Ct1Laser: LaserJet setup through pop‐up menus
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb044720 |
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
| Pages | 326-327 |
| Author | Jerry Baldwin |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
SOFT
WARE
review
Ct1Laser:
LaserJet
setup
through
pop-up menus
JERRY
BALDWIN
Ct1Laser is a simple package, designed to set a number of LaserJet
printer operating parameters from pop-up menus. It can be used without
any preliminary study or programming. You can change the parameters
without leaving whatever program you are currently using. On the
negative side, the package is limited in scope, makes it difficult to store
often-used setups and is poorly documented. The package runs on IBM/
PC/XT/ATs and sells for
$65
from Rabar Systems International, PO Box
306,
Westport CT
06881,
USA. Tel: (203) 227-4415.
W
hen I opened the owner's
manual for my Hewlett-
Packard LaserJet printer, I
nearly fell off my chair. I was
anxious to run my new
printer through its paces, but what did
CTRL and all that other jargon mean, and
how did this machine really work? At that
moment, I would have given nearly anything
for a package like Ct1Laser that promised to
lead me by the hand into immediate
use
of my
LaserJet.
Changes from
memory
When you enter Ct1Laser into your
computer, it sits in main memory and allows
you to control a LaserJet printer without ever
leaving the word-processor or other package
you are working with. Ct1Laser will shift the
LaserJet from portrait to landscape mode. It
will change such parameters as fonts, type
styles,
pitches, points, page lengths and
margin settings.
Once the software is in memory, you press
the Alt-H key combination and a menu of
Ct1Laser choices appears. When you make a
choice, your further options are explained on
the screen and you are guided to add charac-
ters to a Ct1Laser command string. Type a $
at the end of the string and the LaserJet set-
tings you asked for will go into effect. Press
Alt-H again and you are back in your word-
processor.
This procedure might be improved by re-
quiring the user to indicate what
was
wanted,
such as the units for a margin, rather than the
actual characters in the instruction string to
the printer. The package does not appear to
do any error checking on these strings. If the
user types them incorrectly, they are
nevertheless sent to the printer, as long
as
the
string ends with a $.
Option limitations
Twenty-one options are listed on the
Ct1Laser menu, but they are far from all-
inclusive.
A
knowledgeable LaserJet user can
access many additional printer features by
going around, rather than through the
Ct1Laser package. But more of that later.
Some of the options listed by Ct1Laser
require that added ROM feature cartridges
be plugged into the LaserJet. Since these
cartridges cost $250 each and I did not have
them, I was unable to test these options.
However, the items I was able to use worked
well.
Utility programs on the Ct1Laser disk
allow users to customize its operations
by adding as many as twenty-two extra
command strings, each containing up to
forty-four characters, and to access these
from the Ct1Laser pop-up menu. Short
primers on creating your own command
strings and changing the toggle key, and
making other custom patches, are included
on the disk.
The regular menu options do not include
one for retaining the particular setup
parameters you have used during a session.
With this option the printer setup most often
used could be kept as the default setting and
the user could make changes from that point.
Where is the user manual?
When I opened the Ct1Laser mailing
envelope, I found that the package consists of
a single floppy disk and a covering letter that
told me to insert the disk in my computer,
type START and
all
would be revealed
to
me.
There was no printed user manual. Instead,
about six pages of explanation, in a file called
DOCUMENT.TXT, was displayed. It con-
tains some very brief descriptions of the
software, loading and installation (the
package is not copy protected), operation,
and short primers on making custom altera-
tions to the software.
If you need help beyond what is presented
by the Ct1Laser disk you are advised to call
the package vendor. I did that, simply to
make contact, and had no difficulty reaching
them.
Benefits
of experience
By the time I received the Ct1Laser package,
I had struggled through a lot of
self-
326 The Electronic Library, December 1986. Vol. 4, No. 6.
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