Those readers familiar with home computers, and especially MS-DOS or U NIX , may use the brief summary of some concepts and commands in Appendix A, to get you started quickly. We do however advise checking the contents page, and index pages, as some specialised programs are considerably different to those with whichyoumaybefamiliar. Inparticular, 1616/OS isfarmorepowerful, andincludes many more utilities, than any normal home computer. If you ignore the facilities described in these manuals, you will cripple your operation of the system.
The audience We assume that one of your motives in buying an Applix 1616 is to learn more about computers, or to accomplish some task for which normal business systems areunsuitable. Applicationprograms are notreadily available for theApplix 1616, and so the 1616 is not an appropriate choice for someone wishing to run standard business applications such as a popular spreadsheet. To use the Applix 1616, you must first learn to use its inbuilt commands. These commands allow you to control the disk drive, see the contents of files, print out material, and do all the ‘computer housekeeping’ that is required by any computer.
You use these commands simply by typing their name, followed by optional parameters , which modify how they work. Allcomputer systems require you touse commands tocontrol them, and thesooner you learn these commands, the more use the system will be. In some systems, particularly in business, some of the commands are hidden by menus, from which you select commands. However, you often find that you learn no more than what the menu provides. Other computers, such as the Apple Macintosh, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, use windows, icons, and a mouse pointer (the wimp interface), to insulate you from actually typing commands.
Although much easier to use, such a system can also insulate you from the full power of your computer. However, at some level, the equivalent commands exist in all computers. In the Applix, control comes from you knowing the commands, and typing them correctly. This manual provides the first steps in this process. A command is simply an inbuilt program, intended to do something that is of use, either to you, or to the computer. Some commands do simple, very understandable jobs (like tell the time), while others have purposes that will not be clear until you use them extensively yourself. In the Applix, commands are intended to work together, in a manner similar to U NIX .
This allows you to build your own com- mands, even before you learn programming. Contents Amongst other things, this manual includes the following topics: Background information. How to start the computer. Page 2 User Tutorial Manual Introduction