Epson PX-8 User Manual page 71

The value shown against the semi-colon on the fifth line is the current setting
in minutes for the auto power off time. This is the time for which the PX-8
will wait before switching itself off in continue mode if no key is pressed.
It
is advisable to keep the time short, otherwise the battery will run down. The
reason for having such a system is to conserve the battery.
As can be seen from the display, the time can be set in intervals of one minute
(up to 255 minutes) or switched off altogether using the value O. When you
have entered the time you require, press RETURN. The chosen time will be
displayed on the fifth line, and you can use the ESC key to return to the main
CONFIG menu.
2. The CP 1M FUNCTION KEY ASSIGNMENTS
When the 2 key is pressed on the main CONFIG menu, the display changes to:
***
CP/M FUNCTION KEY
***
Select function key number (PF10=0) or ESC to return.
PFI dir
PF2 type
PF3 stat
PF4 pip
PF5 conf i
g· ....
M
PF6 dump
PF7 submit
PFB ddt
PF9 term··'M
PF10
filin~c"M
These are the strings assigned to the programmable function keys on the top
of the keyboard. A description of the use of the keys is given in Chapter 2 sec-
tion 2.2.1c. The screen above shows the default setting, i.e. the strings which
will be assigned when the system is initialized or a reset is performed.
Note that when shown on the eighth line of the CP/M screen, some of the strings
terminate in the
--1
character. In setting them up with the CONFIG program,
this carriage return is shown as "J\M". These strings have a carriage return
(CTRL-M) added to them because there is no possibility that any more charac-
ters need to be typed after the string. For example the PF5 key can be used
to run the CONFIG program as follows. On the CP/M command line type the
drive name where the CONFIG program is located (e.g. C:) and then press the
PF5 key. All the letters of the word CONFIG will appear, and the carriage return
will be 'typed' also. In a few seconds the CONFIG main menu will appear on
the screen.
The CTRL-M is not added to all commands since some of them might possibly
require extending. For example with DIR you might want to add the name of
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a drive other than the current one to find out the files on that particular drive
instead of changing the logged in drive first. When the
~key
is pressed, the
letters "DIR" are printed, and the PX-8 will wait for any further input.
If
you
simply press the
I
RETURN
I
key, the directory of the current drive will be print-
ed.
If
you press the space bar and then the two keys "C:" followed by the
I
RETURN
I
key, the directory of the C: drive will be printed on the screen.
To change the assigned string, press the number corresponding to the PF key
(i.e. 1 for PFl, 2 for PF2 etc, remembering that 0 is used for PFI0). The se-
cond line of the screen will display the message:
Terminate function key string with HELP
and the third line of the screen will then display the name of the key whose
function is to be changed, with the cursor to the right of it awaiting input. Up
to 15 characters can be inserted into each PF string.
If
a control key is to be
added, e.g. a carriage return (CTRL-M), this MUST be added by pressing the
I
CfRL
I
and the appropriate alphabetic key. However, in the special case of the
carriage return simply pressing the
I
RETURN
I
key will add the characters "J\M"
to denote the CTRL-M for the carriage return. This counts as one character
of the string, although it is displayed as two ( "J\" and "M") in this section
of the CONFIG program.
If
a control character has been added correctly, the
backspace ( ~) key will remove it as a pair if the []§J key is pressed once.
When a carriage return is inserted correctly it will be seen on the function key
display line as a
..-J
character.
If
the characters "J\M" appear on the function
key display line, they are represented as those characters and DO NOT
REPRESENT A CARRIAGE RETURN. For example if the function key dis-
play line shows "DIRJ\M" for one of the keys when the corresponding key
is pressed, all five characters will be displayed and the cursor will be placed
at the right of the last one awaiting further input.
Although the string can consist of up to 15 characters, if more than seven are
assigned to the string, only the first seven will be seen on the function key dis-
play line. However, if the function key is pressed the complete number of charac-
ters will be printed to the screen.
If
a wrong character is input, the backspace key (
~
) can be used to erase
the previous character.
Because the
I
RETURN
I
key can be use to enter the carriage return as a "J\M",
the
I
HELP
I
key is used to terminate the string. The
I
ESC
I
key is used to return
to the CONFIG main menu.
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