VTech Precomputer Power Pad Plus manual

Pr ecomputer Power Pad TM Plus User’ s manual[...]

87 Dear Parent: At VT ech ® we know that childr en have the ability to do gr eat things. That’ s why all of our electr onic learning products ar e uniquely designed to develop a child’ s mind and allow them to learn to the best of their ability . Whether it’ s learning about letters, numbers, geography or algebra, all VT ech ® learning pr o[...]

88 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................ 1 CHAPTER 2 GETTING ST ARTED ........................ 2 MAIN BA TTERY INSTALLA TION ............................... 2 BACKUP BA TTERY INSTALLA TION ........................... 2 AC ADAPTOR CONNECTION ................................... 3 PRINTER CONNECTION .............................[...]

89 RAM CART MANAGER .......................................... 28 POWER LINK ....................................................... 29 CHAPTER 7 BASIC .......................................... 30 INTRODUCTION ................................................... 30 GETTING STARTED .............................................. 32 BASIC COMPUTER TUT[...]

1 LCD SCREEN CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Thank you f or b uying the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS lear ning to y by VTECH ® . We at VTECH ® are committed to pro viding the best possible products to de v elop a child’ s mind. Should you have any questions or concerns, please call our Consumer Services Department at 1-800-521-2010 in the U.S. or 1-[...]

2 CHAPTER 2: GETTING ST ARTED The PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS learning unit operates on 4 “AA” (UM-3/LR6) size batteries f or the main compar tment or a 9V AC adaptor . 2 “AA” (UM-3/LR6) batteries are required to backup the unit. MAIN B A TTER Y INST ALLA TION 1. Make sure the unit is OFF . 2. Locate the main battery cover on the back o[...]

3 3. Insert 2 “AA” (UM-3/LR6) size batteries as illustrated. DO NO T USE RECHARGEABLE B A TTERIES in this unit. (The use of Rayovac Renewable/Rechargeable Alkaline batteries is encouraged.) 4. Replace the batter y cover . 5. T ur n the unit ON . NOTE : While replacing the backup batteries, the 4 “AA” size batteries must be kept in the unit [...]

4 PRINTER CONNECTION The PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS learning unit can suppor t 12 diff erent kinds of printers. For details, please refer to Chapter 6. MOUSE CONNECTION Use our standard mouse, included with the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS. 1. Make sure the unit is OFF . 2. Locate the mouse jack at the back of the unit. 3. Slide open the mo[...]

5 A utomatic Shut Off If there is no input into the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS unit f or about 20 minutes, the unit will automatically shut off to sav e po wer . T o tur n the unit back on after an automatic shut off , press the ON b utton again. W e recommend tur ning the unit OFF when not in use. If the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS unit i[...]

6 CHAPTER 3: THE KEYBOARD The computer ke yboard on PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS combines the operation of a standard computer ke yboard with se v eral other functions described below . SPECIAL KEYS Enter Key: Press this key after typing or choosing an answer to input your selection. Shift Key: Press this key to type capital letters or the symbo[...]

7 Caps Lock Key: Press this key to make all letters appear in upper case. Press this key again to return to normal typing mode. When the Caps Lock function is activated, the Caps Lock light will turn on. Answer Key: Press this key to see the correct answer to any question. Right Player/Left Player Keys: Press these ke ys with activities f eaturing [...]

8 Hint Key: Press the Shift ke y and this k ey simultaneously when inputting te xt in T r ivia activities when y ou need a hint. Y ou will be giv en three multiple choice ans wers to choose from. In Rocket Fuel, you may replay the current stage. Break Key: Press the Shift and Break keys simultaneously when you want to interrupt a program in the BAS[...]

9 Backspace Key: Press this key when you want to delete the character before the cursor position. 3, #, and £: Press this key to type the number “3”. Press Shift and this key simultaneously when you want to type the symbol “£”. Press Alt and this k ey simultaneously when y ou want to type the symbol “#”. A CTIVITY SELECT OR There are [...]

10 Player Key: Press this key to change from 1-player mode to 2-player mode and vice versa for activities with 2-player mode. If you want to change the player mode, press this key first and then select a player mode by typing the number 1 or 2. If you select the 2-player mode, you will be prompted to enter the names of the first pla yer and second [...]

11 CHAPTER 4: ACTIVITIES AND FUNCTIONS HO W T O PLA Y SELECTING/CHOOSING/HIGHLIGHTING During the course of enter ing the activities and during game play , you will be asked to either select, choose or highlight an object, a number , a letter or a word. This can be done in two diff erent wa ys: Mouse Y ou can mov e the cursor arrow with the mouse . [...]

12 There are 5 large icons on top of the Main Menu. Y ou can choose from the f ollowing: W ord Games , Mathematics , Computer Skills , Games , and T r ivia . Use 1 of the following 2 ways to enter into one of the five categories: 1. Press any one of the five activity b uttons from the Membrane Activity Selector . 2. Choose an activity icon on the s[...]

13 NOTE: The following activities do not feature the two-player mode: •W ord Puzzles •S p y T rap • Rocket Fuel • Keyboard Skills •T yping Challenge •W ord Pr ocessor •B ASIC T utor • BASIC • Design A Card • Spell Checker • Calculator GENERAL DISPLA Y In most of the activities, you will see a display with status information, u[...]

14 TENSES Tw o tenses of a verb will appear on the screen. T ype in the missing tense (present, past or past par ticiple) of that verb and press the Enter k e y to confir m your ans wer . WORD PUZZLES This is a crossword puzzle game with 10 missing words in each puzzle. Use the cursor keys or mouse to select one of the missing words. Press the Ente[...]

15 WORD MAKER The unit will displa y a prefix or a suf fix of a word at the bottom of the screen. Sever al suffix es/prefix es scroll across the screen abov e the word. When the correct suffix/prefix is abov e the word, press the Enter k ey to input y our ans wer . SENTENCE SCRAMBLER A group of words will appear on the screen. Y ou must rearrange t[...]

16 FRACTIONS A fraction will display on the screen. 3 multiple choice options will be given. Decide which option is the correct answer and press its corresponding number or click on the answer with your mouse. FLIP FLOP FRACTIONS An equation which involves turning a fraction into a decimal/percentage will appear on the screen. T ype in the ans wer [...]

17 to type each letter . Each correct letter equals 1 point. After typing 100 letters (50 for the left hand, 50 for the right hand), the score and the rewarding screen will be shown. Expert Course In the e xpect course, f ollow the screen and type the giv en te xt. After you hav e completely typed the text, your typing speed and accuracy will appea[...]

18 To create and print a Folded Car d : Select Folded Card. Choose a picture to be used in the folded card. T ype in your text message . Y ou are allowed up to eight lines of te xt. Press the Enter ke y se veral times . The unit will ask you if y ou hav e finished entering your text. Select yes or no. Select Print. SPELL CHECKER Spell Checker is an[...]

19 the rules of the game: 1. Press the number k ey or use y our mouse to select the numbers . Y ou may select an y nu mber . If all nine of the squares fill up, y ou will lose a turn. 2. T r y to select the numbers so that 2 to 3 continuous numbers that y ou choose, add up to the number in the middle of the screen. 3. A spy appears in one of the bl[...]

20 TRIVIA This challenging trivia game has 1000 questions in 4 different topics: Science, English, Geograph y and Gener al. All topics are a vailab le with a 2-pla yer mode and 4 le v els. Once you have selected a topic, a question will appear on the screen. If you know the answer to the question type in your answer and the press the Enter key to i[...]

21 J=L means the current line is justified left. NB means the current word is not bolded. B means the current word is bolded. CH means which character the cursor is on in a particular line. PLEASE NO TE THA T THE VT -25 THERMAL PRINTER PRINTS 25 CHARA CTERS PER LINE ON A ST ANDARD R OLL OF THERMAL P APER. Y OUR PREP ARED TEXT WILL AU TO MA TICALL Y[...]

22 Delete When you no longer need a file, erasing it from the optional RAM cartridge is a good idea because it will free up more space for other files. Select Delete from the File Options and it will prompt you with a list of files in the optional RAM cartridge. Select the file to delete and press the Enter ke y . A message will appear on the scree[...]

23 Paste Block After you have used the Block Cut or Block Copy option, move the cursor to the position where you want the block of text to be pasted. Select Paste Block from the EDIT menu and the block of text you defined will be pasted to the new location. Clear Block To erase a b lock of te xt, first define the b lock of te xt and select Clear Bl[...]

24 T OOLS OPTIONS The T OOLS menu provides tw o functions: Check Spelling and Symbols . Check Spelling Spell check er checks a w ord to see if it is in the unit's dictionar y . T o check the spelling of a word, highlight a word using y our mouse. Then choose T ools Options and select Check Spelling. Press the Enter ke y . If the word does not [...]

25 Printer Setup Printer Setup allows you to select a printer . This can also be done through System Setup. Please see Chapter 6 for details. Print In order to use the print feature, you must connect it to one of the printers compatible to the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS . Please see the list of pr inters listed in Chapter 6 under Printer Setup[...]

26 CHAPTER 6: SYSTEM SETUP To enter System Setup , click on the System Setup icon located at the bottom right-hand cor ner of the screen. The System Setup menu will appear with the f ollowing options: Printer Setup , Tips of T oday , Screen Saver , Clear Last Score, Icon Bo x, Quick Men u Setup , Customize Setup, Demo Mode, Ram Cart. Manager and Po[...]

27 SCREEN SA VER The unit f eatures a screen sav er option. The screen sav er will appear after two min utes with no input. Y ou can tur n this feature ON or OFF by pressing the Enter k ey or selecting it with your mouse. CLEAR LAST SCORE The PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS lear ning unit will store all pla yers’ last scores in memory . This will[...]

28 Customize Screen The Customized Screen is the screen sho wn after the opening animation. Y ou may personalize the screen b y entering your name and your message . This inf or mation will be displa yed each time y ou tur n on the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS lear ning unit. Also, w e hav e provided three diff erent def ault messages f or you t[...]

29 List Files When this function is selected, the files stored in the RAM cartridge are listed on the screen. Save File When this function is selected, you will be asked to choose whether to save a BASIC program or a Word Processor file. After you ha v e made your selection, pro vide a filename f or your file . This process allows the BASIC program[...]

30 CHAPTER 7: BASIC INTRODUCTION WHA T IS B ASIC? B ASIC is a computer language. The name BASIC stands f or Beginner’ s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was developed by professors at Dartmouth College in the mid-1960s. It was designed for students who had no previous experience in programming computers. B ASIC is a basic language; howe [...]

31 THE KEYBOARD 1. The numeric (top row) k eys are used f or entering numbers. The letter k eys are used for entering letters. 2. The cursor is the blinking symbol “_” on the display that indicates where the ne xt character that is pressed on the ke yboard will be entered in the computer . 3. The SHIFT ke y is used with another ke y to enter a [...]

32 THE LCD SCREEN The PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS lear ning unit uses a Liquid Cr ystal Display (LCD) screen. Each line will displa y 20 characters at a time . The Left Arrow ke y and Right Arrow k ey are used to scroll the 20 char acter display windo w left or r ight, respectiv ely . In BASIC , pressing the ENTER key allows you to see the next[...]

33 RUN This command instructs PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS to begin ex ecuting each B ASIC statement with a line number that was typed into memory . The computer will start with the lowest line number and proceed up to the highest numbered statement. EDIT Use the EDIT command when you want to change a statement that has been typed into memor y w[...]

34 B ASIC COMPUTER TUT ORIAL EXAMPLE OF A B ASIC PR OGRAM Y ou and T eresa went to the local video store to rent some movies . T eresa brought back 12 but 4 were too scary for you so you returned them. On that trip you came home with 7 new mo vies. How many are y ou going to w atch this after noon? Y ou could work this out yourself, but here is a B[...]

