• Tag Archives TI-99/4A

  • Compute! (December 1983)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 43 – December 1983

    Compute was a popular multi-format magazine published throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. It was oriented towards the home user and covered the popular computers of the day. The December 1983 issue includes:

    Features

    • The Home Office – How computers can be used to do your job at home.
    • The Christmas of the Computer? – Christmas 1983 was expected to be a huge year for the home computer industry. In 1983 Coleco introduced the Adam (which failed miserably), Atari introduced the 600XL and 800XL along with a few other models that ended up being cancelled, Commodore slashed prices on the VIC-20 and Commodore 64, the first rumors of the PCJr appear, among others.
    • Calorie Cop – A type-in program for the Apple II, VIC-20, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A and Color Computer that calculates your calorie output based on activity and other inputs.
    • Paycheck Analysis – This type-in program for the VIC-20, Commodore 64, PET, Atari 8-bit, TI-99/4A, Apple II, Color Computer and Timex/Sinclair will analyze your paycheck for accuracy and project future take-home pay based on a variety of variables including base salary, cost of living, overtime, various deductions and more.
    • Utility Bill Audit – This type-in program for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, PET, TI-99/4A, Apple II and Color Computer helps you check your electric, gas, water and phone bills for accuracy.
    • Gas Mileage – This type-in program for the Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, and VIC-20 calculates your gas mileage, including standard deviation and more.

    Education and Recreation

    • Nightflyer – A type-in game for the Atari 8-bit and Apple II that simulates landing a plane at night.
    • Space Thief – A type-in two-player game for the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 in which you must smuggle energy pods from your opponent.
    • Chopperoids – A type-in game for the Atari 8-bit that is sort of a cross between Asteroids and Choplifter.
    • Get the Gold – A type-in game for the TI-99/4A that provides a 128-chamber dungeon for you to explore and find treasure in…if you come out alive.
    • 64 Mosaic Puzzle – A type-in program that produces a sliding tile game in which you must get the tiles in the correct order.

    Reviews

    • Millionaire – A stock market simulation game for the Atari 400/800, Commodore 64, Apple II and other computers.
    • The Witness – Another interactive fiction title from Infocom for a wide variety of computers, this one featuring a murder mystery.
    • MAC/64 – An improved macro assembler for Atari 8-bit computers
    • Stellar Triumph – A two-player space combat game for the Commodore 64. A bit like asteroids but with two players and without the asteroids. However, the game is very configurable with the ability to change the amount of fule, whether or not the ships have intertia, gravity, and a variety of other parameters.
    • Gamestape 1 for the Timex/Sinclair – A package of 11 games for the Timex/Sinclair that all run with only 1K of RAM.
    • Memory Expanders for the VIC-20 – The VIC-20 only has 5K of RAM so memory expansion devices were quite popular for this machine and a lot of software took advantage of them. This review covers several VIC RAM expansions including the VI-1110 (8K), VIC-1111 (16K), RAMAX (27K plus other extras), and Golden RAM (24K).
    • TI Statistics – A package of programs that performs several common statistical functions.

    Columns and Departments

    • The Editor’s Notes – A look at the competition in the computer market in the upcoming year.
    • Readers’ Feedback – Letters from readers about disks, cassettes and temperature tolerances; a shortage of 1541 disk drives for the Commodore 64; viewing 1541 disk drive ROM; Atari XL features; dual joysticks on the TI-99/4A, Atari disk drive RAM requirements; and much more.
    • Computers and Society: High Tech, High Touch, and 1984 – An interesting perspective on the year 1984 and George Orwell’s 1984.
    • The Beginner’s Page: Zones of Unpredictability, Part 2 – Part two of a series on random numbers.
    • The World Inside the Computer: Winnie the Pooh’s Alphabet Adventures – A 4-year old’s adventure with a new computer. A pretty detailed look at the NEC Trek/PC-6001A computer and the Disney software available for it.
    • Learning with Computers – An overview of the book Learning with Logo.
    • On the Road with Fed D’Ignazio: The Electronic Chalkboards: The BBC and the PowerPad – A look at the BBC computer, particularly for education use. The BBC never really had success in the U.S. Also, a look at the PowerPad which was a large tablet input device that could be used as a touch pad, art tool, or even as a reconfigurable keyboard with overlays.
    • Friends of the Turtle: A Turtle Resource Update – A look at some of the books and other resources available for Logo and Turtle graphics.
    • Questions Beginners Ask – Questions answered about mailing tapes and disks and disk drive expense.
    • Machine Language: Hopping Around – Transferring control (jumping and branching) in machine language on the 6502.
    • Programming the TI: Computer Fun – Coordinating music and graphics on the TI-99/4A.
    • INSIGHT: Atari – Extended memory management on Atari 8-bit computers. Plus a bit about SmallTalk.
    • 64 Explorer – Information about printers and printer interfaces for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20.
    • News & Products – New products this month include a 4K buffered printer interface for Atari 8-bit computers, The VIC 20 Connection – a book about home automation with the VIC-20, MathWiz – educational program for the Commodore 64, Amper-Magic – a program to extend the power of BASIC on Apple II computers, Devil’s Dare – a strategy game for Atari 8-bit computers, Sprint Typer – a program to help learn typing for the VIC-20, and much more.

