• Tag Archives PC

  • The One (October 1990)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: The One – Issue Number 27 – October 1990

    The One was a U.K. published magazine that would eventually become exclusively an Amiga games magazine. However, in 1990 it was covering the PC and Atari ST in addition to the Amiga. The October 1990 issue includes:

    Regulars

    • Letters – Letters from readers about consoles vs. the Amiga and Atari ST, future games, Super Mario III, and more.
    • Disk – The cover disk includes a playable preview of Cybercon III for the Amiga and Atari ST.
    • News – A look at upcoming games including Prince of Persia, Rogue Trooper, Helter Skelter, F1 Manager, Big Game Fishing, The Basket Manager, and more.
    • Work In Progress – Previews of games in progress, including Deuteros (Amiga, Atari ST, PC), SWIV (Amiga, Atari ST), The First Samurai (Amiga, Atari ST), Midwinter II (Amiga, Atari ST, PC), Hunter (Amiga, Atari ST), and Predator 2 (Amiga, Atari ST, PC).
    • Reviews – Reviews of Golden Axe (Amiga), Z-Out (Amiga), Narc (Amiga), Chip’s Challenge (Amiga), Car-Vup (Amiga), Death Trap (Amiga), Masterblazer (Amiga), and Robocop 2 (Amiga).
    • Tips – Tips, tricks and cheats for Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Shadow of the Beast 2, Operation Stealth, Corporation, Cadaver, Rick Dangerous II, Awesome (Amiga), Sim Earth (PC), and 9 Lives (Atari ST).
    • The One on One – An interview with Stan Lee with Spider-Man as the main topic.

    Features

    • Game for a Boy – A detailed look at the Game Boy and some of the games available for it.
    • Stocking Fillers – A look at some of the latest gaming hardware, with an emphasis on joysticks.
    • A Web of Intrigue – The history of Spider-Man and the making of The Amazing Spider-Man for the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC.

    …and more!


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  • PC World (March 1988)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – March 1988

    PC World was one of the most successful PC magazines (PC meaning x86 compatible). It had a long life before the Internet killed it. The March 1988 issue includes:

    Review

    • Excel – Should You Switch? – Excel makes its debut, ultimately spelling the end for products like Lotus 1-2-3 and VisiCalc.
    • Thoroughly Modern Modems – Hayes releases new V-Series modems which include internal and external 9600bps and 2400bps models. They sure were expensive though with prices ranging from $849 to $1299. Prices would drop like a rock over the next few years.
    • Smartcom Wises Up – Smartcom III, a communications/terminal program, was released to coincide with Hayes’ new modems. Crosstalk Mk.4 still had more features.
    • Making the E-Mail Choice – E-mail in the 1980s was a hodge-podge of various services. Typically they charged by the e-mail or by the length. Various services all had their own limitations and pricing scheme.
    • Worksheets Without 1-2-3 – A look at worksheet compilers that create standalone applications from your worksheets. The two products examined here are The Baler and @Liberty.

    • The Hardware Shelf – A look at the Amstrad PC1640 (XT-compatible 8086 from $899 to $1899 depending on the floppy, hard drive, and graphics options you want), the Wang PC 380 (80386 based system starting at $6495), the Toshiba T1000 (an 80C88 based laptop with 512K and 3.5″ disk drive for $1199), the Polaroid PallettePlus (a “film recorder” that converts CGA and EGA graphics to film slides for $3000), and the FastTrap trackball.

    • The Software Shelf – Reviews of some of the latest software, including Microsoft Works, PageMaker Portfolio: Designs for Newsletters, OfficeWriter Express, Vu/Text, and MemoryMate.

    Feature

    • 1988 World Class PC Contest – A contest in which you get to vote for your favorite hardware and software for a chance to win prices worth over $40,000.
    • Putting E-Mail to Work – A look at various e-mail services as an alternative to more traditional and expensive methods of sending documents (FedEx for example).

