Copyright (C) 1986-2008 by Daniel H. Hudgins, All Rights Reserved.

No part of "This Web Site" (HTML document), including associated files, may be: distributed, sublicensed, transmitted, copied, archived, mirrored, modified, bundled, embedded, sold, given away, rented, loaned, or shared in any form without express written permission in a formal Vendor agreement contract dated and signed in ink obtained directly from Daniel H. Hudgins by registered postal mail. All agreements for permission to distribute expire after a period no greater than one year from the date of the signing of the agreement by Daniel H. Hudgins. See the current "EULA" for information regarding limited copying and storage for the purpose of "Beta Testing" "This Web Site."

To view or use the current version of this Web page you may need to reload or refresh the display of this page by your browser. Just clicking on the browser's [Reload] or [Refresh] icon may not be enough to insure that all of the page's most current contents have been cached and displayed. Some browsers may have additional commands to help display the page's most current contents such as: holding down the [Shift] key and clicking on the [Reload] icon, holding down the [Control] key and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, holding down the [Control] and [Shift] keys and clicking on the [Refresh] icon, pressing the [Control] and [F5] keys, pressing [Control] and the [R] key, or some other combination of keys or clicks. Check to see which commands your HTML browser uses to load the most current page contents into its cache and then to display them onto the screen.

This Web site is dedicated to the thousands of "users" of my programs, those who have helped test my programs over the last 22 or so years, and especially those who shared their experiences with me.

You must read this notice: This is a licensed Web site (HTML document and associated files). You must read and agree to be legally bound in contract by the Terms of Use and conditions given in the End User License Agreement ("EULA"), Legal Notices, Instructions, Warnings, Disclaimers, and all other text in "SECTION: 0" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before reading or using any of the information, software programs, and or files, contained in, linked to, and or associated with, "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files). Any use or "Beta Testing" of "This Web Site" constitutes your acknowledgment of your full agreement with the current End User License Agreement ("EULA") and your decision to have this current license supersede all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings. Information and files in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) have been placed here so that long time users of "The Author's" programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) , DANCAM.EXE (tm) , or DANPLOT.EXE (tm) could help proofread the text of the documentation files or screens displayed, and also help test data files, example files, and or any software programs that might be made available from time to time, to aid "The Author" in finding mistakes, bugs, and other errors, omissions, defects, mistakes, and faults. Everything in "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) is "Beta Test", "Beta Code", Experimental, Preliminary, requires proofreading, or is being evaluated for possible revision, and is NOT warranted to be free of defect. To help "The Author" report any bugs, foul-ups, defects, or mistakes that you find, see "SECTION: 8" for instructions. "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) and all other files and programs by Daniel H. Hudgins are made available "AS IS" without warranty of any kind express, expressed, or implied. All offers and specifications are subject to change or discontinuation without notice of any kind. Please read "SECTION: 8" of "This Web Site" (HTML document and associated files) before trying to contact "The Author."

The text in this section has been revised to include some of the developments for a revision of version v2.7B, program versions, updates, or revisions prior or subsequent may work differently and so what is stated here may not apply to the particular version, update, or revision you might have, i.e. those other versions. The documentation is only generally descriptive of the programs, you should check the operation of each particular program that you will be "Beta Testing" since operation of the programs is subject to change without notice.

This HTML documentation section has documentation mostly about my CAD programs DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm). Most the discussion about DANCAD3D.COM (tm) also applies to "Beta Testing" DANCAD87.COM (tm), the math co- processor version, as well, except for some differences in some of the files saved and the need for a math co-processor. See also the other documentation in this Web site for additional information, particularly the CAM program documentation and the supplemental documentation, tutorials, and appendices. The disclaimer, and most of the other legal text is currently located in SECTION: 0, therefore you must read the disclaimer, End User License Agreement (EULA), legal text and other text in SECTION: 0 before you read any of the other documentation or use any part of this HTML document, this section, or associated files and programs.

I may expand or revise the documentation someday, so check back from time to time to see if any new or revised files have been up-loaded to the Web site.

You may not distribute, sell, rent, share, or give away these HTML documentation files or printed copies of them. You may not extract text from these HTML documentation files for distribution, sale, rent, sharing, or giving away. You can use the [Print] option in your browser to make one copy for yourself to mark up in order to help me proofread the text for mistakes.

Documents may be available to download from time to time, you can check SECTION: 9 to see what the current situation with regard to downloadable files is. The names of these documentation files may change, and they may be edited, combined, or eliminated in the future, without notice.

You may need to adjust your browser for best viewing of the pre- formatted text by changing the "font" size using the commands in your browser (see the help in your browser, or use the pull-down menus in your HTML browser.) If some letters in words on the screen appear to be missing or scrambled try changing the font size in your browser as this sometimes happens even though the words are spelled correctly in the HTML code.

Use the "Edit, Find in page Ctrl+F" or "Edit, Find (in this page)... Ctrl+F" command in your browser to search for keywords within the documentation text in this HTML page. You will need to search over again in the other pages in this HTML document for the same keyword since your browser may not search for a keyword beyond the current page that is loaded.

DANCAD3D.COM (tm) and DANCAD87.COM (tm) have built in support for some kinds of printers and plotters. You may also be able to print or plot on some kinds of unsupported printers or plotters by saving the drawing as a file, e.g. in file types BMP, HPGL, DXF, or PostScript (tm), and use the printing features in the OS, browser, or some other program to print out the drawing.

This Section: 3.1.17.0 describes some aspects of the [H]ardcopy sub-menu's DOT, JET, and PLOT commands in my CAD programs. These commands each have their own [I]nstall command that allows you to edit the supplied drivers, or to create new drivers. In order to edit or create drivers you need to know what codes or data format your printer or plotter uses. Information about printer and plotter codes may be available from the manufacture of your printer or plotter. You may be able to search the Internet for information about the codes your printer or plotter uses. Check the manuals that came with your printer or plotter for any information they might contain about the codes your printer or plotter uses.

Although my DOT, JET, and PLOT commands have some flexibility in the codes that they can be installed to send, printers or plotters that use a data scheme that is incompatible with how the commands operate will not be able to be installed.

Drawings can be saved to files of various types by using the commands in the Files Save Industry sub-menu. Color drawings may be able to be saved by using the BMP option in the main menu's [P]review command, particularly when the SVGA video modes are able to be selected. If you are using Windows (tm) you might be able to use MSPAINT.EXE (tm) or some more capable program, to print a drawing saved as a BMP file. Monochrome line art BMP files can be saved with finer detail than the color BMP files saved with the [P]review command. See also the Files Utilities BMP sub-menu.

The filenames of the default drivers for use with the DOT, JET, and PLOT commands are configured with the CAD program's main menu [C]hange command. If you have installed the programs properly with INSTALL.BAT, i.e. X:\DC27>INSTALL INSTALL, the various printer and plotter drivers in the distribution should be in the DRIVERS\ sub- directory off of the program's sub-directory. To get a directory listing of the various drivers enter DIR or DRIVERS\*.* at the driver filename prompts. If you select the wrong kind of driver you will probably get an error message when you try to use the printing or plotting command. If you select the right type of driver for the command, but not the right driver for your device the printing or plotting command may; lock up the computer when used, print gibberish on large amounts of paper, or other sorts of faults may be reported or occur. Be sure to carefully test the selected driver with your printer or plotter before you try to print or plot drawings batch style by using a macro program.

In those instances where it may be possible to install a device that does not already have a driver file, the information in this section combined with information about your device's codes may be helpful to you in entering the codes into the [I]nstall command for the hardcopy command that may work with your device.

If the output port you need to use is the Serial port, you will probably need to use the DOS MODE command before you run my CAD program to set the Serial port settings. Do not use the same Serial port for your mouse, digitizer tablet, or some other device that you use for your printer or plotter. See the additional information below about serial port cables and related matters.

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>C:\DOS\MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

If you have an old plotter that you cannot find information about, or one that used an obsolete interface to the computer, you might be able to "modernize" it by using my program DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to operate its stepper motors and pen solenoid directly. There might be two approaches to such adaptation, if the stepper drivers and power supply in the plotter are in working condition you might be able to find the step and direction inputs to the motor driver circuits and make the connection there, if the motor driver circuits are not operational you might locate new micro stepper drivers outside of the plotter and make the new connections directly to the stepper motors. You should not modify any device that is under warranty or that you do not own outright.

If you require a large pen plotter for making life size plans, or for laying out directly on large sheets of material, you might build a large plotter yourself and use DANPLOT.EXE (tm) to operate its motors. By using DANPLOT.EXE (tm) you can reduce the sorts of problems that come from converting drawing data from one format to another, since DANPLOT.EXE (tm) reads the same native data file type that my CAD programs create. If your plotter is built to have 10000 or more half or micro steps per inch you may be able to plot smooth curves and such to produce fine quality large drawings. A plotter might be built that uses a focused laser light source in place of an ink pen to plot directly onto blue print or other light sensitive paper to get finer lines than ink pens can produce. For color print out the oil painting tool path generation features in my CAD programs might be combined with my CAM program to create an oil painting of a color BMP file made from a 3D rendered scene.

