  About Printer's Daemon
  -------------------

  Thanks for downloading Printer's Daemon, Shareware Version 1.60S! Maximize
  this file for easier reading.  
  
  Printer's Daemon is a drag & drop text file printing utility for Microsoft
  Windows, Version 3.1 or later. (Sorry, this application will not work with
  Windows 3.0 or earlier.)  Printer's Daemon appears as an icon on the 
  Windows Desktop.  Select one or more DOS or Unix text file names in the 
  Windows File Manager, or other drag & drop server. Drag the names to the
  Printer's Daemon icon, and the files will be printed on the default 
  Windows printer.
  
  Printer's Daemon has advantages over printing from Notepad, most notably
  the abilities: to print without extra keystrokes directly from a desktop 
  utility; to print in other than the system font / 10 point size and; to 
  print Unix text files.

  Options for Printer's Daemon are accessed by clicking on the icon and 
  selecting an item from the "Customize" sub-menu of the System Menu.

  Version 1.50S was a major upgrade, allowing the start-up of drag & drop
  servers other than the Microsoft File Manager, moving customization 
  options to a cascading sub-menu, "nailing down" the Printer's Daemon icon,
  and adding error-trapping for some printer intialization problems.

  This version, 1.60S, allows the user to select to close down Printer's 
  Daemon along with its drag and drop server, recognizes and acts on the 
  ASCII Page Feed character by starting a new page, and recognizes the fact
  that Printer's Daemon will print Unix-originating text files without any
  translation.

  Installation
  ------------ 
  
  The archive file you extracted, PDEMON.ZIP, contains this file 
  and the file PDV160S.ZIP. Copy PDV160S.ZIP to a temporary directory, 
  and "unzip" it.  It will create the following files:
  
    Name            Size    Date     Time  
  ------------  --------  -------- --------
  PDAEMON.EXE     21068  06-02-94   9:49p
  SUBEZ.VBX       17408  03-11-93   4:09a
  CMDIALOG.VBX    18688  04-28-93  12:00a
  

  Copy PDAEMON.EXE to your Microsoft Windows default directory, normally
  named \WINDOWS. SUBEZ.VBX and CMDIALOG.VBX are support files for Printer's 
  Daemon; copy them to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. We recommend the use
  of the Windows File Manager for these tasks, and would NOT overwrite files
  of the same name but with later dates.

  One additional support file is required to use Printer's Daemon Version
  1.60S:   VBRUN300.DLL, the runtime module for Visual Basic 3.0. If you run
  any other Visual Basic 3.0 programs, you have this file, probably in your
  \WINDOWS or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.  Otherwise, VBRUN300.DLL is 
  available from the same BBS, on-line system or software distributor where
  you obtained PDEMON.ZIP.

  To execute Printer's Daemon, add its icon to a Program Manager Program 
  Group, or click on the name PDAEMON.EXE in File Manager.  If you use 
  Printer's Daemon to launch a drag & drop server, you might want to change
  the Printer's Daemon icon to the server icon in the Program Manager group.  
  Do this by clicking "Change Icon..." from the Program Manager Properties 
  box, and specifying the file name of the server in the "File Name" input 
  box. Then choose your favorite server icon!


  NOTES ABOUT THIS VERSION
  ------------------------

  1.  ABOUT THE ICON - We are not promoting Satanism with this design, and
      we're sorry if it offends anyone.  We believe that icons should be 
      distinctive, and the VB Expressions Desktop Assistants all look back 
      at their "bosses".  (Look for Draggin' Viewer and Trash Free-K!) For
      the record, in Unix-land, a "daemon" is a disconnected process that 
      offers utility services, such as printing and mail.  And, in the 
      printing industry, a "printer's devil" is an errand boy, especially
      one who takes the printed sheets off the press.  Pretty natural, huh?

  2.  Printer's Daemon is a drag & drop client.  The Microsoft File Manager
      is the most available drag & drop server.  Printer's Daemon gives you
      the option to start it or any drag & drop server along with the 
      Printer's Daemon application. By default, Printer's Daemon will start
      the Microsoft File Manager.  To select another server, choose 
      "Customize" from the Printer's Daemon System Menu, then click on 
      "Select &D+D Server".  A dialog box will allow you to select any 
      executable as your server. We leave it to the user to choose an 
      appropriate application!

      (This option can be used to launch another file other than a drag & 
      drop server of course - we leave the possibilities to your 
      imagination!)

      Printer's Daemon defaults to start up a server; to change this 
      option, uncheck the "Start D+D Server" option in the Printer's 
      Daemon "Customize" menu. Printer's Daemon will store the last setting
      of "Start D+D Server", when closed normally, in the file PDAEMON.INI 
      and restore the setting when restarted. "Closed normally" means 
      shutting down either Printer's Daemon or Windows itself before turning
      off the power.  Turning off your computer before exiting Windows is 
      bad computer hygiene!

  3.  Printer's Daemon can be set to close down with the drag & drop server
      selected in 2.) above.  It defaults to close down; to change, uncheck
      the "Quit With Server" option in the Printer's Daemon "Customize" 
      menu.  This option will function whether the server was started with
      Printer's Daemon or not, but only if the server is running BEFORE 
      Printer's Daemon is started.