    • A License to Clone – An article about the supposed deluge of PS/2 clones to come. This never really happened and Micro Channel Architecture never really took off except for the relatively brief years that IBM used it.

    How To

    • E-Mail to Anywhere – A tutorial on how to send e-mail between various networks.

    Departments

    • David Bunnell – A look at what was a somewhat novel idea at the time, an external hard drive system. Today you have a USB device the size of a key (or smaller) that holds hundreds of gigabytes (or more) for a few 10s of dollars. Then you had an external 2 pound brick that held 40MB for $350
    • Letters – Readers write in about computer journalism ethics, benchmarking, DacEasy Accounting 2.00, the Remedy Removable Winchester drive, and more.
    • Richard Landry – OS/2’s high cost and incompatibility is leading to a split in the market but software vendors are working to make data compatible between applications on OS/2 and other operating systems.
    • Stewart Alsop – A prediction that the hottest new persona computer for software development in January 1990 will be from Sun Microsystems.
    • On IBM – IBM’s strategy of using SAA (Systems Application Architecture) to allow their various non-compatible mainframes, minicomputers, and PCs to talk to each other.
    • Top of the News – Micro Channel clones come closer to market; as VRAM prices drop, manufacturers of graphics cards start using faster VRAM instead of DRAM; HP introduces NewWave, a development tool for Windows 2.0; and more.
    • Industry Outlook – A look at Hayes’ strategy of high end modems and ISDN support; 376,400 laptops sold in 1987 with a projected 621,000 by 1989; memory prices hold steady at $0.65 to $0.75 per kilobyte; four floppy disk formats still common (low and high density 3.5″ and 5.25″); and more.
    • Product Outlook – A look at upcoming products including Info-XL (information management software), Canon Bubble-Jet BJ-130 printer, ImageCard (PostScript-compatible printer controller), Fill & File (forms generator), TransFormer 2 (PS/2 expansion bus), Pixie (presentation graphics software), and the GS/1-IP Gateway Server (network server for connecting separate LANs).
    • Briefly Noted – A brief look at new products including DataPerfect 2.0 (database management), Diconix 300W (ink jet printer), NexView, The Wheel, CM-1430 (hire-res color monitor), and Paradise VGA Professional and VGA Plus cards.
    • Update – Recent software and hardware updates including Word for Word (conversion utility), Clipper Summer ’87 (dBASE III Plus compiler), Quicksilver Diamond Release (another dBASE III Plus compiler), Zenith Z-183 laptop (added hard drive), and more.
    • Consumer Watch – What to look for in computer benchmarking.
    • The Help Screen – How to capture printer output to a disk file, port Apple II files to the PC, disable the Print Screen key and more.
    • Tech Notes – The upgrade dilemma… 286 or 386? OS/2, DOS or Windows?
    • Sourcebooks – Book reviews including Big Blue: IBM’s Use and Abuse of Power, High-Tech Society: The Story of the Information Technology Revolution, Expert System Technology: Development and Application, The Gem Operating System Handbook, and more.
    • Another Angle – On the selfishness of BBS users.

    …and more!


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  • PC Magazine (October 17th, 1989)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC Magazine – October 17th, 1989

    PC Magazine was one of the most popular and long lasting PC magazines, at least in the U.S. Ultimately, it suffered the death of most other computer magazines as they were essentially replaced with the Internet. The October 17th, 1989 issue includes:

