Editing Amstrad PCW 8256 / PCW 8512 User Guide

The '''''PCW8256 and PCW8512 User Guide and Guide to Locomotive Software's LocoScript''''' is the user manual AMSOFT, a division of Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc, supplied with the [[Amstrad PCW 8256]] and [[Amstrad PCW 8512]] in 1985. The cover calls it the ''User Guide – CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual''. The hosted scan has 395 PDF pages, image only, with no text layer.

== Contents ==
The manual is in three sections, each numbered from page 1.

User guide and Guide to LocoScript:
* Chapter 1, Setting up, p. 1 (mains plug, keyboard and printer connections, switching on, brightness, cleaning)
* Chapter 2, Your first twenty minutes, p. 11
* Chapter 3, Keeping your work on disc, p. 27 (disc handling, copying, Start of Day and data discs)
* A Guide to LocoScript, p. 51, in ten stages (pp. 55–125), and LocoScript summarised, p. 129
* Appendix I, Troubleshooting, p. 141
* Appendix II, The printer: loading and maintenance, p. 145 (paper, autoloading, changing the ribbon p. 147, adjusting the print head p. 147, general hints p. 148)
* Appendix III, Using LocoScript files in other programs, p. 149

CP/M Plus and Logo:
* Part I, the CP/M operating system: introduction, commands, commercial software, graphics, the built-in commands and utilities; appendices on the character sets, advanced use of the printer, terminal characteristics and error messages (p. 143)
* Part II, the Dr. Logo language, with its error messages

Part III, Two-Drive Operation, for the PCW8512 or a PCW8256 with a second FD-2 drive: discs and drives, formatting discs for drive B, using drive B with CP/M and LocoScript, and DISCKIT copying and verifying.

== What it settles ==
* The UK model runs from 220–240&nbsp;V 50&nbsp;Hz mains and needs a 5&nbsp;A fuse in a 13&nbsp;A plug (p. 1).
* The keyboard plugs into a 4-pin DIN socket on the right of the monitor unit; the printer uses a 34-way ribbon cable and a separate lead to the Power Out socket (p. 2).
* Clean the screen and case with an anti-static foam cleaner, never a spirit-based one (p. 8).
* The printer ribbon is Amstrad Printer Ribbon PR-1. The print head lever has five positions, and position 2 suits one sheet of ordinary paper. The head can be very hot after printing; paper dust is cleared with a blower or a vacuum cleaner (pp. 147–148).
* Drive B writes double-density CF-2DD discs using both sides at once, with side 1 nearest the screen. A disc formatted in drive B cannot be used in drive A, and drive B only reads, never writes, a CF-2 disc made in drive A (Part III, pp. 2–3).

== What this manual does not contain ==
There is no service information: no circuit diagrams, adjustments or parts lists. For those see [[Amstrad PCW 8256 / PCW 8512 Service Manual]].

== Pages that cite this document ==
* [[Amstrad PCW 8256]], [[Amstrad PCW 8512]]
* [[Amstrad PCW 8256 Maintenance Guide]], [[Amstrad PCW 8256 Troubleshooting Guide]]
* [[Amstrad PCW 8512 Maintenance Guide]], [[Amstrad PCW 8512 Troubleshooting Guide]]

<pdf> File:Amstrad PCW8256 PCW8512 User Guide (1985).pdf </pdf>

Download: [[:File:Amstrad PCW8256 PCW8512 User Guide (1985).pdf|Amstrad PCW8256 PCW8512 User Guide (1985).pdf]]

== Related pages ==
* [[Amstrad PCW 8256 / PCW 8512 Service Manual]]
* [[Amstrad PCW Hardware Reference (John Elliott)]]

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[[Category:Amstrad Service Manuals]]
[[Category:Documentation]]