• Tag Archives DOS

  • PC World (May 1988)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    PC World was probably the most popular computer magazine from the late 80s until it ceased publication. It shrunk considerable in later years but it the late 1980s it still had large issues with this one coming in at nearly 340 pages. The May 1988 issue includes:

    Review

    • PostScript Printers’ Progress – Reviews of five postscript capable printers including the Apple LaserWriter Plus, AST TurboLaser/PS, IBM Personal Pageprinter, NEC Silentwriter LC890, QMS-PS 810, and Qume Scripten.
    • Imaging Becomes Electric – A look at some of the latest image scanners including the Datacopy Model 730, Dest PC Scan 2020, HP ScanJet, Microtek MSF-300C, and AVR MegaScan. A couple of these were only black and white while others offered 16 to 256 gray scale shades. Color scanning wasn’t really a thing yet.
    • Byline – For Better Business Documents – Simple desktop publishing software for business documents that can interface directly with dBase.
    • The Hardware Shelf – Reviews of the Vectra ES/12 (an AT compatible PC from HP), the Hot Shot/286 (an 80286-based accelerator board for XT computers), the NEC MultiSync II monitor, 2Page Display (high res monitor and graphics board designed for desktop publishing), and RuggedWriter 480 (a dot-matrix printer from HP).
    • The Software Shelf – Reviews of The Office Publisher 1.0 (desktop publishing software), VP-Planner Plus 2.0 (a clone of Lotus 1-2-3), Boyan D3 (a communications package), Zoomracks II (hypertext like database with an index card metaphor), and Q-DOS II 2.0 (a hard disk manager).

    Departments

    • Top of the News – Tandy opens up Deskmate GUI to developers; Tandy to ship a PS/2 clone; SideKick Plus debuts; more CD-ROM hardware available; and more.
    • David Bunnell – A look at PC World changes inspired by readers.
    • Richard Landry – Spreadsheets as a user interface.
    • Stewart Alsop – IBM changes how it does business by being more open about future plans.
    • On IBM – A look at early versions of OS/2.
    • Industry Outlook – Ventura Publisher becomes leading desktop publishing software on PC; scanner market expected to double; Lotus prepares for 1-2-3 release 3; Compaq passes the $1 billion sales mark; OS/2 to take advantage of turbo boards; IBM PC sales rebound overseas; Gold Hill AI supplier commited to LISP; and more.
    • Product Outlook – A look at upcoming products including new computers from Zenith (SupersPort, SupersPort 286, and TurbosPort 386), the NEC MultiSync MonoGraph extra-large screen display, Ten Time disk controller from Konan, new VGA adapters, and more.
    • Breifly Noted – A brief look at new products including the Hyundai Super-286, NEC MultiSync GS monitor, BocaRAM/30 RAM upgrade for the PS/2 Model 25 and 30, and more.
    • Preview – An early look at Lotus 1-2-3 release 3 and Word Perfect 5.0.
    • Consumer Watch – Making sure that your computer is insured.
    • The Upgrade Path – Upgrading an IBM PS/2 Model 50 with a Rodime DoublePlay 45MB hard disk (only $1495).
    • The Help Screen – A guide to deciphering PC sales terms.
    • Star-Dot-Star – A batch file for performing actions based on date, tips for programming WordStar data entry screens, and more.

    Features

    • Is Desktop Publishing Worth the Effort? – While not necessarily as easy as vendors make it out to be, it’s still far superior to the old way of doing things.
    • Buyers’ Guide: Venture Publisher and PageMaker Tools – A guide to the best and most popular add-ons for Ventura Publisher and PageMaker. These include things like style sheets, templates, clip art, graphics tools, utilities, and more.
    • OS/2 In Transition – Early OS/2 applications look a lot like DOS applications. However, things are about to change.

    How To

    • 15 Ventura Publisher Speed Tips – Both free and costly tips for speeding up Ventura Publisher. Includes suggestions such as using a disk caching utility, using keyboard shortcuts, and much more.

    …and more!


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  • PC World (April 1996)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Though I was never really a subscriber to PC World, I did get the occasional issue over the years. It was probably the best general magazine dedicated to the PC though I preferred Maximum PC which came along a little later. The April 1996 issue of PC World includes:

    Cover Story

    • Windows 95 at Warp Speed – Tips from PC World editors on using Windows 95 including advice for managing your files, on shortcuts, performance tips, and more.
    • Close Encounters With Windows 95 – Readers speak out about what they like and dislike about Windows 95.

