The training disk gave you a feel for using the Apple IIGS. Now, if you want to, you can change the feel of the Apple IIGS to suit yourself by using a built-in program called the Control Panel.

Here are some of the things you can change with the Control Panel:

• The color of the text, background and border displayed on the screen
   
• The volume of the built-in speaker
   
• The responsiveness of the keys
   
• The responsiveness of the mouse
   
• The speed of the microprocessor

The microprocessor is the computer's processor of information. Megahertz (abbreviated MHz) is a unit of measurement equal to one million cycles per second.

Microprocessor speed: The Apple IIGS's microprocessor can operate at two speeds: at up to 2.8 megahertz (its fast speed), or at 1 megahertz (the speed of the microprocessor in earlier Apple II's). Fast, the standard setting, is best for most applications, but speeding up an old application could throw off its timing or keep it from running properly. If it does, you can change the speed to 1 megahertz by using the Control Panel.

Most people won't have to change any of the Control Panel settings. The only time you must change a Control Panel setting is:

• If you have a peripheral device connected to an interface card in a slot inside the computer instead of to a port on the back of the computer. (Each port on the back of the Apple IIGS corresponds to a particular slot inside the Apple IIGS. Unless you activate the slot by using the Control Panel Program, the computer assumes you want the port to be active.)
   
• If you have both a 5.25-inch drive and a 3.5-inch drive and you want the computer to start up from a disk in the 3.5-inch drive directly instead of first looking for a disk in the 5.25-inch drive.
   
• If you have a printer, a modem, or some other peripheral device connected to the printer or modem port on the back of the Apple IIGS and the device doesn't work with the standard serial port settings.

The serial ports are for connecting devices like printers and modems that use a serial interface. Serial Interface describes how information is sent from the computer to a peripheral device. You'll learn more about peripheral devices and how information is sent to them in Chapter 6.

Read Appendix A for complete details on changing these and other Control Panel settings.

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Chapter 1: Meet Your Apple IIGS