If you do not have a printer or plotter that is compatible with my programs, or do not have a printer or plotter at all, you may be able to save your drawing as a file and take that file to a company that does desktop publishing or plotting of CAD drawings and have the file printed out for you. Since my CAD programs can save drawings in various file formats you might be able to save one or another kind of file type to use at the printing service that might be able to be used to give you some kind of hardcopy that might meet your needs. If you only need a few drawings printed it might be cheaper to print them at a service, than to purchase a printer or plotter and have that sitting idle much of the time. Some plotting services may accept files to plot as e-mail attachments an so you may be able to e-mail the file you want a plot of to a service company and have them send the drawing back to you by mail, this might be an option for "Beta Testers" living in rural areas. If you live in a city that has plotting service companies, you might be able to e-mail your files to plot to them and have the drawings ready to pick up by the time you get down to their storefront to pick the drawings up.

For publication on the Internet you probably do not need to make hardcopy printed or plotted copies of your drawings, just save the drawing as a line art or color BMP file and then convert the BMP file into a GIF or JPG type file in some other graphics program. By not making paper copies of your drawings you will be helping to conserve the worlds resources.

If you are sending someone a drawing to look at that you drew with my programs, that person might also become a "Beta Tester" and so would be able to view the drawing within my CAD programs without having to make a paper copy and your having to mail the physical embodiment on paper to them. They could then make changes or overlay comments in the drawing file and e-mail it back to you.

Dot matrix printers need to be compatible with the standard IBM ProPrinter and IBM model 5152, or the Epson MX, LX, and LQ series of dot matrix printers. Printers compatible with the Star Gemini 10X and 15X can also be used, but print with somewhat less resolution. DANCAD3D (tm) prints at high resolution on both 9 pin and newer 24 pin printers by interlacing the print wires so that 8 pins are used to print three passes making 24 (16 or 8 on some odd older printers) pin scan lines vertically for each 24/216 or 24/180 of an inch (the scan line height may be different on some printers.) The horizontal resolution is usually 240 dots per inch.

Some Pen plotters that work from simple port output of data, e.g. DTR protocol, may work with DANCAD3D (tm). DANCAD3D (tm) may support some pen plotters with automatic selection of up to 127 pens and various standard paper sizes. DANCAD3D (tm) has plotter boundary line clipping that may let you plot a detail portion of a large drawing, such that where lines extend off the side of the paper DANCAD3D (tm) will try to find the proper point along the clipping boundary line to stop drawing near the edge of the paper automatically. The PLOT command outputs integer line point position values in ASCII format, and so its use would probably be confined to integer value ASCII type pen plotter codes. Since integer point values are used, in the plotter codes sent to the plotter, the resolution of some plotter code languages is therefore limited to finite integer values, such as 1016 points per inch, i.e. 0.025 millimeter point spacing, or something like that, restricting the smoothness of curves that will be plotted. If your plotter supports more than one plotter language the language that uses a point spacing equal to the actual plotter point spacing as determined by the stepper motor step size may produce the smoothest curves since the point spacing values might not need to be scaled and rounded during language conversion. High resolution plotting as large as you like might be obtained by using my program DANPLOT (tm) and building your own pen plotter.

HP-PCL, LaserJet Plus (tm) or LaserJet II (tm) compatible laser or a HP-PCL compatible ink jet printer might be able to used. DANCAD3D (tm) supports HP-PCL compatible printers at resolutions of 150 and 300 dpi as well as paper sizes Executive, A4, letter, legal, 11 inch by 14 inch, 11 by 17 inch, and 16 by 20 inch. The paper size and resolution you can employ may be limited by the amount of memory installed in the printer. You should probably have about 1.5M bytes installed in your PCL code laser printer in order to print at 300 dpi on full page letter size paper. Some PCL code laser printers, such as the LaserJet III (tm) may also support HPGL/2 type codes. The HPGL/2 type codes are output through the PLOT command and not the JET commands. See also the video segment about using the LaserJet III (tm) printer.

A PostScript (tm) compatible laser printer might be used for printing high quality drawings. Other types of laser printers might be able to be adapted to print PostScript (tm) files, contact the printer manufacture and ask about add on ROMs or boards they know of that will work properly with their printers. If your company is involved in preparing camera ready art for manuscripts you might want to have a LinoTronic 300 (tm) photo typesetter on hand connected to a 1MB printer line data buffer since the LinoTronic 300 (tm) printout might be sharper than printout from some kinds of electrostatic printer.

In order to get your printer or plotter to work at all, it is necessary that you use the right kind of cable to connect your printer or plotter to your computer. If your printer or plotter uses the parallel port any standard parallel printer port cable made for the PC might work, but if you are using the serial port on your printer their are several different ways the pins on both ends of the serial cable can be connected, and if you use the wrong cable, and or select the BAUD rate and other settings on the device at either end of the cable you will probably not get your printer or plotter to work properly. Do not assume that software problems or bugs are the reason your printer or plotter is not working, it may just be a bad or wrong cable.

There are several types of cables available for your computers serial port. Some cables connect the pins of the same number on the connector at each end of the cable, e.g. mouse extension or straight type. Others cross connect some of the pins so that two way signals can be sent, e.g. NUL modem. You will need to have the proper kind of cable to get your printer or plotter to work.

It may be possible to connect two computers serial ports together using a device called a NULL MODEM or a special cable cross wired to act like a NULL MODEM, this idea is used in my CAM program's network features.

To connect to serial ports of two computers you might try a cable with the following connections according to the EIA standard RS- 232C. For computers that have 9 pin or other size connectors you may be able to get adapters that convert to the standard 25 pin connector.

Pins on Serial Port A  <--------- to --------->  Pins on Serial Port B

1 and 2 ------------------------------------------------------ 3
3 ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 and 2
4 and 5 ------------------------------------------------------ 8
6 ------------------------------------------------------------ 20
8 ------------------------------------------------------------ 4 and 5
20 ----------------------------------------------------------- 6

As you can see six conductor cable is required. You might use the DOS MODE command to set the BAUD rate and other settings of the ports on the computer to the right values. At the DOS prompt enter something like the following commands:

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>C:\DOS\MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

When the serial port is setup to 9600 baud as in the above example the serial port will transmit data at about 1000 bytes per second. The parallel port's transmission speed may be faster than the serial port, so if your device supports both the parallel port and the serial port try using the parallel port interface first.

You will need to check the manuals for your printer or plotter to see how to set the BAUD rate and other serial port values to the same values that your computer will be using. Sometimes this is done with DIP switches in the printer or plotter, and at other times done by pressing buttons on the front of the printer or plotter in a prescribed order, and such.

To connect a HP LaserJet II (tm) to your PC's serial port you might try a cable made up with these connections if the cables you have do not work properly. For other HP laser printers, and printers that emulate the HP printer codes you may need somewhat different connections.

PC or XT port 25 pin female <------ to ------> LaserJet II 25 pin male

pin 1 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 1
pin 2 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 3
pin 3 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 2
pin 7 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 7
pin 5 and 6 --------------------------------------------------- pin 20

Before you run DANCAD3D (tm) you will need to setup the serial port in your computer for the LaserJet II (tm) with the DOS MODE command. Then use the LaserJet (tm)'s front panel controls to tell the printer that you are using the serial port for communications, i.e. that you are not using the parallel port.

From DOS enter the MODE command at the prompt, and be sure to use the proper file path for the MODE program such as C:\DOS\ or A:\ with the DOS system file disk in the A: drive.

EXAMPLE: MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

You can put the MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT so that the serial port will be automatically setup every time you turn your computer on. Note that COM1 is used in the example. You can use COM2 but you may get better results if you put the mouse on COM2 and use COM1 for the LaserJet (tm) type printers with DANCAD3D (tm).

You can change the LaserJet II (tm) back to use its parallel port by repeating the above steps, with the exception of step 5, where you would use the [+] key on the LaserJet II (tm) to pick the parallel port and the [Enter- Reset-Menu] key to make the change permanent.

If you are using a LaserJet II (tm) compatible laser printer be sure to read your printer's manual for instructions on how to configure your printer's port selection.

After you setup DOS with the MODE command, connect the computer to the printer, and configure the LaserJet (tm) printer, you need to install DANCAD3D (tm) to correspond to how the other steps were configured. You install the default JET driver file name in DANCAD3D (tm) by selecting [C]hange from DANCAD3D's (tm) main menu and enter the name of the *.JET printer driver that will print on the paper you want to use. Then pick commands [H]ardcopy [J]et [I]nstall from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu and enter AUX as the name of the data output port to use, i.e. since the use of COM1 was assumed above.

If you have less than 1.5M bytes of memory installed in your LaserJet (tm) compatible laser printer you will probably only be able to use the drivers that work at 150 dpi resolution since the higher resolution printing modes use greater amounts of memory. See the sections below on installing printer driver codes into the JET driver files.

If you are using a LaserJet III (tm) see also the video segment about setting the page protection mode and installing memory boards into the printer. The LaserJet III (tm) supports both HP-PCL codes that the JET commands work with, and the HPGL/2 plotter type codes that are used with the PLOT command. If you need to change the output port selected in the driver for use with the HPGL/2 codes you would use the Hardcopy Plot Install command and not the Hardcopy JET Install command that only installs HP-PCL codes.

The LaserWriter (tm) laser printers used the PostScript (tm) printer language. To view a directory of the PostScript (tm) drivers use the file mask DRIVERS\*.LZR at the driver name prompt. To select the data output port in the PostScript (tm) drivers use the Hardcopy Plot Install command. To select the default driver for the Hardcopy Laser command in the CAD programs, use the Change command in the main menu.

