ù ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Ý Þ Ý D I S K S P O O L II Þ Ý Þ Ý (c) Copyright Þ Ý Budget Software Company Þ Ý P. O. Box 12282 Þ Ý 12162 E. Mississippi Ave. Þ Ý Aurora, CO 80012-3499 Þ Ý Þ Ý (303) 695-9095 Þ Ý Þ Ý Price: $34.00 Þ Ý Þ ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß W E L C O M E T O D I S K S P O O L II Use the PageUp, PageDown, and the  keys to move about this display. When you're ready to exit, press the ESC key. Welcome to DISK SPOOL II. There are several ways to get to know DISK SPOOL II better. First, every menu tier has a HELP selection. By pressing the letter 'H', help text pertaining to this tier will be displayed. Second, you can view the User's Guide by taking the 'L' (Learning) menu selection from the primary tier, and then the 'U' (User's Guide) menu selection. Lastly, a very good way to get to know DISK SPOOL II is to go into the configuration program (SP2CFG). As you move the cursor over the various options, a complete description of the option is shown at the bottom of the display. Please note that you may tailor the Help Text file (SP2.HLP) if you want to include your own helpful hints and information. To do so, simply go into your text editor, locate the menu tier, and add or change the text to suit your needs. DISK SPOOL II uses the first letter(s) of the menu keying sequence followed by a special control character in order to find the appropriate help text. Therefore, the only thing you need to worry about is not destroying these control lines. Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'S' (Spooling) -------------- Allows you to control the Spooler; namely, to enable it or to disable it. When Spooling is enabled, then data sent to LPT1, or to whichever port you designate (menu selections Values Spoolport) will be intercepted and re-routed to the "current" Spool File. Note that the top part of the pop-up menu tells you which file is the "current" Spool File. When Spooling is disabled, then all data goes directly to the output port, thus bypassing DISK SPOOL II altogether. Regarding the Spooler, there is another feature of DISK SPOOL II called Auto Spool File. With this feature enabled, DISK SPOOL II will automatically create a new spool file for each document. It senses the end-of-document by means of a time delay, the length of which you may designate using the configuration program SP2CFG. The (F)iles (L)ist menu option will show you all of the files that have been thus created. From this display, you can view the contents of a spooled file (or any other file, for that matter), delete a file, or designate a file to be printed. Auto Spool File places the spool files in the same directory that you have designated in configuration to be the default spool directory. So, if you utilize this feature, it is wise to configure a directory other than the root directory, since DOS places a restriction on the number of files that the root directory may contain. Important Note: Due to limitations in DOS, using a DOS command to effect printing does not work along with DISK SPOOL II. Do not, for example, use the PRINT command. Or, do not key in the command TYPE filespec > LPT1 to print text files. Use, rather, the command supplied on your diskette called SP2PRT. This will perform the same functions as using a DOS command ... namely, it will effect the printing of a text file. In fact, you can use this command whether or not spooling is enabled. Here are some examples: SP2PRT filespec LPT1 -- prints a file to LPT1 (and if DISK SPOOL II is spooling LPT1, it will re-direct the output to disk. SP2PRT filespec COM2 -- prints a file to COM2. SP2PRT filespec -- prints a file to LPT1. Note however, that if you cannot get away from using the TYPE or the COPY commands to effect printing, then load SP2 with an "L" command line parameter (Ex: SP2 L). This will create the largest possible internal buffer, and will therefore allow this many bytes to be spooled from within such a DOS command. The undesirable part of this, though, is that DISK SPOOL II will take up 64k of memory if loaded with the "L" command line parameter. 'D' (Despooling) ---------------- Allows you to control the Despooler. When the Despooler is enabled, it works in the background printing data contained in the "current" Despool File. The data is sent to the port that you have designated in the menu selection Values Despoolport. When the Despooler is disabled, then this does not take place. 'F' (Files) ----------- Allows you to perform functions pertaining to the spooled files; namely, to designate a different Spool File or Despool File; to display the contents of the "current" Spool or Despool Files; and to clear the data contained in either of these files. Additionaly, there is an option to List files. This option displays a list of files whose names meet a user definable selection criteria. And from this display, you can do things like selecting one or more of the files for viewing; deleting one or more files; and attaching the Spooler and/or the Despooler to one of the files. 