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± Using ALT: A brief tutorial ±
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The following tutorial is intended to provide you with enough hands-
on experience with ALT to let you use the program effectively. It
should not be viewed as a replacement for the user's guide which is
shipped with every full version of ALT. (See the read.me file for
information about ordering the fully unabridged version of ALT)
Before beginning, please note the following:
- The examples in the tutorial explain how to use ALT along with
other software. The tutorial will instruct you to run Lotus
123 to illustrate how to use ALT with another program. Please
note that you do not need to have Lotus 123 to follow the tutorial.
If you do not, just run any program you have whenever the tutorial
instructs you to run Lotus 123. It is suggested, however, that
you run a program that runs in text mode in order to follow along
with the section on using the CUT and PASTE facilities in ALT.
- Before running the tutorial you should be familiar with at least
the first few sections contained in the read.me file and you should
have already followed the instructions for loading ALT onto your
hard disk. In particular, you should be thoroughly familiar with
the section in the read.me file entitled "Running ALT" and how
to configure the drive ALT uses for swapping memory.
- The tutorial contains several types of instructions. When
you see:
Press: F1
The tutorial expects you to press the F1 key at that point.
When you see:
Type: hello
The tutorial expects you to actually type h, then e, then l, etc.
In the above example, do not type a RETURN after typing hello
unless explicitly instructed to do so.
A consistent interface is used throughout Alt. The F10 in
most accessories will bring up a menu similar to Lotus. An
item can be selected in two different ways, either by using
the left and right arrow keys to highlight the item and
press Enter, or by pressing the first letter of the item
on the keyboard.
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± Using ALT with Other Software ±
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To begin, you must run ALT if you have not already done so:
Type: cd \alt
Press: Enter
Type: Alt
Press: Enter
After a brief pause, the ALT banner screen will be displayed. You
should stop and read this screen to understand your rights in using
the software.
Press: Enter
If you have never set up the swap drive, ALT will present the swap
drive configuration screen at this point. See the section entitled
"Running ALT" for information on setting up the swap drive.
After successfully running ALT, you will be placed at the DOS prompt
and you will see a message at the top of your screen similar to the
following:
A VERY short tap on the ALT key will bring up the ALT Main Menu
In order to enter the ALT main menu:
Tap: Alt ( i.e. the key marked Alt on your keyboard. Do
not hold down the Alt key. YOU MUST TAP IT
SHARPLY. )
To exit the ALT menu and return to the DOS prompt:
Press: Esc
Now run Lotus 123. You may have to change to your Lotus directory
first by using the cd command.
Type: 123
Press: Enter
Now press any key to get past the Lotus banner screen. Now if you wish,
load a 123 spreadsheet if running 123 or if you are using another
program, load some text or data. Now let's suppose at this point
that you need to go to a DOS prompt and do a directory listing. To
do this, you will now open a new ALT partition:
Tap: Alt
You should see in the center of your screen, something similar to
the following:
1. C:> 123 510K
This informs you that you are running 123 in partition 1 with
510K of main memory available. The 510K will vary from machine
to machine depending on what options and programs are resident on
the computer.
Now as promised, you will open a new partition:
Press: 2
This will bring up a partition configuration screen. Use the
default settings:
Press: F10
After a few seconds, you will be presented with a DOS prompt.
Type: dir
Press: Enter
You have just completed a directory listing. Now go back to Lotus
123 right where you left off:
Tap: Alt
Press: 1
After a few seconds, you will return to Lotus 123. The reason you
were instructed to press 1 at the ALT main menu was to select partition
1 where Lotus 123 was being run.
To go back to the DOS prompt in partition 2:
Tap: Alt
Press: 2
After a few seconds you will be placed again at the DOS prompt.
At this point you can do anything that you would normally do at
the DOS prompt, including running programs. In fact you could even
run a second copy of Lotus 123 by changing to your Lotus directory
and typing 123. If you wish, you may do this at this point and
practice switching between the two running copies of Lotus 123 in
the same manner as you did above.
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± Using ALT Accessories ±
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The rest of the tutorial will focus on using the ALT accessories.
The accessories are accessed by choosing one of the menu items
displayed at the bottom of the ALT main screen. These items are
chosen by either typing the first letter of the menu item or by using
the arrow keys to position the highlighted bar over the menu item and
then pressing Enter.
One very useful accessory function is the cut and paste facility.
In the following steps you will cut a small portion of the Lotus
123 screen and paste the cut text into the ALT notepad
First go back to the 1st partition:
Tap: Alt
Press: 1
Now cut a few lines of the Lotus 123 screen
Tap: Alt
Select: Kut
Press: Home
Press: .
