     Pc-edit is a new feature we've added in 1998.  It gives you the option of editing on your Blazie Engineering note taker in the same way you would edit on a PC word processor.  If the only computer you've ever used is a Blazie note taker, then this new optional mode will not be of much interest to you in all likelihood.  However, many of our customers spend much of their time using a PC word processor.  Since PC word processors handle the chores of editing somewhat differently than our note takers do, customers have had to learn two different methods for editing files.  This new feature makes it possible to edit files on a Blazie note taker in the same way editing is done on a PC.  Keep in mind, this is an optional feature.  If you don't want to change the way your note taker edits, simply never turn on this feature inside the status menu.

     PC edit can be activated from either the status menu or from the parameters menu.  Once it is on, it stays on until you turn it off or until you perform a warm or cold reset.  To activate using the status menu, enter the status menu with st chord and press the ed contraction.  Activate it with a y or turn it off with n.
(dots 34 chord, dots 1246, or, on the Type 'N Speak f10, dollar)
To use the parameters menu, type p chord, dots 1246, then either y or n.
(alt p, dollar, y or n)

     In PC edit you can be in one of three different editing modes.  These are continuous insert, continuous overwrite or the traditional append mode.  Every time you press i chord, or the insert key on the TNS, you switch among these three modes.  The append mode is a lot like the traditional editing mode of the note takers.  When in append mode, all typed text is added to the end of the file regardless of where the cursor is located.  Additionally, typing b chord to backspace will always erase the last character in the file, just like always.  The only difference occurs when you press i chord.  Instead of entering the usual insert mode, you enter the PC edit continuous insert mode.  We'll explain this in a moment.  However, if you don't try to insert material while using PC edit append mode, then the unit behaves much like it always has.

     It is important to understand PC edit append mode and how it differs from the traditional append mode.  It is important because every time you turn on your unit with PC edit active, it will start in PC edit append mode.  So, if you are in PC edit insert mode when you turn off your unit, then the next time you turn it on, you will be in PC edit append mode.  We did this so that regardless of whether PC edit is on or off, when you turn your unit on, you can instantly begin writing without fear of worrying where your cursor is.  Remember, in PC append mode, just like in traditional append mode, all text is added to the end of the file.

     PC edit insert mode is quite a bit different than the traditional insert mode.  When PC edit insert mode is active, you can move about in your files and always be in insert mode.  As you move the cursor around in your file in PC edit insert mode, simply begin typing and the text will get inserted automatically at your cursor location.  Once PC edit insert is active, you don't need to press i chord again to begin inserting, just begin typing whenever you need to insert some material.  Even better, when you are finished inserting at a particular position in your file, you don't need to press e chord to complete the insertion.  Just move to the next position in your file that needs editing and begin typing again.  

     Here are a couple of words of warning about PC edit insert mode.  When active, you must move the cursor to the end of file in order to add material to the end of the file.  If you, for instance, go to the top of your file and read the first line, then begin typing, the new material will be placed at the top of the file where the cursor is, remember, you are not in append mode.  Another item to be aware of is that each time you read the current line or word, your cursor moves to the beginning of that line or word.  For speech users in particular, this will be something to keep in mind when in PC edit insert mode, particularly if you are adding information to the end of the file.  Imagine typing information at the end of your file.  Then, imagine you want to hear the last line you just typed, so you press c chord , or shift up arrow on the TNS.  You will hear the last line just fine, but your cursor will now be at the beginning of the last line.  So you begin typing again.  If you are in PC edit insert mode, the text is going to be inserted in front of your last line because that's where the cursor is.  So, get in a habit of giving the end of file command anytime you want to add new material to the end of your file.

     Because it is very important to be aware of which mode you are in when in PC edit mode, we've built in both speech and Braille clues for you.  For speech users, the frequency of the voice will change as you switch from mode to mode as follows:
in PC edit insert mode the voice raises in frequency two levels from normal.
In PC edit overwrite mode the voice lowers two levels from normal.
In PC edit append mode, the voice remains at the normal frequency level.
     We feel this will be a great help in remembering which mode you are in.  However, if you prefer, you can set how much the frequency changes when changing from mode to mode.  We have chosen by default to make the frequency change two levels above and two levels below normal, but you can set this so it changes more than two levels, less than two levels, or not at all.  To change how much the voice shifts, go to the speech parameters and press the sh contraction.
(dots 345 chord, dots 146, or f7, percent key)
The unit will say voice shift.  Type a number from 0 through 7 and press e chord.  If you choose 0 here, the voice will not shift at all when changing from mode to mode.

     For Braille Lite users, you will notice that the cursor changes shape as you switch from mode to mode when in PC edit.
PC edit append mode uses dots 38.
PC edit insert mode uses dots 67.
PC edit overwrite mode uses dots 78.
     Since the insert and append cursors can interfere with the character they are under, we've added a simple command to temporarily turn the cursor into the traditional dots 78 cursor.  Simply press both sides of the advance bar at the exact same time to get the dots 78 cursor.  Then, as soon as you move the cursor, the shape will once again resume the shape for the mode you are in.  Additionally, on Braille Lites, we've given you an indication of which mode PC edit is using whenever the file information is shown.  For example, on Braille Lites, pressing z chord from within a file makes the file name, size, number and type show on the display.  Now, just after the portion that shows how many pages and whether it is a Braille or text file, you'll see either the letter i, o or a.  This will only happen when PC edit is active.

     We've discussed PC edit append mode and PC edit insert mode, now we'll discuss PC edit continuous overwrite mode.  This mode works just like PC edit insert mode, however, instead of adding material to the file at the cursor, the new material typed replaces the information at the cursor location.  So you can move anywhere in your file and simply begin typing to replace the text in your file with what you type.  The one area in your file you cannot use continuous overwrite is at the end of the file.  Overwrite mode will not add information to the end of your file.  You must be in either PC edit append mode or PC edit insert mode to add information to the end of the file.  Since overwrite mode is destructive to text already written in your file, it is important to take extra care when using this mode.

     Finally, we've left in the single character overwrite command when in PC edit.  If you need to overwrite just one character when you are in PC edit insert or append mode, it might be easier to use the o-w chord command.
(dots 246 chord, or shift insert)
When pressed, it allows you to overwrite the character at the cursor with your next keystroke.  After typing the new key, you are returned to the mode you were in before, either PC edit insert or PC edit append mode.

     The last item to cover is the behavior of the backspace command in PC edit insert and overwrite modes.  In the traditional Blazie note taker editing mode, pressing b chord would erase the character at the end of the file regardless of where the cursor was.  This is also the case with PC edit append mode.  However, this is not the case with PC edit insert and overwrite modes.  As with a PC word processor, you may use b chord, or the backspace key, to erase the character to the left of the cursor anywhere in the file.  Additionally, instead of speaking the character next to be erased, the backspace command will speak the character it erases.  To repeat, these changes in the behavior of backspace only occur with PC edit insert and overwrite modes active.  The one quirk to this system is that you cannot use the backspace command to erase the first character of the file if the file is just one character big.  So, say you've just created a file and typed one letter.  You will need to use the delete command to erase this one character.  As soon as you have more than one character in your file, you can use backspace to erase the first character in the file.

     We hope you enjoy PC edit mode.  Please write us, phone us, fax us or e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.

