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  4 :Info:  Getting_to_Know_Your_Terminal:  Getting to Know Your Terminal
  5 
  6 Your terminal has basically two parts, the screen and the keyboard.
  7 The screen looks much like a television.  In Executive Mail, the
  8 terminal screen is divided into two parts.  The upper portion contains
  9 the menus you work from.  The lower portion displays explanations like
 10 this one, messages sent to you, lists of various kinds, and the
 11 messages that you write.
 12 
 13 On your screen you will see a light that moves around.  As this
 14 explanation was being displayed, this light moved ahead of each
 15 character as it is displayed.  This light is in the form of a box or a
 16 little line that moves under the lines of text.  This light is called
 17 the "cursor," and it marks your current position on the screen.  When
 18 it is in the menu portion of the screen, you can select one of the
 19 options.  When it is in the lower portion of the screen, it marks the
 20 place where anything you type will be displayed.
 21 
 22 The keyboard is much like the keyboard on a typewriter, except that
 23 there are a few extra keys.  The terminal keyboard, like standard
 24 electric typewriter keyboards, has a carriage return key.  On some
 25 keyboards it is labelled RETURN, on others CARRIAGE RETURN or CR, and
 26 on yet other keyboards it is labelled ENTER.
 27 
 28 One of the extra keys is the BREAK (or BRK) key.  It is often colored
 29 red because it is a kind of alarm key that you press to signal Multics
 30 to stop immediately and return the cursor to the menu.
 31 
 32 Most, but not all terminals have a series of extra keys called function
 33 keys.  These are usually located along the top of the keyboard and are
 34 labeled F1, F2, etc.  These keys work in Executive Mail only when the
 35 cursor is in the menu portion of the screen.  They perform special
 36 functions in Executive Mail that you will learn about shortly.
 37 
 38 To use function keys, Executive Mail requires your terminal to have at
 39 least 7, 8 if you want to execute Multics commands while in the
 40 Executive Mail system.  If your keyboard does not have function keys,
 41 or enough of them, you can perform the function key operations by using
 42 the key marked "ESC" in combination with other keys (e.g., "ESC q").
 43 Anytime you want to operate the ESC key, press and immediately release
 44 it, then type the key to be used in combination with it.  A personalize
 45 mail option is available if you prefer to always use the escape
 46 sequences, regardless of the capabilities of your terminal.
 47 
 48 The last extra key you must learn is the one labelled "CTL".  Like the
 49 ESC key, it is used in combination with other keys.  Unlike the ESC
 50 key, the CTL key must be held down while typing the key to be used in
 51 combination with it.
 52 
 53 
 54 :Info:  How_to_Get_Help:  How to Get Help
 55 
 56 The menu now displayed at the top of your screen provides the first
 57 stage of help with Executive Mail.  It is the first menu available when
 58 entering Executive Mail for the first time, although after this
 59 session, the first menu seen upon reentering is the one titled
 60 "Executive Mail."  One of the options in that menu enables you to get
 61 the Getting Started menu, the one now being used, if you wish to go
 62 through any part of it again.
 63 
 64 When you are not working with the Getting Started menu, you can get
 65 help in four ways.  The first is to use function key F1 (or "ESC ?"  if
 66 you are using escape sequences).  The F1 key can be used whenever the
 67 cursor is in the menu portion of the screen.  After pressing it, you
 68 are asked what specifically you want help with.  If you want to know
 69 what one of the options in the menu does, type its number or letter,
 70 but do NOT press RETURN, and the explanation is displayed below the
 71 menu.  To get an explanation of one of the function keys, press that
 72 function key, (again, do not follow it with RETURN).  For example, if
 73 you want help with function key F2, press F1, and at the prompt, press
 74 F2.
 75 
 76 If you inadvertently press RETURN when it is not called for, the system
 77 responds with a beep to notify you that an unexpected action occurred.
 78 Furthermore, if you inadvertently press RETURN while the system is
 79 displaying, or getting ready to display a message, and the message
 80 requires more than one screen to display, then you may find that some
 81 data is lost (scrolled off the top of the screen).  In this case, you
 82 would have to request the information a second time.
 83 
 84 If your terminal does not have function keys, or enough of them, type
 85 the two character escape sequence ("ESC" followed by another character)
 86 that is used in place of the particular function key you want.  In the
 87 above example, press and release the "ESC" key followed by a question
 88 mark (?), and at the prompt, type "ESC f".  A personalize mail option
 89 is available if you prefer to always use the escape sequences,
 90 regardless of the capabilities of your terminal.  Finally, if you want
 91 to know about something other than a menu option or a function key, how
 92 to correct mistakes for example, you respond to the request for the
 93 specific help desired by typing two question marks (??).  This provides
 94 a menu of general information items from which the specific explanation
 95 wanted can be chosen.
