Date : Tue, 24 Mar 1987 0837:00
From : binder%fizbin.DEC@decwrl.DEC.COM (Put it on my tab.)
Subject: ANYCODE3.LBR for WordStar now available from SIMTEL20
Now available from SIMTEL20...
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD:<CPM.WSTAR>
ANYCODE3.LBR.1 BINARY 10368 7E63H
This posting is a correction for the ANYCODE2 posting by Keith Petersen
over the weekend. Immediately after ANYCODE2 became available, Willie
Smith found a bug in it. He was kind enough to supply me with his fix,
and the result is ANYCODE3. The rest of this posting is the descriptive
announcement that accompanied the original posting. Take note of my new
network address, in the .signature at the end of this posting. Email sent
to my old address as given in the ANYCODE3 documentation will still
reach me.
*********
Despite its relative age, WordStar remains a popular word processing
tool, and it is still one of the most powerful word processors
available. You can install WordStar to use virtually all of the
features of modern daisywheel printers to produce professional printed
documents of exceptional quality. You can also install WordStar to
take advantage of many of the features of a sophisticated dot matrix
printer. But there just aren't enough WordStar codes available to let
you use everything a dot matrix printer can do.
It would be convenient if you could simply enter the control
characters you want into the file the same way you enter codes that
WordStar knows about, but it isn't that simple. WordStar filters your
document as it prints it, and any nonprintable characters that
WordStar doesn't recognize are rejected.
The original ANYCODE was written for the Osborne by Doug Hurst, to
circumvent this limitation. Its function is to unlock all of the
features of a dot-matrix printer by providing a way to fool WordStar
into transmitting those control characters. Doug's program is a patch
that is inserted logically between WordStar and the CP/M PRIMARY list
device - if you're not using the primary list device, this patch isn't
guaranteed to work. The version under discussion here, written by
Dick Binder and named ANYCODE3, fixes a couple of limitations in the
original ANYCODE.
What ANYCODE3 does is to examine the printed stream, looking for
either of two characters that are set aside for it to use as lead-in
characters. A "lead-in" character signifies that a special character
sequence follows, telling ANYCODE3 to begin processing. Detection of
one of these characters will cause ANYCODE3 to transmit a control
character to the printer. The control character is constructed from
the next two characters in the file.
ANYCODE3 is in 8080 code and can be assembled and installed into WS
using DDT under CP/M. It goes into a special patch area provided and
does not increase the size of the WS.COM file.
Cheers,
Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat)
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