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OMNI.TXT
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1985-11-02
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If this is your first time here, To see the rest of the manual,
read this entire screen before use the cursor movement keys at
proceding. the right of the keyboard,
numbered 1 to 9. The up or down
keys, 8 or 2, will get you
OmniEdit allows: through the manual. You may try
the others to see what they do,
- reading and changing DOS files or wait until you read about
them later. Push the keys
- simple calculations marked Caps Lock, Num Lock and
Scroll Lock until the letters C,
- elementary word processing N and S disappear from the
bottom screen line. If you get
- talking to other computers stuck, push Esc twice to resume.
through a telephone line.
As you read about each function,
- easy rearrangement of text by try it. Your changes are to a
captures. temporary copy of the manual,
and you can start over by
repeating what you just did to
get here.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. i
OmniEdit Contents
The preceding paragraphs appear first on the screen for new users.
Contents
Introductory Screen . . . . . . . i
Contents . . . . . . . . . 1
Editing . . . . . . . . . 2
Panic Button
Cursor Movement
Editing functions
Miscellaneous
Word processing
Page numbering
Accidental deletion
Function menu . . . . . . . . 3
Communication . . . . . . . . 4
Loading the UART
Dialing the Telephone
Transmitting text
Uploading and Downloading Files
Starting OmniEdit . . . . . . . . 5
Status line . . . . . . . . . 6
Command Summary . . . . . . . . 7
Operating Considerations . . . . . . 8
Glossary . . . . . . . . . 9
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 1
OmniEdit Editing
OmniEdit lets you examine and change DOS text files.
======================== Panic Button =========================
The Esc key will get from anywhere to the function menu, or to the editing
screen, and then shuttle between the two. Use this key to escape when you
get trapped.
======================= Cursor Movement =======================
During editing you see 23 lines of text with a white rectangular cursor to
show where you are working. You may move the cursor around in the text
using keys for that purpose on the keyboard. With practice, you can get to
any place in even the largest text in a few seconds.
key function
left (4)
right (6) Move the cursor left or right. It may move beyond the right
end of a line. When it moves off the end of the screen, the
whole screen scrolls to make room for it.
up (8)
down (2) Move the cursor up or down one line. When the r flag is on,
set by the End key, these keys keep the cursor at the end of
each line.
Home (7)
End (1) Move the cursor to the beginning or end of the line, or when
already there, to the beginning or end of the screen, or when
already there, to the beginning or end of the neighboring
screen. End turns on the r flag on the bottom screen line,
alerting you that the meaning of the up and down keys has
changed. Most other cursor keys turn r off.
PgUp (9)
PgDn (3) Scroll the screen up or down, provided the cursor does not
leave the screen.
Ctrl-Home
Ctrl-End Move the cursor to the beginning or end of the section.
Tab
Shift-Tab Move the cursor right or left to the next tab stop. Tab is
the key just above Ctrl.
Ctrl-F1 Set a literal search word.
Ctrl-F2 Set an English search word.
Ctrl-F4 Move the word or number at the cursor to the search word.
F3 Advance the cursor to the next occurrence of the search word.
For a literal word, marked between triangles on the screen,
F3 looks for an exact match. For an English word, shown
between dots, F3 stops when finding the required word, in
upper or lower case, without any letters or digits for
neighbors.
For example, to find the next occurrence of the word cursor,
push Ctrl-F2, type in cursor, then push the enter key and F3.
===================== Editing functions =====================
OmniEdit responds to the typewriter keys in the middle of your keyboard by
putting each typed character into the text. These keys let you make other
changes to your text:
Ins Reverse overstrike mode, as shown by an o flag at the bottom
of the screen. In overstrike mode keyed in characters
replace text, instead of lengthening the line. Overstrike
mode goes off when you leave the line you are editing.
Del Remove the character at the cursor position, shortening the
line.
Enter Split a line into two, the first composed of the part ahead
of the cursor, the second composed of the rest. When writing
new text, Enter has the customary effect of going on to the
next line.
backspace Remove the character to the left of the cursor, shortening
the line. When the cursor is at the beginning of a line,
backspace joins it to the end of the one above, reversing the
Enter key. This is the key labeled with the left arrow, just
above the Enter key.