To connect an older, e.g. obsolete, Apple (tm) LaserWriter (tm) to your PC's serial port in order to use DANCAD3D (tm)'s PostScript (tm) printer support, you might try a cable that has the pins connected somewhat like this. Newer or some other model of PostScript (tm) printer may require a cable with some different connections.

PC or XT port 25 pin female <------ to ------> LaserWriter 25 pin male

pin 2 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 3
pin 3 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 2
pin 7 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 7
pin 5 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 20

AT 9 pin serial port female <------ to ------> LaserWriter 25 pin male

pin 2 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 2
pin 3 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 3
pin 5 --------------------------------------------------------- pin 7
pin 6 and 8 --------------------------------------------------- pin 20

Set the switch on the LaserWriter (tm) to 9600 BAUD and then issue the DOS command: MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P before you run my CAD programs. Run DANCAD3D (tm), load your drawing and then select commands Hardcopy Laser from the main menu to plot onto the LaserWriter (tm). Some other PostScript (tm) compatible laser printers may also be operated using a general approach somewhat like this. If your laser printer is on COM2 you can alter DANCAD3D (tm)'s driver named ADOBE_PS.LZR with the plotter installation command, i.e. [H] [P] [I] from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu, in the plotter sub-menu of the hardcopy sub-menu, to change the drivers output port name. The output port name can also be a filename if you want to save the PostScript (tm) to a file, see also the Files Save Industry PostScript (tm) command for saving PostScript (tm) drawing files to disk.

If your LaserWriter (tm) is version 23 or higher and has a ROM made after April 1986, you might switch it to 9600 baud and type this in from DOS with the LaserWriter (tm) connected and turned on. At the DOS prompt enter the following commands:

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>COPY CON COM1
         serverdict begin 0
          exitserver
         25 9600 4 setsccbatch
         ^Z
         1 file(s) copied
         C:\DC27>

Press the [Return] key at the end of each line. The ^Z means hold the [Control] key and press [Z]. Wait one minute then turn the LaserWriter (tm) off and then back on. It should now be set to DTR, i.e. Data Terminal Ready, protocol, to return it to the XON\XOFF protocol try the same thing again, but change the 4 to a 0. This command for the LaserWriter (tm) may help avoid a time out error on the computer's serial port.

The settings used when you select a command to print or plot a drawing are kept in a special file called a driver. To change from one printing or plotting device to another you can select different driver files. To select different driver files you enter the file name of the driver at the correct prompt in the program. Since the values in the driver file may not all be what is required there are Install commands that let you edit the driver files. Since there are different kinds of driver files for different kinds of printing and plotting devices you need to use the Install command that corresponds to the driver type you wish to edit. The primary change you would make to the driver file would be to change the name of the port the printer or plotter is connected to so that when printing or plotting the data will be sent to the correct port connector on your computer. Other changes can also be made to the driver files in order to adjust for the paper size used, or for code compatibility issues.

The default printer and plotter driver names for some commands can be entered by using the main menu Change command. In other cases the driver name is associated with the particular command and does not change, so it does not need to be selected.

In order to select the use of the Parallel or Serial printer port you will need to use the printer or plotter Install commands, these are in the DOT, JET, and PLOT sub-menus of the Hardcopy sub-menu off of the CAD programs main menu. In some cases where you want to change the clipping boundaries for the printing or plotting, or make other changes to the drivers the instructions below might help you understand some of what the prompts in the printer and plotter driver Install commands are used for.

Before you can edit the printer and plotter drivers that might work on your equipment you need to have used the batch file INSTALL.BAT to put the driver files included in the distribution into the DRIVERS sub-directory. DANCAD3D (tm) comes with many printer and plotter driver files. Most users of DANCAD3D (tm) will probably be able to use the driver files as they are supplied without the need to modify any of them. The printer and plotter driver that corresponds to your model of printer or plotter needs to be installed into DANCAD3D (tm)'s configuration file by using the main menu Change command. The driver file names that are installed into DANCAD3D (tm)'s configuration file are used as the default when you make use of a printing or plotting command selection from DANCAD3D (tm)'s Hardcopy sub-menu.

To install the name of the driver that corresponds to your model printer or plotter select the Change defaults command from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. The drivers all have descriptive filenames and extensions. For instance the driver file for the NEC model P6 dot matrix printer is NEC_P6.PRN. To get a list of the available driver files you can enter a file mask, e.g. DRIVERS\*.*, at one of DANCAD3D (tm)'s filename prompts.

EXAMPLE:  DRIVERS\*.PRN (DOT matrix printer driver filenames.)
          DRIVERS\*.JET (JET PCL or LaserJet (tm) printer drivers.)
          DRIVERS\*.PLT (PLOT pen or other plotter type driver files.)
          DRIVERS\*.LZR (PLOT PostScript (tm) printer driver filenames.)
          DRIVERS\LJIII*.PLT (PLOT drivers for HPGL/2 laser printers.)
          DRIVERS\*.STF (PLOT drivers used by special menu commands.)

The DOS batch file INSTALL.BAT in the DANCAD3D (tm) program distribution should place the drivers in sub- directory path DRIVERS\*.* of your harddisk when you run it. Remember to enter INSTALL INSTALL at the DOS prompt, since without the command line parameter INSTALL the batch file just displays some information, but does not actually install the files.

More detailed information about particular printer and plotter types, hardware issues, and the special driver types is given below.

The printer and plotter driver files described below all use the standard device names to communicate with your printer and plotter. You can also use these device names at other filename prompts in DANCAD3D (tm) where a filename would be required, if you want the data to come out on your printer rather than go to a disk file. For instance you can print out a macro's text on your printer from the text editor by saving the file to the printer's port name, remember to answer yes to overwrite if the program asks you to overwrite since the program thinks the port may be a file that already exists and wants you to verify that it is safe to send data to that location, e.g. enter LPT1 or COM1 when asked for a filename for a file to save, remember that in order for COM1 to work you would have to have run MODE before you ran my CAD program.

PORT NAME     DESCRIPTION OF HARDWARE THE PORT NAME CONNECTS DATA TO

PRN or LPT1   The  first  parallel  port,  output  only  normally.  In
              DANCAD3D (tm) there is a preference to  using  the  port
              name  PRN  over LPT1 since DANCAD3D (tm) may bypass some
              of DOS when you use port name PRN.  Port name LPT1 might
              be needed in computer systems that use networks to  hook
              several computers to one printer.

LPT2          The second parallel port, output only normally.

LPT3          The third parallel port, output only normally.

AUX or COM1   The  first  serial port,  output and input.  Remember to
              use the external DOS MODE command to set the serial port
              up,  and  also to set the DIP switches on your device to
              the corresponding values.  Also there are two  types  of
              cables used on the serial port,  straight connection pin
              to pin, and NUL MODEM that crosses some of the wires, be
              sure you use the proper cable for your device.

COM2          The second serial port, output and input. Set with MODE.
              You should install your mouse to use COM2 so  that  COM1
              will be free for your printer or plotter.

CON           For  output  the data goes to the screen,  For input the
              data comes from the keyboard,  you can type data in  and
              edit  the current line of text,  press the [Control] and
              [Z] keys then [Return] to end the data entry.

NUL           Dummy device for testing, use in place of above names.

You can also sometimes use the port device names with the DOS commands in order to print or plot drawings that you output to a disk file by installing a disk filename in place of a port name in the DANCAD3D (tm) printer or plotter driver file you used. By using an actual filename in place of a port name in the printer or plotter driver file you can save printer of plotter data in a file for later use such as for printing at some other time. At the DOS prompt you might enter commands such as the following commands:

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>COPY *.MAC CON /B
         C:\DC27>COPY ADOBE_PS.OUT COM1
         C:\DC27>COPY LASERJET.OUT LPT1 /B
         C:\DC27>COPY HPPLOTER.OUT COM2

You should keep in mind that if you install a disk filename into DANCAD3D (tm)'s printer or plotter driver file, you are using, DANCAD3D (tm) can output the drawing data onto a floppy disk. Once you have the printer or plotter data on a floppy disk you might be able to take that disk to a location where there is an appropriate kind of printer or plotter and print or plot the drawing on that equipment. The /B option shown with the DOS COPY command above is there to improve the odds that all the data is copied unaltered, this option may be particularly important for 8 bit non-ASCII data types.

The Dot Matrix printer drivers have filenames that indicate the model of the printer that they will work on. The dot matrix printer drivers have the extension *.PRN. Select the Change command from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu and enter the DRIVERS\*.PRN driver name for your printer. Check your distribution's file set for any additional driver names that might have been included.

DRIVER NAME   DOT MATRIX PRINTER TYPE DRIVER FILE CAN BE USED WITH

PROPRINT.PRN  For IBM (tm) code printers that have 240 dpi  by  1/216"
              line feed.  Try also the IBM5152.PRN  driver.  May  work
              with some Epson LX (tm) series of printers.

LQ_1500.PRN   For  Epson  LQ (tm) series printers that have 240 dpi by
              1/180" line feed.  Try also the NEC_P6.PRN driver.  Many
              24 pin printers may work with this driver.

MX_80.PRN     For the  Epson  MX  (tm)  printers  that  have  120  dip
              graphics  by 1/216" line feed.  May also work with older
              printers that emulate the MX series.

STARG15X.PRN  May work with the older Star Gemini  (tm)  10x  and  15x
              printers that have 240 dpi by 1/144" line feed.  Try the
              PROPRINT.PRN  or LQ_1500.PRN drivers if you have a newer
              Star (tm) printer that claims to be compatible with  the
              IBM (tm) or Epson (tm).

