I was running a very old GW Basic program for my company. We are a specialty clothes manufacturing plant. I print "tickets" to describe the job needed to be done as the bundles of cut parts move thru the line. I have downloaded PC basic because the very old computer (running windows 98)died and have transferred my files. Everything looks the same but I am not able to print. Printer is installed and is the default printer. I am not that computer literate. Help!
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Hi, you can activate the default printer in one of two ways:
1) In PCBASIC.INI, remove the line lpt1= (if it's there) and add lpt1=PRINTER:
OR:
2) If you run PC-BASIC from the command line (DOS prompt), run it as pcbasic --lpt1=PRINTER:
Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions!
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-01
I'm still lost. Like I said, computer illiterate. I think I'm running it from DOS prompt. I click on pc-basic. and it comes up "pc-basic 3.23"
The next line is "(C)" and to type run "@info" for more".
I can "list"(F1) my files, I can "load"(F3) the file I need and change what needs to be changed. Then I hit "run"(F2). Put the info in and when I'm done,"con't"(f5) is suppose to start the printing on an Epson LQ-1170 tractor feed printer. But it does nothing. Does any of this make sense? lol. It does to me but that's all I know.I didn't write the program,I was just taught to use it and make simple changes. And that was 26 years ago! Thanks for the help, but I believe I'm beyond help. What do you think. By the way, I'm Martha. Nice to meet you.
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Nice to meet you too! If you look in the folder where you open pc-basic, there should be a sub-folder called info. Go into that folder and you'll find a file called PCBASIC.INI. Open that file in Notepad (right click on it, then in the menu you get there should be an option Edit or maybe Open; click that). Then, locate the line lpt1=
in that text file and replace it with lpt1=PRINTER:
If there is no line lpt1= then just add the new line as above.
You only need to do this once. After that, you can start PC-BASIC and use it the way you're used to, and the printing should work.
Hope that helps, let me know how it goes.
Rob
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-01
It's me again! If I open the info folder info, there is not a file called pcbasic.ini. There is another "info" folder (1st one) and a folder called pcbasic configuration (2nd one). Sorry for putting so much junk on here. thought it might help seeing what I'm seeing. Thanks for your help.
Martha
1st
10 REM INFO.BAS - PC-BASIC 3.23 Information
15 REM Copyright (c) 2013, 2014 Rob Hagemans
20 REM Released under the GNU GPL version 3
25 '
50 KEYS.NAME$(1)="1" : KEYS.WHAT$(1)="About" : FILE$(1)="@:ABOUT"
55 KEYS.NAME$(2)="2" : KEYS.WHAT$(2)="Legal" : FILE$(2)="@:COPYING"
60 KEYS.NAME$(3)="3" : KEYS.WHAT$(3)="GPLv3" : FILE$(3)="@:GPL3"
62 KEYS.NAME$(4)="4" : KEYS.WHAT$(4)="CC-BY-SA" : FILE$(4)="@:CC-BY-SA"
65 KEYS.NAME$(5)="5" : KEYS.WHAT$(5)="Doc" : FILE$(5)="@:HELP"
70 KEYS.NAME$(6)="Q" : KEYS.WHAT$(6)="Quit"
75 KEYS.NAME$(7)="S" : KEYS.WHAT$(7)="Search"
80 KEYS.NAME$(8)="SPACE" : KEYS.WHAT$(8)="Line"
85 KEYS.NAME$(9)="ENTER" : KEYS.WHAT$(9)="Page"
90 KEYS.LEN = 9 : FILES.NUM = 5 : K = 1
99 '
100 REM main loop
105 SCREEN 0,0,0,0 : WIDTH 80 : KEY OFF
110 WHILE -1
111 IF K > 0 AND K <= FILES.NUM THEN CLS: COUNT=0
112 IF K = 1 THEN NM$ = "@:VERSION": GOSUB 13000: COLOR 0,7: GOSUB 10000: COLOR 7,0: PRINT: COUNT=2
115 IF K > 0 AND K <= FILES.NUM THEN NM$ = FILE$(K): GOSUB 13000
120 GOSUB 10000 ' display text file
125 GOSUB 1000 ' display bottom line
130 GOSUB 1200 ' wait for key, fill K$ and K
135 IF K$ = "S" THEN GOSUB 15000 ' search
