This video tape begins with instructions about the hookup and operation of the ComputerSmart
system.
An adult should be present to assist in following these instructions.
At the end of this tape, after the titles, there is important scoring information.
This is your ComputerSmartz learning system, the system that lets you play two ways, plugged
into any VHS VCR for interactive video play or disconnected from the VCR for portable
game play.
The system includes a ComputerSmartz computer keyboard with game cartridge expansion port,
a VHS video lesson tape, a connecting cable, and operating instructions.
A growing library of video lesson tapes and learning game cartridges are available.
Learning game cartridges provide additional portable games and increased voice capability
that will enhance interactive game play.
Place the keyboard upside down on a flat surface.
Remove the battery box lid and insert four D-cell batteries, alkaline preferred.
Place and close the lid.
Now, turn the ComputerSmartz keyboard back over to the upright position and place it
on a flat surface.
Take the enclosed cable and connect one end to the audio output jack of your video cassette
recorder or VCR.
Connect the other end of the cable to the back of the ComputerSmartz keyboard, here.
If you can't find either jack, check the operating instructions for your VCR or ComputerSmartz
system for help.
Turn on your TV and VCR.
Select the proper TV channel.
Insert the ComputerSmartz video lesson tape, but do not start the VCR yet.
Turn on the ComputerSmartz keyboard with this power switch.
The LCD screen will display Hello, and the voice will say Hello.
The LCD screen will then display Type Your Name, and the voice will say Please Type Your
First Name.
You should then type in your first name.
It can be up to eight letters long.
If you make a mistake, you can erase letters by simply pressing the backspace key, here.
Then you can finish typing your name.
When it is spelled correctly, press the Enter key.
The ComputerSmartz keyboard will say Hello, and the LCD screen will display Hello and Your
First Name.
The LCD screen will then display Press Play Select.
The voice will say Press Play Select key to start.
Press Enter when ready.
The Play Select key is here.
The Enter key is here.
These keys are used to select TV Smart or portable play games.
Now you can press the Play button on your VCR to start the tape.
No matter what game you have selected, when your ComputerSmartz keyboard is plugged into
the VCR and the tape is playing, the video answer tone will lock the ComputerSmartz keyboard
into the TV Smart interactive game.
If you wish to play one of the onboard games, you should first disconnect the ComputerSmartz
keyboard from the VCR by unplugging either end of the connecting cable.
Each time you press the Play Select key, the name of a different game will appear on the
LCD screen in this order.
NumberSmartz 1, SolveSmartz 2, TypeSmartz, Utype, Calculate, NumberSmartz 1, NumberSmartz
2, Music, and TV Smart.
When the name of the game you want to play appears on the LCD screen, press the Enter
key to play that game.
If you want to end one game and start another, just press the Play Select key until the name
of the new game you want to play appears on the LCD screen.
Then press the Enter key.
To learn how to play each game and more about your ComputerSmartz system, read the operating
instruction booklet.
Okay, how's this?
Too slow.
Now?
Too high.
Don't you have him straighten out yet?
I'm almost done, okay?
How's this?
Testing, testing, one, two, three, that's better.
It's nice to be online again.
That's the last time I let you check me on his baggage.
Next time it will be first class as usual.
Well, you didn't miss anything.
Yeah, space may be the final frontier.
But most of it's pretty dark.
Besides, I don't know why we even had to bring you at all.
You're here to observe and learn.
Somebody's got to make sure you stay out of trouble.
No problem.
Well, we've already learned a lot already, Beak.
Yeah, sure.
What are we doing, Reins?
Beats me.
I saw it on television, you jump around waving your hands like this and music comes out.
Great, huh?
Yo!
Yes?
You keep time, all right?
Under one, under two, under one, two, three, four.
Hey, what's that?
Saved by the bell.
It's the phone from home.
Beak, old buddy, get the phone.
It's for you anyway.
What do you mean it's for me?
Your mom's the one always calling on the interspacial extradimensional telephone.
How do you like that?
Technology light years ahead of anything on this planet and I still have to talk to my
mom on the phone.
Will someone please answer the phone?
Hey, I know.
Let's decide in reverse alphabetical order.
Reins comes after Beak, so you answer, huh?
But if it's in reverse order, then I come first and if I come first, then I win.
