• Tag Archives DOS

  • PC Magazine (March 20th, 1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC Magazine – March 20th, 1984

    PC Magazine was one of the two biggest magazines dedicated to IBM PCs and compatibles from the early 1980s into the 2000s (the other being PC World). The March 20, 1984 issue of PC Magazine includes:

    Cover Stories

    • Getting Your C-Legs – An introduction to programming in C with some simple program examples.
    • The MWC-86 C Compiler – A C compiler for the PC offering enhancements such as new data types, structure passing, nested comments, and longer identifiers.
    • The Whitesmiths C Native Compiler – A professional C compiler with idiosyncracies.
    • New Improved Lattice C – Version 2.0 of this compiler adds more memory, functions to the C library, and faster procedures.
    • C Into The Future – An interview with Tom Plum about the future of the C programming language.

    Features

    • PC Program Editors: The Next Generation – IDE’s weren’t really a thing yet but this article looks at the next genreation of editors including SPF/PC 1.6, micro/SPF 2.0, Professional Editor, and TED 1.2.
    • The Decision Makers – A look at two program, Decision and Decision-Analyst, designed to help make business decisions such as who to hire and what office equipment to buy.
    • PC-Powered Manufacturing – A look at MAX, a PC powered manufacturing system.
    • Packet Switching Puts You In Touch – An overview of packet switching networks and their advantage over other types of networks.
    • PC’s Powerful Cousin: The IBM CS9000 – A computer designed for the laboratory featuring a 68000 processor and an OS called CSOS.
    • When One PC Is Not Enough – A look at PC GT, an expansion card for the PC that turns it into a multi-user system.
    • Assembly Language: The Nature of DOS – An excerpt from “Assembly Language Primer for the IBM PC”.
    • An Illustrated History of The Chip, Part 2 – An excerpt from the book “State of the Art: A Photographic History of the Integrated Circuit”.
    • Office Writing: Word Processing for Business – A look at two word processors for business use, OfficeWriter and Form Writer Version 1.1.
    • A Gallery of Computer Art – A look at the Tech Graphics 2, a $50,000 machine (including various peripherals) for creating computer based art.
    • Taking The PC To The Cleaners – How laundries are making use of personal computers.
    • Checking Inns With The PC – Ramada Inn installs 635 PC’s, each equipped with 128K RAM, monochrome monitor, two 320K drives, printer, and Hayes 1200B modem, along with a centralized mainframe system for reservations.
    • MIT Goes On The 5-Year Plan – MIT is paying millions for PCs to help design bridges.
    • Waking Up To Computer Education – Wake County, North Carolina installs 135 IBM PCs across middle schools to help with computer literacy.
    • Beating The System – A look at an inexpensive kit that allows you to use a single expansion slot for two cards.
    • Exploring A Nonmanual Alternative – A look at IBM’s “Exploring the IBM Personal Computer”, a program designed as an alternative to manuals.

    Pro Columns

    • Getting Organized On Your PC – Using a database along with a word processor to help organize notes for writing.
    • Exploring Electronic Estimating – How PCs are being used to help contractors calculate estimates to outbid their competitors.
    • MUMPS Fever – MUMPS was originally a programming language for medical applications on mainframes. This article looks at some microcomputer version.
    • Two Boards In One – A look at Amdek’s Multiple Interface Adapter, a PC display card.
    • Educating The Individual – How the computers are making instruction more individual.
    • MUMPS: A Cure For Swollen Programs – A new medical oriented programming language, now available for PCs, offers more efficient programming.
    • Going By The Board – The keys to being a good BBS sysop.

