The Printer PS Preference Editor

The PrinterPS Preferences editor allows you to control text and graphics printing on PostScript printers. Use this editor only if you have a PostScript printer and if you choose PostScript in the Printer Preferences editor.

 The PrinterPS Preferences editor has an additional item in the Settings menu: Measuring System. Its submenu lets you select Centimeters, Inches, or Points. The selected units are used to display values of your width, height, and margin settings. The default setting is Inches.

 The PrinterPS Preferences editor contains the following gadgets:

•  Driver Mode

Driver Mode lets you select either PostScript or Pass Through. In PostScript mode the driver converts any text output it receives to PostScript and sends the results to the port selected in the Printer Preferences editor. The Pass Through option bypasses the PostScript driver and sends data directly to the port. The Pass Through option lets programs that outputs PostScript send their PostScript code directly to the printer.

•  Copies

 This specifies the number of copies of each page to print, from 1 to 99.

•  Paper Format

Paper Format lets you define the size of the paper to be used: U.S. Letter, U.S. Legal, DIN A4, and Custom. Clicking on this gadget sets the values in the Paper Width and Paper Height cycle gadget to match the named format.

•  Paper Width and Paper Height

 The Paper Width and Paper Height gadgets let you specify the exact paper dimensions for custom page sizes. These two gadgets are ghosted unless Custom is selected in the Paper Format gadget.

•  Horizontal DPI and Vertical DPI

 The Horizontal and Vertical DPI gadgets allow you to specify the dots per inch to use in the printout. The driver uses this resolution for all its dithering and other processing. Using different DPI settings from those of your PostScript printer can result in printouts with a distorted aspect ratio.

•  Panel Cycle Gadget

 The Panel cycle gadget lets you select from four additional option panels: Text Options, Text Dimensions, Graphics Options, and Graphics Scaling. The panel selected determines the set of gadgets displayed.

Text Options

 Text Options gadgets are:

•  Font

Select the font to use in your printout. These are built-in printer fonts and are used whenever text is sent to the printer.

•   Pitch

Select either Normal, Compressed, or Expanded character width.

•   Orientation

Select between Portrait or Landscape printing. Use Landscape printing for envelopes.

•   Tab

Specify how to handle tabs in the printed file. The available selections are 4 Characters, 8 Characters,1/4 Inch,1/2 Inch, and 1 Inch. Use inch settings with proportional fonts.

Text Dimensions

 Text Dimensions gadgets are:

•  Margin Gadgets

Specify all four margins for text printing. The values entered are relative to the respective edges of the paper, given the paper's width and height values specified previously.

•  Font Point Size

Specify the size of the font to use whenever text is sent to the printer.

•  Line Leading

Specify the amount of leading between lines of text. This is the distance in points from the bottom of one line to the top of the following line.

•  Lines Per Inch

Displays the approximate number of lines per inch, based on the values the Font Point Size and Line Leading options.

•  Lines Per Page

This text display area shows the number of lines printable per page, based on the values of the Font Point Size, Line Leading, Paper Height, Top Margin, and Bottom Margin.

Graphics Options

Graphics Options gadgets are:

•  Edge/Dimension

Similar to the four Margin gadgets, but specifying the Gadgets print region used for graphics printing.

•  Image

Positive/Negative.

•  Shading

Select between Black & White, Grey Scale, and Color.

•  Dithering

Select Default, Dotty, Vertical,0r Horizontal dithering when Grey Scale shading is selected. Default is standard halftone shading. Dotty is similar to halftone shading, but with very large dots for a special effect. Vertical and Horizontal represent grey shades with closely-spaced vertical and horizontal lines of varying thickness.

•  Graphics Scaling

 Controls the size, orientation, and aspect ratio of the printed graphic image. The effects of the different options available under Graphics Scaling are shown by the four Sample Scaling images at the bottom right of the window. The shaded areas represent print regions of varying sizes and shapes. As you change the settings of the cycle gadgets, the rendering of the source picture changes accordingly.

