Apple IIgs User Manual

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Apple IIgs Owner's Guide

Preface - The Incredible Stretching Machine

The Apple IIgs is a direct descendant of the Apple I the creation of an engineer who hated so much to leave his computer behind at the end of the workday that he made himself a home computer.

Steve Wozniak, the engineer, showed the machine to his friend Steve Jobs, and they showed it to other engineers and computer enthusiasts at the Homebrew Computer Club. It wasn't much to look at. It didn't have a case or a keyboard or a matching monitor, but no one saw what it wasn't.

They saw what it could be, and they all wanted one.

So Wozniak and Jobs started building computers for their friends. And those friends started building cases for their naked circuit boards and writing programs that stretched the machine to its limits. Except that the limits kept expanding.

The first machine was built to grow, and it's still growing. The memory size, for example which determines how elaborate a program can be and how big a document can be has gone from 4K on the Apple I to 256K on the Apple IIgs. And when you need more memory, you can stretch that 256K beyond 8 megabytes.

Despite the considerable difference in memory size and other features, most of the programs originally designed for the first generation of Apple computers can run on the Apple IIgs. It's not a coincidence. It's the result of a commitment to compatibility among the computers in the Apple II family. And it's the reason you have so many programs, printers, and other Apple products to choose from today.

You'll learn how you can use those programs and products to stretch your machine as you go through the training disk and the books that came with your Apple IIgs.

Learning By Doing

The best way to get acquainted with the Apple IIgs is to use it that's the purpose of Your Tour of the Apple IIgs, the interactive training disk that came packed with your Apple IIgs. The owner's guide expands on the concepts presented on the training disk, but neither the guide nor the disk can tell you exactly in a step-by-step way how to use your computer to write reports, do financial planning, or create graphics. The step-by-step instructions come with the programs you buy for your computer. The fascinating (and initially confusing) thing about computers is that how they work depends on what you use them for.

If you have any questions that other manuals don't answer, come back to this manual for help. If you can't find the answer here, your best resource is a more experienced Apple user. If you don't know such a person, consider joining an Apple user group in your area.

Road Map to the Manuals

Your Apple IIgs came with several books: Setting Up Your Apple IIgs, the Apple IIgs Owner's Guide, the Apple IIgs System Disk User's Guide, and A Touch of Applesoft BASIC.

If you haven't done so already, read the setup guide to get your computer set up, and then start reading this book. Not the whole thing just enough so you feel comfortable with your new machine. What you do after that depends on whether you want to use a program (for writing, calculating, list making, drawing) or whether you want to write programs yourself.

You can buy programs to accomplish almost any task you can think of (and many you can't), so

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you don't need to write programs unless you want to; but many people prefer writing programs to using those available. If you think you might be one of those people, read A Touch of Applesoft BASIC. If you're content to leave programming to programmers, skip the introduction to BASIC and read the manual that came with one of the programs you got to use with your Apple IIgs.

The system disk documentation explains how to use the programs on the Apple IIgs System Disk. You'll use the System Disk to prepare blank disks for storing documents, to make copies of important disks, to delete documents you don't need any more, and to switch quickly from one program to another. A program that lets you copy, delete, and otherwise manipulate documents is called a utility program. Read the system disk documentation when you're ready to start using a program to create documents.

These manuals are designed for people who plan to use the Apple IIgs for writing, budgeting, record keeping, and things like that.

Chapter 1 - Meet Your Apple IIgs

This chapter defines some essential computer jargon words like hardware, software, application program, and peripheral device. Then it shows you how to start up the Apple IIgs training disk. After that, you'll get a chance to use the Apple IIgs's built-in Control Panel Program a program that lets you customize your computer system much the way you adjust the seat position and mirrors to customize a new car.

All of these topics are covered in more detail later in this guide.

Application Programs

What you do with your computer depends on the software you're using with it.

Software refers to the sets of instructions, called programs, that tell the computer what to do. A program designed for a particular purpose, or application, is called an application program, or just an application.

You can write programs yourself, or you can choose from a library of over 10,000 applications that are available for the Apple II family of computers.

Applications are stored on disks. You start up an application by putting an applica-tion program disk in a disk drive and turning on the computer's power.

Disk drives play back information stored on disks much the way tape players play back the information on tape cassettes.

Disks

You can use two kinds of disks to start up application programs on the Apple IIgs: 3.5-inch disks and 5.25-inch disks. The main difference between the two types of disks is storage capacity: 3.5-inch disks can hold 800K (about 400 pages of text); 5.25-inch disks can hold 143K (about 70 pages of text).

Hard disk: You can also start up Apple IIgs applications from a hard disk.

The standard information storage medium for the Apple IIgs is the 3.5-inch disk because it is compact and sturdy, and has almost six times the storage capacity of a 5.25-inch disk. But the Apple IIgs works just fine with 5.25-inch disks, so if you have a library of them, there's no reason not to use them with the Apple IIgs. The impor-tant thing is that you have the right kind of disk drive to match your disks.

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Besides using disks to start up applications, you'll use disks to store documents. Document is a generic term for anything you create with an application. It could be a memo, a budget, a graph, a picture, and so on.

Initially, application program disks are more valuable than the blank disks you buy for storing documents; but once a disk has your documents on it, it becomes as valuable as the time you spent creating the documents. That's why it's important to take good care of disks. Read about the care and handling of disks in the manual that came with your disk drive. And keep these points in mind:

Make backup copies of important disks. Copying disks is explained in the system disk guide.

Keep disks away from hot places (like the dashboard of your car on a sunny day).

Keep disks away from magnets (and devices like telephones that use magnets).

Protect disks from dust. (Store them upright and covered, either in a plastic disk holder or in a shoe box.)

Keep disks dry. (Don't water plants over them or get sloppy with your coffee.)

Peripheral devices

In addition to the software that tells your computer what to do, you need hardware that lets you see what you're doing (a monitor), save and retrieve what you've done (a disk drive), and print a copy of your work (a printer). Accessories like these, that plug into your computer, are called peripheral devices.

Peripheral Devices

There are two ways to connect peripheral devices to the Apple IIgs. Some devices are designed to be plugged into a particular port on the back of the computer. Other devices are designed to be plugged into a slot inside the computer. If the device requires an interface card, it's designed to be plugged into a slot.

Starting Up

The quickest way to get comfortable with your Apple IIgs is to start using it. That's the purpose of the Apple IIgs training disk. Before you start up the training disk, you need to identify your startup disk drive. The startup drive is the drive where the computer will look for a startup disk a disk with an application it can start up with.

If you have only one drive, it's your startup drive.

If you have two or more drives of the same type (both 3.5-inch drives or both 5.25-inch drives), the startup drive is the drive connected directly to the disk drive port.

If you have both a 5.25-inch drive and a 3.5-inch drive connected to the disk drive port, the 5.25-inch drive is your startup drive. If you want the computer to start up from a disk in your

3.5-inch drive (which you do if you plan to use the Apple IIgs training disk), make sure your 5.25-inch drive is empty. When your computer can't find a disk in the 5.25-inch drive, it will check the 3.5-inch drive next. Depending on whether the majority of your application program disks are 3.5-inch or 5.25-inch, at some point you might want to use the Control Panel Program to change the startup drive.

If you have two drives of the same type connected to a disk drive controller card, the startup

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drive is the drive attached to the connector labeled drive 1 on the card.

If you have drives connected to more than one controller card, the startup drive is the drive connected to the card in the highest-numbered slot. If you want, you can change the startup slot by using the Control Panel Program.

