Section 3: The Configuration Process

BEX works with many input and output devices. In fact, BEX takes complete control of what are called the input/output routines for the Apple. (User Level Section 2 provides details.) In order for the Apple to interpret incoming information and to structure outgoing information, you must introduce yourself, the devices you're working with, and your preferences. The Boot side of BEX contains programs for working with many different braillers, various large print printers, and speech synthesizers, but all the programs can't fit in the Apple's memory at once. When you define a configuration, you're telling BEX which parts of the program you want to use, so BEX can load the appropriate ones in memory.

Part 1: Getting Ready

Two Starting Menu options can help you prepare for setting up your first configuration. Boot BEX and specify one of the six supplied configuration names when BEX prompts Enter configuration: and beeps. (Section 2, Part 3 gives details on this.) Then try out these two options.

Option W - What is in this computer

This option allows you to find out about the insides of your Apple without opening the cover. Press W and BEX tells you the name of the configuration you're currently using, the model of your computer, and what's in each of the slots. Most of this information is also available to you as you establish your own configuration: when BEX prompts for a slot number, you can press <CR> alone to find out what interface cards are in which slots.

Option V - View a configuration

This option displays the equipment preferences defined by a particular configuration. You can look at all configurations on the disk; use option W - What is in this computer to find out the name of the current configuration. After you press V, BEX scans the Boot side for configuration files, and supplies a numbered list of configuration names.

Enter the number or name that corresponds to the configuration name you entered when you booted BEX, and then press <CR>. These configurations include a generic inkprint printer in slot 1, and a Review class printer in slot 3. Please note that these configurations do not include a braille embosser. You must set up your own configuration when you want to braille material.

Since we established the six supplied configurations on the Apple IIe computers at RDC, what's displayed reflects our equipment. This means that even if you have an Apple IIc or IIgs, the supplied configurations state that you have an Apple IIe.

Part 2: Overview of Establishing a New Configuration

Every time you boot BEX, Enter configuration: is the first prompt you encounter. In Section 2, you responded with the name of a supplied configuration. To establish up a new configuration, you enter one of three punctuation marks that signal which level you wish to configure at. For the Learner Level, the punctuation is period, so enter . <CR> at the first prompt.

When you have properly installed an integral voice device in your Apple, BEX recognizes that it's there. When BEX notices an Echo or Cricket, it loads the TEXTALKER software that makes these voice devices speak. When BEX notices a SlotBuster, BEX loads the SCAT software that makes it speak. You know whether BEX has recognized your voice device when BEX talks the first Enter configuration: prompt.

After you enter . <CR> BEX asks you a series of questions. The Caps Lock key must be depressed or the Apple ignores your answers. You just type Y or N to respond to a yes or no question. You must finish every response by pressing <CR>. When you press <CR> alone to any of the questions, BEX responds with an explanation of what the question means, and what kind of answer you must give.

At the Learner Level, the configuration questions address four issues:

After you supply answers to all these questions, BEX prompts: Enter configuration name:

Use your initials or a short phrase that describes the devices you've specified. The next time you boot BEX, you type this name followed by <CR> at the Enter configuration: prompt.

You cannot edit the information in a configuration. But you can have several configurations on one disk; the only limit is the space on the disk. Generally, you establish one or two configurations which are your favorites. You don't have to describe every device you own in one configuration. You only go through the configuration process to establish a new configuration. Once it's established, you just type the configuration name at the Enter configuration: prompt and you proceed directly to the Starting Menu.

Each configuration question has at least two possible answers, so describing exactly what BEX says for all the possible combinations would require a separate manual. Help is available with every configuration question: when you don't understand what BEX wants to know, press <CR> alone to obtain a summary of your choices. To establish a new configuration at the Learner Level, enter . <CR> at the Enter configuration: prompt.

Part 3: Voice Questions

BEX only asks these questions when it recognizes an Echo, Cricket, or SlotBuster, installed in your Apple. When you don't have a voice device, you jump ahead to the screen display questions.

Do you want the voice off now?

When you answer Y <CR> then the voice won't speak during the configuration process. If you're a sighted person establishing a configuration for a blind person, you can answer N <CR> to the first question and still configure BEX with speech. However, you won't be able to hear some of the on-line help voice samples.

The Echo output during the configuration process uses fast speech. If you're having difficulty understanding the Echo, you can change this to slow speech by issuing an Echo command. After BEX has asked a question and is waiting for you to respond, press control-E E. All subsequent questions use slow speech. For the SlotBuster, press control-E 1 S to set speech at the slowest rate.

When you have an Echo or SlotBuster installed in your Apple, but BEX doesn't ask this question, check to make sure you've installed the circuit card correctly. Turn off the Apple, and remove the circuit card. Gently but firmly reinstall the card. Make sure that the volume knob on the card is not turned down all the way, and that the connection for the external speaker is secure. Then reboot BEX. If you still don't get speech, see the device's manual for further troubleshooting hints.

Ninety percent of the time, when a Cricket doesn't speak the first configuration question, it's very simple to fix. Turn off the power to the Apple. The Cricket cable must be plugged into port 2, and the power to the Cricket must be on before BEX boots. (You will encounter troubles if you plug the Cricket and the Apple into the same powerstrip, and power on the two devices simultaneously.)

Do you want Echo (or Cricket or SlotBuster) speech?

When you answer N <CR> you jump to the screen display questions. When you answer Y <CR> BEX asks further questions. For the SlotBuster, BEX asks just one question: Establish an automatic set-up sequence for your voice device? Consult the SlotBuster manual for the commands you want to send to the SlotBuster. After BEX asks this question, it temporarily changes the SlotBuster's command character to control-Q. This allows you to type in a set-up sequence with control-E. As soon as you press <DEL> to end the set-up sequence, BEX changes the command character back to control-E.

For the Echo and Cricket, BEX asks individual question about the speed, pitch, punctuation, and volume. The first question is Do you want fast speech? Press <CR> to get a sample of fast and slow speech. The next prompt is Set the Echo parameters? One of the reasons the Echo is useful is that it has many parameters that you can change to personalize the voice. Your answers to the next three questions establish the default values for the Echo's pitch, punctuation mode, and volume. You can change these values at all BEX menus and in the Editor if you want to. When you finish setting the Echo parameters, you move to the next section.

Part 4: Screen Display Questions

BEX can display letters in five sizes, measured in columns or how many characters fit on one screen line. The smallest screen display is 80 columns; the largest is five columns.

40 column screen is the default. Do you need a different screen display?

The large print sizes are 20, 10, and 5 column: when you wish to have large print screen display, answer Y <CR> to this question. Then enter the number of columns you wish to see. Unlike scrolling with the Apple's regular print--40 or 80 column--screen, you can control how fast letters appear with BEX's large print.

As introduced in Section 2, Part 4, when you press the solid-Apple (or Option) key alone, large print scrolling slows to a crawl. When you press the open-Apple (or Command) key alone, large print scrolling freezes. You can also change the scrolling rate, or how fast the letters appear on the screen. BEX starts out at the fastest speed. Solid-Apple-number (or Option-number) controls the speed of scrolling; 1 is slowest and 9 is fastest. You can only change the rate during scrolling; you cannot change the rate when BEX is waiting for input. To initiate scrolling, press <CR> at any menu prompt. Now, as the characters scroll by, depress the solid-Apple (or Option) key. Press and release a digit between 1 and 9, then release the solid-Apple (or Option) key.

() Warning! The Large Print screen display, especially 10- and 5-column, can generate a strobe-like effect when used in conjunction with certain video display monitors, which may cause seizures in person who are prone to them. Since the visually handicapped population has a demonstrably higher incidence of neurological conditions which may conceivably be adversely affected or aggravated by this strobe effect, you may wish to carefully examine the manner in which the software functions in conjunction with your particular monitor. Raised Dot Computing, Inc. makes no representation and assumes no liability with the above-mentioned condition. You may wish to consult a physician with regard to your own particular situation.

When you depend solely on voice output, press N <CR> to accept the default response to the screen display question. When you do, the next question is Do you want HI-RES screen in the Editor? HI-RES screen displays 40 characters on a line, and separates each line of text with open space to make it easier for a person with no vision impairment to read the screen. HI-RES screen display refreshes slightly more slowly, so if you are depending solely on voice, answer this question with N <CR> By the way, you don't have to use a computer monitor when you're relying solely on voice output.

Part 5: Printer Questions

This is the lengthiest part of the configuration process. You define up to four printers which can be either inkprint, braille, or serial voice devices. You can specify four different devices, or up to four different sets of parameters for the same device. When you want to specify less than four, then enter zero for the next slot number. For example, to describe only one printer, enter a zero for the second printer's slot number.

BEX labels each printer description with a number from 1 to 4. The first printer you configure is always 1, the second is always 2, and so forth. When you are ready to print something, you use this printer number to reference the information you've provided in your configuration. The printer number does not refer to the slot where the printer interface is plugged in. When it comes time to print, BEX asks you for the printer number. When BEX prompts Which printer: you can enter ? <CR> to get a summary of the information you provide here in your configuration.

Remember, if you are uncertain how to answer a question, enter <CR> alone and you receive instructions on what BEX needs to know. In addition to the on-line help, more information about printers is provided in the BEX Interface Guide and in the manual that came with your printer.

For each printer, you are asked a series of questions. There are some questions that are asked for all types of printer, and some which are specific to particular printer classes. BEX tailors the output differently depending on the printer's class.

Enter printer slot:

You must tell BEX the number of the slot that your printer interface card is plugged into, otherwise BEX won't know where to send information to be printed. When you want to specify less than four printers, enter 0 <CR> at this question.

When you configure a Review class printer or a braille previewer, you must answer 3 <CR> to this question. (These printers use the 80-column card in your Apple; although it is not actually plugged in to slot 3, the Apple thinks of the 80-column card as being plugged in there. When you don't have an 80-column card, BEX won't let you configure this way.)

Enter printer class:

While there are seven printer classes, at the Learner Level we focus on four basic classes. Information about class V - Voice device and class P - Paperless brailler is provided in the User Level. Information on the class S - Specific printers appears at the Master Level. Details about the class A - Apple LaserWriter PostScript driver can be obtained by contacting RDC.

Class G - Generic inkprint printer

As the name implies, a generic printer is a "one size fits almost everybody" inkprint printer. It can be dot-matrix or daisy wheel.

Class B - Braille embossers

None of the supplied configurations include a braille embosser. When you want to create braille output with BEX, you must define a braille embosser in your configuration. All braille embossers are class B printers. You won't get well-formatted braille if you define a brailler as anything but a class B printer.

Class L - Large print printer

BEX can make large print output on some dot-matrix printers when you have the appropriate interface card. In addition to the on-line explanations in the configuration process, there are details about interfacing in the BEX Interface Guide. You must have both a supported printer and a supported interface card for a class L printer to work.

Class R - Review class printers

A Review class printer is a special way of printing to the 80-column screen that lets you proofread your text exactly as it would be printed to a real printer. The supplied configurations all include a class R printer--check out Section 2, Part 11 for an example of its use. Because class R printers use the 80-column card, you must answer 3 <CR> to the previous Enter printer slot: questions for a Review class printer. If you don't, BEX gives you another chance to do it right.

Enter printer (or brailler) code:

You are asked this question for large print printers and braille embossers. Press <CR> alone for the list of codes. After you enter the code that corresponds to your device, BEX confirms the choice; you have another chance to enter the code if you picked the wrong one.

RDC tries to support as many braille embossers as possible. These include manufactured braillers, like the Cranmer, VersaPoint, MBOSS-1, and Thiel; and homebrew brailling methods, like Dipner Dots. Much more detail on these is available in the BEX Interface Guide.

Brailler codes 1 and 2 are braille previewers. These are braille equivalents of the Review class printer (so they must be configured in slot 3). The braille previewers allow you to proofread braille material on the screen that looks exactly like what's sent to a braille embosser.

Enter carriage width:

This question is asked for generic, large print, Review class printers as well as braille embossers. The carriage width defines the maximum number of characters BEX prints on each line. Press <CR> alone at this prompt for commonly-used values, which vary greatly depending on the printer class. Learner Level Section 5 provides extensive advice for making nice-looking print output.

Enter form length:

This question is asked for generic, large print, and Review class printers as well as braille embossers. Form length defines the maximum number of lines BEX prints on each page. Again, you can press <CR> for suggested values.

Do you want pause after form feed?

This question is asked for large print and generic inkprint printers. How you answer depends on how you feed paper into your printer. When your printer uses continuous-feed paper, you answer N <CR> If your printer uses single sheets of paper instead of tractor feed paper, you do want pause on form feed, so you answer Y <CR> to this question. When you tell BEX to print to this printer number, BEX pauses after each page and waits for you to insert a fresh piece of paper and press <space>.

Do you want auto line feed?

This question is asked for generic inkprint printers. Your answer controls BEX's behavior at the end of each line of printed output. Always start out answering N <CR> because most printers and printer interface cards take care of linefeed themselves. When your printer prints all the text for a page on just one line, and the only time you hear the paper advancing is at a new page, reconfigure. When you answer Y <CR> BEX generates both a carriage return and a linefeed command for each new line.

Part 6: Finishing Up the Configuration Questions

Enter number of disk drives

At the Learner Level, BEX only works with one or two 5.25-inch disk drives, so there are only two possible answers to this question. When you enter 1 <CR> BEX prompts you to switch between program disk and data disk. Please consult Appendix 3 for information on using a one-drive system.

At the Master Level, you can configure up to eight disk drives, choosing among 5.25-inch and 3.5-inch disk drives, RAM drives, and the Sider hard disk.

Enter a name for this configuration:

Once you have answered all the questions, you get to name your configuration. Configuration names follow two simple rules: The first character must be a letter, and the name cannot exceed ten characters in length. Choose a name you can easily remember. When the name you choose already exists on the Boot side of BEX, then the new information overwrites the old.

After you type the name, finish with <CR>. Now that you have established your own configuration, enter its name at the Enter configuration: prompt when you first boot BEX. If you can't remember the name, you can type ? <CR> at BEX's first prompt, and BEX lists all the existing configurations.

The only limit to the number of configurations is the space available on disk. You can define several configurations to describe various combinations of equipment and screen display. When both a sighted and blind person are using the same Apple, each can define a configuration that meets their needs.

Part 7: Sample Questions and Answers for Printer Section

To provide you with a feel for all the possibilities, here's one way you could answer the printer questions. This text is just a sample--you must answer the questions as appropriate for your equipment.

This sample assumes you have a 128K Apple IIe with an extended 80-column card. You have a VersaPoint embosser connected to an interface card in slot 4 and an ImageWriter printer connected to an interface card in slot 1. You configure the VersaPoint as printer number 1. You configure the ImageWriter twice: as printer number 2, the ImageWriter is a large print printer; as printer number 3, it's a generic inkprint printer. Printer number 4 is a Review class printer. Since you use printer 4 to proofread material before it's sent to printer number 3, printers 3 and 4 have the same carriage width and form length. Note that the printer numbers refer to the order they are defined in, not to the slot where the device is hooked up.
PRINTER SECTION
Printer ONE Description
Enter printer slot: 4 <CR>
Enter printer class: B <CR>
Enter Brailler code: 9 <CR>
That means Personal Brailler.
Is that what you want? N <CR>
Enter Brailler code: 10 <CR>
That means T S I VersaPoint.
Is that what you want? Y <CR>
Enter carriage width: 41 <CR>
Enter form length: 225 <CR>
A typical value here is 25
Enter form length: 25 <CR>
Printer TWO Description
Enter printer slot: 1 <CR>
Enter printer class: L <CR>
Enter Large Print printer code: 1 <CR>
Enter font size: 14 <CR>
Enter line spacing: <CR>
Line spacing is measured from
baseline to baseline.
A typical value here is 21.
Enter line spacing: 18 <CR>
Enter extra spacing between characters: 0 <CR>
Enter carriage width: 53 <CR>
Enter form length: 37 <CR>
Do you want pause after form feed? N <CR>
Printer THREE Description
Enter printer slot: 1 <CR>
Enter printer class: G <CR>
Enter carriage width: 72 <CR>
Enter form length: 58 <CR>
Do you want pause after form feed? N <CR>
Do you want auto linefeed? N <CR>
Printer FOUR Description
Enter printer slot: 1 <CR>
Enter printer class: R <CR>
CANCELED
REQUIRES 80 COLUMN CARD, SPECIFY SLOT 3
Enter printer slot: 3 <CR>
Enter printer class: R <CR>
Enter carriage width: 72 <CR>
Enter form length: 58 <CR>

This sample demonstrates some of the error-checking BEX does as you establish a new configuration. When configuring printer 1, you entered 9 instead of 10. Since BEX confirms your choice, you have an opportunity to cancel the 9 and re-enter 10.

When configuring printer 2, you were unsure about the meaning of line spacing. You press <CR> and you get some advice about what to enter. You happened to have seen a sample of 14-point BEX large print, and you prefer less space between the lines than the default. BEX uses the answer you give to this question to calculate the suggested value for form length.

For printer 4, you specified slot 1, then a Review class printer. That combination doesn't work, because the Review class printer uses the 80-column card in slot 3. BEX gave you another chance.

Part 8: Configuration Error Messages

If you answer the configuration questions with strange values, you may get strange output. For example, if you give an inkprint printer a carriage width of 5, you'll get very short lines. The following problems could interfere with getting to the Starting Menu at all.

BEX tries to diagnose errors that interfere with saving a configuration on the disk. Here are error messages and how to cope with them:

Section 4: The Editor

A word processing program allows you to prepare written material efficiently. You can review your text before you print it, so that you know that your final output is the way you want. You can save the text you write to disk and reprint it again whenever you want. You can make minor modifications to an existing text without having to retype the whole thing.

The part of BEX where you do all these things is called the Editor. Use the Editor to write, review, add, delete and correct text, and enter format information.

In this Section, we introduce some basic word processing concepts. You'll learn how to move around in the Editor, and how to delete and insert text.

Part 1: Editing a New Chapter

In Section 2, we explored the Editor by examining an existing chapter. The Editor is at the Main menu; press E to use the Editor. BEX confirms your choice, then asks for the drive number or chapter name you wish to use:
Main Menu
Enter Option: E <CR>
Editor
Drive number or chapter name:

There are two ways to edit an existing chapter: When you know its name, type the name, followed by <CR>. Or you can enter a drive number followed by <CR>. BEX then presents a numbered list of chapters, and asks you to choose one chapter from the list by number.

The first step in creating a new chapter is to tell BEX the name of the chapter you wish to create. You type a name, and finish with <CR>. You can add a drive number to the beginning of the name when you want the chapter saved on a drive other than the default data drive. After you type the name and press <CR>, BEX scans the disk drive to see if that name is on it. If it is not, BEX asks you if you want to start a new chapter, and supplies the Y default answer. Since you do want to start a new chapter, press <CR> to accept the default answer.

Part 2: Rules for Chapter Names

A BEX chapter name cannot exceed 25 characters. If you try to enter a name that's too long, BEX tells you so and complains with a low boop. The first character of a chapter name must be a letter, but you can use numerals, spaces and some punctuation in the rest of the name if you want to. There are 4 punctuation characters you must never use in a chapter name: period, comma, semicolon, or colon. If you use one of these four, BEX won't be able to recognize the disk file as a chapter. When you are entering the chapter name, every letter is interpreted as uppercase, whether or not you use the shift or Caps Lock key.

Part 3: Chapters and Pages

A BEX chapter is made up of pages. A page is an arbitrary division in the Editor: it can contain from zero to 4096 characters. Each page is stored as one file on your data disk. When you start a new chapter, you always start on page 1.

A BEX chapter can contain up to 30 pages. These pages do not refer to the number of physical print or braille pages when a document is printed or embossed. An average sheet of braille contains around 1000 characters, and an average sheet of double-spaced inkprint text contains around 2000 characters. From this you can see that a single BEX page can contain enough text to fill several output pages.

Part 4: How Data is Organized

As you use BEX, you'll work with data organized in five ways: as a BEX chapter, within a chapter as pages; within a page as paragraphs; within a paragraph as words, and within a word as characters. Before we get any further, we'd better define our terms.

The Basic Unit: the Character

A character can be any lowercase and uppercase letter; the digits 0 through 9; punctuation like comma, period, percent sign, parenthesis, and the space character. These characters are what your printer or brailler prints. A character can also be a control character. Instead of being printed, a control character controls the behavior of a printer or a computer. A few of the keys on the Apple keyboard are control characters. The first one you learned is the carriage return, also known as control-M or simply return. That's the key we refer to as: <CR>.

To move around in the Editor, you issue commands that consist of control characters and other characters in combination. For example, to move your cursor ahead by 2000 characters, you enter control-A 2000 <space>.

You can also include a control character as an item in your text. A control character controls the behavior of your printer when it's sent out of the Apple. For example, you can type <CR> in your text. Every time a printer or embosser encounters a <CR> in the text it's receiving, it moves the printhead to the beginning of the next line.

() Hint! You don't have to type a <CR> at the end of every line in BEX. BEX automatically inserts <CR>s when needed as it's printing.

You can insert a <CR> when you want to force a new line. When you do type a <CR> in your text, it's actually there. The screen shows it (with the letters C and R or a checkerboard pattern) and the Echo says "return."

Larger Units: Words, Lines, and Paragraphs

The basic unit is a character. The next size up is a word. BEX has a pretty crude definition for a word: any series of characters that's bounded on each side by a space or a <CR>. That means that a word also includes letters with touching punctuation, such as a period, colon, or comma. For example, suppose you have this sentence in your text:
"I<space>love<space>margarine!"
BEX considers this sentence to have three words.

How many characters fit on a screen line can vary from five characters (in G or F screen mode) to 80 characters (in W mode). You tell BEX how many characters you want on a line when you print, and you can print the same information with many different formats. At the User Level, we explain the line preview feature, where you can examine how material will look when it's printed without leaving the Editor.

The next division is the paragraph. BEX uses a special indicator to mark the beginning of a paragraph: space, dollar sign, lowercase p space. To emphasize that the paragraph indicator is always four keystrokes long, we show it as ( $p ) throughout this manual. (By the way, this is the same symbol that the VersaBraille uses to mark a paragraph.) To start a new paragraph in your text, you type in those four characters. When your text is printed, BEX executes the paragraph indicator as appropriate for print or braille format, so the ( $p ) doesn't appear in your output. A paragraph can contain one word or thousands of words: you define a paragraph by where you place the ( $p ) indicator.

We've already described chapters and pages, so now you're ready to dive in to the Editor.

Part 5: Starting a New Chapter

When you type a name at the Editor prompt, BEX checks to see if it already exists on the disk. When you add the digit 1 before the chapter name, BEX checks drive 1; otherwise, BEX assumes you want the default drive 2. When the name isn't on the disk, BEX asks Want to start a new chapter? and then supplies a default Y answer. Press <CR> to accept the default, and BEX pauses for a moment to save the name to disk, then announces the first page. This means you're in the Editor. In Section 2, Part 11 we described the cursor, which marks your place in the text.

The keyboard buffer

Since you've just started a new chapter, there is no text, so start typing. As you type each letter, it appears at the cursor and the cursor moves over one to the right. BEX stores all the characters you type in a special place in memory called the keyboard buffer. Both the text you type and the commands you enter are stored in the keyboard buffer.

If you are a fast typist, or if you have a large print screen display, you hear little clicks from the Apple speaker as you type. This is the sound of characters being fed from the keyboard buffer to the screen, and to the Echo if you are in control-S A mode, which announces every keystroke. Take care when you type: when you hold down a key for more than a half-second, the character automatically repeats. Don't hold down the left and right arrow keys to move your cursor forward several words. When you release the key, the keyboard buffer has stored more move-one-character commands than you expect, and your cursor overshoots. Use control-G and control-R instead.

Uppercase and lowercase letters

The Editor recognizes the difference between uppercase and lowercase letters, unlike at the menu prompts. When you have the Caps Lock key depressed, release it when you enter the Editor. Use the shift key to get uppercase letters.

How characters appear on the screen

How many characters fit on each line of the screen depends on the screen mode you've chosen in your configuration. BEX fills each line on the screen with characters, so part of one word may appear at the end of one line and the rest of it at the beginning of the next line. Don't let this disconcert you--when you send the text out of the Apple to a printer, embosser, or voice device, your text is properly formatted. At the User Level, you'll learn how to change the screen display inside the Editor.

Formatting Your Text

When you want to start a new paragraph, type the paragraph indicator: ( $p ). Those four characters appear on the screen, and when you print your chapter, there will be a new paragraph wherever you entered the paragraph ( $p ) indicator. BEX has many commands that are oriented around the ( $p ) indicator, so it's a good idea to use it often.

When you want to force a new line, you have a choice: you can either enter <CR> or use the new-line indicator: space, dollar sign, lowercase l, space ( $l ). The <CR> and the ( $l ) have the same effect: BEX forces the printer or embosser to start a new line.

We discuss many other format commands in Section 6: how to center, underline, and use tabs, and to instruct BEX how to execute the paragraph ( $p ) indicator.

Part 6: Entering Editor Commands

All Editor commands start with control characters. Hold down the control key, then press the specified letter, then release the control key. After BEX executes any Editor command, the Apple speaker makes a low boop. If you enter a command BEX doesn't recognize, the speaker makes a high beep.

Some Editor commands consist of several control characters in a row; in this situation, you hold down the control key, press the specified letters, then release the control key. We show a single-letter control command as: control-G. (This advances your cursor one word and speaks it.) Although we show the letter g in uppercase, you don't need to depress the shift key to enter the control-G command. An example of a two-letter control command is control-A control-P. (For easier reading, we show a space between the two characters, but do not press the spacebar between control-A and control-P.) This advances your cursor to the next ( $p ).

BEX is quite picky when it comes to entering commands properly. All characters in a command must be entered as control characters, unless otherwise specified. When they are not, the command will not work properly. Control-A P won't advance your cursor to the next paragraph; it advances your cursor to the end of the page.

Other Editor commands start with a control character and are followed by one or more plain letters. An example is control-S A, which toggles off and on the speaking of all keystrokes. Again, you don't press the spacebar between the control-S and the A, and you don't need to use the shift key.

Part 7: Moving Around in the Editor

There are many ways to move around in BEX's Editor: some commands simply move the cursor, and other commands move the cursor and also speak. There is very little duplication between movement-only and movement-with-output commands; we recommend that even BEX users who only use the screen investigate all the commands.

Silent Cursor Movement

The up arrow moves the cursor up one line on the screen. If you press the up arrow when you are on the top line of the screen, then the screen display changes to show previous text. When you press the up arrow when you are on the very first screen line of the page, your cursor moves to character position 0. Like the <CR> key, the up arrow key is a single-key control character: entering control-K is the same as pressing the up arrow.

The down arrow does exactly the same thing as the up arrow, but in the opposite direction. Control-J is the equivalent to pressing the down arrow key.

Advancing the cursor

Control-A starts many editor commands which advance the cursor forward through your text: how far you advance depends on the subsequent characters you type.

Zooming back the cursor

There is an equal and opposite set of commands that zoom back the cursor. They all begin with control-Z in place of control-A.

You can begin to see the patterns in these cursor movement commands. The first control character determines the direction you move: control-A advances forward, and control-Z zooms backward. Then, you can type some numbers to determine how far you move. Finally, there's a unit character: control-P stands for the paragraph unit, while <space> stands for the character unit. At the User Level, we discuss a number of other units you can use as you move your cursor.

Moving to Specific Characters: Locating Text

Use control-L to locate text from your current cursor in two directions. Start out with control-L, then type the exact characters you wish to locate. You can type in a string that's up to 35 characters long. Your search string can contain any character that is in your chapter.

Control-L is very picky: you must type in the search string exactly as it appears in your text. This includes uppercase and lowercase letters, and punctuation. As you are typing in the characters you wish to locate, you can use the left arrow key to fix typing errors.

When you are finished typing the search string, use the movement commands to search in a specific direction. Press control-A to locate the string ahead of the current cursor position. Press control-Z to search text previous to the current cursor position.

When BEX executes the locate command, it moves your cursor to the first character of your search string, and makes the Apple speaker boop. When you want to find another occurrence of the same string, simply enter control-L control-A or control-L control-Z again. You do not need to type the search string again. The locate command remembers the characters until you enter a different search string.

When BEX can't find an occurrence of your string, you get one high error beep and your cursor stays where it is.

Talking Cursor Movement

Even if you don't use speech with BEX, these commands still move your cursor as described. What we describe here for the Echo is generally true for the SlotBuster. Check your SlotBuster manual for further information.

The left arrow key, control-H, and the right arrow key, control-U move you one character at a time to the left or right; we refer to this movement as arrowing. When you arrow to a character, the Echo pronounces the character your cursor lands on, regardless of punctuation mode. BEX gives the Echo a special vocabulary that's only used for arrowing, which is slightly different from TEXTALKER'S vocabulary. The special vocabulary lets the Echo pronounce all control characters, and makes it say escape instead of control-left brace; right bracket instead of ready; ampersand instead of and, etc. When you try to arrow past the last character on the page, you get the high error beep. When your cursor is at character position 0 and you press left arrow, you hear that character announced even though your cursor can't move further left.

Talking words

You can make the Echo speak one word at a time by using control-G and control-R. Control-G goes forward a word and speaks it. Control-R reverses a word and speaks it.

In Part 4, we defined a word as any series of characters that doesn't contain a space or a <CR>. When your cursor is in the middle of a word and you enter control-G, the Echo only speaks the characters from your cursor to the next space or <CR>. When your cursor is in the middle of a word and you enter control-R, the Echo speaks the entire word (forwards, not backwards!)

Talking sentences

These two commands are handy for reviewing portions of text with the Echo. After the Echo starts speaking, you can shut it up and stop the cursor by pressing <space>.

Control-T talks the next sentence. Press <space> to turn off control-T, and your cursor stops after the word you heard when you pressed the spacebar. To start speech and cursor movement, enter control-T again.

Control-O is the "output a bunch" command: it outputs to the end of the current page and moves the cursor there. As you listen to text with control-O, you can use <space> to stop output and cursor movement at any point. Pressing <space> turns off control-O; to hear more text, enter control-O again.

Using control-O and <space> is very handy for proofreading. BEX pauses slightly between each word to check to see if you've pressed <space>. At the User Level, you learn how to modify the Editor environment to eliminate these pauses if you wish. (If you don't have an Echo, control-O just moves the cursor forward to the end of the current page.)

Part 8: Moving from Page to Page

Each BEX page can hold 4096 characters, but you don't need to fill up each one. The page is an arbitrary division, and need not refer to a particular output page.

You can move to a new page whenever you want. Enter control-P # <space> to move to a specific page number. For example, to move from page 1 to page 2, enter control-P 2 <space>. The disk drive whirs as the characters in page 1 are saved, and you're at character position 0 on page 2. To move back to page 1, enter control-P 1 <space>. The characters you've typed in page 2 are saved to disk, and then the characters on disk in page 1 are copied into the page buffer.

Control-P 0 saves your current page to disk, and puts you at character position 0 of the same page. When you are working for a long time on one page, use this command as a quick method of saving your data.

Control-P <space> cancels your page move. When you have accidentally entered control-P or when you have changed your mind, press <space> and your cursor stays in the same position as when you entered control-P.

Control-C control-P cuts the page at the current cursor, leaving you at character position 0 of the second page you've just created. A paragraph is usually a logical place to divide a page. If you want to, though, you could enter control-C control-P right in the middle of a word. When your chapter is printed, that word will output fine. The page is an arbitrary division; you decide what relationship each page has to your final output.

You can use any of these commands except control-P 0 to create more pages. BEX automatically renumbers your pages. Suppose you have a six-page chapter, and you're on page 4. There are 3600 characters in the page, and your cursor is at position 2000. You enter control-C control-P. Page 4 now has 2000 characters. The text between your cursor and the old end of page 4 becomes page 5, with 1600 characters. Your cursor is at position 0 of the new page 5. Old pages 5 and 6 automatically become pages 6 and 7. Every time you move between pages, you save the former page to disk.

BEX creates pages sequentially. It will not let you create pages out of order. For example, when you have a three page chapter and you enter control-P 20 <space> you move to the beginning of page 4.

When to Move to a New Page

As a rule of thumb, move to a new page when you have 3300 characters in your current page. For all screen sizes except 5-column, the number of characters in the current page are displayed on the status line on the bottom of the screen. Enter control-W C for speech output of your current cursor position and the number of characters in your current page. (See Part 11, Status Information for details.)

Every Key Beeps for a Full Page

When you type along for quite a while, you may suddenly find yourself getting a beep every time you press a key. This means that you filled up your page; you have 4096 characters in it.

Don't panic, it's easy to fix. Enter control-Z 2000 <space>. This zooms your cursor back approximately halfway through your page. Now enter control-A control-P. This advances your cursor to the next paragraph. Enter control-C control-P and you cut your page in two.

Part 9: Inserting Text

BEX offers two different ways to insert new text into existing text. You can type in text directly from the keyboard, or insert text from the clipboard. At the Learner Level, you can only insert text from the keyboard. The clipboard is really a lot of fun; you'll learn how to use it at the User Level.

Overwrite vs. insert

Whenever you position your cursor in the middle of some text and then start typing, the new characters overwrite the existing characters, deleting them. You can insert and delete text by issuing Editor commands.

Insert Text from the Keyboard

When you insert text, the new characters appear at the cursor position. Before you start inserting, place your cursor exactly where you want the new text to appear. The insert places the new text between your cursor and the character or space immediately before it.

Signal the start of the keyboard insert by entering control-I. There's a Tab key on your keyboard which is actually a control-I key, so you can just press Tab to start the keyboard insert. After you press Tab all the characters from the character under your cursor to the end of the screen turn into the underbar character. Don't worry, the text that just disappeared is still in your chapter; the underbars make it easier for sighted BEX users to know when they are inserting. When you type beyond the end of the screen, your text scrolls up, placing the line your cursor is on in the middle of the screen. The rest of the screen contains underbar characters. Type along merrily: every character you type is inserted in the text immediately before the character your cursor was on when you entered Tab.

When you're ready to complete the insert, enter control-N. The Null command control-N refreshes the screen, and the inserted text takes its rightful place, with your cursor at the same character it was when you entered control-I.

For example, you have the word fanciful in your text, and you want to insert quotation marks around it. Use the locate command to move to the word: press control-L then enter fan then locate forward with control-A. When you hear the low boop and the cursor position number, your cursor is on the letter from. Press Tab, press the quote, then enter control-N. Now enter control-G; your cursor moves to the space after the letter like. Press Tab, press the quote, then enter control-N. You can arrow over the word to check if you've entered the quotation marks correctly.

Another example adds words to a phrase. Suppose you have: It's a beautiful day and you want to add the words bright and between a and beautiful. Position your cursor at the <space> boundary between a and beautiful, then press Tab to begin inserting. Type <space>bright<space>and then press control-N to exit the insert mode.

Exiting insert

Actually, you don't have to use control-N to complete the insert. Every control character completes the insert, with the exception of three: control-M or <CR>, control-H or left arrow, and control-C. These exceptions allow you to insert carriage returns and control characters into your text, and let you use the left arrow to back up and make minor corrections in the text you're inserting.

You can use the right arrow key to leave or complete the insert. The right arrow key is actually control-U, so it qualifies as a control character. After you press control-I, any Editor command you enter accomplishes two functions: because Editor commands are all control characters, you complete the insert and then execute the Editor command. For example, when you are in insert and type control-Z control-G you exit insert and the Echo speaks the next word.

Part 10: Deleting Text

You use control-D to begin all delete commands. Similar to the cursor move commands control-A and control-Z, you can combine control-D with a unit character to delete text by characters, words, and paragraphs.

Deleting characters

Control-D <space> deletes one character. Control-D 17 <space> deletes 17 characters. When the number that follows control-D has more than 4 digits, BEX boops and deletes only one character. If you enter control-D by mistake, you can enter zero <space> to cancel the command.

Deleting words

Control-D # control-W deletes # number of words. Entering control-D control-W with no number deletes one word. BEX defines a word to be the characters in between two spaces or <CR>s. When your cursor is on the space or <CR> that defines the start of a word, control-D control-W deletes that character and all the characters up to but not including the next space or <CR>. When your cursor is on any character in a word, then control-D control-W deletes the entire word, from the previous space or <CR>. Control-D 5 control-W deletes five words, starting with the space or <CR> that defines the first word and up to the last character of the fifth word. When you enter a large number, for example, control-D 2000 control-W you can delete the rest of the page.

Deleting paragraphs

Control-D control-P deletes all the characters from the cursor position up to the initial space of the next paragraph ( $p ) indicator. Control-D control-P deletes one paragraph.

Un-Deleting

There comes a time in your life when you regret a deletion. Because of how BEX is designed, there are a number of approaches that allow you to recover information you deleted by mistake.

When you are editing an existing chapter and you delete something by mistake, it's easy to return to your original text. When you edit an existing chapter, you copy the information from the page file on disk to the page buffer. The changes you make in the page buffer (including deleting characters) are not saved on disk until you move to another page or quit with control-Q. To not save the changes you've made, simply "crash" out of the Editor with Control-Reset. The next time you edit that chapter, you copy the original text from the page file to the page buffer: your original text will be back in your chapter.

When you regret deleting text that has not yet been saved to disk, you may be able to use the RUN 999 procedure to recover your data. Details on RUN 999 are in Section 13.

Deleting Blocks of Text

The deletion commands work well when you know how many units you wish to delete. The editor also has a special, invisible pointer called the block marker that you can use to make deleting text easier. At the User Level, you'll discover other uses for the block marker as you find out about the clipboard.

Block marker commands

There are two ways to find out where your marker is set:

Using the block delete

It's easy to block delete large portions of text. Position your cursor at the end of the text you want to keep, then enter control-B S to set the block marker. Advance your cursor with any of the Editor movement commands. For Echo users, control-O is useful if you want to delete more than a sentence. When you hear the word that ends the text you wish to delete, press <space>. Now, enter control-B D and all the text between the block marker and your cursor disappears. The character your cursor covers is not deleted. Set the block marker again with control-B S, and enter control-O again to start speech and cursor movement.

() Hint! You don't have to cancel a block marker before you establish a new marker. Every time you press control-B S the old marker is erased and the new marker is set.

When you decide that you don't want to delete some of the text in the block, and you've already entered control-B, press <space> to cancel the block command. You may then reset the block marker where you want it.

Block related error beeps

As you use control-B commands, you can receive two kinds of error beeps. A single high error beep signals that you've entered a command sequence BEX doesn't recognize. For example, if you entered control-B F, you would hear one high beep.

Three high beeps can indicate two kinds of marker error. If you place your cursor before the marker and then enter control-B D, BEX complains with three beeps. Your cursor must be after the block marker is set in your text. When you enter a command that requires a set marker, but no marker is set, you also get three beeps. Either you neglected to set the marker, or you executed an insert or delete command and your marker was erased. This can happen with control-B D or control-B L.

Part 11: Status Information

The bottom line on the screen displays the current cursor position, the size of the page (or total characters in current page), and the current page number. The line above this shows the letters that correspond to the control character of the Editor commands as you execute them. In 5-column screen, the display only shows the current cursor and total page size.

For more details and Echo output about your status, use the "Where am I?" command, control-W. When you enter control-W, the Echo announces the character under your cursor and then the text temporarily disappears. You're presented with a question mark prompt on an otherwise blank screen. You can now enter one of these four characters: B, C, P, or A:

You can press any of the letters B, C, P or A as many times as you need to get information. After you digest the control-W information, press any key except B, C, P or A to return to data entry.

Part 12: Quitting The Editor

Enter control-Q to quit the Editor and save your current page to disk. Enter control-Reset to quit the Editor and abandon any changes you have made to the current page. If you enter control-Reset and then think, "Gee, I wish I had saved that page," you have one chance to save the changes you made: depress the Caps Lock key, type RUN 999 <CR> and follow the prompts. See Section 13 for details.

Part 13: Changing the Environment in the Editor

There are many ways to customize the editor's environment--we introduce three basic commands at the Learner Level. At the User Level you'll learn how to change the screen mode while in the Editor, and how to use the braille keyboard.

Most of these commands start out with control-S for set environment. Most of these commands are toggled: the first time you enter the command, you turn the mode or feature on, and the next time you enter the command, you turn the feature off. When you change the environment, that change lasts until you toggle it off by entering the command again, or until you turn off the computer.

Announce All Keystrokes

Control-S A makes the Echo announce every key you press. You hear all your Editor commands announced, and every key you press as you type in text. When the Echo is announcing every keystroke, you have to type very slowly. This is a toggled mode: enter control-S A again to return to normal. In announcing keystrokes, BEX uses the special vocabulary described under Talking Cursor Movement in Part 7: to minimize confusion, arrow keys (and their corresponding control characters) are announced as up, down, left, and right.

The Lock Out Changes Command

Control-S L disables all Editor commands that alter your text, and makes every keystroke a control character. While you are in this mode, you may use any of the Editor motion commands, but you cannot alter your text in any way. You cannot add, delete, or edit text while in this mode. For example, after you enter control-S L, pressing just the letter O executes control-O to move your cursor forward and speak. Entering Z <space> zooms your cursor back to the start of the page. Pressing a plain L starts the Locate command, but you must enter control-A or control-Z after you enter your search string to start cursor movement. When you enter any "unsafe" command that could change your text, like control-D for deletion or Tab for insertion, BEX gives the high error beep. Toggle out of this mode by entering control-S L again.

Send Echo Commands within the Editor

Almost all of the Echo commands are available within the Editor. (A full explanation of Echo commands is in Section 10.) You can't use control-L to enter line review, but there are many other ways to review your text with BEX's editor commands. You can use the spacebar to silence the Echo after entering control-T or control-O.

To send any other command to the Echo, use the same syntax as at a BEX menu: control-E followed by the appropriate plain letters. For example, enter control-E 12 V to set the volume medium loud.

Control-E also sends commands to the SlotBuster. Refer to your SlotBuster manual for details about SlotBuster commands.

Part 14: Troubleshooting -- Editor Problems

Even if BEX seems to be behaving abnormally, you can almost always save your data.

Section 5: Printing Chapters

There are literally hundreds of printers on the market. Since every printer is slightly different, we can't tell you exactly how to set up yours. However, in Part 3 we provide you with a generic procedure to assist you in setting up the proper margin commands for your printer.

Part 1: The Formatter

BEX internally structures output one line at a time before sending the line of text to the printer. We call the part of the program that builds up the lines of text the formatter

The formatter uses the format indicators and format commands you type in your text to organize the information going to the printer. (Section 6 explores these in detail). BEX's formatter tailors its output differently for print and braille devices. The formatter knows, for example, that paragraphs are formatted and pages are numbered differently for print and braille documents.

The formatter builds a line of text according to the commands you have given it. When you establish a left margin of five characters, the formatter watches for each new line. At the start of a new line, it sends out five spaces to create your left margin. It counts each line as it goes along, comparing the current line number to the form length. If your form length is 25 lines, for example, it sends out a form feed command after printing line 25, and your printer moves to the top of a new page.

You can print the same text to different carriage widths without making any changes. The formatter automatically places soft <CR>s where needed, creating lines of the right lengths without further instructions from you. You provide the formatter with two basic dimensions when you configure: form length and carriage width. BEX's formatter uses the carriage width to break lines when printing, and the form length to divide the text into output pages. At the User Level, you will learn how to change margins and page lengths within a document, without having to reconfigure.

Because of the formatter's vigilance, usually it doesn't matter what kind of device you print to. BEX communicates with printers in a generic way, using codes that all printers can understand. It tailors output to the capabilities of the printer. When printing to a brailler, the formatter filters out commands that braillers can't execute, like underlining. The formatter makes sure that paragraph indent, line space and page numbering are executed appropriately for print and braille devices.

Part 2: Set Your Printer Correctly

When it comes to printing nice-looking documents, you and BEX operate as a team. BEX does its best to make nice output, but you have the responsibility of making sure that your printer is ready to print. In order to get the best possible output, you must keep in mind some general principles about printers and printing.

Vertical Alignment: Use Top of Form

Each printer keeps track of where it is printing on the page. In order for it to do this correctly, you must make sure the top of the page is in the correct position before you print. When you tell BEX to start printing, BEX assumes that the printer printhead is in the correct position to print the first line. BEX does not add any top margin unless you tell it to do so. (Setting top margins is discussed in Section 6, Part 3.)

Some printers have a top of form button you push to tell the printer: "OK, remember your current position as ‘the top of the sheet.'" Less expensive printers use the position of the printhead when you turn the machine on.

To set the top of form, first establish a landmark to use as a reference. This landmark is to point out where the top edge of your paper should be when you are ready to print. A common position is to place the top edge of the page even with the bottom of the tear bar. If you are visually impaired, have a sighted person help you establish a landmark the first time you print.

You may have to print an experimental page or two to get the paper exactly where you want it. Once you have your top of form landmark set, you should check the top edge against the landmark immediately before telling BEX to print.

When you have set your paper correctly, then BEX takes over. Using the form length you defined in your configuration, BEX keeps track of every <CR> it sends to your printer. If you have a form length of 58, for example, BEX knows that after sending 57 <CR>s, it's time to send a form feed character to the printer. This form feed character makes the printer advance to the next top of form, where BEX starts counting <CR>s again.

To roll your paper out of the printer when it is finished, always use the form feed button. Form Feed advances the sheet to the next top of form, and lets the printer and BEX know that it is ready to print a whole new page.

() Warning! Do not use the platen knobs to roll out your paper. If you do, your next printed page may end up being only half a sheet long.

Here's what may happen: Suppose you have a printout that's two and one-half sheets long. When BEX is done printing, the third sheet is halfway through the printer. As far as the printer knows, there are still around 30 lines left on that sheet. If you manually roll out the paper, the printer has no way of accounting for the 30 lines. Even if you manually roll the paper so it looks like it's set for the right top of form, the next time you print, your output would only fill half the sheet. The printer itself would generate a bogus form feed after it counts 30 lines, and your page breaks would not be in the correct place.

The best way to proceed is to always use the printer's form feed button that advances the sheet to the next top of form. That way both the printer and BEX are operating from the same assumptions.

Form Length

The form length is the maximum number of printed lines on each page. Generally, single spaced printer output is 6 lines per vertical inch. The standard eight-and-one-half by 11 inch paper is 66 lines tall. However, if you use 66 as your form length, your text would look cramped. You want to allow for top and bottom margins. (Note that when you double or triple space, the blank lines between text are still counted.)

For example, for a top margin of one-half inch, subtract one-half times six (the number of lines per vertical inch), or three lines from your maximum form length. For a bottom margin of one inch, subtract one times six, or six lines from your maximum form length. Combining top and bottom margins, your form length is 66 minus nine, or 57 lines.

Confused? Here's the general rule: Subtract your top and bottom margins in inches, from the paper length. Multiply the result by six (the number of lines per vertical inch) to get the form length. Good luck!

Carriage Width

The carriage width is the maximum number of characters on each line. Inkprint printers generally can print 10 or 12 characters per horizontal inch. You may be able to specify exactly which on your printer.

On an eight and one-half by 11 inch paper, you could fit 85 or 102 characters on a line. But again, you want to allow room for left and right margins. When your printer prints 12 characters per inch, then your text can occupy a maximum of 72 (the carriage width) divided by 12, or six inches. Eight and one-half inches minus six equals a total of one and one-half inches for left and right margins.

Here's the general rule for figuring out how much room you have for left and right margins: Divide your carriage width by the number of characters per inch (10 or 12). Subtract the result from the width of your paper. The number you get is the total amount of space you have in inches for both the left and right margins. Of course, the exact margin depends on where the printing starts on the line.

When you define a carriage width of 72 for a printer in your configuration, you are actually telling BEX: "Print as many complete words as will fit in without exceeding 72 characters in this line, then send the printer a <CR>." Exactly where the first character on the line shows up depends on your printer. When the place that the printhead returns to is too far to the left for your taste, then you can tell BEX to use a left margin.

Again, printers differ. Some printers have their own commands for setting margins. With these commands, you can move the spot where the printhead returns to when it prints. You use an automatic set-up sequence for this (discussed in User Level, Section 3, Part 3). Then when you set top of form, you are also setting a left margin. If this is the case for you, then BEX (and you) don't need to worry about a margin. (Setting margins is discussed in Section 6, Part 3)

Position zero: the definition

In the ever-changing world of printing, some artificial absolutes must be set. When we talk about the placement of the characters on a printed line, we will be referring to them with the term position. A position is equivalent to the width of one printed character. Position zero is the leftmost point that the printhead on your printer can go to. Therefore, if your carriage width is 72, your printer will print characters on positions zero through 71. Position zero can move around on your paper, once you learn how to set a printer's internal margins through the use of automatic set-up sequences. However, in terms of how BEX's formatter view your text, position zero is always the leftmost position on the printed page.

() Caution! Experienced transcribers who are familiar with the numbering of braille cells will recognize that BEX's position zero is equal to braille cell number one.

Part 3: Using the Printer Test Grids

There are literally hundreds of printers on the market, each with its own bonuses and drawbacks. Different printers have different internal left margins, different numbers of characters per inch, and a different amount of lines per inch. You may want left and right margins on your printer that are different from BEX's default margins. However, properly configuring your printer is a confusing process, and one that can take much time. In this section, we provide you with a generic procedure to assist you in identifying how BEX interacts with your printer.

