For printing to third party printers such as Epson or Okidata, here are some indirect methods.
NOTE: All procedures reviewed here use the ProDOS /USERS.DISK that comes with the ProDOS supplied with Disk II's or with the ProDOS User's Kit.
1. Using an intelligent graphics interface: Grappler, Pkaso, or other.
A. Save the picture by selecting the "Put a copy in..." command from the MousePaint File menu. This will create a standard binary picture file on a ProDOS-formatted data disk.
B. Leave Paint.
C. Start up Applesoft BASIC using the ProDOS /USERS.DISK. BASIC is an option on the main ProDOS menu.
D. Now you must instruct your Apple to load the graphcs image and to tell the interface to dump it to the printer. Most graphics interfaces come with examples of programs that do this. Enter and save one of these on your ProDOS data disk.
Sales Tip: Enter the programs for the intelligent interfaces you support. Make sure they run under ProDOS and give them to your customers.
2. Using a "snapshot" interface.
Some cards, e.g., the "PRINT IT" interface, will print the screen when a button is pressed. Because you would print the Paint palette if you did a MousePaint screen dump, you should save the graphic as above and start up BASIC from the ProDOS /USERS.DISK. Then give these direct commands to your Apple:
HGR:POKE -16302,0
BLOAD picturename, A$2000
Then press the interface's button to dump the picture.
3. Making your Apple do the work.
This works if you have a graphics printing program that works with your printer, e.g., Printographer, Zoom Grafix, Apple LOGO Tool Kit and so on. Most of these programs run under DOS 3.3.
A. Follow the instructions above to store a binary file on your ProDOS data disk.
B. Start up the ProDOS /USERS.DISK.
C. Now you must convert the binary file over to DOS 3.3 format using the CONVERT option on the ProDOS menu. Follow the instructions in the ProDOS manual for doing this conversion. (See our article on using the ProDOS CONVERT program for more information).
D. After the file is converted to DOS 3.3, it may be loaded and dumped by your DOS 3.3 graphics program.
Of course, once these programs are published under ProDOS, you will not need to convert the binary file before using the graphics program.
To dump graphics, Apple IIc users can also employ the Imagewriter Tool Kit, Revision B, which works under ProDOS.