Atari 65XE, Owner'S Manual

Page: 34 / 135

No matter how well you type on a typewriter, you will need to
familiarize yourself with the special features of the ATARI 65XE
keyboard before you begin editing with ATARI BASIC.
AUTO REPEAT FUNCTION
Begin by typing the letter A:
A
Continue to hold down the key and watch the rows of A's appear.
When a line is filled, the cursor automatically drops down to the next
row. There is no need to press
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
You are using the built-in auto repeat function of the ATARI 65XE
keyboard. Most of the keys, including the space bar, have auto repeat.
Did you hear a buzzer when the A's almost filled the third line? That
warning buzzer—a built-in function of ATARI BASIC—indicates that
the instruction line is getting too long. An instruction line can be no
more than three lines long.
ERROR MESSAGES
Find the key and press it. You should see the word ERROR on
the screen, followed by the three lines of A's that you typed. Your
computer is interacting with you now. It is telling you that it doesn't
understand what you are typing because the rows of A's aren't part of
the BASIC language. Clear your screen by pressing until the
Error message no longer appears. To avoid getting Error messages
while you are following the directions for editing, do not press the
key until you are instructed to do so.
UPPERCASE AND LOWERCASE
To make lowercase A's, press the key once and hold down the
key. You should see this:
aaaaaaaa
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Editing with
the ATARI 65XE Keyboard