APPLICATION NOTE #105: USING XYWRITE WITH A QMS KISS LASER PRINTER Rev. 01 RELATED FILE: 3KISS.PRN The KISS is a low-cost, 300-dot-per-inch laser printer that is marketed by QMS, Inc. It is designed to offer the high-quality output of a laser printer at an affordable price. Using XyWrite, you can take full advantage of the printer's capabilities and produce near-typeset quality text. THE KISS PRINTING MODES The KISS printer offers four printing modes. Three of the modes emulate other popular printers such as the Epson FX, the Diablo, and Qume Sprint. When used in one of these modes, the KISS works exactly as if it were that printer, which makes it easy for software to support. However, the KISS cannot use its 300-dot-per-inch resolution when emulating another printer. The KISS's fourth mode, the ANSI mode, does not emulate any printer. Instead, it uses the KISS's native language to drive the printer, which allows it to do everything it was designed to do but makes it much more complicated to support. Unlike most other software manufacturers, XyQuest has chosen to support the KISS in its native ANSI mode to ensure you get the most out of your printer. HOW TO SET UP KISS TO WORK WITH XYWRITE First, unpack your KISS and follow the manufacturer's instructions for setting it up and connecting it to your computer. Next, you must tell XyWrite that you will be using a KISS printer. If you are installing XyWrite for the first time, choose the KISS option from the printer menu when it appears during the installation routine. XyWrite will automatically configure itself to work with the KISS without any further changes. If XyWrite is already installed, you must copy the proper printer file to your working XyWrite disk. If you have a two-floppy system, put the XyWrite Printer Disk in drive A and your working copy of XyWrite in drive B. Then, at the A> prompt: Type: copy a:3kiss.prn b:/v When done, DOS displays the message "1 File(s) Copied." Remove the Printer Disk from drive A and insert your modified working copy. If you have a hard disk system, change to your XyWrite sub-directory. Then insert the XyWrite Printer Disk in drive A and, at the C> prompt: Type: copy a:3kiss.prn c:/v Next, you must modify XyWrite's initialization file, STARTUP.INT. Start XyWrite and then call STARTUP.INT to the screen. Locate the line that reads: BC loadÿ20xxxxxx.prn where xxxxxx.prn is the name of a printer file. Erase this name and substitute 3KISS.PRN. Store the file and quit XyWrite. The next time XyWrite starts, you will be able to use your KISS printer. USING THE KISS'S BUILT-IN FONTS The KISS comes with nine fonts already defined in its memory. There are seven portrait fonts (vertical or normal orientation) and two landscape fonts (horizontal or sideways orientation). Without modifying the 3KISS.PRN file, you can use all seven of the portrait fonts. You access these fonts by using XyWrite's PT (Print Type) command. (See Chapter 4 of the XyWrite III Reference Guide for more information on the PT command.) The following table lists the PT commands for the portrait fonts currently defined in 3KISS.PRN: PT 1 Epson Pica (10 pitch) PT 2 Epson Elite (12 pitch) PT 3 Epson Compressed (16 pitch) PT 4 Q-Format 16 point (7 pitch) PT 5 Prestige Elite and Prestige Elite Italic (12 pitch) PT 6 Courier (10 pitch) Notice that two fonts are associated with PT5. Use the normal mode to access Prestige Elite and bold reverse mode to access Prestige Elite Italic. To use the landscape fonts, make a copy of the 3KISS.PRN file. Name the copy 3KISSLND.PRN. Call the new file to the screen and locate the following line near the beginning of the file: FB<{ESC}[1;0r{ESC}[1y{ESC}[0p{ESC}[{ASC-11}h{ESC}[;;3;60w This is the File Begin statement. It sends initialization codes to the printer before printing a XyWrite file. The code "[0p" tells the printer to use KISS portrait mode. To use landscape mode, change the "[0p" to "[1p." The new FB line should look like this: FB<{ESC}[1;0r{ESC}[1y{ESC}[1p{ESC}[{ASC-11}h{ESC}[;;3;60w After you modify the FB line, move the cursor to the PT=4 table. Change the font name on each line of the table from "Q-Format16" to "Lÿ2DQÿ2DFormat5." Then locate the PT=6 table and change the font name on each line from "Courier" to "L-Courier." When you are