Press: Down arrow
Press: Down arrow
Press: Down arrow
Press: End
Press: Enter
As you were pressing keys you should have seen a rectangular area
highlighted. This is the text which was cut from the screen.
Now enter the ALT notepad:
Tap: Alt
Select: Notes
Finally paste back the text cut from 123 into the notepad:
Tap: Alt
Select: Paste
Finally save the contents of the notepad:
Press: Esc (or you may select Quit by pressing F10 and pressing 'Q')
This will place you back at the ALT main menu.
Now go back to the notepad and erase its contents since what was
pasted into the notepad is not really very useful:
Press: Ctl - ( i.e., hold down the control key and press the
minus sign)
Now retrieve the notepad main menu:
Press: F10
The notepad, like most accessories uses the F10 key to retrieve
the command menu. In the notepad, for example, there are commands
to mark and copy blocks, append files, get files, print, search
and more. Retrieving a file with the notepad will now be illustrated:
Select: File
Select: Get
Type: \alt\tutorial
Press: Enter
A copy of this tutorial file will now be contained in the notepad.
Now search for the word tutorial:
Press: F10
Select: Search
Type: tutorial
Press: Enter
Now find the next occurrence of the word:
Press: F10
Select: Next
Escape from the notepad command line:
Press: Esc
The cursor will then be positioned at the next occurrence. Finally,
erase the contents of the notepad:
Press: Ctl -
As a final example of moving between your application programs and
ALT accessories, we will now learn a shortcut method for switching
back and forth between an application program and the most recently
visited accessory. This can be done by "double tapping" the Alt key:
Tap: Alt
Tap: Alt
That's right tap the Alt key twice. This will have the effect of
putting you into Lotus 123. Now to go quickly back to the notepad:
Tap: Alt
Tap: Alt
Practice this operation several times to get the hang of it.
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± More Accessories: the Filer ±
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The filer provides a convenient way to manage the files on your
disks. Now enter the filer:
Tap: Alt
Select: Disk
You should see a list of files, sizes and information about the
directory you are in. Initially, you will be placed in the ALT
directory. At this point, lets suppose you just want to see the
executable files in the ALT directory (i.e. all files which end
with the extension .exe)
Press: F10
Select: File/Dir
Select: Wildcard
Type: *.exe
Press: Enter
The display is now restricted only to .exe files. At this point,
it might be useful to choose a new directory on your disk to
view. To do so, get a map of the disk:
Press: F2
Press: Enter
At this point a hierarchical map of the disk is shown. Use the
arrow keys, PgUp, PgDn, Home and End to move around in the map.
Practice doing this and then select a directory containing some
files with extension .EXE in it:
Press: Enter
You will now be placed in that directory. If there were no
executable (.EXE) files in that directory, you will be shown the
message: No files are in this Directory! At this point set the
wildcard back to viewing all files:
Press: F10
Select: File/Dir
Select: Wildcard
Type: *.*
Press: Enter
Now the filer will show all files.
Multiple files can be marked for copying, deleting, moving, printing,
etc. Now try marking some files:
Press: + (any '+' key on your keyboard will work)
Repeat this operation several times. Notice that an asterisk is
placed beside the filename to indicate that the file has been marked
for a multiple file operation. This is called TAGGING files.
Now let us pretend that we want to print all of the files we have
marked. To do this:
Press: F10
Select: Print
Select: Tagged (to indicate that you want to print all tagged
files)
At this point a message about checking the printer is issued. To
begin printing you would just hit the Enter key at this point. We
don't really want to print those files, so
Press: Esc
This aborts the printing procedure. The same procedure of tagging
files and then selecting a command can also be applied to moving,
copying and deleting files.
Now practice un-tagging a few files by using the up arrow key to
the first file you marked.
Press: - ( any '-' key on your keyboard will work)
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± More Accessories: the Calculators ±
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Alt offers not one, but three calculators for your convenience.
To select a calculator:
Tap: Alt
Select: Calc
At this point you will be given three choices:
Algebraic Reverse_Polish_Notation Tape
Let's select the scrolling tape (adding machine) calculator:
(Note the Tape Calculator is not available on the Shareware
version.)
Select: Tape
Now get ready to use the calculator:
Press: Num-Lock ( to use the numeric keypad )
Now let's add $25.00, $56.50, $78.45 and $95.50:
Type: 25.
Press: +
Type: 5650
Press: +
Type: 7845
Press: +
Type: 9550
Press: =
And the answer 255.45 will appear. Notice how the "paper tape"
scrolled smoothly at the side will you were entering the numbers.
The other calculators can be tried at this point by pressing Esc
and then choosing a calculator. If you wish, try the Reverse Polish
or the Algebraic (parentheses calculator).
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± More Accessories: the Rolocards ±
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The Alt Rolocards provides a convenient way to keep track of
business associates, phone numbers, and addresses. To select
the Rolocards:
Tap: Alt
Select: Rolocards
If Rolocards has not been used previously, it will ask you to
create a ROLODEX file.
Press: Y
Lets add a couple of cards to your address book.
Press: F10
Select: Add
Type: John
Press: Enter
Type: D.
Press Enter
Type: Doe
Press: Enter
Type: 555-5555
Press: Enter
Type: 100 Main St.
Press: Enter
Press: Enter
Type: Maincity
Press: Enter
Type: Texas
Press: Enter
You practice by completing in the rest of the fields. Movement
from field to field can be obtained by using the following keys:
Up arrow, down arrow, tab, and shift-tab.
Modifications to fields can be made with the following keys.
Ctrl-X Delete line
INS Toggles between overtype and insert mode
DEL Deletes character under cursor
BackSpace Deletes character before cursor
When you are through adding information to the card:
Press: Esc
Select: Save
You are now asked if you would like to add another card,
Press: Y
Add another card using the name and address of one of your friends
and save it just as you have done previously. When asked if you
want to add another card,
Press: N
You can now scroll through the cards that you have added to your
Rolocards using the up and down arrows. If you only added two
cards then the scrolling will be limited. The number of cards
in your address book is only limited by the amount of free space
on your disk.
You can quickly jump to cards in your address book beginning with
a certain letter in the alphabet by pressing the Alt key along
with the selected letter. For example, to quickly jump to the
John Doe card we just added,
Press: Alt-D (i.e. Hold down the alt key and press the
'D' key on your keyboard. )
To view the contents of the card,
Press: F10
Select: View
To exit viewing the card
Press: Esc
If you have a modem, numbers in your Rolocards can be called
automatically by
Press: F10
Select: Call
The Rolocards may have to be configured to talk to your modem.
The configuration settings can be set by
Press: F9
Select: Modem
Refer to the Alt manual and your modem manual if you are not
familiar with the settings terminology.
To exit the Rolocards,
Press: Esc
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± Recording Macros ±
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Macros are convenient short-cuts for cutting down on lengthy and
repetitive key entry chores. For this example, we will go to the
notepad or if you wish, you can record the macro in your favorite
word processor instead. Let's suppose we want to indent 100 lines
of text by 10 spaces. You wouldn't want to do all that typing so
you might try recording a keyboard macro to cut down on the work.
First go to an editor (the notepad for example):
Tap: Alt
Select: Notepad
If the notepad is empty, try your hand at loading a file with the
F10, File, Get sequence. If you don't have a text file handy for
retrieval just type in a few lines of text and move to the first line.
Now begin recording an "Instant Macro" to indent by 10 spaces and move
to the next line:
Press: Alt-Shift-F1
Type ten spaces.
Press: Down-Arrow
Press: Home (to move to the first of the line)
Tap: Alt
You should have heard a gentle clicking sound to remind you that you
were recording a macro. When you pressed Alt-Shift-F1, you informed
ALT that you were ready to begin recording an "Instant Macro". You
then typed the keystrokes that you wanted to record. Finally, tapping
the Alt key informed ALT that you were finished recording the "Instant
Macro". Now try playing back the macro several times to indent the
next several lines:
Press: Alt-F1 (not Alt-Shift-F1)
This caused the recorded keystrokes to be played back. The same
technique of press the Alt-Shift-F2 key could be used to record a
macro for the Alt-F2 key and so on.
Notice now that a single keystroke can be used to indent the lines
instead of 11 keystrokes. If you were indeed formatting 100 lines
of text, this could be a big time savings!
Macro record can also be initiated by
Tap: Alt
Select: Other
Select: Record
Press: Alt-F5 ( or any other key, this associates a macro
with this key. )
Type: Macro to indent 10 spaces
Press: Enter
Type ten spaces.
Press: Down-Arrow
Press: Home (to move to the first of the line)
Tap: Alt
Select: Quit
To playback this macro:
Press: Alt-F5
If you forget your macros and their associated key:
Tap: Alt
Select: Other
Select: Titles
A menu will be displayed showing the available macros. Use the
up and down arrows to place the highlighted bar over the
selected macro and
Press: Enter
to playback the macro.
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± On-line Help ±
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A full context-sensitive help is available in Alt. While in
Alt's main menu or its accessories, you can obtain help by
Press: F1
Help on the accessory that you are in will be displayed in a
window. ( Note: The help file is not distributed with the
shareware version. )
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± Uninstall Alt ±
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To unload Alt and its accessories from memory,
(Make sure that you have quit any running programs or a possibility
exists of losing data or files. )
Tap: Alt
Select: Other
Select: Quit
Press: Y