ANTIC WRITER MANUAL - PART 1¢¢(This manual is divided into 2 Antic¢Writer files -- ANT1.TXT and¢ANT2.TXT. You can print out these¢files immediately by using the C¢option from the DOS menu.)¢¢INTRODUCTION¢¢Antic Writer is easy to use, whether¢you need to prepare simple letters or¢complex documents. It's simple¢enough for the novice, but powerful¢enough for the professional. (A¢complete list of the main commands¢will be found at the end of this¢file.)¢¢The program is written in assembly¢language and uses fewer bytes than¢most comparable word processors. The¢amount of memory left for your text¢is displayed on the bottom (prompt)¢line and is updated each time you¢switch into a different mode.¢¢SEARCH AND REPLACE¢¢How many times have you typewritten a¢letter and thought "I wish I could¢just change Mildred's name and send¢this to Aunt Mabel in Hoboken without¢retyping the whole thing?"¢¢Well, it's a cinch with Antic Writer.¢Just use the LOOK mode to find¢Mildred every time it occurs and let¢the computer change it to Mabel.¢Then simply use the PRINT mode to¢type a fresh letter to Aunt Mabel.¢¢What if you need to keep a copy of a¢letter you send to a company? Saving¢it to disk is one way of preserving¢history files of important¢correspondences.¢¢Antic Writer can also:¢¢a) Insert and delete characters or¢lines;¢b) Move sentences or paragraphs;¢c) Maintain text history files;¢d) Ease filing burdens by using disks¢instead of file cabinets;¢e) Reformat documents by simply¢changing one or two control¢characters.¢¢¢I/O ERRORS¢¢In the course of working with your¢computer system you may get error¢messages in the prompt line. If you¢were attempting to access your disk¢drive or printer it may be an I/O¢(Input/Output) error. I/O refers to¢the direction in which information is¢moving in respect to the computer.¢For example, a computer inputs¢information from a keyboard and¢outputs it to a printer.¢¢Errors detected during this¢information transfer are called I/O¢Errors.¢¢Here are the error codes:¢¢128-BREAK KEY ABORT¢129-IOCB ALREADY IN USE¢130-NON-EXISTENT DEVICE¢131-OPENED ONLY FOR WRITE¢132-INVALID COMMAND¢133-DEVICE OR FILE NOT OPEN¢134-INVALID IOCB NUMBER¢135-OPENED FOR READ ONLY¢136-END OF FILE¢137-TRUNCATED RECORD¢138-DEVICE TIMEOUT¢139-DEVICE NAK¢140-INPUT FRAMING ERROR¢141-CURSOR OUT OF RANGE¢142-DATA FRAME OVERRUN ERROR¢143-DATA FRAME CHECKSUM ERROR¢144-DEVICE DONE ERROR¢145-BAD SCREEN MODE¢146-FUNCTION NOT SUPPORTED¢147-SCREEN MODE WON'T FIT MEMORY¢¢Of the above errors, the most common¢is #138. Usually it's because you¢attempted to print while the printer¢was off or not plugged in. You'll¢see Error #144 if you try saving to a¢disk with its write-protect notch¢covered.¢¢160-DISK DRIVE # ERROR¢161-TOO MANY OPEN DISK FILES¢162-DISK FULL¢163-FATAL DISK I/O ERROR¢164-INTERNAL FILE # MISMATCH¢165-FILE NAME ERROR¢166-POINT DATA LENGTH ERROR¢167-FILE LOCKED¢168-COMMAND INVALID FOR DISK¢169-DIRECTORY FULL¢170-FILE NOT FOUND¢171-POINT INVALID¢¢After noting the error, push [ESCAPE]¢twice to return to EDIT TEXT.¢¢COLD START¢¢To load and run Antic Writer, first¢turn on disk drive 1. When the red¢BUSY lite turns off, put Antic Writer¢in your drive and turn on your¢computer.¢¢WARM START¢¢1. Turn your computer off with either¢the switch or by opening the¢cartridge loading door on the 800.¢2. Insert the Antic Writer disk into¢drive 1.¢3. Turn your computer on.¢¢The system will load and start by¢itself.¢¢NOW THAT YOU'RE TURNED ON¢¢The monitor will display a HELP menu.¢The prompt line will say HELP on the¢left. The five-digit number on the¢right is amount of memory available¢for your text. Any time you change¢modes, the prompt line will be¢updated.¢¢HELP MENU¢¢To get the HELP menu press [CONTROL]¢[H].