QuickStar Chinese Printing and Image File Creating Utilities (C) Copyright 1995 Anthony Mai The qcsprint.zip is a package of printing as well as image file creating utilities accompanying the QuickStar3.0 Chinese editor program. It can be used independently to process any GB coded Chinese files. Or you can use QuickStar3.0 Chinese editor to edit and convert HZ or Big5 coded Chinese files and then use qcsprint programs to process them. The package contains programs of two different categories: 1. For print Chinese GB files. 2. For creating Picture files of the most popular image file formats. The second usage may be much more useful to you because you can use it to create any of the three most popular picture files: TIFF, PCX or BMP. Most image processing softwares are capable of showing, editing and printing all or at least some of these three formats. For example most Windows based FAX softwares are capable of sending FAX via the computer FAX/Modem from TIFF files. The PaintBrush program in the accessory group of standard Windows applications is capable of recognizing PCX and BMP formats and print it out on any printer connected to your computer. This package contains the following files: gb2hplpr.exe GB file to HP Laser Printer file converter gb2epson.exe GB file to Epson 24 pin Printer file converter chkfont.exe Chinese font converter gb2pic.exe GB to Picture file converter. ascii.24 24x24 ASCII font file qcsprint.txt The file you are reading now In addition you need a cclib.24 Chinese font file, which is the file that contains the 24x24 bitmap pattern of all Chinese characters. You can use the same cclib.24 that NJSTAR Chinese software uses. (It's included only with registered version of NJSTAR). There are a couple of cclib.*24 files in the ftp.ifcss.org anonymous ftp site but they may not be in the correct format for QuickStar printing and image file utility programs to use. The chkfont.exe is a program included here for you to convert it into correct format. You may ftp to ftp.ifcss.org. Type 'anonymous' at the promt for username. Then type in your E-Mail address as the password. After you logged on, type "binary" to set the binary file transfer mode. Then use cd /pub/software/fonts/gb/misc to go to the directory /pub/software/fonts/gb/misc, and then set binary file transfer mode by simply typing "binary". Then get file cclib.j24 After you get the cclib.j24 file, do the following: chkfont cclib.j24 It will check to see if the format is correct, then it will attempt to convert the format to the correct one. If successful it will create a new file named newcclib.24. You may then rename newcclib.24 to cclib.24 and put it in the same directory where you put the gb2hplpr.exe and gb2epson.exe files. The usages of gb2hplpr.exe and gb2epson.exe are: gb2hplpr [-margin # # # #] [-ls #] [-hs #] [-as #] gb_file print_file gb2epson [-margin # # # #] [-ls #] [-hs #] [-as #] gb_file print_file The contents inside []'s are option flags. If any option is missing the default value of that option is used. Explaination of these options are as following: -margin left right top bottom Specify the print margin measured in units of 0.01 Inch (0.0254 cm). Must be integers. Example: -margin 75 75 75 75 Default value is: -margin 75 75 75 75 (3/4 Inch blank space for each margin) or -margin 100 100 100 100 for gb2epson.exe -ls line_space Specify distance between lines measured in printing dots. default value is: -ls 36 -hs HZ_space Specify space between Chinese characters in printing dots. deault value is: -hs 0 -as ASCII_space Specify space between ASCII characters in printing dots. default value is: -as 0 recommended value: 1/2 of HZ_space After you get the print_file, check to see if the printer is properly connected to the computer and make sure it is on line. Then do the following to print the Chinese file out on the printer: copy /b print_file PRN GB2HPLPR uses the technology of pre-download Chinese soft fonts. The 24x24 Chinese font used warantees excellent printing quality while font downloading makes the printing almost at fast as print English files. For GB2EPSON there's no observable speed difference between print Chinese and English files. Another program included in this package is gb2pic.exe file. It requires the same cclib.24 and ascii.24 file to run. It can be used to generate multiple image files in either TIFF, PCX, or BMP image file formats. Basic usage of gb2pic.exe is pretty easy: gb2pic GB_file or gb2pic GB_file output_file The program will decide automatically determine what image format it will be using by looking at the suffix of the output file name. Like gb2pic myfile.gb myfile.tif will create a TIFF format file from the GB file. If the GB file is more than one page long it will created multiple TIFF files named: myfil001.tif myfil002.tif myfil003.tif myfil004.tif ... Advanced usage involves the use of optional flags: gb2pic [-f format] [-hs #] [-as #] [-ls #] [-res #] [-size xx yy] input-file [output-file] Each and every one of those optional flags can be omitted and if any is omitted the default value will be used. Explaination of those flags follows: -f format : specify the image format. It can be TIFF, PCX, BMP example : -f TIFF default: use TIFF It will attempt to use the suffix of output file name to determine the image format if this flag is missing. -hs # : specify space between neighbouring Chinese characters example : -hs 8 The spacing will be 8 pixel dots default: 8 -as # : specify space between neighbouring ASCII characters example : -as 4 The spacing will be 4 pixel dots default: 4 -ls # : specify distance between lines in number of pixel dots example : -ls 36 The spacing will be 36 pixel dots default: 36 -res # : specify image resolution in DPI (pixel dots per inch) example : -res 200 Resolution is 200 DPI default: 200 -size xx yy : Image size Width x Height in unit of 1/100 Inch example : -size 750 1000 The size is 7.5 Inch wide 10 Inch High default : -size 750 1000 Please be reminded that there will be limitations in setting the above flags in unregistered version of this program. If it is un-registered you will not be able to set any of the above flags except for the file format. It will not creat image files of even page numbers except the last page, if multiple image files is to be created. Once it is registered it will be functional fully and properly. There are limitations in the two printing programs, too, before you register for it. Blocked functionalities in un-registered copies include: 1. Not able to use the option flags. Default values will be used. 2. Only first page can be printed out. 3. One special Chinese character will be printed into another character. Once registered the above problems will no longer occur. qcsprint.zip shares the same registration file with other QuickStar3.0 files. The registration file is named reg.dat and it is created by the program automatically. You should put all QuickStar3.0 files including the print and image creation programs in the same directory. You may also need to include the directory name in the path statement in the autoexec.bat file located at the root directory of your computer. To register this program as well as other programs of the QuickStar Chinese Software Package, write down the software serial number. (Which is given to you when you run the programs). Send it together with your name, address, phone number, E-Mail address and the $15 registration fee to: Mr. Anthony Mai Box #28, 10 Vairo Blvd. State College, PA 16803 USA Tel: (814)867-3385(Home) E-Mail: mai@phys.psu.edu Upon receiving your check, I will inform you via E-Mail or post mail your software license number. Once that number is entered next time you run any QuickStar3.* programs, it is registered. And it will never ask you for the license number again. P.S. The main package of the QuickStar Chinese Software is located in the same ftp site (ftp.ifcss.org). It is under directory: /pub/software/dos/editor files: qcstar30.zip and qcstar30.txt There are two other QuickStar Chinese utilities available: QuickStar Chinese Modem 2.0 It enables you to type in HZ coded Chinese using CiZu input etc, when you use ZWDOS. Hence the input speed is much faster. Good for Chinese irc players and active alt.chinese.text posters. ftp.ifcss.org: /pub/software/dos/ZWDOS/qcm2.txt qcm2.zip QuickStar Chinese Bridge It enables you to use ZWDOS to view big5 coded Chinese messages. You can use it to read the alt.chinese.text.big5 newsgroup. ftp.ifcss.org: /pub/software/dos/ZWDOS/qcb.txt qcb.zip Please note that all QuickStar series shareware softwares use the same registration license number. So if you register for one of them. All others will be registered and will function fully, too!