    The Journal

    • SuperBASIC 64 – A type-in program to add 37 new commands to the Commodore 64’s built-in BASIC.
    • List and Scroll for the VIC and 64 – A type-in utility program that formats listings of BASIC programs, e.g. makes each statement appear on a separate line, indents FOR-NEXT and IF-THEN statements, etc.
    • Commodore Files for Beginners, Part 2 – Part two of a series of articles on files for the Commodore 64. This part covers creating files programatically, checking for errors, reading files programatically, and more.
    • Art Museum – A Commodore 64 and VIC-20 type-in program that lets you create and save art created with the special graphics characters that are part of the character set and are printed on the keys.
    • Bitmap Graphics on the 64 – A tutorial on bitmap graphics for the Commodore 64, including how such graphics are mapped in memory.
    • Atari Screenbyter – A graphics utility that lets you create screen displays in a variety of graphics modes.
    • Disk Explorer for Commodore – A type-in program that allows you to display a disassembly of the 1541’s machine language instructions as well as a hex dump of the RAM and ROM.
    • The Hidden Pitfalls of Computer Arithmetic – A look at how you can get “wrong” results, including things like rounding errors.
    • TI Word Processor – A type-in word processor for the TI-99/4A.
    • Son of Lister for VIC and 64 – A tool to help convert BASIC programs between different Commodore computers.
    • Commas and Colons in Applesoft Strings: An Easy Way to Use Them – Commas and colons are special characters in Applesoft. This provides a workaround for printing them.
    • Atari Chartmaker – A type-in program that allows you to display custom charts on screen.
    • Comparing Commodore Machine Language Programs – This BASIC type-in program will allow you to do a diff between two machine language programs.
    • VIC/64 Clock – A type-in program that displays a real-time clock in the corner of the screen while you do other things.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Compute! (April 1983)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – Compute! – Issue Number 35 – April 1983

    Compute! was one of the most popular multi-format computer magazines of the 1980s. It covered mostly the popular 8-bit home computers of the time including the VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Color Computer, Apple II, Atari 400/800, TI-99/4A, etc. Compute! also produced the very popular Commodore specific Compute!’s Gazette and a number of other computer specific publications. At more than 288 pages, the April 1983 issue of Compute! had a LOT in it, including:

    Features

    • Selecting The Right Word Processor – An overview of what a word processor is and what features you should look for. Some of these features include things like Block Move, Headers/Footers and Page-Numbering among other things. There are no actual product reviews in this article.
    • Air Defense – A type in program for a game similar to Missile Command. It is in BASIC and was designed to work with the VIC-20, Atari 400/800, TRS-80 Color Computer, Apple II, TI-99/4A, and PET/CBM.
    • VIC Editype: A Text Editing And Storage Program – A type-in program for the VIC-20. VIC Editype is basically a mini word processing program. Word processing seems to be the theme in this month’s issue.
    • Scriptor: An Atari Word Processor – A somewhat more advanced type-in word processor for the Atari 400/800 written in both BASIC and machine language.
    • Retirement Planner – This type-in program asks you a few questions and then helps you determine how much you should save/invest for retirement each year. There are versions here for the VIC-20, Apple II, Atari 400/800, TI-99/4A, and TRS-80 Color Computer.

    Education and Recreation

    • Typing Teacher – A type-in program to (ironically) teach you typing. Basically it measures your character speed and word speed by presenting random characters for you to type. There are versions here for the Atari 400/800, VIC-20, TI-99/4A and Apple II.
    • Chutes for Atari – A type in program for the Atari 400/800 that uses 3D graphics or what passed for them then. It reminds me of a very, very primitive Star Fox.
    • Cash Flow Manager – This article consists of instructions to create a monthly cash report and forecast spreadsheet that can be printed in VisiCalc.
    • TI-99 Match-Em – A type-in program for the TI-99/4A for a matching game. This is one of those games where you have to select a square to see what is under it and then guess (or remember) where its match is. Milton Bradley produced a board game version creatively titled “Memory” that was a popular kids game in the 1980s but there have been endless variations.
    • Atari Math Fun – A type-in educational math program for the Atari 400/800. It provides six categories and six skill levels. Honestly doesn’t sound like much fun to me.

