GCP CITY

Tour and Reference manual

(c)1986 Games Computers Play, Inc.

Contents
1.	Introduction						 1-1

2.	Terminology						 2-1

3.	General Tour of the GCP City			 3-1
	3.1	Introduction					 3-1
	3.2	Your First View of Games Computers
		Play						 3-2
		3.2.1	Login					 3-2
		3.2.2	Entry					 3-3
	3.3	A Brief OverView of Games Computers
		Play						 3-3                             
		3.3.1	Starting in the Customs
			Office					 3-3
		3.3.2	City					 3-6
		3.3.3	Update					 3-7
		3.3.4	Games Floor				 3-8
		3.3.5	Office					 3-8
		3.3.6	Downloads				3-10
		3.3.7	Mail Room				3-12
		3.3.8	Social Floor				3-14
		3.3.9	Postlogue				3-l7

4.	Tour of the GCP City Icons				 4-1
	4.1	Introduction					 4-1
	4.2	Screen						 4-1
		4.2.1	City Display				 4-1
		4.2.2	Message Display			 4-2
		4.2.3	System Window				 4-2
		4.2.4	Keyboard Window			 4-2
		4.2.5	Function Key Window			 4-2
	4.3	Droids						 4-4
		4.3.1	Movement				 4-3
		4.3.2	Trigger				 4-3
	4.4	Customs					 4-4
		4.4.1	Customs Desk				 4-4
		4.4.2	Wardrobe				 4-4
	4.5	Menus						 4-5
	4.6	GCPNews					 4-6
	4.7	HELP						 4-8
	4.8	Telephone					4-10
	4.9	Terminals					4-11
	4.10	Online	Signup					4-12
	4.11	Talking					4-12
		4.11.1	Ellipses				4-13
		4.11.2	Bye ? 					4-13
		4.11.3	Bye					4-13
		4.11.4	YELLING				4-13

- i -

		4.11.5	Spelling				4—14
		4.11.6	Humor					4—14
	4.12	Postlogue					4—14

5. Common Icon Definitions	 				 5-1
	5.1	Account Information	 			 5-1
	5.2	Analog Downloads	 			 5-2
	5.3	Atari Bulletin Board			 5-3
	5.4	Atari Downloads	 			 5-4
	5.5	Billing Information	 			 5-5
	5.6	CyberHeroes	 				 5-6
	5.7	CyberHistory	 				 5-8
	5.8	CyberWorld Bulletin Board	 		 5-9
	5.9	Downloads and Upload			5-10
	5.10	GcpNews					5-12
	5.11	Help Topics					5-13
	5.12	Input						5—13
	5.13	Mailroom HEADERS				5-15
	5.14	Mailroom READ					5-16
	5.15	Mailroom READ NEW				5-18
	5.16	Mailroom SEND					5-19
	5.17	Online Signup					5-21
	5.18	People						5—21
	5.19	Phones						5—23
		5.19.1 Menu Options				5-23
		5.19.2 Conference Calls			5-25
		5.19.3 Terminal Commands			5-25
	5.20	PostOffice News				5-26
	5.21	Robots Bulletin Board			5-27
	5.22	RPG Bulletin Board				5-28
	5.23	SciFi Bulletin Board			5-29
	5.24	Space Bulletin Board			5-30
	5.25	ST Bulletin Board				5-32
	5.26	ST Downloads					5-33
	5.27	SysLink Bulletin Board			5-34
	5.28	Terminals					5—35
	5.29	Tricorder					5-41
	5.30	UserGroup Bulletin Board			5-47

6.	Definitions						 6-1

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April 10, 1986	               Guide to the GCP City

1. Introduction

This is the manual for the Games Computers Play City. It is laid out in 4 sections. The first section will explain a bit of the terminology that you will encounter in other places.

The second section is a tour of the City and its environs. This section will familiarize you with the layout of the City, so that when you are done, you will be able to find the various rooms and places. You should be logged into the service when you read through this tour.

The third section is also a tour. Here you will be led through the various functions available in the City, and given a brief overview of their use. This section assumes that you have read through the first tour, and are still logged into GCP.

The fourth and fifth sections are reference guides. Section four contains detailed explanations and pictures of all of the utilities that you will encounter in and around the City. Section five is a dictionary of words and phrases have either been coined by GCP, or have meanings specific to this service. You should keep both of these sections handy until you become familiar will the system.

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April 10, 1986	               Guide to the GCP City

2. Terminology

The City

Games Computers Play is a multi-user graphics telecommunications service. The system is laid out in the form of a futuristic city, called simply, The City. The City is a group of blue and while buildings, connected by green walkways. All of the functions available on GCP can be accessed by moving to appropriate places in the City.

Icons

In the City an icon refers to any of the pictorial graphics that represent utilities, usually icons are labeled, unless their function is obvious (like the telephone icon). The general function of a given icon will remain the same wherever you find it, but the specific information may be different. For example, a “Help” icon in the Customs Office will give you help on things specific to the Customs Office, while the same icon in the Games Floor will explain about the available games.

Droids

A special type of icon is the one that represents the users, called a “droid”. Each of the users on GCP is represented by a robotic figure. These figures are controlled via the joystick. Any user can talk to any other user by finding the subjects droid, moving close to it, and typing on the keyboard. Your droid is surrounded by a square golden force field. Only your own force shield is visible to you, and thus indicates which droid is controlled by your joystick.

Pads

In the City, pads are horizontal stripes on the floor in front of icons. Pads are used to activate the function associated with the icon. To activate a pad, you must position your droid so that its feet are covering the pad, and then press the button on your joystick.

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 April 10, 1986	               Guide to the GCP City

          3. General Tour of the GCP City

3.1 Introduction

Welcome to Games Computers Play.  The next few pages section will be a quick tour to will familiarize you with GCP. During the tour we will be entering a few of the utilities available, but we will be simply pointing to many more.
 
Feel free to get diverted and to explore during the tour. If you get stuck somewhere and not know how to get out then you should refer to the reference section of this manual.

The only key on your computer which we recommend that you not touch is the RESET keys. The RESET key will act as if you have turned off power to your computer. Pressing this means that you will need to go back to the beginning of the BOOT procedure.

We recommend that you read this booklet when you are logged into the system since it will refer to things on your screen. By the time you read this, we will assume that you have configured your BOOT disk, booted your computer, and are watching the doors to the Customs Office slide open.

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April 10, 1986	                Guide to the GCP City

3.2	Your First View of Games Computers Play

3.2.1 Login

Your first picture, after booting your computer, is a wall with the GCP logo in the center. This logo will split in half, revealing a hidden door. When the doors are fully open a line of text will appear below the wall, asking you to enter your Logon Name. This name was chosen by you when you signed up to the service. You will have received a sheet of paper verifying your choice of name and password.

GCP recognizes both upper case and lower case characters, so, before typing your name, you should press the “CAPS” key to put your computer in mixed case mode. Once you are in mixed case mode, then type your logon name (type it exactly as it appears on the letter that GCP sent you). Make sure that you press <RETURN> at the end of your name.

You will then be asked to enter your password. Again, this should be typed exactly as it appears in your verification letter. Your password will not appear when you type it, so type slowly and carefully. Press <RETURN> when you have typed your password.

Once your password is accepted, you should remove the BOOT disk from your disk drive, and replace it with the disk labeled CITY. This is the disk that you will need for all of the functions inside of the City.

You should remember that there are only letters, number, and underlines in GCP Logon Names. You will have five chances to get your name and password typed

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in correctly. After five tries, if you cannot figure out what is wrong you should call the Games Computers Play office in York, PA.

3.2.2	Entry

You have just entered the Games Computers Play System, and are wondering what is available to you. In the pages that follow we will outline many of the utilities and options that you can access. The first section is a brief overview of the places and landmarks that you will see. You should keep this handy when you first enter GCP, since it will point out the function of most of the rooms and general points of interest. You should read through the first section before you log in. It will give you an idea of what ~to expect once you log in. You should also follow along with the reference points once you log in.

3.3  A Brief Over View of Games Computers Play

3.3.1	Starting in the Customs Office

The first room you encounter when you enter GCP is the Customs Office. This is the entry point for all traffic into GCP. In the Customs Office you will be assigned a Droid. This Droid is currently standing in middle of your screen. The golden field around it distinguishes the droid that you control from the myriad other droids you will see in and around the GCP City.

Each of the other droids that you see walking around represents another user. You can usually talk to people by simply typing on your keyboard and pressing <RETURN>
(REMEMBER: Nothing gets transmitted until you hit the <RETURN> key). As a rule, if you can see a droid, he can “hear” what you type. If he does not respond, and you still want to talk, you should try moving closer.

In order to move your droid around, you will need to use your joystick, plugged into joystick port 1. The droid will move in any direction except when blocked

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by something in the system (as a general rule in the City, you can only walk on the floors and walkways. These are all colored a green, like the floor around your droid now). Practice moving your droid around a little, until you get the hang of it.

The button on your joystick is used to indicate selections while in the City. If you want to activate an icon, simply position your droid so that his feet are on the pad in front of the icon, and press the trigger. We will refer to this action as simply “activating” the icon.

Pressing the trigger will sound the buzzer on your computer. It will also cause the Force Shield around your droid to disappear. This is how you can tell when your request has been received.

On one side of the Customs Office you will see ranks of droids with red and white striped pads in front of them. This area is called the GCP Wardrobe. From these legions you may choose a droid body to best suite yourself by activating the pad in front of the droid.

If you try and activate an icon in the City, and you do not have the City disk in the drive, you will be asked to “please insert the CITY disk”. You should then remove whichever disk is currently in the drive, and put in the CITY disk. You must then move your droid off from the pad, and back onto it, to inform the system that you have changed disks. The next press of the trigger should work correctly.

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The Desk in the middle of the room is simply known as the Customs Desk.  It is usually used when you log in, to get a list of the people currently logged into the system.  Along the back wall of the Customs Office you  will see several different pictures.  These each represent utilities available to the users.

The GCP News Bookcase is similar to an online newsletter. You would come here to find out any new developments to GCP. Contests and special offers will be placed here, as well as changes in GCP policy. In general, very important messages will be broadcast to you when you log in. You will then be asked to read GCP News for further details.

The Help Station is self explanatory. You come here to find out how to use any functions of the system. If you want to know how to use something in any room, you need only go to a Help Station in that room, and you will get a detailed explanation of the function.

Doors are the usual way in and out of rooms. On GCP doors are usually all red. Doors that take you from one place to another are labeled. The only door out of the Customs Office is the one in the center of the back wall, labeled “CITY”. DO NOT USE THIS DOOR YET! It will take you out of the Customs Office and into the heart of the GCP City. We will come back here when we are ready to leave the Customs Office.

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Next to the door is a telephone. GCP has decided that the City needed an antique touch, so, amid the high tech finery, we have added original black rotary dial telephones. Public telephones are located for easy access all around the City. You would use a Telephone to contact some one who is logged into the system, but who is not in the same place as you. For example, if you are in the Customs Office and need to contact the System Operator (who is probably playing Lords of Space), you would use the Telephone instead of going out and trying to track him down.

Public computer terminals are as common in the GCP City as public telephones. In the Customs Office we see a public terminal next to the public telephone. A simple keyboard and monitor allow you to access the functions of the GCP Master Computer. You can find out who is logged in or how long you have been on the system by querying a public terminal. They also allow you to change your computer environment (how many disk drives, etc) and to travel around the City without walking (more on this in the detailed Terminal Section).

A feature unique to the Customs Office is the Online Signup Station. This is where a person who is not a user would go to sign up. If you have friends who want to become members of GCP, just have them answer the questions while logged on to your account, and they will receive our signup kit.

Now, back we go to the door out of the Customs Office, and into the GCP City.

3.3.2 City

Now we will escape to the Games Computers Play City!
To your left, there is a door with the word “CITY”
emblazoned above it. This is the doorway to the
City.	It you activate the pad your Disk Drive will

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be accessed and, suddenly, you will find the environ-ment around your droid completely different. You will appear in another doorway with the label CUSTOMS above it.

