Radio Shack TRS-80 Model II Reference Manual page 108

Model II TRSDOS
Notes:
1. The SPOOL ON command cannot be called from BASIC or any user program,
because it always jumps to TRSDOS READY upon completion. (Other spooler
commands may be called from BASIC i.e. SPOOL N F
=
filespec etc.).
2.
When a capture file is first opened, the spooler writes a header record at the front
of the file. This consists of a "length" byte followed by the TRSDOS time-date
text. This information will not be printed by the SPOOL P command. You can
create a spool print-file by following this format. Ifno header is to be used, the
first byte of the file should be a binary zero. In this case, spool printing will
begin with the second byte. Spool files must have fixed-length,
2S6-byte
records.
3. While the spooler is on and you have not named a capture file, all printer output
is ignored. To begin capturing the output, you must name a file (SPOOL N F
=
file).
4. While spool is ON and data is being captured and/or printed, the capture-file
and/or print-file are open. DONOTREMOVETHECAPTURE-FILEOR PRINT-FILE
DISKETTES UNTIL YOU HA VE TURNED THE SPOOLER OFF. Do not Backup or
Format to these disks, either.
5. The capture-file traps all printer bytes - no translation is done. This is true
regardless of what print control options may have been selected (e.g., auto
line-feeds). On the other hand, the print-file is output using the current selt'ction
of print control options. For example, a X'OC' will be captured literally; but a
X'OC' in a print-file may be interpreted before it is printed, depending on the
currently selected print control options. See FORMS and SVC PRCTRL.
6. When the spooler completes a print-file, it will not kill the print-file
immediately, but at the earliest opportunity. If you issue a DIR command
immediately after completion of a spool print operation, you may notice that the
file is still in the DIRectory. The file will be killed during execution of any user
program or any' 'high-overlay" TRSDOS command such as LIST.
7. Once it has been closed, a spooler capture-file may be printed via the PRINT
command or by the spooler's print facility. However, the PRINT command will
not operate as a "background" operation allowing you to key in commands
during printing, and the time/date text will be printed at the beginning of the file.
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