Share Gallery 1/share_gal_1.zip/share_gal_1/UT/UT001.ZIP/ALT.ARC/TUTORIAL

Text File | 1988-09-19 | 20KB | 597 lines

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▒ Using ALT: A brief tutorial ▒
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     The following tutorial is intended to provide you with enough hands-
     on experience with ALT to let you use the program effectively.  It
     should not be viewed as a replacement for the user's guide which is
     shipped with every full version of ALT.  (See the read.me file for
     information about ordering the fully unabridged version of ALT)
     Before beginning, please note the following:

        - The examples in the tutorial explain how to use ALT along with
          other software.  The tutorial will instruct you to run Lotus
          123 to illustrate how to use ALT with another program.  Please
          note that you do not need to have Lotus 123 to follow the tutorial.
          If you do not, just run any program you have whenever the tutorial
          instructs you to run Lotus 123.  It is suggested, however, that
          you run a program that runs in text mode in order to follow along
          with the section on using the CUT and PASTE facilities in ALT.

        - Before running the tutorial you should be familiar with at least
          the first few sections contained in the read.me file and you should
          have already followed the instructions for loading ALT onto your
          hard disk.  In particular, you should be thoroughly familiar with
          the section in the read.me file entitled "Running ALT" and how
          to configure the drive ALT uses for swapping memory.

        - The tutorial contains several types of instructions.  When
          you see:

          Press:    F1

          The tutorial expects you to press the F1 key at that point.
          When you see:

          Type:     hello

          The tutorial expects you to actually type h, then e, then l, etc.
          In the above example, do not type a RETURN after typing hello
          unless explicitly instructed to do so.

          A consistent interface is used throughout Alt.  The F10 in
          most accessories will bring up a menu similar to Lotus. An
          item can be selected in two different ways, either by using
          the  left and right  arrow keys to highlight the item and
          press Enter,  or by pressing the first letter of the item
          on the keyboard.

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▒ Using ALT with Other Software ▒
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     To begin, you must run ALT if you have not already done so:

     Type:     cd \alt
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     Alt
     Press:    Enter

     After a brief pause, the ALT banner screen will be displayed.  You
     should stop and read this screen to understand your rights in using
     the software.

     Press:    Enter

     If you have never set up the swap drive, ALT will present the swap
     drive configuration screen at this point.  See the section entitled
     "Running ALT" for information on setting up the swap drive.

     After successfully running ALT, you will be placed at the DOS prompt
     and you will see a message at the top of your screen similar to the
     following:

        A VERY short tap on the ALT key will bring up the ALT Main Menu
     In order to enter the ALT main menu:

     Tap:      Alt ( i.e. the key marked Alt on your keyboard. Do
                    not hold down the Alt key.  YOU MUST TAP IT
                    SHARPLY. )

     To exit the ALT menu and return to the DOS prompt:

     Press:    Esc

     Now run Lotus 123.  You may have to change to your Lotus directory
     first by using the cd command.

     Type:     123
     Press:    Enter

     Now press any key to get past the Lotus banner screen.  Now if you wish,
     load a 123 spreadsheet if running 123 or if you are using another
     program, load some text or data.  Now let's suppose at this point
     that you need to go to a DOS prompt and do a directory listing.  To
     do this, you will now open a new ALT partition:

     Tap:      Alt

     You should see in the center of your screen, something similar to
     the following:

                     1. C:> 123                    510K

     This informs you that you are running 123 in partition 1 with
     510K of main memory available.  The 510K will vary from machine
     to machine depending on what options and programs are resident on
     the computer.

     Now as promised, you will open a new partition:

     Press:    2

     This will bring up a partition configuration screen.  Use the
     default settings:

     Press:    F10

     After a few seconds, you will be presented with a DOS prompt.

     Type:     dir
     Press:    Enter

     You have just completed a directory listing.  Now go back to Lotus
     123 right where you left off:

     Tap:      Alt
     Press:    1

     After a few seconds, you will return to Lotus 123.  The reason you
     were instructed to press 1 at the ALT main menu was to select partition
     1 where Lotus 123 was being run.
     To go back to the DOS prompt in partition 2:

     Tap:      Alt
     Press:    2

     After a few seconds you will be placed again at the DOS prompt.

     At this point you can do anything that you would normally do at
     the DOS prompt, including running programs.  In fact you could even
     run a second copy of Lotus 123 by changing to your Lotus directory
     and typing 123.  If you wish, you may do this at this point and
     practice switching between the two running copies of Lotus 123 in
     the same manner as you did above.

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▒ Using ALT Accessories ▒
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     The rest of the tutorial will focus on using the ALT accessories.
     The accessories are accessed by choosing one of the menu items
     displayed at the bottom of the ALT main screen.  These items are
     chosen by either typing the first letter of the menu item or by using
     the arrow keys to position the highlighted bar over the menu item and
     then pressing Enter.

     One very useful accessory function is the cut and paste facility.
     In the following steps you will cut a small portion of the Lotus
     123 screen and paste the cut text into the ALT notepad

     First go back to the 1st partition:

     Tap:      Alt
     Press:    1

     Now cut a few lines of the Lotus 123 screen

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Kut
     Press:    Home
     Press:    .
     Press:    Down arrow
     Press:    Down arrow
     Press:    Down arrow
     Press:    End
     Press:    Enter

     As you were pressing keys you should have seen a rectangular area
     highlighted.  This is the text which was cut from the screen.

     Now enter the ALT notepad:

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Notes

     Finally paste back the text cut from 123 into the notepad:

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Paste

     Finally save the contents of the notepad:

     Press:    Esc  (or you may select Quit by pressing F10 and pressing 'Q')

     This will place you back at the ALT main menu.

     Now go back to the notepad and erase its contents since what was
     pasted into the notepad is not really very useful:

     Press:    Ctl - ( i.e., hold down the control key and press the
                       minus sign)
     Now retrieve the notepad main menu:

     Press:    F10

     The notepad, like most accessories uses the F10 key to retrieve
     the command menu.  In the notepad, for example, there are commands
     to mark and copy blocks, append files, get files, print, search
     and more.  Retrieving a file with the notepad will now be illustrated:

     Select:   File
     Select:   Get
     Type:     \alt\tutorial
     Press:    Enter

     A copy of this tutorial file will now be contained in the notepad.
     Now search for the word tutorial:

     Press:    F10
     Select:   Search
     Type:     tutorial
     Press:    Enter

     Now find the next occurrence of the word:

     Press:    F10
     Select:   Next

     Escape from the notepad command line:

     Press:    Esc

     The cursor will then be positioned at the next occurrence.  Finally,
     erase the contents of the notepad:

     Press:    Ctl -

     As a final example of moving between your application programs and
     ALT accessories, we will now learn a shortcut method for switching
     back and forth between an application program and the most recently
     visited accessory.  This can be done by "double tapping" the Alt key:

     Tap:      Alt
     Tap:      Alt

     That's right tap the Alt key twice.  This will have the effect of
     putting you into Lotus 123.  Now to go quickly back to the notepad:

     Tap:      Alt
     Tap:      Alt

     Practice this operation several times to get the hang of it.


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▒ More Accessories: the Filer ▒
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     The filer provides a convenient way to manage the files on your
     disks.  Now enter the filer:

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Disk

     You should see a list of files, sizes and information about the
     directory you are in.  Initially, you will be placed in the ALT
     directory.  At this point, lets suppose you just want to see the
     executable files in the ALT directory (i.e. all files which end
     with the extension .exe)

     Press:    F10
     Select:   File/Dir
     Select:   Wildcard
     Type:     *.exe
     Press:    Enter

     The display is now restricted only to .exe files.  At this point,
     it might be useful to choose a new directory on your disk to
     view.  To do so, get a map of the disk:

