Franklin Ace 1000 User's Reference Manual

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

t 9 §

FRANKLIN

ACE

fi

User

Reference

Manual

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER CORPORATION

Prepared

by

the

Documentation Department,

Franklin

Computer

Corporation

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

©1982

by

Franklin

Computer

Corp.

7030 Colonial

Highway

Pennsauken,

N.J

OS 109

609/488-1700

This

manual is

copyrighted.

All

rights

are

reserved.

This document

may

not,

in

whole

or

part,

be copied, photocopied, reproduced,

translated

or

reduced to any

electronic

medium or machine

readable

form

without

prior consent,

in

writing, from Franklin

Computer

Corporation.

The

cartoon character

of Ben Franklin

appearing

throughout

this

publication

constitutes

a

trademark of

Franklin

Computer

Corporation.

Franklin

ACE

is

a

trademark of

Franklin

Computer Corporation.

The

following registered

trademarks

belonging

to the

indicated

parties

are

referred

to

in

this

manual:

APPLE

Apple

Computer

Inc.

APPLE II

Apple

Computer

Inc.

CP/M Digital

Research,

Inc.

Space

Invaders

Taito

America

Corp.

PAC-MAN

Bally

Midway

Mfg.

Co.

WARNING:

This

equipment

complies

with the

requirements

for a

Class

A computing device

in

FCC

Rules Part 15

Subpart J.

Operation

of

this

device in

a

residential

area

may cause harmful

interference

requiring

the user

to take whatever steps

may be

necessary

to

correct

the

interference.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Table

Of

Contents

Uncertainties, Mysteries, and Doubts

1-1

They Won't Bite

—

But You Can

Bite Yourself

1-3

The ON/OFF

Switch Is Never Out Of

Reach

1-3

Getting A

Feel

For

Computerdom

1-5

The

World Can Live Without Bits and Bytes

1-6

Dealing With The Knowledgeable

1-7

You're Not A Programmer

—

It's A

Dirty Job

1-9

What

Can

The Computer Do, Anyway?

1-10

What It Can

And Can't Do

1-1

What You Have To Remember

About Memory:

Si/c Counts

1-14

A Good Firne To Be Interested

In

A

Personal

Computer

1-16

Compatibility

-

The

Good,

The

Bad,

And The

Ugly

1-18

Be Choosy

About The Company

You

Keep

1-20

The Dealer

1-21

True Grit: The Adventure Of

Mail Order

1-22

Clubs

1-23

There's More To It Than

Just

The

Computer-

Additional

Equipment

1-24

TVs And Monitors

1-25

Printers For Paper Copies

Of

What You Do

1-26

Disk Drives

1-29

Video

Cards For Lines

Longer Than

40 Columns

1-31

Communications Devices

—

For

Talking To

Another

Computer

1-35

Computers In A Computer If One

Is Good,

Two Are Better

1-38

Programs

1-40

Paddles And Joysticks

1-43

FRANKLIN

COMPUTE ft

Before

You Try

To

Set

Up A

Personal

Computer

1-45

It

Isn't

All

That

Difficult

y.46

What

You Have

To

Know:

Seven

Commandments

(Developing

The

Uncommon

Sense

Of

Computerdom)

2-1

I.

Electrical

Power

-

Don't

Change

A

Bulb

With

The Power

On

2-1

II.

Diskettes

Are

Not

Dry

Cleanable

.... 2-1

III.

Reset

Switches

Are

Your

Worst

Enemy 2-4

IV.

An

Elephant

Never

Forgets,

But

You

Didn't

Buy An

Elephant

2-6

V.

You

Can't

Fix

It But

You

Can

Make

It

Worse

2-10

VI.

Promises:

Take

Each

With

A

Grain Of

Salt

...2-11

VII.

Be

Patient

—

It's

Not

A

Perfect World 2-13

A

good title

for

this

section

might

be

...

The

Territorial

Imperatives

Of The

Trumpeter

Swan

3-1

It's

Out

Of

The

Box!

Now

What?

3-2

Getting

It

Ready

3.3

Getting

The

Lid

On

And

Off

3-3

Attaching

The

Cables

3.4

The

Video

Cable

3.4

The

Disk

Drives

3_5

The Power

Cord

3_7

Turning

It

On

-

What

It

Should

Do

3-8

Why

It

Might

Not

Be Working

3-9

The

Communications

Connection

3-1

I

Say Hello

To

Your

Keyboard

3-1

1

Lower

Case

And

Alpha

Lock

3-1

Numeric

Pad

.3-13

Special

Keys

3-13

Keycode

Differences

3-14

Just Where

Is

The

Reset

Switch?

3-15

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

The DOS

Diskette

4-1

Giving The DOS Diskette A Boot

Up

4-1

Now What?

4-3

How To Use The

Programs On

The DOS

Diskette

4-4

How

To Use The COPY

Program

4-5

How To Use DOS 3.3

.

4-11

CATALOG (Displaying The Table Of

Contents

Of

A Diskette)

4-13

RUN (Running A

BASIC

Program)

4-16

BRUN

(Running

A Binary

Program)

4-17

LOCK

(Protecting A File)

4-18

UNLOCK

(Removing The

Protection

From A

File)

4-19

RENAME (Renaming A

File)

4-20

DELETE (Deleting A File)

4-20

LN1T

(Initializing

A Diskette

For Use)

4-21

A Few

Generalizations About

File Names

4-25

How

To

Use

FUD

4-26

Diskette

Management Commands

4-28

Selection F

(Format

A

Diskette)

4-28

Selection

M (Make A Master

Diskette)

4-32

File

Management Commands

4-36

Selection S (Show The Files

On

A Diskette)

4-39

Selection D (Delete Files)

4-41

Selection L (Lock

Files)

...

4-42

Selection 1J

(Unlock Files)

4-42

Selection

V (Verify Files)

4-42

Selection

C (Copy Files)

4-43

FUD Error

Messages

4-44

oops,

diskette

is w

rite-protected

4-44

oops,

wrong

volume ID

4-45

oops,

file

is locked

4-45

oops, no more

room

on

diskette

4-45

oops, can't

find that file

4-46

oops, bad

diskette

or none in drive

4-46

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

How

To

Use Boot13

4-46

A

Synopsis

Of

The

Programs On

The

DOS Diskette

4-48

APPENDICES 5-1

Glossary 6-1

Index

7-

DOS

And FUD

Command

Formats

8-1

Uncertainties, Mysteries,

and Doubts

/K

lot of people find computers

overwhelming,

even

threatening.

That's sad because, in reality,

they're

neither. If

you're curious and interested

but

still

a

little

bit

wary,

that's

only natural. Until recently, doing anything with

computers

required special skills, even special languages, and those

who

knew what it was all about weren't very interested in

initiating

everyone else.

Personal computers like

the

Franklin ACE changed

all of

that. True, no computer is

as

easy to use as a toaster

or

a

calculator,

but

what you need to know to operate a

personal

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

computer

is

explainable

and

comprehensible.

What's

more,

it's

quick

and

almost

painless

to

learn.

This

booklet

will give

you

a

start.

If

you

want to

learn

how to

program,

how computer

graphics

work,

what

disk

transfer

rates

are, or

how

to

master

the

dozens

of

other

exotic sounding

skills

you hear

about

in

computerdom,

there

arc hundreds

of other

books on

the

market to

help

you learn all those

things.

This one

won't.

What

you will find

in

this

booklet

and

throughout

all

Franklin

manuals

is

plenty of

practical

information,

suggestions,

and

answers

to

questions that you might

otherwise

have to

learn the hard

way. You'll find advice about

computer

products

-

what

they're

for, how

they work, what

their quirks

arc,

and so

forth.

In a field that's

growing

and

changing

as fast as computer

science,

you'll

need

this sort

of

information

in

order to

make

sound

purchasing

decisions.

Someone

may

already

have begun to

persuade

you that a

Franklin

ACE

will

make your life

complete.

It may; it

may not.

People

use

computers

for all kinds

of

reasons.

Some

people

buy

them

simply

to

keep

their kids

quiet. There

are,

however,

many

other

practical

applications

for a

computer,

ranging

from

financial

forecasting to

Space

Invaders™,

from

word

processing

to setting

up

a

blind

date.

If you're

having

second thoughts

about

your

curiosity, your

interest,

or your

purchase, dispel

those

doubts.

With

a

little

practice

you can

put a computer

to work

and enjoy

the

process.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

They

Won't

Bite

—

But You

Can

Bite Yourself

liven

though computer types are always talking

about

bits

and

bytes (pronounced

"bites"),

most people aren't

afraid

that

they're

going to get

bitten. But many

worry that

the

machine

will

do something

they

won't understand

or that

it will

suddenly start to

spit

out all kinds of symbols

and

nonsense.

Computer phobia

is

the

fear of feeling

incompetent

and

helpless in the

face

of high

technology.

With

personal

computers,

however,

there's

nothing to fear.

The

On/Off

Switch

Is

Never

Out

of

Reach

One of the joys of

using

a

personal computer

is the

feeling of

complete control

that you

get by

having the

ON

OFF

switch

so

close

at

hand. You're

in charge. Nothing is going to

happen

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

unless

you

make it

happen.

And

if the

machine

gets you

confused,

all

you

have to

do is turn

it off

and start

over.

Your

computer

will

do

whatever

you

ask,

whenever

you

ask.

True,

computers

do

have

a

reputation

for

being

fussy about

the

way

you

phrase

your

questions

and

commands.

Some

people

even

think

they're

evasive,

somewhat

like

a witness in

court

who

manages

to

avoid

providing

information

by

sidestepping

the intent

or

spirit of

a

question. The

fact

is, you

do have to

develop

something

of a

rapport

with

the

way

the

computer

understands

what

you tell it.

That

comes

with

a

little

practice.

If

you ever

find

yourself

frustrated,

just

remember

that

ON

OFF

switch.

As

in

all

of

life,

awesome

power

is

not

without

some

responsibilities.

Since

you're

in charge,

if

something

goes

wrong,

then

you're

probably

the one

who's

to blame.

Exercise

some

discretion

when

using the

machine,

and

look

at

instructions

and directions

as

a way of developing

a common

sense

about

computers,

as

well as

a

way

to

assemble

the

components

of

your

machine

and

get it

running.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Getting

a Feel

For

Computerdom

When

you're first starting out,

it's hard to get a feel for

computerdom.

Making

a computer work for you takes some

knowledge

and skill, but

it also

takes

a

proper

attitude or

disposition.

You can acquire

the knowledge

and

skill readily,

since those are

both teachable

and learnable. The attitude

is

a

little more tricky.

It's

a matter of staying

loose while

at

the same

time

remaining methodical,

analytical,

and

meticulous. That

sounds

impossible,

but it isn't. Don't worry about

making

mistakes. Using

a

personal

computer is a hands-on,

learn-by-

doing

process

that

is

somewhat less than

perfectly

straightforward. As long as you're analytical, you'll learn

more from your errors than anything

else.

Once you have your computer set

up,

you won't

be

able to

hurt

it

with anything you may do at the keyboard. You can lose

programs or

data, but as long as you follow the correct

procedures, there's little

chance

of

your

doing irreparable

harm to the machine.

Making mistakes at the

keyboard and mishandling the

equipment

are

not

the

same thing, so be warned. You can do

damage if

you're

not

careful.

Probably the most

sensible

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

approach is to treat

a computer,

any

attached equipment,

and

any diskettes

as if they

were an

expensive

stereo system and

records

or

tapes.

What

you

wouldn't

do to your stereo

and

your

record

albums,

you

shouldn't

do to

an

ACE or

diskettes.

Wy//M^ma

JT

The

World

Can

Live

Without

Bits

and

Bytes

You

won't

find out what

bits

and

bytes are here.

If

you really

want to

know, look

in

a

dictionary

of computer

terms. That

may sound

a little brusque, but

the

point is that you don't have

to

know

these or

hundreds of

other

specialized terms to use

an

ACE

or any other

personal

computer

effectively.

"Bits"

and

"bytes"

are examples

of the terminology

that

computer

experts

use to communicate

with one another. You

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

can use most

programs

popular

today

without

knowing

or

caring

about

bits,

bytes, enable

pins,

annunciators, nibble, or

the rest

of

the

other jargon that

keeps much

of

the

computer

industry

detached from

the

rest

of the

world.

Dealing

with

the

Knowledgeable

Trobably

few people in

the

history

of the world

have

done

a

better job

of

making

themselves incomprehensible

than

computer

scientists.

It's too

bad,

really, because the

technology

is finding its

way into every

aspect of

life. Yet it

seems that

virtually all

the experts' explanations

of

how

computers

work

do little

more than

make computer processes

absolutely

opaque.

There

are

reasons

why this

happens,

but

those aren't

particularly

relevant

at

this

point.

Don't

let them confuse

you!

And

more importantly,

don't

be intimidated if

you

don't

understand

what a computer

person

tells

you.

Everything

that

you

need to know can

be

explained

in

plain

English.

If someone

begins

to lose you, it's

not your

fault. Often those

who are technically competent are

among the

least

articulate

members of

society.

There

are computer

people

who can explain things clearly.

You'll know who

they are

by

their

patience

and

their pace.

They'll

explain things

slowly and

simply

without

seeming

condescending. They'll

illuminate

the

powers

and workings of

the

machine. They

won't,

as

a rule, take

themselves

too

seriously

and

they'll

refrain from

inundating you

with the

quasi-English

jargon and syntax

of computerdom.

Such

people arc

few

and far between.

When you find

one,

stick

like

glue.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Avoid,

at

all

costs,

computer

people

who

talk

a

mile

a

minute,

ladle

jargon

into their

speech, and

use common

words

in

ways that

are

almost,

but

not

quite,

normal.

These

may

actually

be very nice

human

beings,

but

when

they're talking

about

computers,

they

can go

on

forever,

ignoring the glazed

expression

on

your

face

and ignoring

you, for

that matter.

Some

will even

continue

talking

after

you've

walked

away. Listen

to

them

politely,

but escape

as quickly

as

possible.

They

can

make

you

hopelessly,

even

terminally,

confused.

Somewhere

down

the

line,

through

repeated

exposure

and

osmosis,

you'll

start

to

pick

up

the

jargon

and

learn

computer

language.

Until you

do,

find

a

dealer

or

knowledgeable

friend

that you

can

understand,

and avoid

those

people

you

can't.

Remember

that you

can use

a personal

computer

very

effectively

without

understanding

even a tiny

percentage

of

what experts

say when

they're

talking to

one

another.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

You're

Not a

Programmer

—

It's a

Dirty

Job

-Programming

is something else

you

don't have to

know

anything

about

in order

to

use a personal

computer. You could

probably

spend

the rest

of your

life doing

nothing more than

using the programs that

have already been

written.

Some

computers, as a matter of fact, were designed

with users,

not

programmers,

in mind. The Franklin ACE, for

example,

is

a

user's

delight,

but a

programmer's

nightmare.

