FastPrint --------- FastPrint is an accelerator for use with Calamus and the HP LaserJet (or compatible) printer. You will have noticed that Calamus takes a consistent eight minutes to print an A4 page, even when only a small portion of the page is used. FastPrint works by intercepting Calamus' printer output and eliminating blank lines. This can result in a drastic reduction in printing times. It also eliminates Calamus' infuriating habit of throwing out a blank page after every full A4 page printed. How to use it ------------- Simply copy FASTPRT.ACC into the root directory of your boot disk. FastPrint will install itself and sit quietly in the background. FastPrint takes up one of your six desk accessory slots. FastPrint should remain transparent to you at all times. It will not interfere with your normal printing activities until you use Calamus. In the extremely unlikely case of FastPrint interfering with your normal printing activities, you may disable and re-enable FastPrint by selecting the 'FastPrint' option from the 'Desk' menu. If you should call up the 'FastPrint' option from within Calamus, be sure to click quickly on the alert buttons or Calamus will start to interfere - Calamus does not like desk accessories. Performance ----------- The best case possible is an A4 page, perhaps a letter head that has your logo and name at the top, and your address and phone number at the bottom, for example. Normally this would take 8 minutes. A similar page to this would take about 2:30 minutes, a 69% saving. The worst case is an A4 page surrounded by a border of some sort. This page has no blank lines to eliminate and printing it with FastPrint on will actually be slower than printing it normally, because FastPrint wastes time looking for blank lines that don't exist. On an average page containing text and the odd graphic, the savings will vary between 10 and 50 percent, depending on the amount of white space that can be elimated. Caveats ------- FastPrint is a very reliable accelerator: I use it consistently, and it has never interfered with anything I do. The only time you should avoid having FastPrint active is during the downloading of soft fonts to the printer, luckily this is not something the average ST owner does often, if at all. The Catch --------- FastPrint is shareware. That means that you may copy and distribute it freely and without charge. However, if you find it useful then you should register your support to the author by sending a registration fee of œ10 to the address below. This will earn you a copy of the latest version of FastPrint on an original disk, together with these instructions on a laser printed sheet. The address to send your registration fee to: Andrew Brown 2 Ullswater Drive Wetherby West Yorkshire LS22 4YF