Commodore 8000 Series User manual

Commodore
Business Computer
User's Guide
Series 8000
(=: commodore

Commodore
Business Computer
User's Guide
Appropriate for use with:
• Series 8000, 16K or 32K
Part Number 320894
-----
~ commodore
©1980 Commodore Business Machines, Inc.

PREFACE
Suitable for use with BASIC Version 4.0
and
Models 2040, 3040, 4040
Dual Drive Floppy Disk Drives,
• DOS Version 1
•DOS Version 2
Suitable for use with BASIC Version
4.0
and
the Model 8050 Dual Drive Floppy Disk.
• DOS Version 2.5
•
iii

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Table of Contents
Introduction. ............................................ .. 1
The Commodore Business System. ............................ .. 5
Preparing The CBM For Use ............................. .. 9
Turning The Computer On .............................. .. 9
Care Of Your CBM 10
Exploring the Keyboard .................................... .. 11
Character Reverse Key 13
RUN/STOP Key 13
Cursor Control Keys. .................................. .. 14
Cursor Control Modes 16
Taking Command ......................................... .. 17
Run Command 18
List Command 19
New Command 19
Save and Dsave Command 20
Verify
Command. ..................................... .. 20
Load and Dload Command .............................. .. 20
Peripherals 21
IEEE488 Interface 21
Parallel User Port 23
Memory Expansion Port 23
Commodore's Dual Drive Floppy Disk ..................... .. 23
Disk Commands .............................. .. 25
Formatting
Your Disk 25
Header Command ......................... .. 25
Directory
Command ....................... .. 26
Initializing
Your Disk .......................... .. 27
2040
Disk Drive 27
8050 Disk Drive 28
v

vi
Chapter 6
Using
the Disk Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
:Dsave "fn", Dx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Verify "dr:fn", 829
Verify "*",8 , 29
Dload "fn ", Dx 30
Dload
"*" 30
Quick Load
For Program Files 31
Relative Files. ................................ .. 31
Creating ARandom File 34
Accessing ARandom
File. ...................... .. 34
User's Quick Reference: Commands 34
Cassette Tape Interface 36
Tape
Commands. ............................. .. 37
Save
"fn" ............................... .. 37
Save
"fn", 2 ............................. .. 38
Verify "fn" 38
Load
"fn" ............................... .. 39
Load
"fn", 241
Commodore Printer 41
Special Printer Associated Commands. .............
.. 43
Open 43
CMD 43
Print# and close .. .......................... 44
Error Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
Errors Encountered While Trying To Load AProgram 48
Device not Present 48
Load and Status Errors. ........................ .. 48
Read Error . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
File not Found ................................. 49
DOS Mismatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. 49
Disk ill Mismatch. . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . .. . . . . . . . . 49
Device Not Ready 49
Errors Encountered While Trying
to Run AProgram 49
Syntax Error 49
Input Error 50
Redo from
Start 50
Device Not Ready 51
Errors Encountered While Trying
To Save AProgram 51
Verify Error 51
File Exists 52
Write Project On ..............................
.. 52
Device Not Ready 52
User's Quick Reference: Error Messages 52

List of Illustrations
Figure Title
1The Commodore Business System. ..................................
.. 5
2The Series 8000 Computer ........................................
.. 7
3Rear View
of Series 8000 Computer. . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8
4The Series 8000 Keyboard ...................
.. 11
5Series 8000 Character Display. ..................................... .. 11
6IEEE Peripheral Device Contact Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
7IEEE Interface Cables. ........................................... .. 22
8Model 2040 Dual Drive Floppy Disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
9Model 2040 Dual Drive Floppy Disk, Rear View 24
10 Model
C2N Tape Cassette 36
11 Commodore Model 2022 Printer 42
12 Commodore Model 2023 Printer. ................................... .. 42
List of Tables
Table Title
1Suggested Reading List ........................................... .. 2
2Function Keys 12
3User's Quick Reference: Commands 35
4User's Quick Reference: Error Messages 53
vii

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on selecting the Commodore Series 8000 Computer. You will find that
your computer is aflexible and easy·to-use tool-quite suitable for whatever applications
you have in mind.
Commodore is the leading innovator and advocate in bringing personal computers into the
business office--delivering both professional capability and results. Your computer has been
thoroughly tested and certified
by Commodore prior to leaving the factory. You will find
that your computer can be immediately on-line and ready to go to work.
This guide discusses the computer's features in an easy-to-understand non-technical manner.
This approach will enable you to become familiar with your computer's basic capabilities
without being intimidated
by technical sounding jargon.
This guide is comprised
of the following chapters:
• INTRODUCTION
• THE COMMODORE BUSINESS SYSTEM
•EXPWRING THE KEYBOARD
• TAKING COMMAND
•PERIPHERALS
•ERROR
MESSAGES
The information presented in these chapters will allow you to:
•unpack and install the computer,
•attach computer peripherals,
•use commercially prepared software, and
•recognize and correct error conditions.
Commodore makes no assumptions as
to the user's expertise, but does recommend the
SUGGESTED READING LIST, Table 1, which, should the user wish to pursue it, can pro-
vide detailed programming and technical information. Additionally, your Commodore
dealer can assist you in expanding
your knowledge and understanding, thereby enhancing
your proficiency.
1

2
The best teaching device for learning how the computer works and what it can do is the
computer itself. In some cases you will be instructed to use the computer in conjunction
with specified procedures in addition to reading what to do. Every effort has been made to
provide sufficient documentation to allow you to get started. Essentially, then, the rest is
up to you. By constructing similar, and then progressively more sophisticated procedures
and examples on your own, any questions which might arise will in all probability be
answered
by the machine itself.
The Series 8000 is a complete computer and its potential is virtually limitless. Information
is entered via the keyboard and displayed on the CRT. The computer is programmable
using alanguage called Beginners All·purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC). BASIC
is an English·like computer language designed to permit you and the computer to under·
stand and communicate with each other in afriendly and non-threatening way.
At
the heart of your computer is amicroprocessor. The microprocessor totally controls the
operation of the CRT, keyboard and assorted peripherals. Compatible Commodore peri-
pherals include:
•Model
2040 Dual Floppy Disk Drive
•Model
8050 Dual Floppy Disk Drive
•Model
2022 or 2023 CBM Printer
•Model C2N Cassette Recorder
Table
1. Suggested Reading List
Entering Basic
J. Sack and J. Meadows, Science Research Associates, 1973
BASIC: A Computer Programming Language
C. Pegels, Holden·Day, Inc., 1973
BASIC Programming
J. Kemeny and T. Kurtz, Peoples Computer Co., 1967
1010 Doyle (P.O. Box 3100), Menlo Park, CA 94025
BASIC
Albrecht, Finkle, and Brown
Peoples Computer Co" 1973,
1010 Doyle (P.O. Box 3100), Menlo Park, CA 94025
AGuided Tour of Computer Programming in BASIC
T. Dwyer, Houghton-Miflin Co., 1973
Programming aTime Shared Computer in BASIC
E. H.
Barnett, Wiley-Interscience
LIC 72·175789
Programming Language #2
Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, MA 01754
101 BASIC Computer Games
Software Distribution Center,Digital
Equipment Corp., Maynard, MA 01754
What to Do After You Hit Return
Peoples Computer Co., 1010 Doyle (P.O. Box 3100), Menlo Park, CA 94025

Table 1. Suggested Reading List (cont.)
Basic BASIC
J. S. Coan, Hayden Book Co., Rochelle Park, NJ
Workbooks 1-5
T.I.S., (P.O. Box 921), Los Alamos, NM
BASIC With Style
Hayden Book Co., Rochelle Park, NJ
Progranuning Proverbs
Hayden Book Co., Rochelle Park, NJ
PET and the IEEE Bus (GPIB)
Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 630 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94710
NOTES
3

Chapter2
THE COMMODORE
BUSINESS SYSTEM
Your computer is the brain of the Commodore business system, and, in conjunction with
the peripherals is designed to:
•Store information
•Find stored information
•Update stored information
•Calculate
•Manipulate information
•Print information
Your computer is constructed in such away that it cannot be damaged via the keyboard.
The operating system
cannot be destroyed because the computer software, or operating
instructions, are contained in afixed memory called aRead-Only-Memory (ROM). This
feature allows
the user to use the computer with impunity.
Just what is the Commodore business system? See Figure 1. The system consists of the
following components:
• Computer
•Storage Device
•Printer
•Software
•
Data file
COMMODORE
PRINTER
OR SUITABLY
INTERFACED
ASCII PRINTER
COMMODORE
COMPUTER
,,"
CASSETTE
Figure 1 - The Commodore Business System 5

Let's examine each of these components in more detail.
6
Computer
Storage Device
Printer
Software
Data Files
At the heart of the system is the computer. It has two functions.
First, it controls the other devices in the system. Second, it performs
calculations, manipulates information, and displays
the results on a
CRT video screen in front
of the user. See Figure 2. "
There are two types of storage devices available for the system - a
cassette
tape drive and afloppy disk drive. Both of these devices have
two functions. They are used for both the storage and retrieval of in-
formation under program control. More will be said about these devices
in the chapter titled "Peripherals".
Aprinter
is used to output information onto paper. Commodore offers
two
types of printers for the business system. These will be discussed
more in
the chapter titled "Peripherals".
Software is
the term used to describe the collection of programs which
make
the system perform business oriented work. Aprogram is basical-
ly aseries
of instructions which is given to the computer to make it
perform specific tasks. So,
we write aprogram for each business task we
want the system to perform. The collection of all of these business
programs
is the system's business software.
Where does this software come from? You can invent
your own, but
this requires a lot of work and agreat deal of knowledge about com-
puters
and writing computer programs. Usually, you will purchase
prepared software. (Commodore offers awide selection
of software for
its business system.) This software usually comes on astorage medium
that is compatible with your system's storage device.
Data files are simply stored information. It can be information that a
program needs
to produce results, or it can be information that apro-
gram produces. Data files are stored
on storage media, just like soft-
ware. Unlike programs,
data files contain no instructions to be per-
formed
by the computer and are not commonly referred to as programs.

2
Figure 2 - The Series 8000 Computer
1. CRT Screen-Twelve inch green-and-black video display presents up to 25 lines of infor-
mation, each line being
80 characters long.
2. Numeric Keypad-For quick entry of numbers.
3. Typewriter-style Keyboard-Btandard typewriter keyboard for easy entry
of upper and
lower case alphanumeric characters.
7

8
IIIIII111111
'1IIl:I::::: :fJ"
<D--~------,+Ul.lllIllll UI
Figure 3 - Rear View of Series 8000 Computer
1. Serial Number and Electrical Specifications-Valuable information.
2. Power
Switch-Turns the computer off and on.
3. Fuse-Protects the computer.
4. Three-wire AC Power Cord-Provides safe grounded power to the computer.
5. IEEE 488 Interface-For connecting intelligent IEEE 488 peripherals.
6. Parallel User Port-For connecting non-intelligent peripherals and user-built devices.
7. Primary Cassette Interface-For connecting atape cassette recorder to save or load pro-
grams and
data.
8. Secondary Cassette Interface-For connecting asecond tape cassette recorder for more
advanced data handling capability.
Memory Expansion
Port-For adding additional memory to the computer.
9. CRT Brightness Adjustment---Makes the screen brighter or dimmer.

PREPARING THE CBM FOR USE
Unpacking and Installation
STEP 1: Check the carton for any special unpacking instructions.
STEP 2: Open
the top of the carton and carefully remove as much of the protective styro-
foam material as possible.
STEP
3: Remove the computer from the carton and place it on a sturdy, level surface such
as atable or desk.
STEP 4: Carefully remove any protective plastic covering which may be taped to the
computer.
STEP 5: Examine the computer for any damage. If anything is amiss, report it immediately
to both the place of purchase and the shipping agent.
STEP
6: Locate the power switch. Make sure it is in the "OFF" position. If there is a dot
visible on one end of the switch then it is in the "ON" position.
STEP 7: Ensure
that the voltage of your outlet matches the computer's requirement of
115-volts.
STEP 8: Unwrap
the power cord and plug it into a3-wire, grounded AC outlet.
NOTE
For safety, a3-wire, grounded
outlet must always be used.
TURNING THE COMPUTER ON
When the computer has been properly installed, turn the power switch on the back to the
"ON" position. After afew seconds you will see acollection of random letters and symbols
on the CRT. This is normal. When the computer is turned on, its electrical circuits have to
wake up slowly before they can clear the screen. The screen will soon clear and the
following message will appear on the screen.
If
the screen does not clear or any other messages appear, turn the power switch to "OFF",
wait 5seconds, and turn the switch "ON" again. If the appropriate message still does not
appear, turn the computer "OFF" and notify the place of purchase immediately.
9

indicates that the computer will respond to BASIC language demands.
indicates the amount
of memory space that the computer has to store
information.
means the computer
is "ready" to work.
•Line three
The three-line message
that appears on the screen when power is applied is interpreted as
follows:
•Line one
•Line two
The blinking square at
the bottom is called the "cursor" and indicates where the next
character
will appear on the screen.
CARE OF YOUR CBM
The computer requires almost no care. Only occasional cleaning of the c~e, keyboard and
screen should be necessary.
Use adamp, not wet, cloth to wipe off any dirt. Do not use
spray cleaners, since the mist from the nozzle may get inside the computer and cause
damage.
If anything should ever go wrong with your computer, take it to an authorized Commodore
dealer.
NOTES
10