    Reviews

    • VIC-20/C64 World Processor: The Quick Brown Fox – A very simple and easy to use word processor for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 that came in cartridge format.
    • Atari Data Perfect – A database program for the Atari 400/800 described as the most powerful yet for that computer. It was compatible with Letter Perfect (a word processor) making it easy to generate form letters and various record formats.
    • VIC Practi-Calc – Essentially a much cheaper version of VisiCalc but for the VIC-20 and with fewer features.
    • Paperclip Word Processor For PET/CBM – The PET/CBM were more business oriented but this was a popular word processor that was ported to several other computers.
    • Silicon Office for PET – A combination of two applications, a word processing program and a database program. This was a relational database but with its own programming language.
    • Turbocharger For Apple – A program for speeding up DOS commands for the Apple II. It also added the capability of date stamping files.
    • Pathfinder for Atari – A game with a rather bizarre concept. You make your way through a multi-screen maze collecting nuclear waste which gives you energy. Another entity is trying to do the same thing. You must beat him while avoiding his mine-laying friend and phantoms.
    • ZX-81 Home Computer Package For Sinclair/Timex – A package of four programs for the ZX-81/TS-1000. It includes titles that are mostly self explanatory including Etch-A-Screen, Music Composer, Checkbook Balancer and Billboard (scrolls messages across the screen).

    Columns and Departments

    • The Editor’s Notes – This month’s editorial discusses the rapidly falling prices of computers.
    • Readers’ Feedback – Questions and comments from readers about using a TV as a monitor, incompatibilities with Atari’s “Revision B” of their OS, and translating programs to the TI-99/4A among other things.
    • The Beginner’s Page – A column for computer beginners, this month starting a series discussing the various categories of software (music and graphics are covered here).
    • Computers And Society – The best and worst of the Winter CES. The worst was the introduction of x-rated software including games for the Atari 2600, the best (at least according to this article) were games with unique goals. One example given is Choplifter in which you get points for rescuing people as opposed to blowing things up.
    • Questions Beginners Ask – Questions answered about typing in programs and the differences between a TV and a monitor among other topics.
    • Micros With The Handicapped: Developing A Communications Program – Yes, “handicapped” was the politically correct term then even if it isn’t now. Anyway, this is part 4 of a continuing series with type-in programs included for making communication easier.
    • Machine Language: Numeric Input, Part II – The second part of a Jim Butterfield article on inputing decimal numbers with machine language programs.
    • The World Inside the Computer: Children, Computers, And Values – An article that contemplates a child becoming friends with a computer.
    • Friends of the Turtle – Sounds like some kind of secret organization, but no, this is just an article on programming in PILOT, a Logo derivative, on the Atari. Recursion in particular is discussed.
    • Programming the TI: Secondary Education – An article about the secondary education software available for the TI-99/4A.
    • Insight: Atari – Atari 8-bit computer discussion including news about Atari COBOL and a few programming tricks.
    • Extrapolations – A type-in program that lets Apple II users load BASIC programs for PET/CBM computers from tape.

    The Journal

    • Dr. Video – A type-in program for adding additional capabilities to the screen editing abilities of the PET/CBM including the ability to clear the screen above or below the cursor and sending the cursor “home” (to the bottom left of the screen).
    • Atari Filefixer – A type-in program that serves as a tool for editing data files for machine language programs. At least that’s what I think it is for.
    • Using the Atari Word Processor With An Epson Printer – This article describes how to add Epson MX-80 compatibility to the Atari World Processor.
    • Commodore 64 Video – A Guided Tour, Part III – Part 3 of a Jim Butterfield series on the Commodore 64’s video capabilities. This one discusses creating and moving sprites.
    • Update On Sinclair/Times Sound – An update and fixes to a previously published sound program for the Timex 1000/Sinclair ZX-81.
    • Computer Literacy And The Three R’s On The Sinclair/Timex – A series of small type-in programs for the Timex/Sinclair that teach some simple computer literacy and math.
    • Center The VIC Screen – Apparently the VIC-20 screen would sometimes not be centered when displayed on a TV. This small program helps you to center the screen and can be added to your own programs.
    • Applesoft Printer Control – This is a type-in program for making the selection printer mode (typeface, etc.) simpler.
    • Video 80: 80 Columns For The Atari – By default, the Atari 8-bit computers could only display 40 columns of text. This is a type-in program that works as a software solution to increase that to 80. This doesn’t actually increase resolution so the quality won’t be as good as a hardware solution but it was still quite useful.
    • VICword – A type-in program that gives you shortcuts for 52 BASIC commands. For example, it lets you hold down SHIFT and press ‘L’ to type LOAD instead of having to type the whole command.
    • CRAB (Cross Reference For Atari BASIC) – A very short type-in utility that will print a list of all the variable used in a given BASIC program and on which line numbers they appear on.
    • Programming Characters On An Expanded VIC-20 – Defining and using a custom character set on the VIC-20. Memory expansion is needed.
    • Magic Commodore BASIC – BASIC programming tricks for the PET/CBM, VIC-20 and Commodore 64, including invisible lines, backward line numbers, highlighting REM statements and more.
    • Rainbow Atari Graphics – Various techniques for using colors in games on Atari 8-bit computers.
    • VIC Automatic BASIC – A type-in program for creating text animation and prompts that can be used in your own programs.
    • Tester – A simple program for the TRS-80 that can be used for testing. Essentially, it asks a series of questions and gives multiple choice answers then grades you. It can easily modified with your own questions.
    • Estimating TI-99 Memory – Memory was highly constrained in old 8-bit computers and it was easy to run out of it. This article gives you some techniques to estimate the array sizes you can use.
    • Commodore Structure-BASIC – A program for simulating structured programming on Commodore computers.
    • Hexedit: A BASIC Hex Editor For The VIC – A type-in program that lets you do hexadecimal-decimal conversion and to create machine language programs on your VIC-20.
    • PET Searcher – A type-in program for searching random access files for a string on your PET/CBM computer.
    • The Atari Return Key Mode – A program that lets you write self modifying code on your Atari 8-bit computer.
    • Apple II Bar Charts – A type-in program that serves as a tool for creating bar charts on the Apple II. Up to 30 bars can be created in one chart. It also provides options for printing.
    • Major & Minor: VIC Music Theory – A music type-in program for the VIC-20. It is an educational program that teaches keys, signatures and scales.
    • Atari Digitizer – A type-in program for drawing with your joystick on Atari 8-bit computers.

    …and LOTS more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Family Computing (June 1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Family Computing – Issue Number 10 – June 1984

    Family Computing was a 1980s U.S. computer magazine published by Scholastic, Inc. It covered all the major home computer platforms of the day including the Apple II series, Commodore Vic 20 and 64, Atari 8-bit family as well as the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh among others. The June 1984 issue includes:

    Features

    • The “Hard-Boiled” School of Software – An interview with Infocom’s revolutionary adventure-game designers., the creators of Zork, Starcross, and The Witness.
    • Whistle While You Word Process – There’s a new crop of word-processing programs that are perfect for family use – they’re inexpensive and easy to operate. Inside…find out how they rate. Plus: How to Judge Word-Processing Software
    • Looking For A Summer Job? – Ten ways to earn money with the help of your computer.
    • A New-Age Mom-And-Pop Business – Many people dream of running a computer store. The Seran family of Colorado took the plunge. Plus: Starting A Computer Store – Tips From The Serans
    • Five-Year-Old Authors – IBM’s Writing to Read System has kindergartners reading and writing as if they were born knowing how.
    • Buyer’s Guide to Computers – A look at the 10 leading models for home use, with a comparison of prices, graphics capabilities, and other features.
    • A Preview: Apple IIc – Apple heads for the home market with its new product: a sleek 7.5-pound transportable computer with a built-in disk drive.

    Programming

    • The Programmer – For enthusiasts of all levels.
    • Beginner Programs – Print disk labels and create an original Father’s Day gift for your dad with programs for ADAM, Apple, Atari, Commodore, IBM, TI, Timex, and TRS-80 computers.
    • Puzzle – Recipe for Disaster: Can you retrieve the stolen recipe in time for the culinary competition?
    • Programming P.S. – Sorry, we goofed. Here are some corrections for programs from previous months, plus some program enhancements from readers.
    • Reader-Written Program – Fishtank: Create a sea of tropical fish on your computer screen.

    Products

    • What’s In Store – Ten pages of product announcements and reviews.
    • New Hardware Announcements – The latest in the field: the IBM Portable Computer; a new Kaypro 4; the Smart-Cable 817, a module that connects to the serial port on many computers; the MicroRam 64K Memory Board for the Atari 600XL; and Mikel’s serial interface for the Ti-99/4A.
    • Software Guide – Quick takes on two dozen new and noteworthy programs.
    • Software Reviews

    Departments

    • Editor’s Note
    • Letters
    • Behind The Screens – Keeping your Timex ticking; a programmer’s windfall; microfloppies; and more.
    • Home-School Connection – Tomorrow’s VisiFarmers: In Ortonville, Minnesota, teenagers are applying what they learn in school about computers to help their parents run the family farm.
    • Home Business – Keeping the Lincoln (Illinois) Log: The Strasmas tell how they run a national computer information service from their rec room.
    • Computer Clinic – Questions from readers are answered.
    • Games – Games People Play: The state of the art and a survey of your gaming habits.
    • BASIC Booth – A monthly cartoon.
    • Books
    • The Primer – A reference guide that appears each month.
    • Classified
    • Advertisers’ Index

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged