Filter
Top Products
I
1“
i
l’-
-.
,.
,,.
chapter 4
USING THEPRINTER
WITHDOS AND BASIC
Although you will probably do most of your printing with the aid of
commercial software, at times you will want to employ direct commands
or programs of your own. This chapter will give you some ideas. Three
subjectsare covered:
● Hard-copying the screen
. Programming the printer with DOS commands
● Programming the printer with BASIC
HARD-COPYING THE SCREEN (MS-DOS AND PC-DOS)
If your computer has a PRTSC (or PrtSc) key, there is an easy way to
get hard copy of the screen.Press the SHIFT and PRTSC keys.The printer
will print the c-urrentscreen contents. The PRTSC key works both at the
systemcommand leveland whileyou are running application software.
Normally the PRTSC key prints only text data, but if your DOS system
includes a file named GRAPHICS.COM, you can hard-copy graphics dis-
plays by first typing the command:
AX+RAPHICS
You will find that graphics printing takes considerablymore time than
text printing. See your DOS manual for further information on the
GRAPHICS command.
At the DOScommand level,thereisalsoa simpleway to havethe printer
print hard copy continuously,instead of onescreenat a time.Pressthe CTRL
key, hold it down, then also press the PRTSC key. If your computer does
not have a PRTSC key, press the CTRL and P keys. Nothing visiblewill
happen, but you havejust switchedon the print-screenfunction. After this,
the printer will hard-copy all text displayed. For example, try typing the
directory command:
A)DIR
You will obtain a printed directory.