Ctrl-F6 Restore the cursor line to its state before the current
changes. The e flag on the bottom screen line alerts you
when you may use this key.
You may capture an area or a set of lines (but not both at the same time)
with the function keys. A capture shows on the screen in reverse and moves
with the cursor until you deposit or discard it. To avoid confusion with
ordinary editing, the smallest area capture is two characters. When you
have a capture, you can not type in or delete any text.
Ctrl-PgUp
Ctrl-PgDn Capture the line with the cursor, or the one above or below
the current captured block. After you have used the
Ctrl-left or Ctrl-right to capture a part of a line, these
keys expand the captured area into a rectangle.
Ctrl-left
Ctrl-right Capture the character at the cursor and the one to its left
or right.
Ctrl-F9 Capture an entire section, an area between section marks.
Del or + Deposit the capture in the text at its current position,
reverting to normal editing.
- Deposit the capture in the text at its current position, but
keep it captured as well. This allows you to copy text
easily.
Ctrl-F5 Discard the captured area or lines.
F2 This brings up the calculator. Use the Help calculator menu
function to learn the keys recognized. The calculator uses
Polish organization. Using the rectangular captures, you
should be able to get column totals of figures like these in
a few seconds. Just capture a whole column, push F2, hold
down + until all numbers are added, push backspace and Esc.
income expenses profit
1st quarter 41223 25771 15452
3rd quarter 44256 29104 15152
4th quarter 46218 31442 14776
2nd quarter 47128 28401 18727
full year
You can enter any character into your text by holding down the Alt key,
typing its value on the numeric pad and releasing Alt. Bear in mind,
though, that if you save your text and read it again later, characters with
values 8, 10, 12, 13 and 26 will be interpreted as controls.
======================= Word processing =======================
With these keys you can tidy your paragraphs, shift words between lines, or
line up the right margins. OmniEdit finds a paragraph the same way you do,
without using any hidden markers. To give you control, OmniEdit marks a
paragraph before tidying it. If you do not like the way OmniEdit has read
the paragraph you may change your mind before tidying.
F7 Mark a paragraph. If you like the way OmniEdit treats the
paragraph, use the F9 or F10 key to tidy it, otherwise move
the cursor out of the paragraph to get rid of the marking.
The paragraph starts with the first character to the right of
the cursor. In this paragraph, for example, the cursor
should be between F7 and Mark when you use F7. All of the
lines after the first have to start in the same column to be
marked. A ruler at the bottom of the screen shows the left
and right margins and first line indentation to be used when
the paragraph is tidied. The margins come from the first two
lines only, so if you don't like what you see, change the
first two lines and use F7 again, or use F7 on a paragraph
you like, then come back and do F8.
F8 Mark a paragraph, but keep the margins from the last F7. The
margins show on the ruler at the bottom of the screen. When
OmniEdit can not recognize a paragraph or could not tidy it,
F8 does nothing.
F9 Tidy a marked paragraph by putting as many words as possible
on each line.
F10 Tidy a marked paragraph and put in enough spaces to align the
right margin.
F5 Put a section mark after the cursor line.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 2
OmniEdit Function Menu
A function menu appears on the screen when you push the Esc key while
editing, or when there is no text. Another sub-menu appears in a corner
when you push F1 or the PrtSc key (without shift) while editing. To use
one of the functions, move the cursor to the one you want with the up and
down cursor keys, over the 2 and 8 keys, then push the Enter key. For the
functions with options, move the cursor into the option with the four
cursor control keys, 8, 4, 6 and 2 on the numeric pad, then set their
values with the + and - keys. For the options requiring you to key in
text, such as file names or page context, the typewriter keys append to it,
and backspace erases the last character. Nothing will take effect until
you push Enter. The functions are:
Exit to DOS End OmniEdit.
Discard text This throws away the text. When you have made changes,
OmniEdit asks for confirmation, to avoid discarding your
work by mistake.
Save text Put the text back in the edit file. Pushing + with the
cursor at the left allows you to save the file and discard
it or exit to DOS at the same time. When you change the
file name you must end it with enter, or OmniEdit will
ignore it. When the file name has the extension .tab,
OmniEdit compresses the file by using tab characters in the
manner accepted by DOS.