140 IF K$ = "Q" THEN GOSUB 1400 ' quit
150 IF K$ = " " THEN GOSUB 14000 ' scroll line
160 IF K$ = CHR$(13) THEN CLS : COUNT = 0 ' force loading next page
170 WEND
990 END
999 '
1000 REM bottom line
1010 VIEW PRINT : LOCATE 25,1
1020 FOR I = 1 TO KEYS.LEN
1030 PRINT KEYS.NAME$(I);
1040 COLOR 0,7 : PRINT " " KEYS.WHAT$(I); " ";
1050 COLOR 7,0
1060 NEXT
1070 COLOR 0,7 : PRINT SPC(81-POS(0));
1080 COLOR 7,0
1090 VIEW PRINT 1 TO 24
1095 RETURN
1099 '
1200 REM Press a key
1220 K$ = "" : WHILE K$ = "" : K$ = INKEY$ : WEND
1230 IF K$ >= "a" AND K$ <= "z" THEN K$ = CHR$(ASC(K$)-32)
1240 K = VAL(K$)
1250 RETURN
1299 '
1400 REM exit
1405 CLS : KEY ON
1410 END
9999 '
10000 REM display text file
10020 WHILE NOT EOF(1) AND COUNT<23
10030 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
10040 PRINT LIN$;:IF CSRLIN<COUNT+2 THEN PRINT CHR$(13);
10050 COUNT=COUNT+1
10070 WEND
10110 RETURN
10199 '
13000 REM swap files
13010 CLOSE #1
13020 OPEN NM$ FOR INPUT AS 1
13050 RETURN
13999 '
14000 REM display one line from text file
14010 COUNT = COUNT+1
14020 LOCATE 24,1
14024 IF EOF(1) THEN RETURN
14030 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
14040 PRINT LIN$
14050 RETURN
14999 '
15000 REM search
15030 VIEW PRINT:LOCATE 25,1:COLOR 0,7:PRINT SPC(79);
15035 LOCATE 25,3:PRINT "Search: ";:COLOR 7,0:INPUT ;"", COMMAND$
15039 VIEW PRINT 1 TO 24:CLS
15040 GOSUB 15300
15090 RETURN
15099 '
15300 REM Find command in text file, then display
15305 CLOSE #1
15310 OPEN NM$ FOR INPUT AS #1
15320 WHILE NOT EOF(1)
15330 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
15340 IF LEFT$(LIN$,LEN(COMMAND$))=COMMAND$ THEN PRINT LIN$: COUNT=1: GOTO 15390
15370 WEND
15390 RETURN
15999 '
2nd [pcbasic]
Use ANSI text interface. Same as --interface=ansi
ansi=False
Append to output_file, do not overwrite. Use with --output.
append=False
Set the display aspect ratio to x/y. Graphical interface only.
aspect=x,y
aspect=4,3
Choose whole multiples of pixel size for display and do not smoothen. Overrides --aspect. Graphical interface only.
blocky=False
Width of the screen border as a percentage 0-100 (graphical interface only).
border=5
Handle CAPS LOCK; may collide with the operating system's own handling.
capture-caps=False
Use low-intensity palettes in CGA (for --video={cga, ega, vga} only).
cga-low=False
Use command-line text interface. Same as --interface=cli
Hi, thanks, that does help me to understand what you're seeing. I forgot that Windows would show PCBASIC.INI as PCBASIC Configuration. Can you open the PCBASIC configuration file (the second one in your message) in Notepad? Then you can change the line: lpt1=
which I can see in the file above, to lpt1=PRINTER:
Save the file and try to run your program as before. Let me know if it works.
Rob
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-02
Good morning. It printed! But I can't get it to do it again. I went back in and made sure I had saved it, tried again. No luck. The first time i went in it I only added "PRINTER". It didn't print, so I added "PRINTER:LQ-1170". That's when it printed. But that's probably what you wanted me to do in the first place. How does what you put in the "INFO" file get to the "PC BASIC". I'm missing something. Just can't wrap my head around all this. Maybe I need to fly you here. I'm in North Carolina. Where are you? lol
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Ok, so it worked once, that's great! (It should also work with just PRINTER: though you do need the colon at the end in that case. Anyway, let's go with what worked.)
What's strange is that it only worked once. Did anything look different the second time? If you open the PCBASIC Configuration file in Notepad, does it still have the lpt1=PRINTER:LQ-1170 line that you put in? Do you get any error messages or other strange things when it doesn't work?
