THEOS Commands
Session 1: How to Start and Stop a THEOS System
THEOS startup is an easy procedure but may vary with the type of system you have. Please consult your computer system manual and note any special requirements for your system and how to transfer THEOS to the hard disk. The operating system is generally supplied on eight or five and one quarter inch floppy diskettes, or cartridge tape.
For our purposes we will assume that you are using a hard disk system and that THEOS has been transferred to the hard disk.
Special Notes:
• Put the THEOS floppy away and store it in a safe place.
• Make extra copies of all of your operating system files.
We'll show you how in the COPYFILE session .
• Some hardware may have unique startup instructions.
Check your documentation.
The steps for starting a THEOS system are:
1. Turn on your computer, printer, and terminal. If the computer is already on, press the reset button (some computers may require pressing the reset button after power on).
2. Press the ESC key on your terminal.
3. You may see the following on your terminal:
XXXX Loader Prom Version 2
This message comes from the Bootstrap Loader ROM chip where the startup instructions are stored. XXXX will be replaced by the name of the hardware manufacturer. The
*
(asterisk) is a prompt from the computer indicating you are to enter information via the keyboard.4. Since we are using a hard disk, respond to the * by typing BS (for boot system).
5. In a few seconds, the following message will be dis-played on your screen:
Single-user THEOS version v.r -nnk or Multi-user THEOS version v.r -nnk
The v will be replaced by the current version number.
The r will be replaced by the current release number.
For example if Multi-User THEOS 5.6 appears on your screen, you have version 5 release number 6 of the operating system.
The nn will be replaced by the amount of memory on your particular machine. If the message is not displayed after a reasonable period of time after pressing BS (5-10 seconds) press the reset key and return to step 2.
6. The system will then display:
Time (HH:MM:SS)
THEOS keeps track of the time of day, but you must enter it in 24 hour format. For example if you are starting the system at 6:30 PM, you would type 18:30 (24 hour time indicates PM by adding 12 to the number of hours after 12 noon). It is not necessary to enter any leading zeroes or seconds. If keeping track of the correct time of day is not important to you, you may press the Return key in response to the time prompt. Doing so causes the system to use the time of the last system start-up.
Special notes: Not all THEOS systems support the time of day feature. In addition, some newer systems on the market have built-in real time clocks and automatically enter the correct time for you.
7. The screen will then display:
Date (MM/DD/YY)
THEOS keeps track of the date but you must first type it in. Enter the correct date. It is not necessary to enter leading zeroes. The date you enter must be a valid date and must be greater then 01/01/77. The date may be entered in any reasonable format such as July 12th, 1984.
As with the time, you may press RETURN and the last date of system start-up will automatically be entered.
If your system has a built-in real time clock, the date (in addition to the time) will be automatically entered for you. If for some reason
58 THEOS User's Handbook
you need to change the system time and date, consult the tutorial in this chapter on the SET command. It is permissible to omit the year. If you omit the year, the system will use the year number of the latest start-up.
8. After you have entered the date and time, the system will display the values you have entered along with the month and day of the week. The system will then look forthe files it needs to turn control of the system over to you. If you have started the system successfully, you may see the following on your screen:
Multi-User THEOS version 5.6 - 256K Time (HH:MM:SS) 16:30
Date (MM/DD/YY) 7/22 16:30:07 Sunday, July 22, 1984
>
This right facing carat is the prompt from the CSI (Command String Interpreter). Whenever you see this prompt, the system is wait-ing for a command. If the system was unable to find the THEOS files for startup, an error message will appear telling you which file or group of files was not found. Before re-starting the system, make sure the necessary files are in fact on disk. A complete list ofTHEOS operating system files can be found in your THEOS operating system manual.
To summarize, starting a THEOS system is accomplished by:
1. Turning on the terminal and computer.
2. Pressing the reset switch.
3. Pressing the ESC key.
4. Typing BS.
5. Entering the current time.
6. Entering the current date.
TURNING OFF THE SYSTEM
A THEOS system can be turned off by powering off your termi-nal, computer, and other components but it is not advisable to do this until all programs have been exited and you have logged off the system.
Turning off a THEOS system in this fashion will minimize possible data loss or damage to the hardware components.
To log off the system simply type:
>LOGOFF <RETURN>
The system will respond with:
Logoff at TIME, on DATE, ESTIMATED TIME ON SYSTEM Logon please:
Where TIME is the exact time oflogoff; DATE is the current date;
ESTIMATED TIME is the time (in minutes) you were logged on the system.
To summarize, turning off a THEOS system is accomplished by:
1. Exiting an applications software package.
2. Logging off the system.
3. After logging off the system, turning off the computer and any peripheral equipment.
More information about logging off and exiting application soft-ware will be soft-ware will be provided later in this chapter.