If you ever want to go to the Customs Office, just come back here and activate the pad. To the left of Customs is another doorway, labeled LOGOFF. This door will terminate your session with GCP. When you are ready to leave GCP just activate this pad and you will be returned to the “real world”.

Some of the things on your screen will be familiar to you already. There is a Terminal on the edge of this platform (to the left), behind the terminal ( and a little more to the left) is a telephone, also, you will notice a few other doors with labels like “OFFICE”, and “GAMES”. The first thing that we are going to do is take a walk through the center of the City.

To start with, we are going to go past the telephone that you see in the upper left of your screen. Move your droid (via the joystick) forward and to the left. Once you reach the telephone, keep going straight, past the GAMES door, around the bend in the path, past another terminal, and upward to the UPDATE door. Activate this pad and we will make sure that your disk is completely up to date.

3.3.3 Update

When you activate the Update pad, one of two things will happen. Either the System Window (the System Window is a bright message area that contains information from the GCP Central Computer) will come up, and inform you that there are no files to be Updated at this time, or you will be transported into the Update facility. Once inside Update, you will receive instructions (via the System Window) as to which disk to put into drive 1. Please follow these instructions. They will cause your screen to blink and they will access your drive several times, but the result will be a complete set of verified and updated GCP Disks. Each of your disks will be checked in turn for correctness, and, finally, you will be returned to the City.

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3.3.4 Games Floor

Now that you have the latest and greatest GCP software available today, we will walk on over to the Games Floor and see what multiplayer games are available. The Games Floor Door is visible to your right, and is simply labeled “GAMES”. Follow the green pathway over to that door, and activate it.

In the Games Floor you will see pictures of many of the games offered by GCP. The top-center is Lords Of Space, a space game of inter-galactic exploration and commerce. On the right of Lords Of Space is BioWar. BioWar is a abstract game of cell growth On the bottom of your screen is CyberWorld, the GCP series of tactical design and combat games.

A more detailed tour is available for each of the games in the Game Floor. The tours are located elsewhere in your documentation package.

The Telephone, Terminal, and HELP icons that you see on your screen are just like the ones that you saw in Customs. You will see more of these icons scattered conveniently around the GCP System. Now that we have looked around the Game Floor, let us return to the City (the pad to the City is in the upper left corner, near where you appeared upon entrance to the Game Floor).

3.3.5 Office

From your position in the doorway outside of the Games Floor, you can see the GCP Online Office. It is in the same tower as the Games Floor, but located one level down. Follow the path to the right and down, until you see the path that takes you into the “OFFICE” doorway. Activate the pad and we will visit the place where System Operators can usually be found.

Your droid will appear in the center of the office, with 2 rooms in the background. The leftmost room (labeled “SYSOP”) is a private office where you can go to ask questions of the system operators (you may have to move your droid in order to see what this room looks like). If you activate the pad in front of the door a buzzer will ring inside of the room, and the Sysop will be informed that you want to talk

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to him. If he does not answer right away, please be patient, he might be working with another customer, but will be right with you.

When the Sysop does answer the doorbell, he will open up the door and you can walk in. You MUST walk into the room with him in order to talk. If you stand outside the room then nothing that you say will get sent to the Sysop (Philosophical question : If you explain your problem in the Office, and no one hears, does it get fixed ?)

Now, move out of the Sysop office and into the center of the GCP Online Office. Along the back wall, on the right side there are several pads with labels. Here you can check your account status (“BILL INFO”), or change your billing attributes (“ACCOUNT INFO”), or buy the latest GCP books, manuals or maps (“GCP STORE”), all using the Menu screen that you are now familiar with. So, if you decide that sending a check to GCP every month or so is too much trouble, or your Master Card is charged to the max, and you want to switch to Visa, activate the ACCOUNT INFO pad, answer a few simple questions and the changes will be made the following business day.

3.3.5.1	Input Box

Along with the now familiar Telephone, Terminal, and HELP icons, you will see a new symbol here in the

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Office. This icon is known generically as a suggestion box. It looks like a red box with a slot in the front for depositing envelopes or something. There are two suggestion boxes here in the Office. The box to the left of the door (labeled “INPUT”) is a place to send messages, ideas or comments to The Games Computers Play staff. The messages that you send from this point will go to all of the Sysops, and will be kept confidential. Comments and questions sent to the Sysops will be acknowledged, usually in a day or two, and are always greatly appreciated. It is important to remember that the GCP System is constantly evolving, and the path that its evolution takes is largely determined by messages sent by customers via the Input Box.

To the right of the door is another suggestion box, this one is labeled “VOTE”. Here you can express your opinion on specific ideas or changes to the System. From time to time there will be issues where we, the GCP Staff, are not sure what you, the GCP Users, want. In these instances we will set up a referendum and you can express your opinion at this station. As with the Input Box, it is important that you express your views in the Voting Booth. Our only gauge of how the System is going, is from what you, the user, tell us.

Now, let us activate the City door, and, once again, get transported out into the GCP City for the next stop on our tour of Games Computers Play.

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3.3.6 Downloads

From your vantage point in front of the Office Door you can see two other doors along the bottom of your screen. On the left is the Downloads Door, and, on the right, is the Mail Room Let us follow the green path over into the Downloads room.

Once inside of Downloads you will be faced with several small buildings (There are also the ever present Telephones, Terminals, HELP Station, and INPUT Box, all of which are just like they have been in the other places that we have found them. Unless there is some special function of these that needs to be explained, we will stop pointing them out in every place that we visit). Each door represents a topical choice, describing the types of programs that are available for downloading. Let us try the Atari door first (to the right of your droid).

3.3.6.1 Download Icon

Once inside of each Download room you will see several rows of labels (here in the Atari Download the topics include “ART”, “DEMOS”, “GAMES”, “MUSIC”, “TELECOM” and “UTIL”). These labels appear over the download icon (the symbol for Downloads is a bulletin board. It looks like a board with messages posted on it). All of the Download rooms are laid out the same way, so that you can find your way around more easily.

Activate the “DEMOS” Download icon (to the right of where your droid enters the room) and we will see an example of a menu for downloading public domain programs on GCP.

The 7 options presented to you, in menu format, are all that you will need to upload or to download. To

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find out what each of the options is used for, select the HELP option, on the far right of your screen. It will explain to you how to list the programs that are available and how to download these programs to your disk. For even more information, find the section in your manual on downloads.

Now exit the download menu and we will see what other new things there are in the Downloads Room. The only icon not familiar to you at this point is the “INFO” icon. Activating this icon will tell you the size (in bytes) of each topic in this Download Room, and the number of programs that are available for downloading under this topic. Go ahead and activate the icon and see how much public domain software is available to you on Games Computers Play!

Now that we have a the general idea of how to Download programs on GCP, let us return to the City. To do that we should activate the “ATARI DOWNLOADS” door (which will take us back to the outer downloads room) and then move your droid forward (you must move your droid at this point, you are not on the pad) and activate the “CITY” door to return us to the GCP City.

3.3.7 Mail Room

Off the the right of your screen is the Mail Room (even though you can’t quite see the doorway, you should be able to see the label “MAILROOM” from our vantage point in the Downloads Room Doorway. By this time we have traveled around the City so much that you should be getting good at maneuvering your droid around corners, and you will have noticed that you cannot fall off from these walkways, no matter how hard you try (yes, we have eliminated “droidicide” from the City!!). When you activate the pad to the Mail Room you will be in the biggest GCP room that you have yet to face.

Mail on GCP is classified into 2 major types, public and private. Private mail is sent from one user to another user, and is safe from any spying. Public mail, on the other hand, is comprised of open messages to anyone who cares to read them. Most public messages are placed in topical bulletin boards, so

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that you can look at groups of messages for any specific topic that may be of interest to you.

Across the top of your screen is a new icon, repeated four times. This new icon looks like a letter that you might receive via US Hail. These four stations allow you to read and to send private mail. You will see that your choices are: “READ”, which allows you to look through any private mail that you have received; “READ NEW”, which reads any mail messages that you have not already read; “HEADERS” which gives you a brief summary of each of the mail messages that you have in your mail box; and “SEND”, which allows you to send public or private mail to anyone on the Games Computers Play network.

On the bottom of your screen is another door labeled “POST OFFICE”. DO NOT USE THIS DOOR. It will take you to the GCP Post Office. This is a more complex (and more powerful) way to deal with electronic mail on GCP. For more information about the Post Office, find and read the detailed tour and explanation in your documentation.

If we move off to the right we will find rows of icons that you will remember from our visit to the Download Room. These icons each represent a Public Archive full of information for you to read and download. Find and activate the “ALL” Public Archive Menu and we will take a look at this menu.

3.3.7.1 Public Archive Menu

Most of the labels that you see in the Public Archive Menu will be familiar to you. From this menu you can “READ” messages in this archive, “POST” new messages in this archive (always make sure that the message

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that you are posting is relevant to the archive in which you are posting it), and "KILL" a message that you previously posted (after it is no longer relevant or useful). Select the "HELP" option for a more detailed explanation of the choices, or read the Pub-lic Archive Menu section in the documentation.

3.3.7.2 News

When you exit the "ALL" Bulletin Board, you will want to head toward the Post Office door (down and to the left on your screen). Just to the left of the door is an icon that you have not seen since the Customs Office: a book case. The label here is "NEWS" (remember the one in Customs was labeled "GCPNews") and will give you the latest news messages that are of interest to people using the GCP Postal System (the Postal System includes the Post Office, the Mail Room, and the Downloads Room). You should check this bookcase periodically to keep abreast of changes and improvements to the Postal System. Give it a try now; activate the pad, select the READ option in the menu, and read through a couple of messages. When you are done, EXIT the menu and we will go back to the City and continue our tour.

Once we are back in the City (you did leave the Mail Room via the City door, right ?), we are going to go to a part of the City that you have not seen yet. Follow the green path that goes diagonally through the center of your screen (notice the Log off door passing by on the right and the Games Floor on the left), you will pass another Help Station on the right and then you will come to a door labeled "SOCIAL". This is the GCP Social Floor. Lets go inside.

3.3.8 Social Floor

The Social Floor is a place designated for people to meet and talk. When you enter you will see, along the back wall, to your right, a Help Station, a Tele-phone, a Bulletin Board labeled "PEOPLE", and a Terminal. You may also see other droids milling around the floor.

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3.3.8.1 People

The People Bulletin Board is a place to put autobiographical data. It allows people with something in common to recognize each other. Things that you might put here are where you live (if you are interested in finding out if anyone else in Shrewsbury, PA owns a computer), what your hobbies are, your short term goals in life (to survive the weekend with 147 relatives in the house for the holidays), or your long term goals in life (to be adopted by J.P. Getty). Anything and everything that you put in this bulletin board will be available to all of the members of GCP. If something that you say strikes a chord, you may get some mail, if it strikes lots of chords, you may get to start your own public archive!! Give some thought to what you want to say about yourself. And, while you are thinking, lets go over to People and read what some other members of GCP have to say about themselves.

People looks just like the Public Archives that we saw in the Mail Room. Select “READ” and type 9999, to read all of the message. Now “READ” through a few messages (or as many as you like) to get the idea. When you are done, EXIT the menu and we will have a look around the Social Floor.

3.3.8.2 Social Floor

If you move to your left you will come to a diagonal wall. Follow this wall to the next horizontal corridor, where you will find a break in the wall with a dotted horizontal line running thru it. This is a social room. If you go inside (just move upward) and

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move to the back wall, you will find that the room is numbered, and that underneath the number is a pad. This pad, when activated, will seal off the room (go ahead and activate the pad).

A door (just like any other door) appeared in the doorway whence you just entered. You cannot leave this room without first opening the door (just activate the pad at the back of the room again to open up the door), and, likewise, no one can get inside. If you have a subject that you want to discuss with one or more people on GCP, but do not want anyone else to break in or overhear the conversation, you can go into a room like this one and close the door. It is now impossible for anyone not in the room

with you to hear what you are saying. If some one does want to get in, they can activate the pad on the outside of the door (see it, out in the hail where you cannot reach it) and all of the people in the room will be told that that person is outside the door and wants to get in. You may then either ignore them, or step on the pad again to let them in.

