abrams@MITRE.ARPA (Marshall D. Abrams) (05/04/86)
In the process of familiarization with AtariWriter Plus I ran into several items I thought interesting enough to share and ask about: The built-in Epson driver is for an FX-80. I have an MX-80, so I thought I had to generate a unique driver. Is that correct, or will the built-in one work? One concern was that the built-in driver accomplished underlining by backspace underscore instead of turning on underline. It also works differently than AtariWriter (unplus), which first printed the line and then underlined it. Well, no matter what I did, my MX-80 driver still did underlining by backspace underscore. I guess that's how the logic is built. In editing printer drivers, I discovered there was no way to completely return to the virgin state of having no entry for a function. A CR with no entry left the previous entry unchanged. A space was not accepted. The best I could do was put in a zero. I wonder what the effect will b of sending a null to the printer. Any suggestions? I have the AtariWriter patch which permits print to disk. I use the option which output no printer controls because I use this function to produce afile which can be subsequently uploaded with AMODEM. After several trys I discovered that the same effect was posible in AtariWriter Plus by specifying 155 (Atari's EOL) as the CR LF and CR only sequences. I notice that if I want to switch from printer output to print to disk, I have to reboot. Can this be circumvented? Is there any way to get the printer driver automatically loaded when AtariWriter Plus boots up? I really don't like having to go through the three step selection menu. I would be interested in communicating with others about their feelings of the conversion from AtariWriter to Plus. Sincerely, - Marshall D. Abrams, phone: (703) 883-6938 The MITRE Corporation, 1820 Dolley Madison Blvd. Mail Stop W458, Mc Lean, VA 22102
jhs@disunix.UUCP (05/05/86)
If Atariwriter Plus permits escape sequences in the text, you can of course control underlining at the printer. I have done this with CDY's OmniWriter (bundled with their 80-column upgrade chip) and my Fujitsu DL2400. Speaking of printers, word-processors and such... does anybody have any ideas on why I get occasional uppercase Rs inserted into files when I print them to a disk file and copy them to a printer? I seem to get the same thing when I download a file from a host and then copy to my printer or even load it into my word processor buffer and print it. Printing directly from the word processor works fine. The common denominator seems to be that I go from a DOS 2 disk file to the printer; the details of the transmission path don't seem to matter. -John Sangster jhs@mitre-bedford.arpa
wrd@tekigm2.UUCP (Bill Dippert) (05/08/86)
In article <8605040002.AA01654@mitre.ARPA>, abrams@MITRE.ARPA.UUCP writes: > In the process of familiarization with AtariWriter Plus I ran into > several items I thought interesting enough to share and ask about: > > The built-in Epson driver is for an FX-80. I have an MX-80, so I > thought I had to generate a unique driver. Is that correct, or will > the built-in one work? One concern was that the built-in driver > accomplished underlining by backspace underscore instead of > turning on underline. It also works differently than AtariWriter (unplus), > which first printed the line and then underlined it. Well, no matter what > I did, my MX-80 driver still did underlining by backspace underscore. > I guess that's how the logic is built. > As a user of both Atariwriter and Atariwriter +, I have not found any differences as far underlining goes, with the following caveat: Atariwriter required that you furnish a printer driver for most non-Atari printers to function; Atariwriter + has the built in printer driver. As far as the "FX-80" p/d goes, this is a generic p/d for all Epson and Epson compatibles. I personally am using a Legend 1380 printer, it works for all of the Legends and other "Epson compatibles". There are four forms of "underline", however. 1) Use of <shift> "-" key. Gives an underline with white spaces under a blank area only. 2) Use of "Fuji" key. Gives an underline on all subsequent alpha/numeric keys. 3) Use of <control> U on previously written text. --> underlines any alpha/numeric key. 4) Use of <shift> "-" key followed by <control> U gives underline that is solid -- no "white spaces" -- again under a blank area only. Note: in both examples 3 and 4 it assumed that you <control> "<--" before using the <control> U key. > In editing printer drivers, I discovered there was no way to completely > return to the virgin state of having no entry for a function. A CR > with no entry left the previous entry unchanged. A space was not > accepted. The best I could do was put in a zero. I wonder what the effect > will be of sending a null to the printer. Any suggestions? Do not know, but again FX80 p/d should work for MX80. > I have the AtariWriter patch which permits print to disk. I use the option > which output no printer controls because I use this function to > produce afile which can be subsequently uploaded with AMODEM. After > several trys I discovered that the same effect was posible in AtariWriter > Plus by specifying 155 (Atari's EOL) as the CR LF and CR only sequences. Atariwriter + manual shows a command for saving pure ASCII text without p/d commands -- it is <control> S on the main menu only. > I notice that if I want to switch from printer output to print to disk, > I have to reboot. Can this be circumvented? Is there any way to get > the printer driver automatically loaded when AtariWriter Plus boots up? > I really don't like having to go through the three step selection menu. Only comment I can make is that you only go thru it once (until you turn the computer off.) It really is only two additional key entries. However, you should not have to reboot each time you Save to disk vs send to printer. I am not too clear as to what you are trying to do. > I would be interested in communicating with others about their feelings > of the conversion from AtariWriter to Plus. > I have been using Atariwriter + since it first came out. My copy came in the plain white "generic" envelope. I do not know if there are any software differences between it and the later boxed up version. I have found a major flaw in Atariwriter +, however. Namely when you have too many characters on a page, it cannot correctly format the page either for print or preview. The last lines clobber something and either appear at the top or the entire text gets scrambled, depending on how much you are trying to put onto a page. When I run into this is trying to do a full page table with 132 columns. I can only have this table fill about 2/3's of the page before it clobbers something. Is there a known fix or has Atari already fixed it and can I get an updated disk? (Neil Harris, are you listening?) There is also a minor inconvenience. If you use the old Atari Maillist program for address labels, etc. you must use Atariwriter not Atariwriter + as Maillist cannot correctly interpret the "hidden" format commands that AW + adds to your files. However, having Atariwriter and AW+ allows me to have the best of both programs and with AW you can remove these commands. AW is handy for playing around with various files that you cannot normally access with DOS. You can literally go into a m/l file with AW and make changes, etc. to plain english text within the file. AW also allows for other funny things and will copy any type of file as easily as DOS command C does. On the other hand using <control> c at the beginning of a file and adjusting your viewing "window from 38 columns to 80, 132, etc. is real handy (with AW +). No more doing tables with line wrap and having to constantly use <Option> P to see what it looks like. Also, the ability to index both drive 1 and drive 2 is a plus. (Whatever happened to drives 3 and 4? The 130XE box shows a AW+ menu that accesses four drives. While I do not normally use 3 drives, it does come in handy sometimes. Four drives never, however. It must have been changed somewhere along the line by the sw engr.!) Other pluses: with a 130XE or modified 800XL/1200XL you can really build large text files. No more chaining muliple files! Or at a minimum, chain once or twice. Word/spell checker a plus, altho it sure would be nice to have words checked for context as well as spelling. All in all, AW + gives LetterPerfect, Batteries Included and the other Atari style wordproccessors a run for the money. Fraid I used my nickel.... --Bill--