•  Aspect

Specify Normal or Sideways for printing graphics. This operation is performed before any other graphic operations, including scaling.

•  Scaling Type

Select one of seven scaling types. All scaling types control how the picture is printed within the print region specified by the Edge/Dimension gadgets. The Aspect scaling types preserve the image's aspect ratio; the File types do not. The types are:

1. None. Prints the picture with no scaling. The picture can be clipped on the right or bottom edges to fit within the region specified.
2. Aspect; Width. Makes the horizontal dimension as wide as the print region and scales the vertical dimension to preserve the aspect ratio. The vertical dimension is clipped to the print region if it gets too tall.
3. Aspect; Height. Makes the vertical dimension as tall as the print region and scales the horizontal dimension to preserve the aspect ratio. The horizontal dimension is clipped to the print region if it gets too wide.
4. Aspect; Both. Makes the picture as big as possible while ensuring it fits in the print region and preserves its aspect ratio.
5. Fits; Wide. Makes the horizontal dimension as wide as the print region and scales the vertical dimension to preserve the aspect ratio or until the vertical dimension gets as tall as the print region. The difference between this type and type 2 is that the vertical dimension always fits within the print region instead of being clipped.
6. Fits; Tall. Makes the vertical dimension as tall as the print region and scales the horizontal dimension to preserve the aspect ratio or until the horizontal dimension gets as wide as the print region. The difference between this type and type 3 is that the horizontal dimension always fits within the print region instead of being clipped.
7. Fits; Both. This makes the picture take up an entire print region in both dimensions, distorting the aspect ratio as needed.

• Centering

Specify None, Horizontal centering, Vertical centering, or both. Centering is the last operation performed in the printing process, after scaling.

Using Printer Escape Sequences

Each printer has its own set of escape sequences that are used in programs to control that particular printer's features. There are also standard ANSI escape sequences that control special printer features. By using the ANSI escape sequences, you can create a program that can be used on any printer for which there is a printer driver without making changes. We recommend using the standard ANSI escape sequences; however, do not confuse or mix your printer's escape sequences with these since they are likely to be different.

The Amiga printer device (PRT:) accepts standard ANSI escape sequences. The active printer driver translates ANSI escape sequences into control sequences your printer understands. For example, you can use escape sequences to set margins, turn on styles

such as boldface or italics, and specify spacing. If a feature is not supported by your printer or printer driver, the escape sequence for it is ignored. Consult your printer documentation to verify the feature settings your printer accepts.

Escape sequences are typically used when you print to the printer device directly from the Shell or when you insert print commands into a program.

A typical escape sequence (to turn on boldfacing) is shown as follows:

 Esc[lm

 This indicates that you must press the following keys in sequence: Esc, [,1, m. Escape sequences are case-sensitive. For example, to enter the following escape sequence:

Esc[4w

press the Esc, [, 4, and Shift+W keys.

Numbers inserted into the escape sequence are indicated by <n>. For example, the escape sequence used to set the left and right margins is:

 Esc[<n>;<n>s

 If you want to specify a left margin of 5 and a right margin of 75, type:

 Esc[5;75s

 To send an escape sequence to the printer from the Shell:

1. Redirect the keyboard input to the printer by entering
    1> COPY * to PRT:
2. Wait until disk activity stops and type an escape sequence, such as:
   Esc[2"z

To terminate keyboard output to PRT:

press Ctrl+\.

You can also create printer command files consisting of several escape sequences by redirecting keyboard input to a file. For example:

1. Redirect the keyboard input to a file:
   1> COPY * TO RAM:EscapeFile
2. Enter the escape sequences, such as: Esc ( 2 " z (turns near letter quality on) Esc [ 2w (turns elite type on) Esc ( 1m (turns boldface on)
3. Press Ctrl+\ to terminate keyboard output to the file. 4. To send these escape sequences to the printer, enter:
   1> COPY RAM:EscapeFile TO PRT:

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