Leaving this room (did you remember to open the door before trying to leave the room?) you can wander around the Social Floor. You will find several more rooms that can be locked (look for the pad on the back wall of the room) and several more that cannot be. Then dotted lines that you see in all of the doorways of the Social Floor demarcate rooms.

It is important to always be in the same room as the person that you are talking to. Whatever you type on your keyboard will go to all of the people in the same room as you, but will not cross those dashed line (otherwise all of the conversations would appear

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on every ones screen, and life would get VERY confusing).

When you have finished exploring the Social Floor, head up the City Door, and we will return to the Customs Office and conclude the tour.

3.3.9 Postlogue

To get back to Customs, in case you have forgotten, you go right as you leave the Social Floor, and then follow the main diagonal path downward until you see the Log off door on the right. Just walk over and activate the pad.

That is the end of part one of the GCP City Tour. This tour has given you a brief overview of the highlights of the Games Computers Play. System. You have seen most of the room, and most of the functions. For a more detailed look at many of the icons you can read part 2 of the City tour.

If you discover an icon or room that you are unfamiliar with, then give it a try. Most things in GCP have HELP associated with them. Once you are familiar with the layout of the City you will find everything is organized and easy to use. Now that you have had some time to think about it, why not go back to the Social Floor and enter something in People?

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4. Tour of the GCP City Icons

4.1 Introduction

Welcome to part two of the GCP City Tour. Before reading this section you should have completed part one of the tour. This section will be a more detailed explanation of many of the functions found in the City. Everything that we need to use for this tour can be found in the Customs Office. When you are ready to begin this tour move your droid into the Customs Office and read on.

4.2 Screen

CITY DISPLAY
SYSTEM DISPLAY
MESSAGE DISPLAY
KEYBOARD WINDOW
FUNCTION KEY WINDOW

While in the GCP City your screen will be divided into several parts. It is important to take note of the colors of these sections. Throughout the GCP City, the color of different areas of the screen will help to explain their use.

4.2.1 City Display

The top part of your screen is normally a graphics area (the City Display). This is where the pictures of the City, and all of the other associated features, will appear. As you start this tour, you should make sure that the Customs Office is visible in this area. If the top section of your screen (this are is the top 75% of your screen) is all green, then press the START key until the Customs Office is there.

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4.2.2	Message Display

Below the graphics display is a green, 5 line, text area, called the Message Display. It is here, in the Message Display, that information that you type on your keyboard will appear. Whenever there is some one near you in the City, and they are typing on their keyboard, whatever they type will also appear in your Message Display. This is how people converse here in the GCP City. To talk to some one that you can see in your City Display, just type on the keyboard, and they will receive it. REMEMBER: The closer you are to another droid, the better the chances are that he will hear what you type.

4.2.3	System Window

From time to time a white stripe will appear across the top few lines of the Message Display. This is a message from the Master Computer. The messages that will appear here include questions from the Master Computer, comments when you change modes (more on this later), or informational messages (like some one trying to Telephone you in the City). This area is called the System Window. At different times in the City it may appear at the very top of your screen, or below the City Display, but it will always be the same attention getting bright color.

4.2.4	Keyboard Window

At the bottom of your screen are two blue lines, the bottom one being slightly lighter than the top. The dark blue line is your Keyboard Window. This is where the information goes when you are typing on the keyboard of your computer. Until you press the RETURN key, this information can be edited and fixed using the edit keys (these are described in the Definition Section).

4.2.5	Function Key Window

The bottommost line on your screen in the Function Key Window. During normal operation in the City, this line will look like :

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START:Text     SEL:Whisper    OPT:Tricorder

What this means is that pressing these keys will enable the specified mode. The START key will put you into Full Screen Text, the SELECT key will begin Whisper Mode, and the OPTION key will activate the GCP Tricorder (more on each of these modes in later sections). If the entry to the right of any of these keys were left blank it means that the key is not active in the mode that you are in.

4.3 Droids

In the Customs Office you will be assigned a default Droid. This Droid is currently standing in middle of your screen. It looks like a dark blue robot (you will notice the head has two bright blue eyes, an equally bright nose, and two small ears all perched atop a flying saucer shaped body). The golden field around it distinguishes the droid that you control from the myriad other droids you will see in and around the GCP City (for simplicity, we will call the droid inside this box “your droid”).

4.3.1 Movement

In order to move your droid around, you will need to use your joystick, plugged into joystick port 1. The droid will move in any of the 8 directions allowed by the joystick, except when blocked by something in the system (A wall or a desk will block you, other droids will not. But remember, it is not polite to stand on top of some one when you are talking to them!).

4.3.2 Trigger

We will refer to the joystick button as the “trigger”. You will use the trigger to indicate your desires. By standing (your droid is said to “stand” somewhere when its feet are in that position) on a pad, and then pressing the trigger, you will activate the function associated with that pad.

Practice moving your droid around a little, until you get the hang of it. Moving your droid is easy to

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learn, but it can sometimes take a little practice maneuvering around corners and other obstacles. From now on, in this document, we will refer to “moving your droid”, and will assume that the user has mastered the joystick-droid operation.

4.4 Customs

While you were practicing with your droid you may have looked around the room that you now find yourself.   It is called the Customs Office. This is where all people come when they first enter the GCP System.

4.4.1 Customs Desk

In the center of the room is a desk, called (surprisingly enough) the Customs Office Desk. It, like most “stations” in GCP, has a pad in front of it (the pad is that sequence of red and white horizontal lines directly in front of the desk) which you may use to access its functions. If you position the feet of your droid on this pad and press the trigger, you will be presented with a list of all the people who are currently logged into GCP (this can also be done with a Terminal or Tricorder command, but we will talk about that later).

4.4.2 Wardrobe

Traveling to the left across the Customs Office, we come to the GCP Wardrobe. It is here that you will come to select the Droid that most pleases you. All of the bodies function exactly the same way. The only differences are those of aesthetics. There are 15 droids to choose from, including the one that you started with.

To select any of these new bodies, just walk over to them, stand on the pad in front of the body and press the trigger. You should try to position your feet fully on the pad, since if you are straddling two

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pads, you do not know which choice you will be making (this is true everywhere, not just in the Wardrobe). In a moment or two you will see your droid change shape, and take on the form of this new droid.

You can change droids as many times as you want, whenever you want, just by returning to the Wardrobe. When you come to GCP next time your new droid body will be remembered, and you will start out with the most recent droid body that you have chosen.

4.5  Menus

GCPNEWS
READ  SKIP  EXIT  HELP

If we now move to the back wall of the Customs office you will see an icon (an “icon” is a pictorial representation of something) labeled “GCP NEWS”. This icon is a bookcase (see, it looks like different colored books on two shelves). Here you will find the latest (and even some historical) information about changes, new features, contests, and whatever else may be of interest to GCP users they log onto the System. To use GCPNews, just stand on the pad in front of the bookcase, and press the trigger. If you get an error here, it means that you did not have the correct disk in your disk drive. You should currently have the CITY disk in drive 1.

READ	SKIP	EXIT	HELP

When you enter the GCPNews bookcase, you will get your first look at a GCP menu. Your droid is now at

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the bottom of your screen, moving from one green square to the next, as you move your joystick left and right. The top section of your screen is all green now. As you may remember, green is the color of the Message Display, this is no exception. The Message Display has grown and now takes up the top 18 lines of your screen. Informational messages will be displayed here, as well as the data that you request from the menu.

4.6 GCPNews

GCPNews is a four option menu. The READ option will let you read news about GCP. The SKIP option will let you ignore a message that is of no interest to you. EXIT will return you to the Customs Office and HELP will print out a detailed explanation of how to use this utility.

To read the messages in this bookcase just move your droid onto the square labeled “READ”, and press the trigger. The message “Searching GCPNews” will appear at the top of your screen (You may notice that the System Window is now at the top of your screen, instead of being in the middle. It will move around from time to time, but it will always be the same bright color to capture your attention). Into the Message Display will now scroll the latest news about Games Computers Play. The date will appear on the first line of each message, so you need only read those that you have not already read.

If/when the Message Display fills up with information, the bottom line will be the message “select READ to continue”. This means that the article that

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you are reading is longer than 18 lines, and that the next page can be read by moving your droid to the READ option (where he should still be, unless you have moved him) and pressing the trigger. You should keep selecting the READ option until the message is completed.

When the first message is completed the bottom line of the Message Display will be "select READ for message 17" (or 18, or 87, or some other number). This indicates the message number that you are reading. In GCPNews these numbers will decrease as you read the messages, since you are reading the most recent messages first (thus the last message in the bookcase is message number 1). If you want to read the next message, just press READ again, and the next message will scroll into your Message Display.

If, after the first page of the message you decide that the information is not of interest to you, then move your droid to the green square, labeled SKIP and press the trigger. This will skip the rest of the message and change the last line of the message display to "select READ for message 16", which allows you to read the next message by pressing the trigger while your droid is in the "READ" box.

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The EXIT and HELP options are fairly self explanatory. Move your droid over and select the HELP option. The System Window will appear (still up at the top of the screen), saying “Searching for help on GcpNews”. The Message Display will then fill with information that will aid you in using GCPNews. This message will take up several screens, so you will have to move your droid back over to the READ option, in order to look at subsequent screens of the Help Message.

After you have read through a couple of GCPNews messages, and skimmed the Help message, you should move your droid onto the EXIT option and press the trigger. This will cause you to leave the GCPNews Bookcase, and return to the Customs Office.

4.7 HELP

Next to the GCPNews bookcase is a pad with the word “HELP” written vertically above it. 
Stations like this one are spread all around
the City. They will allow you to get General
information on any part of the GCP System.

Let’s give this Help Station a try (we really only need to use one, since they will work the same whenever else we see them in the City). Move your droid onto the pad and press the trigger. Once again you find yourself in a menu with a big Message Display (the big green area at the top) and several selections at the bottom, along with your ever present droid.

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In the Help Station you are given five selections. The TOPIC option will let you ask for help based on a keyword. MORE will show you the next page of information on your topic The SKIP option will let you stop reading a message. EXIT will return you to the Customs Office and HELP will print out a detailed explanation of how the room that you are in.

The leftmost option is labeled TOPIC. If you press the trigger (go ahead, press the trigger), the System Window will appear, asking you to “Please enter the topic you need help on”. To get a feel for how the Help Station works, try typing “help” (without the quotation marks) when you are asked for a topic (now). Don’t forget to press <RETURN> at the end of the line.

The System Window will change, telling you that it is “searching for help on HELP”. Then, scrolling in from the bottom of your screen, will come the message. When the first 14 lines are on the screen, the message “select MORE to continue” will appear at the bottom of the screen. Read through this message, then move your droid to the box labeled “MORE” and press the trigger. You should keep selecting MORE to continue reading through the entire message.

When the message is completed you will be prompted to “select MORE for message 4”. This means that there is help in more than one category of the topic that you chose (in this case, you will receive help on getting help in the City, getting help in the Customs Office, and every other Help Station in the GCP Network). You can come back and read the rest of these messages later.

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For now, move your droid over to the box labeled “SKIP”. Whenever the message at the bottom of the screen directs you to select “MORE”, you also have the option of selecting “SKIP”. Selecting “SKIP” will bring you to the start of the next message in the sequence. If you press the trigger now (go ahead, make sure that your droid is underneath the SKIP label, then press the trigger) the bottom line of the display will change to “select MORE for message 5”.

Later, after the tour, you can come back and read the Help messages at your leisure. You will find it to be a very useful on-line reference guide. Let us now select EXIT, and return to the Customs Office.

Now we have seen the Help Station, and are standing in the Customs Office once again. Next to us is a large red square, with the label “CITY”. This is the door into the City. We will not use this yet, but you should remember where it is.