And if I win, then I get to decide who answers the phone.
Beak, old pal, if it's my mom, take a message.
Will somebody answer the phone, please?
All right.
Hello, who is it?
Aha, the three code words for the day.
The three words should be coming in on your computer smart's LCD screen right about now.
Confirm the three typing words.
Wait for this answer tone.
Before typing your answer and hitting the enter key.
Type the word press.
Type the word answer.
Type the word enter.
Good.
Remember, every time you hear or see any of these words, type them as fast as you can.
I'm sure you'll do even better next time.
Good.
Now let's rock.
Okay.
How's that?
I told you someone had to keep you out of trouble.
Right.
Let's try again.
One, two, three, four.
Hey, you in there?
Snoop it up.
Hey, what was that?
Hey, someone's at the door.
Come on, I know you're in there.
Hey, find out what he wants, Reins.
No problem.
I'll handle it.
Hey.
What do you want?
There you go.
I'm coming.
Let's go.
What are you doing, kid?
I'm making a mess.
Come on.
Let's go.
Hey, what is it?
Come on.
Are you out of your mind?
I'm out of my mind.
Yeah.
Let's go.
Come on.
Keep it.
There you are. Okay, where are they? And don't try to fool around with me. I'm...
Oh. Double secret special agent GQKP MSG 4F.
Hike! And me without my secret decoder ring.
Don't mess with me. When you mess with Colonel Bragg, you'll have to answer to the government.
Answer!
Type the word, answer.
What can we do for you, officer?
Huh? Oh. That's more like it. Now, where are they?
Hey, right here!
Not you. Them! Where are they?
Where who?
That's classified.
Ah, of course it is. We knew that. What does that mean?
Don't press your luck, kid.
Press!
Type the word, press.
Ahem. You are saying, Colonel.
Right. I'm following up reports that a flying saucer was spotted in this area.
Have either of you kids seen any aliens in the vicinity?
Impossible. Why, we haven't even gone near the vicinity. What's a vicinity?
Say, there's something peculiar about you kids.
Why, Colonel, what could these two innocent children possibly know about hideous creatures from outer space?
Well, you're not from around here. You're not foreigners, are you?
We're from Dallas! We're from out of town!
Duluc, eh? Sure, I've been there.
You have?
Sure, I've been everywhere.
That's where we held our combination spaghetti dinner car wash overnight last year.
Oh, no! Time for an air raid!
It's a sneak attack!
Every man for himself!
That's right. It's not an air raid. It's a speed drill.
Look at the television screen, type in the words you see there as fast as you can, and press enter.
The faster you respond, the higher your score.
Ready, set, go.
Type the word zero.
Type the word ship.
Type the word fire.
Great! Just keep practicing what you learned from the typing lesson, and you'll get faster and faster and faster and faster!
And the faster you type, the more points you'll score.
Oh, piece of cake. Ask me a question, anything. I can handle it.
Now remember, there are different kinds of questions.
Sure, I knew that. What are they?
Well, the simplest questions ask you to choose between two possible responses.
We call these true-false questions.
Here's an example.
Read the following statement and type T if it is true or F if it is false.
I type T for true.
Good answer, D.
A dog has four legs.
Not where we come from.
Yes. Well, not all questions of this type will ask you to choose between true and false.
Sometimes you'll be asked to pick Y for yes or N for no, or different letters of the alphabet.
No problem. I've got all the letters of the alphabet and a bunch of numbers too.
Good, because some questions will be multiple choice, and you'll have to pick one of three or four letters or numbers to give the correct answer to the question.
Of course. What does that mean?
Here's an example.
Here are three words.
Type the number next to the word dog and hit enter.
I typed the number three.
That's the number next to the word dog.
That's right.
Now, some questions will require that you type more than one letter.
In fact, sometimes you'll have to type entire words.
We call these fill-in-the-blank questions.
The subject is a complete blank to me.
It's easy, Reigns. Try this one.
Here is a sentence with a word missing.
Type in the word that is missing.
The barks at the cat.
Oh, let's see.
The Nurgis Clompon.
No.
Um, the Bug-Bladder Beast.
No.
Uh, the Regalian Snudosaurus.
No.
Oh, no!
I ran out of time!