The Training Disk

The training disk is designed to give you first-hand experience using the computer for writing, calculating, record keeping, and drawing. The programs you'll use are simulations of application programs; you won't be able to use them to write your own letters, create budgets, or set up inventories, but they'll give you an idea of the sorts of things you can do with your computer. And you'll get to experiment in a controlled environment where a mistake isn't a problem just another learning opportunity.

Besides learning about all the different things you can do with your computer, you'll learn some general concepts that stay the same no matter what you're working on:

How to control an application by using the mouse or the keyboard

How your work is saved temporarily in the memory of the computer

How your work is saved permanently on disks

How to retrieve work you've saved on a disk

How to edit your work

And, for the adventurous, there's an introduction to programming. You'll get a chance to see what goes into writing the instructions that control the behavior of the computer how to give the computer its personality as a writing machine, an adding machine, a game machine, and so on.

Important In order to use the Apple	IIgs training disk, you need	a	monitor	and at least one
3.5-inch disk drive connected to your	Apple IIgs. If you are using	a	regular	television set as

a display device or if your only disk drive is a 5.25-inch drive, you won't be able to use the training disk, but you can get the information from Chapters 2 and 3.

You can use a television set as a display device with many game and educational applications, but the picture you get with a regular TV set isn't clear enough for applications that display 80 characters per line. Some TV sets are designed to work as monitors. If you have a combination TV/monitor, you will be able to use the training disk.

Starting up the training disk

Find the disk labeled Your Tour of the Apple IIgs and follow these instructions to start it up.

Put the disk into your startup drive.

Turn on your monitor.

Reach around the left side of the computer and find the power switch on the left side of the back panel. Turn it on.

If everything is plugged in and turned on, in a few seconds you should see the opening display of the training disk.

Put the book aside now and enjoy the hands-on introduction to your Apple IIgs. Anything you need to know to use the disk will be explained right on the screen.

Problems starting up?

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If you don't see the opening display, go through the following checklist to see if you can identify the problem:

Important If the problem seems to involve a loose connection, turn off the power and wait at least 30 seconds before you reconnect cables.

Is the computer plugged into a power source?

Is the monitor plugged into a power source?

If your computer and monitor are plugged into a power strip, is the power strip turned on?

Is the monitor plugged into the computer?

Is the disk drive connected to the computer?

Is the monitor power switch turned on?

Is the computer power switch turned on?

Did you put the training disk in the 3.5-inch drive connected directly to your computer?

If you have a 5.25-inch drive, was it empty when you turned on the power?

Are you using the right disk? Eject the disk in the startup drive (following the instructions in the next section) and make sure it's labeled Your Tour of the Apple IIgs.

Are the monitor's contrast and brightness adjusted correctly?

If the image on your screen is rolling or out of alignment, hold down Option and Control while you press Reset (the key marked with a triangle). Then press 2. This restores the standard Control Panel settings for the U.S.

If you think there's a more serious problem with your computer, you can run a diagnostic test by pressing Apple key and Option while you turn on the power or by pressing Control-Apple key-Option-Reset if the power is already on. After about 35 seconds you should see the message System Good. If you see the message System Bad followed by a string of letters, contact your authorized Apple dealer.

If you can't identify the problem yourself, get help from a more experienced Apple II user or from your authorized Apple dealer.

Stopping

When you're ready to stop using the training disk, do this:

Choose Let's Stop from the Quit menu.

Push the disk drive eject button.

Take the training disk out of the drive.

Turn off the monitor's power switch.

Turn off the computer's power switch.

The Apple IIgs uses less power than a 100-watt light bulb, so you don't need to turn it off between work sessions.

The ideal way to leave the training disk and any application program is to choose the Quit

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option from the menu. Choosing the Quit option gives the application a chance to remind you to save your document (not an issue with the training disk, but a very important issue if you've been using an application for writing or budgeting), and it keeps you from quitting when the application is in the middle of doing something.

Important	If you turn off the	computer	when the disk drive is reading from or writing to a
disk, you	could damage the disk	and lose	the informa-tion recorded on it. Wait until the disk

drive light goes off before you turn off the power. If something goes wrong and the disk drive light stays on longer than 45 seconds, you can stop the disk drive by holding down Control while you press and release Reset (the key marked with a triangle).

If an application doesn't give you a Quit option, you can always quit by turning off the power. Just be sure to save your work before you touch the power switch.

Switching applications

Once the power is off, you can start up another application by putting the application program disk in the startup drive and turning on the power, just as you did when you started up the training disk. But you don't have to turn off the computer's power to switch applications. There's a better way (better for the power switch and for the circuitry inside the computer). Instead of turning off the power switch and exchanging the program disks, do this:

Choose the application's Quit option, but don't turn off the computer's power.

Push in on the disk drive eject button, remove the last application program disk you were using, and insert the one you want to use next.

Hold down the Apple key and Control while you press Reset. Then release all three keys, starting with Reset.

If it seems awkward, you're doing it right! If it were more convenient, you might press the keys by accident and restart your application, losing everything stored in memory up to that point.

From now on, when a procedure calls for you to hold down one or two keys while you press another, the keys will be shown joined with hyphens (for example, the Apple key-Control-Reset).

Restarting

Switching applications with the Desktop: You can also switch from one application to another by using the Desktop. The procedure is explained in the system disk documentation.

Control Panel Program

The training disk gave you a feel for using the Apple IIgs. Now, if you want to, you can change the feel of the Apple IIgs to suit yourself by using a built-in program called the Control Panel.

Here are some of the things you can change with the Control Panel:

The color of the text, background, and border displayed on the screen

The volume of the built-in speaker

The responsiveness of the keys

The responsiveness of the mouse

The speed of the microprocessor

Microprocessor speed: The Apple IIgs's microprocessor can operate at two speeds: at up to 2.8

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megahertz (its fast speed), or at 1 megahertz (the speed of the microprocessor in earlier Apple II's). Fast, the standard setting, is best for most applica-tions, but speeding up an old application could throw off its timing or keep it from running properly. If it does, you can change the speed to 1 megahertz by using the Control Panel.

Most people won't have to change any of the Control Panel settings. The only time you must change a Control Panel setting is:

If you have a peripheral device connected to an interface card in a slot inside the computer instead of to a port on the back of the computer. (Each port on the back of the Apple IIgs corresponds to a particular slot inside the Apple IIgs. Unless you activate the slot by using the Control Panel Program, the computer assumes you want the port to be active.)

If you have both a 5.25-inch drive and a 3.5-inch drive and you want the computer to start up from a disk in the 3.5-inch drive directly instead of first looking for a disk in the 5.25-inch drive.

If you have a printer, a modem, or some other peripheral device connected to the printer or modem port on the back of the Apple IIgs and the device doesn't work with the standard serial port settings.

By the way: Your settings are saved permanently you don't have to set them each time you turn on the power. But you can change them as often as you want by using the Control Panel Program.

Using the Control Panel Program

Learn to use the Control Panel Program by setting the Apple IIgs's built-in clock and calendar. Once you've set the battery-operated clock, you won't have to set it again. The battery lasts between five and ten years.

Hold down Option while you turn on the Apple IIgs power switch. Then type 1 to enter the Control Panel Program. You'll see the Control Panel menu.

Clock display

Oops! If you don't see this display, press Esc (escape) to get back to the Control Panel menu. This time, make sure Clock is highlighted before you press Return. Press Up Arrow if one of the options below Clock is highlighted.

Notice that Month is highlighted. Press Left Arrow or Right Arrow until the number representing Month is correct. (For January, set the month to 1; for February, set the month to 2, and so on.)

Next, press Down Arrow to highlight Day, and then press Left Arrow or Right Arrow until the day is correct, just as you did to set the month.

Next, press Down Arrow to move to Year, Hour, and Minute and set them the same way by using Left Arrow or Right Arrow. (Setting Seconds probably isn't necessary, but you can do that too if you want.)

Press Return to save your settings.

At this point, you should find yourself back at the Control Panel menu with the correct date and time displayed in the box in the upper-right corner of the screen.

If you want to try out some of the other options on the Control Panel, feel free to do it now or later, after you've lived with the standard settings for awhile.

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Chapter 2 - Once Over Lightly

This chapter reviews and expands on the computer concepts covered on the training disk. If you already understand how information moves through the computer system and out to peripheral devices, you might want to skip this chapter and go straight to Chapter 3, where you'll learn about using the mouse and the keyboard to control applications.

Starting Up an Application

When you start up an application, that application is copied into the memory of the computer and takes control of the computer system. What you see on the screen and what you can do with the computer depend completely on the application you started up with.

You can also start applications by using the Desktop on the system disk. The advantage of starting applications from the Desktop is that the Desktop lets you copy documents, delete documents, move documents from one disk to another, and do other things that come in handy during a typical session at the computer. The Desktop also makes it quick and easy to switch from one application to another.

Read the system disk documentation for more information.

Communicating with an Application

Applications communicate with you by displaying things on the screen. You communicate with applications by typing at the keyboard or by pointing to choices with the mouse.

Information that travels out of the computer (like the messages displayed on the screen) is called output. Information that travels into the computer (keypresses and mouse moves) is called input.

User Interface

The way an application communicates with you is called the user interface. When you are choosing applications for the Apple IIgs, you should give a lot of thought to the application's user interface because that's the personality of the application.

At one extreme are hand-holding applications that guide you slowly but surely through the application. At the other extreme are applications that give you minimal instructions and leave you to your own devices. If you use an application daily, you probably won't want as much hand-holding as with an application you use only once or twice a month.

Interface is a word you'll see a lot in computer books and magazines. It refers to the way things communicate with each other. It describes both the way information is exchanged between the computer and a peripheral device (for example, serial interface) and the way information is exchanged between the computer and a person (user interface).

How Information is Displayed

Some applications give you a choice of how you want information sent to the display. The choice is 40 columns or 80 columns. To understand what that means, imagine that the screen is a grid 40 squares across by 24 squares down. Each square on the grid can hold one character. In 80-column format, the grid is 80 squares across by 24 squares down. With the 80-column display, you can't twice as many characters per line as with the 40-column display, but the characters are half as wide. Some display devices, like TV sets, can display text only in the 40-column format they don't have sharp enough resolution to display the narrower 80-column characters

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clearly.

The 40-column and 80-column formats are two text modes.

A third way that applications can send information to your monitor is in graphics mode. In graphics mode, text and graphics are formed by patterns of dots, or pixels. The more dots used to create a picture, the sharper the resolution. The Apple IIgs can display graphics by using a rectangular array of 640 horizontal by 200 vertical dots. In this mode, called super-high resolution, the dots are so close together that it's hard to tell that the picture is made up of dots.

The Apple IIgs also supports graphics modes developed for earlier models of the Apple II, including double-high resolution, high resolution, and low resolution.

The phrase graphics mode suggests that this way of sending information to the screen applies only to pictures, but graphics mode can also be used to display text. In fact, that's how some word processing applications are able to display text in a variety of sizes and fonts. Instead of using the Apple IIgs's built-in text generator (which'ts characters into the 40-by-24 or 80-by-24 grid), they send numbers and letters to the display as if they were pictures.

Creating a Document

Most of the time, you'll be using the computer to create something: a letter, a graph, a list, a budget. Things you create with the computer are called documents, or files. The kind of document you can create depends on the application you're using. You don't create a letter by using a spreadsheet application, and you don't create a spreadsheet by using a word processing application.

As you type your document, it is stored along with the application in the memory of the computer.

Scrolling

There's a lot more room in memory for a document than there is room on the screen to display it.

How do you move different parts of the document under the screen window? With applications that use the mouse, there's a bar, like an elevator shaft, that runs along the right side of the screen window (and sometimes along the bottom of the screen window as well). As you move the elevator along the shaft, you scroll different parts of the document under the window.

With keyboard-controlled applications (that is, applications that don't use the mouse), you press Up Arrow to see earlier parts of the document, Down Arrow to see later parts of the document, Left Arrow to see the leftmost side of the document, and Right Arrow to see the rightmost side of the document.

Whether you move your document into view with the elevator or the arrow keys, moving the document under the screen window is called scrolling.

Saving a Document

The fact that your document is stored electronically in the com-puter's memory means that it's in a very dynamic, easy-to-edit state. It also means that if you turn off the power by mistake or change applications, you lose the document in memory. That's why it's important to save your work on a disk.

Saving a document on a disk is like'ling a paper document in a'le cabinet. How you save a document on a disk depends on the application. Sometimes Save is an option on a menu; sometimes

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you press a combination of keys that tells the application to save your document. (The manual that came with the application will explain exactly how to save your work.)

Once you've saved your document on a disk, it's OK to quit the application and turn off the computer's power. When you flip the power switch, the copy of the document that was stored electron-ically in the memory of the computer is lost, but you can retrieve a copy of the document from the disk any time you want to work on it.

Formatting a Disk

Before you can store documents on a blank disk, the disk has to be formatted, or initialized. (The terms are used interchangeably.) Formatting a blank disk magnetically divides the disk into numbered parking spaces where information can be stored and retrieved.

Some applications have a formatting option on a menu within the application. Other applications expect you to format disks by using the System Disk. You'll learn more about formatting in Chapter 4 and in the system disk guide.

Making a Backup Copy

Once your document is safe on a disk, you can rest easy. It's just like having a paper copy of your document in a file cabinet. The only reason you wouldn't be able to get it back is if you lost the disk or left it in your shirt pocket through a wash-and-dry cycle. This doesn't happen very often, but it always seems to happen the day before an important deadline with work that is irreplaceable. That's why it's a good idea to save the same document on two separate disks (or on three or four separate disks if the document is really important).

Some companies go so far as to store backup copies of important disks in a safe off the premises. The least you should do is keep your backup copy far enough from the original so that one cup of coffee can't reach both in one spilling.

You can make backup copies in two ways. You can save the document while you're using the application program, eject that disk, then save the document again on a second disk. Or you can copy the document onto a second disk after quitting the application by using the System Disk.

You should also make backup copies of your applications. However, don't be surprised if you can't duplicate every application you buy. Many manufacturers copy-protect (make it impossible to copy) their disks to protect themselves from software pirates, who illegally duplicate and distribute their applications. If you can't copy an application, the manufacturer generally provides one backup copy or tells you how to replace a damaged application program disk at a nominal cost.

Editing a Document

To edit a document that's stored on a disk, start up the application you used to create the document (a word processing application for a letter, a spreadsheet for a budget, and so on), and then instruct the application to get the document from the disk on which you saved it. (The manual that came with the application will tell you how to do this.) At your request, a copy of that document is loaded into the memory of the computer, and a portion of the document (whatever can't) appears on the screen.

If you make changes to the document, and like what you've done, you have to save the revised version of the document on the disk. (If you forget to save it, your original document will still be on the disk, but it won't include any of your additions or changes.)

If you save the revised document without changing the name, the revised document replaces the original document on the disk. Almost all applications warn you that there is already a

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document by that name on the disk and ask you to confirm that you want the new document to replace the old one. If you save the revised document with a new name (even if the new name is just the original name with a new version number), both the old version and the new will be on the disk.