That's fine,

because

you

don't want to be a programmer.

Not yet, at least. Instead

of trying

to

write a

program

as

one of

the first things

you do, spare yourself the headaches and use

what

already exists.

You'll

need

to learn how to use others' programs before you

try to

create

your

own. As you get accustomed to other

people's programs, you'll

probably

come up with ideas for

simple tasks that

you'd

like

to write programs

for yourself.

Then, if you

want to get down and dirty,

you'll

have

some

basis

from which to learn to

program.

At that

point, you'll find

dozens of books on

the market to teach you how to do just

that.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

What

Can The Computer

Do,

Anyway?

A

lot. With a "spread

sheet"

program,

you could

easily

manage

budgets for, let's

say,

a real estate office, a little

league

team,

a suburban high

school,

or the average household.

With

the same

computer,

you

might

go

into

the office or come

home

from work

(depending

on

whether you're coming or

going)

and

read the

financial

pages of six newspapers from

around

the

country.

You

might write

a

letter

or a report and be reluctant to

let

anyone

read it

until

the

spelling

was checked. The

computer

could

do that for you, too.

When

you were

finished,

you

could

play

chess

or

find

out

about the weather

or get

a

list

of

recommendations

for wines to serve with Terrine

Maison.

Then

the

computer

could

help you plan a banquet. Or

a

diet.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Or

compound

interest.

The

list

goes on

and on. Whether you

want to

find

out the

price of

wheat

in Kansas or gold in

London,

a

personal

computer

can help

you do it instantly.

In

general, if

you

can imagine it,

someone,

somewhere

has

already

figured

out

a

computer

program

that will

do it

for

you.

Since

the

Franklin

ACE

is

compatible

with one of the most

widely

used personal

computers in

the

world today,

there's

a

vast

library of

programs

available

to use on

the

machine.

A good rule

of

thumb

to keep in

mind

is

that

you

shouldn't

buy

a computer

unless

you

know of at least

two

things

that you

can

use

it for

before you

buy. Using the

packing box

as a

planter

for your petunias

shouldn't

be one of the

two

uses for your new

acquisition.

But

even

if

it

is, you're sure

to

find more.

Virtually

everything

you can

do

with

paper

and

pencil, you

can

do with a computer

in

a fraction of the

time, with

a

fraction

of

the

effort. The

machines

are

durable,

relatively inexpensive,

and

thoroughly

adaptable

to the needs

and preferences

of

small

businesses

and

home

users.

What

It Can

and

Can't

Do

Lest

you

be misled,

a personal

computer

is NOT designed to

do

all

your work

for

you.

The computer's

role

is more that

of

a

helper;

it will take

care

of

the tiresome jobs that

bore

you to

death.

The computer's

strengths

lie in its

ability

to

perform

miserably

dull

tasks

endlessly

and accurately,

leaving

you free

to

think about

solutions

to

the

real

problems

at hand.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Since

a computer

won't

think for you,

expect no

miracles.

If

you

don't

already know

how

to

do

something,

then

there's

absolutely

no way

that

you'll

pull

it

off

just because

you're

using

a computer.

If

you

can't write

a

novel

with

a pencil or

a typewriter,

then

you'd

better hire

a

ghost

writer,

preferably

one

who

knows

somcth

ing

about word

processing,

before

you

buy

a

computer.

The

computer

can

take

much

of the

mechanical

drudgery out

of

any

task, but

it

can't

think or organize

all by

itself. Not yet,

anyway.

Besides

what

it

can't

do,

there are

certain

things

you

wouldn't

want

it

to do

even though it

could. Just as you

wouldn't

take

out

your

calculator to

add

five plus three, you

shouldn't

use

your

computer

to

write

down

a shopping list of

five items.

The pad and

pencil

will be faster

every

time. You'd

look

funny

carrying

an

ACE

to the

supermarket

with you,

anyway.

Bear in

mind,

too,

that

personal

computers

can

do only

one

job

at a

time. Suppose

that

you

have

computerized

your

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

mh

appointment book.

Further suppose that

you're using a

spread

sheet

program

to

organize

your

bookkeeping. The

phone

rings.

The

IRS

wants to make an

appointment with you

for

an

audit.

You're

in trouble, not just because of the audit, but

because

your appointment

book

program isn't

available.

What

to

do? Miss

the

appointment

or

destroy

the records that

could

save

you? Either

way,

you're lost. Always

keep the

availability

factor

in

mind when

deciding whether

or

not to

computerize.

Personal computers

also have

certain

physical

and

functional limitations. The ACE, for example,

will

choke very

quickly if you

try to

feed it

the payroll

information

for

a

Fortune

500

company. It

just

doesn't have the capacity

for

such

a

task.

The system for storing information is

too

small,

and the computer itself

can't

hold enough

information at

any

one

given

time

to perform

the necessary

calculations

efficiently.

Imagine a

filing

cabinet

with

four drawers. You

could

probably

store

all

of

your

family

data

in that cabinet

with

room to

spare.

It

could hold all

of your canceled

checks,

your

medical

records,

your

kids'

old

report cards, insurance

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

policies,

and

the like.

But

if

you

were

filing the

customer

information

for

your

local

electric

company,

you'd

be lucky if

all

of

the

information

on

customers

whose

names

begin with

"A"

would

fit in

one

cabinet.

So too

with

a

personal

computer

like

the ACE,

except

that

instead

of

a filing

cabinet,

you have

a

floppy

diskette,

a

sort

of

electronic

filing

cabinet.

It

stores

information

that

you

can

bring

into

the

computer

to

review,

update,

and

manipulate.

Theoretically,

you

could

store

an

electric

company's

customer

files

on

a

floppy

disk

system.

Practically,

it

would be

a

disaster.

You'd

need

several

thousand

floppy

diskettes

(file

cabinets)

to

hold

all the

information.

And

because

a personal

computer's

memory

size

is

also

limited,

you

could

only

do

a few

calculations

at a time.

It's

like

using

a shovel

where

you

need

a

bulldozer.

Generally,

if

your

data

is

of

a personal

or

small

business

nature,

you

should

be

able

to

use

a

personal

computer

effectively.

What

You

Have

to

Remember

About

Memory:

Size

Counts

If

you

make

the

mistake

of

talking

to

a salesperson

or a

computer

expert

about

memory

size,

you

might

find

yourself

descending

into

a

hole

from

which

you

have

no

hope of

returning.

The

only thing

you

really

have

to

know is that 64

is

larger

than

48

and

that

48 is

larger

than

32. The

K and the

reference

to

RAM

that

invariably

accompany

these

numbers

are

right

at

the

edge of

the

precipice

you

want

desperately

to

avoid.

(The fatal

question

is,

"What are

they?")

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

In

order to

use

some

programs you

need at least

32,

and

for

others

you need at least

48.

Others take only 5. The

"at

least" is

very

important. It usually

means

"barely." Programs that take

32

usually

work better on

48,

and those that take 48 often work

better on

64.

Better

in

what sense?

Let's say you're using

a data

base

management

system

that

takes

at

least 48. You're working up a

report

that covers information

gathered

and entered

over

several

months, and you

want the

computer to compile the

data for

the

entire period. It

may not

be able to. Perhaps it

will

be able to do

it for

one month and

then another

month

and

then a third month. You'll have to put the three

sections

together

yourself. With larger

memory capacity, the computer

could

probably

do the

whole

job for you.

Speed is another

factor.

The machine

can

pull

data

from

memory much faster than it

can retrieve the same data from a

diskette in

a disk

drive. If

you were using a word processing

program,

you'd

be able

to go through

the text, editing

and

moving

paragraphs from

one

place to another much more

quickly

if your

computer had 64 instead

of

the 48 that the

program

manufacturers

recommend

as

a

minimum. With a

long

text,

a computer

with

a smaller memory would be

constantly

moving text to

and

from the diskette in the

disk

drive. It gets

cumbersome.

There's

also the

future

to

consider. Programmers

are

constantly

writing

programs

that

are bigger

and

better than

those

that

came before.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

A

Good

Time

To Be

Interested

In

A

Personal

Computer

Within the

last

decade,

computer

systems that

might have

filled

a small room

with board

after

board

of transistors,

tubes,

and

integrated

circuits

have

been

reduced

in size

to where they

fit

easily

into

a

desktop case.

Systems that

once

cost tens

of

hundreds

of

thousands

of

dollars

are

now affordable

for

the

home

or small

business.

The

sheer

speed of the

advances

in

computer

technology

makes all

other

advances

in the history

of

technology

look

like

molasses

in

January,

In

the early

seventies,

Hewlett-Packard

and Texas

Instruments

came

out with

the

first

programmable

calculators.

Suddenly

it

was possible

for

the average

person

to

carry

an instrument

that would

do simple

arithmetic, chart

bioYhythms,

and

provide the

calculations

needed

to navigate

by stars.

Some

people

became

so enamored

of these

devices

that

they

lost

sleep

playing

with

them.

A few

were

so overwhelmed

that

they

quit their

jobs

to learn

about

computers

and

programming.

Some

went to

school

unabashedly.

Others hid

in

garages,

basements,

or

dusty

attics. Eventually,

most

emerged

to

take

high

paying

jobs in

a

booming

industry

desperate for

people

with

technical

expertise.

Not long

after

that,

build-it-yourself

computer

kits

became

available.

Otherwise

sensible

people

bought

soldering

guns

and

began

to

attach

electronic

components to

plastic-like

boards

riddled

with tiny

holes.

Exactly

what

they

were doing

was

a

mystery

to

all,

even

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

€^

n

them.

These

kits

seldom

had

anything

approximating

complete

instructions.

Untold hours

were

invested

with

minimal

success.

There's

no telling how many

dining

room

tables

were marred

by scorch

marks from

soldering

irons left

glowing

by sleeping

fanatics

whose

own

fervor had

already

burned out

for

that

evening.

It's all

different now.

The

machines

come assembled

and,

for

the most

part,

with

adequate

instructions.

They're

relatively

inexpensive,

reliable,

easy to

use, and

remarkably

versatile.

There's

also

enough

competition

in the

marketplace

to keep

quality high

and prices

stable.

It's definitely the

right

time

to buy. Being

overcome

by

fanatical

fervor is still

a possibility,

but burn

marks

in the

finish

of fine

furniture

are no longer

a

likely result

of the

affliction.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Compatibility

—

The

Good,

The

Bad,

And

The

Ugly

1

oday

there's

some

controversy

in personal

computerdom

over

what

constitutes

compatibility.

You'll

probably

hear something

about

it

when

shopping

for

a computer. Usually

compatibility

means

something

different

to the

manufacturer

than

it

does to

the

computer

buyer.

To the

buyer,

it

means

that

if

something

—

a program or some

attached

device

—

works

on one computer

and another

is

compatible

with the first,

then

that program or

device

should

also work

on

the second

computer.

Very simple. The

buyer

thinks

compatible

means

"the

same

as."

But

the

manufacturer

means

that

the

program

or

device

was

designed

to be

100%

compatible.

Did

the

manufacturer

succeed in

his

design?

Well,

almost

everything

works.

Does

the

manufacturer

know of

anything that

doesn't

work?

Well, there

are

one or

two

programs that

don't

quite

work.

Watch

out!

You're

about

to

confront

Murphy's

Law

of

Compatibility:

If the

manufacturer

claims

it's

compatible,

the

purchaser

assumes

all responsibility

for

determining

whether

or

not the

manufacturer

is right.

Franklin,

for

example,

doesn't

claim

that

the ACE

1000 line

is

100% compatible

with

comparable

APPLE® computers.

Because

the

ACE

has features

not

found in the APPLE,

it's

different.

Perfect

compatibility

is

lost.

A good

example

is the

keyboard.

It produces upper

and

lower

case characters,

a definite

advantage

to

the

user

over the

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

APPLE, which

has only upper case capability. This

means

that ACE owners confront

a problem now and

then if they use a

few of the programs specifically

designed

for the APPLE.

Take solace in the

fact that

the advantages

provided

by

the

ACE's unique design more

than

make up

for any

problem you

might

encounter.

Whenever

possible,

reliable companies

warn

you

about compatibility

problems

and

try to offer

solutions.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Be

Choosy

About

The

Company

You

Keep

When

you

buy

a personal

computer,

you're

getting

more than

just

a machine.

You're

really

establishing

a

relationship

with a

company,

so

it's

important

to

choose

carefully.

Every computer

company

has

a somewhat

different

attitude

toward

its

customers.

Unfortunately,

that

attitude

is

seldom

readily

apparent

before

purchase

and

sometimes

only too

painfully

clear

afterwards. In

an

industry

where

the

oldest

company

may

have been

manufacturing

machines

only

a few

months longer

than the

youngest,

relative

longevity

isn't

necessarily

a reliable indicator

of

quality.

Probably

the

best

way to

judge

a company

is

to

determine

whether

you, the

customer,

are of

primary

importance

or

if

you're

merely

incidental

to

the

marketing

scheme.

To

sec

where

you fit in,

check

the

instructional

manuals

provided

with

the

computer.

Are

they

cute but

short

on

practical

information?

Arc

they

written

in

computerese

by technicians

totally

blind

to the

realities

of the

English

language?

Does

the

company

acknowledge

the

limitations

of

the

technology

or were

the

manuals

written

by some

ad

agency

bent on

creating an

image

of

corporate

perfection?

Some

of

the

largest,

most

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

powerful

companies in the

marketplace take their customers for

granted. It

shows in the documentation

they

provide.

Does

the company have

service centers available or are

repairs strictly

the customer's

problem?

Some

companies can't

be bothered.

They

don't even

provide warranties. Give the main

office a call to see if

there's

a

customer

service department.

The Dealer

Another

important relationship

you'll establish is

with your

dealer,

probably

your

most valuable ally if you

want

to get the

most out of

an

ACE

or any other personal computer. What kind

of

help do you get

when you

walk in the door? Do you get

good,

clear,

objective advice or

sales hype?

You'll

probably need

a

lot

of help making initial and future purchases, so findadealer that

you

feel comfortable

with and

can trust.

If,

when you walk

into

the store, the salespeople

seem more interested in the computers

than they are in you, look

for

another dealer.

Many dealers offer

evening

courses on how to use

personal

computers. Sit in on a session

and see if

the instructor is

a

good

communicator,

sensitive to

the needs of the class.

These

classes

are usually available

for a minimal

charge,

but

the

quality of the

teaching varies. A

good dealer will be concerned that customers

learn

how to

get

the most out of their computers.

Often,

dealers provide

repair service for machines.

Check

to

see

if other customers have

been satisfied and see if the company

provides

training for dealers'

technicians. This

is the case

with

Franklin,

but not so with every

company. Look

for evidence of

teamwork

between company and

dealer.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

C_

Ht'AP

-t=Az

&

M16H

SPEED

True

Grit:

The

Adventure

Of

Mail

Order

if

you

decide

to buy

a computer

from

a catalog,

best of luck.

You

can

find

some

tremendous

bargains,

but

you'd

better

know

what

you're

doing

before

you

even consider it.

The principle

of

caveat

emptor

applies

here

more

than anywhere

else.

What

are

you

going to

do if the

computer

you

ordered

comes

disassembled,

all the

parts in

plastic bags,

the

electronic

components

stuck in

chunks

of

styrofoam?

You

have

no dealer

to

rely on

for

help.

Assuming

you

get it

all

together, what

will

you

do if

it

doesn't

work?

One of

the

components

may

be bad.

How

are

you going

to know

which

one? Maybe

you can

send it

back

to

the

company,

but

you'll

have

to

anticipate

a long

wait

before

you

get

your

new

computer

back.

It's

awfully

hard

to know

exactly

what

you're

ordering

unless

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

you're

very familiar with personal computers. Although mail

order

prices

can be tempting, the

safest

way

to

buy a

computer is

through

a company authorized

dealer.

This

is your

best

guarantee of

getting

the

kind

of support

you'll

probably want.

Clubs

f\

good

source of

information

and bargains in computers,

accessories,

and programs

is

the users'

club. Generally, these

clubs

are groups of

people using

the same or similar

computers.

They're

interested in

sharing

information

and

programs,

as

well

as helping one

another solve

problems that arise

when

using

new

technologies.

Often

the clubs have

a

general

meeting once a month

with

a

speaker

or special

presentation. Between

general

meetings,

groups

of

people with special interests frequently

get

together to

help one

another or just

discuss what

they're

doing. The

atmosphere is usually

convivial

and

people have

a

chance to

meet others

who

share their

interest.

The

companies

and dealers

also

find that

these clubs provide

a

good

medium

of

communication.

Dealers announce

special

prices

to club members

and

companies

let the groups

know

about

new

products. It's

a good

way to

keep

in touch.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

There's

More

To It

Than

Just

The

Computer-

Additional

Equipment

If

you

thought

the

computer

was

expensive.

Inside

an

ACE

and

similar

computers

is

a

little electronic

device

called

a

microprocessor.

How

small

is it? The

one

that

runs

the

ACR

is

only

about

as big

as the

ISHIFTl

key on

the

keyboard.

But it's

the

heart

of

the system.

Without a

microprocessor,

you

wouldn't

have

a computer.

ACTUAt

SIZE

Everything

else in

the

case

is

there

to help

the

microprocessor

do its

job.

You

have

the

power

supply

to

convert

and

regulate

the

electrical

current

going

to

the

computer

and

its

support

devices.

You

have some devices

called

memories

that

hold

information

in

the

computer while

you

use

it.

You

have some

slots

at the

back that

allow

you

to

plug

in

devices

that

expand

the

capabilities

of your

machine.

You

have

the

keyboard.

The

microprocessor

can't

do anything

by

itself.

It

needs all

the

elements

of the system

to

do

its job.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Tt also

needs

other components

so that you can

exploit its

capabilities.

A computer by itself is akin to

a

car engine with

no body or

chassis. Its

incredible

capacity for gorging and

disgorging data

is

useless unless the user

has

help in handling

all this

information

from other

devices

known

as

"peripherals."

They

aren't

really peripheral, though. They're essential.

They're

on

the periphery,

the outside

boundary, of the

main

activity of the

computer itself, but they're

much

more than mere

accessories.

The computer is virtually useless without them.

TVs And

Monitors

1 he TV

screen

is

to an ACE

or any

personal computer

what

a

piece of

paper is to

a typewriter. Everything you type

on your

keyboard

is also displayed

on the screen. Also,

everything

that

the computer

wants to tell

you

—

the

results

of your calcula-

tions,

the

contents

of a diskette, the

score

of the Dodgers' game

—

is

displayed on the

screen. A monitor or TV is absolutely

essential. Without one

of these

two types of display

screens,

you'll

never be able to have two-way

communication with

your

computer.

A monitor

is

a trimmed-down, souped-up

TV.

It

doesn't

have

a channel selector

and antenna on it, but

it does

have a

much

sharper

and clearer picture

of

the words that the

computer is

sending out than a normal TV screen does.

Should you use

a

TV or

a monitor? That depends on what

you're primarily using your

computer for. If you intend to spend

most

of your

time performing

useful work on the machine,

then

you should

use a monitor. If

you're interested in

color displays

and those

programs

(generally games) that make the most

extensive and

intensive

use of color, then you should probably

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

use

a color TV.

You

can still

play

games if

you

use a monitor

but

they

just

won't

be in

color.

If

you

do decide

to use

a

TV,

then

you'll

need another

device,

an RF

modulator.

The

name

sounds

exotic,

but all it

does is let

you

connect the

TV to

an ACE

or

similar

computer.

Typically,

it's

a little

box

about as big

as

a pack of

cigarettes

with

a cable

similar

to regular

TV

antenna

wire

coming

out of one

end. This

wire

attaches

to the

antenna

connections

on

your TV.

Another

cable

comes

out of

the other

end

and

plugs

into the

video

connector

on

the

back

of your

computer.

Tune

your TV to the

channel

suggested

by

the

modulator

manufacturer

and away

you

go.

Printers

—

For

Paper

Copies

Of

What

You

Do

/\ printer

is

simply a

typewriter without

keys. After all,

why

would

you need

another set

of keys when

you've

already got a

perfectly

good one on

your

computer? With

a

printer,

you can

transfer

the results of

your

computerized

activity

onto

a piece of

paper.

Why

would

you need

a copy of

your

work on

paper when you

can easily

see it on

the

screen?

Well, screens are terrific for

browsing through

files,

looking

at the contents of a floppy

diskette,

or

performing simple

calculations.

The computer can

display

data on

a screen

much

faster (and

more

quietly) than

it

can

print it. If,

however,

you

want

a

permanent record, the

screen

hardly suffices. How

would

you give

a

copy

of your work

to

someone?

Send

a snapshot of your

screen? You'll

want

a

paper copy of

your results,

and for

that

you need a printer.

NKLIN

COMPUTER

-li-

ft

5

Printers

also help to solve

a

problem

sometimes

called

"window

vision." When you're browsing

through

a

multi-page

document

by viewing it on a

screen,

your overall view

is

limited

by

the

number

of lines of text

displayed

on

the screen, normally

24.

Window vision

can be

aggravating

when

you're

constantly

scrolling

through

a

document

to cross

reference information

that

appears in

the

beginning

with

information

that

appears

elsewhere

in

the document.

With

a

printed

copy

you can

spread

out the

pages on your desk

for easy

access to all

the

required

information.

Consider

buying

a

printer.

But

which

one?

There are

hundreds

available.

The first

thing

to look

for

is the

printer's

compatibility

with the

programs

you want to

use.

Another

consideration

is

whether or not

you'll

need

typewriter

quality-

copies.

Some

can give

it

to

you;

others

can't. There

are

also the

matters

of noise

and

speed. Be

sure you

listen

before

you

buy. If

you get one

that's

loud,

you

may have to

build

a

separate

room

for it. A\so

check

the manual.

No printer will

do you any good

if

you

can't

figure

out

how

to use it.

If you

do

buy a

printer, you'll

have

to get several

other

items

before

you can use

it.

You'll

need

a

printer

interface

card, a

cable,

and. of course,

paper

and ribbons.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

What's

a

printer

interface

card? Remember the RF

modulator?

Well,

a printer

interface

card permits

a

similar

arrangement.

Your

printer

cable connects easily with your

printer,

but

there's

no

place

on the

computer

to plug in the other

end.

The printer

interface

card solves this

problem.

It's

nothing

more

than a plastic

board

about the size

of

a 3 x 5 index card.

Although

you

should follow

the

directions

when

putting

it in,

installation

is only

a little

more tricky

than

plugging in

a toaster.

Once the

card is

plugged in,

you'll

have

a

connector

where

you

can

plug

in

the free

end of

your

cable. That's all

there is

to

installation.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Before

you try to

operate

it,

you'll

have to check the

printer

manual

to

see what

vou should

do next.

Disk

Drives

lyping

things

twice

is

fine if

you're

learning how to type, but

otherwise

it's

a waste of time. You might

be

wondering why

you'd

have to type things

twice if your computer

has a

memory.

Well,

it does, but the memory

in the computer itself is very

forgetful.

When the switch

goes off, it forgets everything. Poof!

If you

want to retain

what

you've

typed in, you've got to transfer

it out of the

computer's

memory

and

store

it

onto

floppy

diskettes,

your files.

Memory, you see, is very different from

storage.

All

you have to

do is instruct the computer

to

empty its

memory

onto the

diskette

before you turn off the power. The

program

you're using should

provide you with

a

procedure for

doing this.

Then, when you

need

the information again, you can

instruct

the

computer to

read

what's on the diskette back into its

own

memory.

Voila!

Whatever

you typed in before is now back

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

in

the

computer

so that

you

don't

have

to enter it

again in

order

to

work

with

it.

Disk

drives

are

the

electronic

transcribers

and

filing

clerks.

They

record

and

correctly

file

information

on

your

diskettes.

The

electronic

filing

system

remains

invisible

on

the

diskette,

but

don't

worry

because

you

can't

see

it. Your

computer

and disk

drives

can

find

and

retrieve

your

files

more

quickly

than

you can

find

a file

folder

in

a filing

cabinet

drawer.

There's

no

limit

to

the

number

of diskettes

you

can use,

but

you

can only

have

one

diskette

in the

drive

at a time.

How

many

files

can

you

store

on

a single diskette?

Well,

how

many

file

folders

can

you

put into

a file

drawer?

It depends

on

how

big

the

file

drawer

is,

what

kind it is,

and

how

big the file

folders

are. The

same

thing

is

true

with

diskettes.

.lust

as there's

a

limit

to

the

number

of

file

folders

you

can stuff

into a file drawer,

there

is

also a limit

to

how

many

files

you can

store on

a single

diskette.

Using

a

computer

is

almost

impossible

with

no disk

drives

and

still

difficult

with

only

one.

In

fact, some

models of the ACE

come

with

two

disk

drives

built

right

into

their cases.

Two

drives

are

more

than

twice

as

good as

one.

Copying

data from one

diskette

to

another

for

backup

purposes,

a crucial

operation,

is

much

faster

and easier

with

two

disk

drives than

with one.

Some

personal

computers

let

you

use a

tape

recorder

for

data storage,

but

models

like

the

ACH

don't,

simply

because the

cassette tape

method

is

a very, very

slow

and

cumbersome system.

It offers

very little

flexibility

and

can't be used

at all in many

applications.

There

are

many

drives

on the

market.

By far

the most

widely

used

are

the

drives

commonly

referred

to

as

5-inch

floppy

disk

drives.

There

are

smaller

drives

(not too many)

and

bigger

drives

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

(a

good

many),

but the

5-inch

gives

you

the most for the money.

The

bigger

drives

arc

physically

larger

and they store

more

data. The

8-inch floppy

(standard)

disk drive is actually about

twice

as

big

as the

5-inch

in terms

of

size,

data

capacity, and

price.

A 5-inch Winchester

"hard

disk"

stores

about 50 times more

data than

a 5-inch

floppy

and

you

can store

and retrieve

the data

at

a much

faster

rate.

As

you might

expect,

the price for this kind

of performance

is

high,

especially when

you consider that in

most

systems

the Winchester

doesn't

completely replace

floppies.

You

still

need a

storage

device

(either floppies

or

a

special

high-speed

tape

device)

to "backup" the

data

on the

Winchester.

It's also

impossible

to remove

a

Winchester disk

from

the

drive itself,

so whatever

happens

to the

drive

also

happens

to

your

data.

Backup

becomes

twice

as important.

Don't

get too excited

about

8-inch floppies and Winchesters.

They present

the typical

first-time

computer user with

a

lot of

problems,

only some of

which

have

been mentioned here. Some

are

solvable,

none cheaply.

If

the machine

you buy

doesn't

come

with

disk drives

already

installed,

get

a

floppy

disk

system, learn

how

to use it, and then

you'll

be ready to

consider

the next step

up.

Video

Cards

—

For

Lines

Longer

Than

40 Columns

Computers like the ACE

can easily display text on your TV or

on

a

monitor

screen,

but the

quantity of the image is

a

function

of your

screen

and

your eyesight. The

standard personal

computer

can put up

to

24

lines

of text

horizontally on the

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

screen.

Each

line

may hold

up

to

40 characters.

This

works out

to

a maximum

of

960 characters

on the

screen

at

any one time.

Sounds

like

a lot,

doesn't

it?

It's not.

The

majority

of

computer

applications

are

easier

using

a line

anywhere

from

60 to

80

columns

wide.

Most

programs

handle

this

problem

by

providing

you

with

a

"scrolling"

or "paging"

capability.

Imagine

a long

document.

Further

imagine

the document

broken

up

into

"pages,"

each

24

lines long.

You choose the

page (set

of

24 lines)

that

you

want

to

look

at at any particular

time.

Usually,

you don't

have

to

worry

about specific page

numbers,

because

most

programs

let

you

move through the

document

a page at

a time

in

either

of two

directions.

You

can

ask to

see

the

previous

page

or

the next

page. This

process

is

called

paging.

Scrolling

is similar,

except

that you

move

through

your

document

one

line

at a time

instead

of one

page at

a

time.

For

example,

if

what

you

see on

the

screen

represents

the 1 0th

through

the

33rd lines

of

a

document and

you

scroll

forward,

you

will

then

see

lines

1

1

through

34. If

you

scroll

backward, you

will

see

lines

9 through

32.

You

can scroll

horizontally,

too.

Suppose

you

were working

on

a document

80

columns

wide.

That

may

be a little hard to

imagine,

but it's

quite

possible.

Since

the

computer can

display

only

40 characters

on a line,

you

wouldn't

be able to

see

the

entire

line

at

any one time.

You'd

have to

scroll

the

screen

right

and left

to view

data

outside

the

range

of the

original

40

columns.

Unfortunately,

this

horizontal

scrolling

isn't

as

helpful

as

vertical

scrolling.

Your

data

might seem

disjointed

because

you'd

see half of

the

first line,

half of the

second

line,

etc.,

the

whole

way down

the

screen.

If

data

on any

particular line

had

to

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

be

interpreted

in the

same context

as data on the preceding line,

then

what you'd see could

be very confusing.

One solution is to allow each line of

text

to "wrap"

around

to

the next line so that anything

beyond the

40th

column

is

displayed

on the

line

below. Much of

the time,

this can

be very

effective. In fact,

if

you

never knew that it was possible

to display

80

characters

on

a

line, you might be perfectly satisfied

with

only

40 columns. However,

now

you do

know. Once

you try

the

larger display, you'll never

want

to go

back to

40.

Some machines come

equipped

with

80

column

capability.

With others you have to buy

an

80 column video card,

throw

away your TV, and buy a monitor. You

probably

expected

having to buy the video card, but the news about the

TV might

come

as an unwelcome surprise.

