Delete key that doesn't and mysterious switch....
Hi,
Here's one for you.....
I have just got two apple IIe's recently (one UK and one US) and both seem to have delete key issues!
When I press the key, instead of deleting the character, it just displays another cursor on the line. Even if I backspace over characters it still just prints another cursor!
Any ideas?
Also, on the UK model, on the unerside of the case at the keyboard end there os a two position rocker switch.
What does this do?
Thanks in advance,
Richard.
When I press the key, instead of deleting the character, it just displays another cursor on the line. Even if I backspace over characters it still just prints another cursor!
That's perfectly normal "delete" key behavior for those Apples. Delete doesn't really delete.
Well... it doesn't delete while entering programs in Applesoft BASIC or the Monitor, but it does in programs that take advantage of it like Appleworks. You can certain write a BASIC program that uses it specifically.
Mutant Pie
The delete behaviour is normal. Delete's function is defined in applications, and is not implemented in the firmware, so the key outputs it's ASCII character.
Oddly enough, the behaviour of "delete" (and to a lesser extent, "backspace") is still strange and mostly inconsistently defined on a Mac... Not quite sure what's going on there. The apple software engineers seem to have a stubbornness about adopting anything standard from the Wintel world that extends to the point of sheer stupidity.
The switch under the keyboard is a single change in the character generator. If you type a "pound sterling" character, or a "hash" (I'm not sure what's on the UK keyboard) and then flick the switch, you'll see what it does. That's ALL it does. The ASCII code is not different, it simply changes the displayed character.
The switch under the keyboard is a single change in the character generator. If you type a "pound sterling" character, or a "hash" (I'm not sure what's on the UK keyboard) and then flick the switch, you'll see what it does. That's ALL it does. The ASCII code is not different, it simply changes the displayed character.
LOL Thats what is at the history site.
I just couldn't remember exactly.
Retro,
Go to http://apple2history.org/
Somewhere in the history there is a section on the EuroPlus / IIe about that switch.
Steven (gsmcten)
"Apple ][.....It's ALIVE!!!!!"