'V' (Values) ------------ From this menu selection you are able to set various DISK SPOOL II configurations. These include, the ports that are to be spooled, the port to send despooled data to, and the "fine tune" values used to fine tune your printing speed. 'L' (Learning) -------------- Takes you to the menu tier from where you can display the User's Guide. Another selection from that tier, called TimingTests, lets you perform informative timing tests that enable you to clearly visualize the kind of time savings you receive by having a spooling environment. ùS ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (S)pooling ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ Allows you to enable to spooling process. Once spooling is enabled, data sent to any of the ports that you have designated from the Values Spoolport menu will be re-routed to the "current" Spool File. Note that the name of the "current" Spool File is displayed at the top part of the pop-up menu. If the Auto Spool File feature is enabled, then DISK SPOOL II will create a new file for each document printed. 'D' (Disable) ------------- Allows you to disable the spooling process. Any data sent to an LPT or a COM port will go directly to that port, thus bypassing DISK SPOOL II altogether. Note that the status of the spooling function does not affect what is happening with the despooling process. In other words, even though spooling may be disabled, you can still be despooling. In fact, if you have two printing devices, you could be despooling to one of them, while in the foreground -- with spooling disabled -- be printing to the other. In this manner, both printers will be active at the same time. 'A' (Autospool) --------------- With Auto Spool enabled, the Spooler will create a different spool file for every document that is printed. Go into the (F)iles (L)ist menu option to view a list of the files created. Then you can selectively take option 3 to attach the Despooler to any file that you wish printed. ùSA ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (S)pooling (A)utospool ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ With Auto Spool enabled, the Spooler will create a different file for each document printed. DISK SPOOL II determines when a document is done by means of a time delay whose value you can configure using SP2CFG. To view a list of the files thus created, take the (F)iles (L)ist menu selection. From that display, you can select files for viewing, for deleting, and for printing. Note that DISK SPOOL II places the spool files into the "default spool file directory" as designated in SP2CFG. If you choose to utilize the Auto Spool File feature, then it is wise to designate a different directory than the root directory, since DOS places a limit on the number of files that may reside in the root directory. 'D' (Disable) ------------- Disables the Auto Spool feature. Spooling reverts back to the file that was the current Spool File at the time the Auto Spool feature was enabled. ùD ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (D)espooling ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ Allows you to enable the despooling process. With despooling enabled, data contained in the "current" Despool File is sent to the port designated in the Values Despoolport menu selection. With despooling disabled, this process does not take place. Note that the despooling status is not tied to the spooling status. If, for example, spooling were enabled and despooling disabled, then data would be stored in the Spool File for printing at a later time, or on a different machine. One interesting note: generally, data is sent directly to the port designated at the Values Despoolport menu option. However, you may also direct the Despooler to send data to a disk file or to a device driver. One reason why you might want to despool to a disk file would be to feed the spooled data into a work processor or into a spread sheet. You see, DISK SPOOL II comes pre-configured to compress spooled data onto disk so that as little disk space as is necessary is taken up. You could change this configuration using the SP2CFG program, or you could simply despool to a disk file. A reason for wanting to despool to a device driver might be, for example, if instead of having spooled data be despooled directly to a port, you wanted to feed it into another process. A case where this would be appropriate is where your system is hooked up to a printer hardware sharing program, which program is expecting to receive data being sent to LPT1. If the despooler were sending data directly to the port, then it would bypass that program. So, to get around this, you despool instead to device driver LPT1. To despool to a disk file or to a device driver, you key in SP2 @xxxxxxxx, where the 'x's represent the name of the file or of the device driver. You can reconfigure DISK SPOOL II in this manner without having to take DISK SPOOL II out of memory. You can cancel this "redirecting of the Despooler" function by keying in SP2 @. 