4.8 Telephone

            To our right is a blue and white icon that
            looks like a rotary telephone. This is indeed
            how to access the GCP Inter User Telephone 
            System(henceforth referred to as the Phones).

To use the phones, just go over, stand on the pad and press the trigger (by now you probably have the idea on how to activate the pads, so we will just say “activate the pad”. This assumes that you will move your droid so that its feet are on the pad, and press the trigger).

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The now familiar menu appears before you again, with six options at the bottom. ANSWER will let you respond to a user who is trying to call you. CALL will let you place a call to another user logged into GCP. The HANGUP option terminates whatever calls you are in, but leaves you in the phone menu. Selecting OPER is the same as placing a call to the system operator on duty. EXIT will hang up any any pending calls and return you to the Customs Office. HELP will print out a detailed explanation of how to use the telephones.

Just for fun, lets activate the CALL option. When the message “Please enter the name(s) of the persons you wish to call” comes up, type in your own logon name (just like you typed it to log into GCP), do not forget to press RETURN when you are done. This is how you would normally call some one that you wanted to talk to on the GCP System, except that you are calling yourself, so the line will be busy. Now lets activate EXIT and move on to the GCP Computer Terminal.

4.9 Terminals

Toward the right of the Telephone, there is an icon that looks like a monitor with a keyboard under it (just like your Atari!!). This is your access to the GCP Central Computer, and is simply called a “Terminal”.

Activate the Terminal and you will be put into an all green screen (well, maybe not all green, the two blue lines are still at the bottom, but you will notice that the Function Key Window is blank, meaning that none of the function keys are active when you are in the Terminals) with the System Window at the top, informing you that you are in “Terminal Mode (Press Trigger To Exit)”.

To use the terminals you should read the document section on “Terminals” fairly thoroughly, but for the

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moment we will just check to see who is logged onto the System. Anything that you type on your keyboard now will be routed thru the GCP Master Computer, so typing “who” (go ahead and type it, but leave off the quotation marks. REMEMBER: whenever you type on the keyboard you must press return after your command) will print a list of all of the people who are currently logged into GCP. You will notice that, along with their names, there is also the day and time that the people logged in (on the right hand side of the screen) and, below each name, is the location of each person. You can see yourself, and it should say the you are “On a Terminal in the Customs Office”. If you type “help”, there will appear all of the commands that the Master Computer will recognize. Press the joystick trigger to exit the Terminals.

4.10 Online Signup

On the right side of the Customs Office, still on the back wall is the Online Signup Station.
		Here a person who is not a member of GCP (who SI6NLJP may be on the System thru a Users Group
account, or even a friends account) may apply for his own personal membership to Games Computers Play.

If a person uses your account to sign up with Games Computers Play, you will be awarded free time on the system. You will only receive this bounty if the signup is made thru your account, telling us that you referred them does not count. If you let your friend duplicate your disk, then he (or she) will be able to use the service, possibly, the very next night!!

Standing on the pad in front of the words “ONLINE SIGNUP” and pressing the trigger will activate the station. The system will then ask all of the pertinent questions and the signup process will have begun. In a few days the new account will be ready to use.

4.11 Talking

An important concept, that has not yet been covered in the tours is how to talk to other droids. You

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already know that whatever you type on your keyboard will get broadcast to the other people visible on your screen. But, when you are in a conversation, it is sometimes nice to be able to express emotion, or add nuances of meaning to your words. To this end we at GCP advocate a few general symbols to be used in everyday electronic conversation.

4.11.1	Ellipses

Placing a "..." at the end of a sentence means that you have more to say. Since you can only type 80 characters on a line you will want to use this for long sentences. It also allows you to indicate that you are not finished with this thought, and asks others not to interrupt yet.

4.11.2	Bye ?

When you are ready to end a conversation, but are not sure whether or not your partner is finished, you issue this proclamation. It indicates that you think that the two of you are done talking, and requests the other person to respond. It is highly improper to leave a conversation without both parties acknowledging that it is over.

4.11.3	Bye

This is the response to a "Bye ?" statement. It can also be used to say that you are leaving the conversation, regardless of whether or not it is finished. It is highly improper to leave a conversation without both parties acknowledging that it is over.

4.11.4	YELLING

Since GCP recognizes both upper and lower case it stands to reason that the cases mean different things in conversation. When you type in all upper case it implies that you are yelling you words. This should only be done when you are trying to get some ones attention (in which case you might also use the Tricorder "BELL" command) or in those cases where in a face-to-face conversation you would normally yell. Most conversations should take place in mixed case, with proper capitalization.

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4.11.5 Spelling

Since most people can not type at their fastest, and still not make any spelling errors, it is polite to ignore such mistakes. If you make a typing error that results in an ambiguous sentence, then you should type the correct spelling of the word, in parenthesis, on the next line.

4.11.6 Humor

At times you may want to convey the idea of a joke or sarcastic remark to the other people in your conversation. To that end we have two symbols: the smiley face, “: —)“ and the sad face, “: — (“. The smiley face can be used to color your own statement

	for example

		I love paying taxes :-)

or as a response to some one elses joke or good f or— tune. This symbol would take the place of, or augment, a “Ha Ha” statement. The sad face can indicate commiseration or general bad feelings about ones own luck.

	for example

		I hear that you are getting audited :-(

4.12 Postlogue

That completes the second, and last, GCP City tour. You have now seen examples of all of the function types that you will encounter in the City. Rather than go through examples of each and every station, we have seen examples of how the classes of icons operate.

Throughout the City you will encounter icons which, when activated, will present you with different methods of extracting information. The menus that you have encountered in Customs are examples of these menus, but are in no way to be considered an exhaustive list. If you come upon an icon that you are unfamiliar with, try it. All functions on GCP have HELP messages associated with them, but you usually

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have to be in the utility in order to receive help.

There is also a reference section in your documentation that should help you to use all of the functions found in the City. Now, you may go on and take the various game tours, or the Post Office tour, or just go and find some one on the system to talk to. You are a certified GCP user!

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5. Common Icon Definitions

5.1 Account Information

The Account Information Menu is located in the GCP Online Office. It is here that you can update or change your account information.

Menu Options

CARD
This option will let you update your credit card information or
switch from prepay to credit card.

ADDRESS

Select this option to give GCP your address and phone number or to update that information when it changes.

NAME

If you wish to have your account name changed select this option. This will result in your name being changed after the next business day. If there are any questions about your name change you will be contacted via GCP Mail before any action is take by GCP.

EXIT

Exits the menu and returns you to the GCP Online Office.

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HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use Accounting Information. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.2 Analog Downloads

In the Analog Downloads area you may download programs that have appeared in the ANALOG Magazine. This download area is divided into different sections:

Art, Demos, Games, Music, Telecom, and Util

To download programs you stand on one of the download pads in this area, and then press the trigger on your joystick.

Example: To download an Analog demo you need to stand on the Demos download pad, then press the trigger.

Menu Options

TOPIC

Using the menu on the bottom of your screen, select TOPIC with your joystick and trigger. When prompted, type the topic on which you need help, for instance, terminals, then press <RETURN>.

MORE

Select MORE at the prompts to continue reading the message one screen at a time.

SKIP

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Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Exits the menu

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.3  Atari Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about Atari 8bit computers, their software and hardware.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.
POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.

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Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.

When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.4 Atari Downloads

In Atari Downloads area you may download or upload public domain programs for the 8 bit Atari. This download area is divided into different sections:

Art, Demos, Games, Music, Telecom, and Util

To download or upload programs you stand on one of the download pads in this area, then press the trigger on your joystick.

Example: To download an Atari game you need to stand on the Games download pad, press your trigger.

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Menu Options

TOPIC

Using the menu on the bottom of your screen, select TOPIC with your joystick and trigger. When prompted, type the topic on which you need help, for instance, terminals, then press <RETURN>.

MORE

Select MORE at the prompts to continue reading the message one screen at a time.
SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Exits the menu

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.5	Billing Information

The Billing Information Menu is located in the GCP Online Office. It is here that you can get a list of your past transactions.

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Menu Options

REPORT

Prompts you for the number of days you want your transaction summation to cover. If you want a summation for the last month you would enter 30.

NOTE:	online transactions only go back 90 days.

MORE

Continues with the next page of your transaction summation. You will be prompted to select this option if your summation is longer than 18 lines.

EXIT

Exits the menu and returns you to the GCP Online Office.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use Billing Information. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.6 CyberHeroes

CyberHeroes is the CyberWorld Honor Roll. It is a list of the most prestigious combatants from each

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battlefield. This list changes regularly, as combatants vie for increased rank and privilege. The bookcase also contains the lists of contest winners for several preceding months.

Menu Options

READ

Scrolls the CyberHero message up on your screen, one screen full at a time. The messages will be read starting with the most recent and working backwards to the first message. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Takes you out of CyberHeroes and returns you to the CyberWorld Room.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the CyberWorld Heroes Bookcase. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.7	CyberHistory

This is the current history of CyberWorld. It is updated periodically, as our knowledge of CyberWorld develops.

Menu Options

READ

This option Scrolls the History up on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Takes you out of CyberHistory and returns you to the CyberWorld Room.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the CyberWorld History Bookcase. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.8	CyberWorld Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board is for discussions on the GCP games CyberTank and CyberShip.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.
Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.
When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted it.

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EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.9	Downloads and Upload

The download/upload menu is in the Downloads Room. It is here that you can download or upload public domain programs.

NOTE:	GCP WILL ONLY ALLOW PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAMS TO
REMAIN ON THE SYSTEM. WE REQUEST THAT USERS DO NOT
UPLOAD PROGRAMS THAT ARE NOT IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Menu Options

UL

Asks you for the name of the file to be uploaded from your disk, then uploads that file.

DL

Selection DL while READing a message will download that message. You are prompted to supply the file name to be created on your disk.

Selecting DL at any other time will require that you

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supply both the message number you want to download as well as the name of the file to be created on your disk. You are prompted for both.

READ

Scrolls the messages up on your screen. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling of the messages.

Binary messages will not be displayed, they may only be downloaded.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

LIST

Scrolls a one line header about each message on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the list of headers.

EXIT

Exits the Download/Upload menu and returns you to the Downloads Room.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Download/Upload Menu. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.10	GcpNews

GcpNews is a chronicle of what is happening on GCP. Here you will find the latest information about the system”s new features, procedures, etc.

Menu Options

READ

Scrolls the news messages up on your screen, one screen full at a time. GCPNew5 messages are read starting with the most recent piece of news, and working backwards to the oldest piece. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling of the messages.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Exits GcpNews and returns you to the Customs Office.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use GCPNews. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.11  Help Topics

This is a partial list of topics on which help can be found. To read help on one of these topics select TOPIC on the Help menu and type the topic name and press <RETURN>. It will then search for help on this topic. To get a complete list of the current topics available, select TOPIC on the Help menu and type the word “Topic” (without the quotation marks) when you are prompted. You will then receive a list of all of the subjects on which help is available.

The following is a partial list of the topics upon which Help is available:
	Alias				 Mailroom READ
	Bell				 Mailroom READ NEW
	Capture			 Mailroom SEND
	Change password		 Phones
	Check Nail			 Public Archives
	City Help			 Public Nail Lists
	Clear				 Ramdisk
	Customs Office Help		 Social Floor Help
	CyberHeroes			 Social Floor People
	CyberHistory			 Terminal
	CyberWorld Combat		 Time
	CyberWorld Design		 Topics
	CyberWorld Help		 Tricorder
	CyberWorld Bulletins	 Upload
	Dir				 Whisper
	Download			 Who
	CP Office Help		 GCP Office Input
	Games Floor Help		 GcpNews
	General Interest Bulletins	 Goto
	Log off			 Mailroom HEADERS
	Mailroom 			 Help

5.12 Input

Input is the place to make note of your suggestions,

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problems, questions, and requests for GCP. Input Boxes are placed in several places in and around the GCP City. The most notable Input Box is in the GCP Online Office.

