to "OR" or not to "OR"

[TOMMIE MILES JONES]

Ok folks this is a real stupid problem.
I have a (don't laugh, I'm a poor broke college student) tandy 1000sx
it is IBM compatible (suprise!) and run quick C ver 2.5 academic ver.
(only $45 I told you I was cheap)
this peice of sh-- will not allow me to write the OR symbol "|"
it is on key 4 on the numeric key pad.  I tried all different combinations
of numlock and shift.  it will just move the cursor or highlight the text.
I'm tired of Demorgan's law (a | b= !(a & b)) isnt there a way to get around 
I read somewhere that C has taken into consideration that some machines do
not have all the funky symbols and there are ways to get around.


help me please