This package is provided "as is", without any further guarantee. The author can not be made responsible for direct or consequential damages resulting from the use of this software package or inability to use it. The complete risk of running the programs is with you. Coyright 1991-1992 Dietmar Eilert INTRODUCTION DeskJet family printers provide a high printing quality, but as far as font variety is concerned, frugality has to be faced. There are many font cartridges available to help you out of this situation. Unfortunately comfort (plug it in and turn printer on) has its price, so many users tend to use software solutions as DTP systems: flexible, but slowly. Softfonts are a possible compromise: fonts stored on disks that are sent to the printer if needed. Once bought, a softfont cartridge will give you access to all the fonts you need; many of them are available as PD-software (most of them are MS-DOS files; use MSH or similar utilities to convert them to standard Amiga format). The big advantage of softfonts is their fast printing speed. While most DTP-programs work about 5-10 minutes/page, download fonts are printed with up to 200 cps. Softfont transfer to the printer will take only a few seconds and has to be done only once - after the printer has been turned on. Another advantage of softfonts is printing quality: in letter mode the DeskJet employs 600*300 dpi (!) resolution, whilst DTP programs can use "only" 300*300 dpi (graphic mode). 24-Pinwriters TypoGrapher does support pinwriter fonts, too: just use the INSTALL option to set up your printer model. Most of the following explanations do apply for both kinds of printers. Laser printers Laser printers are not supported by TypoGrapher even though you can read LaserJet Fonts (these fonts are converted to DeskJet fonts at once); nevertheless, utilities as SetFont, Cartridge, MakePropTab and PCL2IFF do support laser printers, too. USING SOFTFONTS Softfonts - once sent to the printer - are accessed just as built-in fonts: your text system tells the printer about desired font characteristics (style, size, slant), the printer then chooses a font as close to your wishes as possible (pinwriters' softfonts are managed less comfortably by special ESC codes). Unfortunately, most of the editors available for the Amiga are quite old fashioned in this regard (compared to MS-DOS packages): Softfont selection by attributes usually is not supported. In most cases you won't get around some printer driver adjustments. The necessary steps are described in this text later on. Softfont transfer to the printer is done either manually (COPY XY TO PAR:) or by one of the utilities of this software package (e.g. SetFont). GETTING STARTED Hardware requirements: Any Amiga with at least 1 MB RAM and Kickstart 1.2, 1.3 or 2.04. A DeskJet printer has to be equipped with at least 128 KByte RAM (these expansion cards are called 'Softfont cartridges'). You can't use softfonts with the 16K RAM buffer built in regulary. 256K cartridges are available for less than 150 DM (about 85$), but smaller 128K cartriges are suitable for private use as well. If you own a pinwriter, you should be able to use softfonts without special hardware: most printers provide a built-in softfont buffer. Sometimes, DIP switches have to be adjusted before - have a look at your printer's manual. Useful hardware expansions Using font sizes as 255*125 dots will result in considerable memory needs of about 1 MB RAM: 255*125/8*255. Even though this effect is reduced by internal data compression (as used by the DeskJet, too), RAM expansion cards will be useful. Installation If you own one disk drive only, you should use the InstallBoot-utility to create a bootable TypoGrapher disk (otherwise startup would result in quite a lot of diskchanges). If you want TypoGrapher on your HD, just drag the TypoGrapher folder to your disk. Don't forget to set up your printer ('install' from TypoGrapher's tools-menu) if you run this program for the first time. About this manual This manual consists of five parts: Part one introduces the SetFont utility. Part two describes the Cartridge command. Part three is the main reference section descibing the functions of TypoGra pher (alphabetical order). Part four is a kind of workshop introducin g you into TypoGrapher. The last section (appendix) provides you with additional ("low level") information about TypoGrapher. I would recommend to read part 1 & 2 before having a look at the workshop (part 4). Some parts of the reference section might be too difficult to understand for a novice user without deeper knowledge of his/her printer. S E T F O N T - U T I L I T Y for DeskJet/LaserJet SetFont is a little LaserJet/DeskJet utility designed to make softfont handling more comfortable: usually softfonts a prepared for output by sending the font files to the printer one by one, accompanied by some administrative information (identification number, permanent/temporary flags). SetFont does support font file compilation into 'cartridges'. 