Menu Options

POST

Prompts you through the process of preparing your input message. This first requires that you enter an appropriate subject (title) and then press <RETURN>.

Now you then prompted to type the body of your message. Press <RETURN> after each line to continue. Select any option but QUIT to send the message.

QUIT

Aborts POST, does not send the message. Use this option if you have made a mistake in the message that you were sending.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

EXIT

Exits the INPUT menu and returns you to the room you were in.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Input Box. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.13 Mailroom HEADERS

Mailroom HEADERS allows you to take a quick look at the contents of your private mailbox. The headers for all of the messages in your mailbox are displayed.

Each header tells you the number and subject of the message, who sent it and when, as well as any flags on the message.

Example 1: Private Mail Header
	6     AK     P17S  		 08/22/76   14:30

	Last Nights Activity       	     124129

Message number 6, in the example, has been ANSWERED and marked as KEEP. PJs sent the message at 2:30 pm
August 22, 1976. The message subject is “Last Nights Activity”, and the size is 124129 bytes.

These are the possible message Flags
	(N)ew      - Unread Message
	(D)elete   - Message to be deleted
	(K)eep     — Message to be saved
  	(U)ndelete - Message no longer deleted
	(M)oved    — Message moved to private archive
 	(A)nswered — Message answered
 	 B)inary   — Message is a computer program

Menu Options

READ

Scrolls the headers up on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt

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if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

This has limited use when you are reading headers since each header is only several lines long. You may not notice that anything has been skipped.

EXIT

Takes you out of Mailroom HEADERS and back to the Mailroom.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Mail Room Headers Utility. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.14 Mailroom READ

Mailroom READ allows you to read all of the mail in your private mailbox. Using this you will read both “new” (as yet unread) and old (already read) mail messages.

Menu Options

DELETE

Deletes the current message. To DELETE a message you must first have READ it. READ the message first.

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When you are prompted to “Select READ to Continue”, then select the DELETE option to delete the message.

READ

Scrolls your mail messages up on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling of the messages.

Each message is preceded by a header which gives you some information about the subsequent message.

Example 1: Private Mail Header
 	 6	AK	PJS  			08/22/76 14:30
   Last Nights Activity  				  124129

Message number 6, in the example, has been ANSWERED and marked as KEEP. PJS sent the message at 2:30 pm
August 22, 1976. The message subject is “Last Nights Activity”, and the size is 124129 bytes.

	These are the possible message Flags
	(N)ew		- unread Message
	(D)elete 	- Message to be deleted
	(K)eep		- Message to be saved
	(u)ndelete   - Message no longer deleted
	(M)oved      - Message moved to private archive
	(A)nswered   - Message answered
	(B)inary     - Message is a computer program

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Takes you out of Mailroom READ and back to the Mail-S room.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use Mail Room Read utility. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can

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press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.15	Mailroom READ NEW

Mailroom READ NEW allows you to read all of the new mail messages in your private mailbox. Remember that once you have read a mail message it is no longer considered to be “new.”

Menu Options

DELETE

Deletes the current message.

READ

Scrolls your new mail messages up on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompts to continue the scrolling of the messages. This will only read messages which are marked as NEW. Reading a message will remove its NEW designation.

Each message is preceded by a header which gives you some information about the subsequent message.

Example 1: Private Mail Header
	8 AK	TheDuck 			08/22/76 14:30
	Re: Last Nights Activity			  124129

Message number 8, in the example, has been ANSWERED and marked as KEEP. TheDuck sent the message at 2:30

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pm August 22, 1976. The message subject is "Re: Last Nights Activity", and the size is 124129 bytes.

	These are the possible message Flags:
	(N)ew		 - unread Message
	(D)elete 	 - Message to be deleted
	(K)eep		 - Message to be saved
	(U)ndelete  	 - Message no longer deleted
	(M)oved   	 - Message moved to private archive
	(A)nswered	 - Message answered
	(B)inary  	 - Message is a computer program

SKIP

Select SKIP at the "Select READ to Continue" prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

If you have not skipped any messages during the scrolling, you have no new messages to read. To read through your mail you can now use Mailroom READ.

EXIT

Takes you out of Mailroom READ NEW and back to the Mailroom.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Mail Room New Mail Reading utility. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.16 Mailroom SEND

Mailroom SEND allows you to send mail messages almost as if you were in the PostOffice.

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Menu Options

SEND

POST

Prompts you through the process of preparing a message, requiring that you enter a name (to send the message to) and a subject.

Type the name(s) of the users, public or private mail lists to whom you are sending the message. Separate them with spaces, for example: “HtG EotU CtM gcp” Then press <RETURN>.

Type the subject of the message. Press <RETURN>.

Now you are prompted to type the body of your message. Press <RETURN> after each line to continue. Select any option but QUIT to send the message.

QUIT

Aborts POST, but does not send the message. Use this option if you have made a mistake in the message that you were sending.

WARNING:	ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

EXIT

Exits the SEND Menu and places you back in the Mail-
room.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Mail Room Send Utility. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.17	Online signup

Located in the Customs Office the Online Signup Station is the place where a person who is not a member of GCP (who may be on the System thru a Users Group account, or even a friends account) may apply for his own personal membership to Games Computers Play. Standing on the pad in front of Online Signups and pressing the trigger will activate the station. You will then be asked all of the pertinent questions about yourself, and the signup process will have been initiated. In a few days you can expect to have an active account ready for your use.

5.18 People

The People bulletin board lets you read the autobiographical sketches submitted by GCP users and post your own message about yourself. All GCP subscribers are asked to place a short message about themselves in the People Bulletin Board. This will enable people, with common interests, to find each other and exchange information or just chat.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to look at messages left by other subscribers.

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Select READ again at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt to continue the message.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select this option when you are ready to write your own autobiographical sketch. When prompted you should type a subject. The subject will usually list your main interests and hobbies.

Example
			skiing CheechWizard photography

Remember to press <RETURN> at the end of your subject message.

Type your autobiographical message, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.

When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the People Bulletin Board.

QUIT

Aborts POST. This is the only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.

WARNING:	ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes your bulletin from the board. Before removing your message from the bulletin board you must first READ it. Once your message is on the screen, then select the KILL option when you are prompted to “Select READ to Continue”.

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EXIT

Leaves the People Bulletin Board and returns to the Social Floor.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the People Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.19 Phones

The phones allow you to contact users throughout the GCP system. You can use them to reach a user that you know is logged on but who is not located nearby.

You do need to know the logon name of the person you want to contact. You cannot contact a user by typing an alias.

You can contact the system operator at any time using the OPER option in the phones.

To enter the phones place yourself on a pad in front of one, press your trigger.

5.19.1 Menu Options

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5.19.1.1 CALL

To make a call place yourself under CALL and press the trigger on your joystick. The system will prompt you to type the name of the person that you want to call. After you enter the name then press <RETURN>.

You must wait while the system contacts the party. You will be notified when your call has been answered. You can then begin your conversation by typing on your keyboard and typing <RETURN>, just like you do in The City. Sometimes people are engaged in other activities and may take a few moments to answer the phone, be patient.

5.19.1.2 ANSWER

When you are notified by a System Window message that there is a call for you, you must go to a phone in order to answer the call.

Place yourself on the pad in front of the phone, and press your trigger.

Once you are inside the phones, you will be told if there are any calls pending.

If you do have some one still trying to call you then place yourself under ANSWER press your trigger.

Your caller is then notified that you are on the line and your conversation may begin (just go ahead and type).

5.19.1.3 HANGUP

This will disconnect your call and remain in the phones. Place yourself at HANGUP and press your trigger.

To disconnect your call and exit the phones, place yourself at EXIT and press your trigger.

In both cases the parties to your call are notified that you have hung up the phone.

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5.19.1.4 OPER

You can use OPERATOR to contact a GCP staff person or sysop (if one is currently logged on). Place yourself at OPER and press your trigger.

The system will automatically connect you to the system operator on duty or notify you that no such person is currently available.

5.19.1.5 EXIT

Exits the Telephones and returns you to the room you were in. This will also HANGUP on any calls you are currently in.

5.19.1.6 HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the Telephones. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.19.2 Conference Calls

While on the phone you can place another call to a third party. When they answer, the conversation will be 3-way.

HOWEVER, if you ANSWER another call while on the phone your original phone call is disconnected.

5.19.3 Terminal Commands

While you are on the phones all the TRICORDER (OPTION key) commands are available for your use.

For more information on the terminal commands, enter a terminal and type “help terminal” then press
<RETURN>.

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5.20 PostOffice News

PostOfficeNews is a chronicle of what is happening in the GCP Mailroom. This is where you will find the latest information about new Mailroom and PostOffice features, procedures, etc. Messages are retrieved starting with the most recent and reading backwards to the first message in the Bookcase.

Menu Options

READ

Scrolls the news messages up on your screen, one screen full at a time. Select READ at the “continue” or “next” prompt to continue the scrolling of the messages.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the “Select READ to Continue” prompt if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Takes you out of the PostOffice News Bookcase returns you to the Mailroom.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the GCP Postal System News Bookcase. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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5.21	Robots Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about Robots, their software and hardware.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.
Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.
When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.
QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

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EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.22	RPG Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board is for discussions about role playing games.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.

Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.

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When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.23	SciFi Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about Science Fiction.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

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SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.
Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.
When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.
QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.24	Space Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about Space, the Final Frontier.

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Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.

Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.

When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press

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HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.25	ST Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about the Atari ST, its software and hardware.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.
Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.
When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

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KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.26 ST Downloads

In the ST Downloads area. you may download or upload public domain programs for the ST. This download area is divided into different sections: Art, Demos, Games, Music, Telecom, and Util. To download or upload programs you stand on one of the download pads in this area, then press the trigger on your joystick.

Example: To download an ST utility you need to stand on the Util download pad, then press your trigger.

Menu Options

TOPIC

Using the menu on the bottom of your screen, select TOPIC with your joystick and trigger. When prompted, type the topic on which you need help, for instance, terminals, then press <RETURN>.

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MORE

Select MORE at the prompts to continue reading the message one screen at a time.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

EXIT

Exits the menu

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.27	SysLink Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about computer Bulletin Boards.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read

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the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.

Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.

When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.

QUIT

Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

5.28 Terminals

The Terminals offer a number of commands for your convenience.

To enter a Terminal first place your figure on a Terminal pad, press your trigger.

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To exit the Terminal, press your trigger.

To use a terminal command type the command with any parameters it may need and then press <RETURN>.

Terminal Commands

Alias

This terminal command allows you to disguise your true identity.

You can create an alias by using either a terminal or your tricolor.

To change to an alias type the command followed by your alias. This should be on one line. Press <RETURN>. Here is an example of a complete alias command:

alias	 BoPeep

From now on, for this logon or until you make another change, your messages are preceded by your alias rather than by your logon name.

alias	 BoPeep

Each alias is preceded with a period when displayed on your screen. The above alias will look like this:
	.BoPeep

Type alias, press <RETURN>, to remove an alias. Once you log off your alias is gone. Hence it follows that you cannot use an alias to log on.
Aliases are not unique. Many people can share the same one. This may be significant when you whisper to an alias——if there are more than one only one will receive your message but you cannot know which one.

You cannot phone or send mail to an alias. These require that you use correct logon names.

A listing of who is on the system will identify the true logon name of the person behind the alias.

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This terminal command rings the terminal bell of everyone within your listening area. This is used to get their attention.

You can ring the bell using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Capture

This terminal command allows you to capture everything in the message display area from the time you turn capture on until the time you turn capture off.

You can use the command through the terminals or your tricorder.

To capture to your disk: type capture followed by a file name (all on one line). Press <RETURN>.

To capture to your printer: type capture P: then press <RETURN>.

To turn capture off type capture, press <RETURN>. Change password

This command allows you to change your password. No one will see what you type.

Remember that a password must be at least 6 and not more than 10 characters. AND one of the characters must be a nonalphabetical symbol, i.e. + or $ or #, or a number.

You can change your password by using either a terminal or your tricorder.

On one line type the two word command, change password, then press <RETURN>.

