module
39
The course names keys the way the Einstein does: ENTER, DELETE, ESC, BREAK, GRPH, F0. Where that key is depends on what you are sitting at.
Press the key with that name on it. For a character, find it on the keys; if it is the upper of two on a key, hold SHIFT.
Wherever the course has a line beginning In MAME, it is not talking to you, and you can skip it.
You are typing on a modern keyboard that is standing in for the Einstein's. MAME lays one over the other by position, not by what is printed on your keys. The letters and the digits land where you expect. These do not need thinking about either:
| Einstein key | In MAME, press |
|---|---|
| ENTER | Return |
| SHIFT, CTRL, TAB, ESC, CAPS LOCK | the key of the same name |
| the four arrow keys | the four arrow keys |
| SPACE | the space bar |
These do:
| Einstein key | In MAME, press |
|---|---|
| DELETE | Backspace |
| BREAK | the left Alt key - left Option on a Mac |
| GRPH | F8 |
| F0 to F6 | F1 to F7: always one more than the Einstein's number |
| F7 | F8 - which is also GRPH. Pressing it presses both |
And the punctuation:
| For this | On the Einstein | In MAME, press |
|---|---|---|
" | SHIFT and 2 | SHIFT and 2 |
@ | SHIFT and 0 | SHIFT and 0 |
( and ) | SHIFT and 8, SHIFT and 9 | SHIFT and 8, SHIFT and 9 |
: | the : * key | the ' key, to the right of ; |
* | SHIFT and the : * key | SHIFT and that same ' key |
; | the ; + key | ; |
+ | SHIFT and the ; + key | SHIFT and ; |
= | the = - key | = |
- (minus) | SHIFT and the = - key | SHIFT and = |
_ | the - £ key | the - key |
| | the one-half key | the \ key |
\ | SHIFT and the one-half key | SHIFT and \ |
[ ] ^ | the left, right and up arrows | the left, right and up arrows |
. , / | where you expect | where you expect |
The key with - printed on it gives an underscore. It is the one that catches everybody: PRINT 7_2 prints 7 and then Syntax Error. Minus is SHIFT and =.
The positions are those of a British or American keyboard, which agree about every key in these tables. If yours is laid out differently, go by where the key is rather than by what is printed on it.
The Einstein draws a few characters its own way. They are the same characters - the same codes - and BASIC treats them exactly as this course prints them; only the picture on the screen differs:
| Typed | Code | On the screen |
|---|---|---|
[ | 91 | a left arrow |
] | 93 | a right arrow |
^ | 94 | an up arrow |
\ | 92 | one half |
{ | 123 | one quarter |
} | 125 | three quarters |
| | 124 | a double bar |
~ | 126 | a division sign |
So the arrow keys, which type [, ] and ^, show arrows; and ^, which raises a number to a power (S7), looks like an up arrow in your listings.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| CAPS LOCK | Capitals on or off. On when BASIC starts. |
| DELETE | Rubs out the character to the left of the cursor, on the line you are typing. |
| CTRL and a letter | The editing keys of S5: CTRL-K up, CTRL-D right, CTRL-H left, CTRL-L clears the screen and keeps the program. |
| ESC | Stops a LIST that is waiting at the end of a page. |
| F0 to F7 | Nothing, until KEY gives them something to type (S34). |
| The arrows | Type [, ] and ^ - they do not move the cursor. |
In MAME no key stops a running program, BREAK included. That is why every game loop in this course contains a line like
IF KBD<>0 THEN STOP
or a key of its own for stopping, as the game's Q is (S13). And save before you run anything new (S2, S6).
MAME has control keys of its own - Esc to quit, F3 to reset the machine, F5 to pause it. They would collide with keys the Einstein needs, so MAME starts with them switched off, and Esc, Tab and the function keys go to the Einstein.
One key switches them on. On a Mac it is forward delete, which on a laptop is Fn and Backspace. On Windows and Linux, MAME's documentation gives it as Scroll Lock.
Leave it alone. If it has been pressed, the next ESC closes MAME instead, and takes with it anything you had not saved. Pressing the same key again hands the keyboard back to the Einstein.
To stop MAME on purpose, close its window - after SAVE.
In MAME, joystick 1's fire button is the left Ctrl key - which is also the Einstein's CTRL. Holding CTRL presses fire.
