• Tag Archives Apple II

  • Ortho’s Computerized Gardening (1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Commodore Microcomputers – Issue Number 34 – March/April 1985

    In the early days of personal computing, I don’t think people quite new what to do with computers. Playing games was obvious. Spreadsheets and word processing were the early killer apps. Beyond that, it seemed that people were always searching for new use cases. People wanted to use computers, they just didn’t always know what to do with them.

    Likewise, software makers weren’t sure what kind of software to make. There was quite the variety of applications being released at an incredible rate by the early 1980s. Not all of it was terribly useful or quite worth the money. This ad is for one example of software I consider of questionable value. Of course, I’m no gardener…

    Basically, this software provided information on what kind of plants to plant in your garden based on your location, time of year and conditions. For someone who likes gardening and was into computers, no doubt this would have been tempting. But essentially, this is just a database of information. Something that could be handled just as easily with a book. I suppose that if you were interested in gardening in other parts of the country and liked to search around to see what grew best where, it could be of some interest.

    It’s interesting to note that this software, Orthos’s Computerized Gardening, was produced by Ortho Information Services. Even pesticide companies were getting in on the personal computer boom. From their perspective, this would have been software that was pretty easy to produce. Basically, it was taking information already available in books that they published, putting it on a disk for various personal computers (IBM PC, Apple II and Commodore 64 in this case), and adding search capabilities.

    I don’t think computerized gardening ever became a very big market. Of course, all of this information would be trivial to search on the Internet these days anyway. It was probably also available in one form or another on other online services before the Internet took off. In any case, at $49.95 a copy, I’m sure this software was able to cover the cost of development even if it only sold a few hundred copies.

    I looked for some screen shots for the Commodore 64 version and couldn’t find any. I also couldn’t find an emulator image in any of the usual places. This leads me to believe that it might not have been released on that platform despite the ad. Of course, this was probably mail order only software so it might just be that it was very rare.


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  • Compute! (May 1981)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 12 – May 1981

    Compute! was one of the earliest and longest running multi-format computer magazines published in the U.S. In the early days, it covered the Atari 400/800, Apple II and Commodore PET as well as various kit computers. The May 1981 issue includes:

    • The Editor’s Notes – A look at some of the things seen at the West Coast Computer Faire, including the Votrax Type-‘N-Talk text to speech synthesizer, the Commodore Super-PET, A 256K memory expansion from Axlon for the Atari 800, and more.
    • The Readers’ Feedback – Praise for the magazine, small business programs for the Atari, improving magazine distribution, and more.
    • Computers and Society – Addressing computer phobia.
    • Computer Aided Instruction, Boon or Bust? – Analyzing the effects of computers in the classroom. Still a novel idea at the time.
    • They Mysterious and Unpredictable RND – The last part in a series on random numbers. This part presents solutions for finding maximum and minimum numbers in a sample of random numbers, simulating dice rolls and a number of other exercises.
    • Land of the Lost – A Program For a Cassette Filing System – A type-in menu-driven program to create labels for cassettes (the dominant home computer storage medium of the time).
    • Using The 6522 to Drive a Printer – How to construct an interface for a parallel printer and create a machine language program to drive it using a Comprint 912P printer and OSI computer.
    • Using the Aim 64 as a Remote Terminal for an Apple – Using a 6551 ACIA (Asynchronous Communications Interface Adapter) and RS-232C interface, NOVATION CAT modem, and AIM 65 single board computer to create a terminal for an Apple II.
    • EPIDEMIC – A Simulation of an Epidemic – A type-in BASIC program for the PET that simulates the spread of an epidemic based on your inputs.
    • A Floating Point Multiplication Routine – A type-in machine language program that converts two signed numbers to floating-point binary numbers and performs multiplication with 9 digit accuracy.
    • Naming Compounds – A type-in program for the PET designed for high school chemistry students that can test students on naming compounds and creating formulas from the names.

    The Apple Gazette

    • Using Named GOSUB and GOTO Statements in Applesoft BASIC – A simple way to create named subroutines vs. just using line numbers.
    • Commas, Colons, and Quote Marks Too – Writing BASIC programs that can accept commas, colons and quotation marks as part of their input.
    • Generating Lower Case Text on the Apple II Plus Using the Paymar Chip – By default the Apple II Plus could only display uppercase letters. However, it could be modified with a PAYMAR (LC-1) so that lower case letters could be used. The type-in program can then convert strings in your BASIC programs to lowercase.