I'm in England, by the way, so flying over may not be the most cost-effective solution :)
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-02
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Empty post - that looks like something went wrong...
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-03
I posted something and got a message that the web site was down. I thought I had crashed something with all the stuff I had sent. Sorry about that. Anyway,I'll try again. Nothing looked different. And the "PRINTER:" was still there. It did print one more time. That was after I closed the program. It suddenly started printing. I went back in and changed some of the line numbers because it had an extra line in-between the printed lines. In other words, it didn't fit on the tickets i was trying to print. (Plus, it was printing "page #1" and "pcbasic_vj_ys" at the top of the page.) I tried to print and got an error message "cant not continue". Went out of it without saving. Tried again. And again. Nothing. I'm the only one here that knows anything about this program. In fact I'm about the only one here that knows anything about computers. period. And that's very sad considering my limited knowledge. I still say I'm in over my head and my pay grade. I'm going to try to attach the program. I appreciate your help and any time you want to tell me i"m beyond help, let me know. I won't be offended.
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Can you try the following:
1) open PC-BASIC and load the program the normal way
2) given the commands to make it print
3) type the SYSTEM command to exit PC-BASIC
Does it print, consistently?
It would be most useful if you could send me the program file you use - it's the file that you open with LOAD. Thanks!
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-03
Did not do a thing. I've tried to attach the program. I did it different this time. When you click on PC-BASIC, it should come up with the black screen. Hit F3, comes up "load"and type in sm-r then enter, (if you type files, it shows you all of them, but type in sm-r because it's simple. You can click F1 and enter to see the program if you want.) Hit F2. It will come up "enter cut number" type anything, 0 for example, then enter. Next it comes up "current pair = 25 do you want to change", type 2 enter. It comes up "pair remains equal to 25" "bdl (that stands for bundle) = 69""do you wish to change bundle". Hit 1 then enter. "enter number you wish bdl to equal" hit 1 then enter. it then says "bdl is now equal to 1. begining with bld no (enter number)?". type 1 then enter. then it comes up "press continue to start running coupons" F5 then enter. It acts like everything is fine, no error remarks or anything. I'm curious to see what you think or if you can even open what I sent. Hope so!
Hm, ok, I'm going to need to look at the program, but the file you've sent is not the one I need. If what you type is LOAD"sm-r then you should be looking for a file called sm-r or sm-r.bas in the same folder as where you found the file you just sent to me. It would be the file that you've been using with GW-BASIC on the old computer, before installing PC-BASIC. If I have that then I can experiment over here to get an idea of what's happening. Thanks!
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-03
I've attached the file, but if you click on that one file it comes up in the "run" mode. But if you hit"ctrl/scr lk" and then type "files" it list all the other files just like the other attachment. Confusing right??
Hi Martha, I've made a slightly changed version of PC-BASIC that may work better for you. To try, just extract the ZIP file to a new place on your drive; it creates a folder called pcbasic with the same files as you used to have. I've also included your SM-R.BAS program, so you should be able to run it as normal. I think it may print better, but there is a risk that it won't work right - for example, it may end up printing every line on a different page, so I hope you have enough paper ;). If that's the case we're going to need to change a few more things.
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-04
Doesn't work.I downloaded the file into a new folder and it was called pcbasic. When I click on it, all the files come up. Including the sm-r file. But when I open it and try to print, it does nothing. I even tried to make another printer my default printer. No go. I am off until Monday. Sorry to take up all of your time this week but I really appreciate your help. Have a good weekend!
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In that case, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. It consistently prints on my computer, so I have no idea what the problem is on yours. Perhaps you can try changing the lpt1=PRINTER: setting to lpt1=PRINTER:LQ-1170 as you had before, but I'm scraping the barrel here. What exactly do you mean 'does nothing'? Does the program run and come up with the questions about batch numbers etc? What happens when you continue with CONT?
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-04
Nothing. No errors or anything. It acts like everything is alright. I click "cont" and it comes up on the screen "cont" then "OK". WAIT!I just brought it up again! Its in notepad and printing. But its printing something I told it to print yesterday. A different file altogether. I'm SO confused! I'm going to let it finish. It should print the last thing I told it to when it get done with what I told it to yesterday! Its printing sort of slow because of the print mode I had it in. I have to leave here but I will get back you on Monday. Thank you again! I think you are on to something!
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-08
Good afternoon. I've been working with this all morning. It took me awhile to get back to where I was Thursday. The files are coming up in notepad, and I think I can work with that. But it puts in extra lines and is printing "pcbasic" at the top of the pages and page #'s. That throws everything off on my page. The pages that I'm printing on have perforations so the sewers can tear off the tickets of the operations that they have preformed on the garment. But other than that, I think we are getting somewhere!
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Anonymous
-
2014-12-08
I put this on the wrong discussion... long day! I copied it and put it on here. Sorry for the confusion. Here it is--I also meant to tell you that these programs will open in notepad but not in pcbacic. If I try to open them with that, it comes up for about 2 seconds then closes. I really need to be able to change cut #'s, Sizes, and the pair in the bundles and the the basic program lets you do that. You can run several pages with the same cut number, different sizes but it has to be the same quantity in the bundle.
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OK, but I don't understand what you mean by 'these programs' that you open in Notepad. You open SM-R.BAS in PC-BASIC, right, and then you print? What's happening with Notepad? What are you trying to open with PC-BASIC?
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I was running a very old GW Basic program for my company. We are a specialty clothes manufacturing plant. I print "tickets" to describe the job needed to be done as the bundles of cut parts move thru the line. I have downloaded PC basic because the very old computer (running windows 98)died and have transferred my files. Everything looks the same but I am not able to print. Printer is installed and is the default printer. I am not that computer literate. Help!
Hi, you can activate the default printer in one of two ways:
1) In
PCBASIC.INI, remove the linelpt1=(if it's there) and addlpt1=PRINTER:OR:
2) If you run PC-BASIC from the command line (DOS prompt), run it as
pcbasic --lpt1=PRINTER:Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions!
I'm still lost. Like I said, computer illiterate. I think I'm running it from DOS prompt. I click on pc-basic. and it comes up "pc-basic 3.23"
The next line is "(C)" and to type run "@info" for more".
I can "list"(F1) my files, I can "load"(F3) the file I need and change what needs to be changed. Then I hit "run"(F2). Put the info in and when I'm done,"con't"(f5) is suppose to start the printing on an Epson LQ-1170 tractor feed printer. But it does nothing. Does any of this make sense? lol. It does to me but that's all I know.I didn't write the program,I was just taught to use it and make simple changes. And that was 26 years ago! Thanks for the help, but I believe I'm beyond help. What do you think. By the way, I'm Martha. Nice to meet you.
Hi Martha,
Nice to meet you too! If you look in the folder where you open pc-basic, there should be a sub-folder called
info. Go into that folder and you'll find a file calledPCBASIC.INI. Open that file in Notepad (right click on it, then in the menu you get there should be an optionEditor maybeOpen; click that). Then, locate the linelpt1=in that text file and replace it with
lpt1=PRINTER:If there is no line
lpt1=then just add the new line as above.You only need to do this once. After that, you can start PC-BASIC and use it the way you're used to, and the printing should work.
Hope that helps, let me know how it goes.
Rob
It's me again! If I open the info folder info, there is not a file called pcbasic.ini. There is another "info" folder (1st one) and a folder called pcbasic configuration (2nd one). Sorry for putting so much junk on here. thought it might help seeing what I'm seeing. Thanks for your help.