    Special Report: Small Office, Home Office

    • Home Office Before and After – A guide to transforming a room in your house to a home office.
    • The Procrastinator’s Guide to Last-Minute Tax Tips – Help with your taxes.
    • Hot Picks for the Home Office – Choosing the right chair, laser printer, operating system, and more to choose for your home office.

    Personal Finance

    • Quicken Versus Money – A comparison of the latest versions of Microsoft Money and Quicken for Windows 95.

    Top 20 PCs

    • The Top 20 Power Desktops – At the top of this list is the Dell XPS P120c featuring a Pentium 120, 1GB hard drive, and 16MB of RAM. I was a big fan of Gateway 2000 so I would have probably chosen number 15 on this list, the Gateway 2000 P5-166XL featuring a Pentium 166, 1.5GB hard drive, and 16MB of RAM.
    • The Top 20 Budget Desktops – Coming in at the top of this list is the Dell Dimension XPS P100C featuring a Pentium 100 CPU, 16MB of RAM and a 1GB hard drive.
    • The Top 20 Notebook PCs – The top power system is the Toshiba Satellite Pro 400CDT featuring a Pentium 75, 800MB hard drive and 16MB of RAM. The top budget system is the Dell Latitude LX 4100D featuring a 486 DX4-100, 420MB hard drive and 8MB of RAM.

    Top of the News

    • Turbocharge Your Pentium PC – A look a the performance of Intel’s latest overdrive processors. There was the OverDrive-120 for upgrading Pentium 60 systems, the OverDrive-125 for Pentium 75 systems, the OverDrive-150 for upgrading Pentium 90 systems, and the OverDrive-166 for upgrading Pentium 100 systems.
    • Internet PCs: Next Wave or Nonsense? – So called Internet Appliances were a relatively short lived fad. The idea was that these would be cheap, (very) low end PCs to be used for internet access. A few are mentioned here including the TransPhone, Sun’s Java Terminal and the ViewCall America WEBster. These devices were around $500. However, despite being cheap for their time, they just didn’t offer enough bang for the buck. They were basically modern terminals.
    • DVD Drives: Giant CD-ROMs and Movies – The DVD standard had just been finalized with Toshiba to ship the first DVD player later in the year (for about $600). By the end of the year, $500 DVD-ROM drivs for PCs were expected.
    • Completely Focused: New NEC MultiSyncs – A look at the NEC 15-inch M500 monitor for $599 and the 17-inch M700 for $849.
    • HP Targets Small Business – A look at HPs Vectra 500 series of machines with CPUs ranging from the Pentium 75 to the Pentium 166.

    Top 10 Printers

    • Personal Printers: Quick, Cheap, and Colorful – The top monochrome printer in this list is the Panasonic KX-P6100 while the top color printer is the HP DeskJet 850C.

    Top 10 Hardware

    • Top 10 15-inch Monitors – The best 15-inch monitor in this month’s list is the NEC MultiSync XV15 for $460.
    • Top 10 Graphics Boards – The best graphics board this month is the Diamond Stealth64 Video 3200 featuring the S3 Vision968 chip and 2MB VRAM for $269.
    • Top 10 Modems – The top external modems were the Microcom DeskPorte 28.8P and Motorola ISG Lifestyle 28.8 though out of this list I would have picked the U.S. Robotics Sporster V.34 which is number three here. The top internal modem is the Zoom V.34C Model 520.

    Here’s How

    • Help Line – Questions answered about resiszing the task bar in Windows 95, copying system files from .CAB files, using your modem from DOS, and more.
    • Spreadsheets – Questions answered about moving averages, truncating, deleting empty rows in Excel, and more.
    • Word Processing – Questions answerd about timestamping WinWord files, selecting large text blocks, underscores in WordPerfect, and more.
    • Windows 95 Advisor – A guide to running your programs in a batch.
    • Hardware – Questions answered about Plug and Play, preventing Windows 95 crashes, write back cache, and more.

    Departments

    • Letters – Letters from readers about disk compression, hard drive upgrades, AOL, e-mail glitches, and more.
    • Real Problems, Real Solutions – Adding TV capabilities to existing PCs.
    • Full Disclosure – The difficutly in getting data into programs.

    …and much more!


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