35 LET’S DO SOME ARITHMETIC In the previous section you learned to program the sum of three numbers using the BASIC program. Numbers like 1, 3, 27, 14.3, etc., are called CONST ANTS , n umbers that do not change v alue. The program added and subtr acted the constants 12, 4 and 7. The order that you do addition is unimportant: 6+10 is the same as [...]

36 T ype this : 10 PRINT 3+11/7 pr ess ENTER RUN Is it really e valuated from left to right? Y es, but w as it the ans wer you w ere expecting? If the ans wer came out to 4.57143, the computer first divided 11 b y 7 getting 1.57143 and then it added 3 to the result giving 4.57143. Y ou probably were e xpecting the ans wer to be 2 because 3+11 is 14[...]

37 The computer creates a box in memory and calls it “A”. It puts the number 8 in this box. Now type : 20 LET B=10 pr ess ENTER The computer creates a box called “B” and places 10 into it. T ype : 30 LET B=15 pr ess ENTER Since there is a box called “B” already with a value of 10 in it, it doesn’t make another bo x called “B” with[...]

38 Y ou will see the follo wing on the screen : FIRST NUMBER 8 pr ess ENTER SECOND NUMBER 15 pr ess ENTER THE SUM IS 23 Let’ s tak e a look at the print statements on lines 50 through 70. The words in quotes are called a STRING or a LITERAL . Whatever you put between a set of quotation marks will appear on the screen exactly the way you typed it.[...]

39 V ARIABLE NAMES CONTENTS A 675 B 2.3434 C$ CUR TIS A$ ALPHABET SOUP Here’ s an example of storing a string variab le: 10 LET A$=“ ALPHABET SOUP NO 123” Y ou can hav e a numeric variab le called A and a string variable called A$. The $ lets BASIC know how to tell them apart. NOTE : For both numeric and string variables, only the first 2 cha[...]

40 50 PRINT “THE ANSWER IS”; N pr ess ENTER RUN The statement at line 10 stores the numeric constant zero into N, a numeric variable. In statement 20 the variable will have a numeric constant,1, added to itself and then the sum of that operation will be stored in place of the value previously stored there. The program in the above example conta[...]

41 Y ou can use as many input statements as y ou need to get all the v alues into your progr am. Tr y this : NEW 10 INPUT “GIVE ME A NUMBER”; N1 pr ess ENTER 20 INPUT “ AND ANO THER”; N2 pr ess ENTER 30 PRINT “I WILL ADD THEM” pr ess ENTER 40 C=N1+N2 pr ess ENTER 50 PRINT “THE ANSWER IS”; C pr ess ENTER T ype RU N and press ENTER to[...]

42 The A > 90 is a condition. The print “Y OU ARE SMART” is the command giv en f or the true condition. In the abo ve e xample, let’ s give A the v alue 80. W ould the message be printed? No, it would not be printed because the condition is false (80 is less than 90). Let’ s try a program to compute the area of a rectangle . T ype : NEW [...]

43 50 PRINT “ ARITHMETIC OPERA TION Y OU W ANT” 60 PRINT “ME T O DO FOR YOU” 70 INPUT R$ 100 IF R$=“ A” THEN C=A+B : GO T O 200 110 IF R$=“S” THEN C=A-B : GO T O 200 120 IF R$=“M” THEN C=A*B : GO TO 200 130 IF R$=“D” THEN C=A/B : GO TO 200 140 PRINT “Y OU MADE A MIST AKE” 150 PRINT “TR Y A GAIN” 160 GO T O 30 200 PRI[...]

44 LOOPING A loop is a set of one or more instructions. These instructions can be repeated as many times as you w ant. Y ou can create a loop with a GO T O statement. A program like the following will run continually: 10 INPUT “GIVE ME A NUMBER”;N 20 PRINT “YOUR NUMBER IS”;N 30 GO T O 10 RUN Y ou can modify the program to get out of a loop [...]