    The Atari Gazette

    • A Cure for Atari BASIC or, Make Your Atari a Bit Wiser – An assembly language program that adds the ability to do bitwise operations in Atari BASIC.
    • Copy Your Atari Screen to Your Printer – A short BASIC program that will dump the contents of the screen to a printer.
    • Hardware Information at Last! – Three new Atari technical manuals, including Atari 400/800 Technical User Notes, Atari 400/800 Operating System, and Atari 400/800 Disk Operating System.
    • Using Strings for Graphics Storage – A method for using BASIC strings to create graphics on the Atari.
    • Atari Machine I/O – Three machine language routines for processing input.
    • Disk Directory Printer – A couple of BASIC programs for creating directory listings of your disks.
    • Condensing Data Statements on the Atari – Using characters instead of numbers in DATA statements used as input for machine language programs to save space (one character equates to one to three digits).
    • Real-Time Clock on the Atari – A BASIC program that can set, configure, and use the real-time clock included in Atari computers.
    • Review: Stud Poker – A simple poker game designed to run on Atari computers with 16K.

    The OSI Gazette

    • Through the Fill-The-Buffer Routine with Gun and Camera – Some technical info on how the “Fill-the-Buffer” routine (FTB) of OS BASIC works.
    • FOOTU: FOO Revisited – Converting FOO (a racing game for the OSI) to run on OSI systems with BASIC-in-ROM.

    The PET Gazette

    • A Fast Visible Memory Dump – A program for creating a graphical memory dump to a printer.
    • Machine Language: Getting to the Machine Language Program – Methods for combining BASIC programs with machine language routines.
    • A Thirteen Line BASIC Delete – A short BASIC program that allows you to delete any group of lines form an existing program.
    • Calculated Bar-graph Routines on the Pet – How to calculate the length of bars in a bar graph so that they can be properly printed.
    • The Revised Pet/CBM Personal Computer Guide – A look at the changes in the newest revision of the Osborne/McGraw-Hill Pet/CBM Personal Computer Guide.
    • Un-Compactor – A BASIC program that reverses the process of the Compactor program published in a previous issue. It would “compact” programs by doing thing like combining multiple programming lines onto one line and separating them by colons, etc.
    • Using the Hardware Interrupt Vector on the Pet – Making the PET execute your machine language program every 60th of a second using the hardware interrupt vector while BASIC programs run normally.
    • Pet as an IEEE-488 Logic Analyzer – Using another PET and a IEEE interface cable to see what is going on on the GPIB.
    • Running 40 Column Programs on a CBM 8032 – A way to make 80-Column PETs work like 40-Column PETs.

    The SBC Gazette

    • Nuts and Volts – Information about building your own microcontrollers.
    • A Kim-1 Music File in Microsoft Basic: Part 1
    • New Products – Atari sponsors contest for new software; the BYTEWRITER-1 dot matrix printer from Microtek; Hayes releases the Smartmodem, a 300 baud modem that set the standard for years to come for $279; and more.

    …and more!


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  • Compute! (March 1982)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – March 1982

    Compute! was an early multi-format computer magazine that prospered from the early 1980s until the early 1990s. In 1982, computers such as the Commodore PET, VIC-20, Atari 400/800 and Apple II were covered among others. The March 1982 issue includes:

    Features

    • The Winter of Our Content: A Report on the January Consumer Electronics Show – There was an impressive line-up of new products revealed at this CES including the Commodore Ultimax, Commodore 64, Bally Astrocade plus the official home version of Pac-Man was released among many other items.
    • Twenty Questions Revisited – A type-in program for a computerized version of twenty questions.
    • Energy Workbook – A type-in program to help you determine the best improvements you can make to your home to increase energy efficiency.
    • Two Short Programs of CAI for Teaching BASIC – I was trying to work out what CAI even stands for. Computer Aided Intelligence maybe?
    • Infinite Precision Multiply – Normally, the Commodore PET has 9 digits of precision for mathematical operations. This program gets around that limitation.
    • More About Numbers – Proving Ulam’s Conjecture and the 6174 problem.
    • Word Hunt – A type in program to generate word hunt games in a 10 by 10 letter matrix.
    • Count the Hearts – A type-in counting game for kids for the VIC-20.