When you are prompted, type your old password, press
<RETURN>.

When prompted, type your new password, press
<RETURN>.

To double-check, you are asked to type your new password request one more time before it becomes your new password. Do so, then press <RETURN>.

This successfully accomplished, you have a new

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password. If not, your password is not changed; you may try again.

NOTE: To change your logon name please post a message in the INPUT box. This can be found in the GCP Office.

Check Mail

Using the check mail command you can find out if you have any new mail in your mailbox without having to travel to the Post Office.

You can check for new mail by using either a terminal or your tricorder.

A message appears that tells you whether or not you have NEW mail.

Clear

This terminal command clears your message display area.

You can clear your display using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Dir

This terminal command allows you to get a directory of your disk(s).
You can use this command either through a terminal or your tricorder.
Type the command, dir, then press <RETURN>.

If you do not specify a filename you will get a directory of all the files on D1:

Multiple drives and wildcards are supported. Examples:

dir D1:*.BAS dir D2:*.* dir D3:T.*

Goto

The goto commands allow you to move from place to place simply by typing your desired destination on

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your keyboard.

You can use this command either through the terminals or your tricorder.

This is a partial list of places you can go with a terminal command.
	Biowar			Customs		CyberWorld
	CyberShip	30	CyberTank	30	LosShip
	CyberShip	40	CyberTank	40	LosStation
	CyberShip	50	CyberTank	50	Games
	CyberShip	60	CyberTank	60	Logoff
	CyberShip	70	CyberTank	70	DownLoads
	CyberShip	80	CyberTank	80	Mailroom
	CyberShip	90	CyberTank	90	Office
	PostOffice		Social			Update

Type goto, followed on the same line, by where you wish to go. Then press <RETURN>.

You are now automatically transported to your selected destination.

Logoff

This terminal command exits you from the GCP City.

You can logoff using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Multi-Drive and Ramdisk Support

GCP now supports multiple drives so you so you can take advantage of your 2nd disk drive to reduce disk swapping on GCP, and ramdisk—based systems so you can use your 13OXE Ramdisk to avoid disk swaps and speed up disk accesses.

Multi-Drive support:

1. When the system prompts you with “Please insert the CITY disk” when you logon, just place your CITY disk in drive 2.

2. Go to a terminal (or use the tricorder) to issue the command “setdrive 2 CITY”. This will tell the host computer that your CITY disk is in drive 2.

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3. You can then place the GANE1 disk in drive 1 and you will not have to switch disks.

Ramdisk support:

1. Make a duplicate of your backup CITY disk, then delete the files: TOPOST.*, FPOST.* and TOUPDT.* (this is to make enough room so that the rest of the files will fit in the ramdisk).

2. Boot up with DOS 2.5 (you must also have the RANDISK.COM file supplied with DOS 2.5 on the DOS disk).

3. Copy all the files off of the abbreviated CITY disk to D8: using DOS menu option C.

4. Insert the your working copy of the GCP BOOT disk in drive 1.

5. Run the GCP software by using menu option L (load binary) and typing AUTORUN.SYS

Once you are logged in, you must proceed to the terminal or use the tricorder and type “setdrive 8 CITY” in order to tell the host computer that you have the CITY disk in the Ramdisk.

NOTE: Because of the files you had to delete to fit the CITY disk into the Ramdisk, you will not be able to go into the PostOffice or Update via the Ramdisk. If you want to use either the PostOffice or Update after setting up for the ramdisk, you have to place the CITY disk into drive 1, then go to the terminal or use the tricorder and issue the “setdrive 1 CITY” command to tell the host computer that the CITY disk is in back in drive 1.

If you have any questions or problems, please submit them via the INPUT box in the GCP Office.

Time

This terminal commands prints out the GCP office time and the approximate length of time (within a couple of minutes) that you have been logged on.

You can use this command using either a terminal or your tricorder.

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Whisper

Whisper-mode is activated by your SELECT key. It allows you to talk selectively to nearby users.

When prompted, type the logon name or alias name of the user of users (separated by spaces) to whom you wish to whisper. Then press <RETURN>. For example:

HtG .sysop CtM

While you are whispering your message display area is pink. Messages that have been whispered are preceded by their sender’s name in parenthesis.

Example:

(HtG): I am whispering to you.

To stop whispering, press SELECT again.

Who

This terminal command tells you who is on GCP and where they can be found.

You can do a who either through a terminal or your tricorder.

5.29 Tricorder

Activated by your OPTION key, your tricorder provides on—the-spot use of the terminal commands. With the tricorder you can perform any of these commands, one at a time.

Your tricorder can be used while whispering or on the phone, while in a bulletin board, bookcase, help, or the GCP Input box.

If you change your mind, you can deactivate the tricorder by pressing your OPTION key again.

To use one of these commands type the command together with any parameters it may need and then press <RETURN>.

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Tricorder Commands

Alias

This terminal command allows you to disguise your true identity.

You can create an alias by using either a terminal or your tricorder.

To change to an alias type the command followed by your alias. This should be on one line. Press <RETURN>. Here is an example of a complete alias command:

alias 	BoPeep

From now on, for this logon or until you make another change, your messages are preceded by your alias rather than by your logon name.

alias	 BoPeep

Each alias is preceded with a period when displayed on your screen. The above alias will look like this:
	.BoPeep

Type alias, press <RETURN>, to remove an alias. Once you log of f your alias is gone. Hence it follows that you cannot use an alias to log on.
Aliases are not unique. Many people can share the same one. This may be significant when you whisper to an alias——if there are more than one only one will receive your message but you cannot know which one.

You cannot phone or send mail to an alias. These require that you use correct logon names.

A listing of who is on the system will identify the true logon name of the person behind the alias.

Bell

This terminal command rings the terminal bell of everyone within your listening area. This is used to get their attention.

You can ring the bell using either a terminal or your

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tricorder.

Capture

This terminal command allows you to capture everything in the message display area from the time you turn capture on until the time you turn capture off.

You can use the command through the terminals or your tricorder.

To capture to your disk: type capture followed by a file name (all on one line). Press <RETURN>.

To capture to your printer:	type capture P: then press <RETURN>.

To turn capture off type capture, press <RETURN>. Change password

This command allows you to change your password. No one will see what you type.

Remember that a password must be at least 6 and not more than 10 characters. AND one of the characters must be a nonalphabetical symbol, i.e. + or $ or #, or a number.

You can change your password by using either a terminal or your tricorder.

On one line type the two word command, change password, then press <RETURN>.

When you are prompted, type your old password, press
<RETURN>.

When prompted, type your new password, press
<RETURN>.

To double—check, you are asked to type your new password request one more time before it becomes your new password. Do so, then press <RETURN>.

This successfully accomplished, you have a new password. If not, your password is not changed; you may try again.

NOTE: To change your logon name please post a message in the INPUT box. This can be found in the GCP

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Office.

Check Mail

Using the check mail command you can find out if you have any new mail in your mailbox without having to travel to the Post Office.

You can check for new mail by using either a terminal or your tricorder.

A message appears that tells you whether or not you have NEW mail.

Clear

This terminal command clears your message display area.

You can clear your display using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Dir

This terminal command allows you to get a directory of your disk(s).

You can use this command either through a terminal or your tricorder.

Type the command, dir, then press <RETURN>.

If you do not specify a filename you will get a directory of all the files on D1:

Multiple drives and wildcards are supported. Examples:

dir D1:*.BAS 
dir D2:*.* 
dir D3:T.*

Goto

The goto commands allow you to move from place to place simply by typing your desired destination on your keyboard.

You can use this command either through the terminals or your tricorder.

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This is a partial list of places you can go with your tricorder command.
	Biowar			Customs		CyberWorld
	CyberShip 30		CyberTank 30		LosShip
	CyberShip 40		CyberTank 40		LosStation
	CyberShip 50		CyberTank 50		Games
	CyberShip 60		CyberTank 60		Logoff
	CyberShip 70		CyberTank 70		DownLoads
	CyberShip 80		CyberTank 80		Mailroom
	CyberShip 90		CyberTank 90		Office
	PostOffice		Social			Update

Type goto, followed on the same line, by where you wish to go. Then press <RETURN>.

You are now automatically transported to your selected destination.

Logoff

This terminal command exits you from the GCP City.

You can logoff using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Multi-Drive and Ramdisk Support

GCP now supports multiple drives so you so you can take advantage of your 2nd disk drive to reduce disk swapping on GCP, and ramdisk—based systems so you can use your 13OXE Ramdisk to avoid disk swaps and speed up disk accesses.

Multi-Drive Support

1. When the system prompts you with “Please insert the CITY disk” when you logon, just place your CETY disk in drive 2.

2. Go to a terminal (or use the tricorder) to issue the command “setdrive 2 CITY”. This will tell the host computer that your CITY disk is in drive 2.

3. You can then place the GAME1 disk in drive 1 and you will not have to switch disks.

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5.29.0.0.2	Ramdisk support

1. Make a duplicate of your backup CITY disk, then delete the files: TOPOST.*, FPOST.* and TOUPDT.* (this is to make enough room so that the rest of the files will fit in the ramdisk).

2. Boot up with DOS 2.5 (you must also have the RAMDISK.COM file supplied with DOS 2.5 on the DOS disk).

3. Copy all the files off of the abbreviated CITY disk to D8: using DOS menu option C.

4. Insert the your working copy of the GCP BOOT disk in drive 1.

5. Run the GCP software by using menu option L (load binary) and typing AUTORUN.SYS

Once you are logged in, you must proceed to the ter— minal or use the tricorder and type “setdrive 8 CITY” in order to tell the host computer that you have the CITY disk in the Ramdisk.

NOTE: Because of the files you had to delete to fit the CITY disk into the Ramdisk, you will not be able to go into the PostOffice or Update via the Ramdisk. If you want to use either the PostOffice or Update after setting up for the ramdisk, you have to place the CITY disk into drive 1, then go to the terminal or use the tricorder and issue the “setdrive 1 CITY” command to tell the host computer that the CITY disk is in back in drive 1.

If you have any questions or problems, please submit them via the INPUT box in the GCP Office.

Time

This terminal commands prints out the GCP office time and the approximate length of time (within a couple of minutes) that you have been logged on.

You can use this command using either a terminal or your tricorder.

Whisper

Whisper—mode is activated by your SELECT key. It allows you to talk selectively to nearby users.

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When prompted, type the logon name or alias name of the user of users (separated by spaces) to whom you wish to whisper. Then press <RETURN>.

Example:
HtG .sysop CtM

While you are whispering your message display area is pink. Messages that have been whispered are preceded by their sender’s name in parenthesis.

Example:

	(HtG): I am whispering to you.

To stop whispering, press SELECT again. 
Who
This terminal command tells you who is on
GCP and where they can be found.
You can do a who either through a terminal
or your tricorder.

5.30	UserGroup Bulletin Board

This is a bulletin board for discussions about computer User Groups.

Menu Options

READ

Select READ to scroll the messages on your screen and at the prompts to continue the scrolling.

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SKIP

Select SKIP at the prompts if you do not want to read the rest of the current message or want to skip the entire next message.

POST

Select to write your own bulletin. When prompted, type a subject. Then press <RETURN>.
Type your message for the bulletin board, pressing <RETURN> after each line to continue.
When your message is completed select POST to add your message to the bulletin board.
QUIT
Aborts POST; only option that does not post your message to the bulletin board.
ANY OTHER OPTION WILL POST YOUR MESSAGE.

KILL

Deletes the bulletin you are reading if you posted
it.

EXIT

To exit the menu.

HELP

Help displays a detailed message about how to use the this Bulletin Board. It will be several screens full of text. At the end of each screen, you can press HELP to continue reading, or stop HELP by making any other selection.

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6.	Definitions

Accounting

In the GCP Online Office. The accounting station lets users change their billing method. A user can change from prepay to charge, or change from one charge card to another.

Activate

Usually used with respect to a pad or icon. To “activate” something, you position your droid so that its feet are covering the pad and then press the joystick trigger.

back

The direction nearest to the top of the screen.

billing

In the GCP Online Office. A user can check his account status here. Transactions for a preceding period of days can be printed out and reviewed.

