245 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
245 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
|
|
º º
|
|
º GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR NEW PC º
|
|
º º
|
|
º º
|
|
º º
|
|
ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ
|
|
|
|
I have been programming for twenty years on all sorts of computers,
|
|
but the PC is my favorite. I've seen it all (almost), and done it all
|
|
(almost) and I'd like to take this opportunity to help those of you who have
|
|
just purchased your first PC. I am going to give you a few do's and don'ts
|
|
- feel free to disagree, but at least I'll give you some interesting ideas
|
|
to think about. First of all, if you have not yet purchased a PC, please
|
|
follow the following RULES OF PC PURCHASE:
|
|
|
|
1. If you can, buy at least a 286 or 386.
|
|
(Why? Because the older 8086 PC's are
|
|
just TOO SLOW!)
|
|
2. Get the biggest hard disk you can afford.
|
|
(Why? Because they fill up with good
|
|
software much faster than you would expect.)
|
|
3. Get a color monitor, preferably VGA.
|
|
(Why? Because I like color, of course,
|
|
and have three monochrome monitors
|
|
sitting unused in my closet!)
|
|
4. Make sure one of your floppies is 5 1/4 inch
|
|
size (that's the standard size).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now that you have your PC up and running, here are the things
|
|
to do:
|
|
1. FOCUS YOUR INTERESTS. Try to figure out why you got a PC and what you
|
|
want to do with it. Are you interested in writing, music, art, programming
|
|
or what. Come on, you must be interested in something! A PC can be used
|
|
for virtually anything. It is even good for teaching your child to read
|
|
(Reader Rabbit, Amy's Primer). Focus, focus, focus.
|
|
|
|
2. USE A SURGE SUPPRESSOR. Go ahead, I know you are almost broke after
|
|
buying that 220 Megabyte hard disk, but GET A SURGE SUPPRESSOR BEFORE
|
|
YOU TURN IT ON! The very first night I put together my first PC,
|
|
there was a huge thunder and lightning storm. My house wiring took
|
|
a direct hit while my $3500 investment was on for the very first time!
|
|
A surge suppressor saved my bacon by turning off automatically. After
|
|
30 minutes it mysteriously went back on by itself, and my PC was undamaged.
|
|
|
|
3. TRY DESKTOP PUBLISHING & A WORD PROCESSOR. Remember using a typewriter?
|
|
One tiny mistake and you had to retype the whole page! Now, with any
|
|
simple word processor, you can correct your errors before you print the
|
|
first copy. And if you write a lot of letters, it's great to have an
|
|
automatic file of all the letters you wrote on your hard disk, complete
|
|
with addresses. Desktop publishing is also a terrific advance, and
|
|
with inexpensive products like Publish It! or First Publisher, it is
|
|
also easy to get started. Perhaps you have an idea for your own
|
|
newsletter?
|
|
|
|
4.TRY LOTUS 123 OR ANOTHER SIMILAR SPREADSHEET. The PC became so incredibly
|
|
popular because of Lotus (and Word Processing). Though I personally am
|
|
bored to tears by spreadsheets, fifty million users can't be wrong,
|
|
so give it a try.
|
|
|
|
5.TRY THE BASIC INTERPRETER YOU GOT WITH YOUR MACHINE. Basic, or the GWBASIC
|
|
you probably got free with your clone, is an easy and surprisingly powerful
|
|
language (GW stands for Gee Whiz!). Even if you plan to buy most
|
|
of your software, you will understand your PC much better if you write a
|
|
few simple BASIC programs of your own. If you find you like BASIC, you
|
|
may eventually want to move up to QuickBasic or Turbo Basic, which
|
|
run about $69.95 and allow you to compile your Basic Programs to true
|
|
EXE files, just like the professional programs you buy.
|
|
|
|
6.LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT DOS. The Disk Operating System you got with your
|
|
machine is also a powerful language, and you should run, not walk, to
|
|
your nearest bookstore and buy the slimmest book you can find about DOS.
|
|
|
|
7.GET A HARD DISK & LEARN TO ORGANIZE IT. If you already have a PC without
|
|
a Hard Disk, you have already experienced the incredible frustration
|
|
of computing from only one or two floppies. Get a Hard Disk, 40 Megabyte
|
|
minimum. It shouldn't cost much more than $300. Right now, there is
|
|
a mail-order bargain on the Seagate 65 Meg RLL Drive. You will need
|
|
an RLL Controller, but the disk is only $260 and built like a tank.
