Use the instructions in the Color Computer Disk System manual to turn on your computer system. After you do, the video screen displays a copyright message followed by the letters, OK. This is Disk Extended Color BASIC's way of telling you that it is ready to get to work. It is waiting for your commands.
OS-9 starts. If the DOS command returns a syntax error (S N ? ERROR), be sure you entered the command correctly. If DOS still returns the error, check to make sure you have installed your disk cartridge properly.
4. Type the year, month, date, hours, minutes, and seconds in the format requested; then press ENTER . For instance, if the date and time is September 3, 1986, 1:22 p.m., type:
Note that the time is entered in 24-hour notation and that the seconds (: SS) are optional.
ENTER . However, if you do, OS-9 cannot provide the correct date when you create and save data on disk. Also, it cannot provide the correct date and time for application programs that require them.
After you enter the date and time, the OS-9 prompt appears and OS-9 is now in control and ready to accept a command.
You should always keep the OS-9 System diskette in Drive 0 (/DO) while running OS-9 unless you have a hard disk containing your system files. An OS-9 System diskette is a backup copy of the OS-9 System Master diskette. The instructions for making copies are in the next chapter.
If you need to reboot OS-9 after the initial startup, press your computer's reset button (located at the right rear of the computer). Pressing the reset button one time causes the OS-9 boot message to reappear. The system then loads as it did originally. Be sure the System Master diskette is in Drive /DO when you reboot.
Pressing the reset button twice returns the computer to Disk BASIC.
In the same manner that you use OS-9 to start operations, you should use OS-9 to exit or close operations. Fbr instance, if you are in the middle of a process, it is unwise to suddenly turn off your computer. Doing so can destroy files or garble disks.
You can usually terminate an operation by pressing BREAK or CTRL 0: In some instances, you must let an operation complete its function before you can regain control of OS-9. If you are using an application program, that program's manual tells you how to exit the program to the OS-9 command level.
You should always be at the OS-9 command level to turn off your computer. Then follow these steps:
2. Take out any floppy diskettes from the disk drives, put them back in their protective envelopes, and store them in a safe place.
3. Turn off all the equipment attached to your computer such as a printer or disk drive(s); then turn off your TV or monitor. Last of all, turn off your computer and Multi-Pak Interface (if you have one). If you plug your equipment into a power strip, you can use the power strip switch to turn off all equipment at one time.
OS-9 can display both upper- and lowercase letters. However, you can tell it you want to use only uppercase. To do this, type:
If you do this, you cannot type lowercase letters, and the system displays all uppercase letters. To switch back to both uppercase and lowercase, type:
Even when you are in the upper-/lowercase mode, you can switch to typing all uppercase by pressing CTRL o0. Everything you type is now uppercase, but the computer can display both upper- and lowercase. Press CTRL o0 to switch back to upper-/lowercase.
If you want to type only one uppercase letter, hold down sH while you press that letter.
It does not matter to OS-9 whether you type in uppercase or lowercase letters, or any combination of upper- and lowercase letters. For instance, instead of typing TM 0 D E UPC, you can type tmode upc or Tmode UPC.
Everyone makes a mistake now and then when typing commands. If you type something the operating system doesn't recognize, or if you ask it to do something it cannot do, it displays an error message. This message is a number that refers to the type of problem that OS-9 has encountered. For instance, if you type x x x x ENTER (which is nonsense to OS-9), the system displays:
If you don't know the meaning of the system error number you have two options: (1) you can look up the reference in OS-9 Commands under Appendix A, "Error Codes" or, (2) you can type:
Either method shows you that Error #216 means "Path Name Not Found." OS-9 thought you wanted it to execute a command but it could not find one named x X X x .