Unfortunately,

you'd

never be

able to read the display if you tried to

cram 80

characters

on

one

line of

a

TV screen. Because

the

monitor can display a

clearer

and sharper picture than the TV, the characters will be easy

to

read

—

as long as

you

get a good

quality

video

card.

A

video card

looks much like a printer

interface

card,

except

that it's

a

little bigger. It's installed

much

the same way

as

the

printer interface card.

There are

several such video cards

available today,

each

with

various

advantages

and disadvantages.

Probably

the two most

important

things to look for in selecting a

video card are

the

quality of the display it puts

on

the monitor screen and

the

number of programs that will

work properly with

it.

The

quality of

the

display is

a

matter of

how

clearly the

card

displays

80

character lines on the monitor.

This isn't easy.

Test

any

card you might consider buying. Pay

particular

attention

to

any symptoms of oncoming headaches,

eyestrain, or

seasickness

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

as

you

read

your

screen

full

of

80

character

lines.

This

is Video

Card

Test

1,

If

none of

these

symptoms

develops,

and

you

can

easily

read

the text

displayed

using

the

card

(make

sure

you try

lower

case

characters,

too),

then

the card

passes

Test

1.

1

est

2

is

called, "Will

it

work

with

the programs

I'm

going

to

want

to use?"

You

see,

the video

card

makers

all

do things

a little

bit

differently,

while

the

program

writers

are

busy doing

things

even

more

differently.

This

creates

some finger

pointing

and,

more

importantly,

many

incompatibilities.

To

avoid

such

problems,

get

your

dealer's advice

and try

the

card.

These

arc

the

ONLY

two

qualities

that

you

should

look

for in

buying

an

80

column

card. Don't

let

yourself

be confused

by the

endless

variety of

miscellaneous

features

that the

various

card

manufacturers

try

to

impress

you with

(unless, of

course, you

really

care

if

your

video

card

can

whistle

"Dixie" in

which case,

that's

the card

for

you.)

In

particular,

don't

pay extra

for a lower

case

feature

if your

machine

already

has

one.

All ACE

computers

do.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Communication

Devices

—

For

Talking

to Another

Computer

I

he

purpose

of

communication

devices isn't to establish a

social

life for

your new

computer.

Communicating

with another

computer

is actually

one

of the

more

important

things

you

can

do with

an ACE

or

other

personal

computer. In

fact, telecom-

munications

is the

main

reason

why

some people

buy personal

computers.

You

can hook

your

computer

up to your

standard

telephone,

dial the

number

of

your local

computer

center,

and start sending

and receiving

information,

This

is an

amazingly

powerful setup.

Just by

calling,

you

have

access to

a

large,

very

powerful

computer

well

beyond

the

financial

means of any

individual.

Since

many

people

can

be hooked

up to it at the

same time,

the

costs

of purchasing

and

maintaining

the big

machine

are

distributed

among

many users.

To the

occasional

user

like you,

this translates

to

cheap.

In

fact,

in some

cases,

it

translates

to

free,

except for

the

cost of

the

phone

call.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Once

you're

connected,

you

can

instruct

the central

computer

to

do

things

for

you

just

the

way you do

on

an

ACE.

A

wide

variety

of

services

is

available

to lonely

people out

there who

like

to

call

up

computers.

Typically,

a

dealer

sells

you

the

service

and

gives

you a

phone

number

to

call, an

instruction

manual,

and

some

identification

numbers

so

that

the big

computer

will

talk

to

you.

It won't,

unless

its

humans

know

where to send

the

bill.

As

usual,

there's

a catch,

a common one

in

computerdom.

You

settle

up

with

your

dealer,

run

home all

excited

to call

up

big

brother

for

a

chat,

try to

plug the

phone

into

your computer and

say,

"Hold

on here.

Where

do

I

plug

the

phone

in?"

Well, unless

your

dealer

has sold

you

a

telephone

interface

card,

you

can't.

Just like

the printer,

the

telephone

needs

an

interface

card.

Computer people

being

the

way

they

are,

though,

the

telephone

interface

card

isn't

called a telephone

interface

card.

You

have

to learn

a buzzword

—

modem

-

if

you

want to buy

one.

Whisper

the

word

to

your dealer,

and

he'll

know

what

you're

talking

about.

You

plug

the

modem

card

into

one

of

the

slots

in the

back

of

your

computer (now

you

begin

to

see why

there

are so many

slots

back

there),

connect

a cable

to the card,

run it

out

the back

of the

ACE,

and . .

. now

what?

How

you connect

the

modem

to your

phone

depends on

which

type

of card you

buy.

The

first

type

of

modem

is called a

"direct

connect"

because

it

attaches

directly to

your

phone line.

Where?

Into

the

little

outlet

jack

on your

wall

where

your phone

plugs

in.

The

little

jack

for

wall

phones

is

hidden

behind the

phone.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

If

you

don't feel

like

unplugging your

phone

and

plugging in

your modem

every

time

you

get

the urge to

call the

central

computer,

contact

your local phone

company

and

have them

install

an extra

jack for you. It's not too

expensive. The

only

problem

is the

hassle

you generally

get

if

you

tell the

phone

company

that you

want to

hook

your

computer

up

to their

precious

lines.

This

unpleasant

encounter

can be avoided. If

you

don't

tell them

why

you

want the

extra

jack, no

one else is likely

to.

The second

type of

modem uses what's

called

an "acoustic"

connection

to

the

phone.

Instead

of directly wiring

the modem

card

into

the

phone

line, you establish

the connection

by letting

the modem

use your

telephone handset to

"talk"

and

"listen"

to

the big

computer.

This

takes

a

little more than

just an extra

wall

jack.

The

acoustic coupler

is

a box

with

two

foam rubber rings on it

and a cable

coming out.

The

handset of your

phone

plugs into

the rubber rings,

and the

cable

plugs into your

modem. With

that done, you're

all

set.

Which type of

modem should you buy? The acoustic method

is

usually

cheaper. It

is also less

reliable,

and it

can't provide you

with

as many

features. If

you

can afford it,

buy

the direct

connect

type. It's

easier to use and more versatile as well.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

A

word

of warning:

Don't

buy

a

modem

unless

you

already

have

a disk

drive.

Modems

come

with

diskettes

containing

programs

that

tell

your

computer

how

to

communicate

through

the

device.

Without

a disk drive,

your

computer

won't

be

able

to

get the

instructions

off

the

diskette,

and

your

modem

card

will

be worthless.

Computers

In

A

Computer

—

If

One

Is

Good,

Two

Are

Better

1

he

ACE

is

a very

powerful

machine.

With

it you can

take

advantage

of

a huge

library

of

programs.

You

can buy

almost

any

conceivable

device

to

attach

to it.

Some

people,

however,

are

never

satisfied

with

what's

on

the

market.

They

want

more,

and

sometimes

they

find a way

to

get it.

Well,

a certain

group

of

malcontents

found

a way to

get

what

they

wanted

and

every

owner

of

an ACE-compatible

computer

is

better

off

because

of

it.

Think

of

computers

as

countries,

each

with its own

language.

Computer

A

understands

Swahili,

computer

B

speaks

French,

and so

on.

This

means

that

computer

A

can't

understand

the

same

set of

instructions

as

computer

B.

In

this

Tower

of

Babel,

the

sets of

instructions

arc

called

programs,

and

the

computer

that

understands

"Bonjour"

doesn't

understand

"Uhuru."

Further

suppose

that

someone

named

Joe

Coder

has come

up

with

a fantastic

idea

for

a program.

It's

so terrific

that the

world

is going

to

beat

down

his

door

trying

to

buy it. Joe

Coder is

going

to

get

rich!

Well,

not

just yet. First

Joe

has

to

develop

the

set of

instructions

(the

program)

that

will

make

the

computer

do

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

what he wants it to

do.

That's

not easy,

and

that's why people

will pay Joe handsomely

for

his efforts. Unfortunately, Joe

has

a problem. Since computer

A will not understand a

program

written for computer B,

which computer should he write

his

program

for?

Well, Joe isn't stupid.

He

develops the program for the

computer

that he thinks will

give him the largest market.

Fine

for Joe but

not

so good

for you, unless you share Joe's

preference in

computers.

In

the personal

computer field,

there are two

major types

of

computers

(countries,

if you will), '['here's the type

known as

"DOS

3.3"

that

you find in the ACE and

ACE-compatible

machines

like the

APPLE, and the type known as

"CP/M®."

CP/M systems work in many kinds

of

computers,

all of

which

understand the same language. Programs written for one

CP/M

system usually work on

any

other CP/M system.

However,

as you'd probably expect, programs written

for

DOS

will not

work on

a

CP/M

system and vice versa.

This

is too

bad,

because

there

are terrific programs written

for each

system that half

the personal

computer owners

can't

use.

Thanks

to those who are

never satisfied,

a

solution is

available. All

you

have

to do is

plug

a

CP/M

card

(optional

on

some models of the ACE,

standard on others) into

one of the

slots

at

the rear of

the

machine.

With

the card

in place,

the

computer can use

either

type of program.

This feature amounts to putting another

computer

inside

your computer,

a

significant

achievement. The

designers even

made

it very

easy

for

you. You don't

have

to

know which one

of

those

little

devils

in

your computer is

running the program!

All

you do

is insert

a

diskette, start the

computer up, and

everything

necessary

to allow you to use

that

program is done

automatically.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Programs

Ilquipment

alone

-

no matter

how

sophisticated

is not

all

you need

to operate

your

computer.

Computers

need programs.

Programs

are

easy to

come

by, but few

people can

really

explain

what

it

is

that they

have even

after

they

get them.

Nobody

can

tell

you

exactly

what

programs

are, although

everyone

seems

to be

buying

them,

selling

them,

writing

them,

swearing

at

them,

or pirating

them

these

days.

The

standard

definition

is

that a program

is

a

set

of

instructions

to a computer.

That's

correct

as

far as it goes,

but

what

docs it

really tell

you? Does

it help

you

to understand

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

"PAC-MAN™,"

the

"computer errors"

you get

on

your

bank

statement,

and the

workings

of NORAD

buried in

Cheyenne

Mountain in Colorado?

Programs

are

involved in all of these

computer processes,

but people

who

write

them

probably

couldn't agree on

a

definition

more specific than the one just

given.

Why

can't people

come

up

with

a good definition of

"program"?

They're so

difficult

to explain primarily

because

you

can't

see, hear, touch, or smell

them.

Since programs are for the

machine's

"eyes" only, you'll

never see the programs themselves,

only their effects

on the

machine.

They're somewhat akin to a

"life force" that

lets

a machine

be

productive

when the electricity

is turned on.

Perhaps

yet another reason

is that

a

definition isn't

really

necessary. You

really don't

have

to know what they

are in

order

to use them.

The last point is

probably

the most important, and yet it's also

the

one

that causes the

most

profound suspicions and rankest

uneasiness. People

generally

like

to see a definition to

know

what

they're dealing

with. But if

you

think

about

it, you

probably

use things every day

that you

don't

fully understand

or

feel

compelled to

define.

What

do you

really know (or care)

about the telephone

signal,

without which you couldn't reach

out and touch someone? How

about those electronic signals that

come out of thin

air

to make your television set full of The Dukes

of

Hazzard or Hill

Street Blues

or Live

at

the Met with It/hak

Perlman?

You don't really

need to know

what

a television

signal is in

order

to

like

or dislike

a program, to

turn it on

or

turn it

off.

So

too

with

computer

programs.

The

fact that they're also

electronic

signals is

about

as necessary for you to know as is the

fact that David

Hartman is

nothing but reconfigured electronic

impulses

when you

watch him

over coffee in the morning.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Admittedly,

when

you

use

a

computer

program

you're

more

involved

in some

of the

intricacies

of how

it

works

than

you are

in

the

operation

of

the television

when

you sit down

to

watch a

program.

You

don't really

watch

computer

programs. You use

them.

You play

with

them. And,

eventually,

you develop

a

sense

of

what

they

are.

No matter

how

they define the

term,

most computer people

agree

that the

best

way

to

understand

programs

is to

use

them.

Learn

what

they

are

inductively,

empirically,

not

through

a

textbook

definition

or

a

muddled

series

of

analogies

that

do

as

much

to

confuse

as they

do to

clarify.

Just

dive in.

Start

with

simple,

utilitarian

programs

that you

can

master

quickly.

Then

decide

what

you want

to do with

your

computer,

buy

some

programs,

and go

for it.

Be

warned,

however.

Programs

are

expensive

and

they

vary

greatly

in

quality.

Before you

buy one,

make sure it

has

some

practical

application

to justify

its

cost, and be

sure

you're

comfortable

with the

documentation

that

comes

with

it.

If the

manual

or

instruction

booklet

is written

in

computer gibberish,

the

program

may be

more

trouble

than it's

worth.

Look for

lucid

and

complete

explanations.

Be

careful

not to confuse

impressive

activity with valuable

service.

Programs

and add-on

devices

arc

proliferating beyond

imagination

these

days.

Some

of them

are good,

some of

them

merely

cute,

and

some

of

them

downright

ridiculous.

(A

clock

program,

you

say?

One that will make

my video

screen look

like

a chunk off

of my

kitchen

wall

9

Great!

With second

hands

yet?)

On closer

analysis, however,

the sole

purpose of

many of these

wonders

in

programming

is to

separate

you from your money.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Don't

fall

into

the

trap

of

buying

a

program simply

to

have

something

running. There

arc many

worthwhile

products

available,

so take your

time, look around,

try things

out, and

then buy what you can really use„

Be

forewarned that somewhere, sometime,

someplace,

some

enterprising young man who seems to know

ten

times

what

you

do about

computers

is going to try

to

convince

you that

his

program will make a jug of cider jump

off

the

table

and

turn

ducks'

eggs

into solid

gold. Look

this

man

straight in the

eye and

ask him

for names

of

people

who

are

successfully

using

his

program.

DO

NOT, under

any circumstances,

bet him

that he

can't do it. There's

no telling

what

someone

might be able to

make

a

computer

do.

Paddles and

Joysticks

If

you

want to play video games

in the privacy

of

your own

home (or office), or

if

youVc

sick of

sending the

kids to school

with

plenty of

lunch money, only

to find

them dragging

home

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

from

the

arcade

with

empty

stomachs

and aching

wrists,

maybe

you

should

consider

buying some

game

programs

and a set of

paddles

orjoysticks.

These

gizmos

let

you

beep or

zap or pursue

or

escape,

depending

on

what

video

game

you

happen

to be

playing.

Paddles,

usually

sold

in

pairs,

vary

somewhat in

size

and

shape.

They

all

have

dials,

one

to

move

something

vertically

on

the

screen,

the other

to

move

something

horizontally.

What kind

of

something?

That

depends

on

what game

you're

playing.

It

might

be

a helicopter

or a

spaceship,

a tank

or

some creature. By

turning

both

dials

at the

same

time,

you

can control your

direction

all

over

the

screen,

even

make

your

something move in

circles.

