STAR24E.DOC
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The Epson (ADI) Printer Driver
(STAR24E.EXE 1.0) for AutoCAD (TM) ADI (TM)
Copyright 1989, 1990, Autodesk, Inc.
Revision 1.0
April 27, 1992
License is granted for the use of this software and documentation
on a no-charge, sharing basis. You may distribute and copy this
software freely as long as it remains a completely unaltered
package and is not sold for profit.
INTRODUCTION
This document explains the installation and use of STAR24E.EXE ver
1.0, an Autodesk Device Interface (ADI) driver designed to run
with STAR 24 pin printers in conjunction with AutoCAD. This driver
was developed by STAR Micronics Deutschland GmbH and does not represent
an endorsement of any particular product, including any of the STAR printers.
Autodesk, Inc. makes no warranty, either expressed or implied,
including but not limited to any implied warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, regarding
these materials and makes such materials available on an "as-is"
basis.
HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
The hardware requirements specific to using the STAR24E printer ADI
driver with AutoCAD.
o This driver is suitable for use with all 24 pin STAR
printers in the "LC24 and "XB24" series, but some printers can't
use all of the options provided by the driver. For example, a
narrow carriage printer can't handle wide plots and some
models can't print in color. Please refer to your STAR
user's manual for details.
o A parallel card and cable is required as described in the
AutoCAD Installation & Performance Guide.
o Serial output is not supported because the time required to
plot would be unacceptably long.
HARDWARE INSTALLATION
The STAR printer must be connected to the computer with a
standard Centronics-type parallel cable. Chapter 8 of the
AutoCAD Installation & Performance Guide contains all the
information regarding pin connections and switch settings.
COPYING THE DRIVER SOFTWARE
The STAR24E printer ADI (ver 1.0) driver for AutoCAD is 16k bytes
long. The disk also contains a file STAR24E.HLP for on-line command line
options. You will probably want to install the driver in the
same directory where you store AutoCAD. Here's how to copy the
driver software onto your hard disk. (The example assumes an
AutoCAD directory is on drive C and is named ACAD).
1. Change to the directory where you store AutoCAD:
C:> CD ACAD [Return]
2. Insert the ADI Driver diskette in drive A.
3. Copy the driver files to your hard disk:
C:> COPY A:STAR24E.* [Return]
INSTALLING THE ADI STAR24E DRIVER
The AutoCAD STAR printer ADI driver must be installed (loaded
into memory) prior to entering AutoCAD. It is a "terminate and
stay resident" (TSR) software program which can use up to 77K of
RAM depending on how it is configured. Once loaded, it remains
in memory until you turn off or reboot your computer.
To install the driver:
C:> STAR24E [Return]
The STAR ADI driver will then be installed with the following
defaults:
o Interrupt 7b(hex)
o Monochrome
o 180 x 180 Dots per inch print density
o 8" Paper width
o Output directly to printer
o Input from AutoCAD
o form feed after every plot
To change this setup, you can choose to include one or more
options on the command line. These options are:
-lx parallel port x
-f plot from a file -v interrupt # -c color -p no form feed
-o plot to a file -w wide paper -8 8 pins -dx density x
To install the driver to do color printer plots (if your STAR is
color capable and you have the color ribbon installed):
C:> STAR24E -C [Return]
(default is monochrome)
To set the horizontal plot density
C:> STAR24E -Dx [Return] (where x is 1 to 6 in the following table):
(default is 180 x 180)
x Horizontal Vertical
Density Density
1 60 180
2 90 180
3 120 180
4 180 180
5* 360 180
6** 360 360
*Note: Option -D5, when combined with the color option, -C, is limited
to plots less than 11.3 inches in width, when plotting from AutoCAD 386.
**Note: Option -D6 is not available as a installed TSR in color
mode.
You can also install the driver to write plot files directly to
your disk drive for later printing (this will create a file named
'fname' on your default drive for later printing). This is
useful for printing multiple copies of a plot. See the section
titled "OUTPUTTING STAR24E PRINTER FILES FOR DIRECT PRINTING FROM
DISK" for more details:
C:> STAR24E -Ofname [Return]
You can use the driver to read AutoCAD Binary printer plot files
directly from your disk drive. This allows you to use plotting
modes which would use too much memory for plotting from AutoCAD
as a TSR. This option does not install the driver as a TSR, and
may be used repeatedly. See the section titled "USE AS A
POSTPROCESSOR" for more details:
C:> STAR24E -Ffname [Return]
Note: These filenames must conform to DOS standards.