The DOT drivers are normally setup for using the first parallel port, i.e. LPT1 or PRN. You can change the port the DOT driver will send the print out to by pressing [H] [D] [I], i.e. Hardcopy Dot Install, from the CAD program's main menu.

If you must use the serial port you should setup the serial port in your computer by using the DOS MODE command before running DANCAD3D (tm). You can put the MODE command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so you will not have to think about running MODE every time you want to use your printer.

EXAMPLE: C:\DOS\MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

Note that the data flow was established for 8 data bits. The use of 8 data bits is essential in the printing of graphics data. You need to set the DIP switches in your printer to the settings that correspond the those values you chose for the MODE command. DANCAD3D (tm)'s DOT commands only work with dot matrix printers that will accept 8 bit graphics data.

If you are going to use the macro command DUMP or press [Shift] & [PrtSc/*] keys to dump the CGA graphics screen to your printer you need to run the DOS external command GRAPHICS.COM or some other graphics screen dump resident program before you run DANCAD3D (tm).

If you have problems with the printout on your dot matrix printer looking like it has gaps or blank stripes across the page, check the DIP switches on your printer. Look in the manual that came with your printer and read about the settings for automatic line feed on carriage return and automatic carriage return on line feed. You should set the DIP switches in your dot matrix printer so that the automatic line feed on carriage return (carriage return is ASCII #13), and automatic carriage return on line feed (line feed is ASCII #10) are turned off. These automatic features are not needed or used by DANCAD3D (tm) and will cause duplicate line feeds that will ruin the print out.

The current version of DANCAD3D (tm) comes with a selection of drivers for the HP-PCL code family of printers. Since one of the more popular HP-PCL printers made was the LaserJet II (tm), the HP-PCL drivers have the extension *.JET. Select the Change command from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu to install one of the *.JET driver files as the default driver file from path DRIVERS\*.JET, this driver's filename will be the one used with the commands in the JET sub-menu of the Hardcopy sub-menu.

The resolution of the Jet page drawing files is taken from the settings in the default *.JET driver file. In order for the JET page file being used to print properly, when the JET PRINT command is used, the same *.JET driver needs to be installed, with the Change command, as was used when the JET page file, to be printed, was created, i.e. by the use of the JET MAKE command.

The amount of memory installed in the LaserJet (tm) type printer you want to use is important since the resolution you can print at is limited by the amount of memory in the printer. To calculate the approximate amount of memory required for a given paper size you can try to use this formula:

EXAMPLE: M = ( ( X * R * Y * R ) / 8 ) + A

         T = M / ( B * 60 )

         WHERE: M = Printer memory used for printing drawing.
                X = Width of printed area in inches.
                Y = Height of printed area in inches.
                R = Printer resolution, 150 dots per inch or 300.
                A = Additional memory required by your model printer.
                T = Approximate minutes to transmit drawing to HP-PCL printer.
                B = Number of bytes transmitted each second.

You will have to check with the manufacture of your printer to find out what value to use for A. To approximate the proper value for the value of A try 64 KB. Some approximate memory requirements for the different resolutions and paper sizes are given below.

You can try to approximate the time required to print Jet type page files or simple drawings on a 80286 computer by dividing the amount of memory required for a given Jet type page file size by 60000. The value 60000 comes from the fact that the parallel port on a 80286 computer might transmit about 1000 bytes per second, and there are 60 seconds in a minute. The serial port operating at 9600 BAUD might also transmit about 1000 bytes per second. Actual printing times will be somewhat longer when done from a drawing element in the workspace, rather than printing from a Jet type page file, depending on the speed of your computer and the complexity of the drawing printed. Complex drawings with millions of line segments, or many triangle elements might take a day or more to print out from the workspace, so it is better to print to a Jet type page file, and then when all the lines have been expressed onto the Jet type page file print the Jet type page file to the printer, so that the printer does not have to be on the whole time. DANCAD3D (tm) may try to speed the printing of the drawing if you have a small area drawn in the center of the page and no border around the edge of the page, by not printing the blank parts of the page. Thickened lines take more time to print than thin lines. I may work on improvements in printing speed for possible future versions of DANCAD3D (tm), for now using a HP-GL, HPGL/2, or PostScript (tm) adapter might be a way to short cut on the printing time. Running DANCAD3D (tm) of a computer faster than a 80286 should also be a help in reducing the printing time, but since the parallel port may top out at about 250000 bytes per second, no mater how fast the CPU is, the shortest printing times may be limited by the computer's parallel port or the printer's parallel port and its ability to keep up with the CPU.

The printing times given below are very approximate and are for printing simple line drawings or page files that already have the drawing lines expressed onto them. The printing times would probably be longer for complex line drawings or when printing triangle elements using the hidden line display modes.

DRIVER NAME   RESOLUTION  PAPER SIZE   PRINTED AREA    MEMORY  APPROX. TIME

HPLJPLUS.JET  150 dpi     Letter size  7.98" * 10.60"  0.3 MB  1 to 5 min.

150D8X11.JET  150 dpi     Letter size  7.98" * 10.60"  0.3 MB  1 to 5 min.

300D8X11.JET  300 dpi     Letter size  7.99" * 10.60"  1.2 MB  4 to 20 min.

150D8X14.JET  150 dpi     Legal size   7.98" * 13.59"  0.4 MB  2 to 7 min.

300D8X14.JET  300 dpi     Legal size   7.99" * 13.60"  1.3 MB  4 to 23 min.

150D_A4.JET   150 dpi     A4 metric    196mm * 286mm   0.3 MB  1.5 to 6 min.

300D_A4.JET   300 dpi     A4 metric    196mm * 286mm   1.2 MB  4 to 21 min.

150DEXEC.JET  150 dpi     Executive    6.72" * 10.10"  0.3 MB  1 to 5 min.

300DEXEC.JET  300 dpi     Executive    6.72" * 10.10"  1.0 MB  3 to 15 min.

11X14.JET     Special     11" by 14"   10.98" * 13.6"  1.8 MB  7.5 to 30 min.

11X17.JET     Special     11" by 17"   10.98" * 19.6"  2.2 MB  8 to 36 min.

16X20.JET     Special     16" by 20"   15.98" * 19.6"  3.7 MB  16 to 61 min.

Be sure that you install the default *.JET driver filename in the main menu Change default settings command, since the default *.JET driver filename entered there sets the resolution of the JET page files made by, and used with, the commands in the JET sub-menu of the Hardcopy sub-menu. See also the section above about installing hardware for information on any special cables and port connections that the LaserJet II (tm) might need.

Please note that the LaserJet Plus (tm) model laser printer could probably not print full pages at 300 dpi. If you buy a LaserJet (tm) compatible laser printer you might want to check that it is fully LaserJet II (tm) compatible and not only LaserJet Plus (tm) compatible. The LaserJet Plus (tm) may not have supported the paper size select HP-PCL command. The Driver HPLJPLUS.JET will try to print letter size on a LaserJet Plus (tm) compatible printer at 150 dpi resolution. The other *.JET drivers require that at least a LaserJet II (tm) level, or perhaps higher level, of HP- PCL codes is to be used.

The LaserJet III (tm) laser printer may support the fast HPGL/2 language as well as HP-PCL. LaserJet III (tm) drivers for HPGL/2 codes work through the pen plotter driver command, PLOT, just as the do the PostScript (tm) drivers, see the information below about the PLOT command. See also the video segment in Section: 4 about setting up the LaserJet III.

The Hardcopy Plot Plot command or the macro PLOT command can be used to output data to pen plotters, some kinds of laser printers, and some kinds of imagesetter. Several commands in the menus use the PLOT portion of the program, e.g. the Hardcopy Plot Plot command, the Hardcopy Laser command, the Hardcopy Imagesetter command, Files Save Industry HPGL, Files Save Industry PostScript (tm), and the Files Save Industry DXF Plot-lines command. The drivers used with the PLOT command have the extensions *.PLT, *.LZR, or in some cases *.STF. The drivers used with the PLOT command code are edited with the Hardcopy Plot Install command. See the additional information below about using the PLOT command for printing on PostScript (tm) or HPGL/2 printers.

Installing the pen plotter driver filename, for use with the PLOT command, is somewhat similar to installing the printer drivers. You can change the data output port name the plotter data is sent to by pressing [H] [P] [I], Hardcopy Plotter Install, from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. The plotter drivers have the extension *.PLT or *.LZR. The *.STF files that are used with the PLOT command code are special plotter type drivers that are used for special commands by the programs. Select Change defaults from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu to install the name of the default plotter driver you want to use. Check your distribution file set for any possible additional pen plotter driver names.

DRIVER NAME   PLOTTER MODEL OR USE OF DRIVER

HPGL.PLT      Plotter driver for HP-GL type pen  plotters  or  perhaps
              some  Hewiett-Packard  (tm)  compatible   plotters.   By
              pressing  [H]  [P]  [I]  from the main menu you can edit
              this driver  to  accommodate  various  paper  sizes  and
              various  numbers  of  pens from 1 to 127.  Some desk top
              publishing programs might be able  to  read  HP-GL  data
              files,  so  you  might  install  DANCAD3D  (tm)'s  HP-GL
              plotter driver to output the drawing to a disk  file  in
              place  of  the  hardware port,  and then read the output
              file into some desk top  publishing  program.  Desk  top
              publishing  programs might have a limit as to the number
              of line segments they can read in the  drawing  file  at
              one  time.  The  HPGL/2 drivers are similar to the HP-GL
              driver except for some added codes to setup and set down
              the printer.  The LaserJet III (tm)'s HPGL/2 driver  has
              HP-PCL  codes  included  for the added commands to setup
              the printer and to restore the default HP-PCL  language.
              Another  option  for saving HP-GL data to a disk file is
              to use the Files Save Industry HPGL command,  which uses
              the  HPGL.STF driver and automatically saves the data to
              disk rather than to a printer port.