    Education and Recreation

    • Family: A Simulation in Genetics – A type-in program for the PET that demonstrates heredity with a hypothetical Martian couple.
    • Large Alphabet for the VIC – Generating a double size character set on the VIC-20.
    • Concentration – A type-in game based on the classic card game, Concentration.
    • Comment Your Catalog – A program to add comments to disk directory listings on you Atari 8-bit computer.
    • Starfight3 – Involves Klingons and the Enterprise. Sounds suspiciously like Star Trek to me? For the VIC-20.
    • Swirl and Scribble Two type-in Atari programs. The first generates various swirl patterns on the screen. The second is a simple drawing program that can be used with a joystick.
    • WEBS – A type-in game for the PET.

    Reviews

    • Votrax Type ‘N Talk: TNT – A simple to program speech synthesizer that works with various computers via an RS-232 interface…for $375.
    • Olympia’s ES 100 KRO Typewriter/Printer – An typewriter that also works as a printer (or is it the other way around?). It isn’t cheap though at $1680.
    • RPL: A FORTH Sequel? – RPL is a FORTH-like computer programming language. Versions for PET/CBM machines are looked at here.
    • Ricochet – An odd combo of checkers and pool by Automated Simulations (which would later become Epyx) for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit and TRS-80.
    • Atari Microsoft BASIC (Part I) – The first part of a three part review of Microsoft BASIC for Atari 8-bit computers.

    Columns/Departments

    • The Editor’s Notes – Editorial commentary on the new format of the magazine, the importance of reader feedback, and more.
    • Ask The Readers – Various question and answers about Atari BASIC, support for the 6502 processor, programming, and more.
    • Computers And Society – The merging of technology and art from lasers, to cameras to computers.
    • The Beginner’s Page: How Computers Remember – A discussion of computer memory and how it works.
    • Basically Useful BASIC: Tabulation – A subroutine for justifying text the way you want in BASIC.
    • Learning With Computers: Word Processing In The Classroom – Even as early as 1982 computers were being used in the classroom and word processing was one of the first truly useful applications. This article discusses using word processors to make the physical act of writing easier so more attention can be paid to the creative aspects.
    • Friends Of The Turtle – Drawing using Atari PILOT.
    • Telecommunications: MODEM Applications – A discussion of Computerized Bulletin Boards (BBS), multiuser systems (time-share computer systems), and more.
    • Machine Language: Loops and Quality – Creating efficient and reliable loops in machine language.
    • Insight: Atari – Using interrupts on Atari 8-bit computers.

    The Journal

    • Disk Checkout For 2040, 4040, and 8050 Disks – Part 1 of 2. This part discusses manipulating disks/disk drives via machine language.
    • Organizing Data Storage – Sequential vs. Random files.
    • Machine Language Sort Utility – An efficient, machine language sorting routine. Why machine language? The fastest BASIC sort of 200 records in this test was 8 minutes but only 3 seconds for Machine Language.
    • Dynamic Renumber – A program to renumber your BASIC programs.
    • Disk Data Structures: An Interactive Tutorial – The details on how data is structured on a disk.
    • Apple Addresses – Addressing memory in machine language, BASIC floating point and BASIC integer on Apple II computers.
    • More VIC Maps – A discussion on VIC-20 memory maps continued from the previous issue.
    • EPROM Reliability – A detailed analysis for determining EPROM reliability focusing on the 2708 EPROM.
    • Random Music Composition On The PET – A type-in program for generating random music on the PET with various parameters that can be easily changed.
    • Ghost Programming – A method for running many BASIC programs that normally require 24 or 32K of RAM on an Atari with only 16K.
    • BASIC 4.0 To Upgrade Conversion Kit – Converting BASIC 4.0 programs to run on PETs that have been upgraded.
    • Screen Save Routine – A type in program routine for capturing a screen and saving it to disk.
    • A Superboard II Monitor (Part I) – An improved, faster monitor for the Superboard II.
    • New Products – New products mentioned include the VICMODEM, a 300 baud modem for the VIC-20 for $109.95; MatheMagic which turns your computer into a programmable calculator; Scratchpad, mailing list software for Commodore computers; Dragon’s Eye, a fantasy role-playing game for the Atari 400/800 by Epyx; several new Atari 8-bit games and applications including Pac-Man, Centipede, Caverns of Mars, The Bookkeeper and The Home Filing Manager; and more.

    …and more!


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