To install the driver for printing on wide paper (will create a
plot up to 13.6" wide):
C:> STAR24E -W [Return]
(default is 8")
To install the driver to only use 8 pins of the print head (will
require much less the RAM for the TSR, but will print more
slowly):
C:> STAR24E -8 [Return]
(default is the 24 pins)
To install the driver to use a different parallel port:
C:> STAR24E -Lx [Return] (where x is the new port assignment 1, 2 or 3)
(default is LPT1)
To install the driver to not send a form feed after each plot:
C:> STAR24E -P [Return]
(default is a form feed after every plot)
To install the driver for a different interrupt vector (default
is 7B hex):
C:> STAR24E -Vxx [Return] (where xx is the new interrupt number)
To display a list of these options:
C:> STAR24E -H or -? [Return] Prints a help message from star24e.hlp
To install the driver using a combination of the above options:
C:> STAR24E -Oplotdata.plt -c -v7b -8 This will do the following:
1. Create a plot file 'plotdata.plt' of your drawing on your
default drive for plotting at a later time.
2. Make a color print of the plot.
3. The interrupt vector will be 78 (in hex).
4. Will only use 8 pins.
MEMORY REQUIREMENTS FOR DIFFERENT CONFIGURATIONS
RAM Memory required by driver (8" wide plot)
n density Black & White Color
-----------------------------------------------------------
X x Y
1 = 60 x 180 dpi 19k 27k
2 = 90 x 180 dpi 20k 26k
3 = 120 x 180 dpi 20k 29k
4 = 180 x 180 dpi (default) 22k 35k
5 = 360 x 180 dpi 26k 52k
6 = 360 x 360 dpi 35k n/a
RAM memory required for wide carriage (13.6" wide plot)
n density Black & White Color
-----------------------------------------------------------
X x Y
1 = 60 x 180 dpi 20k 28k
2 = 90 x 180 dpi 21k 33k
3 = 120 x 180 dpi 22k 38k
4 = 180 x 180 dpi (default) 25k 48k
5 = 360 x 180 dpi 32k 78k
6 = 360 x 360 dpi 47k n/a
** Note: There are only 2 densities in the vertical direction.
If you do not have AutoCAD and this driver configured for the
same dots per inch, your drawing may be expanded or compressed in
the y-axis.
** Note: Each time you type in the command STAR24E (except for the
special case of the "F" option for plotting binary files),
another copy of the driver software is loaded into memory, using
up to 82k more bytes of RAM. You need to "reboot" the system (to
clear out the any copies of STAR24E.EXE).
CONFIGURING AUTOCAD FOR THE STAR24E 24 PIN PRINTER DRIVER It is
necessary to reconfigure AutoCAD for an installed ADI printer
plotter driver. You will only need to do this before you want to
use the STAR24E ADI driver for the first time, or when you change the
paper width or the horizontal or the vertical plot densities of
your STAR ADI. Note the present configuration of STAR24E.EXE when
you install it. AutoCAD's printer plotter configuration
densities must be equal for your plots to be correct.
Reconfigure AutoCAD for an installed printer plotter ADI driver <2>.
Be sure that you:
1. Select output format as an Installed ADI driver <2>.
2. Set the maximum horizontal (X) plot size in inches.
These values are 7.99" for the standard size or 13.59"
for the wide carriage printers. The vertical (Y) axis
should be set to your paper size, 10.5 is a good value.
3. Set the density equal to the installed density of the
driver STAR24E.EXE. If AutoCAD's density (dots/inch) is
greater, your drawing will be expanded along that axis
and may be clipped. If the drivers density is greater,
your drawing will be compressed along that axis.
4. The vertical or y-axis has only 2 densities, 180
dots/inch and 360 dpi. For most printer plotting, 180
dpi should be fine.
See the Chapter 8, the printer configuration section of the
Installation & Performance Guide to AutoCAD, Chapter 13 of your
main Reference Manual for AutoCAD details, and your STAR24E Users
guide for printer details.
AutoCAD will now be configured to do a printer plot using the
installed STAR24E ADI driver.
CREATING PRINTER PLOTS WITH THE STAR24E 24 PIN PRINTER DRIVER
To send plots to the STAR printer from AutoCAD's drawing editor
select Plot then Printer from the AutoCAD menu or type 'prplot'
at the command line. From AutoCAD's Main Menu select Printer
Plot <4>. Make sure your printer is connected, turned on and on
line and hit return when ready. Your plot will be produced on
your STAR 24 pin printer.
** Note: printer plots take a long time to produce, so don't
worry if nothing happens for a while. They can take a very long
time depending on the complexity of the drawing, if you chose
color or if the plot density is high.
OUTPUTTING STAR24E PRINTER FILES FOR DIRECT PRINTING FROM DISK
You may wish to create a file that may be printed multiple times
directly from disk. You can do this with the DOS copy command
without running AutoCAD or STAR24E driver after the file is created.