To

zap

an oncoming

invader,

you have buttons

on the

sides

of

paddles.

Often

they make

the

machine

go beep.

A joystick

provides

the

same

kinds

of

directional

control,

except

that

instead

of two

dials

you

have one

stick

on one little

unit.

Your

movements

on the

screen

correspond

directly and

immediately

to

the

direction

you push

the stick.

Just as with the

paddles,

you

have

a button

that lets

you beep

and

go

zap.

Neither

device

would

leave

you

defenseless.

Joysticks

and

paddles

connect

to your

computer at a tiny

socket

marked I/O. The

exact location

of this

socket varies from

computer

to

computer,

but in

most

cases it's

the only place

inside

the

machine

where

the

16 pin

plugs

for the

joysticks or

paddles

look

like they

might

plug in. The

I/O socket

comes

empty,

waiting

for you

to plug in

one of

those

devices or the

other.

By the

way, the

games themselves

come

on diskettes. You'll

find

everything

you

need

at your

computer

store to turn

your

computer

into an

arcade.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

One last word of advice: Protect the

plugs

on

thejoysticks and

paddles by sticking them in styrofoam when you're not using

them. The little pins at the

end have

a way

of getting mangled

otherwise.

Before

You

Try

To Set

Up

A

Personal

Computer

1 here

are

a

few items

you should bring home with you once you

decide to get a computer.

Do you

have at least one floppy

disk

drive? The ACE and most

other

personal

computers

aren't

much good without one. Did

you get some

floppy diskettes?

You should have

a

box

to

get

yourself started. How

about a

printer? If

you get one, make sure

you have

the

cable

for it. And

don't forget

paper.

Here is

a short checklist of other things to consider:

1.

Did

you

get an RF modulator? If you plan to use a TV as a

screen, you'll need one.

2.

Are there enough AC sockets

where

you're going to set up

your

system? You'll need at least

two

sockets, one

for

the

ACE

and

one

for the TV or monitor. You'll need

another if

you also have

a printer.

3. Did you buy

a

game program that

you

can't wait to fire up?

Then pick up

a

set of

paddles

or joysticks.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

It Isn't

All

That

Difficult

After

reading

through

this

booklet,

you

have all

the general

information

you

need

to

set up

and use

a personal

eomputer

with

complete

confidence.

You

may

run into

snags

every

now

and

again,

Everyone

does.

If

you

stay

loose,

follow

directions,

and

experiment

a

little,

you'll

soon

resolve

any

difficulties.

Remember

that

you

can

count

on

the dealer,

the

club,

and

the

company

for help

if

you

need

it.

You're

not

alone,

so

don't let

yourself

feel

isolated.

You're

ready

now

to get

set up

and

go. Franklin

hopes

this

introduction

has

been

helpful

and that

you

have

the

best of luck

with

your

new

computer.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

What

You

Have

To

Know:

Seven

Commandments

(Developing

The

Uncommon

Sense

of

Computerdom)

lo

use an

ACE properly, there

are

a

few

general rules

that

you

should know

and obey.

Observing

Franklin's

Seven

Commandments of

Computerdom

can save

you

from

a lot

of

grief, not the least of

which is the

noxious

horror

of silicon

on

fire.

I.

Electrical

Power

—

Don't

Change

A

Buib

With

The

Power On

The

ACE

is an electrical

device,

so

never

tinker

with

anything

inside it

when

the

power is

on.

Never.

Never.

Never.

It's

dangerous

for you. and

you can

seriously

damage

your

ACE.

Never

plug in

(or take out)

one of the

interface

cards

while

the

power is on.

You'll ruin

something

almost

every

time.

Unfortunately,

it's easy to

forget

this rule,

especially

when

you

FRANKLIN

CO

ii

//

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Kt-Jrl

k

yyj

(KM

want

to try

a new

card

or do

something

with

your

computer

that

requires

a different

set

of

cards.

Train

yourself

to

be

good.

Make

a habit

of

turning

off

the

power

and

pulling

out the

plug in

the

back of

the unit before

you

make

any

changes

inside.

Then,

every

time

you touch

a

card,

check

to

make

sure

that

the

power

cord

is

disconnected.

Always.

Force

yourself.

Someday

you're going

to forget.

Not

even

computerdom

is

free

from

sin.

When

you

do,

immediately

turn off

the

power.

Look

for

obvious

signs

of

damage

such

as smoke or

glowing

circuits.

Whether

you

detect

any damage

or

not,

consider your

system

suspect

until

you

or

your

dealer

can verify

that

everything

is

OK.

In

particular,

don't

take

chances

with any of

your

important

programs

until

you're

sure

that the

system is

functioning

properly.

In

other

words,

don't

use any

diskettes

that

you

can't

afford

to

destroy.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

II.

Diskettes

Are

Not

Dry

Cleanable

.Diskettes

arc

very

delicate objects. Treat them gently,

tenderly.

Imagine

damaging

a

diskette holding

several

hundred

dollars'

worth of programs or several

days'

worth of

work.

Unless

you

had a backup copy,

you'd

have nothing to

show for

your

investment

or your time.

Here

are a few rules to

follow

so that

you won't

mangle your

diskettes.

1.

Let nothing touch any of the exposed areas

on the

diskette.

2.

Don't

bend,

fold,

staple, or otherwise mutilate your

diskettes.

Avoid

paper clipping

anything to them. Don't

even

write on the label of

the

diskette unless

you use a felt-

tipped pen and

a

featherlight

touch.

3.

Never

put

diskettes

in

the oven

or

the

refrigerator.

More

seriously,

don't store them anywhere you

would feel

uncomfortable in

a

light sweater.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Keep diskettes

away from magnetic fields. Some devices

that

generate

these fields arc TVs,

some

display monitors,

telephones,

and airport metal detectors. For this reason,

don't

lay your diskettes

on, near,

or under

your display

screen

or your telephone.

Keep

diskettes

clean

and dust-free

by

storing themina

case

whenever they're not

in

use.

Never wipe them off to

clean

them. Refrain from smoking

around

your

diskettes or

drives. The smoke contains dust particles.

III. Reset Switches Are

Your

Worst Enemy

Lvike

most personal computers, the ACE

has a

dangerous little

button called

a

reset switch.

On

older

models

(the

ACE 100 line),

this

button is at the upper right-hand

corner of

the keyboard.

On

the newer

ACEs

(the ACE 1000 line),

|

RESET

|

is hidden

from

view

but

still

easily

accessible. Don't go looking

for it yet,

though. If

you don't know

where it is, you'll

never

have

any

problems with it.

What's

I

RESET

|

for if

you're not supposed to push

it?

Well,

there are times when a program

can become

so confused that it

will start ignoring you. (The program

seems

to go into never-

never

land.) Why

does this happen? That depends on

the

program,

the computer, the

diskette,

the phases of the moon,

the return

of the swallows to Capistrano, all kinds of wacko

things.

It happens.

This is where RESET comes in. RESET forces the errant

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

program

to pay

attention

to you. Regardless of

whether

it's

gone off on its

own

while playing Tank Trek,

figuring

amortization

schedules,

or calculating the distance

of the

nearest

black hole

in

space,

it stops its wayward behavior and

answers

the [RESET].

This

is where

you can get into

trouble.

If the program is

sending

any data to the

disk drive

for

storage when you hit [RESET],

it will stop. This

can wreak

havoc,

wiping

everything

off

your diskette.

Even if

leaving [RESET

you avoid

this particular

problem

by

alone

when the disk drive's

light

is

on

J

RESET

l

ean still

cause trouble.

For example,

if

you've

typed information into your ACE,

but you

haven't

sent it out

toadiskette

for storage

yet,

hitting

|

RESET]

may

destroy all

the information

you have in the machine. The effect that this

has on

a

typical

user is not pretty.

Here's

a

good

rule regarding

[RESETJ.

Don't ever

touch it. If

you just

can't

resist the

temptation,

hit it only when

you're

completely finished with

whatever

program you're

using.

Never use it while the computer is sending something

to or

receiving something from a disk drive. If you're

unsure

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER'

whether

or

not

some

of

your

data is

on the diskette,

try

everything

else

you

can thin k

of to

b

ring

the program

back

under

control

before

vou hit

RESET

These

same

rules

apply

to the

ON/OFF

switch

in

the back

of

the

ACE.

Turning

the ACE

off

while

you're

using a

program

or

while the

computer

is

sending or

receiving

a pr

ogram

or

data

from

the diskette

is

worse than

hitting [RESET)

. Be

even

more

strict

about

following

the

[RESET[

rules when

it comes

to

turning

the

unit

off.

IV. An

Elephant

Never Forgets,

But

You Didn't

Buy An

Elephant

JNo

matter

how

hard

you

try,

you'll

never

make

a diskette

last

forever.

They

wear out. Whenever

your disk

drive's

red light

is

on,

a hard

ceramic

surface

is rubbing

on

the

diskette

as it turns

in

the

drive.

Sooner or

later,

ceramic

prevails

over plastic

and

the

diskette

wears

thin in

spots.

In

fact, the

program or

data

will

actually

rub off.

Fortunately,

this

usually

takes

a longtime.

How long

depends

primarily

on

how

you treat

the

diskette.

Tt also depends

on

how

often

you

use

it,

whether

or not

your

drive

is properly

adjusted,

and

whether

or

not you

keep

your

fingers

off the

plastic surface

beneath

the

diskette

jacket.

Never

entrust

your life,

your love,

your

data, or

your time

to anything

as

fickle

as a diskette. Not

unless

you

back it up.

Backup,

in

computerdom,

means

making

copies,

especially

of

diskettes.

Once

you've

made a

backup

copy, you

can

rest easy.

The

ACE

DOS

diskette

has a

program

that

copies

diskettes.

FRA NKLiN

'

!

2SL

f A

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i4&fM%£r$%

When the original

diskette

goes bad, you'll have

nothing

to

worry about.

Make

a copy of your

backup and keep

right on

going,

As long

as everything is working

properly,

copies

of

copies of copies,

etc., will

all

be identical

to the original.

The

second greatest joy

in personal computerdom

is to

reach

nonchalantly

for

your backup diskette when

your

original

gives

up the ghost.

The

first greatest joy is

when

the

backup works.

In

numbers there is

safety and reason

to

act

blase.

Backup.

Backup. Backup.

To

fail to do so

is

folly. A

blank

diskette

and the time it

takes

to make a copy are a

bargain

if

you compare

them to the

cost of replacing the

data

and

programs on

a

diskette

that

gets damaged. Backup.

Backup.

Backup.

From what

you know

about the impermanence of

diskettes

and the importance of

making

backup copies, you may

find

this hard to believe, but it's

true. There arc programs

out there

designed

so that it's

almost impossible to make copies of

them.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

You

can't do

it

unless

you happen

to be a computer

genius

with

plenty

of free

time

on

your

hands.

With some,

you

can

try 'til

doomsday

and

you'll

never

make

a

successful

copy. You're

more

in

a position

of being

used

by the

program

than you are

of

being

a program

user.

Program

manufacturers

tend to

regard

all

customers

as

potential

thieves.

They

know

you're

going to try

to

backup

their

program,

despite

their

best

efforts

to stop you. and that

sooner

or

later

you're

going to

succeed.

Once

you do,

conceivably,

you could

start

to

hand out

copies of the

program

like

candy to

everyone

you meet,

thereby depriving

the

manufacturers

of

deserved

revenues.

Many

companies

ask

you to sign

a licensing

agreement that

specifically

prohibits

you from

such dissemination

of

the

program. These

licensing

agreements

typically stop

just short

of

requiring

you to sign

away your life,

your house,

and

your

first-born

child.

From the

manufacturer's

viewpoint,

though,

it's all

perfectly

reasonable,

a simple

matter

of

self-pres-

ervation.

Typically,

manufacturers

won't

even talk

to

you

about

any problems

with

programs

unless

they

have your

release on file.

It's

tough

to be

judged guilty

until

proven

innocent,

but the

manufacturers

have

some legitimate

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

concerns, too.

Legitimate concerns

or not,

some

of

their programs

are

downright

diabolical! You think

you've made

a

perfectly

good

copy

and

then just

after

you've typed in

your

10,000th

character (or some other

magic

number), the

program

checks

itself to see if it's a copy. This

is one

program

function that

the

programmer

has tested

and

retested so

that

it works

perfectly

every

time. When the program discovers

that

it's a copy,

your

program,

along with

all your data, vanishes.

Fortunately, the ACE

can't explode

under program

control.

Some

programmers will stop

at

nothing to punish

you

for

making

a

copy

of their

program!

There is a

way

to fight

back,

though. You might not win

the

war,

but you can launch

a

strong

counterattack.

What

you

need

is

a weapon,

a

program called

a

nibble copier.

It's

a

cute

name,

but

its purpose

in

life is

noble. It's

designed

to copy

uncopiablc programs.

The

problem is

that a nibble

copier

can't

take on

everything

the enemy throws against it.

Some programs arc vulnerable

to it;

others

aren't. There

are a

number

of nibble programs available,

each

capable of copying

a different group

of

programs. By

buying two or

three

nibblers,

you'll

have a

pretty good

arsenal

to use

against

these

villains. You still

won't be

able to copy

every single

program

that you

encounter,

but

you'll

be successful a

good percentage

of the time.

Unfortunately,

nibble copiers are

expensive

and

take

time

and skill to use

effectively,

but

there

isn't

any

real

alternative,

short

of

refusing

to buy uncopiable programs.

A boycott

isn't

practical,

however,

since nearly every

program

of

any

value

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

has some

sort

of copy

protection

built into

it.

Until consumer

protests

become loud enough

to

force manufacturers

to stop

this

practice, nibble copiers

are

your only

hope for good

program

backup.

V.

You

Can't Fix

It

But

You Can

Make It

Worse

It's easy

to

pop the lid off the ACE and get at the inner workings

of the

machine.

This "pop-top" design, like anything else, has

advantages

and

disadvantages.

The

principal advantage

is that

you can add a wide variety

of

peripheral

devices

very quickly and

easily.

The

principal

dis-

advantage

is that

you also

have

easy access to

all

the

other

internal parts of

the

machine that

you really

should

leave

alone

unless you know exactly

what

you're doing.

Be strong. Resist the temptation to touch

things

that

don't

pertain

to connecting peripheral devices. A computer isn't like

an electric lamp

or a

vacuum cleaner.

You won't find any

loose

wires that need

reconnecting or

any

fuses to replace. In fact, you

can't service

any of the components,

so

don't even consider

it, no

matter

how handy

you may be

working

on

a

stereo.

It

takes

special equipment to

test and repair

the ACE. Your dealer is the

one best equipped to

do computer

maintenance, so

leave any

repair work to the

experts

at your

dealer's shop or a Franklin

service center.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

"~^->l?-jmJ!'>

.

&JS

VI.

