Specifications

GETTING
STARTED
Turning on the
Computer for the
First Time
Plug in and turn on the television set or monitor that you have con
nected to the computer. If you are using a television set, make sure it
is tuned to either channel 3 or channel 4—whichever is not used in
your area—and make sure the channel selector switch on the back
of the computer is set to the same channel (L = channel 3; H = chan
nel 4). If you are using a monitor you don't need to set this switch.
Then set the computer power switch (located on the right side of the
computer) to ON. The small red light on the left side of the keyboard
should come on.
Initial Screen
Display
Shortly after you turn on or "power up" your computer, you should
see a display on the screen of your television set or monitor. The
Commodore 128 is capable of providing various types of screen
displays. These displays can either be 40 or 80 columns wide.
COLUMNS are the spaces ACROSS the screen (horizontal), as
opposed to the vertical ROWS. Both displays feature 25 rows on the
screen.
The exact display depends on what operating mode you have
selected (C128, C64, CP/M), and in some cases on what type of mon
itor you are using. See HOW TO SELECT AN OPERATING MODE on
page 18 for a description of the initial screen displays for the various
operating modes.
The Cursor
When your display appears you will often see a small flashing rectan
gle somewhere on the screen. This rectangle is called the cursor.
The cursor marks your position on the screen. When you type in
something or when the computer responds to something you have
typed in, the cursor usually moves accordingly.
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