45 We could always re write the program like this : 10 N=1 20 PRINT “N IS”;N 30 N=N+1 40 IF N > 10 THEN END 50 GO T O 20 We can also count by 2’ s. Let’ s br ing back the pre vious prog ram and change line 10. The entire program looks like this: NEW 10 FOR N=1 TO 10 STEP 2 pr ess ENTER 20 PRINT “N IS”;N pr ess ENTER 30 NEXT N pr ess [...]

46 MORE ABOUT GR OUPS - GOSUB ... RETURN How much is 10 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit? What is 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius? Here’ s a progr am that giv es you the ans wers. It uses the GOSUB and RETURN statements to create a group of instructions that can be executed from various parts of the program. Remember when you use a GOSUB , the pro[...]

47 REFERENCE SECTION The REFERENCE SECTION contains a brief explanation of all the commands and statements you will use in this chapter . Ref er to this when y ou need help . CLEAR The CLEAR statement is used to assign more memory space for the string variables. Example: 10 Clear 100 This command will assign 100 bytes of memory for strings. If the [...]

48 EDIT Use the EDIT command when you want to change a statement that has been typed into memory without re-typing the entire line. Just type EDIT and the line number and press the ENTER ke y. The statement will appear on the display . Use the LEFT -ARRO W and RIGHT -ARRO W k eys to mo ve the cursor . Use the DEL ke y to remo ve an unw anted charac[...]

49 PSET This command is used for drawing a specified point on the screen. PSET X, Y (X, Y) is a coordinate of the specified point to be shown. X represents a value of a horizontal position. Y represents a value of a vertical position. Example: 10 CLS 20 PSET 100, 8 RUN The result: a screen pixel at coordinate (100, 8) will be turned on. PRESET This[...]

50 SOUND This is a command to generate a sound note. SOUND consists of two functions: frequency and duration frequency The frequency of the sound in hertz; a value in the range 0 < frequency parameter < 256 duration The number of the system clock ticks so the sound lasts; a value in the range 0 < duration parameter < 256 FOR ... T O ...[...]

51 T ype PRINT SQR (9). (press ENTER ) The answer is 3. Example: Y=9 : X=SQR(Y) : PRINT X pr ess ENTER The answer is 3. In these two examples, 9 is the argument, SQR is the function and 3 is the result. A LIST OF NUMERIC FUNCTIONS Function What it does ABS (X) Returns the absolute (positive) V alue of X SGN (X) Returns the sign of the argument X ne[...]

52 ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS ABS (X) This giv es the absolute (positive) v alue of the argument. So ABS (-7)=7. Example: PRINT ABS (7-2*4) pr ess ENTER 1 SGN (X) This function will give the value of +1 if X is positive, 0 if X is zero, and -1 if X is negative. So SGN(4.3)=1; SGN(0)=0; SGN(-276)=-1 Example: A=6 pr ess ENTER PRINT SGN (A); SGN (A-A) pr es[...]

53 Example: PRINT RND (19) pr ess ENTER Y ou will get a number between 1 and 19. RND (0) will give y ou a number between 0 and 1. Note :X cannot be negative. Important Note: Fr om now on, the ENTER key sign will be deleted for simplicity . Remember to press the ENTER key after eac h line of entry . STRING FUNCTIONS We can also use functions to act [...]

54 VA L V AL works like STR$ b ut in re verse . It changes a str ing argument into a number . Look at the following short program. Example: 10 A$=“33” 20 B$=“20” 30 C=V AL(A$+B$) 40 D= V AL (A$) + V AL (B$) 50 PRINT C;D RUN 3320 53 GRAPHICS FUNCTION PGET function Returns the color attribute of a specified pixel. PGET(X, Y) = n nR eturns 1 t[...]

55 Example: 10 A$=“ABCDE” 20 B$=LEFT$ (A$+“FGH”,6) 30 PRINT B$ RUN ABCDEF RIGHT$ (A$,N) This will return a substring but starting from the Nth character from the end and running to the last one - the right-most character in the string A$. Example: 10 A$=“WHY” 20 B$=RIGHT$(A$+“ME”,4) 30 PRINT B$ RUN HYME MID$ (A$,M,N) This function r[...]

