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Originally printed in Issue #14 of The Underground this article got some updating and was reprinted in the September 2001 Issue of The LUCKY Report.

GeoPrint / GeoLabel

Winter time in Edmonton is one of the best times for computer work as it is generally not nice enough to be outside and, with all of the festivities, it is a time of year that requires a lot of greeting cards.

Everyone is most likely familiar with Print Shop, the first publishing program for the C-64 and one whose graphics number in the tens of thousands. This program let the user easily create cards, posters, stationery, banners and graphics to use on any of these items.

Next came Printmaster, a virtual clone until the legal system forced Unison World to make changes. PrintMaster Plus improved on the original concept by providing a preview screen so you could examine your creation prior to committing it to paper. These two programs, with all of their limitations, ruled the Commodore world for years.

I own (but hardly use) Ron Hackley's Fun Graphics Machine and it seems like it is an amazing program for graphics design and publishing. I also own GoDot (see the July 2001 Lucky Report for an in depth look at this masterful program) but rarely fire it up (although Arndt Dettke's Web Site is helping me understand the program better; http://home.t-online.de/home/god.adettke/). This article, however, is about what a person can do with programs that utilize the GEOS environment, so .....

When GEOS arrived, it really changed the way a lot of people used their Commodores, with the freedom it provided and its' ease of use. Nothing like Print Shop existed for GEOS, though. Articles were written on how to create cards, stationery and newsletters with 'Paint and 'Write and, when it arrived, 'Publish too. Creating a greeting card with information on all sides and no limit as to the exact placement of text and graphics was wonderful. It did require a lot of careful planning, rotating and time, and you were still limited as to the size of graphic you could rotate. In 1989 Roger Lawhorn and Dale Sidebottom made life a lot easier for GEOS users by creating GeoPrint and Geolabel (GP/GL). I have been using these programs for about 11 years now and they are great! They were also what started a lasting friendship with Dale (I was the catalyst for our club selling over 100 copies of TWS and TWS 128. This venture made me propose to Roger and Dale that we do the same for GP/GL. With Miss Susan Lamb providing the original copy we sold about 20 copies of GP/GL in 1992).

The GeoPrint package consists of the main program and three template files. These templates are geoPaint pages that you use to make 1) posters (vertical or horizontal) and banners (up to 12 pages across) 2) greeting cards, and 3) giant posters. The giant poster template is a grid you use to decide how much to blow up any 'Paint image and the portions you want blown up (1/4 posters up to 3' * 3' and giant posters up to 8' tall). To utilize the system you take a copy of one of these templates and load it into geoPaint. The templates have a very easy to follow color scheme - if your text/graphics are on the green areas it will print on your printer. A greeting card is designed on 4 rectangular areas, each a little longer than one screen, representing the four sides of the card (front/back and left/right inside are side by side so you can overlap images also). Since you are using geoPaint, any of its' features can be used - fonts, graphics, pixel edit, etc. When you are done with your design the GeoPrint program is used for the printout. This program takes your four rectangular areas and does the necessary rotating and enlarging so that the card prints out just the way you want.

Wait, you say, if you are using an area slightly larger than a geoPaint window things could fill up in a hurry. True, smaller fonts and graphics are required in this phase of design but, hold on a minute, this is GEOS you're using - solutions exist. One thing we have that works wonders with geoPrint for cards and posters is the Paint Pages print driver from GEOS 2.0. By selecting this driver your card or poster will print to a file on disk called 'Page 1' and then you can use 'Paint to add any other touches you want. GeoPrint does the work of enlarging and flipping the images and you can add regular fonts with 'Paint. Since half of the card will be upside-down after printing it with Paint Pages you can use Spike Dethman's Paint Rotate to flip the GeoPaint file around again. Another handy file is a utility by Joe Buckley called Mirror, Mirror which lets you flip your card down the center axis for some neat printouts.

GeoLabel does for labels what geoPrint does for cards. This program, though, is not just for printing but is where you do your layout as well. To use geoLabel you create your file in GeoWrite or GeoFile (as a geoMerge document) and load that into geoLabel. The dox state that geoFile can cause problems with geoLabel so I prefer to setup my info with geoWrite. Labels can be any size up to 5" * 2" and utilize most GEOS fonts (bsw plus nine others), styles and photo scraps. Field items can be placed anywhere on the label with your mouse or the cursor keys. On-screen rulers allow you to make exact placement of the information you have. The print options let you print multiple copies of one, or all, of the labels in your file. Setup files can be saved so you don't have to layout your labels more than once. The label program prints on even cards vertically (my SG-10 would not print properly on the 15/16" * 3 1/2" labels I have) so finding the right labels for your printer is a concern (intructions are provided on how to go about this). My Roland (Epson FX-80 compatible) prints just fine on these labels and the program gets a lot of use with it.

GeoPrint and GeoLabel are fantastic programs that make full use of the many features of GEOS and every serious user should have them. I have only high praise for these programs as they both do what they promise and deliver it with style. Create your cards for all of those special occasions and address the envelopes with creative labels for that extra special touch. There is also nothing quite like a wall size printout of your favorite 'Paint picture or a banner 11 feet long!

The latest version of GeoPrint now supports Color printouts if you own a color printer. There is also a new feature that lets you print out your creations using any geoPaint fill pattern rather than just solid black. I haven't had a chance to really try this upgrade yet but doubt it is drastically different from the earlier version.

Both programs come with complete, easily understood, documentation and customized printer drivers. The custom drivers included double strike ones and no-form-feed drivers. These are handy if you want to put different graphics on different labels. Rather than printing two labels and having the next ten scroll past blank, choose a no-form-feed driver. I created a version to work with the geocable (EPSON GC (no.FF) ).

You'll want to get the programs now so that you have plenty of time to master them before the next winter card season arrives and it is now easier than ever. These programs used to be commercial offerings but Roger Lawhorn released all of his source code into the Public Domain in 2001 and on April 8, 2002 Dale Sidebottom confirmed that all of the programs are PD as well. The files are available in geoZip, GeoPACK and Wraptor'ed format from http://www.edmc.net/cue.