This Month's Top Tips
This summer we added many new features to the WebTV system, and this
month's WebTV Tips focuses on two of the most exciting improvements: printing
and Favorites. You now have the ability to print any text or images you
find on the Web, and the greatly-expanded Favorites section allows you
to save and organize over 600 web sites! Here's how to make the most of
both of these features.
Index of Tips:
- What do I need to print?
- How do I connect a printer to my WebTV Internet terminal?
- What can I print?
- OK, I found something I want to print. Now what?
- What if there's no PRINT button?
- What is this Print window all about?
- What does Printer Setup do?
- What can I save as a Favorite?
- How many can I save?
- How do I create and delete folders?
- How do I organize my Favorites?
- How do I create shortcuts?
1. What do I need to print?
There are three extra components that you need to print from your WebTV Internet
terminal. First, you need any 400 or 600 series printer from Hewlett-Packard.
These should be available from any major computer store. You will also
need a parallel printer cable (the full technical name is the IEEE-1284
compliant Centronics C36 male to DB25 male cable), which will be available
where the printers are sold. Finally, you need a printer adapter, which
is available from Sony and Philips/Magnavox. For more information about
availability of these printer adapters, you should contact the manufacturer
of your WebTV Internet terminal: Sony can be reached at 1-888-772-7669 and Philips/Magnavox
can be reached at 1-888-813-7069.
2. How do I connect a printer to my WebTV Internet terminal?
First, turn off the power of your WebTV Internet terminal and unplug it. Then you
will need to open the port door on the side of the WebTV Internet terminal. The
doors on Sony terminals can be popped open. The doors on a Philips/Magnavox
system need to be unscrewed. Once the door is open you can insert the printer
adapter. The printer adapter has two outputs: a longer one on its side
and a smaller one in the back. Insert the longer output into the printer
port firmly and connect the adapter. If you are using a Sony adapter, you
will need to tighten the screws. If you are using a Philips/Magnavox adapter,
you can use the thumbwheels to tighten the connection. Make sure the adapter
is connected as tightly as possible.
Note: Don't lose the port door that you remove from the side of the
WebTV Internet terminal! If you ever need to disconnect the printer adapter from
your terminal, it will not function without this panel.
3. What can I print?
You can print anything that appears on your screen while you're connected
to the WebTV Network. This includes e-mail messages, pictures, and even entire
web pages. Keep in mind that the page you print out may not look exactly
as it appears on the screen. The text may be smaller, and if you are printing
a WebTV Network page, the sidebar menu will not appear (unless you choose Print
screen. For more about this, please see Tip #6.
4. OK, I found something I want to print. Now what?
Once the printer is connected to your Internet terminal, a new button will appear
on the Options panel. Press the Option button on the remote control or
the keyboard and the Options panel will appear. Along with the other buttons
will be a new button that says print. Select that button and the
Print window will appear. Or you can simply press the command button (CMD)
and "P" on the keyboard at the same time.
5. What if there's no PRINT button?
If the print button isn't there, then the printer is probably
not connected correctly. Check the adapter and cable and make sure everything
is connected as tightly as possible.
6. What is this Print window all about?
When you select print from the Options panel, the window will give you
three options: Print, Print Screen, and Printing Options. If you want to
print everything on that page, then select print. The page may be
reformatted with smaller text or other minor changes. If you are printing
a screen from a WebTV Network page, the menu bar on the left will not appear.
If you want to print only the information that is visible on your screen
at the time, then select Print screen. This will print everything
exactly as it appears on the screen, with no reformatting.
If you select the Printing options button a new screen will appear
giving you some additional choices. Check the first box if you want the
text to print out in black instead of in color. Check the second box if
you would like the current date, time, and web address to appear at the
top of the page. Check the third box if you want to print any background
images that appear on the screen.
7. What does Printer Setup do?
If you select Printing options you will see the the Printer
Setup button on the bottom of the screen. Printer Setup allows you
to choose what type of Hewlett-Packard printer you are using. Note that
if you are using a HP672c printer, you should select the HP670 printer
option. If you are using a black ink cartridge instead of a color ink cartridge,
you should select the check box on this screen. Most users will not need
to change the settings on this screen, however, since many printers will
automatically tell the Internet terminal this information.
8. What can I save as a Favorite?
You can save any web page by pressing the Options button on the keyboard
and selecting save, or pressing the save button on the keyboard.
You can temporarily save Discarded e-mails (not Saved e-mails) or newsgroup
posts as a Favorite, but once the e-mail has been erased or the post has
been removed from the newsgroup you will no longer be able to access them
through Favorites.
9. How many can I save?
You can save 32 Favorites in each folder, and you can create 20 folders,
so you can have 640 total Favorites. When you use the save function, you
will be asked which folder you would like to place the Favorite into.
10. How do I create and delete folders?
When you first go into Favorites, there will be one folder already there
called Personal. To create a new folder, choose Add folder
from the menu at the left. Enter the name that you would like for this
new folder and then select Add. To delete a folder, choose Remove
from the main menu. Select the name of the folder you would like
to remove. Please keep in mind that when you remove a folder, you are also
deleting all of the saved Favorites inside of it.
11. How do I organize my Favorites?
Once you have Favorites saved, you can rename them, reorganize them,
and move them to different folders. First you need to open up a folder
by selecting the folder's name from the main screen. You then will be presented
with the contents of that folder. Choose organize from the menu
at the left. A new screen will appear giving you many options. Discard
will pull up a list of the Favorites in that folder with a Discard
button by each one. Select the one you would like to remove.
If you would like to move a Favorite from the current folder to a different
one, select Move to folder. A list of Favorites will appear, and
by each one will be a menu listing your other folder names. Simply choose
the Favorite you would like to move, and select the destination folder
from the menu.
To change the name of a Favorite, choose the Rename option from
Organize. Again a screen listing the Favorites will appear, with their
current title by each picture. Enter any name you would like into the text
box.
Listing will give you the option of viewing Favorites with or
without pictures. If you view your Favorites without pictures, then they
will be listed in alphabetical order. If you view them with pictures, then
they will be listed in the order that you added them to that folder.
Here's a tip from one of our users: If you want to view your Favorites
with their pictures AND in alphabetical order, then do the following:
Select Listing
Uncheck the With pictures box
Select Done
Select Organize
Select Listing again
Check the With pictures box
This removes the pictures for your Favorites and puts them
all in alphabetical order, and then adds the pictures back again, still
keeping them in order.
After you've organized your Favorites and would like to move to a different
folder, you can use the double-arrow tabs at the top left and right of
the current folder.
12. How do I create shortcuts?
Shortcuts will assign a Favorite to a certain F-key. The F-keys, F1
through F7, appear along the top of the wireless keyboard. That way all
you have to do is press one key and you will automatically be taken to
that web site. To create a shortcut, open up a folder, choose Organize,
and then select Shortcuts. A list of the Favorites in that folder
will appear. Go to the Favorite you would like to have as a shortcut, then
select the button to the right of it. A new screen will appear allowing
you to choose which key (F1
through F7) you would like to assign to that
Favorite. If another Favorite has been assigned to a button, it will appear
next to that button. After you've chosen a shortcut, select Done or
choose No shortcut if you changed your mind and don't want to set
up a shortcut at this time.
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