If you save several versions of the same document on one disk, there comes a time when you want to erase some of the early efforts so you can reuse the disk space. Read the system disk guide for information on deleting documents from disks.

Printing a Document

Whether you've finished a document or just want to see how it looks so far, there's something very satisfying about printing your document getting a copy of it down on paper. Many people find it easier to edit on paper than on the screen.

Before you print, you should always save a copy of your document on a disk even if you don't plan on saving the document perma-nently. The reason for this precaution is that when you give the Print command, the application temporarily gives up control of the computer system to the printer.

If there's a problem printing the document, the only way to fix it may be to turn off the computer. If you have to do that and you didn't first save the document, you'll have to recreate the document from scratch.

How you tell the application to print your document depends on the application, but usually Print is an option on a menu. After you choose the Print option, you may be asked to select your printer from a list of printers displayed on the screen. If your printer is on the list, select it and your document will be printed.

Even if your printer isn't displayed on the screen, try selecting one that is. Your printer may be compatible with the Apple ImageWriter printer or some other printer on the list, and you'll save yourself some time and trouble getting your printer to work with your application.

If your printer is not on the list or compatible with one of the printers on the list, you'll need to provide the application with some specifications about your printer (things like the baud, number of data bits, number of stop bits, type of parity, and other specifications that may be Greek to you). The reason for providing these specifications is that different printers expect to receive information from the computer at different speeds and in different forms. The specifications tell the application how to send information to your printer. You should be able to'nd the specifications in the manual that came with your printer. If you can't, contact your authorized Apple dealer or the printer manufacturer.

You don't need to know what the specifications mean to find them in the printer manual and feed them into the application.

Some applications don't ask for the name of your printer or for specifications about your printer. They let the computer control how information is sent to the printer. If that's the case with the application you're using, and if it works, don't give it another thought. But if you're having trouble getting your document to print, you may need to change the way the computer is sending information to the printer. You can do this by changing the printer port settings in the Control Panel Program.

Essential Jargon

This section defines some terms and explains some concepts that applications may take for granted that you know.

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For example, you might need to know that information isn't stored inside the computer as letters and decimal numbers. It's stored as strings of 0's and 1's. Each letter, number, and punctuation mark on the Apple IIgs keyboard has its own distinct arrangement of 0's and 1's. The letter A, for example, is expressed as 1000001; B is 1000010.

The 0's and 1's are called bits. They're not really 0's and 1's; they're opposite conditions, but it's more convenient to represent them as numbers. Even though it takes only seven bits to represent each character on the keyboard, the computer allocates eight bits for each character. The extra bit is sometimes used for error checking. A string of eight bits is called a byte.

The computer also uses 0's and 1's to do arithmetic. Whereas humans use a decimal numbering system (based on the number of fingers on their hands), computers use a binary numbering system (based on the two symbols they know how to manipulate: off/on or 0/1).

So, the computer processes information as 0's and 1's. It stores these 0's and 1's in RAM, which stands for random-access memory. It's called random-access memory because the microprocessor can go directly to any information it needs it doesn't have to access the information sequentially the way you read a novel. The important thing to remember about RAM is that anything you store there is temporary. When you turn off the power, everything in RAM is erased that's why you have to remember to store documents on disks.

Do not confuse RAM with a similar acronym, ROM. ROM, which stands for read-only memory, is the computer's permanent memory. It's called read-only memory because the micro-processor can read and use what's on ROM chips, but it can't store anything there. ROM chips contain the information that tells the computer what to do when you turn on the power, and other important or indispensable information. That's all you need to know about ROM. RAM is of much more interest to you because that's where the computer keeps track of the application you're working with and the document you're working on. When this manual refers to memory, it's almost always referring to RAM.

Chapter 3 - The Mouse and the Keyboard

Your Apple IIgs came with two important devices: a keyboard and a mouse. The keyboard is for typing documents and for sending typed instructions to applications. The mouse is for drawing pictures and for pointing to choices on the screen another way of sending instructions to applications. The mouse and the keyboard are input devices; that is, they send information into the computer.

How these devices work depends on the application so it' s up to the manual provided with the application to tell you what you need to know to use the mouse and the keyboard with the application. But the application may assume some familiarity with the special keys on the Apple IIgs keyboard and with mouse terms like clicking, cutting, pasting, dragging, selecting, and choosing from pull-down menus. If you have questions that aren't answered in the manual provided with your application, come back to this chapter for clarification.

Applications written before the mouse came along accept only keyboard commands. More recent applications usually give you a choice of using the mouse or the keyboard. These applications are called mouse-based applications.

The first part of this chapter defines mouse terms and describes the standard user interface for mouse-based applications. The second part of this chapter introduces the special keys on the Apple IIgs keyboard and describes the standard user interface for keyboard-based applications.

Some applications don't conform to the standard Apple II user interface described in this chapter. This is especially true of older applications because they were written before a standard existed. If you find yourself faced with an application that does things a little differently, rely on the manual that came with the application for instructions on how to use

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it.

Using Mouse-Based Programs

When you move the mouse across your desk, a small arrow, called a pointer, moves in a corresponding way across the screen.

Clicking

Pressing and releasing the mouse button is called clicking. You point to something and click when you want to select that item for some action.

Double clicking means pressing and releasing the mouse button twice in rapid succession. It's a shortcut used in many mouse-based applications. Where the shortcut leads depends on the application. Again, the manual provided with the application will tell you how double clicking is used in that application.

Selecting

When you point to a word or picture and click the mouse button, you are selecting that word or picture for some action.

Selecting is an important concept in mouse-based applications. You select something; then you tell the application what action to perform on the selected text or picture. For example, you might select a block of text and then tell the application to delete it or move it somewhere else in the document.

To select a block of text, point just to the left of the first character, hold down the mouse button, move the pointer to the right of the last character, then release the mouse button. The text between the first and last character will be highlighted to show that you selected it.

Holding the mouse button down while you move the mouse is called dragging.

Besides dragging across text to select it, you can use the mouse to drag objects from one place on the screen to another. You can move a window by dragging it with the title bar or change the size of the window by dragging the size box. You'll learn more about dragging later in this chapter.

Pull-Down Menus

Menus in mouse-based applications stay out of sight until you need them. In this respect, they are like those maps you may have had in elementary school. The teacher pulled down the map to teach geography, then rolled it up to demonstrate subtraction on the blackboard.

To pull down a menu in a mouse-based application, just point to the title of the menu and hold down the mouse button. (The menu will remain visible until you release the mouse button.)

Each word or picture on the menu bar represents a different menu. Each application has its own menus, but there is almost always one called the File menu. The File menu is the menu you'll use when you want to do something to the document as a whole save it on a disk, quit using it, and so on.

Choosing

To choose a command from a menu, point to the menu title, hold down the mouse button, move the pointer down the list until the command you want is highlighted, then release the button.

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Choosing a command

Many mouse-based applications let you use a certain key combi-nation (like pressing the Apple key-S) instead of choosing a command from a pull-down menu. Typing key combinations is faster for some experienced users and touch typists, but it's not as intuitive. (You have to remember the key combinations instead of finding the command you want on a menu.) Keyboard equivalents to pull-down menu commands are usually shown on the menu.

Editing

Applications that use text have a blinking symbol that marks the insertion point the place where what you type will be inserted. When you start a document, the insertion point is usually in the upper-left corner of the screen. As you type, the blinking symbol moves to the right. When you reach the right margin, the insertion point moves to the start of the next line. If you are in the middle of a word when you reach the right margin, the whole word moves to the next line automatically. This is called word wraparound.

