Source: Compute! – Issue Number 26 – July 1982

Compute! was one of the earliest home computer magazines. By 1982 it had already been published for a couple of years and was covering computers such as the Atari 400/800, Commodore PET, VIC-20, Apple II and others. The July 1982 issue includes:

Features

• Gold Rush! – A type-in game for the VIC-20 and Atari 400/800 in which you must mine gold while avoiding cave-ins.

• IRA Planner – A type-in BASIC program to help you plan and calculate the future value of your IRA.

• Maze Race – A type-in BASIC maze race game in which you can race the computer or a human opponent to the center of the maze.

• Test RAM for Bad Bits, Non-destructively – A machine language program for testing memory. It does so non-destructively by copying existing data out of the memory location and back in after the test.

Education and Recreation

• Recursive BASIC Subroutines – A tutorial on using recursive programming in BASIC programs using the Towers of Brahma problem as an example.

• Screen Graphics – A tutorial on manipulating screen graphics with specific examples for Atari and Commodore computers.

• Answer Selection With Joysticks – A BASIC program for the VIC-20 and Atari computers that demonstrates how to use the Joystick to select items on the screen.

• Apple Game Paddles – Think you’re a hardcore gamer? Gamers in the early 80s built their own controllers.

• Computing Techniques for the Handicapped – Techniques for adapting computers for those with disabilities.

• Multi-digit Addition – A BASIC program for the PET and VIC-20 that allows you to add numbers together that are up to 254 digits long.

Reviews

• Caverns of Mars – An action game for the Atari 400/800 in which you must fly your way through the tunnels of Mars battling Martians along the way.

• Two Programs from the VIC Six Pack – Reviews of Car Chase, a game in which you race a car around a square while collecting dots and avoiding the other car; and Blue Meanies From Outer Space, a game somewhat similar to Space Invaders.

• SoftBox: CP/M for PET/CBM – A CP/M emulator for the PET. It’s essentially a CP/M computer that plugs between the PET and disk drive that allows you to use the monitor, keyboard and disk drives of your PET.

• SYSRES For PET/CBM – A programming tool that adds 33 commands including 6 improved BASIC commands and 11 extended DOS commands among other things.

• Fun with Microcomputers and BASIC – A book that teaches BASIC programming and includes a bunch of entertainment oriented programs to type in.

Columns and Departments

• The Editor’s Notes – A brief look at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show and National Computer Conference in Houston. Highlights included a bunch of new computers from Commodore, including the BX256, B128, “P” Series, Commodore 64, and Commodore MAX.

• Ask the Readers – A conversation with readers about extending languages, Atari computer lock-ups, Fast-Find for the Commodore PET and VIC-20, using the GET BASIC command on Atari computers, and more.

• Computers and Society – Achieving computer literacy with PILOT and LOGO, making music with computers, and more.

• The Beginner’s Page: Making Files Work – File handling in BASIC using the Commodore PET/VIC-20, Atari 400/800 and Apple II.

• Friends of the Turtle – Fractal graphics using Apple LOGO and Atari PILOT.

• The World Inside the Computer – Kids and computers.

• Learning with Computers – Comparing BASIC to LOGO and teaching kids to program.

• Telecommunications: Choosing A Modem – A look at acoustic coupler modems, inductive coupler modems and various kinds of direct connect modems.

• Machine Language: First Steps – The third and final part of a Machine Language tutorial in which a bar graph is created.

• Insight: Atari – Part six of a series of articles on Atari BASIC. This part looks at strings and arrays among other things.

The Journal

• A Direct Access File Editor – A type-in BASIC file editing tool for the PET/CBM and Atari disk users.

• MicroDOS – A technique for optimizing your Atari DOS disks to reduce disk storage and memory requirements.

• Whither VIC – A look at the brief history of the VIC so far (about a year old at the time) and its immediate future.

• Super QuadraPET – A type-in program for partitioning memory on the PET and moving programs between those partitions.

• Apple DOS Changer – A BASIC program that will rename potentially destructive DOS commands (like INIT which erases a disk). Useful in a classroom setting.

• Atari Video Graphics and the New GTIA – In 1982 Atari computers got a graphics upgrade with the new GTIA chip. It included a new sixteen color mode, the ability to generate 256 colors, and much more.

• All About PET/CBM Character Sets – An article describing all of the currently existing PET/CBM character sets in detail.

• Language Lab – A type-in program to help you learn a foreign language on your Atari 400/800.

• VIC Super Expander Memory Map – A memory map of most of the machine language routines included with the VIC Super Expander.

• Atari Variable Table Refresh and Program Backup – A type-in program for Atari computers that helps to create automatic backups of your programming sessions and avoid data loss.

• How to Use the 6560 Video Interface Chip – An article detailing the hardware of the 6560 VIC chip and how to use it.

• Machine Language Compactor – A program written in machine language for the PET/CBM that will compress your BASIC programs. Compressing a 16K program takes about 5-6 minutes.

• The FORTH Page: Headless Metacompilation – A program for the PET that compiles a FORTH program removing key words/commands that are unused thereby reducing memory requirements.

• Resource Part 1: Mapping Machine Language Code – A tool (for OSI computers) that facilitates documenting machine language disassemblies among other things.

…and more!