ù ÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜÜ Ý Þ Ý D I S K S P O O L II v2.05 Þ Ý ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ Þ Ý (c) Copyright 1986,1990 ÚÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄ¿ ³ (tm) Þ Ý Budget Software Company Äij ³o ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Þ Ý P. O. Box 12282 ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÁÐÄÄ¿ ³ Association of Þ Ý 12162 E. Mississippi Ave. ³ ³ ³ÄÙ Shareware Þ Ý Aurora, CO 80012-3499 ÀÄÄij o ³ Professionals Þ Ý ÄÄÄÄÄij º ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ Þ Ý (303) 695-9095 CompuServe 70033,643 ÀÄÄÄÄÐÄÄÄÄÙ MEMBER Þ Ý Þ ßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßßß 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. INTRODUCTION ------------ 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 (Also, you can print the User's Guide ... it's the file SP2.DOC). 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 preceded by a special control character (that looks like a period when displayed interactively) 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 (refer to (V)alues (S)poolport menu selection) 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. With the SP2.COM version of DISK SPOOL II, you can also spool data being sent to a COM port from an external source. This "COM port monitoring" function takes place in the background. 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. By default, it will create the spool file with the following attributes: Copies - 1 Despool Port - The Despool Port as designated in the configuration program (SP2CFG). SAVE status - If the Dynamic Resize parameter as designated in the configuration program is set to YES, then the file will be deleted after printing. Otherwise, it will be saved. HOLD status - NO (refer to the discussion about Auto Despool in the section just below where option 'D' Despool is described.) However, you may use the file SP2.DAT to override these default values. In SP2.DAT key in a line for each program application you wish to override. The following example overrides the default attributes for any spool file created by the application SP2PRT: SP2PRT COPIES:2 SAVE:Y HOLD:N PORT:LPT1 DISK SPOOL II senses the end-of-document by two means: - A time delay (the length of which you may designate using the configuration program SP2CFG). or, - When an application ends. 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, designate a file to be printed, or change the attributes. Auto Spool files are placed 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. And, 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 sending data to the output port. When the Despooler is disabled, then this does not take place. There are two different modes of operation regarding the Despooler: Auto Despool enabled, or disabled. With Auto Despool disabled, then the Despooler is "attached" to only one file. If you spool data into that file, the Despooler will print from it. You may manually "attach" the Despooler to a different file by taking the (F)iles (A)ttach (D)espooler menu sequence, or by keying a 3 next to a file from within the (F)iles (L)ist display. With Auto Despool enabled, as soon as the Despooler finishes with one file, it looks for the another one to print. Auto Despool goes hand-in-hand with the Auto Spool function described just above. With Auto Spool, seperate files are created for each application. The Autodespooler then prints these files. Any file that is not HELD (or "finished") is available for printing. If a file is HELD, you may release it by keying a 6 next to it from within the (F)iles (L)ist display. '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. Additionally, 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 change various DISK SPOOL II values. These include, the ports that are to be spooled, the port to send despooled data to, and the printer speed values. 'L' (Learning) -------------- Takes you to the menu tier from where you can display the User's Guide. Another selection from that tier, called TimingTests, gives you the ability to do both Spooling and Despooling timing tests. In the case of Spooling timing tests, you can see how long it takes to spool a document with DISK SPOOL II versus the time it takes to print the same document without spooling enabled. This timing test gives you a way of measuring the effectiveness of a spooling environment on your machine. In the case of Despooling, the timing tests show you how quickly DISK SPOOL II is despooling information versus how quickly data is printed in a non-spooling environment. It literally shows bytes/second averages for data being printed out. This timing test function can also be used to fine tune your despooling speed. (See the chapter in the User's Guide entitled Fine Tuning Printer Speed for more information.) 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 (V)alues (S)poolport 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. (Note: another more affective means of driving multiple printer devices at the same time is to load multiple copies of DISK SPOOL II into memory at the same time. Refer to the User's Guide under the chapter Other Features of DISK SPOOL II for further information.) 'A' (Autospool) --------------- With Auto Spool enabled, the Spooler will create a different spool file for every document that is printed. With Auto Spool disabled, data is spooled to the "current" Spool file. Refer to the Help text in the (S)pooling (A)utospool tier for a more detailed discussion of the Auto Spool function. ùSA ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (S)pooling (A)utospool ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ With Autospool enabled, DISK SPOOL II will automatically create a new file for each document. By default, the file will be created with the following attributes: Copies - 1 Despool Port - The Despool Port as designated in the configuration program (SP2CFG). SAVE status - If the Dynamic Resize parameter as designated in the configuration program is set to YES, then the file will be deleted after printing. Otherwise, it will be saved. HOLD status - NO (refer to the discussion about Auto Despool in the section just below where option 'D' Despool is described.) However, you may use the file SP2.DAT to override these default values. In SP2.DAT, key in a line for each program application you wish to override. The following example overrides the default attributes for any spool file created by the application SP2PRT: SP2PRT COPIES:2 SAVE:Y HOLD:N PORT:LPT1 DISK SPOOL II senses the end-of-document by two means: - A time delay (the length of which you may designate using the configuration program SP2CFG). or, - When an application ends. 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, designate a file to be printed, or change the attributes. Auto Spool files are placed 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. The Auto Spool function works hand-in-hand with the Auto Despool function. With Auto Despool enabled, the Despooler will go right down the list of spooled files, and print those that are not HELD. If Auto Despooling is not enabled, then to print a spooled file, take the (F)iles (L)ist menu sequence and key a 3 next to the file you wish to print. '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, spooled data is sent to the printer in the background. 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. The way in which the Despooler behaves depends on whether or not the Auto Despool function is disabled or enabled: Auto Despool disabled --------------------- Data contained in the file to which the Despooler is currently attached is printed. When all of the data is printed, the Despooler suspends itself until more data is spooled to that file, at which point the Despooler becomes active again. You may change the despool port by taking the (V)alues (D)espoolport menu selection. Auto Despool enabled -------------------- Auto Despooling goes hand-in-hand with Auto Spooling. Auto Spooling creates seperate spool files for each document printed. The Autodespooler prints one document, and then goes on to the next. It constantly monitors the files being created by the Autospooler. If the file is not HELD, then it gets printed. When the file has been printed, and if the SAVE status is NO, then it is deleted off of disk. The Auto Spool and Auto Despool combination make for a very powerful spooling environment. You set up spool file attributes for each of your commonly run applications in the SP2.DAT file. Then let DISK SPOOL II handle all of your printing requirements in the background. One interesting note: although data is generally despooled directly to a printer device, DISK SPOOL II also gives you the ability to 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. (Note: another -- and probably more effecient -- manner to feed data to another process is to configure DISK SPOOL II to send data by means of BIOS routines, as long as that process hooks into the BIOS interrupts.) 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 @. Note that only 8 characters are allowed after the @ when designating the name of the disk file. This includes the disk drive and path descriptions. Furthermore, when despooling to a disk file, it is wise to designate a drive and a path, even though these items are optional. This is because the despooler is operating in the background, and if you should change your current directory, then part of your disk file would possibly end up in this new directory. '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. 'A' (AutoDespool) ----------------- Allows you to enable or disable the Auto Despool function. With Auto Despooling enabled, the Despooler processes all files created by the Auto Spooler. It goes from one file to the next, automatically. With Auto Despooling disabled, the Despooler remains "attached" to the current Despool file. Any data sent to that file will be despooled. 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. If the Despooler is disabled when you do this, then start the Despooler using the (D)espooling (E)nable (D)ocument menu sequence. ùDA ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ (D)espooling (A)utoDespool ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Here is a description of the menu options for this tier: 'E' (Enable) ------------ With Auto Despooling enabled the Despooler behaves in this manner: Auto Despooling goes hand-in-hand with Auto Spooling. Auto Spooling creates seperate spool files for each document printed. The Autodespooler prints one document, and then goes on to the next. It constantly monitors the files being created by the Autospooler. If the file is not HELD, then it gets printed. When the file has been printed, and if the SAVE status is NO, then it is deleted off of disk. 'D' (Disable) ------------- With Auto Despool disabled, the Despooler behaves in this manner: Data contained in the file to which the Despooler is currently attached is printed. When all of the data is printed, the Despooler suspends itself until more data is spooled to that file, at which point the Despooler becomes active again. You may change the despool port by taking the (V)alues (D)espoolport menu selection. 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) ---------- By default, when this display first comes up, it shows all files in the default spool directory (as configured by SP2CFG) whose extention is the default spool file extenion as configured by SP2CFG. Furthermore, if either Auto Despool or Auto Spool is enabled, then only those files created by the AutoSpooler are displayed. By pressing F6, different scan criteria may be designated. Note that if Auto Despooling is enabled, then this is the display that comes up first when the hot-key sequence is depressed. The following options may be taken from this display: 1 - display the contents of the file. Note that you can display the contents of any file, whether it be one that was created by DISK SPOOL II, or not. 2 - attach the Spooler to this file. Subsequent printed data will be added to the end of this file. You can only take this option on a spool file created by DISK SPOOL II. If you wish to have a non-DISK SPOOL II file's data be part of a spool file, use the SP2PRT command, which spools that file's data into the "current" spool file. Note that if Auto Spool is enabled, then the 2 option is not available. This is because in Auto Spool mode, DISK SPOOL II is creating a new file for each document printed. 3 - attach the Despooler to this file. This file's data will be despooled. You can only take this option on a file created by DISK SPOOL II. If you wish to despool the contents of a non-DISK SPOOL II file, use the SP2PRT command to first spool the file's data. Note that if Auto Despool is enabled, then the 3 option is not available. If you want to start printing a particular file, then HOLD the other files by keying option 4. If the file you wish to print has a status of HELD or FINISHED, then release it by taking option 6. 4 - HOLD a file. This makes it so the Auto Despooler bypasses printing this file. To release it for printing, take option 6. 5 - change a file's attributes. You may change the description, the number of copies, the output port, and the SAVE status. 6 - release a file. The Auto Despooler will process this file. 9 - Delete the file. Any file, whether it be a DISK SPOOL II file or not can be deleted using this option. 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 pops up the menu. You can then go into this (F)iles (L)ist display a delete files in order to make more room out on disk. You can also change the Spool File drive designation by taking the (F)iles (A)ttach (S)pooler menu sequence. In this case, the remainder of the data being printed will reside out on the new drive. No data will be lost. '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. -- 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. If DISK SPOOL II is configured this way, then every spool file created by DISK SPOOL II will have the attribute of SAVE NO by default. However, data in SP2.DAT overrides this default. 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. (Note that another way to keep spooled files segregated by document is to take the (S)pooling (A)utospool (E)nable menu sequence, or to configure DISK SPOOL II with Autospool enabled.) 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. If your De-spooler is disabled when you do this, then start it up using the (D)espooling (E)nable (D)ocument menu sequence. '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) ----------------- TimingTests gives you the ability to do both Spooling and Despooling timing tests. In the case of Spooling timing tests, you can see how long it takes to spool a document with DISK SPOOL II versus the time it takes to print the same document without spooling enabled. This timing test gives you a way of measuring the effectiveness of a spooling environment on your machine. In the case of Despooling, the timing tests show you how quickly DISK SPOOL II is despooling information versus how quickly data is printed in a non-spooling environment. It literally shows bytes/second averages for data being printed out. This timing test function can also be used to fine tune your despooling speed. (See the discussion in the User's Guide in the Fine Tuning DISK SPOOL II chapter for more information.) 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 timing tests statistics. You can view these statistics by taking the (O)pen menu selection. There are two types of timing tests that can be performed. Only one type of timing test can be performed at a time by DISK SPOOL II ... either spooling or despooling. To switch between one or the other, take the Toggle menu option. With the timing tests window open (see menu selection (O)pen, below), you can see which timing test is in affect at the moment. If it's the despooling tests, the highlighted heading says "Bytes printed/second". The spooling timing tests window's highlighted heading says "Seconds Bytes". - Spooling timing tests measure the amount of time that an application spends sending data for printing. With Spooling enabled, the number of bytes, and the amount of time are accumulated on the W/ DISK SPOOL line. If Spooling is not active, then these same statistics are accumulated on the Without line. By having an application print the same document twice, once with Spooling active, and once without, you can vividly see how much time DISK SPOOL II is saving you. - Despooling timing tests displays the speed at which the printer is actually printing data. If the Despooler is enabled, then the value is computed and displayed on the W/DISK SPOOL line. If the Despooler is not enabled, then the value is computed and displayed on the Without line. Note that although DISKS SPOOL II almost always will be despooling a very acceptable speed, under certain applications this will not be the case. If you are not satisfied with the printing speed, quite a bit of improvement can be achieved by "fine tuning". Refer to the chapter in the User's Guide entitled Fine Tuning Printer Speed. The despooling timing tests is used as a tool to measure printing speed. 'D' (Disable) ------------- This menu selection instructs DISK SPOOL II to suspend the gathering of 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' (SpoRst) ------------ Resets the "W/ DISK SPOOL" statistics back to 0. 'N' (NonspoRst) --------------- Resets the "Without" statistics back to 0. 'T' (Toggle) ------------ Toggles between the spooling timing test and the despooling timing test. 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's printing speed. Under most circumstances, DISK SPOOL II will drive the printer just as fast as possible, even if you have a laser printer. Just about the only exception to this is if the job running in the foreground runs for long periods of time without requesting input from the keyboard. If you have such a situation, then you will want to refer to the User's Guide chapter entitled DISK SPOOL II Performance for directions on how to determine the best Outbytes and Retry values to configure. '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 option enables you to designate the port to which the Despooler will send its output. Note that if the Autodespooler is active, then the proper way to designate the output port is to change a spool file's fttributes. To do this, take the (F)iles (L)ist menu sequence, and key a 5 next to the file that you wish to change. ùzzzzz