Personal Computer News (January 19th, 1985)

Source: Personal Computer News – Issue Number 95 – January 19th, 1985

Personal Computer News was a weekly computer magazine that was published in the U.K. As far as I know, we didn’t really have anything like this in the U.S. I remember some weekly publications for computers but they were business oriented.

The January 19th, 1985 issue includes:

Output

Spectrum Toolkit – A type-in set of programming tools for the Spectrum. They help you renumber, delete lines, delete REMs (comments), create line 0 REM, and more.

QL Magic – A type-in set of machine language tools that enhance QDOS on the Spectrum QL.

64 Sprites – A type-in sprite handling program for the Commodore 64.

Bruce to the Rescue, Pt. II – The second part of an arcade style type-in game for the Commodore 64. The first part was provided in the previous issue.

BBC Lander – A type-in Lunar Lander style game for the BBC.

Hardware

Canon’s Contender – A review of the Canon V-20 which was Canon’s first implementation of an MSX standard computer.

Peripherals

Spectrum Teletex – An adapter for the Spectrum that is essentially a digital modem that allows access to a specific service (Teletext).

Acorn ROM Routines – Two expansion options for the BBC that allows additional ROMs to be added including the Sideways ROM cartridge system and ROM box.

Software

The Beeb Makes Music – Review of The Music System for the BBC. This software consists of five modules including a synthesizer, editor, printer, linker, and keyboard.

IBM Writes… – A review of Samna Word III, a word processor for the IBM PC.

Regulars

Monitor – Atari announces XE line of 8-bit computers and the Atari ST; Commodore shows Commodore 128 and Commodore LCD; Commodore 64 and Spectrum top the sales charts for Christmas; and more.

PCNCharts – Top 20 games overall, top 10 Spectrum games, top 10 Commodore 64 games, plus top computers. Ghostbusters was at the top of all three software charts.

Random Access – Letters from readers about the MSX, Doomdark, the Independent Sinclair User Group, the Sanyo MBC, and more.

Routine Enquiries – Questions answered about choosing between the BBC and Enterprise computers, using a typewriter as a printer, increasing the number of characters displayed on the Dragon 32, and more.

Microwaves – Various tips and tricks for your computer including a machine code routine for blinking the cursor on the Atari 8-bit, creating random access files of less than 16k on the BBC, a program to warn you when you are entering lower case letters on the BBC, and more.

Dungeon – A look at Spider-Man by Scott Adams.

Gameplay – Reviews of The Backpackers Guide to the Universe, Pt. 1 (Spectrum), Jet Boat (BBC), Kami-Kaze (Commodore 64), Ewgeebez (BBC), Henry’s House (Commodore 64), Firebug (BBC), 3D Starstrike (Spectrum), Black Tower (Spectrum), Impossible Mission (Commodore 64) – probably by far the best game in this set of reviews but also the only one of them I’ve played, Maze (BBC), and Match Day (Spectrum).