    Departments

    • PC News – IBM introduces PC/IX, a UNIX OS for PC; PC Bartendr, a bartending app with 101 alcoholic beverage recipes; Commodore cuts prices; Atari launches AtariSoft software label; and much more.
    • Pitfalls Of Corporate Copying – Illegal “sharing” of programs within corporations and the trouble with copy protection.
    • Letters To PC – Letters from readers about the Palantir word processor, Word Proof, computer furniture, MicroAstrology, Telex, Memex, assigning strings to keys, and more.
    • Phantom Ruling From The IRS – IRS may deny tax-exempt status to PC user groups.
    • Unearthing The PCjr’s Secrets – A look through the PCjr’s technical manual with Peter Norton.
    • The PC Compatibility Test – A guide to figuring out how compatible your computer is to the IBM PC.
    • Greed And Egyptian Adventures – A look at two new adventure games including Infidel from Infocom and Ulysses and the Golden Fleece from Sierra On-Line.
    • Help For Experts And Novices – A review of the book “dBase II in English I”, a book that is supposed to make dBASE II easier to learn.
    • New On The Market – The Sweet-P Six Shooter (a multiple-pen plotter), ENVAX 600 (an intelligent communications processor), DTC Style Writer (a daisy wheel printer), DXY-800 Plotter, SNA Encryptor 305 (a data encryption board for communicating between a PC and an IBM mainframe), HP Digital Wand (bar code reader), PLP-8 Matrix Printers (a series of 80 and 132 columnt dot-matrix printers), QumeTrak 142 (320K 5.25″ floppy drive), and much more.
    • User-To-User – A way to keep track of files on floppies in DOS 2.0, a BASICA bug, a simple way to view and delete unwanted text files, and more.
    • PC Tutor – An automated way to use DISKCOPY, using single and double precision numbers, power converters, friction feed with the Epson MX-80 F/T printer, and more.
    • Software Licensing Questions – How the courts might distinguish between licensed and sold software.

    …and more!


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

  • Compute! (February 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 57 – February 1985

    Compute! was a great magazine for those with home computer in the 1980s, at least if you had one that it covered. In 1985 that meant the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, and IBM PC. Many computer magazines were more technically oriented this one but if you were just looking for more typical articles and reviews then it was very solid. It still had type-in programs which was a great way to get software for almost free (minus the cost of the magazine and your time of course). The February 1985 issue includes:

    Features

    • The New Atari: Q & A With Sigmund Hartmann – An interview with Sigmund Hartmann, President of Atari Software, about Atari’s future. On the immediate horizon were new machines including two new Atari 8-bit computers (the Atari 65XE and Atari 130XE) as well as their new 16-bit Atari ST.

    • Fame Games – A look at games using the names of famous authors and stars. Some of these include Amazon (Michael Crichton), Fahrenheit 451, Rendezvous With Rama, Ghostbusters, and many others.

    • Michael Crichton: Reflections Of A New Designer – Michael Crichton discusses the creation of his adventure game Amazon.

    • Birth Of A Computer Game – Game designers Chris Crawford, Jon Freeman, Bill Budge, Bruce Carver, and Dan Bunten discuss their creation process.

    Reviews

    • Dinosaurs – An educational game for preschoolers featuring dinosaurs for the Apple II and Commodore 64.

    • The Syn Series For Atari – A look at SynCalc, SynTrend, and SynFile+ for the Atari 8-bit. SynCalc is a spreadsheet program, SynTrend is a statistics and graphing program, and SynFile+ is a database program.

    • PC-Write Word Processors For PC & PCjr – A low cost shareware word processor capable of running in only 64K on the PC/PCjr.

    Columns And Departments

    • The Editor’s Notes – Reflections on the attributes of the perfect computer.

    • Readers’ Feedback – Readers write in about DOS, the need for two disk drives, memory on the Atari 800XL, transferring/translating BASIC programs between Sinclair computers, POKE and PEEK (or the lack thereof) in TI BASIC, and more.

    • The Beginner’s Page – Conditional logic and IF-THEN statements.

    • Programming The TI: Programming Without A Math Background – Knowing a little math is, of course, useful when programming but an advanced degree in mathematics should hardly be a pre-requisite.

    • Machine Language: Multiplication, Part 2 – The second part in a series on multiplying numbers in machine language.

    • Computers And Society – Word processors and their effect on writing.

    • IBM Personal Computing: Inside King’s Quest – A look at how King’s Quest was made. Incidentally, this game was created as a result of IBM asking Sierra to develop a game that would show off the color graphics of the PCjr.

    • INSIGHT: Atari – A BASIC benchmark for the Atari.

    • Telecomputing Today – Using a “lap computer” with a modem while traveling for business and pleasure, the latest updates on information services including CompuServe, Dow Jones News/Retrieval, and The Source, as well as a look at two new services, People/Link and Play/Net.

