The Manual - A Learning Tool - Commodore 2031 User Manual

To get the most out of your system you should study your Computer User's
Guide and, if necessary, obtain selected manuals listed in Table 1. You will
benefit most if you first read through this entire manual before attempting to
operate the Disk Drive.

THE MANUAL - A LEARNING TOOL

This manual is designed to encourage the concept of learning by doing. Difficult
concepts and procedures have been broken down into simpler steps that lead the
user through examples which provide ample opportunity to experiment later by
returning to each command description. When possible, the command format
has been included with the command description and, as an additional aid, a
User's Quick Reference has been placed in Chapter 8 for easy access if problems
persist.
The first chapters discuss basic hardware features and permit you, right from the
start, to become familiar with the disk drive by doing the performance tests
which comprise the first essential "hands on" experience. Then, by actually using
your particular disk drive and learning to carefully follow instructions, you can
gain the necessary confidence to proceed to more comprehensive subjects.
By the time you begin Chapter 3, Learning How To Use Your Floppy Disk
Drive, you will have already used some portions of the DOS Support system
which is fully described in Chapter 7. It is actually easier to instruct a new user
by using the simplified command structure of DOS Support than attempting to
explain the entire command hierarchy at an early stage. This concept of provid-
ing you with enough essential information to complete a task, a step-by-step
description of the task, and meaningful examples is a feature of this manual
which will provide you with sufficient incentive to actually complete the task.
Problems are often accompanied with error messages. These error messages are
contained in Chapter 8 where they can be quickly referenced, if needed. The
Error Message discussions have been expanded to include:
* How to request error messages.
* Error message summary.
* Detailed error message descriptions.
For those users who have been reluctant to attempt disk programming because
of the presumed degree of difficulty, note that the entire disk command hie-
rarchy is structured in this manual from the least difficult to the more complex:
2