A typical three dimensional automaton experiment, after having arrived at the submenu, would be to enter the rule number using arrows, space, backspace, and the numbers 0 and 1 to designate states. For purposes of initialization, a random number generator always provides one, but it may not be interesting. Once set, it remains until reset, even though one leaves the submenu and later returns.
If a two button mouse is available, it should be set to generate arrows for its movements, designated mou, mol, mor, mod in the menu above. In addition, the buttons should generate the two ``control arrows,'' moa, mob. Finally, the double button should generate esc. This allows setting the rule by mouse movements, sometimes a convenience.
Selecting a rule does not enter it into the CAM/PC 's lookup tables: this must be done by pressing the insert button; not doing so allows browsing through submenus without making a commitment. To a certain extent, it also allows the transportation of rules between environments. The CAM/PC screen will blink as the table is deposited, which may be taken as a confirmation of the operation.
It remains to initialize the automaton's bitplanes, done by pressing Y; there is no obvious acknowledgement, but close observation will reveal a time-change when the operation is complete, and until then no further operation will be accepted. At present the only initialization is to 50% random density, but this could change if there were future demand. It is also possible to continue using a previously existing set of files, or to employ a previously prepared set provided that the names F01.PAT ... F12.PAT were used.
Typing t will show a mean field curve for the density of live cells in the second generation as a function of that in the first. For most rules, it can be expected that the equilibrium density of the automaton will be the fixed point of this curve, but strong exceptions exist among totalistic and semitotalistic automata. The monomial probability gotten from u can be of assistance in choosing a rule whose curve has a desired form.
The use of t is usually reassuring; if too many trials have been made and the screen becomes cluttered, z will clear it. This is distinct from the action of delete, which clears the CAM/PC 's screen by setting all bitplanes to zero.
At this point, the only thing to do is to type S to obtain an ongoing evolution, or s to single-step the development. S can be halted by pressing any key.