ChiWriter Tutorial
ChiWriter Tutorial
1. Cursor Movement
The Cursor keys [Left], [Right], [Up] and [Down] in the cursor
keypad move the cursor one unit in the desired direction. [PgUp]
and [PgDn] scroll one screen up and down, [Ctrl-Home] and
[Ctrl-End] move to the beginning and end of the document.
[Ctrl-Left] and [Ctrl-Right] move a word left or right. [Home] and
[End] move to the left and right screen margin, with intermediate
stops at the first or last letter of the current line (since those
are the spots at which you are most likely to continue editing).
Try them now and remember to hit [Ctrl-Home] to return here!
[Grey +] [Return] moves to the next hard return (i.e. to the end
of the paragraph), and [Grey -] [PgUp] moves backwards to the top
of the page.
Hitting the quick search key twice (e.g. [Grey +][Grey +]) repeats
the last search.
2. Inserting Text
To insert text, move the cursor anywhere on the screen and start
typing. Use the [Backspace] key to delete the character before the
cursor, the [Del] key to delete the character under the cursor.
[Ins] toggles between “Insert mode” and “Overwrite mode”. (Check
the status line for an INS indicator which is present in insert
mode and missing in overwrite mode). Move the cursor to the * on
the next line and type your name!
*
3. Font Change
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F7: Greek (abGD) F8: Linedraw (Lm) F9: Math I (d<:)
To change the font, hit the desired function key on the left of
the keyboard twice. Note that the indicator F1:STANDARD in the
status line changes to display the name and number of the new
font. Move the cursor behind the next * and type your name in
Italics and Greek! Switch back to font 1 when you are done.
*
If you hit the function key just once, only the next character is
taken from the new font and the editor reverts to the old font.
This is very useful for typing scientific text which frequently
requires typing just one character in a special font.
For example, consider the following sentence:
Let 0 < e < 1 be a real number.
The e is typed as [F7]e and the < as [F9]<. Afterwards, the
program automatically reverts to font 1. Reproduce the sentence
below!
*
With symbolic fonts like Greek and Math I it is not easy to
remember which key encodes which symbol. Hitting a font key and
then [Alt-H] (“Help”) displays a keyboard chart on the screen,
showing the location of all symbols on the keyboard. You can cycle
through the charts of various fonts by hitting the appropriate
font keys, or insert a character by hitting the associated key, or
just hit [Esc] to return to your document. Hit [F7][Alt-H] to see
the keyboard assignment for the Greek font!
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level up or down (rather than one line at a time). At the top or
bottom of the line, a super- or subscript row is automatically
added.
(-i)n pi ix cos f
Jn(x) = ------------------------------ cos nf df
p j e
0
If you remember your junior high school algebra, you will notice
that the following formula should have a “2a” in the denominator,
not a “23a”. Make sure that insert mode is on. Move the cursor
into the formula. Move the cursor onto the 3 and hit [Del] to
delete it.
#__ _ _ _ _ _2_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ +
-b + e b -4ac
x1,2 = _______________
23a
That didn’t work, did it? The [Del] operation deleted the contents
of all columns. Let’s try this again. Move the cursor into the
next formula and hit the [Grey *] key. Notice that the SYN
indicator in the status line disappeared and the cursor changed
shape. Move the cursor onto the 3 and hit [Del].
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#__ _ _ _ _ _2_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ +
-b + e b -4ac
x1,2 = _______________
23a
Did you notice that the cursor is half the usual size in
unsynchronized mode? If the cursor is strangely small and slow,
you are in unsynch mode, and you should hit [Grey *] before
editing regular text.
If you type text, don’t use the [Return] key to end a line. When
you go past the right margin, the last word will be moved
automatically on a new line. The old line is terminated by a soft
return. If justification mode is on (JST in the status line), the
old line is automatically right justified. Use [Ctrl-J] to toggle
justification mode if you prefer a ragged right margin. At the end
of every paragraph, you should use the [Return] key to insert a
hard return. (In unsynchronized mode, word wrap is turned off,
which is just as well since you probably don’t want your formulas
to get wrapped around several lines.)
To format a paragraph, move the cursor into its first line. and
hit [Ctrl-F]. If justification mode is on, the editor produces a
flush right margin by inserting soft spaces (the ones that don’t
look like small dots), otherwise a ragged right margin. The
formatting stops at the next hard return. Move the cursor to the
next * and follow the instructions above it!
Write a sentence that is longer than one line to see the word wrap.
Then move the cursor to the first word of this paragraph and hit
[Ctrl-F]!
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*
[Ctrl-[], [Ctrl-]] change the left and right margin to the cursor
column. [Ctrl-T] toggles the tab stop at the cursor column, i.e.
creates a tab stop if there was none before and removes it
otherwise. There is a margin and tab stop indicator in the status
line. The maximum right margin is 78. Try out [Ctrl-[], [Ctrl-]]
and [Ctrl-T]! Observe the effect on the status line! Be sure to
reset the left margin to 1 and the right margin to 66 when you are
done.
10. Pagination
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moves it to the right margin.
Delete me by hitting [Ctrl-Backspace]!
Most menus branch off to submenus, and you can select sub-options
by the same method. Once you are inside the menu, hitting [Esc]
gets you back into edit mode. You can browse through the menu
to find out what options are available and hit [Esc] at any time
without having to select anything.