CAUTION: This option should be used with care. It is possible to
create a file larger than 8 Megabytes if all the settings are at
their maximum. If it is used with some thought it will produce
good results.
Here is an example:
Say you want to produce a 360 x 180 dpi color plot of the
site-3d.dwg on 13.59" wide paper.
Install the STAR24E ADI printer driver by typing:
C:> STAR24E -d5 -Osite-3d.eps -C -W [Return]
Configure AutoCAD as a ADI printer at 360 x 180 dpi, and a
horizontal width of 13.59". Run AutoCAD and printer plot the
site-3d.dwg file. The file site-3d.eps will be created on the
default disk for later printing from the command line.
Note that the combination of -W, -C and -d5 won't allow you to plot
beyond 11.3" width with AutoCAD 386, so you'll need to lower the
plot width if you use AutoCAD 386.
You can print the file from the DOS command line by typing:
C:> COPY SITE-3D.EPS PRN /B [Return]
In the above example, if you plotted the <E>xtents it would
create a file of 3 Megabytes and would take over an hour to be
produced on a IBM system 30. But if you created a file of the
<D>isplay at 180 x 180 dpi for 7.99" wide paper by typing the
following:
C:> STAR24E -C -Osite-3d.eps
the file site-3d.eps would be only .3 Megabytes. The creation
time for this file is only 5 minutes on an AT clone running at 10
Mhz.
USE AS A POSTPROCESSOR
The ADI driver STAR24E.EXE can work as a postprocessor, reading
AutoCAD ADI binary files from your disk and sending them directly
to the printer. Printer plot to an ADI binary printer file from
AutoCAD. Then, when the Autodesk product is no longer running, you
may use STAR24E.EXE to plot from the binary file to your STAR printer.
Here's an example:
You want to produce a 360x360 dpi color plot of site-3d.dwg on
13.59" wide paper. First you run AutoCAD's configuration program
to select the ADI Printer, plot to binary file, 360x360 dots per
inch, and 13.6" horizontal paper width. Use the PRPLOT command
in AutoCAD. This produces a binary printer plot file called
"site-3d.prp". Next, exit AutoCAD and plot the drawing by
invoking:
STAR24E -Fsite-3d.prp -C -D6 -W
This will cause STAR24E.EXE to make a plot of the contents of the file
"site-3d.prp" in color at 360 x 360 dpi on wide paper. When the
plot is done, STAR24E.EXE will vanish from memory (it does not install
itself as it would if you wanted to plot directly from AutoCAD).
**Note: If you added -Osite-3d.epp to the above command line,
the data wouldn't be sent to the printer but a file named
site-3d.epp would be created. See the above section titled
"OUTPUTTING STAR24E PRINTER FILES FOR DIRECT PRINTING FROM DISK"
for details.
NOTES ON OPERATION: AutoCAD TIPS AND HINTS for the STAR24E ADI Driver
1. If you will use the STAR24E ADI driver with every session of
AutoCAD, you may want to place the STAR24E.EXE command in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file with the correct options set, because you
must install the Printer driver after every reset of your
system.
2. The Printer must be connected, turned on, and on line before
you plot a file using the STAR24E ADI driver.
3. Do not turn the Printer on and off in the middle of a
plotting session. An error message will be displayed if you
try to use the ADI STAR24E driver while the Printer is turned off.
4. If you're using the tractor feed, make sure you've advanced
the paper far enough for the paper bail contact the platen.
5. Only Colors numbered 1 through 7 are printed, colors 8 to 15
are converted to black (#7), so, don't use colors numbered
greater than seven.
6. You will find that high density and/or color plots take much
longer to complete than low density and/or monochrome plots.
7. Note that the different density options use different amounts
of memory in your computer. High density plots need a lot of
memory. They also take a long time to complete! Color adds
greatly to the memory and time requirements. Memory used up
by drivers is subtracted from the memory your drawings need
when you run AutoSketch. AutoCAD doesn't have that problem,
but there still is limited memory available for use by
drivers. The highest density color modes use so much memory
that it isn't possible to plot directly from AutoCAD, so this
driver offers an optional file input mode.
8. AutoCAD 386 places a limitation on real mode ADI printer plotter
drivers such as this one. A maximum of 4096 color pixels can
be printed in the X direction. If you configure this driver
for TSR operation, color, density 5 (180x360dpi) and wide
paper, you must limit the width of the plot to less than 11.3".
This limitation is not necessary with 640k DOS AutoCAD.
AutoCAD and ADI are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. IBM,
PC, XT, AT are trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation.
