• Digital Archaeology: Floppy Disk #14 – JWG.DOC

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    A summary for those that haven’t been keeping up with this series:

    I found a number of 5.25″ disks at a thrift store a number of years ago (sometime in the late 1990s to the best of my recollection). I finally got around to acquiring a 5.25″ disk drive and extracting the contents a several years back. Since then, I have been occasionally posting the content here.

    Based on the contents, most or all of these disks were apparently once owned by someone named Connie who used to run the “Close Encounters” Special Interest Group (SIG) on Delphi in the mid 1980s.

    The following description of this SIG was found in a document on one of the disks: “This SIG, known as ‘Close Encounters’, is a forum for the discussion of relationships that develop via computer services like the Source, CompuServe, and Delphi. Our primary emphasis is on the sexual aspects of those relationships.”

    This service was text based and was accessed via a modem and whatever terminal program you had available for your computer to dial in with. Many of these disks have forum messages, e-mails and chat session logs. All of this is pre-internet stuff and I am not aware of any archives in existence today that contain what was on Delphi in the 1980s.

    This post includes the contents of JWG.DOC. It contains a single e-mail dated January 27th, 1985. It’s from somebody with the handle of JOHNWG (presumably JWG are his initials). It refers to a prior conversation and seems to be about promoting the Close Encounters Special Interest Group. I have no idea if any of the items mentioned here ever came to fruition.


    =-=
    JWG.DOC
    =-=


    —

    From:   JOHNWG         27-JAN-1985 15:04  
To:     CABUYS
Subj:   It was good talking to you again.

Connie, It was really great talking to you again.

I am looking forward in working with you to make your sig a
nationally known enity.

I would like you to consider all avenues of approach for
marketing your sig and the possiblities of you expanding it.

I know that Sex is more than just a past time experience and 
I know that there are several millions to be made by it.

I just want it to be done in good taste and I feel comfortable
that you and john can do it.

I will be open to a national dating service, a mag. clearing
house of sorts etc.

I want to work with you in exploring all possible avenues and
I will do whatever is necessary to make it THE BEST !

Thanks for your time,

Talk to you later.

 John

    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana DOS 📎and tagged

  • Byte (April 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    You really got your money’s worth when you bought an issue of Byte in the 1980s. For only $3.50 per issue (less if you were a subscriber), you got a whopping 500+ pages. And the cover story in April 1985? Artificial Intelligence. Contents of this issue includes:

    Features

    • Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar: Build The Home Run Control System – The first part of a series on building a home control system using X-10 modules, sensors and a single board computer.
    • Coprocessing in Modula-2 – Writing concurrent programs in Modula-2.
    • A Million-Point Graphics Tablet – A guide to building a low cost graphics tablet for the Zenith Z-100.

    Themes

    • Communication With Alien Intelligence – How we might communicate with aliens from an artificial intelligence perspective.
    • The Quest to Understand Thinking – Attempting to understand how the brain works starting with the simplest steps.
    • The LISP Tutor – Developing a computer based tutor effective at teaching the LISP programming language.
    • PROUST – A knowledge based systems for automatically debugging Pascal programs.
    • Architectures for AI – Improving computational throughput for artificial intelligence.
    • The LISP Revolution – LISP was the first language primarily used for AI applications. It is still used today though Python and C++ seem to be the main players now.
    • The Challenge of Open Systems – In this context, “open systems” refer to systems of interconnected and interdependent computers.
    • Vision – Computer Vision was one of the earliest applications of artificial intelligence. This article discusses methods of making computers see.
    • Learning in Parallel Networks – Building learning systems with parallel networks.
    • Connections – Comparing parallelism in nature with artificial intelligence.
    • Reverse Engineering The Brain – Creating artificial intelligence by simulating the brain.
    • The Technology of Expert Systems – Expert Systems were another early implementation of artificial intelligence concepts.
    • Inside an Expert System – Developing an Expert System using Pascal.

    Reviews

    • The ITT XTRA – An IBM compatible computer with 256K of RAM, two double-density 5.25″ floppy drives, and monochrome display for $2395.
    • Insight – A Knowledge System – Review of this rule-based knowledge system for the IBM PC.

