The compact keyboard consists of 73
keys,
most of
which
have
an
upper shift and
a lower shift.
Two
symbols or operations are shown
on
the same key; the top one
is
for the shifted mode and the lower one
is
for the unshifted mode.
SHIFT.
SPACE,
and
RETURN
are the exceptions.
The letters are arranged like those of a typewriter. To the right. numbers are
organized into a numeric pad similar to that of
an
adding machine or a calculator.
For those familiar
with
a typewriter keyboard, there are some real differences be-
tween the typewriter keyboard and the compact
PET
keyboard.:
1.
This
PET
keyboard
is
more compact than a standard keyboard. Because
of this.
as
weil
as
the need to frequently access the numeric pad keys,
vou
will
find
it
difficult
to
"touch
type"
on
the compact
PET
keyboard.
2.
The standard character set
has
upper case letters only; they are typed in
unshifted mode. The
PET
keyboard
is
arranged
so
that ail letters, num-
bers, and special characters
(+,
-,
%,
etc.) are typed in unshifted mode
so
that these most frequently used characters
are
readily accessible.
3.
There
is
no shift lock
on
the
PET
shift
keys.
To type upper case charac-
ters or controls, vou need to hold down the shift
key,
while
at
the same
time pressing the desired character or control
key.
KEYBOARD ENTRY
Before proceeding
with
the individual
key
descriptions.
we
digress here for a
moment to introduce several important concepts related ta keyboard entry.
Perhaps the major difference
between
a PET keyboard and a
typewriter
keyboard results from the presence of the BASIC interpreter
within
the PET.
The BASIC interpreter can process the same keystroke in completely
different
ways
depending
on
the
context
of the keystroke.
When vou press a typewriter
key,
vou type a character - nothing more and
nothing
less.
Under the correct circumstances, the
PET.
like a typewriter.
will
in-
terpret a keystroke
as
one character of text.
We
refer ta
su
ch
text
as
a
"string,"
because to the
PET
it is a string of
text
characters.
74
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