Every now and then someone gets all excited that there might be software available that will allow him to convert his Model 100/102 or 200 screen so that it displays 80 characters on a line. Alas, that is not possible. This file is an archived message thread which describes why not. Copyright 1989 Golden Triangle Corp. Captured message threads are archived for the benefit of Model 100 forum members, and may not be reproduced elsewhere in any form. Fm: RANDY B. 71656,1444 I HAVE TWO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MODEL 100. FIRST, IS THERE A PROGRAM WHICH WILL PERMIT 60 OR 80 COLUMNS TO APPEAR ON THE SCREEN? SECONDLY, IS THERE A PROGRAM WHICH WILL COMMAND A PRINTER TO LINE FEED. I NOTICE THAT WHEN I HOOK UP THE MODEL 100 TO THE SAME PRINTER I USE FOR MY XT, THAT THE PRINTER WON'T LINE FEED UNLESS I PLAY WITH THE DIPSWITCHES. IT SEEMS TO ME THIS WOULD BE EASIER IF I COULD SEND A COMMAND TO THE PRINTER FROM THE MODEL 100. IF THESE PROGRAMS EXIST, HOW CAN I GET A COPY? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. Fm: Phil Wheeler 71266,125 Randy, Ansering the linefeed question is easy. Go to Lib 7 and download LFUTL.PW1. In fact, do BRO LFUTL and get all the files you find (should be three). The "60 or 80 col" question is harder. Basically, the answer is "yes, but..". There are at least two commercial products which will give you 60 columns, but none I know of which will go to 80 cols. And there is one here in the data libraries, or maybe more than one now; go to Lib 2 and do BRO VIEW to find at least one of these. I've tried the best of the commercial "wide-screen" programs, and I have been disappointed by all. So this is not an option that i, personally, would recommend. However, other users seem to swear by (vs. at) them; so best bet is to try one of the free ones here and then look into a commercial version such as UltraScreen. Phil Fm: RANDY B. 71656,1444 I WROTE YESTERDAY TO THE SYSOP ABOUT A PROGRAM WHICH WOULD ENABLE MY MODEL 100 TO SHOW 60 OR 80 COLUMNS ON THE SCREEN. I WENT INTO THE LIBRARIES, AND FOUND A PROGRAM CALLED "VIEW80." I'VE DOWNLOADED IT, AND GONE AS FAR AS I CAN WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS. PERHAPS YOU CAN ADVISE ME AS TO WHAT I AM DOING WRONG. AFTER DOWNLOADING THE FILE, I USED THE CUT AND PASTE COMMANDS TO GET TO THIS POINT: 1. THE "HEX" FILE IS SAVED NOW UNDER THE NAME "VIEW80.DO" IN THE INSTRUCTIONS, IT SAYS TO USE THE "CHANGE.BA" TO CONVERT THE HEX LISTING INTO VIEW80.CO, BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS. 2. THE FRONT END ROUTINE IS NOW SAVED UNDER "VIEW80.BA" 3. THE SOURCE CODE IS SAVED UNDER "B80SRC.BA" ANYWAY, WHEN I TRY TO LOAD AND RUN THE "VIEW80.BA" PROGRAM, IT ASKS ME FOR FILE NAME, AND I PRESS ENTER. THEN IT ASKS FOR WIDTH, AND PAGE BREAKS, AND I PRESS ENTER. AFTER ALL THIS, I GET "FF ERROR IN 120." PERHAPS THIS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO USE "CHANGE.BA," OR PERHAPS I'M MORE MESSED UP THAN I THOUGHT. IN ANY CASE, THIS SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCITING PROGRAM, IF IT CAN GIVE ME 80 COLUMNS ON THE SCREEN. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN. THANKS AS ALWAYS. Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Randy... Well, in the first place, you cannot view 80 columns of data on your screen. Ever. The screen will not support it. If you look at your screen with a magnifying glass, you'll see it's made up of hundreds of tiny, square dots. There are 240 across a line, from one edge of your screen to the other; and if you are using a Model 100/102, 64 rows, from the top to the bottom. A 200 has 128 rows. Each dot is called a "pixel". Each character on your screen is made up of several "turned on pixels". The standard characters are in a "cell", 6 pixels wide, and 8 pixels high. The letters can be up to 5 pixels wide, as one pixel is used as blank space between letters. The magnifying glass will help you see this. 240 divided by 6 = 40 characters on a line. There is no way to reduce the size of the pixels, or to squeeze them together to add more; the 240 x 64 (or 128) is a fixed comodity. So in order to display more characters, you have to change the size and shape of the characters. For example, if you reduce the character to only 4 pixels wide, plus one blank pixel for character separation, you have a cell that's 5 x 8. And 240 divided by 5 = 48 characters, not a significant improvement. If you reduce the cell size to 4 pixels wide, 3 for the character, and one for the separation, you can display 60 characters on a line. 240 divided by 4 = 60. Problem is that now you have only three pixels to define a character, and many characters become unintelligible. It becomes very difficult to differentiate between characters than have a middle part, like M and W, m and w; H and X, etc. You have to rely on "word recognition" in general context to read the screen. It is most unreliable for reading data that must be absolutely accurate, like columns of numbers. In order to view 80 characters on the screen, each cell would have to be 3 pixels wide, and allowing for 1 blank pixel between letters, your character would be only 2 pixels wide. Clearly impossible. Try to print meaningful letters using only two vertical lines. -- If you tried using all 3 pixels in the cell, there would be no blank between characters, so they'd all by mushed together and impossible to read. Consequently, no software can give you an 80 column screen. What these 80 column programs do is to map your document into an 80 column wide "page", then give you a little window that you can move around on the page, to view various parts of the document. You can simulate the approach by taking a piece of paper, cutting a "window" in it, that's 40 characters wide and 8 (or 16) rows high, then moving it around on a typed letter or document to see what you get. For most people, it's not entirely satisfactory. Some may find it useful, but in general, it's considered "trick" programming. However, considering that you may be one of those folks who can find it useful, apparently you need to convert the Hex file into a runnable program, using CHANGE.BA, which is another program from Library 7. Read CHANGE.DOC to learn how to make it work. Your "FF Error in 120" indicates that the program is looking for some file, and has not found it. Read the documentation carefully to see what file the program is looking for, or look in line 120 of the program to see what it is attempting to do there. One problem that is readily apparent, is that pressing ENTER when asked for a file name is wrong. The program asked for a name, not a blank line. You have to provide a name, or the program can't look for the file. The program may be set for defaults when you press ENTER for width and page breaks, I don't know. But virtually never for a file name.