That's another important thing to remember.
You only have a short time to type your response.
But the faster you respond, the more points you score.
Hey, I was robbed!
I typed dog, D-O-G, but I didn't get very many points.
Hehehe.
That's because you forgot to hit the enter key after you finished typing.
Enter!
Type, enter.
Oh, yes.
That's the other way to score points.
There are three code words given at the beginning of each tape.
Every time you see and hear these words, type them in as fast as you can,
after the answer tone, and score more points.
Uh-oh, time for a speed drill!
If you want to rack up a lot of points fast, the speed drill is just the ticket.
And this is a special drill.
This time, instead of looking at the television screen,
look at your computer smart's LCD screen,
and type each of the words you see there as fast as you can.
Nice going.
You never know what words will pop up in a special speed drill,
because they change every time you play the tape.
So if you think you've learned everything on a tape,
the special speed drills will always give you something new.
Whew! I think I got them all.
But some of these questions are tough.
Yeah, all this typing makes me hungry.
Let's get a pizza.
Yeah, great idea!
What's a pizza?
They're kind of round and flat, and they've got things stuck on the top,
and gooey stuff oozing over the sides.
Wow, sounds great!
How do we get one?
Beats me.
All you have to do is open a telephone book,
look up the name and number of a pizza place,
call and order one.
No problem.
But it may take a little while.
There seem to be a few names in this phone book.
It's not that hard, Reigns.
They're all in alphabetical order.
That means they follow the order of the alphabet.
Here's a simple little rule
that time can't erase.
There are 26 letters,
and they all have their place.
Beak before Reign,
because B is before R.
Well, I'm before you.
Reigns, you're going too far.
First things first,
that's the way it should be.
Doing things alphabetically,
it's as easy as A, B, C.
First things first,
that's the way it should be.
Doing things alphabetically,
it's as easy as A, B, C.
First things first,
that's the way it should be.
Doing things alphabetically,
it's as easy as A, B, C.
You know that Beak comes before Reigns in alphabetical order
because in the alphabet,
the letter B at the beginning of Beak
comes before the R at the beginning of Reigns.
Oh, so since pizza starts with the letter P,
we know it comes after B for Beak,
but before R for Reigns.
I don't think our number is listed in here, Beak.
Besides, there are still a lot of names after B and before R.
But you know the whole alphabet.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G,
H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P,
yeah, Q, R, S, D, U, V,
W, X, Y, Z.
Here are three letters,
but they're not in the proper alphabetical order.
Type the letter that comes first in the alphabet.
BEEP
Oh, let's see.
Uh, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S.
Oh, the answer's O.
The letter O comes before both P and Q in the alphabet.
Good.
Now look at the three letters again
and type the letter that comes next in alphabetical order.
BEEP
P is the next letter in the alphabet after all.
The answer is P.
Rightamundo.
The correct alphabetical order for the three letters is O, P, Q.
The letter P comes between the letters O and Q.
So words that start with the letter P
will come afterwards that start with the letter O
and before words that start with the letter Q.
That's alphabetical order.
Here are three words,
but they are not in alphabetical order.
Queen, pizza, order.
Type the word that comes first in alphabetical order
and hit Enter.
BEEP
The word order comes first in alphabetical order
because it starts with the letter O
and O comes before Q or P in the alphabet.
That's right.
Now type the word that comes second in alphabetical order
and hit Enter.
BEEP
The word pizza comes second because it starts with the letter P
and P comes after O but before Q.
Good.
And now type the word that comes last in alphabetical order
and hit Enter.
BEEP
Queen is the last word in alphabetical order.
It starts with the letter Q,
which comes after both O and P.
Very good.
So, Reigns, can you find pizza in the telephone book now?
Let's see.
Paint, pets, pianos, plastic.
There's a whole bunch of words here that start with the letter P.
By the time you find pizza, we'll have starved to death.
Don't worry, Beak.
There's an easier way.
Alphabetical order doesn't end with the first letter of a word.
If two words start with the same first letter,
the second letter may determine alphabetical order.
Oh, then pet comes before piano in alphabetical order
because the second letter of pet is E
and the second letter of piano is I.
And E comes before I in the alphabet,
so pet comes before piano.
That's right, Beak.
Here are three words that are not in alphabetical order.
Plastic, paint, pizza.
Type the word that comes first in alphabetical order and hit Enter.
Paint is the first word in alphabetical order.
All three words start with P,
but the second letter in paint is A,
and A comes before L and I in the alphabet.
That's right.
Which word comes second in alphabetical order?
Pizza's the second word because the second letter in pizza is I,
and it comes after A but before L.
Right again.
And which word comes last in alphabetical order?
Plastic is the last word in alphabetical order.
The second letter in plastic is L,
which comes after both A and I in the alphabet.
Very good.
So the correct alphabetical order is paint, pizza, plastic.
Found it!
Pete's Pepperoni Pizza Palace.
I'll just dial the number.
Hello?
Yes, I'd like an extra large pizza with sausage, mushrooms, onions,
lox, cream cheese, bacon, lettuce,
manu, chocolate chips, macadamia nuts and whipped cream.
What?
No way!
No anchovies!
Right.
What's my name?
Reigns.
Uh-huh.
Yes, I see.
Okay.
Thank you.
Did you order the pizza, Reigns?
Sure, Beakle, buddy.
No problem.
Whoa, when's he gonna get here?
I'm starving.
While you wait, Beak, let's talk about another use for alphabetical order.
You can use the alphabet with a dictionary.
The dictionary is a useful book that tells the meaning of words,
where they came from, and how they can be used.
A to Z, you and me,
got a lot of words to learn,
how to spell them, and what they mean,
is on each page you turn.
Every word in definition is right there in your hand.
But you gotta get a dictionary love,
oh, a dictionary love,
it's gonna put you a step above,
get a dictionary love.
Each letter's marked, hard or soft,
it shows you all the rules.
Each vowel is marked, short or long,
this book's the only tool.
Every word in the English language,
right at your command.
But you gotta get a dictionary love,
oh, a dictionary love,
it's gonna put you a step above,
get a dictionary love.
But you gotta get a dictionary love,
oh, a dictionary love,
it's gonna put you a step above,
get a dictionary love.
Can you find the subject of this sentence?
Type the letter next to the subject.
The dog barks at the cat.
Sure, the answer is C.
No, wait, A? No, no, wait, B.
Oh, I don't know.
I know the answer.
The subject of the sentence is the dog.
So the correct answer is B.
The dog is the subject of the sentence.
The subject of a sentence is the person, place or thing
the sentence is talking about.
Of course, it's my job to know these things.
I'm Trudy Trueheart,
defender of the ultimate sentence.
And Trudy will be helping us learn all about subjects,
predicates, nouns, verbs, sentences and punctuation
in the Computer Smart's videotape called
Word Mystery 1, in search of the ultimate sentence.
How about this one?
Type the word that is an adjective in this sentence.
The boy likes the large car.
Adjective?
Is that something we should have gotten on the pizza?
Preston Digitator sees all and knows all.
The adjective is...
Large!
An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun.
In the sentence, the boy likes the large car.
The word large is an adjective describing the noun car.
Want to see me pull a large car out of my hat?
Not right now, Preston.
But you can come back and help us learn all about adjectives,
adverbs and pronouns in Word Mystery 2,
the plot of the possessive pronoun.
Here's a sentence with a compound subject.
Count the number of subjects and then type the key
with that number on it.
I know, I know!
Two!
No, three, no, one, no...
What's a compound subject?
I know the answer.
There are three subjects in the compound subject.
Compound subject means the sentence has more than one subject.
The boy, the girl and the cat are the three subjects in the compound subject.
I also know about compound predicates because I sing and dance and smile and...
I think we get the idea.
We'll be getting to compound subjects, compound predicates and paragraphs in
Word Mystery 3, the caper of the compounding characters.
And how about this?
Can you find the prepositional phrase in this sentence?
Type the letter next to the prepositional phrase.
Beak and rains come from outer space.
Now, handle this!
I'm with the government!
The prepositional phrase is...
from outer space.
The answer is...
C.
A prepositional phrase is...
Hey!
What did that sentence say?
Word Mystery 4, the victory of Victor Verb.
Covering helping verbs, prepositions and prepositional phrases.
And don't forget the tapes on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Yes, there's lots of things to learn before we go back home.
