The Portfolio Connection PG Graphics Printer V1.1 ------------------------ by Peter Bennett (c)1993 Introduction ------------ Here at the Portfolio Connection, we have had many people contact us, asking for a program to print Portfolio graphic screens. Literally hundreds of shareware and PD programs have been written for the Portfolio. Very few however, are capable of printing graphics (this includes commercial software), and those that do seem somewhat erratic. Apart from the novelty value, the ability to print graphics, could be very useful to the businessman on the road e.g. for including simple graphs in letters and reports. So, here it is! PGPrint - a program that will dump a pgc or pgf graphic to an to an Epson- compatible printer. Using PGPrint ------------- To use PGPrint, simply type: pgprint filename.pg? The '?' should be replaced by a 'c' or 'f' depending on whether your graphic is a .pgc or .pgf file. The default is .pgc so you can just use the first 8 letters of the filename if you wish. Thus, to print 'stonhng1.pgc' you could enter: pgprint stonhng1.pgc or pgprint stonhng1 but to print sample.pgf, you MUST use: pgprint sample.pgf After a brief intro screen, the graphic is displayed on the screen for a few seconds. A message is then displayed reminding you to check the printer is connected and on-line. You may exit at this point by pressing the Esc key. Any other key will print your graphic. Once your graphic is printing don't switch off your Port as this will confuse the printer and the results could be a bit messy! That's really all there is to it. In the Pipeline --------------- This version does not trap printer errors so if there is a problem with the printer, you will be dumped back to DOS with an error message. This will be corrected in a future version. PGPrint will not work on a PC, although it wouldn't be too difficult to produce a PC version if there is enough interest. Enhanced Version Available! --------------------------- This version of PGPrint is free for you to use and enjoy. If you like it and find it useful, then an enhanced version is available for the small sum of $10 or 5 UK pounds sterling. The enhanced version includes support for the HP Laserjet 2 series of printers and also has the ability to print in two different sizes. Please contact me if you are interested. Conditions ---------- PGPrint is copyrighted software but this shareware version is free for both distribution and use. However, should you wish to use it in a commercial package, please contact me first. It is supplied as is and I will not be responsible for any problems arising from the use or misuse of the program. Bug Reports ----------- PGPrint has been tested with a Star LC10 printer and a Kodak Diconix portable bubblejet and produces perfect images with both. If you find any bugs, incompatibilities or just have some plain good suggestions, then please contact me and I will do my best to correct the former or include the latter! History ------- Version 1.0: Initial release Version 1.1:- Significant increase in speed of graphic display - Program size reduced by just over 25% - Corrected problem to allow loading of files in different directories to PGPrint Acknowledgements ---------------- Thanks to Don Messerli and BJ Gleason for the PGC and PGF graphics standards. Thanks to BJ Gleason for his portfoli.tpu. This Turbo Pascal unit saved me a lot of programming time! Thanks also to Dave Stewart for his portgra.tpu - although it is no longer used in the program, it was of great help in the earlier versions. I can be contacted at: The Portfolio Connection Bucklands Cottage Wallingford Road Cholsey Oxon OX10 9HB United Kingdom Tel/Fax +44 (0)491 836880 Compuserve ID: 100014, 2413 (August 1st, 1993)