Enter new text You may type in a file name here, which becomes the edit
file name. Pushing Enter allows you to start a file from
scratch.
Set file name When you already have a text file, this lets you change its
name. The name is ignored unless you push enter.
Directory This shows a list of files on a disk. At the directory
display, you may select a file you want with the four
cursor movement keys, and the function with + or -. The
Enter key carries out the function. The read and edit
functions both read the contents of the file into your
text, but only edit retains the name of the file in the
lower right corner of the screen, so you can save it later.
Using read when you already have text combines the new file
with the old just after the cursor line. OmniEdit can read
squeezed files, and you will see the unsqueezed form on the
screen.
The line at the top gives the current directory. You can
change it by pointing the cursor at one of the
sub-directory names, the ones indented one character, and
pushing enter.
Load UART Refer to the communications section for this function.
Print text Pushing Enter here prints the text. You can specify some
options on this menu line and the one below. Port is the
DOS name of the printer to use. Pitch and weight determine
the print mode. OmniEdit does not allow variations of
print mode within a document, such as printing selected
words in boldface. It can print only to the IBM, Epson or
Panasonic printers. If you have some other kind of
printer, we suggest that you write your text to a file, and
print it with a utility for that printer.
Lines per page is the number of lines actually used by
OmniEdit, paper length is the length of the paper. The
difference between these two numbers is the amount of blank
paper left over the page fold.
Help The option allows you to select a topic, and the Enter key
shows you a small amount of text on the topic. The light
bulb lets you read your notes in the dark. (How many
programmers does it take to change a light bulb?)
Novice help Display this manual, provided the file omni.txt is in the
current directory.
Profile A profile saves the options for the screen, the printer and
communications. In a later run of OmniEdit, you can
retrieve them all at once. To save them, set the function
on the Profile line to save and push enter. To retrieve
them later use the load function. The profile is saved in
omni.prf, and is loaded whenever OmniEdit starts.
screen You can change the colors used for the menu, the edit file
text, the status line, help screens and the column headings
including marked paragraphs. The first option lets you
tell OmniEdit what kind of screen you have. Set this to
steady for the best performance, if you can. On the IBM
color graphics adapter, you will see snow on the screen.
Setting the blink option turns the screen off during the
refresh, removing the snow at the expense of blinking the
screen. The color graphics adapter can not accomodate data
at the rate written by OmniEdit. The clock option lets you
put a time of day clock on the bottom screen line. The
clock stops when you push Ctrl, Alt, or either Shift key,
to avoid upsetting pop-up software.
The rest of the functions appear only on the sub-menu.
Transmit Refer to the communication section.
Search With this function you can set the search word to a literal
or English value. Refer to the F3 key for the use of these
words. When you select global change OmniEdit requests a
replacement word, then changes all occurrences of the
search word to the replacement. In a single operation you
can change all instances of "Constantinople" to "Istanbul".
When the replacement word is short, OmniEdit asks for
confirmation before changing the text. The search word and
replacement word may contain characters other than letters,
such as spaces, so this function may do more than simple
word replacement. The changes occur throughout a section.
To change a limited region, put section marks around it
first.
Paginate Paginate puts page markers in a section to prepare the file
for printing. Each page gets a heading, as much text as
will fit, and a footing. Any old page markers, with their
neighboring headings and footings, are removed first. The
cursor must start between section marks (the F5 key puts
them in). OmniEdit treats the lines from the first section
mark to the next null line (one with no characters, not
even spaces) as the heading, and treats the lines from the
last null line to the ending section mark as the footing.
Page size is the number of lines to use on a page
(excluding the blank lines over the page fold)
The context tells OmniEdit to put consecutive page numbers
in the headings or footings. You give some words or
characters just before or after a page number, and OmniEdit
looks for that pattern. Within the pattern, OmniEdit puts
the correct page number on every page. OmniEdit gets the
page number by counting from the beginning of the file, so
it is best to paginate your sections from first to last.