'D' (Disable) ------------- Allows you to disable the despooling process. With despooling disabled, background processing of the Despool File does not take place. Note that you can disable the despooler, and then pick up exactly where you left off by taking the Despooling Enable End menu option. This might be useful if you just wanted to quiet the printer while you did your work. Also, you can disable the Despooler, and then start it back up so that it begins printing at the beginning of the document that was currently printing. This is useful if you get a paper jam. Note that sometimes when you take the Disable option, a little time passes before the Despooler is actually stopped. This is so that it can finish what is currently in the despooler buffer. If you truly want to be able to instantaneously stop the Despooler, then go into the configuration program (SP2CFG) and disable the Compress feature. ùDE ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (D)espooling (E)nable ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'B' (Beginning) --------------- Tells the Despooler to start printing at the beginning of the "current" Despool File. 'D' (Document) -------------- Tells the Despooler to start printing at the beginning of the "current" document of the "current" Despool File. To understand what this means, you must first understand a little about how DISK SPOOL II functions. If after spooling data, a certain amount of time elapses before another character is spooled, DISK SPOOL II places a special control character out in the Spool File. The Despooler keeps track of where it encountered such a control character, thus enabling it to know where to start printing when you take this menu option. You can configure the length of the elapse time by using SP2CFG. This menu option is particularly useful when your printer jams. 'E' (End) --------- Tells the Despooler to pick up exactly where it last left off. You may, for instance, want to disable despooling in order to quiet the printer, or to change the ribbon. Then you can pick right up where you left off by taking this menu selection. Note that there is another very useful way of designating where the Despooler is to begin printing. You can start the Despooler at any spot you wish within the Despool File by taking the Files Display Despooler menu selection, positioning the display to where you want to begin printing, and then pressing the 'P' key. ùF ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (F)iles ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'A' (Attach) ------------ The "current" Spool and/or Despool Files may be changed by taking this menu selection. 'L' (List) ---------- A list of files out on disk may be displayed by taking this menu selection. From this list, files may be attached to the Spooler and/or the Despooler, files may be deleted, and files may be viewed. By default, when this list first is first displayed, only those files on the current drive and in the current directory are shown. By pressing F6, you may designate different scan criteria. An extremely useful feature of DISK SPOOL II is that if it should happen that your disk drive fills up while spooling is taking place, then DISK SPOOL II automatically takes you to this display, thus enabling you to make more room on the drive by deleting one or more files; or enabling you to designate a different drive to continue spooling on. 'D' (Display) ------------- Allows you to display the contents of the "current" Spool or Despool file. 'C' (Clear) ----------- Allows you to clear the "current" Spool or Despool file. Note that DISK SPOOL II really does shrink the file down to 33 bytes. Thus your valuable disk space is not taken up. There are other ways that your Spool and/or Despool files can be cleared: -- You can always use DOS' DEL command. Don't worry if you delete the "current" Spool File. DISK SPOOL II will create a new one if it needs to. -- You can configure DISK SPOOL II to clear the "current" Spool and Despool files if, upon loading the program into memory, it senses that these files have been completely despooled. This is the way DISK SPOOL II comes configured. -- You can configure DISK SPOOL II to dynamically resize the "current" Despool File as it get despooled. This is the option to take if you do a heavy amount of printing, or if you are limited to disk space. ùFA ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (F)iles (A)ttach ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'D' (Despooler) --------------- Enables you to designate which file to despool from. 'S' (Spooler) ------------- Enables you to designate the name of the file to spool to. An interesting designation is to leave out the drive id and/or the path. In this manner DISK SPOOL II will create a spool file in whichever drive/directory it currently finds itself. This is a good way to keep spooled files segregated. ùFC ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (F)iles (C)lear ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'D' (Despooler) --------------- Enables you to clear the "current" Despool File. 