Martha
1st
10 REM INFO.BAS - PC-BASIC 3.23 Information
15 REM Copyright (c) 2013, 2014 Rob Hagemans
20 REM Released under the GNU GPL version 3
25 '
50 KEYS.NAME$(1)="1" : KEYS.WHAT$(1)="About" : FILE$(1)="@:ABOUT"
55 KEYS.NAME$(2)="2" : KEYS.WHAT$(2)="Legal" : FILE$(2)="@:COPYING"
60 KEYS.NAME$(3)="3" : KEYS.WHAT$(3)="GPLv3" : FILE$(3)="@:GPL3"
62 KEYS.NAME$(4)="4" : KEYS.WHAT$(4)="CC-BY-SA" : FILE$(4)="@:CC-BY-SA"
65 KEYS.NAME$(5)="5" : KEYS.WHAT$(5)="Doc" : FILE$(5)="@:HELP"
70 KEYS.NAME$(6)="Q" : KEYS.WHAT$(6)="Quit"
75 KEYS.NAME$(7)="S" : KEYS.WHAT$(7)="Search"
80 KEYS.NAME$(8)="SPACE" : KEYS.WHAT$(8)="Line"
85 KEYS.NAME$(9)="ENTER" : KEYS.WHAT$(9)="Page"
90 KEYS.LEN = 9 : FILES.NUM = 5 : K = 1
99 '
100 REM main loop
105 SCREEN 0,0,0,0 : WIDTH 80 : KEY OFF
110 WHILE -1
111 IF K > 0 AND K <= FILES.NUM THEN CLS: COUNT=0
112 IF K = 1 THEN NM$ = "@:VERSION": GOSUB 13000: COLOR 0,7: GOSUB 10000: COLOR 7,0: PRINT: COUNT=2
115 IF K > 0 AND K <= FILES.NUM THEN NM$ = FILE$(K): GOSUB 13000
120 GOSUB 10000 ' display text file
125 GOSUB 1000 ' display bottom line
130 GOSUB 1200 ' wait for key, fill K$ and K
135 IF K$ = "S" THEN GOSUB 15000 ' search
140 IF K$ = "Q" THEN GOSUB 1400 ' quit
150 IF K$ = " " THEN GOSUB 14000 ' scroll line
160 IF K$ = CHR$(13) THEN CLS : COUNT = 0 ' force loading next page
170 WEND
990 END
999 '
1000 REM bottom line
1010 VIEW PRINT : LOCATE 25,1
1020 FOR I = 1 TO KEYS.LEN
1030 PRINT KEYS.NAME$(I);
1040 COLOR 0,7 : PRINT " " KEYS.WHAT$(I); " ";
1050 COLOR 7,0
1060 NEXT
1070 COLOR 0,7 : PRINT SPC(81-POS(0));
1080 COLOR 7,0
1090 VIEW PRINT 1 TO 24
1095 RETURN
1099 '
1200 REM Press a key
1220 K$ = "" : WHILE K$ = "" : K$ = INKEY$ : WEND
1230 IF K$ >= "a" AND K$ <= "z" THEN K$ = CHR$(ASC(K$)-32)
1240 K = VAL(K$)
1250 RETURN
1299 '
1400 REM exit
1405 CLS : KEY ON
1410 END
9999 '
10000 REM display text file
10020 WHILE NOT EOF(1) AND COUNT<23
10030 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
10040 PRINT LIN$;:IF CSRLIN<COUNT+2 THEN PRINT CHR$(13);
10050 COUNT=COUNT+1
10070 WEND
10110 RETURN
10199 '
13000 REM swap files
13010 CLOSE #1
13020 OPEN NM$ FOR INPUT AS 1
13050 RETURN
13999 '
14000 REM display one line from text file
14010 COUNT = COUNT+1
14020 LOCATE 24,1
14024 IF EOF(1) THEN RETURN
14030 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
14040 PRINT LIN$
14050 RETURN
14999 '
15000 REM search
15030 VIEW PRINT:LOCATE 25,1:COLOR 0,7:PRINT SPC(79);
15035 LOCATE 25,3:PRINT "Search: ";:COLOR 7,0:INPUT ;"", COMMAND$
15039 VIEW PRINT 1 TO 24:CLS
15040 GOSUB 15300
15090 RETURN
15099 '
15300 REM Find command in text file, then display
15305 CLOSE #1
15310 OPEN NM$ FOR INPUT AS #1
15320 WHILE NOT EOF(1)
15330 LINE INPUT #1, LIN$
15340 IF LEFT$(LIN$,LEN(COMMAND$))=COMMAND$ THEN PRINT LIN$: COUNT=1: GOTO 15390
15370 WEND
15390 RETURN
15999 '
2nd
[pcbasic]
Use ANSI text interface. Same as --interface=ansi
ansi=False
Append to output_file, do not overwrite. Use with --output.
append=False
Set the display aspect ratio to x/y. Graphical interface only.
aspect=x,y
aspect=4,3
Choose whole multiples of pixel size for display and do not smoothen. Overrides --aspect. Graphical interface only.
blocky=False
Width of the screen border as a percentage 0-100 (graphical interface only).
border=5
Handle CAPS LOCK; may collide with the operating system's own handling.
capture-caps=False
Use low-intensity palettes in CGA (for --video={cga, ega, vga} only).