56 ASC(A$) The ASC statement will return the ASCII code, a code f or representing alphanumeric information, for the FIRST character of the specified string. Brackets must enclose the string specified. Ref er to the appendix of THE ASCII CODE T ABLE (P age 72). F or e xample, the ASCII decimal v alue of “X” is 88. If A$=“XAB”, then ASC (A$)=[...]

57 Example: 30 GOSUB 120 . . other program lines . . 120 PRINT “WELCOME TO THE” 130 PRINT “PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD PLUS” 140 RETURN GO T O Line # GO T O line number The GO T O statement is used to change the normal flow of the program (which is from the low est statement number to the highest). A GOT O command transfers control to the speci[...]

58 Relations or comparisons used in the IF ...THEN statement are the f ollowing: = Equal to < = Less than or equal to < > Not equal to > = Greater than or equal to < Less than > Greater than Examples of how you can use conditions: IF ....THEN A=B IF ....THEN GO T O IF ....THEN GOSUB IF ....THEN PRINT IF ....THEN INPUT Example: 30 [...]

59 Example: 40 IF P=6 THEN PRINT “TR UE” ELSE PRINT “F ALSE” In this e xample, if P=6 the computer will print TR UE . Any other v alue will print F ALSE . In either case the computer will carry onto the next line. It is possib le for more than one statement to f ollo w the THEN or ELSE command. A colon separates the statements. Example: 50 [...]

60 TR UTH T ABLES The f ollowing tab les are called TRUTH T ABLES . They illustrate the results of the pre vious logical operations with both A and B giv en f or e very possible combination of v alues. TR UTH T ABLE FOR “NO T” FUNCTION AN O T A TF FT TR UTH T ABLE FOR “ AND” FUNCTION AB A AND B TTT TF F FTF FFF TR UTH T ABLE FOR “OR” FU[...]

61 Note that T = TRUE and F = F ALSE. Example: 10 INPUT A,B,C 20 IF A=B AND B=C THEN PRINT “ A=B=C” 30 IF (NO T A=B) OR (NO T B=C) THEN 50 40 END 50 PRINT “ A=B=C IS F ALSE” 60 END RUN ? 10 (pick a number) ?? 5 (pick a number) ?? 7 (pick a number) A=B=C IS F ALSE Moreov er AND , OR , and NO T can be used to manipulate numerical v alues. The[...]

62 Examples: 35 INPUT AMOUNT 140 INPUT “WHA T IS YOUR N AME”;N AME$ LET Line # LET variable = variable expression The v ariable e xpression is calculated and the result is stored under the variable . The word LET is optional. Examples: 40 LET SUM=A+B+C 25 LET AMOUNT=PRICE-DISCOUNT LIST LIST (optional line number) LIST is used to display the act[...]

63 NEW NEW erases all program lines from the active program area. PRINT Line # PRINT expression and/or character string The PRINT statement is used to produce output on the displa y panel. The PRINT command will print one or several items - either expressions or strings. Each item in the list should be separated by a comma or a semicolon. Example: [...]

64 REST ORE If you want to use the same data later on in the program, you can do so by using the REST ORE statement. Example: 10 D A T A 1,3,8,9 20 READ A,B,D 30 RESTORE 40 READ X,Y 50 PRINT A;B;D 60 PRINT X;Y 70 END RUN 1 3 8 1 3 The REST ORE command makes subsequent READ statements get their v alues from the star t of the first DA T A statement. [...]

65 REM Line # REM text REM is used to add comments in your program which are ignored when the program is RUN . Example: 10 REM**GUESSING GAME** 20 REM TEST OF SOR TING RUN RUN tells the computer to begin to perform your program beginning with the lowest statement n umber . ST OP ... CONT Line # ST OP CONT The ST OP command halts the R UNNING of a p[...]

66 R OCK, P APER, SCISSORS 10 PRINT “Rock, Paper , Scissors” 20 PRINT “T ype in P , R, S” 30 INPUT “and see if you win. ->”; ANSWER$ 40 PRINT “Y ou :” ; ANSWER$; 50 MYGUESS = INT (RND (0)*(3) + 1) 60 IF MYGUESS = 1 THEN PRINT “ Me : Rock” 70 IF MYGUESS = 2 THEN PRINT “ Me : P aper” 80 IF MYGUESS = 3 THEN PRINT “ Me : Sc[...]