And plenty of time to practice, practice, practice.
I'm practicing! I'm practicing!
Hey, Wains, do dogs really bark at cats?
That's what it says here in the manual.
What do you think happened to our pizza?
I don't know, but I'm starving.
Look at me, I'm wasting a wave.
I know, let's go pick up the pizza.
I don't know if that's such a good idea, Wains.
Oh, sure it is!
We'll take the clubhouse on a quick, transorbital, extra-atmospheric joy ride
and be there in a flash.
Then we can eat!
Let me have the controls, T.J.
I think you should let me drive, Wains.
No way!
Ready, Beak?
Let's motivate!
Space traffic control the clubhouse.
We have detected incoming letters heading your way.
Please prepare to type.
Oh, wow, a typing game! I love to play games!
Me too!
Typing is a very valuable skill.
It allows you to use your computer smarts with speed and accuracy.
Yeah, great! How do we play?
Well, first you have to look at the keyboard and learn where everything is.
Just wait up, Lipton.
This can't be that hard.
Do we have to learn about the keyboard first?
Absolutely.
It's not difficult at all.
Do you remember how much you had to practice before you could ride your astro sled without training jets?
Yeah.
Well, just like any other skill, you will have to practice typing.
Practice!
Practice, practice, practice.
Ahem. In a very short time, you'll know where every key is without looking at the keyboard.
Without looking at the keyboard?
Of course!
But first, let's look at the keyboard.
Think of it as being divided into two halves.
Okay.
The left half is operated by the left hand, and the right half is operated by the right hand.
Yeah.
In each half, a different finger controls a different key.
To make it easier, let's number your fingers.
Oh, great! Hey, hey, come on, Ray. Take this marker. Number my fingers. Go on.
No problem. Let's start with, let's see, 387.
Yeah, good number.
No, no, no. Let's start with number one and put it on the pinky finger of your left hand.
Okay, go on.
Continuing from left to right, on your left hand, the next fingers will be two, three, and four.
With four being the index finger of your left hand.
Wow, that's this one.
Number five will be the index finger on your right hand.
The other fingers on your right hand, from left to right, will be numbers six, seven, and eight.
With eight being the pinky finger of your right hand.
Thumbs are not numbered.
Yeah, of course not. How come?
Well, your thumbs will operate the space bar and don't need numbers.
It puts a space at the end of a word or letter or anything else.
The space bar, period, comma, and semicolon keys do not have voice responses,
but do score points when typed correctly.
Try it now. Hit the space bar with your left thumb.
Excellent!
Check out the far left hand side of the keyboard.
Checking.
There are three gray keys, Q, A, and Z.
These keys are operated by the pinky finger on your left hand.
That's finger number one.
Now, place finger number one on the A key.
Next to this gray group of keys, there are three blue colored keys, W, S, and X.
This group of keys will be operated by the next finger on your left hand.
Finger number two.
Place finger number two on the S key.
Continue across the keyboard, putting each finger of your left hand on a different key.
Finger number three on the D key.
And finger number four on the F key.
Makes sense.
The key that each finger is responsible for is a different color.
You know, this is easy.
On the left side of the keyboard, finger number one operates the gray keys.
Number two, the blue keys.
And finger number three, the next gray keys.
Number four is on the green keys.
Very good observations.
Now, put finger number five on the J key and continue left to right, as you did with the left hand,
placing each finger on a different color key.
Yeah.
Finger number six on the K key.
Number seven on the L key.
And finger number eight on the semicolon key.
Oh, that means on the right side of the keyboard then finger number five operates the blue keys.
Number six, the gray keys.
That's right.
And finger number seven, the green keys.
And finger number eight, the gray keys.
Wait, wait, wait, don't forget the thumb.
It hits the space bar.
Space, the final frontier.
Uh, let's get back to the keyboard.
The keyboard is divided into rows, the most important of which is the home row, where your fingers are now.
Home is where you go when you have nothing else to do.
Home in typing is the row where your fingertips rest.
They lightly touch the A, S, D, F, J, K, L, and semicolon keys.
You'll always know if your hands are on the right keys because of the bumps on the F and J keys.
They feel funny.
Finger number four should always be on the F key and number five on the J key.
Let's try it now.
Okay.