cga-low=False
Use command-line text interface. Same as --interface=cli
cli=False
Load specified font codepage; default is 437
choices: ['1258', '437', '737', '775', '850', '851', '852', '853', '855', '856', '857', '858', '860', '861', '862', '863', '864', '865', '866', '869', '874', '932', '936', '949', '950', 'Georgian-academy', 'Georgian-ps', 'Iransystem', 'Kamenicky', 'Mazovia', 'armscii8a', 'big5-2003', 'big5-hkscs', 'mik', 'viscii']
codepage=437
Set COM1: to PORT:device_name or SOCKET:host:socket.
com1=TYPE:VAL
com1=
Set COM2: to PORT:device_name or SOCKET:host:socket.
com2=TYPE:VAL
com2=
Convert infile to mode=A,B,P for ASCII, Bytecode or Protected mode. Write to outfile or standard output.
convert=mode[,infile[,outfile]]
convert=
Debugging mode.
debug=False
Set pixel dimensions for graphics mode. Overrides --blocky and --aspect.Graphical interface only.
dimensions=X,Y
dimensions=
Allow double-precision transcendental math functions
double=False
Execute BASIC command line
exec=command_line
exec=
Load current codepage from specified .hex fonts. Last fonts specified take precedence, previous ones are fallback. Default is unifont,univga,freedos.
choices: ['cga', 'cgathin', 'freedos', 'mda', 'olivetti', 'tandy1', 'tandy2', 'unifont', 'univga', 'vga']
font=unifont,univga,freedos
Fullscreen mode. Graphical interface only.
fullscreen=False
Retrieve keyboard input from input_file, except if KYBD: is read explicitly.
input=input_file
input=
Choose type of interface. When redirecting i/o, the default is none; otherwise, default is graphical.
choices: ('none', 'cli', 'ansi', 'graphical')
interface=
Insert keys into the key buffer
keys=keystring
keys=
Load the specified .BAS program.
load=PROGRAM.BAS
load=
Set LPT1: to FILE:file_name or PRINTER:printer_name.
lpt1=TYPE:VAL
lpt1=
Set LPT2: to FILE:file_name or PRINTER:printer_name.
lpt2=TYPE:VAL
lpt2=
Set LPT3: to FILE:file_name or PRINTER:printer_name.
lpt3=TYPE:VAL
lpt3=
Map all Windows drive letters to PC-BASIC drive letters (Windows only)
map-drives=False
Set maximum number of open files (default is 3).
max-files=NUMBER
max-files=3
Set maximum record length for RANDOM files (default is 128, max is 32767).
max-reclen=NUMBER
max-reclen=128
Sets the monitor type to emulate.Composite enables colour artifacts, crudely, on SCREEN 2 only and is not allowed for --video=ega
choices: ('rgb', 'composite', 'mono')
monitor=rgb
Specify the monochrome tint as RGB, each in the range 0-255
mono-tint=r,g,b
mono-tint=255,255,255
Assign a drive letter to a path.
mount=D:PATH
mount=
Set the functions of the three mouse buttons (copy,paste,pen).
mouse=left,middle,right
mouse=copy,paste,pen
Disable box-drawing recognition for DBCS code pages
nobox=False
Allow BASIC to capture <ALT+F4>. Graphical interface only.
noquit=False
Disable sound output
nosound=False
Send screen output to output_file, except if SCRN: is written to explicitly.
output=output_file
output=
Set the terminal program run by the PCjr TERM command
pcjr-term=TERM.BAS
pcjr-term=
Define PEEK preset values
peek=SEG:ADDR:VAL
peek=
Quit interpreter when execution stops
quit=False
Resume from saved state. Most other arguments are ignored.
resume=False
Run the specified .BAS program. Overrides --load.
run=PROGRAM.BAS
run=
Set serial input buffer size (default is 256). If 0, serial communications are disabled.
serial-buffer-size=NUMBER
serial-buffer-size=256
Set the save-state file. Default is info/PCBASIC.SAV
state=PCBASIC.SAV
state=
Disable listing and ASCII saving of lines beyond 65530 (as in GW-BASIC). Use with care as this allows execution of invisible statements.
strict-hidden-lines=False
Parse CR and LF in files strictly like GW-BASIC. On Unix, you will need to convert your files to DOS text if using this.
strict-newline=False
Disable listing and ASCII saving of protected files (as in GW-BASIC). Use with care as this allows execution of invisible statements.
strict-protect=False
Choose GW-BASIC/BASICA, PCjr, or Tandy 1000 syntax.
choices: ('advanced', 'pcjr', 'tandy')
syntax=advanced
Use UTF-8 for ascii-mode programs and redirected i/o
utf8=False
Print version and exit
version=False
Set the video card to emulate.
choices: ('vga', 'ega', 'cga', 'cga_old', 'mda', 'pcjr', 'tandy', 'hercules', 'olivetti')
video=vga
Below are preset definitions. These are sets of options that can be loaded with the --preset command-line option.