    Kernel

    • Computing At Chaos Manor: Over The Moat – A look at various products including CP/M Utilities, WRITE, dBASE III, Framework, S1 Operating System, Symphony, System Backup, The World Plus, and more.
    • BYTE West Coast: Lasers, Office Publishing, and More – A look at products from Canon, Imagen, Interleaf, Kurzwil, Ricoh, Sun Microsystems, Tardis Software, and Xerox.
    • BYTE U.K.: New Database Ideas – A look at Frame Theory for use in database management systems.
    • BYTE Japan: The Fifth Generation in Japan – A look at the Hitachi S-810 family of vector super computers. The S-810 was the second super computer from Japan and the first from Hitachi. The fastest of them could reach about 630 MFLOPS.
    • Editorial: Golfers and Hackers – A comparison of golfing and hacking.
    • Microbytes – An IBM PC emulator for Macintosh users; a memory upgrade for the Mac; Microsoft releases C compiler; Zenith releases new portables with backlit LCD displays; Proteon offers 80 megabits per second networking ($8000 per node); and more.
    • Letters – Readers write in about the Fujitsu Micro 16, the Apple II, Wordstar .BAK files, manual from Apple, and more.
    • What’s New – A brief look at new products including the General Electric 3-8100 thermal printer, SuperKey, GE TVs that can be used as 80-column monitors, 300bps direct acoustic modem from GE, the Kaypro 286i IBM PC AT compatible computer, the Alphacom Aero printer (Epson RX-80 compatible), 30-megabyte hard drive from Control Data Corporation, S-100 graphics cards, and more.
    • Ask BYTE – Questions answered about switching power supplies for the S-100 bus, high resolution graphics, and more.
    • Book Reviews – Reviews of Build Your Own Expert System by Chris Naylor, Artificial Intelligence In BASIC by Mike James, The Cognitive Computer: On Language Learning And Artificial Intelligence by Roger C. Schank.

    …and lots more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Amiga Force (January/February 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Amiga Force is a gaming magazine for the Amiga that was pubished in the U.K. in the 1990s. I don’t remember there being any gaming specific magazines for the Amiga in the U.S. (though magazines like Computer Gaming World did cover the Amiga). Issue number 2 of Amiga Force from January/February 1993 includes:

    • Read All About It! – News and new products including the Supervision portable game system, the Turbo Touch 360, Deluxe Paint IV and Deluxe Video III from Electronic Arts, and much more.
    • Krusty’s Super Funhouse – Review of this Simpson’s platform game featuring Krusty the Clown.
    • Winner Takes All – A contest in which you can win all games published by Kixx.
    • Just Around The Corner – Previews of upcoming games including Lemmings 2: Tribes, Walker, Bill’s Tomato Game, Lethal Weapon, Street Fighter II, Arabian Nights, and Creatures.

    • Budget Bargains – Reviews of budget games including Prince of Persia, Alien Breed, Santa’s Christmas Capers, International Tennis, Hudson Hawk, Gem’X, Trivial Pursuit, Dizzy: Prince of Yolkfolk, and P.P. Hammer and his Pneumatic Weapon.
    • Force Nine Mail – Reader mail, mostly about the first issue.
    • The Tips – Tips and tricks for tons of games including Shadow of the Beast III, Dizzy: Prince of Yolkfolk, Ween, Zool, and many more.
    • Beat ‘Em At Their Own Game! – Compete in this Sensible Soccer competition.

    • Rich Pickings – Reviews of some of the latest games including Shadoworlds, Assassin, Sensible Soccer, Road Rash, Tearaway Thomas, Sabre Team, Cytron, Pinball Fantasies, Locomotion, KGB, Nigel Mansell’s World Championship, Ween, Rampart, and The Grandslam Collection.
    • Cut-Out ‘N’ Cheat – Cheat cards designed to be cut out and kept with the games they pertain to.
    • Going Public – A look at some of the latest public domain games including Microbes, PIII (a Pac-Man clone), and more.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Amiga Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged