There are various ways to print files or command output from Grex
on your local printer, but one easy way -- provided that you are
using or emulating a DEC VT102, VT200-series, or VT300-series 
terminal -- is to use the recently installed "pcprint" command.

To print files:

        pcprint file1 file2 ...

To print the output of a Unix command:

        command | pcprint

In Picospan, to print one or more items:

        read pass 12 15 20 | pcprint

In elm, to print a mail message:

        | pcprint       (prints the currently selected message)

Haven't tried this, but in the newsreaders rn and trn, you can probably
print the current article by doing

        | pcprint

Examples:

        finger | pcprint        - print list of who's logged on
        man ls | pcprint        - print the man page on the 'ls' command
        last | head -50 | pcprint
                                - print log of last 50 Grex logins
        mailpk | pcprint        - print directory of pending mail messages
        finger -m user | pcprint
                                - print user's .plan file

From a Picospan prompt, you have to prefix the command with a "!"
character, of course.

The pcprint program should work most popular communication
programs that emulate VT??? with ??? greater than or equal to 102.
This includes Procomm Plus, MS-Kermit, Telix, Telemate, MacKermit,
VersaTerm, White Knight, and many others, I'm sure.  Haven't tested
it with all of these, so I make no guarantees -- But if it doesn't,
that means that your VT??? emulator doesn't support the "transparent
print" command, and you have grounds for griping to the authors
or distributors of your comm. program.

"Pcprint" is part of the MS-Kermit 3.12 distribution and is freeware.

24 responses total.

Thanks, John.  Looks useful.

Too bad it's not good for the VT100 terminal, which i believe is very widely
used. 

It *might* work for a VT100 -- not sure if the VT100 supports local
printing or not.

It works in ProComm 2.4.3, which in manual claims only VT-100 emulation
(but in appendix mentions "VT-100 and VT-102"). Is there a way to use
this to print selected lines from the screen, in ProComm without a
mouse? I do this easily on a Mac with Versaterm, by selecting text to
print, but I don't know a way to do it on this PC with ProComm.

That's right -- a VT100 emulator might actually emulate more than a
standard VT100, so I'm not surprised that remote-controlled printing
works with ProComm.

There's really no way to use this to printed selected lines from the
screen, since 'pcprint' runs on Grex and doesn't "know" what's on your
screen.

In picospan, does "read pass 12 15 20 | pcprint" print *items* 12, 15 and
20, as stated, or responses 12, 15 and 20, in the Item you are in? (I
hope its the latter!).

At the "Ok:" prompt, it would print the items.  Picospan doesn't
recognize the "|" symbol at the "Respond or pass" prompt, so printing
selected responses in an item is a bit awkward.  The following should
work, though:

   define pager pcprint; only 12; only 15; only 20; define pager more

(assuming that your usual pager is "more").  It would be much nicer to
be able to do something like

only 12,15,20 | pcprint

It sure would!

I tried "define pager pcprint; only 7; only 8; define pager more" at the
Respond or pass prompt. I got a printer dialog box, but nothing happened
when I clicked OK (this is a Mac). So I tried the same command
"define pager pcprint; only 7; only 8; define pager more" from the OK:
prompt, and it proceeded to print responses 7 and 8 *and* then started
on all of Item 25. After finishing that, I got printing whenever I tried
to do anything else. Please describe the procedure I should try, more
fully.

This response has been erased.

Light dawns. However, pcprint didn't print, although it called for the
print dialog box. I should see if pcprint works *directly* with
Versaterm and the print driver I am using. 

!pcprint file does not work with this Mac, running Versaterm, and printing
with a special driver to a DeskJet. The first time the print dialog box
came up, but no printing on OK. The second time the dialog box did not
even appear. An imcompatibility, I guess. 

  maybe a solution to the matter is : put your capture on, and then when
offline, edit and print the item. This is the way I do things on my Mac.
I never did get the hang of that rz jazz, so I just turn my pager off,
read the entire item into my buffer, edit the buffer, then print and
add it to my archive.

I have to admit that, on this Mac, trying to get !pcprint to work is
just an academic exercise. I usually just highlight what I want to
print, and print it on line, or if I don't want to wait, Save Selection
to a file, and print from that offline. I don't have these options when
connecting with ProComm 2.4.3, so !pcprint was a nice thing to learn
about. Like ExtraSaurus, I'm an Ambiplatformus.

If Versaterm claims to be emulating a VT102, then it's a faulty emulation
if pcprint doesn't work.

I'm actually emulating a DEC VT220. Does that matter? Maybe I have something
wrong in a setting?

VT220 should work too.  I don't know Versaterm, though, so I don't know
what options you have.

Don't forget about the wonders of the "pcprint" command, folks.
If you're using a "vt" type terminal emulator (vt100, vt102, vt200,
etc.) and have a printer attached to your machine, you can use it
to get hardcopy of Grex output.  Details are in response #0.

Should work on a Mac, a PC, or anything else.

ummm, in 0 there is a reference to vt102 or higher, and in #19, it
says vt100 or higher.
 
I fully realize that there were no guarantees, just noticed the
difference. 

I'm not sure if a "real" vt100 supports a printer under host control,
although higher vt's do.  There have been reports of succesful
use of pcprint with vt100 *emulators*, though.

Aha - sounds like it's time to experiment ........
thankxx

This response has been erased.

Doubtful.  The vt52 recognizes a completely different set of host
control codes than the other vt's.

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- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss