Home of the original IBM PC emulator for browsers.
[PCjs Machine "ibm5160"]
Waiting for machine "ibm5160" to load....
PC-FONT enables an Epson MX (with Graftrax), RX, or FX printer to
print 243 of the 256 ASCII characters. These characters include
those applicable for engineering/scientific/financial, foreign
language characters, and miscellaneous characters. Other
capabilites include performing block graphic fonts and calling up
one of 13 different fonts from the command line. Command line
font selection allows the casual user a wide variety of output
styles without having to research esoteric printer control codes.
System Requirements: Epson MX (with Graftrax), RX, or FX printer or
the IBM Graphics Printer.
How to Start: At the prompt enter TYPE PC-FONT2.PRN <ENTER>, this will
print the on disk manual for the program. To run it, enter PC-FONT2
and press <ENTER>.
Suggested Registration: $20.00
File Descriptions:
PC-FONT2 TST Test file
PC-FONT2 EXE Program to print 243 of PC's 256 characters
PC-FONT2 PRN Manual (70K bytes)
DESCRIPT TXT Brief program description
README How to print manual
PC-SIG Disk No. #225, version v1
The following is a list of the file checksums which should be produced by
the CRCK4 program on disk #9 (and others). If the CRC numbers do not match
you may have a bad file. To use type: CRCK4 <filespec>
CRCK4 output for this disk:
CRCK ver 4.2B (MS DOS VERSION )
CTL-S pauses, CTL-C aborts
--> FILE: PC-FONT2.EXE CRC = 93 6D
--> FILE: PC-FONT2.TST CRC = 9B DF
--> FILE: DESCRIPT.TXT CRC = CC EB
--> FILE: PC-FONT2.PRN CRC = BC A9
--> FILE: README . CRC = 18 8F
---------------------> SUM OF CRCS = D1 6F
DONE
These and other Public Domain and user-supported programs from:
PC Software Interest Group
1125 Stewart Ct Suite G
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-9291
EG
PC-Font Description:
I. Major Functions:
1. Extended character set.
H
Allows an Epson MX (with Graftrax), RX, or FX printer to print
243 of the 256 ASCII characters. The remaining 13 are used by
the program to control printer font options. In contrast,
only 94 characters (in the ASCII range 32-126) can currently
be transferred from the screen to the Epson printer. The new
characters fall into these groups:
ASCII #
───────
o Engineering/Scientific/Financial characters 224-253
o Foreign language characters 128-168
173
o Miscellaneous characters 1-7
16,17,19
21-25
28-31
169-170
174-175
G
2. Block graphic fonts.
H
Allows the Epson printers specified above AND the IBM Graphics
printer to print the 49 block graphic characters consisting of
single line, double line, and solid line fonts at twice the
normal density. In contrast, Epson printers cannot translate
any of the screen graphics into print! The greater density
produces darker image and sharper contrast characters than
those of the IBM Graphics printer.
ASCII #
───────
o Block graphic characters 176-233
254
G
3. Font selection.
H
Allows the printers specified above to choose one of 13
possible fonts as a default by specifying a single parameter on
the command line. The ability to change fonts easily can be
useful across a wide variety of applications. For instance,
compressed print can be used to print large spreadsheeet
output, emphasized and/or double strike print for
near-letter-quality correspondence, double wide print for
overhead transparencies, condensed print for diskette
directory labels, etc. Following is a summary of the various
font styles:
Font Font Characters Lines per
Size Density per line inch
──── ─────── ────────── ─────────
Condensed Double strike 132 14
Compressed Standard 132 8
Compressed Double strike 132 8
Standard Standard 80 6
Standard Double strike 80 6
Standard Emphasized 80 6
Standard Correspondence 80 6
Compressed-Wide Standard 66 6
Compressed-Wide Double strike 66 6
Double wide Standard 40 6
Double wide Double strike 40 6
Double wide Emphasized 40 6
Double wide Correspondence 40 6
In addition, Epson printers can print the above fonts (except
condensed) in italics, bringing the total number of font
combinations to 26.
Command line font selection allows the casual user a wide
variety of output styles without having to research esoteric
printer control codes. Experienced users can still set,
reset, and change fonts by embedding printer control codes
within the text using an editing or word processing program.
G
4. Automatic Skip over Perforations:
H
Allows the printers specified above to enable or disable the
Skip over Perforation option by a command line parameter.
The Skip over Perforation feature is usually set on or off by
a hardware switch inside the printer. Word processors
generally expect the option to be disabled. An incorrect
setting can cause double skipping between pages. However,
most editors and the DOS 2.x PRINT command expect the option
to be enabled. An incorrect setting here causes output to be
printed over the entire page, including over the perforations.
In order to maintain consistant, high quality output from
different sources the user is forced to continually reset the
switch.
This sounds easy enough in theory. However, accessing the
switch for the first time requires partially disassembling the
printer. After that a tool (usually a bent paper clip) must
be fabricated to toggle the switch on or off through a small
access port. The operation requires a technical
sophistication that many business users do not desire to
learn. Placing this option under user control improves the
quality of the output while decreasing the knowledge the user
must posess to obtain it. Experienced users can still set or
reset this option using either hardware or software
techniques.
G
II. Market Segments:
H
Segment #1 - any PC user with an Epson MX (with Graftrax),
RX, or FX printer. PC-Font gives this group the same
character set as the IBM Graphics printer. For example, a
person using PeachText, Personal Editor, Professional Editor,
etc. can now print the block graphic, engineering/scientific,
foreign language, and special characters.
Segment #2: - any PC user with an Epson or IBM Graphics
printer. PC-Font allows this group to easily control and take
advantage of printer's font styles and options. (A majority
of users are unaware of the printer's capabilities.)
Advantages are high quality, professional looking output and
the ability to use the printer for a wider variety of tasks,
ranging from organizational charts and flow diagrams to
overhead transparencies.
G
III. Additional Information:
H
o All options have default values.
o User Guide contains chapters for novice and experienced users.
o Quick Reference page contains all font styles, sizes, and
associated command line parameters.
G
IV. System Requirements:
H
o Hardware:
- IBM PC, PC/XT, PCjr, or PC compatible system with
a minimum of 96kb memory
- Diskette drive
- Monitor capable of displaying 80 columns
- One of the following printers:
- Epson MX (with Graftrax), RX, or FX printer
- IBM Graphics Printer
o Software:
- DOS Version 1.1 or higher
FH
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
PC-FONT2 EXE 40320 9-08-84 1:34p
PC-FONT2 TST 2599 9-09-84 10:12a
DESCRIPT TXT 5872 9-09-84 8:47a
PC-FONT2 PRN 70786 9-08-84 2:01p
README 381 7-21-84 8:52a
CRC TXT 794 11-16-84 6:50a
CRCK4 COM 1536 10-21-82 7:54p
7 file(s) 122288 bytes
36352 bytes free