If you have a daisywheel or thimble-variety printer-capable of incremental spacing-and either you or your dealer has prop-erly configured WordStar for use with such a printer, the printed copy you receive will be "microspace" justified. This means that "soft spaces" will disappear. (Soft spaces are those extra spaces between words on your screen that let your mar-gins align.) Microspace justification eliminates gaps and spaces words evenly in printed documents.
If your printer is one of the more popular, inexpensive dot-matrix varieties, soft spaces achieve margin justification in printing.
It's time to check which PRINT-CONTROL features your printer uses by printing your test file, TRIAL. TST.
To print the file TRIAL. TST, you must first save a copy of this file on diskette. You can initiate printing of the file you are edit-ing, but only if you have saved a copy of the file. Since you haven't saved TRIAL. TSTyet, it does not exist to be printed.
The usual sequence for printing a file is to use the SAVE DONE command, 1\ KD, first and then issue the no-file PRINT com-mand' P.
An alternative to the aforementioned method is to save the file TRIAL.TSTwith the SAVE REEDIT command, "KS, and then
issue the PRINT command, "KP. After you issue "KP, WordStar will inform you that the most recently saved version will print and that you cannot save the current version until printing is completed.
If you transferred your test material by first marking it with block markers and then writing it to the TRIAL. TST file with the "KW command, you could now use the PRINT command,
"KP. You can examine the file directory to determine what files reside on disk by issuing the FILE DIRECTORY command, "KF.
You can also issue "F when the prompt asks for the name of the file to be printed. You can always use "F like this to see the directory whenever you're manipulating a file from within another file.
To make things simple for this demonstration, save the file you're working on with the
"IKI
@] command and return to the no-file menu. Next, issue [EI to initiate the PRINT FILE opera-tion. Once you have asked to print a file, WordStar will prompt you through each successive step as follows:NAME OF FILE TO PRINT?
Supply the name of the drive in which the file is located-if it is different from the currently "logged drive" -and the file's name; in this case, enter:
TRIAL.TST
and press
I
RETURN /. Remember that you can edit your file name as you learned at the beginning of this chapter.When the file you name is located, PRINT OPTION questions come up in sequence. We will explain these options, but in nor-mal circumstances, you usually press RETURN to ignore each of them. You can completely avoid the PRINT OPTION questions by typing the name of the file you want printed and pressing ESC instead of RETURN to complete the command.
The following option descriptions appear in the order in which they occur on the screen. For now, press
I
RETURNI
after reading each option.DISK FILE OUTPUT (YIN):
This option allows the contents of a printed file to go to another disk file whose name you specify. Press [ill or press
I
RETURNI
toignore this question. Press
1YI
to tell WordS tar to send the for-matted output to a disk file instead of to the printer.START AT PAGE NUMBER (RETURN for beginning)?
Supply the number of the page at which the printing should begin or press the
I
RETURNI
key to start printing with the first page of the file. This option continues printing from a specific page number after an interruption, as might be necessary if you ran out of paper or ribbon on your printer.STOP AFTER PAGE NUMBER (RETURN for end)?
Supply the page number at which you want printing stopped, or press
I
RETURNI
to print to the last page of the file. This allows you to stop the print operation at a predetermined page.USE FORM FEEDS (YIN)?
This option allows "form-feed" characters to output to the printer. It is customarily used with nondaisywheel printers to allow for the discrepancies that sometimes occur if your printer uses form feeds to paginate listings. Press
I
RETURNI
or press [ill to ignore this question.SUPPRESS PAGE FORMATTING (YIN):
An exact replica of the file as it appears on the screen, including DOT commands, can print, regardless of top margins, bottom margins, headings, and footings. This option is often used to proofread a file and check the embedded print commands with-out actually using them. Press
I
RETURNI
to ignore this option.PAUSE FOR PAPER CHANGE BETWEEN PAGES (YIN):
Press [Y] if you want the printer to stop after printing each page. This option is handy if you are using single sheets of paper, as with letterhead. When the printing stops at the end of a page, insert the next sheet of paper and issue
lEI
or"lRJ lEI
-depending on whether you're at the no-file menu or edit-ing a file, respectively-and printedit-ing continues. The message
PRINT PAUSED appears on the STATUS line while printing halts. Press [ill or press
I
RETURNI
if you have continuous-feed paper in your printer.Ready printer, press RETURN:
This message indicates that the printer is ready to begin. Make sure the cable between your Osborne 1 and your printer is con-nected, that the printer is turned ON, and that the printer's
"on-line" light, if it has one, is lit. Press
I
RETURNI
to initiate printing.A message at the top of the screen informs you that printing is in progress. If you want to stop printing at any time, issue the same command you used to initiate the print operation:
lEI
or"[K] [E]. The PRINT commands, P or "KP, act like a toggle switch that halts printing temporarily and gives you a choice of three options:
"Y" TO ABANDON PRINT, "N" TO RESUME, "U" TO HOLD
If you respond with a [y], the print operation in progress will discontinue. Pressing [ill causes printing to resume. You can also press [ill to temporarily suspend printing and then use the P or "KP command to resume printing. This last option comes in handy when you need to readjust the paper or need to leave the computer unattended for a few minutes.
The message will display on the STATUS LINE anytime printing is interrupted. By the way, this message
should appear on your screen as a result of the "C in example 8 of the file TRIAL. TST. As described above, issue a
lI1
or"[KJ
lI1
to finish printing your file.You now know how to tell WordS tar to start or stop printing a file. You need to know other commands, called "DOTcom-mands,i' that concern printing, though.