The context should have just one number in it. If one side
of the context has a space, the page number will expand
toward that side when it gets larger. The number in the
context, normally 1, is assigned to the first page in the
text. If OmniEdit does not like the context you type in,
it will disappear when you move the cursor to another line.
Here are some examples of how the page context works, with
<> marking the side with blank spaces:
context bcd 001 efg bcd 01 efg <> <> -5-
old heading abcd 17 efgh abcd 17 efg h a-17-b
OmniEdit puts in:
page 1 abcd 1 efgh abcd 1 efg h a -5-b
page 10 abcd 10 efgh abcd 10 efg h a-14-b
page 100 abcd 100 efgh abcd 100 efgh a104-b
page 1000 abcd 000 efgh abcd 1000 efh a004-b
To print this manual, push F1 to get to the sub-menu, move
the cursor to Paginate, then right to context. Type the
characters page 1, leaving a space to the left of the word
page, seven typed in characters in all. Get the cursor
into the contents section and push F1 again, move the
cursor to paginate and push enter. Repeat F1 and Paginate
until the cursor reaches the end of the text. Push Esc to
get the main menu, move the cursor to Print and push Enter.
Recapture This enables you to undo your mistakes, within limits.
Recapture deletion recovers, in captured form, the last
lines you deleted with the Ctrl-F5 key. Recapture edited
line creates a one line capture containing the previous
form of the last line changed by OmniEdit.
Capture This option appears when you enter the sub-menu with
captured lines. You may edit the capture to:
- Sort the captured lines in ascending or descending order.
The sort key begins at the column where the cursor was
before making the capture.
- Center lines, or align them at a uniform left or right
margin, or truncate them by removing trailing spaces.
The margin is the column where the cursor was before
making the capture.
- Change the letters in the capture to upper case, lower
case, or the opposite case.
Section Capture captures the entire section, the same as Ctrl-F9.
Concondance creates a list showing how many times each word
in the current section is used. The concordance goes in to
the text at the end of the section.
Capture This appears when you have captured lines. The two options
select the function to apply to the captured region.
Capture.sort This function arranges the captured lines in ascending or
descending order. For an area capture, the sorting key is
the entire line, for captured lines, the sorting key begins
at the column where the cursor was when the capture was
started.
Capture.align Align center centers each line, align left or right adds or
removes enough spaces to line up the left or right edge of
each captured line, align truncate removes trailing spaces
from the capture. For an area capture, the margins are the
left and right edges of the capture. For captured lines,
the margin of align left and align right is the column
where the cursor was when the capture started, the margins
of align center are those of the last paragraph marked with
F7.
Capture.case change
This changes all letters in the capture to upper case, to
lower case, or to the opposite case. Other characters are
unchanged.
Xmodem This appears only when communication is in progress. To
use it, ask the computer at the other end of the line to
start an Xmodem transfer. When it tells you to start, get
to this menu function, key in the file name and push enter.
You will return to the editing screen, where you may use
OmniEdit while the Xmodem transfer takes place in the
background. An x flag at the bottom of the screen tells
you that Xmodem is running, and the block and retry
counters replace the line and column numbers. When the x
disappears, you may resume with the Transmit menu function.
Directory During communication, this option appears on the sub-menu.
From the directory, you can switch sub-directories, or use
the send function on a file, causing it to be uploaded
using the background Xmodem protocol.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 3
OmniEdit Communication
OmniEdit lets you transmit files to another computer through the telephone
system. To use this facility, your computer must have a modem inside, or
an external modem connected to a serial port.
==================== Loading the UART ====================
You must tell your computer to use the same protocol used by the computer
at the other end of the line. This is done in part by loading registers in
an integrated circuit chip called a UART, which is part of the serial port.
To get started, you have to set the menu options on the Load UART line then
push enter to get them into the UART itself. If you forget to push enter,
the options will disappear when you move the cursor to another line. This
area is complicated, because there are a lot of different ways of using a
communication line. The options are:
operating mode Off means you are not using communications, modem means you
have a modem on the line, and loop means you want to run
the UART in its own loop mode, so anything you send is
received back immediately. You won't see any other options
until you set this to modem or loop. Loop is slow because
it will does not use interrupts.
port This determines which of the two possible serial ports you
want to use.
baud This is the number of bits per second to send on the line.
