Terminet 300 Printer Controls; Keys - GE TermiNet 300 Beginner's Manual

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BEGINNERS GUIDE
POSSI BLE TROUBLES.
If the Printer comes on and runs, and you set
the Printer switches in the positions
specified earlier and follow the instructions
exactly, ther e will se ldom be any difficulty
in calling the computer; however, you should
be acquainted with some of the infrequ en t
pro b l ems that can occur.
COMPUTER RECEIVES I NCORRECT DATA .
If you type a n incorrect character, or if a
tr ansmission error causes the computer to
r ~ceive a wron g character, the computer may
not know wh a t you want. At certain times the
comouter expects a specific respons e , for
inst ance, the User Number is always first in
the sign on pro cedu re. If it doesn 't ge t a
va lid User Number at this point , the com pu ter
will point out your error in direct langua g e.
At other times when the computer doesn't know
what to expect, it may respond witn its
f a vorite question, namely, " WHAT?" . This
que stion means the computer wants you to
correct the previous lin e or command . Of
course the error may not be yours
(trans mission error , for inst~nce) in which
C9Se you would repeat the previous line or
command.
EL ECTRICAL DISTURBANCES ON TELEPHONE LINES.
Occasionally there is an electrica l
dis turbance on the telephone lin e . This is
m os t apt to haopen on hot
su~~er
afternoons
when lightning storms are fairly common.
~hen
a bad disturbance occurs, the Printer
I NT ERRUPT pushbutton lights. When this
happens, several different things could
occur:
1. One or more characters will be
incorrect, but the Printer will keep
::Jrinting .
If this happens, the keyboard will
become inoperative; otherwise Printer
operation is normal. To restore
keyboard operation, you will have to
press the INTERRUPT pUShbutton.
2. In addition to characters oeing
wrong, the Printer may return to
STANDBY (STANDBY pushbutton li0hts,
ON LINE pushbutton goes out).
If this occurs, you will have to
press the ON LINE and the INTE RRUPT
pushbuttons to restore normal
operation (It ~akes no difference in
which order they are pressed, or, for
that matter, they can be pressed
simultaneously).
3 . In addition to the previous symptoms,
the Printer may rapidly print
meanin gless strings of characters;
this is caused by l oss of the
te l ep hone lin e .
GEK-35968
If this occurs, you will have to
start your co~puter cal lin g sequence
al lover again. Remember to restore
keyboard operation by pressing the
INTERRUPT pushbutton.
SYSTEM FAULTS.
It doesn't happen very often, but once
while, the system malfunctions in such a
that it will no longer respond to
commands. After a few seconds of this
should disconnect.
in a
way
your
you
TermiNet 300 PRINTER CONTROLS
Now that you are able to call th e computer,
let's increase your knowledge of so~e of the
other Printer controls .
KEYS
Most of the keys are already familiar to you;
therefore, there should be no need to
discuss the white keys. These are just like
t he keys on a n electric typewriter. The one
possible exception to this is the underline
key. (Refer to Figure 1).
ui'lDERLI NE .
Pressing this key will print an underline
chdracter regardl ess of whether or not the
SHIFT key is he l d down . When you are talkin g
to another TermiNet
310
Printer the underline
character will print out ; however , if you are
talkin g to a computer, the computer will
consider the underline character to be an
erase signal for the ~revious character. We
will consider this later when we discuss
talking to the Ma rk II computer.
Now let's look at the control keys.
IHGHT S I JE KEYS .
BACKSPACE.
The BS key is the Backspace key . This key
performs exactly the same as the baCkspa ce
key on an electric typewriter. Any time you
press this key, the Printer backspaces one
character space unless the PPI says I. If the
PPI says I, the backspace command is ignored.
REPEAT.
The RPT key is the REPEAT key.
If
this key is
held down, th e ac tion required by any other
single key bein g held down will be per formed
5 times pe r second. For example, if both the
A and RPT keys ar e held down, 5 A's would be
printed each second . Likewise, if b oth the
Space Bar and RP T keys were held dow n, the
Print er would sp ace across the line at 5
spaces per second.
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