From: SGWALLACE@delphi.com Subject: TextPro/1020 Sunday March 5, 1995 9:38 PM EST Hi Winston, Saw your message requesting information about using an Atari 1020 printer with TextPro. I've used both and it's not too hard to set up TextPro to invoke the 1020's various features. Hope it's not too late to offer some assistance. Although you asked about how to set TextPro's margins to 40 columns, the printer can be set to print 20, 40, or 80 columns in international or standard characters. The defaults when the printer is first turned on are 40 columns and standard characters. TEXTPRO FORMATTING COMMANDS Margins (and other TextPro features) are set by text formatting commands. With TextPro, these are usually placed at the top of the document and are entered by holding the [SELECT] key while typing a _lower case_ letter. On the screen, the letter should appear in inverse video. Below is a list of the most important text formatting commands and their defaults: [SELECT] + Key Default -------------- ------- b bottom margin................58 c center text.................none d down page with count........none e edge right..................none f footer define...............none g go to linked file...........none h header define...............none i information line............none k down page w/o count.........none l left margin..................5 m margin release..............none n next page, conditional with #0 p page length..................66 q justify right 0=off 1=on.....off r right margin.................75 t top margin...................5 w page wait....................off x columns across...............80 y set z-margin................none z z-margin.....................5 # page number.................none @ starting page number.........1 ? print starting with #........1 & stop at page................none ! skip # pages during print....0 To set the margin to 40 columns, enter these lines at the top of your document: [ SELECT-l ]0[RETURN] [ SELECT-r ]40[RETURN] [ SELECT-x ]40[RETURN] Hold the [SELECT] key while typing the letter and release it while typing the number. All of these commands can be typed on the same line with only one [RETURN] at the end if you want. The numbers associated with the "l" and "r" set the actual margin widths. The "x" number sets maximum page width (the printer's column width) and is used during line centering. TEXTPRO PRINTKEYS TextPro doesn't use printer drivers as some word processors do. It's possible to send commands to your printer at printout time by imbedding them in your text file. The method used in TextPro is to assign a printkey that represents each printer feature. Each printkey uses an _upper case_ letter typed while holding the [SELECT] key. On-screen in your document, the letter will appear in inverse video. Most printers have a command set made up of "escape sequences". During printout, the ASCII escape character is sent to the printer followed by the command character. The escape character can be included in your text file by pressing the [Esc] key twice. A special escape symbol should be displayed on the screen at the cursor location on the second press. The command character will be the assigned printkey and will also be included in the text. To assign printkeys for the Atari 1020 printer, boot up TextPro and type in the following printkey assignments: [ SELECT-N ]=14[RETURN] [ SELECT-P ]=16[RETURN] [ SELECT-S ]=19[RETURN] [ SELECT-W ]=23[RETURN] [ SELECT-X ]=24[RETURN] Hold the [ SELECT ] key while typing the letter, and release it for the equals sign and number. These five lines should be placed at the top of your document either above or below any formatting commands. They will define your printkeys. They may be written to a file by themselves which you would load before typing in your text if you don't want to have to type them in each time. To use a printkey to invoke a printer feature, type the [Esc] key twice and hold the [SELECT] key while typing the upper case printkey letter. The escape symbol and inverse printkey letter should be positioned just before where the printer feature you want to use begins. Here is how to type the printkeys into your text and what they mean: printer Feature Escape Sequence -------------- --------------- 20 Columns........[Esc][Esc][SELECT]P 40 Columns........[Esc][Esc][SELECT]N 80 Columns........[Esc][Esc][SELECT]S Start Intnl Char..[Esc][Esc][SELECT]W Stop Intnl Char...[Esc][Esc][SELECT]X When setting printer column width with printkeys, keep in mind you will also have to set TextPro margins and columns across to prevent words from being broken at the ends of printed lines. International characters can be printed on paper, but will show up on-screen as a different symbol. To print international characters on paper, turn on the feature with the printkey. Type the [Esc] character _once_, then hold the [CONTROL] key and type a letter key where you want the international character to appear. At printout time, the international character associated with that letter key will be printed on paper. You can use TextPro to make a chart that you can print out and keep that will show all international characters. Type the international printkey first, then make a list like this: A [Esc][CONTROL-A][RETURN] B [Esc][CONTROL-B][RETURN] C [Esc][CONTROL-C][RETURN] .... .... .... Z [Esc][CONTROL-Z][RETURN] Hope this helps you to better use your Atari 1020 with TextPro. Steve Wallace