HI-80.PLT     May work with the Epson (tm) 4 pen plotter.

SWEET_P.PLT   May work with the Sweet-P (tm) plotter.

FP_215.PLT    May work with a Radio Shack (tm) plotter.

DXY_800.PLT   May work with some  older  Roland  (tm)  plotters.  Some
              newer Roland (tm) plotters may be HP-GL  compatible,  so
              you might try the HPGL.PLT driver on them.  You may need
              to enable the HP-GL emulation or compatibility mode, see
              the manual for your plotter.

BASIC.PLT     Makes a file of BASIC (tm) source code that will produce
              a  drawing when you run the BASIC (tm) program.  You may
              need to edit this file to  add  line  numbers,  if  line
              numbers are required.

PASCAL.PLT    Makes a file of Turbo Pascal  (tm)  commands  that  will
              draw  the  drawing  on  the  screen  when the program is
              compiled and run.

DXF.PLT       Makes a file similar to standard  DXF  drawing  commands
              that might be read by some AutoCAD (tm)  DXF  file  type
              compatible  program.  Some  desk top publishing programs
              might also read DXF type files.  The DXF files made with
              this  driver  are  2D  and  can   be   orthographic   or
              perspective  projections  of  the  drawing  loaded  into
              DANCAD3D (tm)'s workspace.  Normally the port name  that
              is installed in the DXF.PLT driver file is a filename of
              a  file  to  hold  DXF  data  in  for use after you Quit
              DANCAD3D (tm).  This driver is a legacy holdover, if you
              want to save DXF files you would probably do  better  to
              use  the  commands  in  the Files Save Industry DXF sub-
              menu.

DANPLOT.PLT   This driver was a special  driver,  now  obsolete,  that
              came with older versions of DANPLOT.EXE  (tm)  that  was
              used  to  let you use dotted and dashed and or thickened
              line segments in a tool path file.  It  was  useful  for
              engraving and plotting drawings with giant plotters that
              you  could  have  build by using DANPLOT.EXE (tm) as the
              plotters   controller.    With   current   versions   of
              DANPLOT.EXE  (tm)  you  can  use the Files Save Industry
              HPGL command, then the Files Load Industry HPGL command,
              then the Files Save ASCII  command  to  get  a  somewhat
              similar effect in the tool path file.

LJIII*.PLT    Special drivers for the LaserJet III (tm) printer to use
              the  HPGL/2  codes for possibly more rapid printing than
              the HP-PCL code drivers can achieve with some  kinds  of
              line  drawings.  The  use  of HPGL/2 on the LaserJet III
              (tm) may require that extra memory needs to be installed
              so that the "page protection" mode can be turned on,  be
              sure   to   see   the  LaserJet  III  (tm)  manuals  for
              instructions on how to turn on  the  "page  protection."
              You  should use the HP-PCL drivers with the JET commands
              to print on the LaserJet II (tm) or  LaserJet  IIP  (tm)
              laser printers, since they may not support HPGL/2 codes.
              See also the video segment in Section:  4 about setup of
              the LaserJet III (tm).

*.LZR         Special drivers for PostScript (tm) printers.  The *.LZR
              drivers work with the PLOT command and are the same type
              as the *.PLT drivers,  but have the *.LZR  extension  to
              distinguish them as for use with PostScript (tm).

ADOBE_PS.STF  Special driver for Files Save Industry  PostScript  (tm)
              command.  This  is also used with the macro PLOT command
              so that the output data can be redirected to a  filename
              located  in a string variable named FILENAME.USE that is
              assigned before the macro PLOT command is stated in  the
              macro file.

HPGL.STF      Special driver for Files  Save  Industry  HPGL  command.
              This  is  also  used with the macro PLOT command so that
              the output data can be redirected to a filename  located
              in a string variable named FILENAME.USE that is assigned
              before  the  macro  PLOT  command is stated in the macro
              file.

DXF.STF       Special driver for  Files  Save  Industry  DXF  command.
              This is also used with the macro PLOT  command  so  that
              the  output data can be redirected to a filename located
              in a string variable named FILENAME.USE that is assigned
              before the macro PLOT command is  stated  in  the  macro
              file.

The FILENAME.USE string variable is assigned to contain the name of the file to send the plotter output data to. If you look into the *.STF driver files with the Hardcopy Plot Install command you will see that the data output port name has been assigned to $FILENAME.USE which is a special flag that tells the PLOT command code that it should look in a string variable named FILENAME.USE in the CAD program sub-directory for the name of the file to save the plotter output data to. You should be able to use this feature in your plotter drivers, if you like, so that the data file's filename the plotter output data will go to can be re-assigned while a macro is running, i.e. you would set the filename for the data output with the LET$ or INPUT$ macro commands before you state the PLOT macro command and its values.

As mentioned above you need to use the DOS MODE command to setup your serial port before you run DANCAD3D (tm) and try to plot through the serial port. Remember to set the DIP switches, in your plotter, to settings that correspond to the values used in the MODE command. If none of the plotter drivers in the distribution file set will drive your plotter you can press [H] [P] [I], from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu, and try to enter the command set for your plotter.

If you have a problem installing your plotter try making a small file, using a text editor, of the codes that work with your plotter and copy that file to your plotter, i.e. with the DOS COPY command, to see if the plotter is responding and drawing properly. You will probably not accomplish anything useful by fiddling with the settings in my plotter drivers if the problem is actually that your plotter is not connected using the right kind of cable or has not been set to the right BAUD rate.

Some pen plotters and PostScript (tm) printers may support 7 bit code since all the bytes transmitted may be within the ASCII code numbers 0 to 127. Transmitting the plotter data by using 7 bits may be slightly faster than when using 8 bits and might reduce plotting time when many short line segments are used, such as for curves in the drawing.

If you want to output your plotter drawing data to a disk file rather than a port, by pressing [H] [P] [I] from the main menu to change the plotter driver's output name port to a filename from a device name. You might use a print spooler to plot a drawing data file output previously by the PLOT command, while you run DANCAD3D (tm) to work on another drawing if no special codes are used in the plotter data file that the print spooler might alter, and you are not doing anything in the CAD program that might require critical timing.

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27>C:\DOS\PRINT C:\DC27\HPGL.OUT

One special consideration to keep in mind when deciding whether to use the DOT or JET commands to print the drawing, or to use the PLOT command to plot the drawings is that the DOT and JET commands are setup to work with triangle elements directly, and the PLOT command only works with line elements. In order to plot triangle elements you need to use the Ready command in the Hardcopy sub-menu to convert the triangle elements into a line element that the PLOT command might work with.

Two special commands that use the PLOT portion of the program have been setup for use with PostScript (tm) type printers. The Laser and Imagesetter commands in the Hardcopy sub-menu normally are used to output to PostScript (tm) type printers. The Laser command is setup for use with desktop laser printers that use PostScript (tm). The Imagesetter command is setup for use with the Linotronic 300 (tm) for high quality hardcopy on photographic type paper. When the Laser and Imagesetter commands are used with the automatic macro output feature these commands are coded as the PLOT command, since they are just dressed up menu equivalents of that command. Having a Laser command in addition to the Plot command lets you have a PostScript (tm) laser printer and a pen plotter connected to your computer at the same time without your having to change the driver selected to switch between them.

The Laser command can also be used to output HPGL/2 printer codes, see below. The driver used with Laser is selected with the main menu Change command.

DANCAD3D (tm) comes with a number of drivers for Adobe (tm) PostScript (tm) compatible printers. The port name or file name of the PostScript (tm) drivers used for data output can be changed with the plotter installation command you get by pressing [H] [P] [I] from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. The PostScript (tm) drivers have the extension *.LZR. Use DANCAD3D's (tm) main menu Change defaults command to install the default *.LZR driver for the Laser command in the Hardcopy sub-menu.

DRIVER NAME   POSTSCRIPT (tm) DRIVER FILE SPECIAL APPLICATION

ADOBE_PS.LZR  Default PostScript (tm) driver, try this one first.

LINOTYPE.LZR  Driver for the Linotype LinoTronic 300 (tm) photo typesetter.

LASERPS1.LZR  Driver for very thin lines.

LASERPS2.LZR  Driver for medium thin lines.

LASERPS3.LZR  Driver for medium lines.

LASERPS4.LZR  Driver for medium heavy lines.

LASERPS5.LZR  Driver for heavy lines.

FIRST.LZR     Driver to start a series of plots to one page.

MIDDLE.LZR    Driver to use after FIRST.LZR but not for the last plot.

LAST.LZR      Driver to use for the last plot to a page started by use
              of FIRST.PLT.  In a macro you can  use  the  macro  PLOT
              command  to  chain plot an indefinite number of drawings
              onto a single page in the PostScript (tm) laser printer,
              thereby letting you have more line  segment  vectors  on
              your  printed  drawing  than  will  fit  in  the drawing
              workspace at one time.

