Robert C. Arp, Jr.
                                              278-1 San Tomas Aquino Road
                                              Campbell, Ca 95008
                                              (408)370-9039

                                              April 28, 1989

     In general, I am not inclined to jump ahead to later material in the
book that I am writing.  But, since I do support the concept of encourage-
ment to the extent that it might alleviate the task of learning assembly
language; and, since I promised R. Gillies that I would upload a desk
accessory example, I am yielding this program as an example of the type of
material that will presented in later chapters of "Atari ST Machine Specific
Programming In Assembly".

     This desk accessory installs a print buffer and interrupt handler that
are designed to get one out of the application FAST.  The usual circular
print buffers are too slow.  After all, the reason one should be using a
print buffer, in the first place, is that one is envolved in some work that
demands a quick return to what is being done; yet a hard copy of something
is desired.

     This buffer handles one file at a time.  Many enhancements could be
added; for example, a file queue to support the sequential printing of
multiple files.  But that is not the purpose of this example.  It has been
designed to serve as an uncluttered example of a practical desk accessory.

     The documentation within the source file should be sufficient for those
who are not content to wait until I get to the material in the book.  If not,
you are on your own.  But there is a lot of other material around.  Look in
magazine articles and gem books.

     To use the accessory, just copy PRTASCII.ACC to the root directory of
your boot disk, or call it up from within MultiDesk.  Have your printer on,
your computer packed in dry ice and a fire extinguisher standing by--cause
this sucker moves.