Binary

In the context of GCP mail, this is a message that is intended to be downloaded by the receiver and used while not on GCP. This includes public domain games or user written programs.

biowar

Accessed through the Game Floor. BioWar is an abstract game of cell growth.

bookcase

An icon from which information  can be read.  Information from a bookcase can only be accessed, never modified or added. These usually are used for news on a general topic.

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bulletin board

An icon which allows information to be read and posted. These are user maintained station, the information in them is placed there by users, for use by other users. Only text messages can be placed in a bulletin board.

city

The City is the central core of Games Computers Play. All of the functions are located in rooms, floors and buildings which have doors leading into the City. Using the walkways in the City, a droid can move anywhere in GCP. The labeled doorways in the City take you to the indicated rooms. You will also find unlabeled doors, which are reserved for future expansion to the City. To enter any of the rooms you need to move your droid onto the pad in front of that door, and press the trigger. This will activate your disk drive and you will find your droid transported into the selected room

Scattered around the City you will find Help Stations, Phones and Terminals.

City Display

The area of the screen that contains the
graphic pictures in the GCP City, Customs
Office, Social Floor, Mail Room, Office, Game
Floor, or Upload Floor.

customs desk

Located in the Customs Office, the Customs Desk is the place where you enter GCP. The station, when activated, will also tell you the names of all people currently logged into the system.

customs office

The entry point to GCP. The Customs Office contains the GCPNews bookcase, as well as the Online Signup Station. Also located in Customs is the Customs Desk and droid wardrobe The Customs Office is where you will arrive when you enter the GCP System. On the left

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side of the Customs Office are all of the choices in droid bodies. The Customs Office is located in the right side of the City, near the Logoff Door.

The Customs Office contains the Customs Desk, Online Signup, Help, GCP News, Phones.

cybership
A GCP game of tactical ship design and combat.

cybertank
A GCP game of tactical tank design and coin-bat.

cyberworid

The access point from GCP to the Cyber series of games. Located off from the Games Floor, CyberWorld contains all of the information and tools necessary to play these games.

door

Red rectangles throughout the GCP City that separate different places and functions. There are two types of doors, the stationary doors that take you from one room to another (like the CITY door in the Customs Office, which takes you into the City).

The other type of door is user controlled. In the Social floor, many of the rooms have pads along their back walls. These pads activate locked doors on the rooms. When you stand on the pad and press the trigger a door will appear in the doorway, thus blocking anyone else from entering the room, or hearing the conversation that takes place inside there.

doorbell

If a room is blocked by a door, there will always be a pad in front of that door. By standing on the pad and pressing the trigger the user will send a message to the occupants of the room saying that you are outside and

April 10, 1986	                Guide to the GCP City

want to get inside. The user inside the room then has the option of opening the door, or ignoring the “doorbell”.

download

A message (either text or a binary file) that is sent from storage on a remote computer via the telephone to your home computer. Usually this is a public domain program that one user wishes to share with other users on the System. On GCP your personal mail is also download to your home computer (you may note that the icons for “DOWNLOAD” and for “READ” mail are the same)

The following is a step-by-step procedure on how to download a message from a public archive to your diskdrive.

You should switch from your City Disk to another formatted disk before you download.

Step One:
You must be located in the archive or mailbox that contains the message or program you want to download.

1) In the Main Menu place the cursor beside Archive, press your trigger.

2) Now in the Archive Menu, place the cursor beside Goto Public or Goto Private, press your trigger.

3) When the Name Form appears type the name of the archive you want, press <RETURN>, then press START.

Step Two:
Now in your selected Archive, use Headers to list the contents of the mailbox or archive in order to identify the message(s) that you want to download. The Headers also tell you the size of the message so you can be sure that you have enough room on your disk.

1) Place your cursor beside Header, press your trigger.

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2)	To view all the headers, leave the SELECT FORM blank, press START.

3)	Remember the number that is assigned to the message or program that you want to download.

Step Three:

Downloading.......     

1)	Place the cursor beside Download, press your trigger.

2)	Complete the SELECT FORM with the number assigned to the message or program that you want to download. Press <RETURN>, then press START.

3)	When the NAME FORM appears complete it with the name of the destination file you want to create on your own disk.

Example: D:TEST.DAT 
 or
P:	to download to your printer.
Press <RETURN>, then press START.

The Download to your disk or to your printer is now completed; unreadable stuff appears on your screen.

Make sure that you place the CITY disk in your drive before leaving the Post Office.

DownLoads

In the Download Room, you can exchange public domain programs with other GCP users. The Download Room is organized by topic, so you should decide where your message should go before you upload it. For example, if you have written a new game for the Atari 520ST, you would go into the Downloads Room, and select the door labeled “ST”. Then, once inside the Inner DownLoad Room, you would select the Bulletin Board labeled “GAMES”, since what you have written is a game.

In the Outer Download room, you are faced with broad categories for the archives (for

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example, “ATARI” or “ST”) .	Once inside a
door specifying one of these broad categories you will have a choice of several, more specific categories (for example “GAMES”, “UTIL” or “DEMOS”). When you prepare to upload a program you should think about which category it best fits in, so that whatever you upload will reach the broadest number of people possible. Remember that for every hour that some one spends downloading a program that you have uploaded, your account will be credited with seventy two cents.

In addition to the archival categories, the Download Rooms also contain several utility icons, including :, Help, Phones, Input, Info, Bulletin Boards.

droid

	The robot shaped figures seen around the city. Each figure represents a GCP user who is logged onto the system.

edit keys

When you have typed a line into your Keyboard display, your Atari will 5 keys to be used to modify this information. The left and right arrow keys (on the right side of your keyboard, above the plus sign and asterisk, respectively) will move your cursor left and right.

REMEMBER: You have to press the CONTROL key down at the same time in order to activate these keys.

UP ARROW - This will return to the last message that you typed. You may then edit the message and press return to re-execute the command. This is especially useful if you mistype a Terminal or Tricorder command.

INSERT CHAR - To insert a character into your message, just position the cursor to where you want the character inserted, and type that Character.

DELETE CHAR - To delete a character, position the cursor onto the character that you want

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to delete and press the CONTROL and DELETE keys down at the same time.

DELETE LINE - To erase the line that you have just typed, without transmitting it, press the SHIFT and DELETE keys down at the same time. This command does not require you to be at any specific place on the line.

Energy Field

The glowing box around your droid that distinguishes him from the other droids on the screen. Your joystick will always control the droid in the Energy Field.

front

The direction nearest to the bottom of the screen.

full screen text

An alternate screen display. In Full Screen Text mode, instead of the City Display at the top of the screen, there are 22 lines of text. This is used for extended conversations and for viewing information that takes up more than the normal 5 lines. This mode is entered by pressing the START key when the system is in graphics mode.

Function Keys

Throughout the City the three function keys will each have the same definitions. There will be times when the keys are disabled, but when they work, they will work as follows:

START key

The Start key will toggle your screen between
Full Screen Text Mode, and Graphics Mode. In
Full Screen Text, you will be presented with
22 lines of conversation.

When you want to stop and talk to someone, this is the mode that you should be in. It allows that last 22 lines of your Message Display to be shown on the screen.

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Graphics Mode is the normal. mode of operation. In Graphics Mode you have a graphics display on the top section of your display, and the five line Message Display.

SELECT key

The Select Key will initiate Whisper Mode. When you press this key, the Message Display will change to a pinkish color, and you will be prompted for the user to whisper to.

When you are in Whisper Mode, your name will appear in parenthesis next to any message that you type. Only the person that you are whispering to will be able to receive what you have typed.

To exit Whisper Mode, just press the SELECT key again.

OPTION key

The Option key will operate the Tricorder. This is essentially a portable computer terminal. It has all of the functions associated with the normal GCP Terminal, except that you can only request one command at a time.

When you are in Tricorder Mode, the Message Display will turn pink, and the system will wait for you to enter your next command via the keyboard. This command will be routed to the Master Computer, and processed just as if you were standing at a GCP Computer Terminal.

To exit Tricorder Mode without issuing a command, press the OPTION key again.

Function Key Window

The bottommost line on your screen (a light blue color) is used to reflect the status of the function keys. The left keyword describes the START key, the middle is the SELECT key, and the right keyword is the OPTION key. Normally in the GCP City these are “Text”, “Whisper”, and “Tricorder” respectively. Pressing the key indicated

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will activate that function.

Games Floor

The Games Floor, located in the central portion of the City, is where users go to select a GCP game to play. All of the online multi-player games are accessed from the Games Floor. You are presented with a miniature representation of each game, and the name of the game. To choose your game, just activate the pad in front of it.

In addition to the games, the Game Floor also has several icons that serve other functions. These include Help, Phones and terminals.

gcpnews

Located in the Customs Office, GCPNeW5 is a bookcase containing the latest information of interest to active GCP users. The information is displayed from the most recent backwards to the beginning of time. It is a good idea to read GCPNew5 every time that you log into GCP.

graphics mode

The normal GCP computer mode, characterized by a graphics region in the top 75% of the screen, above 3 text regions. This mode is entered by pressing the START key when the system is in full screen text mode.

headers

Atop each mail message, public or private, is a short banner of information about the message. This banner contains the name of the sender, the name of the receiver, the date that the message was sent, the size of the message, the type of message (text or binary), and the subject. This banner is called the Message Header. Headers also refers to the station in the Mail Room that allows you to read the banners from your own private Mail.

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help

Help stations are located throughout GCP. These are the places that you go for information on how to use other icons and utilities. In each Help Station there is also a Help Option. This option will give you information about the room that the Help Station is in, and all of the icons and facilities in that room. Most menus also have a Help Option. This option will give you specific information how to use the menu.

icon

Pictorial representations of objects or concepts. Throughout GCP there are stylized pictures of phones, terminals, bookcases etc. Each of these small pictures is a icon, which, when activated, will perform the function of the object that is depicted.

Examples of icons include
Droids, Signup Desk, Customs Desk, GCP News,
NEWS, HELP, Telephones, Terminals, INPUT,
Download Station, PEOPLE, Private Mail,
STORE, ACCOUNT INFO, BILLING INFO, CITY, INFO

input box

An input box is an station that allows you to send messages. It does not allow selective reading of information. Input Boxes are used to collect data (as in the Voting Booth) or to receive unsolicited comment (as in the INPUT box). INPUT BOX also refers to the icon in the GCP Online Office which customers may use to present their opinions, comments, complaints and problems to the powers that be at GCP. These messages will be attended to as quickly as possible. GCP asks that users make use of the INPUT BOX, as it is by way of this information that the management determines the growth paths of the Games Computers Play System.

Keyboard Window

The one teal blue line, below the Message Display. When you type on the keyboard of

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your Atari, the letters will show up here. When you press the “Return” key your message will disappear from this area. While it is displayed here it can be edited and changed using the editing keys.

locked rooms

Many of the rooms in the Social Floor, as well as the GCP Online Office, have pads along the back wall of the room. These pads open/close a door across the entrance to the room. When some one enters the room, and activates the pad, an impassable door will descend. This door will stay in place until the person inside the room activates the pad again and opens the door. Whenever a room is locked there will be a pad outside the door. If a person outside the room stands on this pad, the people inside the room will be informed (this is like yelling into the room I am out here!! Let me in! “)

Logging In

As the Doors open you will be treated to the sight of the GCP Customs Office, but before you can get access to the system, you must first enter your name and password, and be recognized. When the doors are fully open a white strip will appear in the center of your screen, asking you for your name:
Please Enter Your Logon Name

The name that you will use is the System Name that you gave upon signing up, this may be your real name, or a pseudonym that you chose for use on GCP (REMEMBER: This may not be an alias!). Remember: names on GCP are exactly one word, no spaces. The only valid characters are letters (both upper and lower case), numbers, and the underscore character. When you have entered your name, the message will change to one requesting your password:
Please Enter Your Password

Your password is your secret key to Games Computers Play, without it you cannot enter the City, so guard it well! You have 5 tries

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to enter your password correctly, after that the computer will hang up the telephone and you will have to go thru the BOOT procedure again, so type carefully!

