Tech

MAPs

Be a Pal!

Legal stuff

The Magical "Control Keys"

Hidden away in your Pathfinder are some special function combinations that allow you to do some interesting things. The reason they are hidden is that they are (a) not used very often, and (b) sound so complex that folks might get scared off using their Pathfinders althogether if they saw them in the "Operator Manual."

These combinations all start with the CTRL key and you store them just like you would store anything else. However, you don't see them on the screen and they just operate temporarily. Here's an example of how a CTRL combination might be used:

Suppose you want to store the word "permit" as in "I won't PERMIT that." The stress is on the final sound; "perMIT." You store it under a symbol sequence as:

permit

Now, suppose you actually want the "permit" as in "I have a driver's PERMIT," this time sounding like "PERmit." You use the CTRL key and simply put a space between it and the word, like this;

<CTRL> permit

The <CTRL><SPACE> gives a word an alternative pronunciation. There are a number of these in your "Operator Manual" in the section on DECtalk.

So here is a list of all of the special sequences and a brief description of what they do. If you don't understand what they are supposed to do, that's probably because it's something you don't need to be doing!

Key Combination	What it does...
CTRL SPACE	Speaks the alternate pronunciation of the following word; such words are listed in the Pathfinder "Operator Manual."
CTRL BLOCK MARKER	Turns OFF the Block Marker and deselects any text.
CTRL CALCULATOR	When the Calculator appears, it will ONLY SPEAK in the Speech is already ON.
CTRL 0-9	If you are in a MENU and you hit CTRL then a key that has numbers in it (such as VOLUME) it will change the numbers in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION to what it normally does.
CTRL OUTPUT MENU	Turns OFF the Serial Port.
CTRL SERIAL ON	Turns on the Serial Output for THAT SELECTION ONLY.
CTRL SERIAL OFF	Turns off the Serial Output for THAT SELECTION ONLY.
CTRL START SCAN	Restarts scanning only if Auto Restart is ON.
CTRL IR MENU	Extended IR Set-up option: should ONLY be used if directed by Service.
CTRL SPEAK WORD	Will speak the following word aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK DATE	Will speak the date aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK TIME	Will speak the time aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK DISPLAY	Will speak the display contents aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK ALL	Will speak all the text aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK SENTENCE	Will speak a sentence aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEAK LAST SELECT	Will speak the last selection aloud ONLY if speech is ON.
CTRL SPEECH ON	Temporarily turns speech ON to speak when spelling.
CTRL SPEECH OFF	Temporarily turns speech OFF so you don't hear speaking while spelling.
CTRL SPEECH MENU	Special menu to adjust Speech Tone: careful!

Tech

The Magical "Control Keys"

These combinations all start with the CTRL key and you store them just like you would store anything else. However, you don't see them on the screen and they just operate temporarily. Here's an example of how a CTRL combination might be used:

Suppose you want to store the word "permit" as in "I won't PERMIT that." The stress is on the final sound; "perMIT." You store it under a symbol sequence as:

permit

Now, suppose you actually want the "permit" as in "I have a driver's PERMIT," this time sounding like "PERmit." You use the CTRL key and simply put a space between it and the word, like this;

<CTRL> permit

The <CTRL><SPACE> gives a word an alternative pronunciation. There are a number of these in your "Operator Manual" in the section on DECtalk.

So here is a list of all of the special sequences and a brief description of what they do. If you don't understand what they are supposed to do, that's probably because it's something you don't need to be doing!

Key Combination

What it does...

CTRL SPACE

Speaks the alternate pronunciation of the following word; such words are listed in the Pathfinder "Operator Manual."

CTRL BLOCK MARKER

Turns OFF the Block Marker and deselects any text.

CTRL CALCULATOR

When the Calculator appears, it will ONLY SPEAK in the Speech is already ON.

CTRL 0-9

If you are in a MENU and you hit CTRL then a key that has numbers in it (such as VOLUME) it will change the numbers in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION to what it normally does.

CTRL OUTPUT MENU

Turns OFF the Serial Port.

CTRL SERIAL ON

Turns on the Serial Output for THAT SELECTION ONLY.

CTRL SERIAL OFF

Turns off the Serial Output for THAT SELECTION ONLY.

CTRL START SCAN

Restarts scanning only if Auto Restart is ON.

CTRL IR MENU

Extended IR Set-up option: should ONLY be used if directed by Service.

CTRL SPEAK WORD

Will speak the following word aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK DATE

Will speak the date aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK TIME

Will speak the time aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK DISPLAY

Will speak the display contents aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK ALL

Will speak all the text aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK SENTENCE

Will speak a sentence aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEAK LAST SELECT

Will speak the last selection aloud ONLY if speech is ON.

CTRL SPEECH ON

Temporarily turns speech ON to speak when spelling.

CTRL SPEECH OFF

Temporarily turns speech OFF so you don't hear speaking while spelling.

CTRL SPEECH MENU

Special menu to adjust Speech Tone: careful!