Tim Ericson says,

> I just installed a some serial cards in our 256xB printers (they
> were HP-IB), and they work fine, but whenever we send a spoolfile
> with a forms message, an alignment ruler prints at the beginning!
>
> (like this:  ....:....1....:....2....:....3....:....4.... etc.)
>
> Has anybody seen this one?  I can't find any mention of it in
> either the printer operator's manual or in the interface manual.

Tim, that's been around since the HP3000 was a pup.  It's used for forms
alignment and will appear when the FORMS parameter for a FILE equation, or
FORMS are specified in the program.  To get rid of it, do not use the FORMS
parameter.

It basically does this:  The spoolfile starts... the alignment line is
printed.  A Console Request asks if alignment is OK, operator replies Yes or
No.  If Yes, the spoolfile goes along and prints, and if No, another
alignment line is printed (it does assume the operator made some adjustments
to the alignment on the printer).

Another way to alert your operator to mount forms is the use of TELLOPs in
the Jobstream, or execute a PRINTOP or PRINTOPREPLY intrinsic in the program
itself and ditch the FORMS parameter on the FILE equation.  PRINTOP will
place a message on the console.  PRINTOPREPLY will place the message on the
console and ask for a reply.  If using COBOL, DISPLAY ... UPON CONSOLE and
ACCEPT ... FROM CONSOLE will do the same thing.

Best Regards,
Joe

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