Insertion Point

To insert a word or sentence in the middle of a document, scroll the document until you come to the place where you want to insert text, move the pointer to the exact place where you want to insert text, click the mouse button, and start typing. Words to the right of your insertion will move over automatically and wrap around to the next line to make room for what you type.

Deleting

To delete a character, a word, or a sentence from the middle of a document, scroll the document until you see the text you want to delete, position the pointer to the right of the text you want to delete, click the mouse button, and press Delete until the unwanted text is deleted.

Deleting Text

To delete longer passages, some applications let you drag across the text to select it and then press Delete once to delete the whole passage.

Cutting and Pasting

To move text from one place to another, move the pointer to the beginning or end of the section you want to move, and drag across the text to select it. Then choose the Cut command from the Edit menu. When you choose Cut, the selected text disappears from the screen.

Though it seems to have been deleted, the text you cut is actually stored on the Clipboard, a special holding area in the memory of the computer. To insert the text you just cut, move the pointer to the place you want to insert it, click the mouse button, and choose Paste from the Edit menu. When you choose Paste, the text reappears at the new location. The Clipboard holds only one clipping at a time. If you cut a second block of text without pasting the first block of text, the first block you cut is lost.

Copying

To copy a block of text, select it, then choose the Copy command from the Edit menu. This puts a copy of the selected text in the Clipboard. Next, move the pointer to the place you want to insert the text, click the mouse button, and choose Paste from the Edit menu.

Windows

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With mouse-based applications, you look at your document through a window. With some applications, you can have several windows on the screen. This lets you see more than one document at a time.

The contents of windows vary, but most windows have these things in common: a title bar, a close box, a size box, and a scroll bar. You can use these tools to change what you see through a window, change the size of a window, move a window, close a window, and activate a window.

Parts of a Window

Most of the time, you want the window you're working in to fill the whole screen so you can see as much of the document as possible. But sometimes it's useful to shrink the window so you can see more than one document at a time.

To shrink a window, point to the size box and drag it up and to the left. To expand a window, point to the size box and drag it down and to the right.

To move a window, point anywhere in the title bar (except on the close box), and drag the window wherever you want to put it.

Some applications let you have several windows on the screen at one time, but only one of those windows can be active. A window has to be active before you can make any changes to the informa-tion in it. The active window's title bar is highlighted to distinguish it from nonactive windows on the screen.

To activate a nonactive window, use the size box to shrink the active window until you can see the window you want to activate in the background. Then click anywhere on the nonactive window and it will move into the foreground and become the active window.

If a document is too long to fit in the window, there will be a bar running along the right side of the window. This is the scroll bar. When you drag the scroll box along the scroll bar, different parts of the document come into view. The scroll bar represents the total length of your document. So, if you want to see the middle of your document, drag the scroll box to the middle of the scroll bar. To scroll one line at a time, click the scroll arrow that points in the direction of what you want to see. To scroll a windowful at a time, click within the gray area of the scroll bar above or below the scroll box.

If a document is too wide to fit on the screen, there will also be a scroll bar along the bottom of the window. Drag the scroll box left to see the leftmost side of the document. Drag it right to see the rightmost side of the document.

To close a window, click on the close box in the upper-left corner of the window. This has the same effect as choosing the Close command from the File menu.

Using Keyboard-Based Applications

Keyboard-based applications look totally different from mouse-based applications. For one thing, they generally start with a menu that takes up the whole screen.

Main Menu

The first menu you see is called the main menu. You type the number (or letter) that precedes the option you want and then press Return. Pressing Return confirms your choice. In some applications, you can use Up Arrow or Down Arrow to highlight the menu item you want to select instead of typing a number or letter.

Depending on the application, you then either move to a more specific menu or start doing whatever you chose to do from the main menu. In some applications, secondary menus are

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displayed overlapping the main menu, with enough of the main menu showing to remind you where you are in the application.

Overlapping Menus

In most keyboard-based applications, you get back to the main menu by pressing Esc or the Apple key-Esc. Esc stands for escape, and that's what it lets you do. It's sort of the opposite of pressing Return. While pressing Return confirms a choice, pressing Esc usually cancels a choice or extricates you from an activity.

Moving the Cursor

The arrow keys in the lower-right corner of the keyboard move the insertion point up, down, left, or right except that it's not called an insertion point in keyboard-based applications; it's called a cursor. Like the blinking bar in mouse-based applications, the cursor marks the spot where your next action will take place. Sometimes the cursor is a blinking box; sometimes it's a blinking underline.

Early models of the Apple II didn't have Up and Down Arrow keys, so programmers who needed to make the cursor move up and down took matters into their own hands and designated certain keys on the keyboard to accomplish that function. Usually they designated a set of four adjacent keys (that formed a cross) to be the up, down, left, and right cursor-moving keys. You won't have any trouble using such an application on your Apple IIgs as long as you remember to use the substitute keys instead of the arrow keys.

Control Keys

Whereas you control mouse-based applications by choosing commands from pull-down menus, you control keyboard-based applications by using Control or the Apple key in combination with another key. For example, you might hold down the Apple key while you press P to print something, the Apple key and D to delete something, the Apple key and S to save something, the Apple key and C to cut something, and so on.

Because key combinations vary from application to application, the only way to find out how a given application uses Control and the Apple key is to read the manual that came with the application. To make it easier to remember the key combinations, the key you press in combination with the Apple key or Control is usually the first letter of the function it performs.

Typing a Document

Whether you're using mouse-based or keyboard-based applications, you'll use the keyboard to type your documents. In general, the main part of the keyboard works like the keyboard on a type-writer, and the built-in numeric keypad works like the keys on an adding machine; but there are a few things you should know about the keys on the keyboard.

Return

In word processing applications, when you reach the end of a line of text, the insertion point moves to the next line automatically. You use Return only when you want to start a new paragraph. If you press Return instead of letting the application handle line breaks, you interfere with the application's ability to rearrange the words on a line after you make changes.

If you discover that you've pressed Return by accident, you can delete the extra Return character the same way you delete any other character, even though the Return character is invisible! How do you know it's there if it's invisible? You know it's there if your lines

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break in funny places after you make changes to a paragraph.

An Errant Return Character

Some applications give you a way of displaying Return characters so you can see if you inserted any where they don't belong.

Incidentally, Return is represented in some applications and manuals not by name but as a bent arrow pointing down and to the left. The icon represents the movement of the cursor when you press the key: it moves down a line and over to the left margin.

Shift and Caps Lock

The Shift keys on the Apple IIgs keyboard work just like the Shift keys on a typewriter. To get a capital letter, you hold down Shift while you type the letter you want capitalized. To get the upper character on two-character keys, you hold down Shift while you type the two-character key. For example, to type a dollar sign, you hold down Shift while you press 4.

If you want everything you type to come out capitalized, you can press down Caps Lock. (You'll feel the key lock in place, and you'll notice that it has a lower profile than surrounding keys.) When you want lowercase characters again, press Caps Lock a second time and the key will return to its upright position. The nice thing about Caps Lock is that it affects only the alphabet keys it doesn't give you the upper character on two-character keys. To get an upper character, you still have to use Shift. Unlike the typewriter, this means you can get all capital letters interspersed with numbers without releasing Caps Lock.

Tab

Tab works like the Tab key on a typewriter, except that instead of the typewriter's print head moving to the right a preset number of spaces when you press Tab, the insertion point moves to the place you designate as the next tab marker. Setting tab markers and using Tab are handy when you're typing information in columns.

You set the tab marker (that is, you set the distance you want the insertion point to move) by using a command in the application. Not all applications use Tab this way, but most word processing applications do.

Keys That Can Be Confusing

Touch typists often use the lowercase letter l for the number 1 (because the l is conveniently located on the home row, and the 1 is a long reach for the left pinky). You can't do that with a computer. The computer translates each keypress into a code of 0's and 1's. The code for the letter l is different from the code for the number 1. If you save a document with the name Chapter1 and try to retrieve it by typing Chapterl (instead of Chapter1), the computer will tell you there is no such document on the disk, and you could have heart failure over your lost document before you realize what you've done.

The same is true with the capital letter O (Oh) and the number 0 (zero). The computer will balk if you try to add a number with the letter O in it.

Space Bar

The Space bar is another key on the computer keyboard that behaves differently than its typewriter counterpart. On a typewriter, a space is an area on the paper where nothing is typed. On a computer, pressing the Space bar inserts a space character. Just as 1 and l are different, so is a space character different from the space that you get when you press Right Arrow. Some applications, aware of the potential confusion, ignore extra space characters.

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But in other applications, the word Jones and the word Jones followed by a space are as different as the words Jones and Smith.

Auto-Repeat

When you hold down a key on the Apple IIgs keyboard, it repeats just as it would on an electric typewriter. This feature is called auto-repeat.

If it's physically difficult for you to press and release the keys quickly or if you just have a heavy hand on the keys, you can use the Control Panel Program to change the length of time before a pressed key starts repeating. By the same token, if you have a very light touch and find the keyboard sluggish, you can use the Control Panel Program to make the keys repeat after a shorter interval.

Type-Ahead Keyboard Buffer

After you get familiar with an application, you'll know by heart the questions it asks, and you'll find yourself typing responses before the questions even appear on the screen. For example, you'll remember that after you choose the Print command from the menu, the application will ask you how many copies you want to print. To save time, you can type the answer to the question before it even appears on the screen. The application isn't ready for the answer, so what you type doesn't appear on the screen, but it's stored in a special part of memory called the keyboard buffer. When the application is ready to accept input from you, it retrieves what you typed from the keyboard buffer and carries out your typed instruction.

Numeric Keypad

The number keys on the right side of your keyboard are arranged like the keys on an adding machine. This makes it convenient to enter numbers in spreadsheets and other number-oriented applications. In most applications, the keys on the keypad work exactly like the number keys on the top row of the main keyboard, and you can use them interchangeably. In some applications, they may work as function keys that is, as keys that you press to perform certain functions like printing or saving documents. If they are used as function keys in a given application, the application will tell you what the functions of the various keys are.

Chapter 4: Saving Documents

After you finish creating a document; actually, as soon as you create anything worth keeping; you should save it on a disk. Otherwise, it will be lost forever when you turn off the computer's power switch (or accidentally kick the computer's power cord out of the outlet). It doesn't matter whether you save the document on a 3.5-inch disk, a 5.25-inch disk, or a hard disk. Saving is the same regardless of the kind of disk you're saving on. What varies is the procedure for saving, and that can vary from application to application.

Read the manual that came with your application for instructions on how to save documents created with that application. If the instructions are clear, you may not need to read this chapter.

With most applications, saving a document on a disk is a very easy, intuitive procedure. You select the Save command from a menu, and the application asks you a few straightforward questions about where you want to save the document and what you want to name it. Actually, the questions are only straightforward once you know what the application means by such terms as pathname, prefix, volume name, filename, format, directory, and subdirectory.

This chapter explains these terms and other things you may need to know about saving documents

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on disks.

Formatting a Disk

Before you can save documents on a blank disk, the disk has to be formatted. Formatting divides a disk into sections where information can be stored.

Different applications go to different lengths to help you get disks formatted:

Some applications offer to format a disk automatically when they discover that you've asked them to save a document on a blank, unformatted disk.

Some applications offer formatting as one of the commands on the application program's menu.

Some applications, discovering an unformatted disk, just beep and put a message on the screen to the effect that you'd better exchange the blank disk for a formatted one if you expect to save anything on it. In this case, you should format using the System Disk. (The procedure for formatting is explained in the system disk documentation.)

Important Find out how your application handles formatting before you create a lengthy or important document. If your application is the type that doesn't format disks and you don't have a formatted disk handy, you'll have to quit the application and lose the document in memory in order to format a disk.

When a disk is formatted, three things happen:

You're asked to give the disk a name (often referred to as the volume name for reasons explained a little later).

The disk is divided into sections where information can be stored;parking space for your data.

A directory is set up on the disk. At first, the directory is empty except for the name of the disk and the amount of space avail-able on the disk; but as you save documents on the disk, the names, sizes, and locations of those documents are recorded in the directory. Applications use the directory to find the loca-tions of the documents you ask them to load into memory. You can use the directory to see what's on a given disk.

Important Formatting erases everything stored on a disk. You should format a disk only before you save something on it for the first time or when you want to erase everything that's on the disk.

Why disks are sometimes called volumes: Volume is a general term for an area where information is stored. It's less media-specific than the word disk. If you're storing information on a 5.25-inch disk or a 3.5-inch disk, disk name and volume name are synonymous. With large-capacity storage devices like hard disks, you can have more than one volume on a disk. That's why some applications ask for volume name instead of disk name.

Saving a Document

When you want to save a document on a disk, you choose the Save command from the application's menu. After you choose the Save command, the application usually asks you where you want to save the document. There are lots of ways the application might ask this question; one way is to give you a list of choices like this:

Save To:

3.5-inch Drive #1

3.5-inch Drive #2

PATHNAME:

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Saving to a disk in a certain disk drive

If you choose 3.5-inch Drive #1 or 3.5-inch Drive #2 (or any disk drive shown on the screen), the next question is: What do you want to name the document? You type a name and press Return, the document is saved on the disk you specified, and the name you gave the document is recorded in the disk's main directory along with its location on the disk.

Naming a Document

You can name your document anything you like, provided there isn't already a document by that name on the disk and provided the name conforms to the application's rules for naming documents. (You should be able to find the rules for naming documents in the manual that came with the application.) Some applications won't allow spaces in document names. Some applications won't let you start a document name with a number or a punctuation mark. Most applications limit the length of the document name to 15 characters. If you want to play it safe, follow these guidelines in naming your documents:

Start the name with a letter.

Don't Use Spaces.

If you don't want to play it safe, give your document any name you like and see if the application lets you get away with it. The worst that can happen is that you'll get a beep and an error message like ILLEGAL FILENAME and you'll know that the name you typed was too long, started with the wrong kind of character, or included spaces when the application didn't allow it. Then you'll get a chance to type another name.

Saving with a Pathname

The Pathname option is for people who organize their disks into subdirectories. Organizing a disk into subdirectories is like putting documents into file folders instead of throwing them randomly in a drawer.

For example, you might have a drawer in your office where you file personnel information on your employees. In that drawer you have folders called Finance, Sales, Manufacturing, and so on. Inside each folder are documents with personnel information on each employee in that department. You can use this same system to organize information on a disk. You would name the disk PERSONNEL; set up subdirectories on the disk called FINANCE, SALES, and MANUFACTURING; and save documents with personnel information on each employee in the appropriate subdirectory.

Organizing documents into subdirectories not only makes it easier for you to find documents on a disk, but also makes it faster for the computer to locate and load documents you want to revise.

When you look at the directory of a disk, you don't see the name of every document in every subdirectory. You see only the sub-directory names and the names of documents you saved directly onto the disk rather than into subdirectories. (Looking at a disk directory and seeing only subdirectory names is like opening the drawer of a file cabinet and seeing the names on the folders rather than seeing every document in every folder.) If you want to see the names of the documents in a subdirectory, type the disk name, a slash, then the subdirectory name when you ask the application for a directory listing.

Creating Subdirectories

Before you can save documents in subdirectories, you have to create the subdirectories. Some applications give you a way to create subdirectories from within the application; others expect

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you to create them with the System Disk.

Once you've created your subdirectories, you can save documents in one of those subdirectories by typing a pathname. A pathname is the complete name of the document, starting with the disk name (also called volume name), then the subdirectory name, then the document name. The pathname starts with a slash, and each part of the pathname is separated from the next part with a slash.

The pathname /PERSONNEL/SALES/JONES tells the application to save the document on the disk called /PERSONNEL in the subdirectory called /SALES and to name it JONES. If you don't use subdirectories, the pathname is simply the disk name and the document name;for example, /PERSONNEL/JONES.

As the word suggests, a pathname describes the path or route to a document.

Setting a Prefix

A pathname is a very descriptive way of telling an application the route to a document, but /PERSONNEL/SALES/JONES requires a lot of typing. Fortunately, there's a shortcut. You can set a prefix. A prefix is the first part of a pathname.

It can be just the disk name (/PERSONNEL) or it can be the disk name and the subdirectory name (/PERSONNEL/SALES). Once you've set the prefix, you don't have to type the whole pathname. You just type the document name (for example, JONES), and the application tacks the disk name and subdirectory onto the front of what you type.

Setting a prefix allows you to work with different documents in the same subdirectory more conveniently. You can save or load any document in that subdirectory by typing just the document name, not the whole pathname. When you want to work with a document in a different subdirectory, you can either change the prefix or over-ride the current prefix by typing the complete pathname of the document.

The application you're using will tell you how to set a prefix.

Other Ways to Save

If an application asks for a slot number and a drive number when you choose the Save command, it's asking which slot contains the disk drive controller card for the drive you want to save to, and whether that drive is attached to the drive 1 connector or the drive 2 connector on the controller card. (A disk drive controller card can control up to two disk drives.) If your disk drive is connected to your computer through a disk drive controller card, the answer is straightforward. (Even if you can't remember which slot your controller card is in and which drive is attached to the drive 1 connector on the card, you can always remove the cover from your Apple IIgs and have a look.)

But what if your disk drive is connected to the computer through the disk drive port and not to a slot? In this case, you supply the slot number that corresponds to the disk drive port. For 3.5-inch drives, the corresponding slot is 5. For 5.25-inch drives, the corresponding slot is 6. (The disk drive port was designed to emulate a slot with a disk drive controller card so you'd be able to use software that looks for a controller card in a slot.)

If you have more than one drive of the same type connected to the disk drive port, drive 1 is the drive connected directly to the computer. Drive 2 is the drive connected to drive 1.

Other applications may expect you to indicate where you want your document saved by typing the document name followed by a comma, followed by the letter D (short for drive) and a drive number. For example, typing MEMO,D2 or.D2/MEMO tells the operating system to save the document named MEMO on the disk in drive 2. If you don't type a D and a drive number, the application

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assumes you want to save it on the disk in the drive you last accessed.

Disk Operating Systems

When you tell your application to save a document on a disk, it hands the job over to a subcontractor called the disk operating system.

The disk operating system is a set of programs on every application program disk that handles the transportation of documents between the memory of the computer and disks.

The only reason you need to be aware of the disk operating system is that there are three varieties;ProDOS, Pascal, and DOS 3.3;and each variety requires that disks be formatted in a particular way. If your application uses ProDOS (that is, if the application is ProDOS-based), documents created with that application can be stored only on ProDOS-formatted disks. If your application program is Pascal-based, documents created with that application can be stored only on Pascal-formatted disks.

If formatting is handled by the application, you don't need to know what that application's disk operating system is;the application knows and will format disks the way it needs them to be formatted.

If formatting isn't handled by your application, you'll use the System Disk and you'll be asked whether you want the disk formatted for ProDOS or Pascal.

How do you know what operating system your application uses so you know how to answer the question? You can usually find out by looking at the label of the application program disk or by using the Catalog a Disk command on the System Disk.

If there is no operating system shown on the label, see if the application's operating system is mentioned in the application program's manual. (It will most likely be mentioned in the chapter that discusses how to save documents on disks.)

If you want to know why there are three disk operating systems for the Apple II, and more about them, read on.

Apple II Disk Operating Systems

In the beginning, there were only 5.25-inch disks and one system for saving information on them. The system was called DOS, an acronym for Disk Operating System. (Over the years, DOS was improved, and version numbers were tacked on to distinguish one version from the next. The last and best version was DOS 3.3.)

The first applications written for the Apple II were written either in assembly language (a programming language only slightly removed from the language of 0's and 1's that the Apple II speaks fluently) or in BASIC (a programming language that uses English-like words to tell the computer what to do). Both assembly-language programs and BASIC programs used the DOS 3.3 system for formatting disks and for saving and retrieving documents, so users didn't have to know what kind of program they were using.

Then a version of the Pascal programming language was adapted for the Apple II. This was a big breakthrough because Pascal is a powerful programming language, and the fact that it was available led to the development of lots of sophisticated applications for the Apple II. The only drawback to this breakthrough was that Pascal applications didn't use DOS 3.3. Pascal applications used their own operating system. (Now there's a version of the Pascal program-ming language that uses the ProDOS operating system, but the first version of Pascal for the Apple II required its own operating system.)

With Pascal on the scene, users had to keep track of whether the disks holding their documents

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were formatted for DOS 3.3 or for Pascal. If they tried to save a Pascal document on a DOS 3.3 disk, they got an error message, and vice versa.

Then came larger-capacity disks;3.5-inch disks and hard disks;capable of holding hundreds of documents instead of the dozens you could store on a 5.25-inch disk. The Pascal operating system was equipped to handle the larger storage devices, but DOS 3.3 couldn't.

So DOS 3.3 was supplanted with a disk operating system that could take advantage of all that extra storage space.

The DOS 3.3 replacement was ProDOS, an acronym for Professional Disk Operating System. The most important feature of ProDOS, besides its ability to use all that extra storage space, is that it supports subdirectories. (It's the only one of the three Apple II disk operating systems that does; so if an application refers to subdirectories or pathnames, you know it's a ProDOS-based application program.)

You may see references to ProDOS 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, ProDOS 8, and ProDOS 16. ProDOS 1.1-1.3 are version numbers. ProDOS 8 refers to versions of ProDOS that are compatible with Apple IIs using

8-bit microprocessors: the IIe, IIc, and the IIgs in 6502-emulation mode. ProDOS 16 refers to versions of ProDOS that are designed for the 16-bit microprocessor in the Apple IIgs. Applications designed especially for the Apple IIgs will useProDOS 16. Applications designed for earlier models of the Apple II or for all models of the Apple II family won't.

You can still run DOS 3.3-based applications on the Apple IIgs, but you can't save the documents on 3.5-inch disks. DOS 3.3 was designed for 5.25-inch disks with a storage capacity of 143K; 3.5-inch disks have a storage capacity of 800K.

Chapter 5: Application Programs

You don't need a lot of equipment to start using your AppleIIgs. You can go a long way with just a monitor, a disk drive, a printer, and a single application. But when you're ready to go further, there are hundreds of ways to go, and lots of tools to help you get there.

The next two chapters introduce some of the applications and peripheral devices you can get for the Apple IIgs. Decide on the types of applications and peripheral devices you need; then choose the specific product based on the recommendations of friends, reviews in computer magazines, reviews in software catalogs, and the advice of your authorized Apple dealer. (Friends are best because if you take their recommendations, they can answer questions that come up as you're learning to use the application or peripheral device.)

You can get a couple of general-purpose applications like a data base application and a spreadsheet application and adapt them for dozens of different purposes. Or you can get very specialized applications: a data base that's already set up as a running log, a recipe file, a coin collector's journal; a spreadsheet already set up for preparing a home budget, preparing your income taxes, balancing your checkbook, or for analyzing different mortgage options.

The advantage of general-purpose applications is their flexibility. You can use one application for dozens of different things, and you can decide how to set up the form you use for filling in your information. The advantage of specialized applications is that they're easy to use. All you do is fill in the blanks.

The following sections describe some general-purpose appli-cations, followed by a list of some of the specialty applications available for the AppleII family of computers. You can find out about other specialty applications by looking through computer magazines or software catalogs.

Choosing An Application

Here are some things to think about when you're evaluating an application:

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Is it easy to use? If it uses a standard interface (that is, if it follows the conventions described in Chapter3), it will be easier to learn than an application with an unconventional user interface. A good manual is another thing that makes an application easier to learn. As important as it is, don't make simplicity your only criterion. Sometimes an application is easy to learn because it doesn't do much. If you find a simple application, make sure it also has the features you want.

Does it take advantage of Apple IIgs features, or is it designed to run on all models of the Apple II family? Applications designed especially for the Apple IIgs can take advantage of super-high-resolution graphics and other Apple IIgs-specific features. If that's important to you, look for new applications or applications that have been revised to take advantage of Apple IIgs features.

If, on the other hand, it's important that the applications work on other models of the Apple II, make sure the application is advertised as Apple IIe-compatible, Apple IIc-compatible, or Apple II Plus-compatible.

Is it compatible with other applications you have? Can you insert a list created with your data base into a letter written with your word processing application? Applications designed to work together and share information are called integrated software.

Does it work automatically with your printer? The key word here is automatically. Hackers can make all sorts of different devices talk to each other, but if troubleshooting isn't your idea of a good time, look for software that's already configured for your printer.

Does it do exactly what you want it to do? Sometimes it's worth sacrificing ease of use and the standard user interface to get an application that does exactly what you need to do.

If the application is complicated, are there classes you can take to learn how to use it?

Is there a hot line you can call for answers to your questions?

How much does it cost? Cost is a factor in choosing applications, but it's the last thing on this list because you won't save money by getting a cheap application that takes four months to learn or has bugs that destroy a document it took you three hours to type.

Word Processing

Word processing applications are for writing thingsfrom short things like memos to long things like books. They don't do the writing for you, or even the typing they just make it very, very easy to add, move, delete, and change your text and correct mistakes.

Besides improving your writing by making it easy to rewrite, a word processing application can improve the way your writing looks. Using the formatting features of your word processing application, you can change the width of margins, underline and center headings, put words in bold for special emphasis, and much more.

Not all editing and formatting features are available in every word processing application. Think about what's important to you, and make sure the application you get meets your needs.

Here are some of the things you can do with word processing applications:

Insert characters, words, and paragraphs (and the application rearranges surrounding text to make room for your additions).

Wrap words automatically. (When the insertion point reaches the end of the line, it and any

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word that won't fit on the current line go to the start of the next line automatically; you don't have to press Return.)

Delete characters or whole sentences with a few keystrokes.

Replace one word or phrase with another. (Type the old word, type the new word, and the application will replace the old with the new throughout the document; this is called search and replace.)

Move text from one part of the document to another (also called cut and paste). Copy text from one document to another or to another part of the same document. Set margins and tabs.

Choose from a variety of type sizes and type styles. Put text in footnotes.

Indent lists.

Single, double, or triple space. Number pages automatically.

Insert running headers and footers (text that is printed at the top and bottom of each page).

Left-justify, center, or right-justify your text. Companionapplications

Here are applications designed to work with some word processing applications:

Spelling checker: an application that reads through your document and finds any words that aren't in its dictionary.

Form-letter maker: an application that inserts names and addresses from a data base into documents created with your word processing application (also known as a mail-merge application).

Database

Data base applications are for keeping track of information about people, places, and things. You don't have to be the owner of an auto-parts store to use a data base. You could be a fisherman keeping a record of the location, time of day, weather, and lure used to catch each trophy fish. You could be a home owner keeping a record of your valuables for insurance purposes. You could be a head hunter keeping a record of clients, their current jobs, and their job skills.

The information about each person, place, or thing is called a record. If you have a data base that lists the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all your clients, and you have 42 clients, there are 42 records in your client data base. Each category of information you keep track of is called a field. If your address-book data base includes the name, address, phone number, and birthday of each friend, you have four fields in that data base.

Records and Fields

The tedious part of using a data base application is typing all the information when you set up a new data base. The fun part is using the application to search for a particular piece of information or to rearrange the information according to criteria you specify.

Sometimes it's useful to know every detail about everything in your data base, but most of the time you want a subset of the informationall your clients with birthdays in December, a list of students who scored more than 650 on their SATs, a list of customers who spent more than $2000 on shoes last year and you don't care about the other information that's in the data base.

These subsets are called reports. You can generate hundreds of different reports from one data base without affecting the information in the data base as a whole.

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Application Programs

Different data base applications have different limits on things like the number of records you can keep, the number of fields, and the length of each field. Figure out what you want to do with the data base application and make sure the application lets you do it. Here are some things you can do with data base applications:

Sort records alphabetically (A to Z or Z to A).

Sort records numerically (high to low or low to high).

Perform calculations on numerical fields (so you can figure out, for example, your area's total sales or your class's average score on the last test).

Check errors automatically. (If one of the fields is social security number, for example, some applications can check to be sure you've entered a nine-digit number.)

If the information you want to keep track of doesn't fall into neat categories, you can get a free-form data base. With a free-form data base, you enter data in paragraph form and designate certain words as key words that you can search for later.

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet applications are for working with numbers most often with numbers attached to dollar signs. The traditional spreadsheet application starts you off with a blank screen laid out in rows and columns like a ledger. The rows in a spreadsheet are numbered; the columns are lettered. The intersection of a row and a column is called a cell. You describe different locations on the spreadsheet the way you describe locations on a map for example, A1 is the intersection of column A and row 1; B12 is the intersection of column B and row 12, and so on.

With a paper ledger, you fill in your assets and liabilities in pencil, and then you add, subtract, and otherwise manipulate the numbers to arrive at a total the bottom line. If any of the numbers change, or if you want to change one of the numbers to see how a different pricing strategy would affect the bottom line, you have to recalcu-late all the numbers by hand.

With an electronic spreadsheet, you still have to fill in the assets and liabilities, but you can write formulas that define the relationships between the various cells. Instead of just adding up the numbers in cells C5, C6, and C7, and putting that total in C9, you define cell C9 as the sum of C5 + C6 + C7. Once you've defined the relationships between your numbers in this way, you can change a few numbers (to try out a potential investment or a change in salary) and the application will recalculate all the related values for you.

In the hands of a numbers person, accustomed to formulas for figuring out depreciation, amortization, and such, a spreadsheet is a formidable tool. For the average person, it's just formidable. So, for the average person, intimidated at the thought of setting up formulas on a blank spreadsheet, there are templates prefab spreadsheets that come with the formulas already filled in for things like comparing real estate investments, preparing a home budget, and comparing loan options.

Here are some things you can do with some spreadsheet applications:

Use built-in functions to calculate the average, sum, count (number of items), maximum value, or minimum value in a column or row of numbers and the absolute, integer, and rounded-off value of a number, logarithm, square root, and more.

Adjust column widths.