WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU'VE JUST BOUGHT YOUR AMIGA ?? A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO GETTING STARTED ###################################################################### In this article, I'll try to take anyone who's just started with their Amiga through the basics of handling their machine, and point to other articles on this disk where further information can be gleaned. One of the most frequent complaints I hear is about the lack of simple, clear and complete explanations for the beginner - but, oddly enough, that is the hardest thing to write. Here goes... BOOTING AND REBOOTING If you're reading this, you've followed the instructions that come with your computer, connected it all up correctly, and powered up - ie, you've done a COLD BOOT, or started up your machine from power on, as distinct from a WARM BOOT or REBOOT or RESET, meaning to press CTRL-A-A, ie pressing and keeping pressed first the CTRL key, then the COMMODORE (or LEFT-AMIGA key on a 1000), then the RIGHT-AMIGA key on the other side of the SPACE BAR (the long bar on the bottom of the keyboard which lets you insert spaces by pressing with your right thumb if you follow good typing practice). WHAT IS WORKBENCH? - THE WIMP INTERFACE Your COLD BOOT entailed turning the power on, inserting your WORKBENCH disk and letting the computer go through the disk's STARTUP-SEQUENCE, a text file of commands on the disk which the computer obeys - it does things like tell you the version of Workbench you're using, sets the system clock, etc. and can be edited by you (eventually, when you've read about it on this disk!) to do practically whatever you want. The upshot of it is, that you end up looking at the WORKBENCH SCREEN, because your STARTUP-SEQUENCE told the machine to run a program called LOADWB which is one of the many programs on your Workbench disk. The function of LOADWB is simply to set up WORKBENCH, which is an "interface" between you and the computer - that is, a way for you to communicate with the computer. There are various ways to do this, but the Workbench way is the easiest - all programs, disks, files, etc. are represented by ICONS, which you manipulate by use of the MOUSE (CLICKING and DOUBLE-CLICKING on icons with the SCREEN POINTER connected to the MOUSE). Other elements of the Workbench include PULL-DOWN MENUS (by putting the POINTER at the top of the screen, ie the TITLE-BAR, and keeping the RIGHT-MOUSE-BUTTON or RMB pressed down), which allow you to access most of the features of the WORKBENCH and other well-written programs; and WINDOWS, which are what you get when you DOUBLE-CLICK on either a DISK ICON or DRAWER ICON. WINDOWS normally contain other ICONS for PROGRAMS (called TOOLS in WORKBENCH terminology), FILES (called PROJECTS, an example being a NOTE created from NOTEPAD), and other DIRECTORIES or DRAWERS. Note that you may occasionally come across a disk which, when "opened" by DOUBLE- CLICKING will bring up an "empty" window - this means that although there are probably many files on the disk, none of them has an ICON attached. In a case like this, you need to explore the disk by using the CLI or COMMAND LINE INTERFACE, a different and more powerful way of interfacing with the computer, which does not rely on ICONS and the rest of the paraphernalia of the WORKBENCH. See below for more on the CLI. You can think of the WORKBENCH WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pull-down menus) INTERFACE as a kind of extended metaphor - like a Workbench/filing cabinet, you can move things around, put things on the top of the pile, put them at the bottom again, get rid of them, file them away, and so on. All of this is done in a fairly intuitive fashion, once you've got the idea, and all that that takes is practice and experimentation. Most Amiga software makes good use of the WORKBENCH, and you can use the Amiga very productively by using only the WORKBENCH. *** FOR A FULL DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU CAN DO ON THE WORKBENCH, LOOK AT THE "ABOUT_WORKBENCH" ARTICLE IN THE WORKBENCH SUB-ITEM IN THE WORKBENCH_CLI MENU. *** FOR A FULL DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS AMIGA TERMS, READ THE "GLOSSARY" MENU ITEM. WHAT ARE 1.2 AND 1.3 ? When the Amiga was released in late 1985, the SYSTEM SOFTWARE, meaning KICKSTART (which was then on disk for the only Amiga, the 1000) and WORKBENCH, was released as version 1.0. Soon after, this was upgraded to 1.1 and later 1.2, each upgrade being a substantial improvement on the former in terms of reliability and capability. Now we have version 1.3 of the System Software, which is described on this disk in some detail - more commands have been added to the system, old commands have been improved, and new features added to the whole environment, such as the Recoverable Ram Disk, the new SHELL, and so forth. The Amiga 500s and 2000s currently being sold have KICKSTART in ROM (meaning on a chip in your machine) and unlike the 1000, do not have to have it inserted on a disk. If you haven't yet got the 1.3 "Enhancer Package" including 1.3 WORKBENCH and EXTRAS, we recommend that you do get it, even if you have 1.2 KICKSTART in ROM - and it's a good idea to get that changed over at a Commodore Service Centre, particularly if you have a 2000 and a hard disk. Within the year, we should see the 1.4 version of the System Software released, with numerous substantial changes, particularly to the capabilities of KICKSTART. WHAT IS THE CLI ? The first section of this article described the concept of different "interfaces" between the user and the computer, the most apparent and easily usable being the WORKBENCH. However, in the SYSTEM drawer of your Workbench disk, you'll see an icon called CLI. If you double-click it, you'll be presented with the CLI WINDOW, and a PROMPT, consisting of a number and arrow ( such as 1> ) - the computer is now waiting for you to type in COMMANDS. Hence the term CLI, standing for COMMAND LINE INTERFACE. By using the CLI, you can make the computer do everything that it does on the Workbench (copying, moving, deleting, editing, etc) and a lot more besides. However, you have to learn the various commands that the CLI recognises - each one has a kind of Grammar and Syntax that must be followed exactly. For example, say you've opened a CLI (do it now) - type in the command DIR and press RETURN. You'll now see a list of things scroll up the screen, which is a listing of the DIRectory of the disk, ie, the names of all the FILES and SUB-DIRECTORIES on your Workbench disk. You could have entered instead: 1> dir opt a meaning to use the DIR command with the A (for ALL) option, which will ALSO list everything that is in the SUB-DIRECTORIES (or DRAWERS) of the disk. So the command DIR has a number of further options (fully described in the MAIN_COMMANDS MENU) which allow you a lot of control over seeing what's on any disk. Now, you may want to inspect the contents of the C DIRECTORY on your Workbench disk - this is where all the CLI COMMANDS are stored, and because there is no DRAWER ICON attached to the C directory, you can't see it on the Workbench, so you have to use the CLI to check it out. The way to do it is enter: 1> cd c and you'll immediately just see the PROMPT by itself again, as if nothing has happened. However, if you now enter the command DIR (and press RETURN as always), you'll see the complete list of all the CLI commands. When you want to READ a text file, use the command TYPE; to COPY any file from one place to another, use COPY; to RENAME any file, use RENAME; or RELABEL for a disk; to get information about the system, use INFO, STATUS, and AVAIL; to RUN a program, keeping your current CLI, use RUN; to DELETE any file, use DELETE (with caution); and so on... You can see the logic of the names of the commands. All the 50-odd other commands on your Workbench disk have their associated options and format for typing in - you'll find them all described in detail in the various drawers in the COMMANDS menu. The best thing to do is simply practise and experiment, you can't damage the machine! Further aspects of the CLI are described in various parts of this disk, particularly in the CLI menu in the WORKBENCH-CLI drawer. If you want to really use the power of the Amiga, or get into programming of any kind, or customise your disks the way you want them, or speed up your use of the computer, you'll have to learn how to use the CLI, and it's not nearly as hard as it looks. You just have to get acquainted with the logic of the computer, which is just a matter of practice, and persistence. WHY GO TO ALL THE TROUBLE OF LEARNING HOW TO USE THE AMIGA ? Well, for one thing, it's often good fun. And you can get a real sense of achievement by making the thing do what YOU want it to do. But above all, with a mastery over a machine like the Amiga, the world of productivity is your oyster - you can do all your word-processing and Desktop Publishing; you can create animations and graphics of all kinds and even set up your own home Video System, linking the Amiga in with all your other electronic gear like TVs, VCRs, Hifi sets and more; you can control machinery remotely; you can run all the financial affairs of your home or business; you can access the many databases of information around the world; you can create your own custom programs and applications and sell them to others; you can use the many educational aspects of the computer at home or at school; you can play a lot of very interesting games; and a lot more. You could even put out your own magazine-on-a-disk! The potential of low-cost, powerful computers is vast and has hardly been tapped yet, so by mastering the most up-to-date home computer yet devised, you'll be in a very good position to make the most of the flood of developments in computers coming your way.