Whenever you use your system diskette, you'll find that the HELP program is loaded into your Osborne l's memory and that the computer executes the instructions in it. This is the process:
1. The Osborne 1 displays the sign-on message and waits for you to insert a diskette and press the RETURN key.
2. After you press the RETURN key, the instructions that comprise CP/M are transferred from the diskette into the computer's memory. One of these instructions tells CP/M to perform the next step automatically.
3. A copy of the file containing the Osborne logo goes into memory, and the monitor displays the logo.
4. A final set of automatic instructions loads the HELP program into the Osborne l's memory and the com-puter begins following the instructions that make up the HELP program.
Each diskette Osborne provides follows these steps; the only difference is in step four. The diskette that contains WordStar automatically loads the WordS tar instructions during step four and begins following them; the SuperCa1c diskette loads Super-Calc during step four; the BASIC diskette loads and executes Microsoft BASIC during step four. As you'll eventually learn, you can change the program the Osborne 1 first loads. For now, be content that the CP/M System diskette always loads and ex-ecutes HELP first, the WordStar diskette automatically loads and executes WordStar, and so on.
Setting Up
Before we finish acquainting you with the Osborne 1, we want to introduce you to another program. Called SETUP, this pro-gram performs numerous useful functions.
Your system diskette should be in drive A at this point. Type:
then press 1 RETURN I.
After a few moments, a new message will appear on the screen identifying the program and asking you which drive has the diskette containing the CP/M system to be altered. This may not make any sense right now, but go ahead and press
0
to indi-cate that you want to use the system from drive A. It next reminds you that the source diskette should be in the A drive.Then press RETURN.
In a few more moments, you'll see the following display:
You've probably already figured out that you can use the SETUP program to "set up" the CP/M operating system so that it recog-nizes your printer as well as providing a few other convenient options. (You will learn all about the operating system in the next chapter.) The SETUP program shows you the name of the options in dim letters and the current setting in brighter letters.
Let's take each one individually.
A PRINTER: Your Osborne 1 can use five types of printers:
• Standard Serial (uses RS-232 communications protocol);
• Qume or NEC (uses ETX-ACK communications protocol);
• Diablo (uses XON-XOFF communications protocol);
• Centronics (uses parallel communications protocol);
• IEEE-488 (uses IEEE-488 communications protocol).
Almost every printer manufactured falls into one of these five categories. If you're not sure where your printer fits in, check with the dealer who sold it to you before proceeding. If you don't have a printer yet, you can skip the rest of this printer option discussion.
Currently, the setting indicates that Standard Serial has been chosen. If you wish to change to another type of printer, press the letter II] to signify that it's the PRINTER option you want to alter (followed by RETURN for double-density). This gives you the five choices just mentioned. Each choice has a letter associated with it; just press the letter of your choice and the CURRENT PRINTER setting automatically changes. Your choice isn't permanently recorded until later, so don't worry about making a mistake at this point.
Also in the printer catagory are the options for addressing a par-ticular IEEE device number and a feature for inputting a printer initialization string. Both of these options should be used only by those knowledgable in their implementation. Use the
I
RETURNI
to get from the printer menu back to the original dis-playas indicated in the message at the bottom of the screen.B Baud Rate: The second setting you may wish to change is the "speed" at which the serial port on your Osborne 1 com-municates. There are two choices: 300 baud (30 characters per second) and 1200 baud (120 characters per second). Pressing the letter [[] changes the selection from its current setting to the other one. Pressing [[] again changes it back.
C Screen Size: You can tell your Osborne to "think" that its screen is any number of characters wide, from 1 to 128; the screen will still show only 52 at a time, however. The ability to change the screen size is handy if you're using software de-signed for a different computer, one with a display size different from the Osborne's. To change the screen size, press @]' then press [K], [ID, or @] , depending upon whether you want 52, 128, or some other size. If you press C, you'll need to enter the size you desire (1-128, inclusive).
Be careful about what size you specify; some sizes don't make any sense or will have an effect on the programs you run.
NEVER CHANGE THE SCREEN SIZE TO ANYTHING EXCEPT 128 ON YOUR WORDS TAR DISKETTES, for instance, or you may find the program MAY not function properly. Changing the system diskette to 52 will also make the HELP display a little er-ratic. We recommend leaving the setting on all diskettes at 128.
D Auto Horizontal Scroll: We've done everything in our power to make your Osborne 1 more useful than systems with larger screen sizes. Consequently, we've come up with an optional set-ting that makes the screen automatically scroll horizontally when you move the cursor past the 52nd character on a line.
As with selection B, two choices exist. Pressing []] turns auto-matic scrolling ON or turns it OFF, depending upon its current setting. We recommend that you leave it ON; WordStar ettes should always have this feature ON, while SuperCalc disk-ettes should always have this feature OFF.
E Function Keys: When you press the control key and any of the number keys, something special happens. A "5 tells your Osborne 1 to automatically display the characters associated with function 5. Simply stated, the function keys (0-9, each is-sued by holding the control key down) can be programmed to represent a sequence of characters or commands. Therefore, these keys become a shorthand method of issuing the desired command or entering a sequence of characters. For example, if
you found yourself constantly typing the wordANTIDISESTAB-LISHMENTARIANISM, you could enter that sequence of characters for a given function key. After programming the function key, you type the word ANTIDISESTABLISHMEN-TARIANIsM by simply pressing the associated function key (i. e,
holding down the control key while pressing a number key).
The E option of the SETUP program lets you program each function key. Let's try programming some function keys!
Press