Msg: 4878 *Conference*

01-12-94 17:03:05

From: RON WIESEN

To : DAVID PARKER WEST

Subj: REPLY TO MSG #4235 (DOWNLOAD PRINTER)

I saw your inquiry about downloading Star and Brother printers for M100
graphics.  I see you've tried CHRGEN and FONTFX but you can't tolerate the time
they involve.  Time is as precious as memory space.
 
Rick intends to sell NATIVE, a program that puts the Model T's font into a
printer so that all character shapes of your Model T computer are accurately
portrayed by your printer whenever you print something.  In other words, NATIVE
speaks to your printer in it's "native" language and describes all the
character shapes that are "native" to your Model T.  NATIVE is for Model 100,
102, and 200 laptops and covers a large variety of 9-pin and 24-pin dot matrix,
ink jet, bubble jet, and laser printers.  NATIVE does NOT: ask you any
questions; care about HIMEM addresses (it's so small it uses the TELCOM
"previous screen" buffer); conflict in any way with other programs; need to
remain in memory after you use it!
 
NATIVE makes your printer smart before you do any printing.  Later when you
print something, your printer thinks it's a Model T screen and portrays Model T
character shapes on paper even if a non Model T computer is sending the print
matter!  Of course the printer doesn't have size restrictions like a computer
screen.  It's nice to see graphic and other Model T character shapes print on
paper exactly as they look on the screen!  By the way Dave, the character
shapes of the Model 100, 102, and 200 differ so whichever of these Model T's
you run NATIVE from is the one that "downloads" the printer; the computer which
causes printing (IBM clone maybe) doesn't matter.
 
NATIVE only takes about 3 seconds to download most printers.  It conforms to
several Epson emulations.  From your use of CHRGEN and FONTFX I assume your
printers handle Epson emulations so, you're ready for NATIVE.  Some Brother
printers that NATIVE supports are: HL-6 laser printer; M-1109 and M-1509 matrix
printers.  Some Star Micronics printers that NATIVE supports, using what Star
calls "IBM mode", are: NB-15, SD-10, SD-15, SG-10, SG-15, SR-10, and SR-15
matrix printers.
 
To date I've sent Rick a master copy of the user manual and a distribution disk
for NATIVE.  He's always busy and as yet hasn't got around to offering NATIVE
for sale through Club 100.  It sounds like NATIVE is what you need in place of
CHRGEN and FONTFX.  Keep your eyes peeled for NATIVE Dave.
 
If you can't wait for Rick to offer NATIVE, let me know and perhaps he'll let
me sell you a copy now.  Good luck with the graphics and happy Model T
computing.
 
        Regards,      Ron Wiesen