'S' (Spooler) ------------- Enables you to clear the "current" Spool File. ùFD ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (F)iles (D)isplay ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'D' (Despooler) --------------- Enables you to display the contents of the "current" Despool File. From that display, you can instruct the Despooler to begin printing at any location in the file by first positioning the top line of the display to where you wish to begin printing, and then pressing the 'P' key. 'S' (Spooler) ------------- Enables you to display the contents of the "current" Spool File. ùL ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (L)earning ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'U' (UserGuide) --------------- Display the User's Guide (found in file SP2.DOC). 'T' (TimingTests) ----------------- This is a very interesting and powerful means of demonstrating the effectiveness of a spooling environment. By enabling the timing tests, you can easily visualize the time savings involved with a spooling environment. DISK SPOOL II will show you the amount of time it took to print something without spooling and the amount of time it took with spooling. ùLT ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (L)earning (T)imingtests ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ By taking this menu selection, you are instructing DISK SPOOL II to maintain spooling vs. non-spooling statistics. You can view these statistics by taking the 'O' (Open) menu selection. 'D' (Disable) ------------- This menu selection instructs DISK SPOOL II to suspend the statistics. The values obtained thus far are not erased. 'O' (Open) ---------- Open the timing tests statistics window. This window will be maintained and shown on the display even when you exit the pop-up menu. 'C' (Close) ----------- Close the timing tests statistics window. If the timing tests statistics are Enabled, then they will still be maintainted, even though the window is not open. 'S' (SpoReset) --------------- Resets the "Spooling mode" statistics back to 0. 'N' (NonspoReset) ----------------- Resets the "Non-spooling mode" statistics back to 0. ùV ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (V)alues ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: Please note: The Outbytes and the Retry values are used for fine tuning DISK SPOOL II for your system. Refer to the User's Guide for exact instructions on how to determine the appropriate settings for you. Note, however, that you can configure DISK SPOOL II's Despool Method to "Hardware Interrupts". This configuration results in the fastest and most efficient despooling possible. It just so happens, however, that certain LPT hardware do not support this despooling method. If, upon configuring "Hardware Interrupts" you encounter unbearably slow printing, then you should use a different despool method. The next best method to try is Auto Calc Retry. Using this method, simply determine the best Outbytes setting, and the computer will compute dynamically the appropriate Retry value. To determine the best Outbytes setting, simply start something printing, then use the (V)alue (O)utbytes menu option to change the Outbytes value during printing. You will notice the printer slow down as the Outbytes value is decreased. The best value for Outbytes is the lowest one that maintains normal printing speed. If neither the "Hardware Interrupts" or the "Auto Calc Retry" despool methods are giving you satisfactory results, then set the despool method to "Manual Fine Tune" and then refer to the section of the User's Guide (or SP2.DOC) section entitled Fine Tuning. 'O' (Outbytes) -------------- If your despool method is configured to "Hardware Interrupts", then this value has no meaning, since with this setting, the printer device itself drives the despooling process. Otherwise, the Outbytes value represents the number of bytes of data that the computer is going to try to send at each "timer tick", which "timer tick" occurs approximately 18 times per second. 'R' (Retry) ----------- Like the Outbytes value, if your despool method is configured to "Hardware Interrupts", then this value has no meaning, since the printer device totally drives the despool process. Otherwise, this value represents a relative amount of time that DISK SPOOL II will wait if it has not succeeded yet in sending Outbytes number of bytes during the "timer tick" before trying to send the the next byte. 'S' (Spoolport) --------------- This selection enables you to designate one or many ports that DISK SPOOL II is to spool. When a port is so designated, then any data sent to that port is re-routed to the Spool File. The COM1 Input and the COM2 Input designations allow you to intercept and reroute data coming in from an external source. DISK SPOOL II will route this data to a seperate file from the Spool File; namely, if the data came from COM1 the file name used is MONCOM1 and it is placed in the same directory and with the same file extension as the defaults of the Spool File. In a similar manner, if the data came from COM2, it is placed in MONCOM2. 'D' (Despoolport) ----------------- This selection enables you to designate the port that the Despooler is to send data out to. The "Despool to whichever port was spooled" option instructs the Despooler to sent the data to the same port from which it was intercepted by the Spooler. ùzzzzz