binder@fizbin.DEC.COM.UUCP (03/24/87)
Now available from SIMTEL20... Filename Type Bytes CRC Directory PD:<CPM.WSTAR> ANYCODE3.LBR.1 BINARY 10368 7E63H This posting is a correction for the ANYCODE2 posting by Keith Petersen over the weekend. Immediately after ANYCODE2 became available, Willie Smith found a bug in it. He was kind enough to supply me with his fix, and the result is ANYCODE3. The rest of this posting is the descriptive announcement that accompanied the original posting. Take note of my new network address, in the .signature at the end of this posting. Email sent to my old address as given in the ANYCODE3 documentation will still reach me. ********* Despite its relative age, WordStar remains a popular word processing tool, and it is still one of the most powerful word processors available. You can install WordStar to use virtually all of the features of modern daisywheel printers to produce professional printed documents of exceptional quality. You can also install WordStar to take advantage of many of the features of a sophisticated dot matrix printer. But there just aren't enough WordStar codes available to let you use everything a dot matrix printer can do. It would be convenient if you could simply enter the control characters you want into the file the same way you enter codes that WordStar knows about, but it isn't that simple. WordStar filters your document as it prints it, and any nonprintable characters that WordStar doesn't recognize are rejected. The original ANYCODE was written for the Osborne by Doug Hurst, to circumvent this limitation. Its function is to unlock all of the features of a dot-matrix printer by providing a way to fool WordStar into transmitting those control characters. Doug's program is a patch that is inserted logically between WordStar and the CP/M PRIMARY list device - if you're not using the primary list device, this patch isn't guaranteed to work. The version under discussion here, written by Dick Binder and named ANYCODE3, fixes a couple of limitations in the original ANYCODE. What ANYCODE3 does is to examine the printed stream, looking for either of two characters that are set aside for it to use as lead-in characters. A "lead-in" character signifies that a special character sequence follows, telling ANYCODE3 to begin processing. Detection of one of these characters will cause ANYCODE3 to transmit a control character to the printer. The control character is constructed from the next two characters in the file. ANYCODE3 is in 8080 code and can be assembled and installed into WS using DDT under CP/M. It goes into a special patch area provided and does not increase the size of the WS.COM file. Cheers, Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat) DEC Enet: FIZBIN::BINDER UUCP: { decvax, allegra, ucbvax... }!decwrl!fizbin.dec.com!binder ARPA: binder%fizbin.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM