-*-TEXT-*-

File: LPX	Node: Top	Up: (DIR)	Next: Commands

LPX, the program for printing LPT-style on a hardcopy terminal.

  The LPX program allows you to print a file on a hardcopy terminal as
if the terminal were a lineprinter.  Specifically, formfeeds in the
file will cause the terminal to advance to the beginning of a new page.
You must tell LPX, using switches, how long the terminal's pages are,
whether the terminal has the hardware to skip to a new page, and, if
it does, how much padding that operation requires.

* Menu:

* Commands::	How to specify the file to print and the
		terminal to print it on.

* Switches::	How to specify the page geometry and
		padding characteristics.

* JCL::		General command conventions.

* Abort::	How to abort an operation.

File: LPX,  Node: COMMANDS,  Up: Top,  Previous: Top,  Next: Switches

  A command line for LPX must specify the file to be printed.  In
addition, it can specify which terminal to print it on (if not the one
you are using to run LPX), and information about the page size and
hardware characteristics of the terminal to be used (via switches).

  The file to be printed is specified with a standard ITS file
specification, such as DSK:RMS;LPX >.  The device defaults to DSK, the
directory to your working directory, and the second filename to >.
^Q can be used to quote special characters such as :, ;, / and space.
The file specification constitutes a complete command line, if you
want the file printed on your own terminal using the default page
geometry.

  If you wish to print the file on a different terminal, you must know
its number and it must be free.  This operation is specified by
putting "Tnn:_", where nn is the terminal number, at the beginning of
the command line.  Thus, the terminal to be used is specified as if it
were an output filename;  but devices other than terminals are not
allowed.

Thus, ignoring switches, a command line looks like either of these:

<input file>		or		T<nn>:_<input file>


File: LPX,  Node: SWITCHES,  Up: Top,  Previous: Commands,  Next: JCL

  By default, LPX assumes that the terminal it is using does not have
hardware to advance to a new page, and that the pages contain 60 lines
of text and 6 lines of space around the margins.  You can alter these
assumptions with switches.  If you print several files in one
invocation of LPX, switch settings given for one file remain in effect
for later files unless countermanded.

  A switch is identified in the command line by a slash ("/"), which
is followed by a number which is the argument of the switch;  then
comes the switch name.  For example, /60P /6S is the default state.

The /P switch says how many text lines there are on each page.
The /S switch says how many lines of blank space go between pages.
The /A switch, if given, says that the terminal has hardware formfeed
  capability, and its argument says how many pad characters are
  required by a hardware formfeed, PER LINE SKIPPED.  The settings of
  the /P and /S switches are still used even when /A is specified, in
  order to calculate how many lines are being skipped by a given
  formfeed.

I have determined that a GE Terminet 1200 requires /2A.

Note that if the terminal's paper has an intrinsic page size, the
settings of the /P and /S switches should add up to that size.
If you change one, you must change the other, if you want the sum to
remain unchanged.

File: LPX,  Node: JCL,  Up: Top,  Previous: Switches,  Next: Abort

  Command lines for the LPX program may be submitted either via JCL
from DDT, as in

:LPX T35:_FOO >/2A

or typed from the terminal, as in

LPX^K

FOO;NEWFILE LST

  When a command is given via DDT, LPX will normally return to DDT at
the end of that command.  When a command is typed on the terminal,
then after completion LPX will read another command from the terminal.
However, if a command line typed on the terminal is terminated with a
^C instead of a CR, LPX will return to DDT at the end of that command.

  Commands entered from the terminal can e edited using Rubout to
delete a single character, or ^D or ^U to cancel the entire command.


File: LPX,  Node: Abort,  Up: Top,  Previous: JCL

How to abort a listing being printed by LPX.

  Typing ^S on either the terminal LPX is printing on or the terminal
LPX is being controlled from (unless LPX has been ^P'd) will cause the
current operation to be aborted.  LPX will look for a new command
line, even if it had got its last one via DDT or ended with a ^C.

  Typing ^G on either terminal will abort the operation in progress
and cause LPX to return to DDT.