 96 
 97 The second way of getting help is used when the cursor is not in the
 98 menu portion of the screen.  Whenever you are asked to supply
 99 information for a selected operation within a menu, you can type a
100 single question mark (?)  followed by RETURN to get an explanation of
101 exactly what it is you are being asked for.
102 
103 You may also get help with the mail editor commands while editing mail
104 by entering the two character sequence, "ESC ?".  When using this
105 sequence, a summary of valid commands are displayed or you are prompted
106 to either enter the key sequence you want help with, for example "ESC
107 k", or enter a question mark (?)  to get a summary of the valid
108 commands.  The help information stays on the screen to allow time for
109 reading.  Use the two character sequence "CTL g" to return to editing.
110 
111 Whenever you are asked to supply a forgotten name or number of some
112 item from a list previously created, you can display the complete list
113 by typing two question marks (??)  followed by RETURN.  Now you can
114 select an item from that list by typing the number or letter assigned
115 to it, just as you select an option from a menu.
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117 
118 :Info:  How_to_Get_Out:  How to Get Out
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120 When you are ready to stop working in Executive Mail, press function
121 key F4 (or "ESC q", if you are using escape sequences).  Before you
122 execute this, be sure the cursor is in the menu portion of the screen.
123 Otherwise, pressing F4 ("ESC q") has no effect.
124 
125 If the cursor is in the lower portion of the screen, you must move it
126 back to the menu before you can get out of Executive Mail.  You can
127 move the cursor back in two ways.  If you want to send or save a
128 message just typed, press the "ESC" key followed by the letter "q" or
129 the letter "t".  That sends the message or defers it and returns the
130 cursor to the menu portion of the screen.  If you are not typing a
131 message or do not care to send what has already been typed, press the
132 BREAK (or BRK) key to get back to the menu.
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134 
135 :Info:  Getting_Around:  Getting Around
136 
137 There are seven menus in the Executive Mail system in addition to the
138 Getting Started menu displayed above.  When you enter the system, the
139 first menu displayed is "Executive Mail" (except the very first time
140 you use the system, in which case the Getting Started menu is displayed
141 first).  That menu lets you select all the other menus in the system,
142 including the Getting Started menu.
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144 The other menus also contain options that let you choose to move to
145 another menu, though none of them contain options for all of the other
146 menus the way the Executive Mail menu does.  If you need to get back to
147 Executive Mail menu, you can do so by pressing function key F2 (or "ESC
148 f" if you are using escape sequences) while the cursor is in the menu
149 portion of the screen.
150 
151 You can also move to the menu that was displayed just prior to the one
152 you are currently working in.  To do this, press function key F3 (or
153 "ESC p") while the cursor is in the menu portion of the screen.
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155 
156 :Info:  How_to_Correct_Typos:  How to Correct Typos
157 
158 Typing mistakes are inevitable, so the Executive Mail system provides a
159 number of ways for you to change what was typed.
160 
161 Whenever you are either typing a response to a prompt or entering
162 messages, you can move the cursor to different points in the text and
163 erase, change, or add to what was typed.  This is done with keystrokes
164 that use either the "ESC" or "CTL" key.  When using the CTL key, hold
165 it down while you type the associated character key.  When using the
166 ESC key, press and release it before typing the associated character
167 key.
168 
169 Listed below are the keystrokes that can be used, both in changing a
170 response to a prompt and when working in the mail editor.  To get a
171 list of all the keystrokes that operate in the mail editor, ask for
172 general help after pressing the F1 key (or "ESC ?"  if you are using
173 escape sequences).  Now you can select information about the mail
174 editor.
175 
176 CTL f     moves the cursor right one character.
177 ESC f     moves the cursor right one word.
178 CTL e     moves the cursor to the end of the line.
179 CTL a     moves the cursor to the beginning of the line.
180 CTL b     moves the cursor left one character.
181 ESC b     moves the cursor left one word.
182 CTL d     deletes the one character the cursor is under or covering.
183 ESC d     deletes one word to the right of the cursor.
184 BACKSPACE deletes one character to the left of the cursor (the DEL key
185           also does this).
186 ESC BACKSPACE deletes one word to the left of the cursor (ESC DEL also
187           does this).
188 CTL k     erases all text between the cursor and the end of the line.
189 @         erases all text between the cursor and the beginning of the
190           line.
191 CTL Y     retrieves any piece of erased text, longer than one
192           character, and inserts it at the current cursor position.
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194 
195 :Info:  Personalizing_Executive_Mail:  Personalizing Executive Mail
196 
197 This option lets you set many aspects of Executive Mail to work the way
198 you want them to.  After you choose this option, a new menu of choices
199 is presented to help you select and set each of the personalization
200 options.  You can set these options, or leave them at their default
201 settings, and have them work each time you use Executive Mail.
202 
203 You can get to the Personalize Executive Mail menu from the Executive
204 Mail menu.
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