  4.  Printer's Daemon initially defaults to "Always On Top" mode. This keeps
      it visible when another window covers it.  If you are annoyed by holes
      in your maximized documents, toggle "Always On Top" off by unchecking
      the "Customize" menu option.  Printer's Daemon will also store the 
      last setting of "Always On Top" in the file PDAEMON.INI, and restore
      it on start-up.

  5.  The method that Printer's Daemon uses to print works with text files
      originating in a Unix environment as well as DOS.  Simply drag and
      drop any shared network files, and they will print, without any need
      for prior translation.  Page feeds however will be ignored for
      untranslated Unix text files. (Try the VB Expressions DOS/Unix Text
      Translator for complete compatibility.)

  6.  Printer's Daemon initially defaults to the "Courier New" TrueType
      font.  You can select a different font by clicking on "Select Font..."
      in the "Customize" menu.  Printer's Daemon will store the selection in 
      the PDAEMON.INI file, and restore the choice when you restart 
      Printer's Daemon.  Hint: most text files (like this one) look more 
      "natural" printed in a fixed character font like "Courier New" rather
      than proportional fonts like "Arial".

      It is possible to have a default font selection that is incompatible
      with your current printer.  Version 1.50S corrected this by allowing 
      you to pick a new font at file-drop if your stored font selection is 
      not available on your current default printer.

  7.  You can choose a different printer, orientation or paper size by
      clicking "Printer Setup..." from the "Customize" menu.  This choice 
      becomes the new Windows Default Printer.

  8.  Printer's Daemon checks the first 128 characters of your files 
      for non-printable characters. If it detects any, Printer's Daemon
      will warn you, and ask if you want to continue.  VB Expressions takes
      no responsibility for the results of ANY file being dropped into your
      printer queue. Better to be sure it's text before you try to print! 
      (There's where Draggin' Viewer can help!)

      Previously, Printer's Daemon signalled that a file had non-ASCII 
      characters if a Page Feed (ASCII 12) was present. Version 1.60S  
      corrects this operation, and in fact feeds a page in response.
            
  9.  Close Printer's Daemon by clicking on "Close" from the System Menu.

 10.  Help can be obtained by selecting "Help..." from the System Menu.

 11.  The Postscript printer driver that shipped with Windows 3.1 is buggy!
      If you have problems with the first letters in each sentence being
      cut off when printing with Printer's Daemon on a Postscript printer, 
      check the "About..." button for the Postscript printer driver in the 
      Control Panel (after clicking on "Setup..."). The defective driver is
      Version 3.50. The PSCRIPT.DRV file in \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory is 
      dated 3/10/92.  It will not work properly with Printer's Daemon!  To
      obtain an updated driver, call Microsoft or your printer manufacturer.
      You can also download new drivers from the MSL Forum on CompuServe.
      Versions 3.51, 3.55 and 3.58 have been shown to work with Printer's
      Daemon.

  NOTICE
  ------
  Printer's Daemon is SHAREWARE! A fifteen day evaluation period is
  recommended.  After that, if you like and use Printer's Daemon, 
  you must REGISTER! Send $5 to:   
                         
                         VB Expressions 
                         64 Burning Brush Drive
                         Rochester, NY 14606-4642.
 
  Kindly include the Version number and the source where you got Printer's
  Daemon.   Registrants of Version 1.00S, 1.10S, 1.20S or 1.50S need not 
  re-register; your support is greatly appreciated.

 You can also look for other VB Expressions utilities: additional Desktop 
 Assistants (like Printer's Daemon) include Draggin' Viewer, a drag-and-drop
 application launching utility, and Trash Free-K!, a drag-and-drop file 
 deletion utility. Smartclp is a Windows Clipboard enhancer, PM Fonts allows
 you to change your Program Manager fonts from the Microsoft default to any
 installed screen font and PM Group Sorter allows you to set the order of
 your Program Manager Groups. Finally, the DOS/Unix Text Translator lets
 you translate files between these two popular computing environments. 
 Good stuff (if we may say so ourselves!)
  
  We'd be interested in your comments or suggestions on Printer's Daemon. 
  You can reach us by Email on CompuServe, ID 73457,3603 or AmericaOnline,
  ScreenName PMChefalo.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Printer's Daemon - Copyright 1993,1994 by P.M. Chefalo


  Revision History
  ----------------

  Version 1.00 - First Shareware Version

  Version 1.10 - Corrected "Overflow" error when long files were dropped
                 into Printer's Daemon.

  Version 1.20 - Improved detection of non-Ascii characters in files.

  Version 1.50 - "Nailed down" the Printer's Daemon icon, improving
                 compatibility with Norton Desktop. Added error-handling
                 for no default printer selection, incompatible initial
                 fonts and printer changes outside of Printer's Daemon.
                 Added the ability to launch drag & drop servers other 
                 than Microsoft File Manager.  Added "Customize" to
                 System Menu.  Fixed Help text.

  Version 1.60 - Added capability to quit with selected drag & drop server.
                 Recognized and acted upon Ascii 12 character, page feed.
                 Recognized PD's capability to print Unix text files w/o
                 translation. Fixed Help text again!