16 cartridges are available, so you can put up special cartridges for special purposes or applications. Unfortunately, you can't use this program with pinwriters for these printers usually don't support multiple download. How does SetFont work ? The SetFont utility puts up a script file that does describe desired cartridge contents (i.e. softfonts). The DOWNLOAD-command of Setfont will read this list and transfer the necessary softfont files to the printer. The script file (called cartridges.txt) is always kept in the S:-directory of your system disk/partition. Once designed, you can use your "cartridges" with the Cartridge-command directly from the shell, too. It shouldn't be too difficult to write a script file providing automatic font download each time you run your favorite text processing system. How to use SetFont 1. Run SetFont via shell or workbench. In the upper half of its window seven 'slots' are displayed, each of them capable of pointing to one softfont file. So far, these slots are empty. Activate slot #1 by clicking at it with the left mouse button. 2. Select the "Add" gadget. A filerequester appears. Use RTSetFont instead of SetFont if you want to use the file requester of Nico Francois' reqtools-library (FD). Otherwise, SetFont's own requester is used. 3. Select a softfont file (have a look at the HP-FONTS directory, suffix is .DJP). Click at "Add". The file is examined and - if found to be a soffont file - stored into slot #1. Besides the font name the following attributes are displayed: - font size (points) - font type (Laser=LSR, DeskJet=DJP) - style attributes: P = proportional U = upright F = fixed E = expanded L = landscape I = italics B = bold C = compressed After including a new softfont, memory calculation for the current cartridge is updated. You have to consider that a 128K-cartridge won't actually support a download of 128K due to the printer's internal memory organization. Put the bigger font files in the first slots to have them sent to the printer before the smaller ones. This will reduce memory problems. 4. Let's name the cartridge - its number (0) is displayed below the slots: Click at the gadget next to the memory usage display and enter a name. Don't forget to terminate your input by a . The cartridge's name is used by the CARTRIDGE-command (see next chapter) . 5. Use "+" or "-" to get access to the other cartridges. Fill them with softfonts, too. The font files may be spread about different disks; Setfont will remember their locations and ask for required disks during download. 6. Select "Save" to save the results of your work. The configuration file ("cartridges.txt") is kept in your current 's:'-directory. 7. Hit 'DOWNLOAD' to send the current cartridge to the printer (turn it ONLINE before !). The "current" slot (marked by a bright frame) is considered to be the default font: it will be used by the printer for output as long as no printer reset or opposite font selection command occurs. Access to the other fonts is provided by ESC-sequences (see last chapter). GADGETS AddFont ............. fill activated slot with a new softfont Remove .............. clear activated slot CLR ................. clear all fonts of current cartridge Save ................ safe configuration Download ............ download current cartridge Test ................ perform printer selftest Reset ............... printer reset; clears all softfonts Par/Ser ............. select printer interface: parallel or serial Lace/Norm ........... toggle between interlace/non-interlace mode 4 linefeed keys ..... set default linefeed of cartridge Stop ................ exit SetFont Amiga DOS The download of a font cartridge followed by a shell command as 'LIST df0: TO PRT:' probably won't work as expected: your printer driver - when the printer is accessed for the first time - tells the DeskJet to use a standard font (hard-coded in the driver) und thus disables your softfonts. Solution: o print anything (e.g .ECHO >PRT: "") o perform the download using SetFont o print desired text Original DeskJet If you own the original DeskJet, the maximum font size understood by your printer is 14 points. DeskJet plus/500 support a maximum of 30 points. C A R T R I D G E for DeskJet/LaserJet The Cartridge command has been developed for easy softfont access from the shell. It uses the information about cartridges put together by Setfont as described above. You won't be able to use Cartridge as long as no cartridges have been generated. This utility unfortunately can't be used with pinwriters, too: those printers usually do not support multiple download. As mentioned above, Cartridge is a shell command that can not be used at workbench level (exept via tools as AmiDock or Stefan Becker's ToolManager). It is intended to be part of a startup sequence: Insert disk, turn power on - done. The softfonts will be sent to the printer automatically, your editor starts. Syntax CARTRIDGE [?] [CLR] [SET ,, ...] [FROM