Promises:

Take Each

With

A Grain

of

Salt

One

of the first

things

you

discover when you decide to buy

additional equipment

or programs for

your ACE is that there

arc

a lot of people

out

there anxious to separate

you from

your

money.

There are

a staggering number of

accessories available.

Anything

you want

you

can find. But

purported capabilities are

often

different

from

what the

program or

peripheral device

will

actually

do. You've got to

try before you buy.

Some people will try

to sell

you anything,

whether it works or

not, so be

prepared

for hype.

Marketing

departments and

advertising

agencies

know that sizzle

sells units. Slick,

professional-looking

packaging

accompanies almost every

product on the

market

today. Don't

be deceived.

Leather-like

binding

and gold

letters

do not a good program

make.

In general, avoid buying

when

performance is based on a

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

promise,

and be

leery of

products if

their

usefulness depends

on

developments

expected

"any day now."

in

this industry,

availability

promises arc,

at best, hopes and,

at worst,

outright

lies. If something

is

guaranteed

to appear in

30 days, go

back

in

three

months.

A

reputable

dealer will

be happy

to demonstrate

equipment

or

programs

that you're interested

in.

Just ask.

If

you

want to remain

friends

with

your

dealer, though, try to

limit

extensive

evaluations

to higher

priced products. Don't

expect hours

of

explanation

and demonstration for every

$15

game program.

However,

if

you're

buying

a $300

word

processing

program,

you have

every

right to insist on a complete

trial run.

No

dealer

stocks every

product

that might

pique

your

interest;

it

would

take half a city

warehouse

district

just

to store them.

Fortunately,

there are

evaluation

methods other than a trial run

at your dealer's

showroom.

Search out independent

reviews

of

the

product

published

in the

personal

computer magazines.

Some

of

these publications

are

helpful

for both product

evaluations

and general

information

on what's happening in the

industry.

Consider subscribing

to

several. It

pays to keep up

with

developments

in the

personal

computer field.

Your

local computer

club is another

alternative. These

are

excellent

sources of

information

about

the quality

of

accessories.

If

several club

members decide to

buy

the

same item

at the same

time,

they can often

get

a

discount

by

placing an

order

together.

Other

times, companies

simply offer

special

deals to

club

members.

If the

products

are no good, you'll hear

boos

and

catcalls when

the

programs

or devices are mentioned.

You

might

want to

take

what you

hear

as a form of counsel.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Although

most

advice

should

be

taken

with

a

grain

of salt, in

general,

users

know

best.

VII.

Be

Patient

—

It's

Not

A

Perfect

World

/\s a

computer

user you

should be

aware of

the

"I am not

crazy"

syndrome.

Typically,

a

person

takes

a

machine

into the

dealer

for

repair of

a problem, only

to find

that

the

machine

works

fine.

The

repairperson

then looks

quizzically

at

the

customer,

who sputters,

"I

am

not

crazy. It really didn't

work

before!" This

happens

so

often

in the

personal

computer

industry

that

most old

hands

know that

the quickest

way

to fix

a

problem

is to

try

to

show

it

to someone

else.

This

is

stretching the

facts

a

bit.

Most

of

the time,

if

the

computer

doesn't work

at home,

it

won't

work

at

the

repair

shop

either.

But

the

inexplicable

does happen.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Occasionally

a

program won't

work the first time you try it

but will

work perfectly

the

next

day.

You

may try

to print

something

and nothing happens. Try it again

and,

sure enough,

it prints.

These

kinds of occurrences are rare,

but

something

similar

probably

will

happen

to you sometime.

Problems

of this sort aren't cause for concern unless they

occur consistently

with certain programs or peripherals.

Persevere.

Try

whatever is giving

you the problem

several

times.

If it

doesn't go

away by

itself,

read the manual and try again.

Fiddle

with it.

There

may

be

an

error in the

manual.

Try

commands

similar to the

ones

in the documentation.

If you have

another

program that

works

perfectly,

try running

it to make

sure the

problem is the

new

program

and

not

your

machine.

Look

at the

manual

and

try

again. If that doesn't work, call on

your dealer, an

experienced

friend,

or the manufacturer.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

A good

title

for this section might be

.

.

.

The

Territorial

Imperatives

Of

The

Trumpeter

Swan

^^mmmnm

Lhis title may seem

a

little

out of place in

a

computer

manual,

but

there's

a reason for

the

incongruity. Unless

you

were

fascinated

by

birds,

you

probably wouldn't turn

to this

section of

the

manual

first.

If it had

been

entitled

T

jet's Get Started,

the

cliche generally used

to describe sections of this sort, you

might

have

begun

reading here,

ignoring all the

introductory

information.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Assuming

that

you've

read what

precedes

this, you

probably

realize

that,

contrary

to

the

popular

maxim,

what you don't

know

can

hurt

you.

To get

the most out

of your

ACE, you

have

to

have

the right

information

and

the

right

attitude.

You

could

probably

assemble

the components

of the

computer

itself

without

either,

but

there probably

would

be no

end to

the

frustration

you'd

endure

trying

to put

together

the

larger

picture

of

personal

computerdom.

If

you've

turned

here

out

of curiosity,

turn

back.

Establish

your own

territorial

imperatives

by starting

at the beginning and

getting

a feel

for the

terrain.

It's

Out

Of The

Box!

Now

What?

.Tirst,

make

sure

you've got

everything

that you're

supposed

to

have.

Here's

a list:

*

the ACE

1000

*

this

manual

*

an AC

power

cord (black,

about

six

feet long)

*

a

video

cable

(thin,

approximately

three

feet

long, with

a

male plug

on

each

end)

*

a warranty

card

And, if

you bought

a

disk

drive (or

drives):

*

the disk

drive

(or

drives)

*

the disk

controller

electronics

card

*

the

disk cable

(a

broad

ribbon about

two

feet long)

*

a

DOS

diskette

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Getting

It

Ready

JVlake

sure the

power

is

off

before you

put

anything

together.

If

you

haven't

tried to connect

the

power cable

yet,

you

should

be

OK. If

you have

connected it,

disconnect

it now.

Getting

The

Lid

On

And

Off

Ihe

lid of the ACE

1000

is

designed to pop

off

and snap

back

on. To get it off, stand

in

front

of the unit

facing

the

keyboard.

Reach back and grasp the

corners of

the

back

of the

lid,

one

corner

in

each

hand. With

your thumbs,

push

back

the

two

latches

that are about

an

inch

and a

half

in

from the corners,

holding

the lid

in

place.

At

the

same time,

lift

the

lid

up.

It should

come

right off.

To

get it

back

on,

face

the

keyboard and look at the

underside

of

the

front of the lid.

There's

a piece

of

plastic screwed onto

it,

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

forming

a groove or slot at the front edge of the lid. Put the

front

of the lid down onto

the main unit so that the lip of the case

just

above the keyboard

slips into

that groove or slot. Center the lid,

lining

it up with the bottom

piece of the case, and then press the

back

of the lid

down

firmly. The

two latches should snap

into

the

indentations

on the rear

of

the lid.

Attaching

The Cables

—

The Video Cable

I he video cable is the skinnier of

the two

round cables

shipped

with the ACE, the one

with

a

little male

jack on each

end. Find

the one inch square opening

in the

back

right-hand

side of the

unit, near the

bottom. In it is a small

female

connector. Plug

either end of

the cable into it.

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mi!

NiniiiiiiihiwjiiN::

hlllll'lll

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;| 1

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The other end of

the

cable connects to your

display

device.

If

you're

using

a

video

monitor,

the

cable plugs

right into a

female

connector similar

to

the one

at the

back

of the ACE. If

you're

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

using

a TV

with an

RF

modulator as

a

display

device,

things

are

slightly

more

complicated.

To hook

it

up,

follow the

instructions

provided with the modulator.

The Disk

Drives

Ihe disk drives

are

only

slightly harder

to

connect

than

the

video cable. Locate the disk controller card that came

packaged

with

your disk

drives.

This is a

rectangular

piece of

plastic eight

inches

by three inches, covered with

electronic

components.

You

have

to plug this card

into

one

of the

connectors on

the

main

electronics card inside

the ACE,

so pop

the lid

off.

Look inside,

if you

haven't

already.

On the floor of

the main

unit is

a board

strewn

with

electronic

components.

Toward

the

back,

right up

against

the wall, you'll

see

eight black

connectors.

These

are called slots.

You'll

see numbers printed in

large

white

numerals on the

main

board behind the

slots. These are

the slot

numbers, as you

might have

guessed.

You're going to

plug the

disk

controller

card into

slot

6. But

not

quite yet.

First,

look

at the disk drive cable,

a

wide, thin

cable

that

looks

a

lot

like

a ribbon.

Notice

that one side

is black (or possibly

red).

Now

take a look at

the

controller

card and find

the two

connectors that

are

marked

DRIVE

1

and DRIVE 2.

With the colored

(red or

black) edge

of

the

cable

lined

up

underneath the

"D"

of the DRIVE

1

label, plug the

cable into

the

two

rows

of pins on

the

connector.

Be sure both

these

rows

are

plugged

into

the

holes on the

cable

connector

because if

they're not, you

may

damage the ACE, the

disk

drive,

or both.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

£|1H

If

you're

at all

uncertain about

this

procedure,

ask

someone

who

has done it

before to

help

you.

If

you

have

a second disk

drive, attach

its

cable to the

connector on

the

disk controller

card

labeled

DRIVE

2,

following

the

same

procedure.

If

you

have

two

drives,

it

doesn't

particularly

matter

which

drive

is

connected

to

which

connector

on

the disk controller

card,

but you've got

to

remember

which

is

drive 1

and which

is drive

2 after you make

the

connection.

The

computer,

the

card, and

the drive could

care

less about

how

you decide

to number them

as

long

as you

make

sure

they're

connected

properly

and

remember which

is

which.

Now

you're

ready

to plug the

disk controller

card

into slot

number

6.

The card

has a little

plastic

tab sticking

out

from one

edge.

This tab has

many small

gold-plated

electrical contacts on

it. They

look

something like

tiny

fingers.

Plug

this tab

into

slot 6 so

that the disk

drive cable con-

nectors

are on the

side

of the

card nearest

the back

of

the

main

unit.

Route the

disk

drive cables

to the very

back of

the main

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

unit and out the

back through one of the three

vertical

openings in the

wall. Bending

the cables won't hurt

them

but

do make sure that the

cables

won't

interfere

with

closing

the

lid.

that's all there is to it.

Your disk drives are now installed.

The

Power

Cord

A.s

soon as you

make

sure the ON/OFF switch is in

the

OFF

position,

you

can

plug

in

the

AC power cord. It's the

six-foot

cord

with

a standard male plug for

an electrical outlet

on one

end. In

the

back of the unit, on

the left-hand

side,

there

is

a

three-

pronged connector.

Plug the

female

end of the power

cord into

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

the

male

connector

on

the

ACE. Plug

the

other

end

into

your

wall

socket

and you're

in

business.

>^

ii™E

-—~Jr

r=z=^^^^=

/S

rL

mi

m

[^

i H

Pis,

POWER

CORD

TUrning

It

On

—

What

It Should

Do

Let's

try the

ACE

without

any

diskettes

first,

just to see if it's

working

properly.

Turn

the unit

on using

the

ON/OFF

switch

on the

back. Here's

what

should

happen:

1

The

red

light

at the top

right

corner

of the

keyboard

comes

on.

2.

The

display

screen clears.

3.

On the screen

you

see:

(X.X

is

a version

number

which will

change from time

to

time.)

4.

You

hear

a beep.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

5.

The red light on

the

front of disk drive I

lights up.

6. You

hear strange noises from

disk

drive 1

for

a

few

seconds

and

then a constant

whirring sound that

continues

until the

power

is turned off.

At

this

point, the

ACE is trying to read

something

from a

diskette that isn't

there. It will try

to

read

the

nonexistent

diskette forever

until

it's told to

stop.

('Hie

ACE

can't

tell

if

there's

a

diskette

in a drive or not.

It takes

futility right

in

stride.)

For the

moment,

just turn

the

machine back

OFF.

If

all this

happens, the

ACE is

working fine.

If it

doesn't,

don't

despair.

Why It

Might

Not Be

Working

Ihis

checklist

may help

you

find the

problem.

1

Is the light

in

the

upper

right corner of

the

keyboard

on?

If

it's not,

then

the

machine

isn't getting

power.

Check

the

power

cord

connection, both to the

ACE

and

to

your

electrical

outlet.

2.

Is your display

screen doing

something

strange?

Check

your video

cable

connection. If

you're

using a

modulator

to

a TV,

check

your modulator

connection. If

the

screen

is "rolling"

or "breaking up,"

then

you

might have

to

adjust your

display

device. Play

with the

horizontal

and

vertical

hold adjustments

on the

screen.

If

the

display

screen

does nothing,

check to see if it's

turned

on

and

plugged

in.

3.

If the

disk

drive light

didn't

go

on,

check the

disk

drive

cable

connection.

Also

make sure

that

the

disk

controller

card

is

firmly plugged

into

slot

6 on the

main

electronics

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

board

inside

the unit.

Is

the

display

screen

very dim?

You

can

adjust it

a

bit inside

the

ACE.

In

the

back

right-hand

corner

of the

main

electronics

board,

there's

a small

half

moon

disk

with

a slot

in

it.

It's

near

the

video

connector.

To

adjust video

brightness,

turn

this

disk

using

a small

screwdriver,

preferably

a plastic

one.

Be

careful

not

to let

your

screwdriver

touch

anything

else

on the

electronics

board

because

you

can

damage

the

components.

If

none

of

these

measures

solve

the

problem,

then

there might

be

something

wrong

with

the

unit.

Don't

attempt

to fix

it

yourself.

Take

it

back

to your

dealer

or to

a company

authorized

repair

shop

and

have

it

checked.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

The

Communications

Connection

Say

Hello

To Your

Keyboard

Since

the keyboard

is going to be

your primary means

of

communicating with the ACE,

an

introduction

is

in

order.

You're

going

to spend a

lot

of time pounding

away

at it,

so

you

should

know what

it can

do.

Lower

Case

and

Alpha Lock

In most ways, the ACE keyboard works

exactly

like a

standard

typewriter.

If

you type characters without

depressing the

ISHIFT1 key, you'll

get lower case. When you

simultaneously

depress

the

1SHIFT1

key and a character

key, you'll

get an

upper

case

character.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Unlike a standard typewriter, however, the ACE has no

SHIFT

LOCK

function.

Instead, it has an ALPHA (short

for

alphabet) LOCK, which is slightly

different.

In a typewriter's

SHIFT

LOCK mode, all the

characters

on

the keyboard shift to either an upper case letter or the top

character on the punctuation

keys. In the ACE's

ALPHA

LOCK mode,

only the

alphabetic

characters shift to

upper

case; the punctuation keys don't shift to their top

characters.

The tiny red light on the

iLOCKl

key indicates

that you're

in ALPHA LOCK mode.