The horizontal and vertical test grids

As explained in Part 2, BEX format commands control the appearance of the printed or embossed page within the basic image of carriage width (number of characters per line) and form length (number of lines per page). You can also set a left margin and a top margin, for a balanced page. Four chapters on your BEXtras disk, the V GRID chapter, the RP GRID chapter, the LP GRID chapter, and the LONG GRID chapter can assist you to establish the appropriate margins, carriage width and form length for your particular printer. V GRID is a vertical grid chapter that can be printed on any inkprint printer. With this chapter, you determine the appropriate top margin, top-of-form, and form length for your printer. RP GRID is a horizontal grid chapter, designed for regular print printers. LP GRID is also a horizontal grid chapter, designed for large print printers. LONG GRID is a horizontal grid chapter designed for condensed printing on printers that can print more than 100 characters on a line. Using these three chapters, you determine your left margin and carriage width for your printer.

All four of these chapters print reference grids using BEX's horizontal and vertical numbering system. Enlisting the assistance of a sighted person if necesary, you can ascertain the appropriate horizontal and vertical numbers that provide a well-balanced print page.

How to Configure Your Printer for Testing

Before you can test a printer, you must establish a configuration that includes this printer. The reference grids are appropriate for regular and large print printers; don't use them with braillers. For further information on configuring printers, consult Part 4 of the Interface Guide.

Defining a printer involves answering many questions. In terms of testing, only four questions are important: the questions on slot number, printer class, auto linefeed, and pause on form feed. After you analyze the test results, you will know exactly what values to enter for carriage width and form length.

Reboot and set up a configuration for your printer. Don't worry about any carriage width and form length values you have set; the reference grid chapters override the carriage width and form length in your configuration. If you are configuring for the first time, enter the suggested values. (Press <CR> at any configuration question to get suggestions for how to answer.) You'll enter better values after you print the test chapters.

When you first configure, always start by answering N to the Do you want auto linefeed? question. When you print the test grids, it will be obvious if your printer needs a Y response. You need to answer Y to the auto linefeed question when you don't hear the paper advance after each line is printed, and you end up with one black line at the top of each page.

Only answer Y to pause on form feed when your printer uses single sheets of paper. When you answer Y, BEX pauses printing at the bottom of each page. You then remove the printed sheet, insert a blank sheet, and press <space> to continue printing.

Printing the Vertical Test Grid

The chapter named V GRID provides you with a guide to set form length, top-of-form, and top margins. Establish a workable landmark on your printer, as discussed in Part 2. Then print the V GRID chapter to this printer.

Where line 1 appears in this printout is where BEX prints the first line of every page. When your test sheet shows line 1 too high on the paper, then you have several ways to establish more aesthetically pleasing top and bottom margins.

Establishing a top margin

One way to position line 1 in a good place to always include a top margin command in your BEX chapter. Suppose the grid line numbered 4 seems like the ideal first line on the page. You type $$mt3 in your BEX chapter, and at the start of each page BEX prints three <CR>s before it starts printing the text for line 1. (Section 6 explains the $$ format commands in detail.)

Another approach requires that your printer have a button labelled linefeed. When the printer is off-line, pressing the linefeed button once advances the paper exactly one line. You can align the paper using your landmark, then press the linefeed button exactly three times. Now, set top-of-form by pressing the top-of-form button or switching the printer off and on again. BEX now prints the first line of every page on line four, per your instructions. This procedure establishes top-of-form; it does not change as long as you maintain the top-of-form.

As we've stressed, to maintain an accurate top-of-form you must never advance the paper by rolling the platen. When you are done printing a document, turn the printer off-line, and press the formfeed button. The paper advances into position for the next document you print. (The design of some printers make it difficult to tear off the sheet after just one formfeed. In that case, press the formfeed button twice, sacrificing one sheet of paper to the cause of beauty.)

At the User Level, we discuss automatic set-up sequences, which can include a top margin command to your printer.

Establish form length

In addition to establishing the appropriate top margin, the V GRID chapter can provide you with the appropriate value for your form length. Once you've decided on the value for your top margin, print the V GRID chapter again, using the value for your top margin. Fold the paper in half the long way (so that the top and bottom edges meet) and note which grid line number towards the bottom of the sheet meets line number 1. Use this number as your form length. When you specify that number as your form length, you have equal top and bottom margins.

Printing the Horizontal Grid Chapters

The chapters named RP GRID, LP GRID, and LONG GRID provide rulers for you to determine left margin and carriage width for your printer. Use the grid chapter that is appropriate for you: The RP GRID chapter prints six rulers; this chapter is designed for regular print printers. The LP GRID chapter prints three rulers; it is designed for large print printers. The first ruler in the chapters prints 39 characters, the second prints 49 characters, and so on up to 59 characters for LP GRID and 89 characters for RP GRID. The LONG GRID chapter is intended for condensed inkprint printers. It contains one long ruler, 159 characters long.

Determining margins for multiple print sizes

You should print the RP GRID, LP GRID, or LONG GRID chapters once for each different character size or pitch you plan to use. For example, the ImageWriter II has built-in 10, 12, and 17 characters per inch. It also has a headline mode which doubles the width of a character without change its vertical size. The ImageWriter II can also do BEX large print. When you plan to use all these various features, then you need to print the RP GRID, the LP GRID, or the LONG GRID chapters once for every possible size.

Interpreting the Horizontal Grid Chapters

Once you have your sample RP GRID, LP GRID, or LONG GRID printouts, it's time to analyze them to determine left margin and carriage width.

Each of the rulers consists of four lines. The first line labels how many characters are in that ruler. The second and third lines print a numerical label every five characters, which are read vertically. The fourth line prints the ruler: a line of lowercase o characters and vertical bars which make it easy to count the number of characters for your left margin and carriage width. A vertical bar appears every five characters, directly below each numerical label, beginning with zero on the left margin; four lowercase o characters are printed in between.

When the number of characters in a ruler line is less than your printer's maximum carriage width, then these four lines stack up vertically. The first vertical position on the line for each ruler contains zero zero vertical bar.

In print, it looks like this:

by by ,

by en"

for----for----for The full cell stands for the vertical bar, while dots 3-6 stands for the lowercase o.

When a ruler is longer than your carriage width, three different things can happen:

The first ruler that's too long, and the ruler immediately above it are the two rulers we are concerned with.

Setting the left margin

The left edge of the ruler is BEX's position zero. On some printers, this position zero appears at the left edge of the paper, which means that BEX's position zero would make a very ugly printed page. When you are unhappy with the left margin on the test printout, get a real ruler. Measure a nice margin of one inch or seven-eighths of an inch and make a pencil mark at this point. Compare the pencil mark with the grid ruler.

Suppose the pencil mark occurs at position number 8; you now know that BEX's left margin of eight positions the printhead at a good place. You can use this value of 8 to set a left margin, using $$ml8 when you print. Include the $$ml8 command at the start of every chapter you print. Or, place them in a chapter which you print before your text chapters.

At the User Level, you learn how to configure an automatic set-up sequence. By consulting your printer manual, you can find the sequence which sends a left margin command to the printer. Then, you won't need to set the left margin in every chapter you print.

Setting the carriage width

When you've set the left margin, you need to set a carriage width to work with that left margin. Take your newly printed copy of RP GRID, LP GRID, or LONG GRID and examine it. On the printed copy RP GRID or LP GRID, find the first ruler that is too long. This is the ruler you use to measure your carriage width. On the printed copy of LONG GRID, there's only one ruler to choose from. Now take a real ruler and measure a distance from the right edge of the paper that is equal to the distance of your left margin, and mark this position. Determine the value for your carriage width by counting over from the number above the nearest vertical bar. This value is the number you use for your carriage width.

For example, suppose you have a left margin of one-half an inch. You measure one-half inch over from the right edge of the paper, making a mark along the first ruler that's too long. This mark falls at the third lowercase o after the vertical bar numbered 50. Counting over from that vertical bar, you determine that your carriage width is 53.

Now you reconfigure, using the values you obtained from the tests for carriage width and form length.

() Hint! When you configure a large print printer, BEX does some calculations for you. BEX uses a combination of point size (the size of the letters) and extra spacing to calculate carriage width; the answer for linespacing affects the calculation of form length. to get these values while configuring, press <CR> at the prompt. See Section 3, Part 7 for examples of this process.

Part 4: Using Option P - Print Chapters

BEX sends information to many different devices, and not all of them are actually printers. You can use option P to send formatted information to an inkprint printer, a braille embosser, a Review class printer, a serial voice device, the Echo, or an electronic braille device. The procedure for "printing" to all these devices is basically the same.

