This program (filename VTYPE) was mentioned in EUG #20 but didn't make the disk. I have since made some small changes to it so you can alter HIMEM to enable longer files to be printed. The default value is &2600 as on the disks.

There are two routines in CODE4; at &900 is a short clear routine to clear the memory between HIMEM and &4000 (MODE3 screen start). This is needed as the print routine checks for a zero byte to stop the routine. This seemed to be the easiest way to check for the end of the file.

The second is the print routine at &98C. This uses OSBYTE &87 to check the Mode and sets a flag if Mode 6 is selected. If this is set, it includes a word-wrapping routine for 40-column printing. Otherwise the routine runs normally for 80 columns.

In the menus, another flag is used to enable a perforation skip routine. This simply counts the CR characters to print the number of lines and then the number of blank lines to skip to the next page.

You can use the VTYPE program together with CODE4 as a tool to check how your text submissions will appear in the magazine.

If the file is very long, not all of it will be printed out and there may be some odd characters at the end. This is because it may print some characters from the screen area before finding a zero byte. The file will then need to be split at some point; preferably at the end of a paragraph though it can be at the end of any line.

Richard Dimond

As this utility will be included on all forthcoming EUGs, I have decided against placing it in the EUG Menu. You will find it in the root ($) directory of the disk(s) and can use it by CHAINing it in the normal fashion.

Gus Donnachaidh, EUG #22