Banners
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Banners allows messages to be printed horizontally or vertically down
sheets of continuous listing paper. The banner can then be hung
horizontally with the sprocket holes running left to right (if not
removed) or vertically with the sprocket holes running top to bottom.

Any characters can be incorporated in a banner. The program reads the
BBC's character set when run and uses this for each character. When a
banner is printed, a vertical and horizontal multiplier can be set. This
allows each character to be increased in size up to a factor of ten. The
best size for the characters will depend on what the use of the banner,
but setting the vertical multiplier slighly larger than the horizontal
prevents the characters looking "fat".

The program is menu driven, with only 6 options (including quit)
displayed. It is possible to enter operating system commands from the
menu. The options available are:

Save and Load - these allow the current settings to be saved to disc for
future use. If you are using a tape system you will have to delete the
routine that checks your specified file does not already exist.

Change Settings - these settings are at the heart of the program. The
horizontal and vertical multipliers are described above. The left, top and
bottom gaps allow gaps to be inserted to the left of each character (thus
allowing characters to be in the centre of a sheet), and blank lines to be
left above or below each letter, thus allowing each letter to be printed
on separate sheets of paper.

When printing, each letter is created using an "X" character. This can be
changed to any other character, but beware the overall effect - some
characters are more suitable for use than others: "*" can be used
effectively as can "O" but "-" is less effective. Likewise a space is
usually used for the background, but this also can be changed.

Finally, line spacing can be set. This allows the space between each line
of characters that make up a letter to be varied. The line spacing is
descibed as n/216th of an inch, and is normally set to 36/216ths inch -
the default setting on most printers. An increase makes the letters
more spaced out and a reduction compacts them. This may necessitate some
changes in the lines at the top and bottom of each letter.

Message - this allows three messages to be specified. The main message,
printed out in large letters; a pre message, printed before the main
message; and a post message, printed at the end of the main message.

Print - this causes printing of the message (plus pre and post messages).
The option can be selected and used without the printer being switched on
so some idea of the end result will appear on screen.

When entering data, pressing RETURN on its own will cause the current
setting to remain.

By altering settings between printing letters of the same word, special
effects can be incorporated.

Banners is designed for use with an Epson standard dot matrix printer but
can be used with other printers. The program should also run with a "daisy
wheel", and only uses two special control codes: the code for escape; and
the code for line feed increments of n/216 inch. These are both set in the
procedure "epson_codes". By changing these values, "Banners" should run
with any printer.