Jump to content

Amstrad PPC 512 / PPC 640 User Instructions

From RetroTechCollection

The Amstrad Portable PPC 512/640 User Instructions is Amstrad plc's owner's manual for the PPC512 and PPC640 portables. The hosted scan is the US edition: the title page reads "Amstrad PPC User Manual (USA)", First Edition 1988, and gives Amstrad Inc.'s National Service Center in Longview, Texas, as the correspondence address. It has 388 PDF pages with an OCR text layer, and a previous owner's handwritten notes on the title page. Printed page numbers run 12 behind the PDF page numbers (printed p. 9 is PDF p. 21).

Contents

[edit | edit source]

Amstrad's contents list, with printed page numbers taken from the scan:

  • Section 1, fundamentals of using the PPC (pp. 1–50): setting up, fitting the C cells (p. 9), the display configuration switches (pp. 10–11), switching on (p. 13), copying the system disk, the start-up procedure (p. 41), switching off (p. 43), cleaning (p. 50)
  • Section 2, MS-DOS 3.30 commands (pp. 51–224)
  • Section 3, communicating with Mirror II (pp. 225–294), including the general details of the PC2000 modem (p. 236)
  • Appendix A, buying and installing programs (p. 295)
  • Appendix B, the PPC software disks (p. 301)
  • Appendix C, the character sets (p. 305)
  • Appendix D, screen codes, keyboard codes and device names (p. 309)
  • Appendix E, expanding the PPC: external monitor and switch settings (pp. 317–318), parallel and serial connections
  • Appendix F, reference material (p. 325)
  • Appendix G, troubleshooting (pp. 327–339), ending with the hardware error messages (p. 339)
  • The PC2000 modem appendix (pp. 340–354): US statutory requirements, AT commands, S-registers, result codes and modes. The contents list calls it Appendix H; the page itself is headed "Appendix B".
  • Index and the licence agreements for MS-DOS, PPC Organizer and Mirror II

What it settles

[edit | edit source]
  • Power: the PPC takes ten alkaline C cells in two tubes of five. Amstrad advises against zinc-carbon and NiCd cells, and says not to run the PPC640's modem from the internal batteries (introduction; p. 9). The permitted external sources are the supplied AC adaptor, the car adaptor and an Amstrad PC-MD, PC-CD or PC-ECD monitor.
  • Alarms: closing the keyboard with the power on sounds an alarm, and a second alarm warns of exhausted batteries (p. 9).
  • Moving the power selector between EXT ON and EXT OFF resets the machine (p. 9).
  • The clock: if the batteries are dead, the time and date messages do not appear at start-up, and the clock keeps time only while the machine stays on (p. 13).
  • Switch settings: the five configuration switches and their functions (pp. 10–11, 317–318). An external monitor selected but not connected leaves the LCD blank with the CRT indicator lit (p. 318).
  • Cleaning: aerosol anti-static foam cleaner for the screen and case, and no spirit-based cleaners (p. 50).
  • The hardware error messages shown by the power-on self test (p. 339).

What it does not contain

[edit | edit source]

There is no circuit description, schematic, parts list or disassembly procedure. The board-level information is in the Amstrad PPC 512 / PPC 640 Service Manual, and the hardware registers, connector pinouts and power requirements are in Amstrad's PPC Technical Reference Manual, transcribed by John Elliott at seasip.info. The modem appendix in this edition gives the US connection rules, not the British ones.

Pages that cite this document

[edit | edit source]

Download: Amstrad PPC 512 PPC 640 User Instructions.pdf

Source: Internet Archive, the-amstrad-portable-ppc-512-640-user-instructions.

[edit | edit source]


Retrieved from "https://wiki.retrotechcollection.com/index.php?title=Amstrad_PPC_512_/_PPC_640_User_Instructions&oldid=22346"