Amstrad NC200 Notebook Computer User Manual

The Amstrad NC200 Notebook Computer user manual is Amstrad plc's owner's book for the Amstrad NC200, published in 1993. The hosted scan has 482 PDF pages without a text layer; printed page numbers run one behind the PDF page numbers (printed page 457 is PDF page 458). It opens with a letter from Amstrad's chairman, Alan Sugar, and the credits name Alan Sugar, Cliff Lawson and Sue Maybee as its writers.

Contents

The book is in two sections. Section 1, written for a first-time user, works through setting up, the word processor, calculator, diary, address book, spreadsheet and the floppy disc drive in numbered steps. Section 2, from page 55, is the reference. Pages checked against the scan:

• Unpacking, fitting five C cells and the power key – Section 1, opening pages
• Powering the Notebook: five alkaline C cells, NiCad cells, the mains adaptor, the CR2032 lithium backup cell and its warning – p. 62
• Backlighting the LCD, and the System Settings options Auto, Off and On – p. 64
• Using the floppy disc drive from batteries, and formatting discs – p. 65
• Resetting a Notebook locked with a forgotten password – p. 84
• Using the floppy disc drive – from p. 84
• Printing problems – p. 134; serial connections and the terminal – pp. 137–141
• Later chapters: stored commands for printing, BBC BASIC with a keyword reference, and a spreadsheet guide in four parts
• Warranty – pp. 450–452
• Troubleshooting questions and answers, soft and hard reset, memory usage – pp. 453–459; telephone hotline – p. 460

What it settles

• Five alkaline C cells give about 35 to 40 hours, depending on use of the backlight and the disc drive; NiCad cells about 10 hours, and they are not charged in the machine. The backlight triples the power consumption and the floppy drive raises it to about twelve times normal (p. 62).
• The CR2032 lithium cell keeps the memory when no other power is present, with an estimated life of five years; replace it with the C cells or the adaptor connected (p. 62).
• The disc drive refuses to run when the cells are too low for it, while the rest of the machine carries on (p. 65).
• Soft reset: hold Function and Stop while switching on, for a high beep; documents are kept and settings return to factory values. Hard reset: hold Function, Stop and ←Del while switching on, for a low beep; everything in memory is erased (p. 458).
• Memory cards from 64 KB to 1 MB, JEIDA/PCMCIA, expand the memory (p. 453).

What this manual does not contain

It is a user manual. It has no circuit diagrams, parts list or disassembly instructions, and it does not mention the internal fuse or the ribbon cable to the screen, which owners describe on Tim Surtell's NC users' site. Böhling's Amstrad NC100 Surgical Guide covers the NC100 board only.

Pages that cite this document

• Amstrad NC200 · Amstrad NC200 Maintenance Guide · Amstrad NC200 Troubleshooting Guide

Download: Amstrad NC200 Notebook Computer User Manual.pdf