As with the dot printer, jet printer, and pen plotter operations described above you will probably need to use the DOS MODE command to setup the serial port if you need to use the serial port to connect your computer to your PostScript (tm) printer, see any information above on the subject of hardware for information relating to cables to hookup PostScript (tm) printers to your computer.

Since many home users do not have access to PostScript (tm) printers and especially the Linotronic 300 (tm) photo typesetter you may have to output your PostScript (tm) drawings to a disk file and take that file on a floppy disk or CD- R to your local desk top publishing center or print shop for printing out. To output your PostScript (tm) to a floppy disk file press [H] [P] [I] from the main menu and change the port assignment to a filename like A:\OUTPUT.PS. By outputting the PostScript (tm) file directly to the floppy drive you can easily put in a new empty formatted floppy disk for each drawing you might need to have printed at the printers shop. When you take the PostScript (tm) files on the floppy disks or CD-R to be printed all you might have to do is use the DOS COPY command and ask the operator what port to use for connection to the printer.

The Files Save Industry PostScript (tm) command has been setup to use the ADOBE_PS.STF plotter driver and automatically save the PostScript (tm) data to a disk file without your having to edit the plotter driver file each time you want to change the name of the file to output the plotted data to.

EXAMPLE: C:\>COPY A:\OUTPUT.PS COM1 /B

See also the information above about installing hardware for a discussion of some of the special installation requirements of the LaserWriter (tm)'s serial port.

The Hardcopy Laser command can be used to print to HPGL/2 type printers by using the name of one of the HPGL/2 drivers, e.g. LJIII*.PLT, in place of the PostScript (tm) driver name in the Laser command driver name prompt in the main menu's Change command. HPGL or HPGL/2 codes might be of some use when plotting is to be done on large electrostatic plotters that support those codes. The size of the plotting area entered into the plotter driver can sometimes be edited by use of the Hardcopy Plot Install command.

The drivers LJIIIFIR.PLT, LJIIIMID.PLT, and LJIIILAS.PLT are only for use when you need to plot lines to a page several times without the page getting ejected from the printer so that the lines will register with each other. This is a legacy feature and would only be used when you were not able to hold all of the lines you need to print in the workspace at one time. The file LJIIIFIR.PLT is for the first plot in the series and initializes the printer, LJIIIMID.PLT is for the second and other middle plots, and LJIIILAS.PLT is for the last plot to the same page and tells the printer to print and eject the finished page.

For electrostatic printers that use large paper and HPGL/2 codes you may be able to edit the clipping limits in a copy of a HPGL/2 driver to increase the printable area, by use of the Hardcopy Plot Install command. Codes that are specific to the LaserJet III (tm) might need to be edited for the LJIII*.PLT type drivers to be used with other HPGL/2 printers or plotters.

Be sure to see the video segment in Section: 4 about configuring the LaserJet III (tm) page protection mode and related issues.

For the most part you will probably not need to make major modifications to the printer and plotter drivers. If you do need to modify the drivers it will probably only be to change the output data port name or file name. DANCAD3D (tm) will allow you to enter and or alter the codes used in the printer and plotter drivers if you need to though, and special Install commands are provided for that purpose.

There are three distinct types of driver files used for making hardcopy in DANCAD3D (tm): one type for dot matrix printers, i.e. *.PRN, another type for HP-PCL LaserJet (tm) type printers, i.e. *.JET, and another type for vector plotting devices, i.e. *.PLT, *.LZR, and *.STF. The vector plotting device drivers for the PLOT command can belong to the *.PLT group for general plotter codes or the *.LZR group for PostScript (tm) printer codes. The *.STF plotter drivers are used by the program for changing the output filename without having to edit the plotter driver each time you want to change the data output filename. The *.PRN drivers work with the DOT commands, and the *.JET drivers work with the JET commands.

As an example of how the Dot Install, Jet Install, and Plot Install commands operate you will see below that there are some detailed instructions on various types of printer and plotter codes that were once used by some of the kinds of printers and plotters that may have once been used with the IBM PC type computer. You might not need to install such codes into a driver file if there already is a driver file supplied with DANCAD3D (tm) for your hardcopy device. If you do need to install some hardcopy device's hardware codes yourself, you may need to use some of the technical information from your printer or plotter's manufacture. Try checking the device's manufacture's Web site to see if the information you need is posted there.

To make, edit, or change a dot matrix printer driver select Hardcopy then select Dot matrix printer, then select Install from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. Press [Return] or click the left mouse button to go past the opening screen of the install command. This *.PRN file install command only makes and edits dot matrix driver files, you will need to use the main menu Change command if you want to install the name of the driver you have edited as the default driver to use.

The first prompt asks for the name of the driver to edit. You can enter the name of one of the supplied *.PRN drivers or make up your own driver filename. To get a directory of driver filenames you can enter a file mask for the drive the driver files are on, i.e. DRIVERS\*.PRN. If you do not see the *.PRN dot matrix driver filenames in the DRIVERS sub- directory you may not have used the INSTALL.BAT batch file properly to install the drivers.

EXAMPLE: C:\DC27\DRIVERS\*.PRN

Press [Return] when the proper dot matrix printer driver filename is displayed at the dot matrix printer driver name prompt of the Hardcopy Dot Install command.

The next prompt in the Dot Install command asks for the name of the data port your printer is connected to. The most common answer would be port name PRN for the first parallel port. Do not enter port name LPT1 unless port name PRN will not work on your system, which is a very unlikely circumstance.

If your printer uses the serial port connect it to the COM1 port connector on your computer and enter the port name AUX in the *.PRN driver data output port name prompt.

If you do not have a printer that will work with DANCAD3D (tm) you might print drawings to a disk file and take the disk file to a computer and printer that support the codes DANCAD3D (tm) can work with. To print a disk file of dot matrix printer binary data use the DOS COPY command. One problem you may have is that binary files are very large, so you may have to use the DOS BACKUP command and put parts of the file on several disks, then use the DOS RESTORE command to combine the parts of the file onto the second computer's harddisk before copying the restored file to the printer by using the DOS COPY command. A CD-R disk may be able to hold the binary printer data without having to breakup the file into parts. In the example shown below, the output data port in the *.PRN driver would have been changed to the filename BINARY.DMP if the output data file was to be saved to a file so that later the printed drawing data could be copied from the harddisk to a floppy disk. The filename A:\BINARY.DMP would be entered at the data output port name prompt if the dot matrix graphics printer data was to be saved directly to a file on a floppy disk.

EXAMPLE: C:\>COPY A:\BINARY.DMP PRN /B

If you need to use the serial port for your dot matrix printer you may need to setup the chips on the serial port card by using the DOS MODE command before you run DANCAD3D (tm). DANCAD3D (tm) only prints on dot matrix printers that use 8 bit graphics data. The serial port should be set to pass 8 bits of data rather than the 7 bits that is sometimes used for simple teletype type text printing. Some models of dot matrix printers may have a DIP switch that sets 7 or 8 data bits, such a DIP switch should be set to select the 8 bit data mode.

EXAMPLE: C:\>C:\DOS\MODE COM1:9600,N,8,1,P

The next prompt in the Hardcopy Dot Install command gives you the option of exiting the Hardcopy Dot Install command. You would normally exit at this point in the dot install process if all you wanted to change was the data output port name. If the changes you made were correct you would overwrite the dot matrix driver file you were editing, so that the changes would be saved to the file on your disk.

If you need to change the codes that will go to your dot matrix printer you can go on with the editing of the driver file. The next prompts ask about the type of information your dot matrix printer expects to receive. The dot matrix printer ratio code sets the maximum number of bytes that will be sent in the graphics string. Mode 0 can be used in normal operation and sends any number of bytes from 0 to 1920. Mode 1 is for some older printers and can send even numbers from 0 to 960. Mode 2 is for even numbers of bytes from 1922 to 3840. Wide carriage printers up to 16 inches can be used to print at 120 dpi along the axis of the carriage. If you will use the printers 120 dpi print mode use mode 0 for 8 to 16 inches. If you use the printers 240 dpi graphics mode use mode 2 for 8 to 16 inches.

The number of bytes to send value depends on what mode, i.e. 0, 1, or 2, you selected. If you use mode 0 the bytes sent can be any number from 0 to 1920. If you use mode 1 and want to send 960 bytes you would enter 1920, or for smaller values an even number only. If you use mode 2 you would enter any number from 961 to 1920 since the value of bytes sent will be double the number you enter, i.e. 1920 will send 3840 bytes. You will also need to change the value associated with the Escape code for the bytes of graphical data to send to the printer if you change this value for the x dots, see information about that escape code below.

The printer x scale factor will be 1.0 if your printer has 240 dpi printing mode. For wide carriage printers and 120 dpi printers you would use a value of 0.5, i.e. 120/240=0.5.

The y scaling factor depends on the spacing of the wires in the print head of your printers print head. Many 9 pin printers have wires spaced 3/216 or 1/72 of an inch. Many 24 pin printers print wires are spaced 1/180 of an inch. DANCAD3D (tm) uses a 3:1 interlace ratio with many printers, a 2:1 interlace ratio is used with some 1/144 inch minimum line feed printers. So 9 pin printers print with 216 lines per y axis inch and 24 pin printers print with 180 lines per y axis inch. The ratio of 216/240 gives a y scale of 0.9 for 9 pin printers. The ratio of 180/240 gives a y scale of 0.75 for 24 pin printers.