Here's how the dialogue goes:
Main Menu
Enter Option: P
Print Chapters
Drive number or chapter name: 2 <CR>
There are 2 chapters:
1 BLACK
2 WHITE
Use entire list? N <CR>
Select chapters by number
Chapter number: 1 <CR>
BLACK
Chapter number: <CR>
Which printer: ? <CR>
1 - Brailler in slot 4 (41 by 25)
2 - Printer in slot 1 (53 by 37)
3 - Printer in slot 1 (72 by 58)
4 - Printer in slot 3 (72 by 58)
S - Screen output
Add +V for Echo output
Which printer:

After you press P at the Main Menu, BEX needs to know what chapters to print. Entering 1 <CR> or 2 <CR> gives you a numbered list of chapters:
Drive number or chapter name: 2 <CR>
There are 2 chapters:
1 BLACK
2 WHITE
Use entire list? N
When you don't want to print all the chapters listed, or when you wish to use a different order, accept the default N answer at Use entire list? N prompt by pressing <CR>.

BEX then asks you to specify chapters by number. Enter the numbers of the chapters you wish to print, following each number with <CR>. BEX responds with the name of the chapter you've chosen. When you wish to cancel your selection, enter a minus sign (dash) to the next Chapter number: prompt, and BEX announces the cancellation:
Select chapters by number
Chapter number: 1 <CR>
BLACK
Chapter number: - <CR>
BLACK Canceled
Chapter number:

When you have specified all the chapters you wish to print, enter <CR> alone to the Chapter number prompt. BEX then asks Which printer: Typing a question mark at the Which printer: prompt gives you a list of printers in your configuration:
Which printer: ? <CR>
1 - Brailler in slot 4 (41 by 25)
2 - Printer in slot 1 (53 by 37)
3 - Printer in slot 1 (72 by 58)
4 - Printer in slot 3 (72 by 58)
S - Screen output
Add +V for Echo output
Which printer:
At this point you enter the number or letter of the printer you wish to use.

The numbers in parentheses list carriage width by form length; you can use this information to help identify the printer. (In this example we use the configuration set up in Section 3). Printer 1 is a TSI VersaPoint embosser. Printer 2 is an ImageWriter configured as a large print printer. Printer 3 is the same ImageWriter as printer 2, but used as a 12 characters per inch printer. Printer 4 is a Review class printer, configured with the same carriage width and form length as printer 3.

() Hint! Do not type the slot number when prompted for the number of the printer. You only respond with the slot number when you are configuring. "Printer number" does not refer to the number of the slot the printer is plugged into. Printer number refers to the order in which you configured your printers; this is the number you respond with. In the example above, you would respond with 3 for regular inkprint printer. If you want the Review class printer in slot 3, you would type the number 4.

You can add Echo speech to any printer by enter +V to the number or letter of the printer. The Echo speaks as the text is sent to the printer, and the Echo speaks fairly slowly. Printing to the screen plus your voice device by entering S+V <CR> at the Which printer: prompt is one way to proofread your text before you commit it to paper.

You can also print to the Echo alone by entering +V <CR> at the Which printer: prompt.

Review the printer options and enter the number and/or letter(s), followed by <CR>. The disks whir and the requested output device starts printing. When you configured the printer with pause on form feed, BEX stops at the bottom of each printed page and makes a low boop. Press <space> to signal that you're ready for the next page. Printing to the screen is also printing to a printer with pause on form feed: when the screen fills up with text, press <space> to read the next screen. To cancel a printout, press <ESC> while the program is outputting characters.

Part 5: Review Class Printers

A Review class printer allows you to know exactly what the formatter is sending to a print or braille device, saving you paper, time, and bother. For this option, you must have an 80-column card. A Review class printer is its own class of printer; simply enter R <CR> at the Enter printer class prompt in your configuration to configure a Review class printer. This printer class is designed to work in conjunction with the Echo's line review feature.

A Review class printer combines the Apple 80-column display with the 80-column line review software in TEXTALKER Version 3.1.2. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Echo's line review functions, suggestions on which commands to use appear at the end of this section.

Screen Layout for Review Class Printers

The Apple 80-column screen is 80 characters across by 24 lines down. The page display starts at the left edge of the screen. The exact number of characters in the display depends on your carriage width.

There are always four characters more than your carriage width on each line. The first two characters are the line number, expressed in two digits: 01 through 24 at the start of each page. The third character on each line is the vertical bar; it separates the line number from the start of the text. This vertical bar marks the space immediately before position zero. A character that separates information this way is called a delimiter. Anything directly on position zero will appear immediately after the left vertical bar delimiter. After the vertical bar delimiter comes your text, in lines of text the length of your carriage width. Finally, after your text, comes another vertical bar which is the right-margin delimiter. The rest of the line contains empty (non-textual) spaces.

When your carriage width is 76 or greater, there are two lines of text on the screen for each line of text in your final print output. Half the number of lines as with smaller carriage widths will be on your screen at one time.

The voice stops at the end of a screen line, even if it is in the middle of a word. Words broken between lines will not be pronounced as a whole word, but are said as if they were two separate words. That means that you may hear strange sounding text at the beginning of some lines. These words are broken on the screen as the result of a carriage width wider than the screen line. The words will print normally when outputted to an inkprint printer.

The easiest way to tell if the strange words are broken words or misspellings, is to go to the numbered line above the questionable word, and after the voice is finished speaking that line, use the down-arrow key to have the voice speak the next line. If the words in question seem to go together, they probably are one broken word.

One way to proofread text formatted with extra large carriage widths is to print to the screen with voice output. A second way, printing to a textfile, is documented in User Level, Section 10.

In all carriage widths, the delete character appears immediately after the last non-space character on the line. On the screen, the <DEL> looks like a square checkerboard. The Echo says "delete." This means that when you encounter a delete, the rest of the line contains nothing but more trailing spaces not in your text. Conversely, when you encounter a space character, you know that there are more real (non-space) characters on the line. When the first character in the line is a delete character, then that line is blank in your final output. For example, when line 9 is blank, the Echo says: "zero nine vertical line, delete, space (40 times), vertical line, space (35 times)." The Echo will say all the spaces in All punctuation mode.

Printing to a Review Class Printer

When you wish to preview your material, print your chapters to the printer number you specified as a Review class printer in your configuration. When you type ? <CR> at the Which printer: prompt, this printer appears as Printer in slot 3 You don't add +V for simultaneous Echo output. If you did, you would hear every line as it is displayed. What you want to do is send a screenful of data and then examine it with line review.

It's important to keep in mind that after you enter line review, all of your keystrokes are interpreted as line review commands. While you are in line review, you cannot use the down arrow to see any lines on your current page past 24; the spacebar, to get the display of your next output page; and <ESC> to stop printing. All these commands have different functions once you are in line review. Once you exit line review, you can use these command functions again.

As each line of text is printed to the screen, the Apple speaker makes a click. A short series of clicks alerts you to a short page. When the clicks stop, you can enter line review.

Basic Echo Line Review Commands

The following are basic Echo commands. They are not comprehensive, but are just suggestions; there are as many ways to use Echo line review as there are Echo users. Feel free to experiment! See Section 10 for further help with Echo commands.

() SlotBuster SlotBuster's SCAT software also has line review. It uses the same strategy, but has different commands. See Appendix 2 for further help.

Start printing your chapter. When the clicks stop, the first 24 lines are on the screen. Enter control-L to begin line review. The next character you enter must be a letter between A and It, which establishes which screen line you want read first. To hear a range of lines, enter the first letter of the line you want read, then comma, then the letter of the last line you want read. For example, to hear the first through seventh line on the screen, enter A,G after entering line review. When the Echo finishes reading the lines, the audio cursor is placed on the line following the last line read.

When you press <CR> on any line, the entire line is read. Or, you can use the left and right arrows to move left and right on the line, word by word. To move character by character, press T to toggle off moving by word. Press T again to move word by word again. Use the up and down arrows to move up and down lines.

Any keystroke except <space> shuts up the Echo. When the keystroke is a valid Echo command, that command is executed.

To exit line review, press <ESC>; the Echo says "exit." Now you may press the down-arrow key to review the rest of the print page, or the spacebar to move to the next print page. You can enter line review with control-L and exit it with <ESC> as many times as you want. Sometimes it's a lot faster to exit and re-enter than to move your audio cursor many lines.

Part 6: Troubleshooting -- Print Problems

Here is a list of common problems encountered while printing. For further help, for large print printer problems, and for guidance on establishing communication between BEX and your printer, see the Interface Guide, Section 4 on printers.