Line display while printing

[TBaehr@xxxxxxxx]

I would imagine this would be an Editor function that we couldn't write XPL for. Even if the Editor could do it, most modern printers cache the file in memory and then dole it out to the print mechanism. I'm not a programmer, but I think you'd have to cache each line and send it as a separate "message" to the printer, all the while displaying those lines in synch on-screen or somehow scrolling through the source file.

In HP printers, each page is composed by firmware inside the printer (Page Control Language, or
PCL). I don't think you could get line-by-line feedback.

Here's a kluge: If you have an inkjet printer, put a microswitch at one end of the printhead's
slider rack (my term) and hook it up to a small motor that operates a lever to press the down-arrow
key on your keyboard. Make sure you always print from Page/Line view and have the cursor at the
beginning of the file.

(I know this is ridiculous, but I once relocated a key on the TRS-80 keyboard using plastic tubing,
coat-hanger wire, double-sided tape, and a piece of cork. Worked like a charm.)

Cheers,
Tim Baehr