You are again given the option to Escape and overwrite the driver file you are editing if you choose to at this point in the installation. If you need to go on be very careful as to what keys you press since the keys you press will all become part of the drivers codes. The Left arrow cursor key should be used to back-space, i.e. not the [backspace] key, and the [End] key, i.e. 1 on the numpad of the XT keyboard, should be used to enter the codes and go on to the next prompt, i.e. not the [Return] or [Enter] key. You will need to read the technical manual for your dot matrix printer if you want to enter specific codes in the next section of the dot matrix printer driver modification.

Pressing the [Return] or [Enter] key will generally generate a #13 ASCII code, and pressing [Backspace] will generally generate a #8 ASCII code, which is why you need to use the [End] and [LeftArrow] keys for those keyboard functions in this portion of the Dot Install command.

Below are given some example codes used in some of the more common dot matrix printer types. The codes used in your dot matrix printer may be slightly different but need to conform to the general idea of how the DOT command works in order to be compatible with being installed in the *.PRN type of driver.

1. The first group of codes sent to the dot matrix printer clears its buffer of any unprinted data that may have been sent to the printer. This header code is optional for some dot matrix printers. The comments between the parentheses are not part of the codes to enter.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         (no codes sent here)
         IBM 5152, LX     [#24]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#24]
         Star Gemini 10x  (no codes sent here)

2. The second group of codes moves the print head to the left margin, sets the line feed to: 22/216, 22/180, or 15/144 of an inch, then does the line feed in the amount set. Since DANCAD3D (tm) uses 8 print wires with a 3:1 or 2:1 interlace the full cycle line feed will be 24/216, 24/180 or 16/144 of an inch. The 22/216 feed would be used on IBM ProPrinter (tm), Epson MX (tm), and Epson FX (tm) type printers. The 22/180 line feed would be used on 24 pin dot matrix printers like the Epson LQ (tm) and the NEC-P6 (tm). The 15/144 feed would be used on the Star Gemini 10x (tm) and Star Gemini 15x (tm). If you have problems with the print out having double spacings that ruin the printout you should check that the DIP switches are set so that the automatic line feed on carriage return is OFF and that the automatic carriage return on line feed is OFF also. The DIP switches that control the automatic linefeeds and carriage returns may be inside of your dot matrix printer, read your dot matrix printer's manual for information on how to set the DIP switches. The DIP switches are normally shipped from the factory in the position DANCAD3D (tm) needs to work properly so most users will never need to do anything to the dot matrix printer's DIP switches.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#13][ESC]3[#22][#10]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#13][ESC]3[#22][#10]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#13][ESC]3[#22][#10]
         Star Gemini 10x  [#13][ESC]3[#15][#10]

3. The third group of codes works the same as the second except we only want to feed 1/3 the spacing of the print wires, or 1/2 the print wire spacing for 2:1 interlace operation. The code sequence will be, move print head to left margin, set line feed to: 1/216, 1/180, or 1/144 of an inch, do line feed. Again the feed amounts correspond to the dot matrix printer type.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         Star Gemini 10x  [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]

4. The forth group of codes works the same as the second except we only want to do the feed for dot matrix printers that can support 3:1 interlace. The code sequence for 3:1 interlace printers, e.g. IBM, MX, LX, LQ types, will be, move print head to left margin, set line feed to: 1/216 or 1/180 of an inch, do line feed. The code sequence for 2:1 interlace dot matrix printers, e.g. Star Gemini 10x (tm) and Star Gemini 15x, will be, move print head to left margin only. The comments between the parentheses are not part of the codes to enter.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#13][ESC]3[#1][#10]
         Star Gemini 10x  (no codes sent here)

5. The fifth group of codes moves the print head to the left margin and then sets up the printer to receive the graphics data. It is important that you have the graphics command code correspond to the number of x_dots * ratio you entered previously. Remember that if you use mode 1 ratio 0.5x or mode 2 ratio 2.0x the number of bytes output must be an even number.

EXAMPLE: x_dots * ratio = bytes of graphics data sent to printer
         1920   * 0.5   = 960
         1920   * 1.0   = 1920
         1920   * 2.0   = 3840

The bytes of graphic data code is normally given to the printer as two bytes of data. The first byte is the remainder of the bytes sent divided by 256, the second byte is the number of times that 256 will go into the bytes sent.

EXAMPLE: 960  = (192) + (256*3)  so codes are [#192][#3]
         1920 = (128) + (256*7)  so codes are [#128][#7]
         3840 = (0)   + (256*15) so codes are [#0][#15]

The number of bytes of graphics data and the graphics printing density determine the actual width of the print out, i.e. the x axis is across the carriage on dot matrix printers.

EXAMPLE: output_bytes / dots_per_inch = printed_width_in_inches
         960 bytes   /  120 dpi       = 8 inches
         1920 bytes  /  240 dpi       = 8 inches
         1920 bytes  /  120 dpi       = 16 inches
         3840 bytes  /  240 dpi       = 16 inches

The code string for the fifth group of codes would look like this for 8 inch print out:

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#13][ESC]L[#192][#3]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#13][ESC]Z[#128][#7]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#13][ESC]Z[#128][#7]
         Star Gemini 10x  [#13][ESC]z[#128][#7]

The code string for the fifth group of codes would look like this for 16 inch print out. Note not all printers will work with up to 16 inches of graphics data, this is only an example of the codes that might be used if your printer could handle this much data, read your dot matrix printer's manual to find the maximum print out width.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#13][ESC]L[#128][#7]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#13][ESC]Z[#0][#15]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#13][ESC]Z[#0][#15]
         Star Gemini 15x  [#13][ESC]z[#0][#15]

Note that the Star Gemini 10x (tm) and Star Gemini 15x (tm) use the lower case z to set the graphics mode. Some newer model Star (tm) dot matrix printers may use the same codes as IBM (tm) or Epson (tm) code compatible printers.

6. The sixth and final group of codes that are sent to the dot matrix printer will do a form feed to eject the finished printed page and then set the dot matrix printer to its normal text print mode, e.g. teletype mode printing.

EXAMPLE: Epson MX         [#12]
         IBM 5152, LX     [#12]
         Epson LQ, NEC    [#12]
         Star Gemini 10x  [#12]

As noted above, *.PRN drivers are supplied for many of the printers that DANCAD3D (tm) will work with. Check the distribution's dot matrix printer drivers for one that has a name similar to the model of your dot matrix printer. If you do edit the dot matrix printer driver's codes, beware of accidentally entering extra codes because the wrong keys are pressed by you, e.g. use the [LeftArrow] key to back-space not the [Backspace] key.

If you just want to select the *.JET printer driver to use as the default driver with the commands in the Jet sub-menu, select the Change command in the main menu. The Jet Install command edits the driver, but does not assign it as the default driver name to use, that is done with the main menu Change command.

The primary reason for modifying a *.JET printer driver would be to change the data output port name that the graphics data would be sent out to. If you do change the data output port name from the parallel to the serial data output port name or vice versa, remember to read your printer manual for the changes that you also need to make on your printer so that the printer also is set to the same data port type i.e. parallel or serial, i.e. some printers have both kinds of port and the port to use needs to be selected. If you use the serial port connection on your printer, be sure that you also use the DOS MODE command to set the BAUD rate for the serial port on your computer to correspond to the values that your printer is using.

After changing the port name you should probably select [Escape] when prompted and overwrite the driver file. The rest of the *.JET driver installation is mostly intended for use by the author of DANCAD3D (tm), since there is not a great deal that you can improve in the *.JET drivers by editing them, except perhaps to change the paper size or printable area. Many of the *.JET drivers named in this section have been tested to work with the common sizes of paper on a LaserJet II (tm) or LaserJet IIP (tm), and may also work on other HP-PCL compatible printers, but I cannot say for sure since testing on particular printers of other models may not have been done.

The following description of HP-PCL commands requires that you refer to the HP-PCL technical specification for your particular laser printer. For the most part you can probably skip this section of the documentation. This data is only included in case some new printers are introduced that take modified HP-PCL codes and the supplied drivers would need to be edited. Some older printers may also not accept some of the codes used in the supplied *.JET drivers, but any HP-PCL code printer that is fully LaserJet II (tm) compatible would probably work if you have enough memory, i.e. about 1.5MB to 8MB or more, installed in the printer. See also the section on LaserJet II (tm) hardware above.

This section describes installing and editing of HP-PCL command codes into a *.JET printer driver file. To install the name of the default *.JET printer driver to use as the default when printing use the main menu Change command before you use any of the Jet commands.

To edit or create and install a *.JET type HP-PCL printer driver file select Hardcopy Jet Install from DANCAD3D (tm)'s main menu. To edit drivers for Adobe (tm) PostScript (tm) type laser printers see the section below about installing vector plotting devices, i.e. there are two kinds of laser printers, 1. those that use HP-PCL raster graphics, and those that use PostScript (tm) or HPGL/2 vector graphics.

The First prompt lets you set the name of the output data port that the HP-PCL binary printer data will go out from. This Install prompt works as was described above for the dot matrix printers, so read that text. Remember to use the DOS MODE command to setup the serial port if you are going to use COM1 or COM2, see the part of this section that discusses installing LaserJet II (tm) type printer hardware and cables.

