1STPRINT.DOC Documentation for 1STPRINT.PRG Version 1.82 07/04/89 In the early days of the ST, 1st Word was its only GEM based word processor. Since it also came bundled with the machine, these factors tended to make 1st Word a universal item among ST owners. Now days however that has all changed. 1st Word is no longer bundled with the ST and other more feature laden word processors have taken its place for many users. Still, since it once was so popular many documents are, and continue to be, written in 1st Word and its big brother 1st Word Plus. This has presented a small problem for those without them to print 1st Word documents. 1stprint.prg was written to solve this problem. 1stprint prints 1st Word or 1st Word Plus documents to a printer or captures them in text files for later use. The output that is printed is not just an ascii translation but a fully formatted document printed just as if the 1st Word word processor had been used. 1stprint is easy to use and can be run on either a color or monochrome ST system. There are no special memory requirements but at the moment the output to the printer is limited to EPSON or near EPSON compatible type printers. To run: Make sure that 1stprint.prg and 1stprint.rsc are located in the same directory. Double-Click with the mouse on 1stprint.prg . A Gem menu will then be displayed with prompts for the following items: 1. Which file to print 2. The starting and ending page numbers. 3. The left margin offset. 4. The number of copies to be made. 5. The output directed to a file,to a printer, or both. 6. Which Printer Type 7. Whether or not to print in Near Letter Quality (NLQ). Change items 2 through 4 by clicking within the appropriate box and typing in the desired value. Change item 5 by clicking on the boxes marker 'FILE' or 'PRINTER'. If you wish both, just make sure that both boxes are selected. Next click on 'PRINT WHICH FILE ?'. The file selection menu will be displayed and allow you to select the file you wish processed. Once the file has been selected the selection menu will disappear and a message telling you that the file has been selected will be displayed. If you have selected the output to go to a disk file, that file will be named 'your file '.txt and be saved in the same directory as the input file. For example: if the input file is \WP\1STPRINT.DOC the output file will be \WP\1STPRINT.TXT. If the input file has a '.txt' suffix the output file will have a '.tx2' suffix. For example: if the input file is \WP\1STPRINT.TXT the output file will be \WP\1STPRINT.TX2 At the moment only 2 printer types are supported, the PANASONIC 9 pin and 24 pin printers. For most cases these are simply EPSON compatible printers. The main exception is in the NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode. The PANASONIC 9 pin NLQ selection is not the same as a EPSON 9 pin printer. I suspect this is so because when the PANASONIC 109X series of printers was first produced, Epson did not have a 9 pin printer that supported NLQ. If the printer you are using is a PANASONIC 9 pin printer or most any EPSON compatible 24 pin printer, you may choose Near Letter Quality mode by clicking on the 'NLQ' box. (Other printers will be added at a later date.) Once all the selections have been made simply click on the box marked 'OK' and the file will be processed as requested. AT ANY TIME DURING THE PROCESSING OF THE FILE THE OPERATOR MAY PRESS ANY KEY TO STOP OR PAUSE THE OPERATION. Once the file has been processed, a new file can be selected or the user can end the program by clicking on the button marked 'QUIT'. That's all folks. ----------------------- Revision history: 08/19/88 - Original - Version 1.0 This is the 1st version of this program. At the moment this program does NOT support: 1. Printers other than EPSON compatibles. 2. Near Letter Quality print. 3. Graphics 4. Multiple ruler tabs. Everything else about the 1st Word and 1st Word Plus document format is supported. If this program shows itself to be useful to users, updates to add the non-supported features will be added at a later date. 12/14/88 - Version 1.1 NLQ printing added for Panasonic 9 Wire printers. Minor Documentation corrections added. 01/04/89 - Version 1.6 Correction of several bugs in program. Better compatiblity with all versions of 1st Word and 1st Word Plus. Compatiblity with Version 3.0 of 1st Word Plus (most important feature of this revision). Still not supported: 1. 1.5 line spacing as opposed to single, double or other whole number spacing. 2. Graphics - I have not been able to come up with the file format for GEM PAINT (.IMG) type files. If you have information on this format please let me know so I can improve the program. 01/21/89 - Version 1.7 Correction of multiple default button bug. 01/21/89 - Version 1.8 Correction of NLQ release bug and compressed print bug. 07/04/89 - Version 1.82 Bug fix and better font control. ----------------------- Please let me know if you have problems or need additional features. I can be reached by letter or by electronic mail on GENIE at address M.Albo . Michael Albo S. 1418 Bluff Dr. Spokane, Washington 99206