For example, --preset=tandy will load all options in the [tandy] section. Preset options override default options.
To add a preset, just add a section with a preset name of your choice between square brackets.
Special preset names are windows, linux, osx, android and unknown_os. These presets are loaded automatically on
the corresponding operating system.
[strict]
strict-hidden-lines=True
strict-newline=True
strict-protect=True
noquit=True
[android]
mount=C:./files,D:/sdcard/download,S:/sdcard
resume=True
fullscreen=True
mouse=pen,copy,paste
[pcjr]
syntax=pcjr
pcjr-term=TERM.BAS
video=pcjr
font=vga
codepage=437
[tandy]
syntax=tandy
video=tandy
font=tandy2
codepage=437
aspect=3072,2000
[cga]
video=cga
font=cga
codepage=437
[ega]
video=ega
font=vga
[mda]
video=mda
font=mda
codepage=437
monitor=mono
mono-tint=0,255,0
[hercules]
video=hercules
font=mda
codepage=437
monitor=mono
mono-tint=0,255,0
[olivetti]
video=olivetti
font=cga,olivetti
codepage=437
[vga]
video=vga
font=vga
codepage=437
Hi, thanks, that does help me to understand what you're seeing. I forgot that Windows would show PCBASIC.INI as PCBASIC Configuration. Can you open the PCBASIC configuration file (the second one in your message) in Notepad? Then you can change the line:
lpt1=which I can see in the file above, to
lpt1=PRINTER:Save the file and try to run your program as before. Let me know if it works.
Rob
Good morning. It printed! But I can't get it to do it again. I went back in and made sure I had saved it, tried again. No luck. The first time i went in it I only added "PRINTER". It didn't print, so I added "PRINTER:LQ-1170". That's when it printed. But that's probably what you wanted me to do in the first place. How does what you put in the "INFO" file get to the "PC BASIC". I'm missing something. Just can't wrap my head around all this. Maybe I need to fly you here. I'm in North Carolina. Where are you? lol
Ok, so it worked once, that's great! (It should also work with just
PRINTER:though you do need the colon at the end in that case. Anyway, let's go with what worked.)What's strange is that it only worked once. Did anything look different the second time? If you open the PCBASIC Configuration file in Notepad, does it still have the
lpt1=PRINTER:LQ-1170line that you put in? Do you get any error messages or other strange things when it doesn't work?I'm in England, by the way, so flying over may not be the most cost-effective solution :)
Empty post - that looks like something went wrong...
I posted something and got a message that the web site was down. I thought I had crashed something with all the stuff I had sent. Sorry about that. Anyway,I'll try again. Nothing looked different. And the "PRINTER:" was still there. It did print one more time. That was after I closed the program. It suddenly started printing. I went back in and changed some of the line numbers because it had an extra line in-between the printed lines. In other words, it didn't fit on the tickets i was trying to print. (Plus, it was printing "page #1" and "pcbasic_vj_ys" at the top of the page.) I tried to print and got an error message "cant not continue". Went out of it without saving. Tried again. And again. Nothing. I'm the only one here that knows anything about this program. In fact I'm about the only one here that knows anything about computers. period. And that's very sad considering my limited knowledge. I still say I'm in over my head and my pay grade. I'm going to try to attach the program. I appreciate your help and any time you want to tell me i"m beyond help, let me know. I won't be offended.
Can you try the following:
1) open PC-BASIC and load the program the normal way
2) given the commands to make it print
3) type the
SYSTEMcommand to exit PC-BASICDoes it print, consistently?
