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!