The Keyboard - VTech PreComputer Prestige Course Manual

THE KEYBOARD

1. The numeric(top row) keys are used for entering numbers. The letter keys are used
for entering letters.
2. The cursor is the blinking block symbol on the display that indicates where the next
character that is pressed on the keyboard will be entered in the computer.
3. The Shift key is used with another key to enter a character into the computer.
example to enter the "+" character, you must press Shift and the key marked "+ =".
If you just press the "+ =" key then the "=" character will be entered.
4. The key and the
They do not erase any character that is displayed, but you can type over anything in
their positions.
5. To enter a space, simply press the Space bar. Each time you press the Space bar,
one space is inserted on the display line.
6. The Ins and Del keys are used to insert or delete one character at a time on the display
where the cursor is positioned.
When the Ins key is pressed once, it will be in insert mode. The cursor will appear
as a rectangle. All characters to the right of the cursor position will be shifted one
character to the right to make room for the new character once it is inputted through
the keyboard. Pressing the Ins key again will return to the overwrite mode. The cursor
will now appear as a line. New characters will overwrite the characters to the right.
The Del key is used to delete one character at a time. The Del key will shift all characters
to the right of the cursor one position to the left, thereby erasing the character under
the cursor.
7. Before anything on the display is actually sent, you must press the Enter key. This
key acts much like a Return key on a typewriter. You press all the keys that comprise
a statement to the PRECOMPUTER PRESTIGE
PRECOMPUTER PRESTIGE
8. Every time BASIC is selected, it is in the overwrite mode. That is, the characters you
type will replace any characters already on the screen, unless you use the Ins key.
9. The "^" character in the
to tell the computer you want to raise the number preceding it to a power of the number
following it. More on arithmetic later.
10. The Break key is used as a Break which means it can do one or two things. When
you are typing a line, but before you press Enter, it will erase all that you have typed;
or, if you are running a BASIC program, you can interrupt it by pressing the Shift and
Break keys simultaneously. You can restart a program by typing CONT and pressing
the Enter key.
When using the INPUT command, PRECOMPUTER PRESTIGE
it with some data from the keyboard. PRECOMPUTER PRESTIGE
input with a prompt. The prompt is the "?" symbol and it appears on the display indicating
that the computer is waiting for you to type something. The letters and numbers that
you press appear on the display.
key are used to position the cursor left or right, respectively.
TM
will take it from there.
key (which is used only in the BASIC program) is used
30
TM
learning unit and then press Enter.
TM
will ask you to supply
TM
For
tells you it needs