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From: kirsch@ux.acs.umn.edu (Dave Kirsch)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms,comp.os.msdos.apps,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Probems with reverse type in Excel 3.0 using
Keywords: reverse type, Laserjet III driver bug, Excel 3.0
Message-ID: <1991Feb5.195727.423@arizona.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 91 02:57:26 GMT
Lines: 54


  This is kind of a peculiar problem; I hope somebody can help me out with
Message-ID: <3210@ux.acs.umn.edu>
Date: 6 Feb 91 02:06:02 GMT
Reply-To: kirsch@ux.acs.umn.edu (Dave Kirsch)
Followup-To: comp.windows.ms
Organization: University of Minnesota
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  My hardware setup: 
    PS/2 Model 55SX w/60MB hard drive and 6 MB memory 
    Sitting on a 16 Mb Token Ring network running OS/2 EE and Lan Server 
    Running Windows 3.0 in 386 Enhanced Mode using SDL Disk's LJ III driver 
    Using QEMM version 5.11 for a high memory manager 
    Running Excel version 3.0 (VERY nice, BTW) 
    Printers available: Epson LQ-1050, Laserjet III, LJ III in LJ II mode 

  Sorry if the above list is a little anal retentive, but when I've helped 
people troubleshoot I've learned it's better to give people too much info 
rather than too little. 

  Here's my problem: I'm trying to print some of my columns of cells using 
reverse type, i.e. white text on a black background. How am I doing this? 
Well, when I do a 'format font' I set the font color to white. When I do a 
'format pattern' I try to set the pattern to black. At this point, everything
looks perfect on the screen. When I print to the Laserjet III, however, all 
I get is columns of pure black, i.e. no numbers, no white type. I've tried 
printing to our Epson using the same options and it works fine. I've tried 
printing to the LJ III using the LJ II driver and it works fine, but the fonts
I have to choose from *suck*. When using the normal LJIII driver, I have 
tried every possible combination of 'pattern', 'foreground' and 'background' 
possible in the 'format pattern' dialog box. 
 
  Now, when I change the pattern to any shade of grey besides black and use 
the Laserjet III driver (new one in SDL disk set), it prints out fine. When 
I was still using the previous version of the Laserjet III driver, however, 
I couldn't even do that. (Print white text on a shaded grey background.) It 
seems pretty obvious to me that this is a bug in the Laserjet III driver 
(Yes, the new improved one.) Anyone care to confirm/deny this? Who should I 
talk to about getting this fixed, Microsoft or HP? Is it likely that this is
a combination of Excel 3.0 and the Laserjet III driver's fault, or is it 
reasonable to assume that this is entirely the LJ III driver's fault? 
Anybody out there from Microsoft or HP care to comment? (And, please, don't 
tell me to keep doing it the same way I am right now; one of the main reasons
I'm using Excel 3.0 is for the ability to use white text on a black 
background.) I can get by using kludges for right now, but I intend to use 
the Laserjet III for my final output. 

  Any and all help would be *greatly* appreciated. 
 
Dave Kirsch 
kirsch@ux.acs.umn.edu