarily bypass the detector so you can use single sheet paper, or print out to the end of other types. If you use sheet feed paper only, you should set the dip switch to make this the default condition. M. Unidirectional printing With this option the printhead will always print in one direction. This causes better alignment if you are doing graphs, boxes or other special printing that needs precision alignment between rows. The difference is small, and you pay a large penalty in printing speed. N. 1/6 (0.167) inch line spacing This is the default setting. It gives you 66 lines per 11 inch page. O. 1/8 (0.125) inch line spacing Will squeeze 88 lines on an 11 inch page. It looks OK with all upper case, but descenders on lower case will almost touch the highest characters on the line below. P. 7/72 (0.097) inch line spacing Text will overlap with this mode. It is used mostly with graphics or banner printing. 113 lines (and a small fraction) per 11 inch page. Q. n/72 inch line spacing Choose the value of the linefeed you need. The range is from 1/72 inch to 127/72 inches (about 1-3/4 inches). For finer resolution, use option R. R. n/144 inch line spacing Just like option Q, but the values may be set somewhat closer. The range is from 1/144 inch to 127/144 inch (about 7/8 inch). S. Form length setting 1. Set form length in inches. Values must be between 1 and 32 inches. 2. Set form length in lines. Values must be between 1 and 127 lines. The exact size of the form length will depend on the value of your linefeed. T. Skip over perforation Printer can be set to automatically skip lines at perforations or make page breaks with roll paper. The number of lines to skip must be between 1 and 255. Smaller values are normally used. U. Right margin setting Sets last the last column printed before the printer does a line wrap. Not often used. V. Left margin setting Sets left margin. Very useful for printing copy for 3 ring binding. Check to make sure that your copy to print plus the margin is not wider than the maximum number number of columns you have selected. If it is, you might want to select a higher numbered pitch. W. Superscript mode Prints everything in very tiny print. If you have previously selected 5, 6 or 8.5 pitch, this is reset to 10, 12 or 17 pitch respectively. This print looks better in 12 or 17 pitch. Linefeeds should also be reduced, if you plan to print a block of text in this mode. X. Subscript mode Very similar to superscript, if used alone on a line. All comments on superscript apply. There are some differences in descenders, so check to see which you like. Y. Set 8th bit low Allows printing of WordStar files directly from CP/M. Without setting the 8th bit low or setting a dip switch in the printer, a Star Micronics printer would use the upper 128 characters (special characters and block graphics) whenever a soft hyphen is encountered. This produces a mess. If you have any comments or find a bug in GSET, please feel free to contact me. Merlin R. Null P. O. Box 9422 N. Hollywood, CA 91609 (818) 762-1429 WordStar is a trademark of MicroPro