Enter is a computer magazine that was targeted towards kids and published by Children’s Television Workshop (later Sesame Workshop). What computer loving kid could resist a cover with the Enterprise on it? While it did have some gaming content its emphasis was on education, including programming and general computer use. It covered all of the popular computers of the day that you might find in a home including the Commodore 64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, TRS-80, Apple II, the Atari 8-bit line, PCs (DOS), Coleco Adam, Timex and possibly others. The September 1984 issue includes:

Features

• The Empire’s Computer Secrets – This article is pretty nifty bit of history. Part of it is an interview with Ed Catmull, at the time responsible for many of the computer effects in early Star Trek and Star Wars movies among others. He would later become co-founder of Pixar. In the image below (from this issue of Enter), Ed can be seen showing of some of the computer equipment being used for movie making circa 1984. This article also covers the game coming out of Lucasfilm including Ballblazer and Rescue On Fractalus, both initially developed on Atari 8-bit computers.

• Rock on the Road – An article about how computers are used to control light shows for various concerts including those of Genesis, Duran Duran, The Police, The Jacksons, ZZ Top, Culture Club, and Van Halen among others. Some specific equipment is covered including Var-Lites which were first used by Genesis.

• The Write Stuff – An overview of the word processing software available for different computers along with their capabilities. Software covered includes Apple Writer IIe (Apple IIe), Atariwriter (Atari 8-bit computers), Bank Street Writer (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, DOS), Cut & Paste (Apple IIe, IIc, Atari, Commodore 64, DOS), Easy Script 64 (Commodore 64), Electric Pencil (TRS-80 Models III and IV), Homeword (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64), Leading Edge (DOS), Letter Wizard (Atari), Oniwriter (Commodore 64), Quick Brown Fox (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, VIC-20, DOS), Smartwriter (Coleco Adam), The Write Stuff (Apple II, DOS), and Wordvision (DOS).

• Portable Power – An overview of a few of the newer portable computers available at the time. These include the Epson HX-20, NEC 820, Radio Shack Model 100 (I had one of these for a while), and the Olivetti M-10. These weren’t like today’s notebooks. They were typically all in one units with a built-in 4 to 8 line black and white LCD screen above the keyboard.

• The Making of an Arcade Game – Behind the scenes at Bally Midway factory in Franklin Park, Illinois. This shows the process of assembling a Spy Hunter arcade machine.

• Contest #4 – A contest involving renaming computer parts in which you could win an Apple IIc.

Departments

• Feedback – Readers respond to a previous article about software piracy, a very hot topic at the time.

• Bits – The news section, this month featuring: the Pac-Van, a mobile arcade that holds 25-30 games that could be rented for birthday parties and such; two students hack the electronic scoreboard at the Rose Bowl; Plaqueman, a new game from Home Computer Software; a sheep shearing robot…and more.

• Ask Enter – Readers ask about compatibility, how disks work, if games are bad for your TV, and more.

• Random Access – A high school student complains that while her school does a good job teaching computer programming, that doesn’t mean that you know how to actually use a computer.

• User Views – Game Reviews
  • The Seven Cities of Gold (Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari) – A graphical adventure game by Electronic Arts that features the exploration of North and South America through 400 years of history.
  • Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (Atari 2600, ColecoVision/Adam, Atari 5200, Atari computers, Commodore 64, DOS) – A sequel to Pitfall. This was an excellent game for the time that I had for my Commodore 64.
  • James Bond: 007 (Atari computers, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 2600) – An action game by Parker Brothers based on scenes from four different Bond films.
  • Gumball (Apple, Atari) – An action/puzzle game in which you must catch different colored gumballs in the correct cart.
  • Bump ‘N’ Jump (Intellivision) – A port of the arcade classic that is part race part destruction derby.
  • Bruce Lee (Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari) – Work your way through the fortress with your martial arts prowess.
  • Zaxxon (Commodore 64) – An excellent conversion of the classic arcade shooter.
  • Boulder Dash (Atari, Commodore 64, DOS) – Somewhat like Dig Dug but with its own unique twists.

• Software Scanner – Various software reviews.
  • Run for the Money (DOS) – A game in which you have to fix your spaceship but its more about business planning than anything.
  • Peripheral Vision (Commodore 64, Atari, DOS) – Drawing software that works with a light pen.
  • Flight Simulator II (Commodore 64, Apple, Atari) – The original Flight Simulator was written for DOS based machines. The sequel is really an enhanced version of the original for various other 8-bit computers.
  • M-SS-NG L-NKS (Commodore 64, Atari) – An educational fill in the blanks puzzle game featuring classic literature.
  • Coco-Notes (Atari, Commodore 64) – Compose songs by catching notes.

• Newsbeat – The latest in computer news, featuring the new Commodore 16 and Plus 4; the new Okimate 10 dot-matrix printer; various robots and robot software; new software including Breakdance, Archon II, and more; the Atari 780 Prosystem; the MindLink system; and voice controlled laser discs.

• Showbeat – Including a preview of a new movie featuring Atari computers, Cloak & Dagger. This movie starred Henry Thomas (Elliot from E.T.). While some will no doubt argue that this was no E.T., it was a movie I loved as a kid and probably had a bigger impact on me.

• Pacesetters – An article about One on One featuring Larry Bird and Dr. J as well as the 17-year old programmer that wrote it.

• Connections – Info on a Commodore 64 music contest, BBSes, new Timex hardware and software, and where you might find out of print books.

• Pencil Crunchers – A maze created with the help of a computer (Apple II) and a computer related crossword puzzle.

• Next – What’s coming up next month (‘Life On-Line’, ‘Computers Go To College’, and more).

Programming

• BASIC Training – Featuring Micro Mind Reader, a type in program that can read your mind for Apple, Adam, Atari, IBM, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Timex Sinclair.

• BASIC Recommends – A recommendation for a BASIC programming book: ‘More BASIC: A Guide to Intermediate-Level BASIC Programming’

…and more!