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FrEdWriter Tips 1
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TIPS ON USING FREDWRITER
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GENERAL TIPS
o Think of the FrEd disk as two separate programs:
- MAIN MENU at boot: although other items bring you
back to the main menu when done, once you go into
Fred, you have to <Q>uit Fred (reboot) to get back
to this menu.
- FRED: Once you go into FrEd, all of FrEd is in
memory. The computer is FrEd until you reboot.
o CONTROL RESET will take you to main (editing) screen, if
you get stuck or hung up somewhere in FrEd.
o Try it, if you're not sure you can do it!
o Sometimes Fred boots to 80 columns, even when you choose
40 columns. This happens if you press ANY OTHER KEY after
you press the 4. This is because FrEd looks for the LAST
KEY PRESSED while it is loading. If the LAST KEY PRESSED
is not 4, it comes up in 80 columns. Reboot.
o Use copies of Fred without documentation and have students
save right onto it.
o To understand the PRINT MENU more clearly, pressing RETURN
will do whatever item is highlighted. ESC will take you
out of print menu.
o You must enter a name when formatting a disk. If you
don't give it a name, the program continues as if it is
being formatted. But in fact it will not be. If this
happens, reformat it with a name (such as: BLANK) to make
it useable.
o When first using copies of Fred with students, you may
find a disk won't boot. Recopying Fred solves it, unless
the disk is bad.
o Think of spaces and returns as characters: they can be
inserted or deleted as needed.
o Use the SET TIME & DATE option on opening menu. This
makes it easier to verify when files were saved, for
current or older work.
o You can move up to 256 characters at a time. When you
reach the limit, it will not let you take in more.
o Sometimes, in the middle of a paragraph, a sentence
beginning on the left edge of the screen will display with
a space that you can't remove. It's only a quirk in FrEd's
screen display. It will print correctly.
(c) D.Beck 2/86
FrEdWriter Tips 2
SAVING and LOADING FILES TIPS
o When you type in a filename to save or load, you can type
over another name already there. Any letters at or after
the cursor will be chopped. You do not need to remove
letters under or after the cursor. (In fact, you will
notice that DELETE will not remove them.)
o Acceptable filenames in ProDOS:
- Up to 15 characters long
- Must begin with a letter
- After first character: letters, numbers, periods
- NO SPACES
o Sometimes FrEd may refuse to save or load without giving a
PRODOS ERROR message. For some "unacceptable filenames"
(symbols, commas, etc), FrEd knows they are invalid and
won't continue with the save or load. So, always watch
for the red light on the drive to see that FrEd does save
or load.
o Review saving files: students seem to get confused easily
with: (1) valid names (no spaces, too long, etc.). (2)
typing over old names (delete won't delete, just moves
cursor to left.) (3) think they've saved when they
haven't -- explain "bad pathname" remark AND remind them
to always watch for the red light on the drive to go on.
o If you end up in SAVE or LOAD, and you don't wish to save
or load, move cursor as far left as you can and press
return to get back to the editing screen.
o Type = at the <S>ave prompt if you want to save under
the name already showing.
o <S>aving with the same name will save the file in memory
over the file on the disk. It will ask if you really want
to do this the first time in a session you do it.
o Save your work every once in a while, every 10-15 min for
long periods of work.
o Make back-up copies of files that are important.
o Loading in a file only loads a COPY of what's on disk.
Saving a file only saves a COPY of memory to the disk.
o Before loading in a new file, remember to clear memory
with <N>ew. With scrolling of a file up and out of view,
some students don't undertand a saved file is still in
memory and load in a new file: end up adding onto a file
in memory, or loading several copies of the same one...
o Inside FrEd you can only SAVE and LOAD files. Other disk
and files utilities are available out of the opening menu.
(c) D.Beck 2/86
FrEdWriter Tips 3
PROMPTED FILES TIPS
o Put a title for a prompting file at the end of a file in a
box. Include instructions to use <B> to go to the
beginning. When loaded, you will see the title box.
o In general, make prompted files in 40 columns, to exchange
with other teachers. 40 column prompting files can be
used in 40 or 80 column display.
With 80 columns prompt files, show it in the filename,
(such as, REPORT.PET.80). 80 column prompted files can
only be used in 80 column format. If loaded onto a 40
column screen, the longer lines will "wrap around", break
the boxes and the cursor will stop inside boxes.
o In Prompt Mode the screen looks the same. You can't tell
except by using it. A quick way to see: press return...
esponse and two more returns under the box for
the last response. (The second return will add a blank
line between paragraphs.)
When you set up for paragraphs, think of how the file will
be without prompts: all responses between 2 returns will
form a paragraph.
o Experiment with prompt boxes. You may write into boxes as
you make them or make boxes first and fill them later. It
is up to you. Use whichever way is simpler for you.
o After removing prompts from a file, the file may appear to
have extra spaces on lines. This is an idiosyncracy of
FrEd's display. The easiest way to remove these stray
spacings is to use <W>idth. Use <W> to change width and
then, <W> again, back to the default (38 for 40 columns,
65 for 80 columns). Text will be displayed as it really
is, ready for final editing.
o A prompt box gradually scrolls up out of view when a
student types many lines below it. The reason: FrEd's
cursor remains at the middle of the screen, scrolling new
text up. To keep prompts in view, such as a word bank
(word list), as a student types, place them in the top of
the prompt box below the cursor.
o Make a prompted file blank with the first and last boxes
already constructed with instructions you would type again
already inside. Load it in, fill in the rest of the file
and save it with a new name.
(c) D.Beck 2/86
FrEdWriter Tips 4
TEACHING TIPS
o Using RETURN key correctly will take some explanation and
practice. Students seem to understand quickly about
"wrap-around", that is, not using return at the end of
lines within paragraphs. Many seem to extend this to not
using RETURN at all, typing spaces to get to the next
line, etc.
Explain that RETURN key is an instruction to the computer
to: "Go to the next line NOW". When you want to go to the
next line to type more text, use RETURN.
o Use SET DATE/TIME option from first menu before going into
FrEdWriter. This helps telling old from new files,
identifying current files, etc.
o LOADING/SAVING files Several problems can occur with
SAVING and LOADING files.
-After SAVING a file, have students catalog to see
that old/new files are saved by checking: (1) size
and/or (2) date. Sometimes students don't realize
their file was not saved, if they used a name
unacceptable to ProDOS, etc.
-Have students be sure to catalog after booting with
<L>. Some have used <S> and without thinking try to
"load" a file at the Save prompt. The blank memory is
then saved over their file.
-When loading in another file, remind students to clear
memory with <N> for a "new document". Some load files
on top of other files and end up saving "multiple"
files.
o W-P lets you erase/change only errors Many students want
to "delete" correct writing to get back to errors, which
means re-typing much text. It helps to emphasize writing
in several steps. First, write to get your ideas down,
without worrying about spelling. Then using <B> go back to
the beginning and go through text correcting spelling.
Then, go through for sentencing and paragraphing, etc..
(c) D.Beck 2/86