Chapter 3
EXPLORING
THE KEYBOARD
You can not communicate effectively with the computer until you have explored the key-
board. Actually,
the computer has two keyboards. One looks very much like atypewriter
keyboard,
the other is acalculator-style keyboard used to rapidly enter numbers. See
Figure 4.
Figure 4 - The Series
8000 Keyboard
Most of the keys on the typewriter-like keyboard look and function just like their type-
writer counterparts except they cause characters to be displayed on the CRT rather than
printed on apiece of paper.
Figure 5shows
the different characters the keyboard causes to be displayed on the CRT.
Figure 5 - Series 8000 Character Display
As mentioned earlier, most of the keys function like those on atypewriter. The exceptions
to this are the function keys. The function keys are described briefly in Table 2.
11

12
Table 2. Function Keys
KEY NOT SHIFTED
SHIFTED
CLEAR/ Moves cursor to
upper left corner Clears display screen
and moves
HOME of screen. cursor
to upper left comer of
screen.
CURSOR Moves cursor
down one line. Moves
the cursor up one line.
UP/DOWN When cursor is
at the bottom of
Will not go off top of the screen.
the screen, print will move off Does not affect characters as the
top of screen. Does not affect cursor passes over them.
characters as cursor passes over Automatically repeats
if held
them. down,
Automatically repeats
if held
down.
CURSOR Moves cursor one space
to the
Moves cursor one space to the
LEFT/RIGHT
right. Will move to beginning of left. Moves to the end of the pre-
next line when it hits the edge ceding line
when it hits the edge
of the screen. Does not affect
of screen, Does not affect charac-
characters as
the cursor passes
ters as the cursor passes over
over them,
them.
Automatically repeats if held
Automatically repeats if held
down.
down.
INST Deletes
the character immedi- Inserts aspace
at cursor position.
DEL
ately to the left of cursor. All All characters move one space to
characters to right of deletion the right.
are moved
one space to the left. Automatically repeats
if held
Automatically repeats if held down,
down.
OFF
Prints black characters on green Resets characters
to normal
RVS background. green-on-black printing,
RETURN Sends
information on screen Moves the cursor to the begin-
Ipreceding
cursor to the com- ning of the next line without
,
puter for processing and moves sending
information to the
cursor to the beginning of the computer.
next line.
RUN
Stops the function of the com- Loads and runs the first program
STOP
puter, whatever it is doing (i.e., from drive 0
on the disk.
loading, running).
TAB Move cursor
to next set tab space. Set or clear tab at cursorposition.
ESC ESCAPE
from quote or insert Same as
not shifted,
mode.
REPEAT Causes
any key held down simul- Same as
not shifted,
taneously to repeat.
SPACE Prints a blank space at the cursor Prints ashifted space
at cursor
position. position. Anon-printing graphic
Automatically repeats
if held character appears
on screen.
down, Automatically repeats
if held
down,

CHARACTER REVERSE KEY
Normally, the screen displays alighted character (green) on adark background (black).
Using
the OFF/RVS key you can highlight information on the screen by displaying black-
on-green, rather than green-an-black. Try the following example.
STEP 1: Turn the computer ON.
STEP 2: Clear the screen using SHIFT, CLR/HOME.
STEP 3:
Type: AAA.
STEP
4: Press the OFF/RVS key.
STEP 5:
Type: BBB. (Notice that the Bs are displayed in reverse: black-on-green.)
STEP 6: Hold the SHIFT key down and press the OFF/RVS key. This returns the display
to its normal green-an-black. To check this:
STEP 7: Type: cce.
As stated earlier, aprogram is aseries of instructions that the computer performs to produce
aspecified result. Just as achef mixes ingredients following arecipe step-by-step
to create a
meal, so does
the computer execute programmed instructions, step-by-step, to produce
meaningful results. The order in which
the computer performs the instructions is contained
in
the program itself since each instruction has aline number preceding it. The line number
serves
the function of identifying the exact order in which to execute aprogram. The line
number also tells
the computer to store the information in memory as part of aprogram.
Each new program line
is put in proper numerical sequence with the program lines pre-
viously stored in memory. Program lines are stored until
the user tells the computer to exe-
cute
the program. If an instruction is not preceded by aline number, the computer will
execute it immediately and
not store it in the program text area.
RUN/STOP KEY
When shifted, the RUN/STOP key is used to load aprogram into the computer's memory
from adiskette rather than entering instructions, line-by-line, from
the keyboard. The use of
this key will be more fully discussed in the chapter titled "Peripherals".
Unshifted, this key functions as abreak key. That is, it interrupts whatever
the computer is
doing, such as loading aprogram, or executing one, and returns it to user control. The
screen will display
"ready." and the cursor will await your command.
13