67 LIFE 10 PRINT “If an average life” 20 PRINT “span is 70 years” 30 PRINT “Then how many” 40 PRINT “generations would have” 50 PRINT “lived in 2000 years?” 60 INPUT “Enter a guess.”;GUESS 70 AMOUNT = INT (2000/70) 80 DIFF = ABS (AMOUNT -GUESS) 90 PRINT “The answer was ” ;AMOUNT 100 PRINT “Y ou were ”; DIFF 110 PRINT[...]

68 THE FORTUNE TELLER 10 DIM N$(5) 20 PRINT “The F ortune T eller” 30 INPUT “Are you a boy or a girl” ;S$ 40 INPUT “Pick a number between 2-5”; NUMBER 50 FOR COUNT = 1 TO NUMBER 60 IF S$ = “boy” OR S$=“BO Y” THEN 70 ELSE 90 70 INPUT “Enter a girl’ s name”; N$ (COUNT) 80 NEXT 85 GO T O 110 90 INPUT “Enter a boy’ s name?[...]

69 LEARN SCHEDULE 10 DIM WEEK$(6) 20 DIM EVENT$(6) 30 D A T A “SUND A Y”,“PLA Y TIME” 40 D A T A “MOND A Y”,“LEARN ECOLOGY” 50 D A T A “TUESD A Y”,“LEARN ENGLISH” 60 D A T A “WEDNESD A Y”,“LEARN MUSIC” 70 D A T A “THURSD A Y”,“LEARN HISTOR Y” 80 D A T A “FRID A Y”,“LEARN GEOGRAPHY” 90 D A T A “SA TU[...]

70 MAD LIB’S 10 REM * MAD LIB’S * 20 PRINT “Mad Lib’ s” 30 INPUT “ Adjectiv e”; A1$ 40 INPUT “V erb”; V$ 50 INPUT “ Adverb”; A2$ 60 PRINT “Once upon a time” 70 PRINT “there was a ”; A1$ 80 PRINT “dog that decided to” 90 PRINT V$; “ ”; A2$;“ do wn the” 100 PRINT “hill to fetch its” 110 PRINT “bone.” [...]

71 80 GO T O 40 100 PRINT "No! The secret number is smaller ." 110 G O TO 40 200 PRINT "Y es! The number is "; NO;"." 210 END RUN PA TTERN PICTURE 10 CLS 20 REM **DRA W A PICTURE** 30 FOR Y=0 TO 7 40 X= 50+Y 50 PSET X,Y : X=X+1 60 IF X<70-Y THEN GO T O 50 70 NEXT 80 FOR Y=8 TO 15 90 X=50+15-Y 100 PSET X,Y : X=X+1 11[...]

72 TWINLKE TWINKLE LITTLE ST AR 10 REM T winkle T winkle Little Star 20 D A T A 62,62,19,19,10,10,19,30,30,36,36 30 D A T A 50,50,62,19,19,30,30,36,36,50 40 D A T A 19,19,30,30,36,36,50,62,62,19,19 50 D A T A 10,10,19,30,30,36,36,50,50,62 60 FOR I=1 TO 42 70 READ F 80 SOUND F ,20 90 NEXT I 100 END RUN THE MUSIC NO TE V ALUE T ABLE Do Re Mi Fa So La[...]

73 THE ASCII CODE T ABLE Decimal Printable Decimal Printable Decimal Printable V alue Character V alue Character V alue Character 32 (Space) 64 @ 96 ‘ (Accent) 33 ! 65 A 97 a 34 “ 66 B 98 b 35 # 67 C 99 c 36 $ 6 8 D 100 d 37 % 69 E 101 e 38 & 70 F 102 f 39 ‘ (Apostrophe) 71 G 103 g 40 ( 72 H 104 h 41 ) 73 I 105 i 42 * 74 J 106 j 43 + 75 K[...]