     Press:    F2
     Press:    Enter

     At this point a hierarchical map of the disk is shown.  Use the
     arrow keys, PgUp, PgDn, Home and End to move around in the map.
     Practice doing this and then select a directory containing some
     files with extension .EXE in it:

     Press:    Enter

     You will now be placed in that directory.  If there were no
     executable (.EXE) files in that directory, you will be shown the
     message: No files are in this Directory!  At this point set the
     wildcard back to viewing all files:

     Press:    F10
     Select:   File/Dir
     Select:   Wildcard
     Type:     *.*
     Press:    Enter

     Now the filer will show all files.

     Multiple files can be marked for copying, deleting, moving, printing,
     etc.  Now try marking some files:

     Press:     +  (any '+' key on your keyboard will work)

     Repeat this operation several times.  Notice that an asterisk is
     placed beside the filename to indicate that the file has been marked
     for a multiple file operation.  This is called TAGGING files.
     Now let us pretend that we want to print all of the files we have
     marked.  To do this:

     Press:     F10
     Select:    Print
     Select:    Tagged  (to indicate that you want to print all tagged
                         files)

     At this point a message about checking the printer is issued.  To
     begin printing you would just hit the Enter key at this point.  We
     don't really want to print those files, so

     Press:     Esc


     This aborts the printing procedure.  The same procedure of tagging
     files and then selecting a command can also be applied to moving,
     copying and deleting files.

     Now practice un-tagging a few files by using the up arrow key to
     the first file you marked.

     Press:     -  ( any '-' key on your keyboard will work)

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▒ More Accessories: the Calculators ▒
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     Alt offers not one, but three calculators for your convenience.
     To select a calculator:

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Calc

     At this point you will be given three choices:

     Algebraic  Reverse_Polish_Notation  Tape

     Let's select the scrolling tape (adding machine) calculator:
     (Note the Tape Calculator is not available on the Shareware
      version.)

     Select:    Tape

     Now get ready to use the calculator:

     Press:     Num-Lock  ( to use the numeric keypad )

     Now let's add $25.00, $56.50, $78.45 and $95.50:

     Type:      25.
     Press:     +
     Type:      5650
     Press:     +
     Type:      7845
     Press:     +
     Type:      9550
     Press:     =

     And the answer 255.45 will appear.  Notice how the "paper tape"
     scrolled smoothly at the side will you were entering the numbers.

     The other calculators can be tried at this point by pressing Esc
     and then choosing a calculator.  If you wish, try the Reverse Polish
     or the Algebraic (parentheses calculator).

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▒ More Accessories: the Rolocards ▒
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     The Alt Rolocards provides a convenient way to keep track of
     business associates, phone numbers, and addresses.  To select
     the Rolocards:

     Tap:     Alt
     Select:  Rolocards

     If Rolocards has not been used previously, it will ask you to
     create a ROLODEX file.

     Press:  Y

     Lets add a couple of cards to your address book.

     Press:    F10
     Select:   Add
     Type:     John
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     D.
     Press     Enter
     Type:     Doe
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     555-5555
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     100 Main St.
     Press:    Enter
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     Maincity
     Press:    Enter
     Type:     Texas
     Press:    Enter

     You practice by completing in the rest of the fields.  Movement
     from field to field can be obtained by using the following keys:

            Up arrow, down arrow, tab, and shift-tab.

     Modifications to fields can be made with the following keys.

            Ctrl-X        Delete line
            INS           Toggles between overtype and insert mode
            DEL           Deletes character under cursor
            BackSpace      Deletes character before cursor

     When you are through adding information to the card:

     Press:    Esc
     Select:   Save

     You are now asked if you  would like to add another card,

     Press:    Y

     Add another card using the name and address of one of your friends
     and save it just as you have done previously.  When asked if you
     want to add another card,

     Press:    N

     You can now scroll through the cards that you have added to your
     Rolocards using the up and down arrows.  If you only added two
     cards then the scrolling will be limited.  The number of cards
     in your address book is only limited by the amount of free space
     on your disk.