To

get out of

ALPHA

LOCK,

just

hit the

iLOCKl

key and

the red

light will go out.

Touch

the

LOCKl

key

again, and

you're back in

ALPHA LOCK.

Although the ability to generate lower

case

is a

distinct

advantage, there are

times

that

it

causes

some

problems.

Certain programs don't handle lower case characters

properly.

The reason

for

this program weakness

is

that

they

were

written for use on

an

APPLE, which normally can't

generate

lower case characters. Some programs will actually

modify

every signal sent by the keyboard so that all characters

become

upper case. The result is that, using some programs,

you can't

type lower

case characters with your

ACE.

There's no easy solution to this problem. You

can

enter

ALPHA

LOCK mode and only type upper case

characters. Or,

if

you

can lock in upper

case

with

one of the

commands that

the program provides, you can sometimes type

lower case

characters, strange

as that may seem. You see,

when

the

program is locked into

upper case

mode, it thinks that

the

keyboard can generate only upper case characters, so it

won't

bother to modify the keyboard characters.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

If you still

can't

type

lower

case characters, then contact

the

program's

manufacturer

and ask for

either

a revised

version

of

the program

or a

"patch"

that you

can

apply to your

version

to

allow

lower

case.

Numeric

Pad/Editing

Pad

1

he group

of twelve keys on the right

of the keyboard is

called

the numeric

pad. It consists of the

ten

digits, the "greater

than"

sign

(>)

,

and

the

decimal

point. If

you do

a

lot

of

numerical

calculations,

you'll find

using

the numeric

pad

faster than

using

the

numbers

on

the

top

row

of keys.

Tapping

the

|PAUSE|

key

while pressing the

|CTRL|

key

changes tine

numeric

pad

mto

an edging pad. Some

word

processing

programs

use

this

pad to let

you

place

characters

wherever vou

want

them

on the screen.

When

you're

using the editing

pad, pressing the

2 key

positions

the next character you

type one

line down,

while

the

|

8

j

key

places

it one line up. The

[4J

and

[6J

keys

move

the

character to

be typed

one space

to the left or right, respectively.

The

jT]

key places

the

next

character

at

the beginning

of the

previous

word. The

[9]

key places

the character at the first

letter

of

whatever

would

be

the following

word. You can

move

backwards

and forwards

one

screen full

of

text at a

time,

using

the

[T]

and

\3\

keys.

Pressing

the

Q]

key

deletes

characters

one

at a

time.

To

reshape

a

paragraph after making

changes in it, press the

[>]

key to

align text

within

the

margins you've set. The

displays

other command options open

to you.

5

key

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

Typing |CTRL|

|PAUSEJ

lets you switch back and

forth

between the numeric pad and the editing pad functions. You

can also use the editing keys by touching

the

ICTRLJ

key and a

numeric

key at the same time. Release the

[CTRLl

key and

you're back to numeric

functions, Try

experimenting

with

your

word processing program

to see if it uses these editing keys.

If it

doesn't, consult

the installation

section of the

manual that

came

with

your program

to

see

what program modifications

you can make in order to use the editing pad.

Special

Keys

1

apping

the

j

BREAK] key will perform a "break" function

in many

programs.

This usually means that the program

aborts whatever i

t's doing.

Wheneve

r a program requires that

,

you can hityou type CTRL C BREAK instead

I'he

|

PAUSE) key normally

makes

a program "pause"

in

whatever it's

doing. For example, hitting |PAUSE[ will stop

the display

on the screen indefinitely. Typing

IPAUSEI

again

will restart the program.

The minus

sign,

the plus sign, and the asterisk are located to

the left of the numeric

pad for easy access

when

you're

using

programs that process financial

data.

Some

of

these

programs

are so popular that this section

o(

the keyboard

was

designed

with them in

mind.

Keycode

Differences

I

f

you're

interested in

using

programs

that

were

designed

for

the APPLE,

you'll

want to know about the

six

keys that must

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

be

typed

differently

on

the ACE.

The following

chart lists

these keys and shows

how they are typed

on

the APPLH

and

on

the

ACK. (The

reference

to

Hex Code is

for the benefit of

those who are interested in programming.)

APPLE KEYS ACE KEYS

HEX CODE

SHIFT M

]

DD

SHIFT

N

A

DE

SHIFT

P

@

CO

CTRL

SHIFT

P CTRL@ 80

CTRL

SHIFT

M

**NOT AVAILABLE

ON

ACE

CTRL

SHIFT N

**NOT

AVAILABLE ON ACE

Any manual

or

documentation

for

a program

specifically

written for the Apple will refer

to

those APPLE!

keys

at times.

To

type them on

the

ACE, type the

corresponding key from

the

ACE column

of

the

chart. Unfortunately,

if the

program

requires

you

to type

"

"

CTRL

SHIFT M

or CTRL

SHIFT!

|N|

,

you can't type that

key

on

the ACE..

Once

again, the solution to this problem is to contact

the

program

manufacturer for help.

Just Where

Is The

Reset Switch?

I

he

RESET switch on the ACE. 1000

is

designed to be easy

to

reach

if

you really must, but difficult to bump

accidentally.

It's

also designed to

be

out of sight and

hopefully out of

mind.

You'll find

it

in

the

front

of

the

unit, underneath the

keyboard,

on

the

left-hand side.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

The

DOS

Diskette

rVanklin

disk drive controller

cards

(optional

on

some

models

in the ACE

1000

line) come

with

a

DOS diskette labeled

"ACE

XXXX

DOS Diskette

Version X.X."

The

"X.X"

is

a

version

number that changes

from time to time, but the diskette's

purpose remains the

same: to allow you to use DOS 3.3

applications

programs

on

your ACE.

Most of the

programs

on the DOS

diskette are so invisible

that

you can barely tell

they're functioning.

If you were to

look

at a table of contents

of the diskette,

they wouldn't

even be

listed. They constitute

an operating system known as

DOS

3.3,

a

disk

operating system.

Besides

providing

you

and

the computer

with

control

over

the disk

drives, the

DOS

diskette

also

contains

a

collection

of

programs

that

help

you update,

sort

through,

and

shuffle

the

data files

you create

as you

do

word processing, financial

management,

data base

management,

or any other application

of

your ACE's

powers

requiring

DOS

3.3.

Giving

The

DOS Diskette A

Boot Up

iJefore

explaining

everything

that's on the DOS diskette,

let's

power

up the ACE with this

diskette in drive

1. Here's how to

put h in:

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

1. To open the disk drive door, put your finger

under

the

latch in the middle

of the

front of the

disk

drive

and

lift

up.

2. Grasp

the diskette

on the label side and hold it flat,

label

facing

the

ceiling.

3. Insert the diskette

into the

horizontal slot on

the

front of

the

disk drive. The

diskette should

go

all

the

way

in,

but

don't force it after

it

stops.

4. Push the

disk drive

door down until it snaps shut,

Now

flip the

power

switch in

the back of

the

ACE

to

turn

it

on.

You'll see everything you saw

when there

was

no

diskette

in

the machine,

plus

some

other

things

that happen

because

the

ACE now

has the

DOS

diskette

to read. Here's what

happens:

1

.

After the

disk drive

starts

reading the

diskette

(noises),

the

screen clears

for a

split

second. The

character

(a

bracket

called a "prompt")

appears

on the bottom left

corner

of the

screen for

a

few

seconds.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

2.

The screen then clears again and you

see

the

title

and

version message

mentioned earlier.

3. Then a second message

appears.

It tells you to wait

while

a

program (one called INTEGER BASIC) goes

from the

diskette to the machine. This takes about fifteen

seconds.

4. Finally,

a

third

message

appears. It

lets you

know that your

system is all

ready for

you and

provides

programmers

with

some

information

that's of interest

to them.

The

character

appears in the bottom left corner of the screen,

along

with a

square that blinks on and off. The square is

called a

"cursor" because it marks the place where

the

next

character

will

appear.

What just happened is called

a

disk "boot," an

absolutely

essential

and

(happily)

automatic process. When you

see the

,

you

know that the boot is complete.

In the early

days

of personal

computers

(a

few years

ago),

you had to type in a series of complex commands to

start

up a

program stored on a diskette. Nobody but

computer people

could

remember the necessary commands. This

upset

a

lot of

folks,

especially salespeople,

who

couldn't

sell the

machines

because

nobody could remember how

to

make

the machine get

programs from the diskette. That's why the automatic boot

was created.

Now

you don't have

to type

anything in.

Now What?

{Now that

you've booted

the

DOS diskette, what can

you do

with your ACE? N ot much .

. . yet.

The

DOS

d iskctte contains a

good many programs, but they're not designed to apply

the

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

computer's

capabilities

to any particular task. Instead, these

programs

perform

more general functions in giving you the

means to work with

the

applications

programs you buy.

In

order

to do

word

processing,

financial management, data base

management

or use

any other

DOS 3.3 application

program,

you'll

need the

programs on

the

DOS diskette.

But

before this all

gets

too abstract, let's practice with the

programs

on

the diskette

just to get a feel for how they

work.

How To Use The

Programs

On

the

DOS

Diskette

You'll

never learn

how to use the programs on the DOS

diskette

unless

you sit down

at

the

computer and try each

operation

as

it's

described. You

can learn

by reading and doing but

not

by

reading

alone. Familiarizing yourself

with the

way

these

programs

work is a hands-on process, not an intellectual

exercise.

To get programs to work for

you, you've got

to

call

upon

them

and then tell them exactly

what you

want

done.

As long as

you

type accurately

and

follow

the directions given here and

on

your

display

screen,

the

programs will usually obey

your

commands.

Some

will

even make things easier by asking what

you want them to

do

once

you've

called

them from the

diskette

into the computer.

Although it may not

be

readily

apparent (shortcuts

can be

tempting), there are good reasons

to try

things in

the

sequence

in

which they're presented here. An example

may

make this

a

little

clearer.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Before you try anything else, you

should

make a

backup

of

your

DOS

diskette. Since the program

called

COPY

transcribes

programs and files from one diskette

to

another,

you'll need

it

to

make this backup.

When you're done,

you'll have

a

perfect

copy ofall the programs on

the

DOS

diskette,

even COPY

itself.

You'll be able to put the

original

DOS

diskette

somewhere

out

of harm's way.

How To Use

The

Copy

Program

lo

get the

COPY

program

from

the DOS

diskette into

the

ACE, you've got to

boot the

diskette as

described

earlier.

When the prompt and

cursor appear,

DOS

is

in the

computer

and you can

call on COPY,

To

do

so, type:

RUN

COPY

and

hit

RETURN

You've

now given DOS your

first command.

The

COPY

program

loads into the

computer and

starts

running

(operating

in the computer).

The

monitor

screen

then

clears

and you see:

DISK COPY

PROGRAM

vX,X

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER CORP

For

a

moment you see

the message:

Loading , . .

on the screen. The

COPY

program is

reading

additional

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

information

from the

DOS

diskette

so that it

can perform the

copy

operation.

After five

to ten

seconds,

Loading .

.

.

disappears

and your

screen

looks

like this:

DISK

COPY

PROGRAM

vX.X

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

CORP

ENTER

SLOT

AND DRIVE

#

SOURCE

DISK

SLOT 6

PRESS

RETURN

FOR

DEFAULT VALUE

When

you use

COPY,

you have

to indicate

which

slot

on

the

main

electronics

board contains

the

disk controller

card. Since

the card

is usually

installed

in

slot

6,

COPY

assumes

that's

where the

card is

located.

As long

as it's there,

all

you have to

do

is

press

I

RETURN!

.

This

is

known

as the default value, the

response

you

give

when

you don't

specify something other

than

what the machine

expects.

COPY then

displays

drive 1 on

the screen

to

the

right of the

number

6

that's

already

there

and

asks you for

the source drive

number.

This is

the

number

of

the

disk

drive

holding

the

diskette

that

you want to

copy,

drive

1 or 2.

Make

a

habit

of

copying

from

the

diskette

in drive

1. COPY

assumes

this is

what

you're

doing,

as you

can tell

by

the

1 flashing on the

screen.

Hit

|

RETURN

I

,

and COPY will

be

set up to copy

whatever

is on the

diskette

in drive

1.

COPY then

displays:

Dest

disk slot

6

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

Dest is an abbreviation of the word destination. The

COPY

program

is

just checking

to

make sure

that you

haven't

connected more disk

drives and

put

controller

cards

somewhere besides slot 6. Again, just hit

[RETURNl

unless

you've done something other than what the

manual has

said to

do.

Next

you're prompted for the

destination

drive

number. The

COPY program wants to know

where

to

send the copy

that

it's

about to make.

Your response

to this prompt

depends on

whether you have one or two disk

drives. If you have

only

one,

you don't have any

choice;

you

must

type

Q]

. If

you have

two

drives, you can typeQ]

or

\2\

,

but

[2]

is

preferable,

as you

can

see from

the screen.

There's a good reason

for this.

Copying

data

from

one

diskette

to

another poses a

small

problem

if

you have

only

one

disk drive. You can't just

read

data from a

diskette

in

one drive and

write it onto a

diskette

iv

another drive.

With a single drive system, you have to

read

one

diskette,

take it out of the drive, insert the other

diskette, and

then

write

the data onto

the second diskette.

You have to do

this a

number of

times.

This

diskette

"swapping" is

both

time

consuming

and

error prone. If you have a two drive

system,

you

can

simply specify

drive

2

as

the

destination

drive and

leave

the original diskette in drive 1 . COPY can

then do its job

without any diskette swapping help from

you.

If

you

have only one drive, don't worry

about when to

switch

diskettes back and forth. It's always going

to

take time,

but a

little thought

and care

should keep you

from

making

errors. On your display screen,

you'll

see that the

COPY

program guides you

along the

way by

telling you to

insert

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

either

the source

diskette

(the

original) or the destination

diskette

(the one

receiving

the

copy)

at the appropriate times.

Just

be careful

to insert

the

diskette

requested. If you insert the

wrong

one, you'll

destroy

data

on one or

both ofthe diskettes.

After entering

the slot

and

drive

numbers for the

source

and

destination

disk

drives,

you're

ready

to make a copy of your

DOS

diskette. If

you're

using

a

single

disk drive system, what

you read

here in

the text

will

differ slightly

from what appears

on the

screen.

The process

of

making

a copy

is

the same, but

the

procedures

you

must

follow

are

a

bit

different, so

follow

the steps

as they appear on

the

screen. If

you're using a two

drive

system,

there should

be

no discrepancies between what

you read

here in

the text

and

what the screen displays.

On

the

screen

you should

see the question

phrase:

OK

tO

stBi't

CODV

N

O-:' ?Xp

Make absolutely

sure

that

you have your original in the

source drive

and

the blank

diskette in the

destination drive.

After

you've

checked,

type

[7]

for

yes.

If

you type

[n]

for no,

you're

again asked to

enter

the

slot and

drive numbers.