¢¢WRITE A LETTER¢¢Press [ESCAPE] to remove the HELP¢menu. The PROMPT line now says EDIT¢TEXT. Type in your letter. If you¢make a mistake press [DELETE] to¢remove the previous key stroke.¢¢By now you've noticed that a white¢square appears on the TV screen where¢the next character goes. That's¢called a CURSOR and it helps you find¢your way around your text. Press¢[BREAK], and your cursor blinks.¢Press [BREAK] again to turn it off.¢¢Type in a sentence. The program only¢allows lines that fit the screen. If¢you reach the end of a line and¢continue entering text, the program¢automatically gives you the next¢line. (You may of course end your¢line anywhere by pressing [RETURN].)¢But for now let the computer do it:¢continue typing without pressing¢[RETURN]. When you've typed in some¢sentences, try your HELP mode again.¢¢PRINT IT¢¢Let's make a printout. Turn your¢printer on and set it online. Press¢[CONTROL] [T] (to go to the start of¢your text), then [CONTROL] [P] (for¢PRINT mode). On the prompt line you¢will see "PRINT FROM SCREEN TOP¢(Y/N)?" and the cursor will be¢blinking by the "?". A blinking¢cursor in the prompt line always¢indicates that the computer needs a¢reply from you. Press [Y] to print.¢¢The printed document will look¢exactly like your screen display.¢"Then why have an 80-column printer?"¢you might ask. For now, don't worry¢about it. Later we'll show you how¢to use FORMAT statements to make your¢printed document look right.¢¢SAVE IT¢¢Remove your master now and insert a¢FORMATTED disk. Press [CONTROL] [S].¢The prompt line will display "SAVE¢(Y/N)? D1:TEMP.WPC". Press [Y].¢(If you want to save the file with a¢different filename or disk drive,¢press [DELETE] till you clear out¢D1:TEMP.WPC and type in your¢changes.)¢¢The prompt line cursor will stop¢blinking, the BUSY light on the disk¢drive will turn on, the drive will¢spin. Then the prompt line will¢display EDIT TEXT, the BUSY light¢will go off and the disk drive will¢stop.¢¢1. You have saved your file to disk¢drive 1.¢2. Its name is "TEMP.WPC".¢3. You are back in EDIT mode.¢4. Your document is ready to GET.¢¢CURSOR CONTROL¢¢If you hold down [CONTROL] while¢pressing an [ARROW] key, the cursor¢moves in the direction of the arrow.¢¢When pressing the right arrow at the¢end of a line, the cursor will "wrap¢around" to the beginning of the next¢line. When pressing the left arrow¢at the beginning of a line, the¢cursor will wrap around to the end of¢the previous line.¢¢The [UP-ARROW] and [DOWN-ARROW] move¢the cursor line by line. If the¢cursor is at the top line in your¢letter when you press [UP-ARROW], the¢bottom line is removed and a new top¢line is inserted. If the cursor is¢at the last line of the page and you¢press [DOWN-ARROW], the top line¢disappears and a new bottom line¢appears.¢¢GET IT¢¢To retrieve (Get back) that letter,¢press [CONTROL] [G]. The screen¢momentarily goes blank and the prompt¢line says LOADING; the disk drive¢whirrs, the disk directory appears¢and the prompt line will read "CURSOR¢TO NAME-RETURN".¢¢Move the cursor to the line¢containing "TEMP.WPC". Press¢[RETURN] to highlight that line, and¢the prompt line will say "GET THIS¢FILE (Y/N)?". Press [Y].¢¢The screen goes blank and the¢computer prompts LOADING. The drive¢spins, your document is displayed,¢and the computer puts you back in¢EDIT mode and puts two copies of your¢document in computer memory.¢¢(The reason for TWO copies is that¢Antic Writer has an automatic MERGE¢when you retrieve a file from disk.¢MERGE simply means that you've¢combined two or more documents.)¢¢If you don't want to merge files,¢press [CONTROL] [X] (Clear all text)¢before dooing a [CONTROL] [G].