CFOG's PIP, January 1986, Volume 4 No. 3, Whole No. 39, page 7
STARJET
by Benjamin H. Cohen
Next month you'll probably see the results of the application of STARJET to our PIP text. STARJET is a post processor for WordStar and the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet printer. Like PropStar, STARJET works on files that you create in the ordinary way with WordStar. There are some special commands that you can insert in WordStar files to help, and some STARJET commands can be entered as a command tail when running STARJET. The new commands are called DOTSTAR commands because the start with a dot or period in column 1 of a line like WordStar's dot commands and are followed by a star or asterisk.
Where STARJET shines is with proportional spaced text or when you want to make boxes or lines. STARJET will justify proportionally spaced text, center lines of text to the nearest 1/900th of an inch rather than WordStar's nearest space, create horizontal or vertical lines or boxes with line widths from 1/150th of an inch thick to one inch thick, and generally take advantage of most of the LaserJet's capabilities.
STARJET will print in columns. You tell it how many columns, how wide each is, and how many lines, say you want the next 40 lines printed in two columns 50 characters wide each, STARJET will take your next 40 lines of one column text and print it as two columns.
We could use that technique, along with the ability to print a line across the page of any thickness in increments of 1/150th of an inch, to set up the text the way it used to be in the old PIPs. (Sounds good. How about a response from the readership out there. Certainly worth a try ...Ed.)
STARJET is $150 from Control-C Software, Inc., 6441 SW Canyon Court, Portland, OR 97221, 503-292-8842. Versions are available for CP/M-80 and 86, MS/PC-DOS, MP/M-II and -86, TurboDos, and Concurrent DOS. I'll report on when and where my full review will be published, but you'll probably be seeing the results here in coming months. When PIP comes out in justified proportionally spaced columns, you can be fairly sure that STARJET is doing it!