finished, save the new file to disk. To activate the new printer file: Type: F5load 3kisslnd.prn When you are editing a document, use the PT=4 command for Q-Format Landscape and the PT=6 command for Landscape Courier. Do not use any other PT command when this printer file is active. USING DOWNLOADABLE FONTS In addition to its built-in fonts, the KISS can also use downloadable fonts. These fonts are stored on diskettes and are loaded into the printer from your computer. XyWrite currently supports most version 1.0 KISS font sets manufactured by The Laser Connection, a division of QMS. (We plan to support version 2.0 in the near future.) The KISS has a limited amount of memory for downloadable fonts, approximately 90K. You can load only one or two version 1.0 fonts into the printer's memory at a time. (Version 2.0 fonts are compressed, so you will be allowed to load three or four at a time.) The downloadable fonts used by the KISS are very easy to load into the printer. Before you start XyWrite, turn your KISS on and wait until it ejects its diagnostic page. Insert a Laser Connection font disk in drive A. At the A> prompt: Type: copy fontfile lpt1: where fontfile is the name of the font you want to download. For example, to load the 10-point Hamilton proportional font: Type: copy 824P10.por lpt1: Depending on the size of the font file, it may take from 30 seconds to two minutes to load the font. Don't be alarmed if your computer appears to have stop functioning. This is normal while the font is loading. You will regain control once the file has been loaded. Remove the font disk and load XyWrite as you usually do. To use the font you have loaded, you must make a one-time modification to the 3KISS.PRN file (if a portrait font) or the 3KISSLND.PRN file (if a landscape font). Once again, the modification involves working with the PT tables. This time, you need to create new PT tables. The 3KISS.PRN file for XyWrite 3.0x has six PT tables while the 3.1x version has eight PTs. (You can have up to 11 PT tables in XyWrite 3.0x and up to 30 in XyWrite 3.1x.) First, call the appropriate printer file to the screen and examine the beginning of the file. All of the fonts XyWrite supports are listed there. Write down the exact name of the font you want to add. Do not use the name The Laser Connection gives to the file. You must use XyWrite's name! Scroll down the file until you get to the PT tables. Using the block define keys, define one of the tables in its entirety. Move the cursor to the end of the PT section and press F7 to copy the block. Press F3 to release the defined block. Change the number of the new PT table so that it is one higher than the previous one. If the previous table is PT=7, the new table will be PT=8. Now, change the font name in the table to match the font you want to use. Do this on all the lines of the table. When you are finished, save the file and quit XyWrite. When you restart XyWrite, use the appropriate PT command to print your document in your chosen font. SELECTING PAPER INPUT By default, the QMS KISS printer uses automatic paper feed. (The size of the paper is determined by the size of the cassette.) If you prefer, there is a manual feed option that lets you print on a variety of paper sizes. To use this option, add one of the following codes to the end of the FB (File Begin) statement in the printer file. {ESC}[1;0x Selects manual feed, A4 (European) paper size {ESC}[1;1x Selects manual feed, B5 (European) paper size {ESC}[1;2x Selects manual feed, legal paper size {ESC}[1;3x Selects manual feed, standard paper size {ESC}[1;4x Selects manual feed, mini paper size Once you have modified the printer file, store it and load it into memory. The option you select remains in effect until you change the FB statement and reload the printer file. (See Note #1.) Note #1 PC (Printer Control) Table. If you are using XyWrite III or III Plus, you might want to set up a PC table in your printer file for the codes that change the paper feed selections. If so, you should include the code to reset the QMS KISS to automatic feed and the default paper size: {ESC}[0;x You can then easily change options by embedding the appropriate PC commands in your document. (See Chapter 4 of the XyWrite Reference Guide for more information.)