¢¢The number on the right of your¢prompt line tells you how much free¢memory is left.¢¢SCROLLING¢¢Scrolling (or browsing) is where the¢computer rolls text through your¢screen as though the text were on a¢long strip of paper.¢¢Antic Writer lets you scroll by line¢or page. To scroll by line use¢[CONTROL] [UP-ARROW] and [CONTROL]¢[DOWN-ARROW].¢¢To scroll by page, use [CONTROL] [U]¢(Up) and [CONTROL] [D] (Down), which¢let you flip rapidly through the¢pages of your text.¢¢Try mixing page and cursor control.¢Note that if the cursor is NOT at the¢top line of the displayed page when¢you press [CONTROL] [U], then it will¢go there WITHOUT getting a new page.¢The same is true if you press¢[CONTROL] [D] if you're not at the¢bottom line of the screen. This is¢called homing. [CONTROL] [U] puts¢you at the first character of a page,¢and [CONTROL] [D] puts you at the¢last character.¢¢A line also has two home positions,¢beginning and end, and a¢"pseudo-home," the middle. To go to¢the beginning of a line, press either¢[CONTROL] [A] or [SHIFT] [TAB]; for¢the end of a line, press [CONTROL]¢[Z] or [CONTROL] [TAB]. For the¢middle, press [TAB].¢¢[CONTROL] [T] puts the cursor at the¢top of the text, and [CONTROL] [B]¢puts it at the bottom.¢¢Now put the your cursor anywhere and¢start typing in new sentences. The¢NEW material types right over the OLD¢material.¢¢EDITING TEXT¢¢Antic Writer automatically puts¢carriage returns at the end of each¢text line. When the line overflows,¢the computer looks for the first¢space to the left and moves that word¢to the following line. However, you¢MUST press [RETURN] to get empty¢lines.¢¢To clear all text, press [CONTROL]¢[X]. At the prompt, "CLEAR ALL TEXT¢(Y/N)?" press [Y].¢¢Remember that the display is 38¢characters per line and the printout¢can be more than 80 per printed line.¢The default setting for the printer¢line length is 64, but these details¢are covered later.¢¢SIMPLE EDITING¢¢After you've printed a document,¢notice that the sentences line up at¢the extreme right.¢¢To make corrections in the document,¢place the cursor on the mistake and¢type over it.¢¢To insert characters, put the cursor¢where you want to insert and press¢[CONTROL] [INSERT], which puts in a¢space each time you press it. Now¢just type in whatever you want. Or¢you can press [CONTROL] [I] (Insert¢text) and simply type in what you¢want to add.¢¢If you don't want the computer¢rearranging your text as you type,¢you press [CONTROL] [J] (Job control)¢to turn it off. You will then have¢to press [RETURN] to end your lines.¢¢PARAGRAPHS¢¢To combine paragraphs, remove the¢empty lines between them by placing¢the cursor on an empty line and¢pressing [DELETE].¢¢NOT TO WORRY¢¢If the screen display looks uneven,¢press [CONTROL] [O] (Organize text).¢When the prompt line says ORGANIZE¢TEXT (Y/N)? press [Y].¢¢EDIT TEXT WITH "PARSE OFF"¢¢To update a file, position the cursor¢on an empty line. If the prompt¢doesn't say EDIT TEXT, press¢[ESCAPE]. Press [RETURN] to give¢yourself an empty line and cursor up¢to it. This prevents the computer¢from reparsing through the following¢line if you are NOT editing with¢"PARSE OFF." This is a good habit to¢get into: PARSING WILL NOT CROSS AN¢EMPTY LINE WHEN IN EDIT TEXT OR¢INSERT MODE.¢¢Press [CONTROL] [J]. Your prompt¢should read "EDIT TEXT PARSE OFF".¢This mode is important only for¢preparing charts that will print¢exactly as they appear onscreen.¢¢To split a single paragraph into two,¢place the cursor where you want to¢split it, and press [RETURN] twice.¢Press [DELETE] to get rid of the¢space at the beginning of the second¢paragraph.¢¢FORMATTING¢¢To indent the beginning of your¢paragraphs simply put in a couple of¢spaces by putting the cursor there¢and pressing [CONTROL] [INSERT]. If¢you plan to indent paragraphs and¢don't want empty lines between them,¢just take one of each pair of blank¢lines out.¢¢To format the file (not your disk),¢press the [ATARI] key once. (The¢[ATARI] key is at the lower right¢corner of your keyboard and gives you¢inverse video.) Then press [SHIFT]¢[F]. An uppercase F is displayed in¢inverse video. That character is now¢flagged in your computer's memory and¢every time it is encountered the¢computer will know that it requires¢special handling.¢¢Following the [ATARI] [F] will be¢normal upper case letters and¢numbers. (For instance, "A0" tells¢the computer to print things exactly¢as they appear on the screen, and M¢followed by a number simply sets the¢left margin.)¢¢Preceding each FORMAT is [ATARI] [D],¢which simply sets FORMAT back to its¢normal values. FORMAT A0 does NOT¢allow organizing any text --¢[CONTROL] [O] -- that follows it. It¢also turns off right justification of¢a printed document. In other words,¢any time you need a "what you see is¢what you get" format, FORMAT A0 is¢useful.¢demonstartion purposes.¢¢One very important thing to remember¢and to understand is that you can¢change FORMATs anywhere and as often¢as you wish in your document. The¢printed document will adjust itself¢as it is printed.¢¢ADVANCED EDITING¢¢[CONTROL] [A]: puts the cursor on the¢first character of the line you are¢on. This mode exits to EDIT TEXT¢mode.¢¢[CONTROL] [B]: puts the cursor at the¢end of your text. This mode exits to¢EDIT TEXT mode.¢¢[CONTROL] [C]: This is used with¢[CONTROL] [M] (Move text). This¢takes the information in the copy¢buffer and inserts it in front of the¢cursor. The data is put into the¢COPY buffer by MOVE TEXT mode. The¢copy buffer has no fixed length,¢using free memory. Text put into the¢copy buffer remains there until¢erased with a [CONTROL] [E] (Erase¢copy).¢¢Memory used by the copy buffer is not¢available for entering text, but it's¢possible to move information into it,¢and then enter enough text so that¢there won't be enough room to copy it¢back. Erasing the copy buffer¢recaptures that memory. It's useful¢to save text to the copy buffer and¢then transfer it to a different file¢with the following sequence: move¢text, clear all text, get file, copy¢text, save file.¢¢[CONTROL] [D]: If the cursor is at¢the bottom screen line, the next page¢down will have show that line as the¢top of the next displayed screen.¢However, if the cursor is at any line¢OTHER than the bottom line of the¢displayed page, it will be moved to¢the end of the displayed page.¢¢[CONTROL] [E]: removes text in the¢copy buffer and restores that memory¢for entering text.¢¢[CONTROL] [I] lets you insert text to¢the left of the cursor as you type.¢If the line overflows, the rightmost¢word moves to the next line and the¢rest of the paragraph is reparsed.¢If you are preparing a document that¢you do NOT want Antic Writer to parse¢as you type, press [CONTROL] [J] to¢turn automatic parsing OFF.¢¢[CONTROL] [J] toggles automatic¢parsing on and off when in EDIT TEXT¢or INSERT MODE. It's useful to keep¢the system from rearranging your text¢if you accidently type in a character¢that causes a line to overflow. When¢Job control is active, the prompt¢line in INSERT or EDIT will say¢"PARSE OFF". When parsing is off,¢displayed lines are ended by pressing¢the [RETURN] key with the cursor¢where you want the line to stop.¢¢[CONTROL] [L] (Look string): lets you¢find a particular word or group of¢words words wherever they occur in¢your text and, if you choose, change¢that string to something else. The¢search begins at the cursor of the¢displayed page and continues to the¢end of your document.