    The Journal

    • Acrobat – A type-in game for the Atari, Commodore 64 and VIC-20 in which you must use various acrobatic moves to make your way through various environments and obstacles.

    • Plus/Term For VIC & 64 – A type-in terminal program for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 with 1200bps support.

    • Adding Sound Effects To Atari – Five short type-in programs for generating various sounds on the Atari.

    • How TurboTape Works – TurboTape is a program that speeds up loading programs from tape that was published in the previous issue. This article explains how it works.

    • IBM Rebound: All Machine Language Game For PC & PCjr – A type-in game for the IBM PC and PCjr that is similar to breakout.

    • Apple Bowling Champ – A type-in bowling game for the Apple II for up to four players.

    • Advanced Sound Effects On The 64 – Includes a type-in program for experimenting with different sounds without programming.

    • News & Products – New printers including the Riteman LQ and Riteman Plus; Work Force II home applications package for the Apple II; new games for Atari and Commodore including Market Forces, Break Street, and more; memory expansion for the Atari 600XL; and more.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Apple ][ Atari 8-bit Commodore 64 Computer Arcana DOS 📎and tagged

  • PC World (September 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – September 1985

    PC World was one of the most popular PC specific magazines from the 1980s through the 1990s and beyond. I didn’t even have my Commodore 64 yet it 1985 but if I had a PC, I probably would have been getting this magazine. The September 1985 issue includes:

    Getting Started

    • Theory PC – The difficulty of communication via PC and how to make the PC universal.
    • From Here to Mainframe (and Back) – How to use a PC to communicate with a mainframe.

    Community

    • The PC as Innovator – The quantum leap in productivity that the PC offers as well as its economic potential.
    • Copying Software: Who’s Right? – PC World readers chime in on software piracy.
    • Cautious Capital – Where venture capitalist are putting their money in the context of the personal computer shakeout following the frenzy of 1981-1983.

    Review

    • The Personal Connection – How computers have gone from being seen as rather Orwellian (perhaps still an accurate view) to fundamental tools of social communion.
    • Reflex: Analysis With Finese – A review of Reflex from Analytica, a software data analysis software package inspired by Lotus 1-2-3 and the Macintosh.
    • Ready to Run Accounting – Ready-to-Run Accounting is a general ledger template for Lotus 1-2-3 and offers an inexpensive accounting solution.
    • Enable: Compact and Capable – A five function integrated software package that includes word processing, spreadsheet, data management, graphics, and telecommunications components.
    • And the Word Is Good – Verson 2.0 of Microsoft Word.

    State of the Art

    • Asimov Ponders PCs – Sci-Fi author Isaac Asimov writes about the increasing intelligence of computers.
    • Experts on Call – Expert Systems provide solutions or predictions based on facts.

    Hand On

    • A Model for Peaceful Coexistence – The PC’s place in corporations.
    • Dress Up Your Documents – Creating fancy documents with the typesetting capabilities of word processing software like Microsoft Word and WordStar and laser printers.
    • A New Way to Frame Projects – Using Frameword o set up a simple scheduling system.

    Departments

    • David Bunnell – Proof that unauthorized copies of software (i.e. pirated copies) sell software.
    • Ken Greenberg – The PC’s trend towards business applications.
    • John C. Dvorak – Dvorak ponders whether the computer books and bookstores and software distribution channels is a dying trend. I remember buying Ace of Aces for my Commodore 64 at a Waldenbooks…
    • Letters – Readers write in about mainframes, the virtual device interface, data management software, and more.
    • PC World View – How Vannevar Bush predicted the personal computer in something he called the “memex”; probate software; new PC clones; and more.
    • The Help Screen – Tips for automatic plotting, converting LaserJet escape codes into DOS commands, transferring text files from the Apple II to the PC; and more.
    • From the Software Shelf – PC World’s first impressions of software including Executive Writer/Executive Filer, The Art of Negotiating, TallScreen, and pfs:access.
    • Password: Communicate – On-line queries using Dialog vs. gateway services; the fallout from a Los Angeles BBS operator getting charged for having a stolen telephone-credit card number on his BBS; Hayes starts selling Smartmodem 1200 in the U.K.

    …and more!


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