Hit the F key with finger number four.
Now, try the J key with finger number five.
Now, place your fingers on the home row.
Remember, your two index fingers should be positioned on the bumpy F and J keys.
Remember to sit up straight with your shoulders level and leaning a little forward.
Your feet should be on the floor and attached to your legs, with one foot slightly ahead of the other.
Your fingers should be curved, allowing only the tips to lightly touch the keys.
Like this?
Yeah.
Okay.
Your palms should not touch the frame of the machine and your arms should be relaxed at your sides.
We're approaching the first typing drill now.
As each letter from the home row appears on the screen, type it as fast as you can and sit up straight.
Okay.
So, how did everybody do?
I got 16 points.
I got 22 points.
Oh, we can do better than that.
Let's try it again, but faster.
Okay.
Did you do any better this time?
I got 38 points!
I got 46 points!
Did you notice that you had to move fingers 4 and 5 to hit the G and H keys?
Well, here's another surprise for you.
Oh, I love surprises!
Good.
Your fingers also have to move up and down the keyboard quite often.
This next group of letters, Q, W, E, R, T, Y, U, I, O, P, are all on the top row.
The color coding tells you which fingers operate the keys in the top row.
That means that finger number 1 hits the Q, number 2 hits the W, number 3 hits the E,
and number 4 hits the R and also the T.
Yeah, wait, and finger number 5 hits both the Y and the U keys.
Number 6 hits the I, number 7 hits the O, and number 8 hits the P.
That's correct!
Beautiful!
After you hit the keys on this upper row, your fingers should automatically return to
the home row.
This way, they can be ready to dash off to the next letter.
Incoming letters have been spotted on the radar!
Oh, here they come!
Prepare to type!
So, how did you do this time?
I got 58 points!
I did even better!
I've got a grand total of 72 points!
Let's try it again!
This time, we'll add the home row!
Check it out!
Hey, now I got 90 points!
Top that, Rain!
Keep my dust, dude.
I've got 100 points.
Then let's go on to the bottom row.
Start with your fingers on the home row and look at the color coding to find out which
fingers operate which keys.
Well, the left hand is easy.
Finger number 1 hits the Z, number 2 hits the X, number 3 hits the C, number 4 hits
the V and the B keys.
Yeah, but what happens with the right hand?
I can see that finger number 5 hits the N and the M keys, finger 6 hits the comma, finger
number 7 hits the period.
What does finger number 8 do?
Well now, on the bottom row, finger number 8 is kind of special.
I know, I know, it hits the enter key.
That's right, Raines, you hit the enter key with finger number 8 on your right hand.
Incoming letters have been spotted on the radar.
Prepare to type.
Sit up straight with your fingers on the home row.
Okay, guys, before you start bragging about your scores, we're going to try it again.
This time, we'll add the home row.
Ready?
Ready!
Okay, guys, we're going to try it again.
Time's up!
How did you do?
I've got 150 points now!
Hey, I'm catching up!
Now I have 142 points!
Hey, can we try typing all the rows at once now?
Incoming letters have been spotted on the radar, and there's a lot of them.
Prepare to type!
Don't forget to sit up straight with your fingers on the home row!
Boy, that was tough!
Now I'm beyond starving too!
Reigns, can we eat now?
This was supposed to be a quick trip!
Well, uh, the pizza place is on the other side of the planet!
What?!
Oh, now I'm never gonna get to eat!
While you're waiting, you might as well take your mind off food by practicing what you've
learned in the typing game over and over and over until you have more points than anyone
in history!
That's a good idea, Beak!
Just keep practicing!
I'll get us there as fast as I can!
Too bad this planet doesn't have instant travel services!
We'd be there by now!
Boy, what a weird planet!
What a weird planet indeed!
But if they think it's weird here, what's it like where they come from?
Where do they come from anyway?
What kind of parents name their kids Beak and Reigns?
And will Beak ever get to eat a pizza?
Tune in next time for ditch digging in the south of France or stop!
Don't eat that goldfish!
Well, alright everybody, I'm sure you've just had some fun!
Playing with Computer Smarts, information for everyone!
Now we're home from a journey, but you can always play again!
Cause when you play the games you'll always win and open up a brand new world!
A brand new world!
Computer Smarts!