    Up Front

    • Inside – An overview of the contents of this issue.
    • Letters – Reader letters about Type Director, the NEC ProSpeed 286, form letter software, the history of the fax, Amax 386 computers, MCA vs. EISA, and more.
    • Advisor – Questions answered about auto-rebooting from within a batch file, creating plots with an HP LaserJet, adding a floppy controller to have more than two floppy drives, and using COM ports beyond COM2.
    • First Looks – Previews of new software, including HP’s NewWave, Finesse desktop publishing software, the HP LaserJet IIP, PC Paintbrush IV, FastLynx, and What-If Analyst for Lotus 1-2-3.
    • New and Improved – A look at new products, including an car power adapter and external battery charger for the Compaq SLT/286, Pacific Page (a cartridge to add full postscript capability to LaserJet printers), the Omnifax PPI (sends faxes to a laser printer), and more.
    • Pipeline – Lotus and Symantec plan Deskmate versions of their products; AT&T plans online service to compete with CompuServe and Prodigy; Okidata and Hewlett-Packard plan slower, cost-reduced printers.
    • Bill Machrone – Unix based 386 computers and LANs are starting to replace minicomputers and terminals.
    • John C. Dvorak – He predicts compatibility problems with PC clones will get worse before they get better. I don’t really think that ended up happening though.
    • Inside Track – Intel is starting to manufacture the 486 chip (at 25-MHz). But the 8088 isn’t dead yet as versions up to 10-MHz are being produced. Clones of the 8088 like the NEC V20 would reach 12-MHz.
    • Jim Seymour – Upgrading Lotus 1-2-3 to release 3.0 may be more trouble than it is worth.
    • William F. Zachmann – An impending recession may put a damper on the fast growing PC industry.
    • Stephen Manes – A skeptical view of the OS/2 GUI, the Presentation Manager. It had pretty stiff hardware requirements for the time.

    Cover Story

    • Presentation Graphics – A detailed look at presentation graphics software, including SlideWrite Plus, Graph Plus, Harvard Graphics, Kinetic Graphics System, Lotus Freelance Plus, Xerox Presents, and The Graphics Gallery Collection. Eventually, PowerPoint would come along and destroy them all.

    Features

    • Graphics – A detailed look at clip art software and libraries, including ArtRight Image Portfolios, Arts & Letter Graphics Editor, Bitfolio Computer Art & Symbols Library, Click & Clip 500, ClickArt Series, Clip3D Library, Corel Draw!, DeskTop Art, Freelance Maps, Harvard Graphics Accessories, Pages with Impact, Metro ImageBase, Micrografx ClipArt Libraries, PicturePak, Presentation Task Force, and ProArt Professional Art Library.
    • Lightweight Laptops – A detailed comparison of laptops that at the time were considered Lightweight. Models looked at here include the Datavue Spark, Toshiba T1000, Bondwell B200, Sanyo MBC-16LT2, Epson Equity LT, Zenith MinisPort, Toshiba T1200, GRIDLite XL, Sharp PC-4602, Datavue Snap 1+1, Zenith SuperSport, GRID 140XT, NEC UltraLite, Sharp PC-4641, and NEC MultiSpeed HD. The Zenith SuperSport, for example, weighed in at over 13 pounds.

    Productivity

    • Lab Notes – The second part of a two part series on the communications capabilities of OS/2, including a terminal emulator example.
    • Utilities – A look at a utility that can dim your VGA monitor and also provides a screen blanking screen saver.
    • Environments – Part one of a series on mixing text at graphics. This part focusses on the OS/2 Programming Interface.
    • Power Programming – The second part of a series on programming the 386. This part looks at converting existing programs to 32-bit protected mode.
    • User-to-User – Creating temporary files with unique names in batch files; naming files using high-ASCII characters; using the BREAK command; and more.
    • Power User – Automatically calculating blank space needed for inserting figures in Microsoft Word documents; backing up large database files; creating vertical lines and grids in WordPerfect; and more.
    • Languages – Using the INSTR command in BASIC; using BIT arrays to define flags; large number accuracy in Turbo Pascal 5.0; and more.
    • Connectivity Clinic – Connecting a Toshiba laptop to an Ethernet LAN; Mixing Ethernet adapters; log-in scripts on Novell networks; and more.

    After Hours

    • Prodigy – Prodigy, an online service that is a joint venture between IBM and Sears, provides a graphical interface.
    • LiveWire – A PC expansion card that extracts stock market crawl data from the Financial News Network via cable or satellite.
    • InfoLook – I dial-in service that offers multiple, individually priced services.

    …and more!


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