Message of The Day

When you do type your password correctly, the wall on your screen will disappear and you will be transported into the GCP Customs office. The Message Display will contain today's Message of the Day.

The Message of the Day is usually information pertinent to users of the GCP System. This message is kept up to date, and should be read every time you log in. From time to time it may be longer than your Message Display, so you should go into Full Screen Text to read the entire message.

Login Message

After the Message of the Day has finished scrolling into your Message Display the System Window will appear telling you that your logon was successful. This will also tell you the time and date of your logon (here at GCP). If you have any unread mail waiting for you in the Mail Room you will also be told at this time.

When the Login Message appears, it means that you are logged onto Games Computers Play. At this point you should put the CITY disk into the disk drive.

If you forget, and leave the BOOT disk in, whenever you try to access any of the function in the Customs office, you will be chastised by the GCP Master Computer, and asked to “Please Insert the CITY Disk”.

logoff

This is the terminal command that will take you out of GCP and return you to the real world. Logging off will cause the GCP Doors to return to your screen, this time they will

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be closed, signifying the termination of this terminal session. The Logoff Door is located next to the Customs Door in the right side of the City. If you activate the pad in front of this door your current terminal session will be ended.

lords of space

Accessed through the game floor, LoS is a game of space exploration and conquest.
MailBox

Your storage place on GCP for Private Mail. Your personal MailBox can be accessed through the Mail Room, or the Post Office.

mail room

Located in the bottom right corner of the City, the Mail Room is where you will go to read and send electronic mail on GCP. The Mail Room contains all of the functions to read your new mail, your old mail and your mail headers. You can also send private mail to other users. On the right side of the Mail Room are the Public Archives. These Bulletin Boards allow you to exchange message on specific topics in a very informal open forum. The Mail Room is also the access point for the Post Office.

In the Mail Room you may encounter the following labeled icons: Read, Read, New, Headers Send, Phones, News, Help, Archives.

menu

A selection of options displayed on the screen. Moving the joystick and pressing the trigger will select the function you are interested in using.

Message Display

The five green lines below the City Display. This area is used for displaying messages between users.

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mixed case

This is the state where the characters that you type on your keyboard will come out as lower case, unless you press the “Shift key. The GCP System will recognize both upper and lower case letters, and in most conversations it is recommended that you use upper and lower case words (capitalizing as you were taught in school), and only use all upper case sentenced to indicate inflection.

news

News stations are Bookcase icons which contain news about the room in which they are located. For example, there is a News Bookcase in the Mail Room which contains information about the latest changes and updates to the Post Office, Mail Room, and Archives.

office

The GCP Online Office is located in the bottom center of the City. It is here that you would go to talk to the system operators. Also in the Office are utilities for checking your account status, printing out past transactions, and changing your billing method. There are two input boxes in the Office, one is for soliciting opinions on specific topics (VOTE) and the other is for whatever information you, the user, think ought to be brought to the attention of the system operators
(INPUT).

The dotted lines that you see in all of the doorways of the GCP Office demarcate room boundaries. It is important to always be in the same room as the person that you are talking to. Whatever you type on your keyboard will go to all of the people in the same room as you, but will not cross dashed line or doors.

If you are in the Office and you need to talk to the Sysop you will probably be faced with a door on the SysOp room. If you can see a SysOp inside of the room, then ring the bell (the bell is activated by standing on the pad outside of the SysOp door and

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pressing the trigger). Then the SysOp will either open the door and let you in, or not. If he does not (give him a moment or two, sometimes reflexes take time) answer, then you should send your information via the Input Box. If the SysOp does open the door remember that you have to go inside of the room before he can hear anything that you type. Standing in the foyer and yelling does not do any good whatsoever.

Other icons that you will find in the GCP Office include the following: Help, Input, Bill, Info, Account, Info, GCP, Store.

online signup

Located in the Customs Office, the Online Signup station allows users who do not have personal accounts a quick and simple way to get these accounts. If they can get access to a friends or user groups account, anyone can use the Online Signup station to request their own account.

pad

A droid—sensitive area in front of a icon or door. Positioning a droid on a pad and pressing the trigger will activate the associated door or icon. In the City, pads are red and white horizontal striped.

people

Located in the Social Floor, near to the door, the People Bulletin Board contains information about the users of the GCP System. Each user is requested to put a short message about themselves in this bulletin board.

phone

Phones are stations where users can talk to other users who are currently logged in, without having to find them on the system. The icon resembles a rotary telephone. Using this utility you can talk to anyone logged into GCP regardless of your relative positions.

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post office

A complex and powerful menu driven electronic mail program. The Post Office is accessed from the Mail Room. All of the functions available to users in the Mail Room are also available in the Post Office, as are many more.

Private Mail

Information sent from one GCP user to another. This mail cannot be read by anyone except the user to which it is sent. Information can be either Text or Binary.

Public Archive

An aggregation of mail on a specific topic. This information is freely available to anyone who wants to read it. A public archive can only contain Text messages.

read

The READ station in the Mail Room allows users to access any or all messages from their Private Mailbox. The READ option in a menu is used to access the messages that pertain to the function of that station. For example, in the GCP News Bookcase, the READ option selects the most recent piece of news available about the GCP System, and displays it on your screen.

read new

The READ NEW station in the Mail Room allowed users to read the messages in their Private Mailbox that they have not already read.

rooms

Rooms in the GCP City are delimited by walls and by dashed white lines on the floor. The lines are drawn across the doorway to indicate how far a person must go in order to be heard by another person inside of the room. If a user is inside of a room, he can neither talk to nor hear any users outside of that room.

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send

The SEND option in the Mail Room allows you to mail a private message to another GCP subscriber.

social

The Social Floor is the gathering place for all GCP clubs and societies. Here groups of people, small or large, can gather for public or private meetings. It is a great place for role playing groups to gather for an evening of adventure, or a group of people to get together to study more about using their home computer.

The dotted lines that you see in all of the doorways of the Social Floor demarcate rooms. It is important to always be in the same room as the person that you are talking to. Whatever you type on your keyboard will go to all of the people in the same room as you, but will not cross dashed line or doors.

The Social Floor allows users to have both public and private conversations. If you go inside one of the rooms with a numbered pad in it and activate the pad, it will seal off the room (Room 101 is an example of a private room). A door (just like any other door) appears in the doorway replacing the dashed line. You cannot leave a locked room without first opening the door, and, likewise, no one can get in unless you open the door. If you have a subject that you want to discuss with one or more people on GCP, but do not want anyone else to break in or overhear the conversation, you can go into a room like this one and close the door. It is now impossible for anyone not in the room with you to hear what you are saying. If some one does want to get in, they can activate the pad on the outside of the door and all of the people in the room will be told that they are outside the door and want to get in. You may then either ignore them, or step on the pad again to let them in.

Icons that you will find in the Social Floor include Help, Phones, People.

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store

The GCP Store, located in the GCP Online Office, is a place where subscribers can go to order disks or documentation or any other items that GCP may make available to its customers.

sysop

System Operators are the people on GCP that can help you if you have problems, or wish to make a suggestion. They are usually found in the GCP OnLine Office, or can be contacted by selecting the OPER function in any telephone on the System.

System Window

A bright white area, taking up the first 2 lines of the Message display. These messages usually reflect messages or question from the GCP System to the user.

talking

Whenever you type on the keyboard of your Atari the message that you type will be broadcast to all other users whose droids are near yours, this transaction is called “talking”. Talking works best when the droids involved are close together or, better yet, inside a room together.

telephone

SEE PHONE

terminal

Access point to the GCP Master Computer. Terminals, like phones, are located all around the GCP City. They allow you to move from place to place in the system, without walking. They also give access to information such as the length of time that you have been on the system, which other people are on the system, where those people are, etc.  You exit a terminal by pressing the joystick trigger.

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Text

In the context of GCP mail, this is a message that is intended to be read by the receiver. It is comprised of only ascii characters. This would include documentation, or procedures that are in the public domain.

tricorders

Tricorders are accessed by pressing the OPTION key. These function exactly the same as terminals, except you may only type one command. After that command has executed, you will be returned to normal mode.

trigger

The button on the Joystick, usually used for making selections. It will also cause the Bell to ring, assuring you that your choice have been registered and acknowledged. Pressing the trigger will usually temporarily remove the energy field from around your droid.

update

A utility in the lower left corner of the City for assuring the revision level and integrity of your GCP disks. This function will give you step by step commands on how to check your disks. You will be asked to insert each of your disks, one at a time, into the drive, while the program verifies the revision level of your files. This check will involve much blinking of the screen and accessing of the disk so do not be alarmed. If you have any files which need revising, then they will be modified. When the program has cycled through all of your disks once, and requests the City Disk once again, it means that all of your disks are now at the most recent revision level, and that you can return to the City.

NOTE: This procedure may take several minutes. It will seem to be doing nothing at times, but it is still working.

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Upload

Upload is used to send files stored on your own disks to anyone as mail. These files may be text messages which you have typed in at home, or they may be binary programs.

Upload is available from the main menu in the postoffice. You can upload while you are in your mailbox or when you are in another Archive.

You are charged for the time that you are uploading but you will be compensated as users download your program. While users are downloading your program you will receive $.72/hour (online credit). This means that by the time 10 users have downloaded your program you will have received full credit for the time you spent uploading.

GCP ACCEPTS ONLY PUBLIC DOMAIN PROGRAMS FOR UPLOADING AND DOWNLOADING.

To Upload:

1) Go to the PostOffice

2) Put the disk you want to upload from in
your disk drive

3) Place the cursor beside Upload and press
your trigger. The SEND FORM will appear.

4) Fill out the SEND FORM with the names of the persons, mailing lists or public archives (see below) to whom you are sending your file and a subject appropriate to your file.

If you would like to make your public domain program available to many GCP users you can send it to an appropriate public archive. Examples of public archives that are available are:

AtariDemos
AtariGames
AtariMusic
AtariTelecom
AtariUtil

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Enter a b on the Msg Type line only if you are uploading a binary file. The following is a list of what are considered to be binary files:

1.SAVEd BASIC programs
2.Machine language executable pgms
3.Graphics dumps
4.Any file that has an inverse video Escape character in it

Any other file is considered to be a text file and should leave the Msg Type line BL~ANK1 Examples include:

1.LISTed BASIC programs
2.Assembly language source code
3.Messages created with a word processor
4.ACTION! source code

When done press START.

5) Fill out the NAME form with the name of the file (on your disk) that you are uploading. Make sure that the name you use is all upper case and includes the drive specifier,
i.e. D:AMODEM.BAS. Press START.

While the file is uploading a lot of mostly unreadable stuff appears on your screen. It will take some time to complete the upload, so please wait while the upload is completed.

If you must abort the process, you can do this by pressing and HOLDING the OPTION key until you are placed back in the main menu (it may take a minute or so).

When the upload is finished, you will be placed back in the Main Menu.

Remember to put the CITY disk back in drive 1 before attempting to exit the PostOffice.

NOTE: you are charged for time spent uploading.

voting box

Located in the GCP Online Office, the Voting Box allows users to express their opinions on

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specific topics. These will usually be related to what features users like or dislike about GCP, and what features they would like to see added to the system in the future.

wardrobe

Located in the Customs Office, the Wardrobe is a selection of droid figures from which you may choose the droid to represent you on the system. There are 15 figures here, all of which have the same powers and abilities, but which look subtly different. Choose droids to suit your every mood and whim.

whisper mode

Accessed via the SELECT key, Whisper Mode allows a person to converse selectively with people in a crowded area. Upon entering Whisper Mode, you will be prompted for the person to whom you wish to whisper, from then on whatever you type will only be heard by that person. When in whisper mode your Message Area will be pink instead of green, and your name, which appear at the beginning of every line of conversation that you type, will be in parenthesis.

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