ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER APRIL 1988 Turn on the real power of TI-Writer ^^and your printer with PLUS! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^A review by Charles Good .IN +4 PLUS!, a greatly enhanced version of what used to be called FUNLPLUS, is a fairware offering that consists of a DSSD or SSSD flippy disk filled with templates designed to allow you to make maximum use of the advanced features of TI-Writer, particularly as it is used in v4.0 of Funnelweb. If you have a STAR printer (Gemini 10X, SG, L series), PLUS! also allows you to do useful things with your printer's built in special graphics characters that go from ASCII 160-254. The rest of the PLUS! disk is filled with personal and business letter templates, tutorials, and a diverse variety of extended basic utility programs. Some of this XB software was written by the PLUS! author Jack Sughrue, and some is from the public domain. Many know Jack Sughrue as the author of the IMPACT 99 series that is published in many newsletters. The heart of PLUS! is its TI-Writer enhancements. If you wish to make the very most of TI-Writer and do not consider yourself skilled at utilizing the FORMATER and its .TL and .IF format commands, then read on! TI-Writer enhancements: With expensive word processors, such as WORD STAR there are format commands that you can type right into the body of the text that cause the printer to do special things. You can, with these embeded format commands, turn on and off underlining, different fonts such as italics and near letter quality, switch in and out of subscript or enlarged lettering, etc. You can see these format commands in your text on the screen, but they are not printed. Instead, when a format command is received by the printer, the printer switches on or off one of its special features. In TI-Writer there only two such embeded format commands. All other formating is done with dot commands such as ".RM 75". Most dot commands must be on a separate line, so they make your text look funny when viewed with the editor, and for many TI users the dot commands are difficult to understand. Many members of my user group only use the TI-Writer editor and have never themselves written anything designed to be printed through the formater. PLUS! contains a series of templates that each, among other things, allow the use of a wide variety of embeded formatting commands. These templates are based on the use of the formater dot commands .IF and .TL and work their magic when your text is printed out via the TI-Writer formater. You don't have to know anything about this stuff in order to use these templates, however. Everything is done more or less automatically. If the PLUS! disk is in DSK1, then all you have to do to access one of these templates is to go to the TI-Writer editor. From the editor's command mode (this is where you are when you first enter the editor) type LF , DSK1.X where X is the single digit number that loads a PLUS! template. Then type FCTN 0 to get rid of the line numbers on the screen, and you are ready begin typing your text. This entire review was typed as one continuous TI-Writer editor text file using a single PLUS! template. By loading a single key PLUS! template file, the following are automatically set up: .IN +0 1- Screen margins are set at 1 and 38 with word wrap on and automatic paragraph indentation 4 spaces each time is pressed. This means that the entire text is displayed on the screen with NO LEFT/RIGHT SCROLLING needed. Proof reading is easy, since you can see everything at once (except for scrolling up and down) in an easy to read 38 column display. 2- Left and right margins and, with some templates, right justification are set up which you see when you print your text to the printer through the TI-Writer formater. The final printout margins and the presence or absence of right justification vary depending upon which PLUS! template is loaded. Different templates give different results. 3- Special startup formats and type sizes are available in some templates. Some templates start you off with emphasized print for really good looking text. One template starts you off in condensed print in 118 columns. For really tiny printing, another template gives you condensed subscript with small line spacing (see below) in 134 columns! One of the neatest templates is in school term paper format. This term paper template has emphasized print and prints to the printer double spaced with automatic page header and footer. Try doing double spacing in the editor sometime. It isn't easy! This term paper format is really great, and it, as with all PLUS! templates, is totally automatic. You don't need to worry about margins, or where one page will end and another begin. 4- A complete series of embeded commands are available from each template. Most of these embeded commands are the same in each of the templates. You can print the very same text file via the formater using different templates and the differences you see will be mainly in startup format (font type, margins, double or single space, presence or absence of right justification). All you do to embed a command is type CTRL/U, then SHIFT/x, then CTRL/U without any spaces between. The "x" is a letter of the alphabet. Different SHIFT/x commands cause different things to happen. You see a funny looking symbol on the screen, but this funny symbol isn't printed. You can turn on DOUBLE STRIKE and then turn it off again. You can turn on EMPHASIZED PRINT, which the PLUS! docs call Near Letter Quality, and you can turn it off again. If you really want dark print you can turn on both emphasized and double strike at the same time by using both of the needed commands, one right after the other in the body of the text. How about ITALICS on and then off. Maybe you want to UNDERLINE part of your text and then stop underlining, all while maintaining right justification. Normally CTRL/U special character mode messes up right justification, but Jack Sughrue has come up with a partial fix. The only thing about his fix that you need to know is that IF YOU ARE USING A TEMPLATE WITH RIGHT JUSTIFICATION, DO NOT PUT ANY SPACES EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER AN EMBEDED FORMAT COMMAND. The only exception to this is embeded format commands that occur at the beginning and end of a sentence. For templates that do not use right justification, you are supposed to leave spaces between all words that begin or end with a format command as would seem the natural thing to do. Some type fonts may alter the number of characters per inch and thus mess up right justification, but you can still embed commands to access these fonts. This is CONDENSED PRINT. This is enlarged print. This small print is in SUBSCRIPT size. You can also have SUPERSCRIPT . This is ELITE print, slightly smaller than normal pica print. .LM +5 This tiny tiny dark print is in CONDENSED SUBSCRIPT DOUBLESTRIKE and has very tiny line spacing so that you can squeeze lots of words in a small space. A special embeded code creates this small line spacing. I have used the three embeded codes, subscript, condensed, and small line spacing codes at the beginning of this paragraph to create this text. .IN +0 .LM 3 5- Macro and graphic embeded commands are available, different ones in different templates, and tutorials tell how to make your own custom macros. Shown here is a really neat example of a single macro command that creates emphasized, doublestrike, and underline. You can have a single embeded command print a whole word such as PLUS! or a short group of words. Graphic patterns that you define as printer download characters or built in printer graphics can be printed with a single embeded command. Card suits (clubs, spades, etc) are included in one of the PLUS! templates as an example user defined graphics, and a hardcopy sheet inserted into the PLUS! disk envelope shows how to define such characters. The following line shows predefined printer graphics (alternating black/white diamonds) accessed by a single embeded code: .IN +4 These features are all available to you automatically at printout through the TI-Writer formater when you load a PLUS! template into the editor at the beginning of each text file you create. After loading a template a non printing comment appears on the first few screen lines at the beginning of your text file listing the special features of the particular template you have selected. All you need is a reference sheet listing what each of the CTRL/U,SHIFT/x,CTRL/U embeded formating commands does and you are ready to go! Printer Graphic enhancements: Have you ever been envious of the built in graphic patterns available to users of Commodore computers? All they do is type a key, and the graphic pattern on the front of the key appears on the screen. Such screen graphics are, of course, not easy with the TI994A, but they are easy to print out using the built in graphics available in most printers. PLUS! has tutorials about how to access these printer graphic characters in STAR printers, including the Gemini, SG, and N^series (NL, NP, NX, etc). Some very nice graphic templates are provided by PLUS! which permit the user of STAR printers to print out very nice looking boxes. Although STAR printers are sometimes said to be "Epson compatable" this is not entirely true. The graphic characters of STAR printers (ASCII 160-254) are not the same as those of Epson, Panasonic, or other "Epson compatable" printers. The printer graphic templates of PLUS! only work with STAR printers. .IN +0 >mnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnm # >mnmn #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^You^can^put^^anything^you^want^in^a^^box^like^^this,^but^if^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^the^box^is^to^be^printed^via^the^formater^^you^must^fill^up^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^every^empty^space^in^the^box,^including^those^between^words^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^with^the^included^space^character^(SHIFT/6).^^The^box^below^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^^^^^^is^a^letter^template^that^is^on^the PLUS disk.^^^^^^^ >mnmnm # >mnmn #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >mnmnm # >mnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnmnm # .IF DSK4.C1 >676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ J A C K^^^^S U G H R U E ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Box^^459 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ East Douglas MA ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^01516^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >67 #^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >76 # >676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676 # .IF DSK4.C9 You can also have single straight lines of graphics to ornament your text, like these: >DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD # >}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~}~} # >WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW # .IN +4 As with the TI-Writer templates, you don't really need to know how these graphics work, you just need to merge the PLUS! graphic template of your choice into your TI-Writer text and then use FCTN/3 (delete line) to delete the template graphic lines you don't want. For those who want to know, the PLUS! docs explain everything. Letter Templates. Three letter templates are included in addition to the one shown just above. Two of these use a little known feature of TI-Writer called "include prompt". As you move down through the formater menu prompts, usually just hitting for each one, after you answer "PAUSE AT END OF PAGE: N" the printer prints the first part of the letterhead. A prompt on the formater menu screen then appears and asks "Month". After you answer, another prompt asks "Day", and another asks "Person". The month, date, the year 1988, and the "Dear_______," person are printed in their correct positions on your letter, and you can then begin typing your text, complete with embeded format commands. There is no need to move the cursor around to the correct position for typing the month, day, and person. This is done automatically! The only disadvantage to this "include prompt" way of entering data in your letter is that if you save your letter to disk for later reference, the "month", "day", and "person" names are not saved, and this is important information. Utility Programs in XBASIC: .IN +2 CAT is an extended basic LOADer menu program that reads the disk directory and allows one keypress load and run of xbasic programs. When it reads the disk directory CAT distinguishes between PROGRAMs and other types of files. CAT allows you to print the directory to a printer and to delete a file. INSTALABEL prints any six lines of text you want on a sticky label, making as duplicate copies of this label as you desire. INSTAPRINT prints any D/V80 file to the printer just as PF would from the TI-Writer editor. INSTADUMP is the fastest XBASIC screen dump I have seen. It can easily be added to any program. its only limitation is that it won't dump redefined characters. INSTAMAIL prompts you for a person's name, street, city, state, etc., then the next person's name, etc. All these data are printed in neat tabular format. .IN +4 Two calendar programs are included. YEARLY/CAL prints four months per paper sheet, each sheet with a custom title at the top, while DESK/CAL prints one month per sheet and gives you the option of printing specific information, such as "Barb's birthday", in the box of any date. .IN +4 BANNER makes banners with large letters. You can define the graphics of these letters if you want, and control their size. Banner works with all STAR printers except SG models. I don't know if it works with other printer brands. 3/COL will print a disk directory in 3 columns with a date and your name. The result is suitable for pasting on a disk envelope. I find this one very useful. IG!PAY is just for fun! Enter some text and the screen displays a pig latin translation. SETUP will configure and test any Epson compatable printer (not just STAR printers) for margins, fonts, line spacing, etc. SETUP will also print out a list of embeded commands you can use in edit mode with almost any word processor to access some of your printer's special features. tinyteeny is a small word processor what prints very small letters on adding machine paper, just about the cheapest roll paper you can buy! PLUS!VIEW is a razzle-dazzle screen presentation of the features of PLUS!. It is said to be adaptable to other types of presentations. P! is only on the DSSD version of PLUS! since the disk is so full that there isn't room for P! on the flippy version. P! makes a cursor in the form of the PLUS! logo, a goose head. MULTICOLUMN allows you to print out text entered via a special TI-Writer template in neat two column side by side format. This is great for newsletter editors. GOTHIC allows you to print out really nice gothic lettering. SMALLIFY is a two step program that squeezes single line xbasic programs into very tight multiline format, saving lots of memory. SMALLIFY is better than several of the PD programs of this type I have seen, and is at least as good as SMASH, a commercial program sold a few years ago for this purpose. MAX-RLE is also part of the PLUS! package. With it you can print many many graphic pictures to the screen, dump them to your printer, and convert them from one "artist" format to another. A really good picture of Mickey Mouse (MICKEY) is included on the PLUS! disk so you can give MAX-RLE an immediate try. .IN +4 My general impressions of PLUS! Taken individually, none of the material found on the PLUS! disk is new. Tutorials on the creation of transliteration files for use in TI-Writer have been published in newsletters and in MICROPENDIUM. Information about using the graphics built into STAR printers has been published Jim Peterson in his TIPS columns and of course can be found (if you look very hard) in the printer owner's manual. XBASHER, a commercial program, will squeeze xbasic code tighter than SMALLIFY. A fairware assembly language screen dump is faster than INSTADUMP and will dump redefined characters. There are fairware packages of disk catalog and calendar programs that, because of the size of the package, will do more things than the similar programs found in the PLUS! package. Nevertheless, the combination of featues found in PLUS! makes it well worth the $10 fairware asking price. The asking price of each one of the commercial and fairware offerings mentioned in the this paragraph would equal or exceed the cost of the entire PLUS! package. Only in PLUS! can you find all this useful stuff all together in such an easy to use form at such a reasonable price. In spite of reading articles about making .IF and .TL templates, about TI-Writer's "special graphics mode", and about printer graphics, I never attempted to try these out before I got my hands on FUNLPLUS, the previous version of what is now PLUS!. The written descriptions of .TL files and printer graphics seemed too complicated. FUNLPLUS and PLUS! have taught me almost everything I know about the advanced use of of TI-Writer and printer graphcs. PLUS! is much improved over FUNLPLUS. The PLUS! templates are much more sophisticated and more logically organized than they were on on FUNLPLUS and all the PLUS! software works with a variety of printers. Some software on the older FUNLPLUS only worked properly if you used a Gemini 10X printer. It is all there on the PLUS! disk, templates, software, and tutorials on how to use everything. You don't have to type in any program listings and you don't have to do any trial and error creating unless you want to make your own custom templates. If you use TI-Writer alot and if you feel adequately skilled in the creation of custom .IF transliteration files and the use of your printer's built in graphics, and if you don't think you need any of the xbasic software found on the PLUS! disk than you don't need PLUS!. If you use TI-Writer alot and, like me 10 months ago, you are not making your own custom .TL templates to .IF into your text files, then you really will benefit from what PLUS! has to offer, particularly if you are using a STAR printer. The requested fairware donation is $10 for first time registered users, and $3 plus a disk and postage paid return mailer if you have previously paid for FUNLPLUS. Send your donation to: Jack Sughrue P.O. Box 459 East Douglas MA 01516 .PL 1