Contains an Overview of the Personal Computer & a Comprehensive Directory Containing Vendors, Hardware & Software

Explains the IBM-PC in a Guide Book Format Assumes a Minimal Acquaintance with Computing & Programming

IBM PC/XT/AT Troubleshooting & Repair is a combination entry-level tutorial and reference book for the person who wishes to maintain his or her own personal computer. An invaluable addition to any user's library.

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Getting acquainted with the system. An introduction to BASIC programming. Establishing the flow of control. The disk operating system. Disk access from BASIC. DOS version 2.0. String manipulations. Number crunching. Keyboard input programming. Putting text on the screen. Color graphics. Program debugging and testing. The paralell printer port. Serial asynchronous communication. Sound and music. BASIC version 2.0. Using the light pen and joysticks.

This is not a dictionary - and nor is it an encyclopedia. It is a reference and compendium of useful information about the converging worlds of computers, communications, telecommunications and broadcasting. You could refer to it as a guide for the Information Super Highway, but this would be pretentious. It aims to cover most of the more important terms and concepts in the developing discipline of Informatics - which, in my definition, includes the major converging technologies, and the associated social and cultural issues. Unlike a dictionary, this handbook makes no attempt to be 'prescriptive' in its definitions. Many of the words we use today in computing and communications only vaguely reflect their originations. And with such rapid change, older terms are often taken, twisted, inverted, and mangled, to the point where any attempt by me to lay down laws of meaning, would be meaningless. The information here is 'descriptive' - I am concerned with usage only. This book therefore contains keywords and explanations which have been culled from the current literature - from technical magazines, newspapers, the Internet, forums, etc. This is the living language as it is being used today - not a historical artifact of 1950s computer science.

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