14
CURSOR CONTROL KEYS
Commodore Computers have afeature called "screen editing" which uses cursor control
keys
to move the cursor to any position on the screen and insert, delete, or retype charac-
ters. Characters which are already on
the screen will not be affected by the cursor's move-
ment. Four of the function keys are used in screen editing. These are:
All of these keys have two functions. Their action depends on whether or not the SHIFT
key is pressed in conjunction with the screen editing key. Let's examine the screen editing
keys and their functions through
the use of examples.
STEP 1: Turn
your computer ON.
STEP 2: Press the CLR/HOME key. Notice that the cursor moves to the toP left corner
of
the screen.
STEP
3: Hold the SHIFT key down while pressing the CLR/HOME key. This action erases
all
of the characters that were present.
STEP
4: Now type the alphabet followed by the numbers 0through 9. End the line with
asterisks~*. Notice that after you type the last '1*", the cursor moves to the be-
ginning of
the next line. This is called "wrap around". You 'II notice that there are
80 characters on
the first line~26 alphabetic, 10 numeric, and the remainder
asterisks.
If you make amistake while typing, press INST/DEL to remove the error and
retype the correct character.
riE!.IiEF(,l-lI Tj : .r1~jIjF(IF ::TU"~j ~'::l11':'>P",~7" :. .
•••••••••••••
You'll notice that there are 80 characters on the first line-26 alphabetic, 10 numeric and
the remainder asterisks.
STEP 5: Now hold
the SHIFT key down and press the cRSR LEFT/RIGHT key. This
moves
the cursor to the left. Notice how the cursor "wraps around" back to the
end of the first line. When the cursor reaches the end of the first line, release the
CRSR LEFT/RIGHT key. Press the INST/DEL key and delete all the asterisks
on
the first line. Now move the cursor left until it rests on the zero. As the cursor
moves, it does
not affect the characters it passes over.
~ :=,L '::'ti If ~·.r11.::lf'!-IF·;::,TU".l IT':(11~ _'·.J.5r::-;-':;:::_::'1
"-¥.f-ll!t."'t+:+ t

STEP 6: Now hold the SHIFT key down and press the INST/DEL key four times. This
will insert four spaces before the zero and move the text four spaces to the right
of the cursor.
ABC IiEFC,H I J~ U'HiOF'CIF":.TU',,'!,J,' ;'T':I 01;;:: ~:4 5t.::;':::9
~HHH~H
STEP 7: Type four asterisks into the space created by the INST/DEL key. We have now
inserted the arithmetic operator symbols between the alphabet and the numbers.
ABC DEFC,H IJf Lr·1tJOF'CIF.":,TU\I~J: :'T'::+:;:+;+:112 345t.::;':::9
HHHHH
STEP 8: Press the CRSR LEFT/RIGHT key until the cursor wraps around to the next line.
Position the cursor just after the last "*".
HE:C IiEFC,H I .H Lf'H JOF'CiF": TII' ... 'I.J: ;'T'::+:;+:,,+O 12 3456;':'::9
HHHtH ••
STEP 9: Use the INST/DEL key to delete the asterisks on the second line.
ABC DEFC,H IJf Lr'1rKlPC
1
F":. TU\I~.j: :'T':++.+O 12 3456;'89
I
STEP 10: Clear the screen and move the cursor to the top line by holding the SHIFT key
down and pressing the CLR/HOME key twice.
STEP 11: Type: "This
is the top." Press ashifted RETURN (so the computer won't think
you're trying to tell it something) and type: "This
is the next line."
STEP 12:
We've just confirmed that 80 characters can be displayed on each line. Let's see
how many lines there are. Counting each keystroke
as one, press the CRSR
UP/DOWN key. The cursor will move down the screen, reaching bottom on the
24th keystroke. To prove this, press the CRSR
UP/DOWN key a25th time. You
will see that the top line of the screen moves up and off the screen. The line
"This
is the next line" is now the top line. This action of inserting lines at the
bottom and moving old text up
is called "scrolling".
THE. Eo THE TOP
THE. l'? THE IJE::T LltJEI
We started on line one and used 24 keystrokes to reach the bottom of the screen. This
means the screen
will display 25 lines at one time before scrolling.
STEP 13:
Move the cursor back down to the very bottom of the screen and type: "This is
the bottom".
15