     You can quickly jump to cards in your address book beginning with
     a certain letter in the alphabet by pressing the  Alt key along
     with the selected letter.   For example, to quickly jump to the
     John Doe  card we just added,

     Press:    Alt-D    (i.e.  Hold down the alt key and press the
                               'D' key on your keyboard. )


     To view the contents of the card,

     Press:   F10
     Select:  View

     To exit viewing the card

     Press:   Esc

     If you have a modem, numbers in your Rolocards can be called
     automatically by

     Press:   F10
     Select:  Call

     The Rolocards may have to be configured to talk to your modem.
     The configuration settings can be set by

     Press:   F9
     Select:  Modem

     Refer to the Alt manual and your modem manual if you are not
     familiar with the settings terminology.

     To exit the Rolocards,

     Press:  Esc

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▒ Recording Macros ▒
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     Macros are convenient short-cuts for cutting down on lengthy and
     repetitive key entry chores.  For this example, we will go to the
     notepad or if you wish, you can record the macro in your favorite
     word processor instead.  Let's suppose we want to indent 100 lines
     of text by 10 spaces.  You wouldn't want to do all that typing so
     you might try recording a keyboard macro to cut down on the work.
     First go to an editor (the notepad for example):

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Notepad

     If the notepad is empty, try your hand at loading a file with the
     F10, File, Get    sequence.  If you don't have a text file handy for
     retrieval just type in a few lines of text and move to the first line.

     Now begin recording an "Instant Macro" to indent by 10 spaces and move
     to the next line:

     Press:    Alt-Shift-F1
     Type ten spaces.
     Press:    Down-Arrow
     Press:    Home                   (to move to the first of the line)
     Tap:      Alt

     You should have heard a gentle clicking sound to remind you that you
     were recording a macro.  When you pressed Alt-Shift-F1, you informed
     ALT that you were ready to begin recording an "Instant Macro".  You
     then typed the keystrokes that you wanted to record.  Finally, tapping
     the Alt key informed ALT that you were finished recording the "Instant
     Macro".  Now try playing back the macro several times to indent the
     next several lines:

     Press:    Alt-F1  (not Alt-Shift-F1)

     This caused the recorded keystrokes to be played back.  The same
     technique of press the Alt-Shift-F2 key could be used to record a
     macro for the Alt-F2 key and so on.

     Notice now that a single keystroke can be used to indent the lines
     instead of 11 keystrokes.   If you were indeed formatting 100 lines
     of text, this could be a big time savings!

     Macro record can also be initiated by

     Tap:     Alt
     Select:  Other
     Select:  Record
     Press:   Alt-F5        ( or any other key, this associates a macro
                              with this key. )
     Type:    Macro to indent 10 spaces
     Press:   Enter
     Type ten spaces.
     Press:    Down-Arrow
     Press:    Home                   (to move to the first of the line)
     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Quit

     To playback this macro:

     Press:    Alt-F5

     If you forget your macros and their associated key:

     Tap:      Alt
     Select:   Other
     Select:   Titles

     A menu will be displayed showing the available macros. Use the
     up and down arrows to place the highlighted bar over the
     selected macro and

     Press:    Enter

     to playback the macro.


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▒ On-line Help ▒
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     A full context-sensitive help is available in Alt.  While in
     Alt's main menu or its accessories, you can obtain help by

     Press:  F1

     Help on the accessory that you are in will be displayed in a
     window. ( Note: The help file is not distributed with the
     shareware version. )


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▒ Uninstall Alt ▒
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    To unload Alt and its accessories from memory,

    (Make sure that you have quit any running programs or a possibility
     exists of losing data or files. )

    Tap:      Alt
    Select:   Other
    Select:   Quit
    Press:    Y