The

message

copying

disk

appears

next,

along with

an

arrow

on the

source

disk line

indicating

that the

COPY

program

is reading

the source

diskette,

your

DOS

diskette.

After

about

ten seconds,

the

message

formatting

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

appears

and the

arrow

moves

to the

destination disk

line. After

another

twenty

seconds

or

so,

appears

again

and

remains

on

the

screen

as programs

on the

DOS

diskette

are

alternately

read

(from the

source

diskette)

and

written

(to the

destination

diskette,

the blank

diskette).

If

an

error

occurs

while the copy's being

made,

an error

message

appears. You

have

the choice

of

abandoning the

process or

starting

over. If

you

choose to begin again (as you

should), remove

the diskettes

from the disk drives and simply

reinsert them,

a

procedure

known

as "reseating. "Try to make a

copy again.

If

reseating the

diskettes

doesn't eliminate

the problem,

you

may

have a bad diskette.

Replace it with

a

new

one if it's the

destination

diskette.

If

it's the

source diskette,

you may

have lost

one or more files

on

the diskette. To

try

to recover them, look up

the

FUD

utility

program's

Cfunction

(copy files)

in the

index

and

follow the

procedure

given

there.

If

all

goes well, the

message

oc:py

finished

appears and you know

that

you now have an identical copy of

the DOS diskette.

Take

it out of the

drive

and answer

[y]

to the

question

that

now

appears on your

screen about

making

additional copies.

You're asked the

same

questions

once

again, and you should

respond

the

same way you did the first

time

around.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

When

you

have

two or three

backup copies of your DOS

diskette,

answer [n]

to

the prompt

on the

screen.

Take your

original

out,

put it in a

safe

place,

and use only copies from now

on.

That

way you'll

have

a good

copy of the

DOS diskette,

despite

any

disaster

that

might befall

the copy

in use.

So that

you don't run

the risk of

mistakenly

using

your

DOS

diskette

for storing

data,

take one

of the

small

gummed labels

(usually

called

"write-protect

labels")

and

cover the rectangular

notch

that's on

the

side of

the

diskette.

A small

piece

of

cellophane

tape

does the job

just as well, but you should

have

no

trouble

finding

labels

since

they're

usually provided with blank

diskettes.

If you

should

ever

want

to add

or delete

a

program

on a write-

protected

diskette,

all you

have to

do

is

take

off

the label.

As a

matter

of fact,

you won't

be able to

make

any

changes unless

you

do.

If

you want

to make

a copy of a

diskette other

than the DOS

diskette,

you first

load the

COPY

program

into the

machine

from

the

DOS

diskette

just

as you

did in the

previous

example

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

and

then

substitute

whatever diskette

you

want

to

copy

for the

DOS diskette in the

source drive. You see, once COPY is in the

machine, the

DOS diskette

is no

longer

necessary to the copying

process unless it

happens

to be the diskette you're copying, as it

was

in

the

example

just

given.

As soon

as you see

DISK

COPY

PROGRAM

vX.X,

etc.,

you

can insert

whatever diskette you want

to copy

into

the

disk drive

you

declare

as the source.

One

last note:

When

youVe

finished

making copies and

have

typed [n]

in response

to

the

prompt,

the cursor and

the

]

reappear

on the screen.

You

can

turn

off your

ACE,

completely

confident

that

you're not

hurting

any program

or

data.

Everything

you'll

need again

is on

diskettes

and

retrievable.

The applications programs

you use

will tell

you

how to

store

your programs and

data

on diskettes so

that you

can turn

off the

machine

without

worrying about losing

the

program or

what

you've entered.

With

so

many

different

applications

programs

on the

market, it's

impossible to

come

up

with

a

general

rule for

when it's safe to turn the

machine off that isn't

contradicted

by

the peculiarities of

at

least

one

program. While using the

DOS

diskette,

follow the guidelines

mentioned in the

previous

paragraph.

How

To

Use DOS

3.3

When the

DOS diskette

is

in

drive 1

and you turn

on the

power,

DOS 3.3

—

the

program that

enables

you

to use yourdisk

drives

—

is pulled into the

computer

automatically. Only those

aspects of the DOS

program

that

are

particularly useful to

nonprogrammers are described

here

and

in

an

abbreviated form

at

that. You

won't find all the

possible options and

parameters

jXnXBLM3UXII32

for

every command.

For example,

the command

formats shown here will work

provided that the disk

controller

card is plugged into slot 6

on

the main

electronics

board and

that you

have a one or

two drive

system.

If this

isn't

the case,

you may

have to provide

some

additional

information

when you

type

in

a command.

At some point

in the future

you

may want to learn BASIC

programming,

add a third disk

drive,

or

make any one

of

a

number of changes to

your

system. If

this

happens,

your dealer

can

recommend

books

that describe DOS 3.3 in detail. For now,

follow along

using your

ACE and

a

copy of the

DOS

diskette so

that

you

can get some

practice

with the procedures used to make

DOS work

for you.

First of

all,

the

DOS program has

to be in the computer before

you can

give it

commands.

Unfortunately,

because it's such an

automatic, invisible

program, it's

not always easy to determine

whether

or not

DOS

is running,

i.e., in the

machine. The simplest

way

to be

sure

is to boot the

DOS diskette (insert the DOS

diskette

in drive 1

and

turn the power on). As soon

as you

see

either

of

the prompt

characters

]

or

>,

you

know that

DOS

is

running,

and you can enter

DOS

commands.

If

you type

a

DOS

command

when

DOS

isn't

running, the

machine

will probably

beep and you'll

see

an

error

message

on

the

screen.

You've done

no

harm.

As long

as you boot up

with

the

DOS diskette,

you

can type

commands

in either

upper case or

lower

case.

To execute

a DOS

command

once

it's

typed

in, hit the | RETURN)

key

If

you make a

mistake

and type

an incorrect

character, hit the

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

backspace key (the one

with the arrow

pointing left)

in

order

to

back up the cursor over

your error. Correct

it

by

typing

in

the

appropriate character. If

you make so many

mistakes

on

a

line

that you want

to forget

the

whole thing,

cancel

t

he

co

mmand

by

holding down the

|CTRL| key and

typing

the

O

key

at

the

same time (called

I

CTRL

|

\x\

).

Then you

can type the

same

command again or try a

new one.

You're about ready to

try the DOS commands,

so

make

sure

that you're

using a backup

copy of the DOS

diskette

and

then

boot

up. The only

way

to

get

a

feel for

all

this is to use

it.

CATALOG

(Displaying

The

Table

Of

Contents Of

A

Diskette)

As soon as you know

you're running

DOS, type:

CATALOG

RETURN

You

should

see:

DISK

VOLUME

NNN

*A 004 HELLO

*B

050

INTBASIC

*B050FPBAS1C

*B 003

CHAIN

*B007

BOOT13

*B027FUD

F RA

NK

LtN

COMPUTER

*A 016 COPY
*B

003 COPY.OBJ

*B

006 DIAGNOSTICS

*B004

PROMTEST.OBJ

*B

007 KYBDTEST.OBJ

*B 008 MEMTEST.OBJ

*B004PADLTEST.OBJ

*B 008 DISKTEST.OBJ
*B

004

HRESTEST.OBJ

*B034 DIAGNOSTIC

DATA-DONT

"RUN"

*A 003

PRETTY PATTERN

The

first line

of

information

presented

is the

message

DISK

VOLUME

NNN,

where

NNN

is the

volume

number of

the

diskette.

On

the

DOS

diskette,

the

volume

number

tells

you

which

version

of the

diskette

you

happen

to

be using.

The number changes

as

Franklin

produces new versions.

Generally

speaking,

data and

programs are stored

on

diskettes

in

files, with

program

names

or titles

used

synonymously

with

the

names

of the files

where

they're stored.

Since

most

commands oblige you

to specify

the

name of some

file

as a part

of the

command

procedure

(this

is the

case with

most

DOS commands),

you'll have

to name any

files

you create

using

applications programs.

File

names

appear

under

the

volume

message,

each on

its

own

line. For

example, on

a

typical

file

line such as

*A 004 HELLO,

HELLO

is

the

name

of a file,

probably the

first frie

on

your

DOS

diskette.

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

There's a lot of other

information

here if you know

what

you're looking at. The asterisk at the

beginning

indicates

that

the

file is "locked" and can't be

altered.

If the file is

Unlocked,"

no

asterisk

appears

in this

space.

This type of file

can be altered.

You'll find out how you

can lock and

unlock files a

little

later.

The letters after the asterisk

indicate

different

categories

of

files, most of which are represented

on the DOS

diskette.

You

have to know what type a

particular

file

is

because

each

file

type

requires a

different DOS

command to get it from

the

diskette

into

the

machine. Although you may never want

or need

to

know the

difference between Floating

Point BASIC,

INTEGER

BASIC,

and

binary, the computer does notice

which is

which and

categorizes program files

accordingly.

Some

commands

work

with only certain categories of

programs,

other

commands

on

other categories.

A indicates that the file is a program

written in

Floating

Point

BASIC. File type I is a program

written

in

INTEGER

BASIC.

Type B files

contain programs

written in assembly

language

(B

stands for

binary). T indicates that the file is not a

program

file,

but a text file

containing some

sort of textual

information.

The last bit of

information

on the line before the

file name

is

the size of the file.

This is important

because

although

diskettes

have a lot of space,

there

are limits. And the

computer has

limits

as well. In

the

example, 004 means that

the

file is four

sectors

long.

Each

sector can have up to 256

characters in

it.

004

sectors

means

that

the file containing the

HELLO

program

consumes

256

times

4 sectors or

1024 characters of diskette

space.

This isn't

the

exact size of the

HELLO file,

only an

approximation.

It really means

that HELLO

has more than

768

characters

(256

x

3)

but is less than or

equal

to 1024

characters

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

(256

x

4)

in size.

(Keep in

mind

that this

is an example

only. The

HELLO

file

on

your

version

of the

DOS

diskette

may have

more

or less

than four

sectors).

What

this

means

to you is

that

HELLO

is

a

relatively

small program

that takes

up a small amount

of

space

on

the

diskette

and a small

portion

of the machine's

memory,

considering

that

the ACE

has room for

at least

64,000

characters.

Sometimes

a

diskette

will

contain

more

files than

the

screen

can

display.

When

this

happens,

DOS

displays

the first

eighteen

file

names

on

the screen

and

then stops

to let

you

see

what they

are. To

see

the

next eighteen

file

names,

hit the

space bar. You

can

continue

looking

at

each

succeeding

group of

eighteen

until

you've

seen

the

names

of

all the

files on

the

diskette.

If DOS is

waiting

for

you to

hit

the

space

bar for the

next group of

files,

you'll

see no

prompt

character

]

or

> at the

end

of

the file list.

One

more

point

about

CATALOG.

As long

as

you

have DOS

running

in

the

computer,

you

can use

this

command

to

find

out

what

files

you

have

on

any

diskette

created

using

DOS

3.3

(as

opposed

to

diskettes

created

using

CP/M).

You

simply

boot the

DOS

diskette,

remove

it from

the

drive when

you

seethe

prompt

and

the

cursor,

and

then

insert

another

diskette

that

runs on

DOS 3.3.

You

then

type:

CATALOG

RETURN

and

follow

the steps

given

in

this

section.

RUN

(Running

A

BASIC

Program)

You

can run

a type A

or type I

program

using

the

rttWcommand.

HELLO

has

a

file

type of A,

so

you can use

the

RUNcommand

to

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

make

it work. Type:

RUN

HELLO

RETURN

The

red

light

on the

disk

drive

comes

on,

and you should

hear

noises

from the

disk

drive.

On the display

screen, you see the

same

sequence of

messages

that

appeared when you booted up

the DOS

diskette.

HELLO

is

the name

of the program that

displays

those

messages on

the screen

during the

boot up

process.

What

you've

just

done

is to run

a

program

manually that runs

automatically

when

you

boot the

DOS

diskette. When you see

the

]

prompt character

at the

bottom of

the

screen, HELLO has

finished

running

and

you can

continue.

Or,

if you want to take a

break, you

can shut

off the

machine.

Don't

worry about

hurting

anything

by

trying

to use the RUN

command

for a program

file

that isn't

type

A

or I. DOS will

recognize

the mistake

and simply

display

the error

message:

FILE

TYPE

MISMATCH.

No harm

is

done.

Youjust have to

try again.

BRUN

(Running

A Binary Program)

U

se the BRUN command

to run a program with file type B.

You

use

it

exactly the

same way that you use RUN. Again, don't

worry about

hurting anything

by trying

to

BRUN a file that is

not

type

B.

You'll

just get

the

FILE TYPE

MISMATCH

error

message.

FRANKLIN

COMPUTER

To try

out the

BRUN

command,

type:

BRUN

FUD

RETURN

This

will

run

the

program

FUD,

a type B

program written

in

binary,

a

machine

or

assembly

language.

When

FUD runs,

it

displays

a

menu

of

possible

operations.

Since

FUD is

explained

later,

just hit

the

[j|

key

to

leave

the FUD

program and

return

to

DOS.

LOCK

(Protecting

A

File)

1

he

LOCK

command

will

"protect"

a file so

that

it can't

be

changed

in any

way.

Once

it's

locked,

you can't

delete

a file

from the

diskette,

change its

name,

change

any

data on

it, or

add more

data to it.

It's

protected

from

modification.

You

are

permitted

to read

a

locked

file,

though.

For

example,

you

can

run

a program

in a file

that's

locked

(as

you

did

with H ELLO)

or

copy

the file

to another

diskette,

but if

you try to

modify

a

locked

file,

you'll get

the

error

message

FILE

LOCKED.

To

lock

a file,

you type

the

command

LOCK

and the name of

the

file yo

u want

to protect

on

the

same

line

and then

hit

I

RETURN

I

.

From

that

point

on,

an

asterisk will

appear at the

beginning

of the line

in

which

the

name

appears

in

the

catalog

of the

diskette.

The

file

is locked.

All

of the

files on your

DOS

diskette

are locked,

so

it serves

no

purpose to

try

the

command

at this

point. It doesn't

hurt

anything

to lock

a file

that

is already

locked,

though. If

you

want,

you can

type:

FRANKLIN COMPUTER

LOCK

HELLO RETURN

You'll

hear

the

disk

drive

whir

and see its red light come on as

the

LOCK

command locks the HELLO

file

on

the diskette.

Nothing

actually changes, but no harm

is done

either. Just

look

at

it

as computer calisthenics.

UNLOCK (Removing The

Protection

From A

File)

If you

want to change a locked file, you have to

unlock it first.

Type:

UNLOCK

and the name of the file on the same line and

then

hit the

RETURN

I

key. Try it on HELLO.

Type:

UNLOCK HELLO RETURN

Now

type:

CATALOG RETURN

You'll see HELLO

has no

asterisk in front of it. It's

unlocked.

Lock it again by typing:

LOCK

HELLO

RETURN