74 THE ERROR MESSAGES CANNOT CONTINUE An attempt is made to continue a program that: 1. Has halted due to an error . 2. Has been modified during a break in execution, or 3. Does not exist. DIVISION BY ZERO A division by zero is encountered in an expression, or the operation of involution results in zero being r aised to a negative po wer . EXTRA IG[...]

75 OUT OF STRING SP A CE String variables have caused BASIC to exceed the amount of free memory remaining. OVERFLOW The result of a calculation is too large to be represented in the number format. If underflow occurs, the result is z ero and e xecution contin ues without an error . REDIMENSIONED ARRA Y Tw o DIM statements are given f or the same ar[...]

76 CHAPTER 8: CALCULA TOR The Calculator function turns the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS unit into a calculator with a 14-digit memor y . The number ke ys and the 19 specially marked ke ys in the second and third rows of the k eyboard are used in the Calculator activity . T o clear the screen, use the key at the top right of the keyboard. B ASIC[...]

77 Input Display 34 - 78 M =146 34-78 =-44 M =102 34-78_ = M=102 _ 23 - 6 + 9 M =102 23-6+9 =26 M =76 23-6+9_ = AD V ANCED FUNCTIONS The Calculator has special function keys located on the second and third rows of the ke yboard. Alwa ys press the function ke y first when using it in a problem and then enter the numbers it is to operate on. Aim Oper[...]

78 TRIGONOMETR Y FUNCTIONS All the trigonometric functions can take two forms of input-radians and degrees. If you just type in a number , the Calculator assumes the number is in radians. T o enter a number in degrees , press the degree sign after inputting the number . Function Operation Display SINE 60 sin 60 = -0.30481 SINE 60 sin 60 ° = 0.8660[...]

79 CHAPTER 9: TIME LIMITS Categories Activities Timing Code W ord Games All W ord Games (e xcept W ord Puzzles) 1 W ord Puzzles 2 Mathematics All Math Games 1 Tr ivia All T r ivia Games 1 Games Sp y T rap 3 Rocket Fuel None Computer Skills All Computer Skills None TIMING CODE 1. In the one player mode, the answer must be input within 60 seconds. In[...]

80 SCORING CODE POINTS 1. One Player Mode 5 Questions per round Correct answer on 1st try 20 Correct answer on 2nd try 15 Correct answer on 3rd try 10 Tw o Player s Mode 10 Questions per round Starting Score 100 Correct answer 10 Wrong ans wer -10 2. Missing words per puzzle 10 Correct answer on 1st try 20 Correct answer on 2nd try 15 Correct answe[...]

81 CHAPTER 11: POWER LINK If you have purchased our VTECH POWER LINK™ , you can connect the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS unit to an IBM 386 or higher compatib le personal computer . This f eature allows y ou to sav e and load files to your personal computer . The VTECH PO WER LINK™ is sold separately at your local retailer or you may order i[...]

82 Save File After selecting this option, y ou can choose to sav e a W ord Processor file or sav e a BASIC program. The unit will ask y ou to sav e a TXT file or BASIC prog ram, then press the Enter key to select option. Next, you will be prompted to input the filename. Do not use spaces as characters , and please remember you ha ve up to 8 char ac[...]

83 CHAPTER 12: HOW TO USE AN EXPANSION CARTRIDGE There is an entire library of optional expansion cartridges available for the PRECOMPUTER PO WER P AD™ PLUS unit. To use a car tr idge, f ollow these steps: 1. Make sure the unit is OFF . 2. Insert a cartridge into the slot located on the left-hand side of the unit. 3. T ur n the unit ON . 4. Press[...]

84 CHAPTER 13: CARE AND MAINTENANCE 1. Keep the unit clean by wiping it with a slightly damp cloth. 2. Keep the unit out of direct sunlight and away from heat. 3. Remove the batteries when the unit is not in use for extended periods of time. 4. Do not drop the unit on hard surfaces or try to dismantle the unit. 5. Unplug the A C adaptor when the un[...]