Compute! was a multiformat magazine that covered a variety of popular machines. It was one of the better magazines in this category, especially if you wanted something more home computer oriented and a little less technical than Byte. The August 1987 issue includes:

Features

• Compute!’s Readership Survey – A survey for readers that asks questions like what kind of computer you use, what kind of applications, etc. This was used in part to determine coverage in future issues.

• CES and COMDEX: A Tale of Two Cities – Comparing the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago with COMDEX in Atlanta. Both were big shows for electronics and computer software and hardware.

• >Climber 5 – A type in game for the Commodore 64, Atari, Amiga, Apple II, and PC in which you must climb to the top of a building to retrieve a baseball while avoiding various obstacles.

Reviews

• Bank Street Writer Plus – A word processor for the Apple II line and the IBM PC.

• Might and Magic – The classic fantasy RPG reviewed here for the Apple II.

• Space M+A+X – A simulation in which you must make money operating a space station for the IBM PC.

• Realms of Darkness – Another role-playing game, this one from Strategic Simulations (SSI) for the Apple II and Commodore 64.

Columns and Departments

• The Editor’s Note – Recent advancements in superconductivity and its implications for computing.

• Readers’ Feedback – Readers write in about the future of 5.25″ disks, checking the CAPS key on the Atari 130XE, the importance of saving a typed-in program before running it, upgrading an Amiga CPU, and more.

• Computers and Society: The Next Gutenberg Revolution – Desktop publishing becomes more affordable with the introduction of Atari’s laser printer for the ST.

• The World Inside the Computer: Robert Evans Meets the Xerox 4020 – A look at a new printer from Xerox featuring ink jet technology.

• Microscope – A look at IBM’s new PS/2 line (an their marketing), and some comparisons with the Atari ST and Amiga.

• Telecomputing Today: A Conversion Experience – Issues converting an old MacWrite disk to a new system with a utility download coming to the rescue.

• The Beginner’s Page: Program Loops – A look at GOTO, FOR-NEXT, and WHILE-END loops in BASIC.

• IBM Personal Computing: What to Do About Junior – The merits of upgrading a PCjr (or lack thereof) vs. getting a whole new PC.

• AmigaView: All About Icons – Creating your own icons.

• ST Outlook: Page Flipping – A tutorial for flipping between multiple display screens.

• INSIGHT: Atari – Graphics: From BASIC to ML – A look at how Atari BASIC converts graphics commands to machine language.

The Journal

• 64 Eighty – A type-in program that will give you an 80-column display on the Commodore 64. A similar software trick was used in a terminal program I used back in the day. It’s not as high quality as a genuine 80-column displays (the C64s native display is 40 columns) but it was pretty good.

• BASIC Batch Files with Atari DOS – How to execute BASIC commands (or other things) upon startup.

• Math Graphics for Atari ST – A couple of type-in graphics demos for the ST.

• Compress and Decompress – A couple of type-in utilities for compressing and decompressing high-res graphics files on the Apple II.

• Fractal Mountains for Amiga – A type-in program that will generate fractal graphics on the Amiga.

• Pop-Up ASCII Table for IBM – A type-in utility that runs in the background and will give you a pop-up ASCII table on a keypress.

• XpressCard Filing System for the Commodore 64 – A type-in database program for the C64.

• ML Relocator – A type-in machine language utility that will let you move ML programs around in memory that normally need to use the same memory space.

• SoftSprite – A type-in machine language routine that adds commands to BASIC that allow you to quickly move shapes around the screen.

• The Power of ON-GOTO and ON-GOSUB – A tutorial for using the conditional ON-GOTO and ON-GOSUB commands in BASIC on the Atari (and most other machines with BASIC).

• Chaining Programs in Applesoft BASIC – A tutorial for calling one program from another.

• The 128’s CHAR Statement – A detailed look into the BASIC CHAR statement on the Commodore 128 by Jim Butterfield.

• Comparing BASIC Programs – A type-in BASIC program for the PC that will compare two BASIC programs and report any differences. So basically a diff program for BASIC.

• News and Products – Life Simulation 100 is a sim of possible consequences based on various choices; Diskette Manager Plus 1.1 and Diskette Manager II disk manager for the PC; Time Scrolls for the Mac reports on what happened the day you were born; Up Periscope and Sentry games for the Commodore 64; and much more.

…and more!