You are given the option to [Escape] after installing the data output port name. Remember to overwrite the old driver file if you want the new output data port name to be installed in the *.JET driver file you are editing.

Next come several prompts that set the overall page size and resolution.

The y printer resolution relates to the HP-PCL command that tells the printer which dpi, i.e. dots per inch, mode to use. This will be 150 or 300 dpi in original versions, but may be different in some future versions.

The number of y strips relates to the number of sections DANCAD3D (tm) will divide the page into as it prints it out. The JET page needed to be divided into strips because the computer did not have enough DOS memory to handle the page as a single mass of data. If the number of strips required is not a whole number use the value of the next larger integer, e.g. 4.07 becomes 5.00.

EXAMPLE: page_length/(((300/dpi)*218)/dpi) = y_strips = value_to_enter
         10.6/(218/300) = 14.58 = 15 y_strips
         10.6/(436/150) = 3.64  =  4 y_strips

The page length is the physical length of the paper minus the top and bottom margins. Normally the top and bottom margins are 0.2 inch.

EXAMPLE: 11 - (0.2 * 2) = 10.6

The y rows is the number of dpi resolution times the page length.

EXAMPLE: 10.6 * 300 = 3180
         10.6 * 150 = 1590

The x writes per x raster line relates to the number of bytes that the HP-PCL printer is told are coming to it by the HP-PCL graphics command. The number of x writes is the width of the printable area times the x axis resolution divided by 8. With printer type code 0 the x axis resolution is the printer dpi resolution. With printer type code 2 the x bytes written are twice the number for code 0. If you get a remainder, truncate the answer.

EXAMPLE: For printer type code 0:
         (6*300)/8   = 225
         (8*300)/8   = 300
         (7.3*300)/8 = 273.75 = 273
         For printer type code 2:
         (11*300)/16 = 206.25 = 206
         (14*300)/16 = 262.5  = 262
         (16*300)/16 = 300

The x printer scale will be 1.25 at 300 dpi or 0.625 at 150 dpi. The scale number comes from: (8*300)/(8*240) = 1.25, or (8*150)/(8*240) = 0.625. The y scale factor works the same as the x scale factor.

The printer type code value effects the number of bytes sent to the printer as described above. Code 0 is used for printing up to 8 inches wide, and code 2 for printing from 8 to 16 inches wide, wide means along the x axis which is normally the narrow dimension of the page.

The above factors interact with the HP-PCL command codes installed in the next section of the installation. At this point you are again given the option to Escape from the Jet installation menu and overwrite the *.JET file you are editing.

The next part of the *.JET driver file editing involves the actual HP-PCL command codes. To fully understand the HP- PCL command codes you should have the Hewlett-Packard (tm) "LaserJet series II Printer Technical Reference Manual" or the technical reference manual for the printer you will be using. Ten groups of codes are required to print drawings on LaserJet II (tm) compatible HP-PCL type printers.

1. Codes to Reset the printer, and eject page if there is a partly finished page currently in the computers memory. Resetting the printer assures that your drawing will start on a blank sheet of paper.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]E

2. Codes to Set paper size and graphics resolution. This is a two part command. The first part sets the paper size so the printer will adjust the starting point for the upper left corner of the printable area on the paper. Remember that the printable area on HP-PCL printers is normally less than the full size of the paper, i.e. a margin of 0.2 inches all around is typical. HP-PCL has standard codes for various paper sizes. Note that the paper size command may have been added after the introduction of the LaserJet Plus (tm), so if your printer is not LaserJet II (tm) compatible but is LaserJet Plus (tm) compatible you may need to omit the paper size command. If you do not give a paper size command the printer will try to get the paper size from the size of the currently used paper tray. If you give a paper size command and the tray currently in use does not match the HP-PCL command the printer will wait and display a message asking for the proper paper size. The graphics resolution command is required and must correspond to the value, e.g. 300 or 150, at the prompt described above that asks for the resolution in dpi to be entered. Note that the LaserJet Plus (tm) may only print full letter size pages at 150 dpi resolution, so when selecting a HP-PCL code laser printer you should probably get a printer with LaserJet II (tm) compatibility and 1.5M bytes or more memory so you can print at 300 dpi resolution. The comments in parentheses are not part of the codes.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]&l2A[ESC]*t300R (codes for 300 dpi Letter, 8.5x11" size)
         [ESC]&l2A[ESC]*t150R (codes for 150 dpi Letter, 8.5x11" size)
         [ESC]&l3A[ESC]*t300R (codes for 300 dpi Legal, 8.5x14" size)
         [ESC]&l3A[ESC]*t150R (codes for 150 dpi Legal, 8.5x14" size)

The paper size code is [ESC]&l then a number, then A. Some of the major code numbers available are:

EXAMPLE:  1 = Executive paper, 7.25" x 10.5".
          2 = Letter paper, 8.5" x 11".
          3 = Legal paper, 8.5" x 14".
         26 = A4 paper, 210mm x 297mm.
         80 = Monarch letter envelope, 3.875" x 7.5".
         81 = Commercial 10 business envelope, 4.125" x 9.5".
         90 = International DL envelope, 110mm x 220mm.
         91 = International C5 envelope, 162mm x 229mm.

NOTE:    Some HP-PCL code printers may require that a  separate  paper
         tray be used for each paper size!  If you  do  not  have  the
         proper  size  tray  you  can sometimes use a larger size tray
         with the larger size paper and then cut down the hardcopy  in
         a  paper  cutter  after the page is printed,  e.g.  press the
         Continue key on the printers control panel when it  asks  for
         the paper tray to be changed. The manual feed slot on the top
         of  the  LaserJet  II (tm) paper tray(s) may not allow you to
         use narrower papers and obtain the same effect as  you  would
         get  when  using  the narrower tray since the relation to the
         edges of the paper may not be the same.  Some older  LaserJet
         II  (tm)  printers  may  have  required a tray for each paper
         width if you wanted the printable area to  have  the  correct
         relationship to the papers edges.  If you try to print 8.5" x
         14"  paper  by  using the 8.5" x 11" tray by using the manual
         feed on the 8.5" x 11"  paper  tray  some  LaserJet  II  (tm)
         printers  may report a paper jam and refuse to print the full
         13.6" of paper length.

DANCAD3D (tm) has a maximum printable area in the *.JET driver of 8" by 71" at 300 dpi by 300 dpi, and 16" by 71" at 150 dpi by 300 dpi. The maximum printable area may be larger at 150 dpi, but that larger area is probably not useful since HP-PCL printers generally do not take paper over 11" x 17".

3. Codes to Locate printer graphics cursor at the starting point of the printable area of the paper. This is also a two part command. The first part tells the printer to set the top margin to 0. The second part moves the starting point the required number of printer dots from the top of the paper in order to clear the unprintable margin at the top of the page. The unprintable margin at the top of the page varies with the model of printer being used. A starting point of 60/300 inch down from the top of the paper would be normal for LaserJet II (tm) type printers. The comments in parentheses are not part of the codes.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]&l0E[ESC]*p0x60Y (start 60/300 from top of paper)
         [ESC]&l0E[ESC]*p0x50Y (start 50/300 from top of paper)

The value of the starting point number is normally not dependent on the graphics resolution used, but rather just the maximum resolution of the printer, normally 1/300 of an inch. You may need to edit this value for newer printers that have higher resolutions.

4. Codes for command to start graphics printing mode at the graphics cursor position set.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]*r1A

5. Codes to send at the start of a row, on x axis, of bytes to be sent to the printer. This command is sent at the start of each row of bytes. The value for the number of bytes to send must correspond to the value entered in the menu above. The comments in parentheses are not part of the codes.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]*b300W (send 300 bytes of graphics data, 2400 pixels)
         [ESC]*b150W (send 150 bytes of graphics data, 1200 pixels)

6. Code to send when all graphics data in a row is nul, i.e. nothing to print.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]*b0W

7. Code to tell the printer that the graphics data will no longer be being sent to the printer.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]*rB

8. Codes that are the first part of the command that tells the HP-PCL type printer how many duplicate copies of the page currently in its memory buffer to print out. This command is divided into two parts. The number of duplicate copies to print out, from 1 to 99, will be inserted between the two parts as one or two characters in ASCII coded decimal format.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]&l

9. Code for the second and final part the command started in "8." above.

EXAMPLE: X

10. Code for the command to eject the finished page, or set of duplicate copies of the finished page. This is normally the same as the command used in HP-PCL code "1." above, but can be different if you need it to be for some reason, e.g. such as not ejecting the page so other programs can write to the printer's buffer memory before the page is ejected.

EXAMPLE: [ESC]E

This is the final prompt in the *.JET file installation editor, you can now overwrite the Jet driver file you were editing if you wish to save the changes you have made.

Be sure to read the instructions about the use of the LaserJet II (tm) compatible printer's hardware and port described elsewhere in this section. This information about editing the HP-PCL driver file is supplied mostly to allow owners of HP-PCL code printers, whose commands may deviate somewhat from the commands used by the LaserJet II (tm), to try to get their printer working better. For the most part the *.JET drivers supplied will probably meet typical needs when used with LaserJet II (tm) compatible printers. Be sure to remember to use the main menu's Change command to configure the filename of the particular *.JET printer driver file that you want to use for printing, since the commands that work with Jet type page files use the default *.JET driver's filename as the driver file they are to use. You need to remember to use the main menu's Change command to set the *.JET driver to the same value that was used to create any Jet page file you have made in order to later access those page files or to print them.