It must match the capacity of your modem.
frame size The number of data bits per character.
parity The possiblilites here are:
none parity bit omitted
even parity bit sent, number of one bits sent is even
odd parity bit sent, number of one bits sent is odd
one parity bit set to one
zero parity bit set to zero
stop bits One or two, determines the number of one bits following the
data and parity.
The most common protocol in use by microcomputers is 1200 baud, 8 data
bits, no parity and one stop bit, and that is what OmniEdit starts with.
After you have loaded the UART successfully, you may use the profile save
function, so that the next time you run OmniEdit, it knows what you want.
=================== Dialing the Telephone ===================
Next you must make the phone connection. This can be done by dialing the
phone by hand before attaching it to the computer, but with a modem having
dial capability, it is simpler to have the modem dial the phone for you.
To keep OmniEdit as flexible as possible, no modem commands are built in,
but it is easy to send commands to a smart modem. To talk to the modem,
use the Transmit function of the sub-menu (the one you bring up with F1).
If you don't see Transmit there, you forgot to load the UART. A letter t
on the lower screen line tells you that your keystrokes will now go to the
modem. Characters returning from the modem go into your text, and appear
on the screen. To get the modem to dial the phone, look up the command in
your modem manual and type it in. For example, to get the Hayes Smartmodem
to call dial-a-joke from a pulse dial phone (not touch-tone), enter the
command:
ATDP 1(212)976-3838
As soon as the computer finishes dialing, pick up your telephone to hear
today's joke.
When calling another computer, the modem will detect a carrier from the
other computer and switch to sending your characters to the other computer,
instead of treating them a modem command.
Since it is tedious to key in modem commands, you may keep a file of
commands. Capture lines with your modem and log on commands before you use
transmit. The first capture line is sent immediately to the modem (or
other computer) and other lines are sent one at a time when you push the
Del key. You may push other keys while your capture is waiting to be sent,
and they will be transmitted. All replies from the modem go into your
text, and appear on the screen. It is possible to store the modem commands
and the entire log on sequence for a bulletin board in a file. Capture
this block and transmit it, and you can log on by pushing only the Del key
a few times.
For the Hayes Smartmodem, here are the most useful commands. Refer to the
Hayes manual for the complete set.
AT This should be the first thing transmitted on a command line, to
tell the modem to take it as a command. It must be in upper case.
D Dial the phone. Follow it with a P or T (for pulse or touch-tone
dialing), and the phone number, in which the punctuation characters
( ) - space are ignored. A comma causes a two second pause.
==================== Transmitting text =======================
The Transmit function on the sub-menu lets you start talking to the modem.
If you don't see it when you expect to, you forgot to load the UART, or you
are alreading transmitting. The F9 key is a shortcut to start
transmission.
When transmitting, the typewriter keys you push are sent to the modem for
use as its commands when it in its command state, or for transmission
through the phone line. Any characters received from the modem will be
entered into the text at the cursor, except for:
null 0 ignored
bell 7 audible signal
backspace 8 erase last character
tab 9 skip to next tab
line feed 10 ignored
return 13 split line
end file 26 ignored
When you want to leave communications, use one of the cursor control keys
or Esc. (PgUp and PgDn do not interrupt communications). The F9 key has
the same effect as this menu option.
The resend option causes OmniEdit to start the transmission with the same
captured lines used before. This may be helpful when trying to repeatedly
dial a busy phone.
In systems in which your telephone mouthpiece is active during data
communication, be sure to keep it far away from your keyboard and speaker.
============= Uploading and Downloading Files ================
OmniEdit can transmit and receive files using the Xmodem protocol. Sending
files to another computer is called uploading when you send a file to a
central computer, and downloading when you receive a file from a central
computer. To transmit files, establish communication with the other
computer at the other end using the procedure above. Get the other
computer ready to accept Xmodem commands in either direction, using the
facilities of the system you are connected to. Then get to the sub-menu
with F1 and use the Xmodem menu function to upload or download, or use the
Directory function, for uploading (send) only. Once you push enter to
start the transmission, you will return to the editing screen, where you
may use OmniEdit as an editor. The transmission takes place in the
background, and you see only an x at the bottom of the screen to tell you
that the transmission is in progress. The fields normally giving the line
and column number are replaced by the Xmodem block and retry counters.
When the x flag goes away, the transmission is complete.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 4
OmniEdit Starting OmniEdit
The DOS command omni, or omni filespec, available when you have the file
omni.com on your disk, invokes OmniEdit. Here filespec is defined in the
DOS Commands chapter of the IBM manual for DOS. When you do not have a
filespec on the omni command, OmniEdit will resume editing the file you
were working on the last time you left OmniEdit. When you do not want to
edit that file, use the command omni *.
The files edited are DOS text files with lines of up to 255 characters.
OmniEdit requires a computer with a disk drive, 192k bytes of memory and
DOS. The displays look best with the IBM monochrome adapter or the
enhanced graphics adapter.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 5
OmniEdit Status line
The status line at the bottom of the OmniEdit screen shows, left to right:
- Search word, or the last few characters transmitted.
- the date and time, when the clock menu option is on.
- The cursor line and column numbers. During Xmodem transfer, this shows
the line number and retry count in the Xmodem file.
- The name OmniEdit.
- A small dot that appears when OmniEdit is waiting for you.
- Flags:
e when you have made changes that may be reversed with Ctrl-F6.
o when you are in overstrike mode.
r when the cursor up and down keys hug the right end of the line.
t when you are transmitting through the UART.
u when an exact copy of the text is in a DOS file.
x when an Xmodem transfer is in progress.
C Caps Lock.
F (flashing) when a function has been refused because memory is full.
N Num Lock.
S Scroll Lock.
- The name of the file you are editing, or an asterisk (*) when there is
none.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 6
OmniEdit Command summary
Here are the keystrokes to do some common functions:
tab tab, Shift-tab.
beginning of line Home.
beginning of screen push Home a second time.
previous screen push Home a third time.
beginning of section Ctrl-Home.
beginning of document hold down Ctrl-Home.
end of line End.
end of screen push End a second time.
end of next screen push End a third time.
end of section Ctrl-End.
end of document hold down Ctrl-End.
break a line into two Enter.
join two lines into one with cursor at left margin, backspace.
overwrite text push Ins, then type in text.
delete characters backspace or Del.
get to menu Esc, or F1 for sub-menu.
search for word F3.
set search word Ctrl-F1 or Ctrl-F2, then key in,
or put cursor on word or number, then Ctrl-F4.
global change set search with Ctrl-F1 or Ctrl-F2 or Ctrl-F4,
then use sub-menu, F1.
limit scope of change put section marks around change area with F5.
move lines repeat Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn, move cursor, +
duplicate lines same as above, but use - before +
delete line Ctrl-PgUp Ctrl-F5.
delete several lines repeat Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn, then Ctrl-F5.
delete large section push F5 at start and end, then Ctrl-F9 Ctrl-F5.
duplicate text Ctrl-PgUp or CtrlPgDn, then - and +
delete area repeat Ctrl-left or Ctrl-right,
then Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn, then Ctrl-F5.
move area repeat Ctrl-left or Ctrl-right,
then Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn,
then move cursor and +
duplicate area same as above, but push - before +
calculate F2.
add column capture with Ctrl-right or Ctrl-Left,
then Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn, then F2 and +
undo edit to line Ctrl-F6.
recover deleted text use sub-menu, F1.
sort lines position cursor at key column,
Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDn to capture lines,
F1, move cursor to sort, Enter, Del.
combine files read one file, put the cursor where you want
the other, at menu use directory to read
the second file.
see time of day screen menu function.
remove snow on monitor screen menu function.
change screen colors screen menu function.
remember options Profile on main menu.
help Help menu functions, or Novice help.
read after sundown Help light bulb.
layout pages Put section markers at the beginning and end of
the file with F5. Put heading lines after the
first section mark followed by a null line (one
with no characters, not even spaces) and put
footing lines just before the last section mark
preceded by a null line. At the sub-menu, use
paginate.
number pages Follow instructions above, but put a page number
in the heading or footing with some neighboring
characters. At Paginate in the sub-menu, type in
the first page number with the same neighboring
characters as the context. For this manual, for
example, the context is " page 1", with a space
before the p. Then use paginate once for each
section.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 7
OmniEdit Operating considerations
The OmniEdit package contains the executable file omni.com and the manual,
omni.txt.
For the benefit of users who may want to change the operating environment,
here is a list of resources used by OmniEdit. The entire omni.com file,
including the program segment prefix, remains unchanged in memory.
OmniEdit modifies the cells for interrupt 3, 36, 134 to 209, and during
communication, 11 or 12. To avoid conflict with Sidekick, the service code
for interrupts 11 and 12 does not allow interrupts. The intra-application
area of memory, locations 1264 to 1279, stores the edit file name. The
area from the end of the loaded com file to the end of memory, found in the
second word of the program segment prefix, is work space. The lower part
is used first, so that the resident part of command.com is left undisturbed
as long as possible.
OmniEdit calls on DOS or BIOS services for the following purposes:
int.ah purpose
16 change cursor and sound speaker.
17 equipment, to know which screen adapter to use.
18 keyboard input.
32 termination.
33 DOS function call.
33.2 abort message.
33.14 highest drive number.
33.(17,18,26) for reading directories.
33.25 current drive.
33.37 set interrupt vectors 10, 11, 27 and 36.
33.(42,44) date and time for clock display, cursor speed and xmodem
protocol timeout.
33.59 change directory.
33.(60-64) file input and output, including printer.
33.71 display of directory path.
The screen text is written directly to the screen buffer, creating snow
when using the IBM color graphics adapter. The UART is loaded directly
through the port addresses found in the BIOS table at location 640. The
calculator patches the Num Lock indicator at location 1047. No interrupts
or service calls other than the ones alluded to in these paragraphs are
used.
Please send comments, suggestions, or imprecations to the author, Robert T
McQuaid, Quaid Software Limited, 45 Charles Street East Third Floor,
Toronto Ontario M4Y 1S2.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 8
OmniEdit Glossary
Here is a list of technical terms used in this manual. We exclude words
used in a sense in common use by laymen, terms defined where they appear,
the names of keys on the IBM personal computer keyboard, and terms used in
the operating considerations section.
backspace The key on the IBM Personal Computer keyboard labeled with the
left arrow, just above the Enter key. This is not the key in
the numeric pad marked with the 4.
capture A part of the editing text that can move with the cursor.
communication
A process in which a computer sends and receives information
from another device over a telephone line.
current directory
This is where DOS looks for files when you do not specify a
directory.
cursor A mark identifying a place on the screen where action may occur.
default drive
The drive DOS uses for files, when you don't specify one.
DOS Disk Operating System, a product acquired by most owners of the
IBM Personal Computer, that provides many services needed to
make practical use of the computer.
edit Making changes to a file.
file A place for permanent storage of information. Things stay in a
file until you do something to change its contents.
IBM International Business Machines, a company that sells computers.
interrupt A process in which a computer is diverted for a short period of
time to service an urgent need.
modem A device placed between a computer and a phone line, allowing
the computer to send and receive information on the line.
memory The part of a computer system that stores things in the most
readily available form. Memory sizes are measured in bytes.
menu A display of options, allowing you to select the one you want by
pointing to it.
port A facility in a computer system capable of accomodating the
attachment of an external device.
protocol A set of conventions giving meaning to data transferred between
systems.
profile A set of options retained from one invocation of OmniEdit to
another.
ruler A graduated marker used to measure the position of columns on
the screen.
scroll Used as a verb, meaning to move the text displayed on a screen
up or down, losing some text at one end, and bring new text into
view at the other end.
section The part of the text between two section marks.
serial port
A port on which signals can be sent between a computer and an
external device. The signals at a serial port conform to a
standard called RS-232. The computer side of the port is
usually a UART, and the external side is usually a modem.
text In this manual text refers to the lines of text retained by
OmniEdit in the internal memory of the computer.
text file A term used in the IBM manuals to described files organized with
text lines as their contents.
UART A computer component used to operate a serial port, and through
it, a communications line.
Xmodem A protocol in common use with micro-computers for sending data
over phone lines.
Copyright 1985 by Robert T McQuaid. page 9
