Commander (January 1983)

Source: Commander – January 1983

Subtitled “The Monthly Journal for Commodore Computer Users”, this was one of the early magazine for Commodore related computers. In 1983 the Commodore 64, VIC-20, and PET/CBM were being covered. The January 1983 issue includes:

VIC-20

Enterprise – A type-in Star Trek themed game. It was supposed to be in the previous issue but the code listing was left out.

Ravings of a Madman – An overview of where to get games for the VIC-20 and what is available.

Gobble – A type in program that generates random mazes that you must navigate while eating dots and avoiding the enemy.

64

Peek & Poke – Programming the SID, the Commodore 64’s sound chip.

PET/CBM

Review: A ROM for the PET “COMMANDER” – A ROM chip for the PET that could be added to provide additional high level commands that can be used from BASIC. Some examples include RE-DIMENSION which resizes arrays and COMPUTED GOTO which allows a GOTO statement based on a variable.

Special Features

Single Drive Copy – A type-in program for making disk copies with a single disk drive.

RADIX-50: Pack & Unpack – A program for packing ASCII bits (24-bits to 16-bits) in order to save memory and disk space. Originally developed for the PDP-8.

COMAL: A Closer look – A look at the COMAL programming language and a sample program.

Assembly Language Programming on the VIC – Part II – Part 2 of a multipart series on using assembly language on the VIC-20. This part covers assemblers and monitors.

USCD PASCAL for the Commodore 8096 – A look at the PASCAL programming language, in particular some speed test between PASCAL and BASIC.

Commodore Character Set vs. ASCII – Commodore defined two sets of 8-bit character sets vs. one 7-bit set for ASCII.

Departments

Letters to Editor – One reader’s opinion of various VIC-20 games plus praise for the new magazine.

Editorial – As some computer makers suffer huge loses (Atari lost $1 billion in 1982), they turn to distributing the product in retail chains such as Sears and K-Mart. Just don’t expect to get your technical questions answered there…

News Releases – A list of companies and retail establishments supporting the VIC-20.

New Products – Vanilla Pilot for the Commodore 4000,8000,9000 and Commodore 64; Magnum Insulator, a spike/surge protector; and Smartcom II communications software from Hayes.

Game Contest – Complete all nine levels of Escape MCP, a Tron inspired game, for your chance to win Comm*Data VIC-20 software packages valued from $50 to $200.