|
|
(See Computer Shopper).
|
|
|
|
8. GET THE NORTON UTILITIES. This bag of tricks and techniques will more
|
|
than pay for itself with Quick Unerase, which will allow you to easily
|
|
recover those files you deleted by mistake.
|
|
|
|
9. BACKUP IRREPLACEABLE FILES TO FLOPPY DISKS. If you are writing the
|
|
great American Novel, copy your work once a week to a floppy and stash
|
|
it in a safe place. It only takes a second, and imagine how you
|
|
would feel if the only copy on your hard disk somehow became
|
|
unreadable. I leave the question of full hard disk backups completely
|
|
up to you. If you have a lot of important files on your hard disk
|
|
it may be advisable, even if it takes 60 or more floppies. Fastback Plus
|
|
or DSBackup can ease the task. I don't personally backup, but I have
|
|
three machines (one 386, one 286 and one old 8086) and each has copies
|
|
of my most important files. They are all surge protected, and the
|
|
chance of three simultaneuos hard disk disasters is only 1 in 47,000,000.
|
|
(Approximately).
|
|
|
|
10. BUY A DOZEN SHAREWARE PROGRAMS FOR $1.99 EACH, AND REGISTER AT LEAST ONE.
|
|
Shareware is an interesting and inexpensive way to experience a broad
|
|
range of software. It is a unique marketing concept - try before you
|
|
buy. You will help keep it alive, and more good shareware coming, if
|
|
you register the shareware you like and continue to use. You will
|
|
absolutely need a simple ASCII Editor to use your PC properly.
|
|
Without a simple editor, even changing your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
|
|
is a real chore. QEDIT is nice. Put PROMPT $P $G in your
|
|
AUTOEXEC.BAT file RIGHT NOW if it isn't already there. It
|
|
identifies directory names when you change directories.
|
|
|
|
11. TRY SOME ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMS TO PEEK INTO THE FUTURE
|
|
OF COMPUTING. You have probably heard about Expert Systems, that
|
|
follow rules-of-thumb to give advice like a human expert, but
|
|
through Shareware you can also try one yourself. Other areas are
|
|
Natural Language Programs, that respond to your english language
|
|
sentences, and Neural Networks that mimic the thought process of the
|
|
human brain. Many can be experienced at low cost through shareware,
|
|
or though the miracle of Modems and Bulletin Boards. Or you could
|
|
select one of the three very special packages we'll introduce you
|
|
to at the end of this Tutorial. Each package is usually $99.95,
|
|
but is offered here for only $59.95.
|
|
|
|
12. AFTER YOU ARE FAIRLY COMFORTABLE WITH DOS, TRY WINDOWS 3.0.
|
|
Windows 3.0 is a GUI or Graphical User Interface. It requires
|
|
the use of a Mouse, because you operate Windows by pointing and
|
|
clicking with the Mouse. It also requires a serious 286 or 386
|
|
computer with VGA and plenty of hard disk space. Windows alone
|
|
wants about 5 Meg of your hard drive geography.
|
|
Although most of what you want to do on a computer does not
|
|
require Windows, you should eventually try it, because it
|
|
probably represents the future of PC Computing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
THINGS YOU SHOULD TRY TO AVOID
|
|
DON'T:
|
|
Move your PC without very good reason. It can destroy the
|
|
programs on your hard disk.
|
|
Get any weird programs that mess with your hard disk if you
|
|
havn't had a problem!
|
|
Make millions of directories within directories.
|
|
Keep your hard disk almost full.
|
|
Worry about OS/2 - it is a dead issue for home users.
|
|
Leave your machine on all the time.
|
|
Worry if you can't learn to program in C, Lisp or Prolog.
|
|
Write COBOL on a PC.
|
|
Worry much about Viruses. They are dying down now.
|
|
Load your machine so full of TSR's at start-up that it gets confused.
|
|
Open your computer unless you absolutely have to.
|
|
Upgrade to a 386 if you have a fast 286.
|
|
Upgrade at all - buy another machine. Two is nice.
|
|
Try to to turn your PC into a MAC - buy a MAC.
|
|
Don't overload your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
|
|
Don't type FORMAT C: unless you really mean it!
|
|
|
|
|
|
A QUICK INTRO TO DOS FOR BEGINNERS ONLY
|
|
|
|
DOS stands for Disk Operating System. It started ten years
|
|
ago at Version 1.0 and then matured with 3.1 and 3.3. It
|
|
gives your machine the primitive intelligence required to
|
|
run programs (Applications), and organize a hard drive.
|
|
|
|
DOS 4.1 is current as of the beginning of 1991, but a Beta-test
|
|
Version of DOS 5.0 is already available to industry insiders.
|
|
It is recommended. DOS is a brilliant engineering accomplishment
|
|
by Microsoft. Over the years, hundreds of very bright programmers
|
|
have contributed to it.
|
|
|
|
DOS is built around the concept of a Hard Drive divided into
|
|
file folders called Directories. C:\ is the root.
|
|
C:\DOS > is a direcory OFF the ROOT. (You could think of branches
|
|
off a tree, and yes, there are often directories within directories.)
|
|
Try to avoid copying files to your root.
|
|
Instead, make a new Directory (file folder) with a meaningful
|
|
name (MONEY, TEMP, WORK, NEW, LOTUS, WORD, etc) and change
|
|
to that Directory. Then copy your files into that Directory.
|
|
The exact commands are given below, and you will keep your
|
|
Hard Drive neat and tidy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most used Commands: (you press the ENTER KEY after you type
|
|
any one of these commands. Practice on
|
|
a formatted floppy, not your hard drive.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
DIR produces a directory list of files and programs on the
|
|
disk, example DIR A:, or just DIR
|
|
DIR/P pauses when the screen is full for long Directories
|
|
DIR/W (Directory Wide) puts the Directory list in several
|
|
columns across the screen
|
|
COPY copies a file or program to a new name, new directory
|
|
or new disk, example COPY *.* C:
|
|
(If you have a new disk in A: and want to copy ALL the
|
|
programs on the disk to C: you would type this at the
|
|
A:> prompt.)
|
|
CD changes from one directory to another. CD\ changes back
|
|
to the root CD\MYDIR, then to change back: CD\
|
|
MD makes a new directory
|
|
example MD MYDIR
|
|
TYPE displays the contents of an ASCII file on the screen
|
|
TYPE ORDER.FRM
|
|
PRINT prints a file on the printer
|
|
PRINT ORDER.FRM or COPY ORDER.FRM LPT1
|
|
Note: there really is an ORDER.FRM on this disk,
|
|
so you can try this command later on the MoneyMaker Disk!
|
|
Pressing the Shift/Print Screen Keys causes the current
|
|
screen to be printed
|
|
DEL deletes a file....be careful DEL BADPGM.EXE
|
|
RD removes an empty directory RD MYDIR
|
|
|
|
Using different disk drives: to switch to another drive,
|
|
type the letter of the drive followed by a colon
|
|
File Extensions: File names are made up of three parts:
|
|
a name, a period, and an extension, example LOTUS.EXE
|
|
name: up to eight characters
|
|
extension: up to three characters
|
|
Some extensions are reserved names: EXE, COM, BAT
|
|
an EXE or COM file is a program ready to run just by
|
|
typing the first part of the name (and pressing ENTER)
|
|
a BAT file consists of DOS Language statements, and
|
|
most BAT files are used to start COM or EXE programs
|
|
The AUTOEXEC.BAT File runs automatically whenever
|
|
you boot or start your PC.
|
|
|
|
if you get hopelessly confused, just BOOT!
|
|
(turn your computer OFF and back ON, or
|
|
press CTRL-ALT-DEL simultaneously).
|
|
|
|
LIST.COM, included on this disk, should be installed
|
|
in the Root Directory of your PC. It is better than
|
|
the type command. To use it, just type LIST followed
|
|
by the text file name you want to read. When you
|
|
EXIT the Main Menu from AITUTOR, try typing
|
|
LIST CATALOG.TXT to read a selection from our AI Catalog.
|
|
|
|
Serious DOS mistakes:
|
|
typing FORMAT C: (erases your whole C: Drive)
|
|
not backing up critical files to floppy disks
|
|
typing DEL *.* in your ROOT (deletes all root files)
|
|
pouring coffee in your keyboard. (keyboards prefer water).
|
|
|
|
|
|
(C) 1991 Thinking Software, Inc.
|
|
|