PrintRite Ver 1.3 - Professional Print Spooling
                         Copyright 1990 David Batterson

     Print spoolers have been around for many years, and vary widely in
effectiveness and features.  They consist of catch-up software spoolers,
multi-feature software spoolers, network print spoolers, and professional
print spoolers.
     One of the newest professional print spoolers is PrintRite Ver. 1.3 from
BLOC Publishing.  PrintRite is a TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) spooler that
uses the mainframe technology called time slicing--this is simply a method of
multitasking to give you back control of your PC after spooling.
     PrintRite requires 50K RAM.  If you have PopDrop Plus (reviewed in PC
REVIEWS), you can load PrintRite into expanded memory, lowering the
conventional RAM usage to 27K.
     Once loaded, PrintRite intercepts all printed output, compresses it,
writes the file to disk, and then the output goes to the printer.  You can
then return to your application, and continue working.
     PrintRite doesn't cause hard disk fragmentation, unlike some cheaper
spooler programs which spool output to one huge file.  It also groups print
jobs of a similar type (word processing, graphics, spreadsheets, etc.)
together.
     You may also view print jobs onscreen before deciding whether you want
a hard copy.  This can be useful if you want to look at something briefly
and then toss it, like a Lotus 1-2-3 file.  Or laptop users who don't have a
printer can see how the printed output will look.
     You can use up to five printers with PrintRite; more than 30 print
drivers are included.  A useful feature is the ability to do sideways
printing automatically.
      NOTE: PrintRite works with DESQview [you must load PrintRite before
DESQview], but not with Microsoft Windows.  You should also avoid graphics
programs such as AutoCAD, Microsoft Word in graphics mode, and Framework.
     The pop-up menu provides a full range of helpful commands, such as
number of copies, add or delete items from the print queue, pause or restart
a print job, change the printer order, and view a text file.
     The pull-down menus display the print job status, total number of pages
to be printed, spool file name, date/time for each queue entry, and so
forth.  PrintRite supports laser fonts, and supports font changes between
separate print jobs too.
     It will automatically strip characters not supported by your printer,
and convert characters to different laser printer symbol sets.  PrintRite
supports Novell networks; "other network environments should also work,"
according to BLOC.
     There are even more features that I haven't mentioned.  All in all,
this is quite a slick spooler.  The suggested list price is $99.  For more
information, contact BLOC Publishing Corp., 800 Southwest 37th Avenue, Suite
765, Coral Gables, FL 33134; 800-888-2562; 305-445-0903.
                                       #
     David Batterson does a lot of PC writing and printing.  Contact him via
MCI Mail: DBATTERSON.