You can get rid of the page number and the text on the top by changing the settings of Notepad - see here how to do it: http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2467/notepad_disable_print_page_header_footer/
It would be most useful if you could send me the program file you use - it's the file that you open with
LOAD. Thanks!Did not do a thing. I've tried to attach the program. I did it different this time. When you click on PC-BASIC, it should come up with the black screen. Hit F3, comes up "load"and type in sm-r then enter, (if you type files, it shows you all of them, but type in sm-r because it's simple. You can click F1 and enter to see the program if you want.) Hit F2. It will come up "enter cut number" type anything, 0 for example, then enter. Next it comes up "current pair = 25 do you want to change", type 2 enter. It comes up "pair remains equal to 25" "bdl (that stands for bundle) = 69""do you wish to change bundle". Hit 1 then enter. "enter number you wish bdl to equal" hit 1 then enter. it then says "bdl is now equal to 1. begining with bld no (enter number)?". type 1 then enter. then it comes up "press continue to start running coupons" F5 then enter. It acts like everything is fine, no error remarks or anything. I'm curious to see what you think or if you can even open what I sent. Hope so!
Hm, ok, I'm going to need to look at the program, but the file you've sent is not the one I need. If what you type is
LOAD"sm-rthen you should be looking for a file calledsm-rorsm-r.basin the same folder as where you found the file you just sent to me. It would be the file that you've been using with GW-BASIC on the old computer, before installing PC-BASIC. If I have that then I can experiment over here to get an idea of what's happening. Thanks!I've attached the file, but if you click on that one file it comes up in the "run" mode. But if you hit"ctrl/scr lk" and then type "files" it list all the other files just like the other attachment. Confusing right??
Thank you, that's the right file! I'll have a look at it - will come back to you tomorrow.
Rob
Hi Martha, I've made a slightly changed version of PC-BASIC that may work better for you. To try, just extract the ZIP file to a new place on your drive; it creates a folder called pcbasic with the same files as you used to have. I've also included your SM-R.BAS program, so you should be able to run it as normal. I think it may print better, but there is a risk that it won't work right - for example, it may end up printing every line on a different page, so I hope you have enough paper ;). If that's the case we're going to need to change a few more things.
Let me know how it goes.
Doesn't work.I downloaded the file into a new folder and it was called pcbasic. When I click on it, all the files come up. Including the sm-r file. But when I open it and try to print, it does nothing. I even tried to make another printer my default printer. No go. I am off until Monday. Sorry to take up all of your time this week but I really appreciate your help. Have a good weekend!
In that case, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas. It consistently prints on my computer, so I have no idea what the problem is on yours. Perhaps you can try changing the
lpt1=PRINTER:setting tolpt1=PRINTER:LQ-1170as you had before, but I'm scraping the barrel here. What exactly do you mean 'does nothing'? Does the program run and come up with the questions about batch numbers etc? What happens when you continue withCONT?Nothing. No errors or anything. It acts like everything is alright. I click "cont" and it comes up on the screen "cont" then "OK". WAIT!I just brought it up again! Its in notepad and printing. But its printing something I told it to print yesterday. A different file altogether. I'm SO confused! I'm going to let it finish. It should print the last thing I told it to when it get done with what I told it to yesterday! Its printing sort of slow because of the print mode I had it in. I have to leave here but I will get back you on Monday. Thank you again! I think you are on to something!
Good afternoon. I've been working with this all morning. It took me awhile to get back to where I was Thursday. The files are coming up in notepad, and I think I can work with that. But it puts in extra lines and is printing "pcbasic" at the top of the pages and page #'s. That throws everything off on my page. The pages that I'm printing on have perforations so the sewers can tear off the tickets of the operations that they have preformed on the garment. But other than that, I think we are getting somewhere!
To get rid of the lines on the top and the page numbers, change the settings in Notepad, as described on this page: http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2467/notepad_disable_print_page_header_footer/
I put this on the wrong discussion... long day! I copied it and put it on here. Sorry for the confusion. Here it is--I also meant to tell you that these programs will open in notepad but not in pcbacic. If I try to open them with that, it comes up for about 2 seconds then closes. I really need to be able to change cut #'s, Sizes, and the pair in the bundles and the the basic program lets you do that. You can run several pages with the same cut number, different sizes but it has to be the same quantity in the bundle.
OK, but I don't understand what you mean by 'these programs' that you open in Notepad. You open SM-R.BAS in PC-BASIC, right, and then you print? What's happening with Notepad? What are you trying to open with PC-BASIC?