The [Up] and [Down] key are for browsing: [Down] gets one level
deeper (just as [Return]), but it never accepts a command at a
“leaf” of the menu tree. [Up] undoes the last selection and moves
one level further back to the “root” of the menu tree. (Computer
trees are funny--the root is on top and the leaves are on the
bottom.)
Try it out! Hit [Esc] L to see the options in the Layout menu.
Browse through the sub-options. Try out the on-line help! Hit
[Esc] when you are done.
When you are more experienced, you can turn the menu off. That
gives you 5 additional rows of screen “real estate” and makes the
program run a little quicker. (When you hit [Esc], the menu
temporarily pops back onto the screen.)
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13. Highlighting
When pasting the rectangular area (still in unsynch mode), its top
left corner gets pasted at the cursor position. However, it
would be pretty difficult to correctly position the rectangle
without seeing its contents. Therefore, after hitting [Ctrl-P],
the area to be pasted is tentatively displayed on the screen, and
you can position it using the cursor keys. The text in the
background shines through the area image, sometimes creating
interesting interference patterns. To drop the area, hit [Return],
and the image is superimposed on the existing text. (As usual,
[Esc] cancels the command.)
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Try it out in the following formula: Hit [Grey *] to get into
unsynchronized mode and highlight the eixcosf. Cut it out and
paste it 2 rows higher up! Hit [Grey *] again when you are done!
(-i)n pi
Jn(x) = ------------------------------
p j eix cos f cos nf df
0
To search for a phrase in the document, hit [Ctrl-S] and enter the
search pattern. Hit [Return] to start the search. Hit [Esc] to
cancel the command if you change your mind. [Ctrl-L] repeats the
last search. Try it out: Move the cursor here * and hit
[Ctrl-S]the[Return] to move the cursor to the next the. Hit
[Ctrl-L] to repeat the last search and find subsequent thes.
To search for a phrase and replace it with another one, use
the [Ctrl-R] command and enter search pattern and replacement text
when prompted. You can change fonts in the pattern and the
replacement text by using the [F..] keys.
The search command [Ctrl-S] has toggles for case insensitive
and font insensitive matching. That means, you can make "this"
match "This" and "this". Also, the search and the
search-and-replace commands look for the search string in the
footnotes as it scans through the document.
* Try it out now. Move the cursor on the beginning of this line
and hit [Alt-C][Alt-C]. Here we misspelled a word on purpuse. Fix
it. Hit [Esc] to stop further checking.
The file you are editing is stored in the computer memory. You
should save it occasionally, especially if you have problems with
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the electrical power. Also, since the memory size is limited, you
should take care that your file fits inside. If you run out of
memory, the editor will refuse to execute any more commands that
require memory. You can, of course, still save your document.
However, it is a good idea to inspect the FULL indicator in
the status line periodically. If it is in the 90% range, look for
a good point to break up the current document into two parts.
Check the FULL indicator now!
When you leave ChiWriter, your key sequences are lost. If you want
to save them, use the "Environ Key seq Save" menu option.
# # $ $
[1 3 [2 | [3 | ]1 $4 ]2 | ]3
Square brackets # | |
3 4 |
3 4
& & * *
(1 7 (2 | (3 || )1 8* )2 | )3
Parentheses & |
7 8 |
7 8
( )
( & | ) * |
Braces {1 { {2 { {3 { }1 } }2 } }3 }
9 7 | 0 8 |
9 0
9
a__ _ +
Summation signs SUM1 st SUM2 a+ SUM3 c
b= b-- - =
i
Integral signs INT1 ij INT2 | OINT ikj
j 5------------------------------------------6
5------------6 /
Square roots ROOT1 r ROOT2 r
Try it out: Move the cursor to the next * and type [Ctrl-K] ROOT2
[Return]! Hit [Ctrl-K] {1 [Return]!
*
Another set of convenient key sequences centers a formula and
prepares an equation number behind it. EQU1 ... EQU4 perform this
task, leaving 1 ... 4 characters for the number. For example,
center the following equation and give it the number 123 by typing
[Ctrl-K]EQU3[Return]123!
(-i)n ip ix cos f
Jn(x) = ------------------------------ cos nf df
p j e
0
ChiWriter has an automated line/box mode that makes drawing lines, {__________________}
Q++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++E
arrows [------------------------------L and Z++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++C
boxes a snap. Here is how to do it: Move the
cursor to the top left corner of the box or end point of a line.
(You may need to use [Ctrl-PgUp/Dn] or use [Grey *] to switch to
unsynch.) Then hit [Ctrl-X]. Move the cursor to the other corner.
You’ll see the box or line expanding. Hit [>] to toggle arrow tips
on/off or hit [-] to cycle between solid [------------], double :++++++++++++", thick
;============’ or dotted {____________} line styles.
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There are three pitches: Pica (10 pitch), Elite (12 pitch)
and proportional. Not all printers support all combinations of
pitches and print qualities.
Different headers and footers can be selected for even and
odd pages and the first nine pages of any document. For example,
you may want to have page numbers in the left corner on even
pages and in the right corner on odd pages, except on page 1. Edit
the headers and footers through the “Layout” menu. To suppress
page numbers, select “Delete Footer Default”.
Look at the “Print Options” menu to print out part of a
document.
We include this section for completeness. You should not save this
tutorial file since you probably made some changes to it that
shouldn’t be preserved for posterity. However, usually you do want
to save your document on disk. Select the “Write Document” option
from the menu, and your document will be saved on disk. (The old
version will be renamed with the extension .BAK) Again, do not
save this document now.
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