Re: GS and Laserprinters: A Saga

[nathan@cco.caltech.edu (Nathan Mates)]

In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.950807101225.29391A-100000@bingsun2>,
 <slandry@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu> wrote:
>	Some time ago I started in to connect a Hewlett-Packard 
>LaserjetII+ printer to my II GS.

   So far, so good.

> Apple dealers were uniformly 
>discouraging (despite the fact that Gregg Keizer in "A+" for April 1992 
>states uneqivocally that it can be done), and HP folks were intrigued but 
>unhelpful. I got a Vitesse Harmonie driver disk which advertises that it
>driver the HP LaserjetII, but does not specify the II+ ( which Keizer's 
>article does.)

   That is a GS/OS set of drivers for printers. Thus, only programs
that are GS aware and coded properly (unlike say Print Shop GS) can
take advantage of them. 

>	I used a "Q" analogue to the old Grapler+ parallel interface card 
>and succeeded in establishing handshaking with the printer. However I 
>could only get the default type face and font (Courier 12-point), 
>and I had problems with certain Appleworks commands (notably 
>Underline Begin) transmitting false code for unwanted characters 
>and line feeds.

   You mention Appleworks here, but then start talking about codes
for "underline begin" and the like. This is the source of most of your
problems: Appleworks (versions 1.0 - 5.1) is not a GS program. It's
a general Apple II (//e, //c, //c+) program that happens to be running
on your GS. It does not know how to properly take advantage of the
GUI or extended functionality of the GS, and thus the Vitesse drivers
don't apply here.


> By use of special codes, I was able to correct most 
>of this, but I still could not understand why I could not call up any 
>of the screens that would let me set type parameters, or why the 
>command "Print" under "File" on the Finder was perpetually  dimmed.

   Two very distinct things here. What's this "type parameters" that
you're trying to set? Font and size? Plain Appleworks doesn't do that
sort of stuff; it pretty much assumes you have one font per
document. You could use the printer codes in a sneaky way, byhaving a
mostly unused function (say proportional text on/off) to switch
between two fonts and sizes.

   The Finder for the GS doesn't print stuff. That menu item is always
dimmed. Probably some human interface guideline that said that Print
always had to be present, even if it's always dimmed and will only
confuse people into thinking it might someday become undimmed. I would
have axed the item if it never worked, personally. Try some other
GS/OS program that can print, like Teach, and see if you can print
from there.  That'll tell you if your Vitesse drivers are working.


>	Vitesse was not helpful, but perusal of their manual implied 
>that I needed to be in a GSOS based applicaton, and of course, even the
>latest version of Appleworks (5, which I was using) is in Prodos 8. 

   Quite correct. This should have been a really simple thing to
answer over the phone, as long as you said "Appleworks," not
"Appleworks GS." Appleworks GS (AWGS) is a GS/OS program that has a
neat GUI, etc over some mostly functional code.

>It was 
>then I noticed on the desktop that comes up on System 6.1 an ikon labeled, 
>"AWGS Install" When I clicked it, I got a telephone number from 
>which to obtain the 1.1 version of Appleworks GS *which up to that 
>point I had never heard of*!

   That program is not part of System 6.0.1. It was put on your system
from somewhere. Did you know what AWGS was before you used that install
program? Do you have any clue what put that program on your system?
AWGS has been out for at least 5 years; how much information about the
Apple II world have you been getting?

   AWGS is a GS/OS program that provides a Word Processor, Database,
Spreadsheet, Page Layout, Graphics Design, and Communications module
in one program. Version 1.0 is kinda buggy and should be
avoided. Version 1.1 is fairly stable, and I use it for general
wordprocessing on my GS. The version numbers of AWGS and regular
Appleworks don't have anything to do with each other; 1.1 is the
latest AWGS, and 5.1 is the latest Appleworks. The two programs do not
share any code between them, and in ahort are two completely separate
beasts.

>	To make a long story short, everything now works like a charm, 
>but I am left with a feeling of bafflement. If Quality makes and 
>sells Appleworks GS, why does it only advertise Appleworks 5?  And if 
>Vitesse sells a driver that requires this version, why does its maunals 
>carefully conceal this fact? 

   Quality does not make AWGS. It sells it, or at least used to. AW 5
was, however, done by them, and provides a lot of features and such in
its own right. Thus, to recoup their investment, Quality advertises AW
5.  Vitesse's manuals mention that you must be in a GS/OS program well
enough for you to find it and mention it above. Vitesse's stuff does
not require AWGS (any version) to my knowledge.

Nathan Mates
-- 
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
# And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the
# Kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in 
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