¢¢To search the entire document, press¢[CONTROL] [T] (Top text) before¢[CONTROL] [L]. The LOOK and CHANGE¢strings don't have to be the same¢length. If during CHANGE, the line¢overflows, any following text in the¢paragraph will be reparsed to make¢the change fit. If [CONTROL] [J] is¢set to "no parse" any portion of the¢line that overflows will be given its¢own line.¢¢[CONTROL] [M]: Find a block of data¢to move. Press [CONTROL] [M]. The¢prompt line will read "CURSOR TO¢BEGINNING-RETURN". Put the cursor at¢the beginning of the block and press¢[RETURN]. The prompt will now say¢"CURSOR TO END-RETURN". Using the¢[CONTROL] [ARROW] keys marks your¢text by highlighting it in inverse¢video. If you mark more than you¢intend simply back up the cursor.¢¢When the block is marked properly¢press the [RETURN] key. Press [Y] at¢the "MOVE TEXT (Y/N)?" prompt. The¢marked block is now removed from your¢text and saved in computer memory.¢¢To get it back press [CONTROL] [C].¢The computer will prompt "CURSOR TO¢INSERTION-RETURN". Position your¢cursor where you want your data¢inserted and press [RETURN]. The¢data you originally "moved" is still¢in memory. You can copy it into your¢text as often as you like.¢¢If you mark and move another block of¢text it will be merged with any¢previous moves.¢¢[CONTROL] [O]: If the right screen¢margin becomes ragged, this mode¢reparses your entire document. It¢will not reparse blocks of text¢protected by a FORMAT A0.¢¢[CONTROL] [R]: works just like MOVE¢mode except that it doesn't move¢anything into the copy buffer --¢deletes the marked text from memory¢on command.¢¢[CONTROL] [T]: displays the first¢page of your document and puts the¢cursor at the first character. It¢exits to EDIT TEXT.¢¢[CONTROL] [U]: displays the previous¢page of your document if the cursor¢is at the top screen line. If it¢isn't, the cursor will home to the¢top left character of the displayed¢page.¢¢[CONTROL] [V] (Video color): simply¢changes the display screen color.¢Pressing [0] gives black printing on¢a white background. Pressing¢[DELETE] [BACK SPACE] returns you to¢the default setting, and any other¢key simply strips the color¢information from the key itself to be¢used as the background. To exit this¢mode, press [ESCAPE].¢¢[CONTROL] [W]: removes all data from¢the beginning of the document to the¢point of the cursor.¢¢[CONTROL] [X]: erases the entire¢document, but NOT the copy buffer.¢¢[CONTROL] [Y]: removes all data from¢the cursor to the end of the¢document.¢¢[CONTROL] [Z]: puts the cursor at the¢end the current displayed line. This¢mode exits to EDIT TEXT mode.¢¢[CONTROL] [CAPS]: lets you enter¢graphic character strings directly¢into your text. However, most¢printers treat graphics characters as¢control codes, so except for the most¢sophisticated user, this is of little¢interest. To exit press the [CAPS]¢key.¢¢NOTE: It's very easy to get into this¢mode ACCIDENTLY by pressing [CONTROL]¢[CAPS] instead of [SHIFT] [CAPS]. If¢you see graphics characters, press¢[CAPS] by itself to return to normal¢text entry.¢¢There are three cursor positions¢commanded by the edit utility:¢¢1. [SHIFT] [TAB]: to the start of the¢displayed line.¢2. [TAB]: to the middle of the¢displayed line.¢3. [CONTROL] [TAB]: to the end of the¢displayed line.¢¢[CONTROL] [INSERT]: inserts a space¢to the left of the cursor. All¢characters on that line (including¢the cursor) are shifted right.¢Characters can't shift off the line.¢¢[CONTROL] [DELETE]: removes the¢character under the cursor. It will¢not backspace or remove empty lines.¢¢[SHIFT] [INSERT] moves the entire¢line containing the cursor down one¢line, leaving an empty line.¢¢[SHIFT] [DELETE]: removes the entire¢line containing the cursor, moving¢all following lines up, and can also¢remove blank lines.¢
