User manual VTECH PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED

[. . . ] Should you have any questions or concerns, please call our Consumer Services Department at 1-800-521-2010 in the US, 01235-555545 in the UK or 1-800-267-7377 in Canada. PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED is our top of the line learning toy featuring 240x100 full dot matrix LCD screen and a standard sized computer style keyboard that gives the user the TM look and the feel of a real laptop computer. PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED offers 42 activities that include tenses, antonyms, synonyms, grammar, basic mathematics, advanced mathematics, over 1000 trivia questions, logic games, a word processor, basic programming, a daily planner, a telephone directory, a built-in calculator and an 75, 000 words spell checker. TM Get ready for hours of learning fun with the PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED learning unit. TM TM LCD DISPLAY LOCK BUTTON CAPS LOCK LED CONTRAST SWITCH VOLUME SWITCH LOCK BUTTON ON & OFF BUTTON ACTIVITY SELECTOR TYPING KEYBOARD MOUSE CARTRIDGE DOOR MOUSE PAD 1 CHAPTER 2 GETTING STARTED The PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED AC adapter. TM learning unit operates on 4 "C" size batteries or a 9V BATTERY INSTALLATION 1. [. . . ] Some microcomputers use your TV set, while others require a special type of display called a "monitor". Some use paper in a device called a "printer" and some use a liquid crystal display(LCD) which is the same display that is used on some clocks and watches. WHAT IS BASIC? BASIC is a computer language. The name BASIC stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was designed for students who had no previous experience in programming computers. 28 BASIC is basic; however there are differences in the language based on the computer that uses it in much the same way that English is different depending on which country it is spoken in(Great Britain or the United States) or which part of the country the language is spoken in(East Coast, Midwest, South or the West Coast). The differences in the language will depend on the computer that is being used and on the computer that produced the language for the computer manufacturer. Microsoft BASIC, so-called because it was developed by the Microsoft Corporation of Belleview, Washington, is found on Apple II+, IBM PC and PC jr. , Laser Computers, Commodore VIC20 and Commodore 64 and others. Other computers such as the Timex Sinclair ZX80 and the Texas Instruments 99/4 use versions of BASIC similar to MS-BASIC. WHAT IS A PROGRAM? A computer program is a series of instructions that tells a computer what tasks you want it to perform. BASIC is one of the languages that a human and a computer can understand, so BASIC can be used to write a program that a computer can carry out for you. WHY SHOULD I LEARN TO USE A COMPUTER? Computers are going to be part of the future. For a particular job to be done, by a person or a machine, we must specify the steps which must be done to do the job. All you need is your PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED learning unit and some time. TM WHAT IS THIS CHAPTER FOR? This chapter is a step-by-step guide for understanding programs and learning to use the computer language called BASIC. WHO IS THIS CHAPTER FOR? This guide is written for students and adults who have little or no programming experience. With a little time and effort you will discover that there is nothing difficult about learning to talk to a computer. WHAT IF I MAKE A MISTAKE? Don't worry about making a mistake. Use the TM GETTING STARTED This activity lets you type in your own programs and run them. Type in this program: 10 PRINT "HI THERE" press the Enter key This is the usual way to write a program. The PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITEDTM unit stores the line with the other lines into memory. The results appearing on the LCD display will be the message: HI THERE. Enter the following (no line number in front): PRINT "HI THERE" press the Enter key This time PRINT was used as a command and the results appeared immediately on the display after the Enter key was pressed. The computer executes the command right away, without waiting for you to type RUN. This is not recommended for creating programs but highly recommended for use as a calculator. Here are some other commands that can be used: NEW This command clears the memory of any BASIC statements that have been previously entered. 31 LIST This command displays each line of your program starting with the lowest line number. If you enter the command with a line number after the word, TM i. e. , LIST 50, PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED will list the statement at line 50. RUN This command instructs PRECOMPUTER UNLIMITED to begin executing each BASIC statement with a line number that was typed into memory. The computer will start with the lowest line number and proceed up to the highest numbered statement. [. . . ] the screen, use the TM BASIC CALCULATOR OPERATIONS The basic calculator operations are: Addition: or Shift + Subtraction: or Multiplication: Division: USING THE MEMORY FEATURES: To input a number to memory: To recall a number from memory: To add a number to the number in memory: To subtract a number from the number in memory: 84 Example: Input 23+45+78 Display M= 146 23+45+78 = 146 M= 146 M= 146 34-78 = -44 M= 102 34-78 = -44 M= 102 Enter Enter 34 - 78 Enter 23 - 6 + 9 M= 102 23-6+9 = 26 M= 76 23-6+9 ADVANCED FUNCTIONS The Calculator has special function keys located on the second and third rows of the keyboard. Always press the function key first when using it in a problem and then enter the numbers it is to operate on. AIM Square root of a number Enter Operation 9 Display sqrt 9 3 Square of a number Enter 3 sqr 3 9 The constant e to the power of the entered number. (e=2. 71828) LN function Enter Enter 2 exp 2 7. 38906 100 In 100 4. 60517 Log 10 function Enter 100 log 100 2 85 TRIGONOMETRIC FUNCTIONS All the trigonometric functions can take two forms of input -- radians and degrees. [. . . ]