• Tag Archives PC

  • 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!


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  • 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!


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  • PC Magazine (August 20th, 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC Magazine – August 20th, 1985

    Next to PC World, PC Magazine was probably the most popular PC magazine of the 1980s and 1990s though it didn’t hang on quite as long. The August 20th, 1985 issue includes:

    Cover Story/Features

    • Word Processing: The Latest Word – A comparison of 18 word processors including WordStar Professional, Wordstar 2000, XyWrite II Plus, Word Perfect, Volkswriter Deluxe, Display Write and Display Write 3, Easy Writer II System, SuperWriter, Perfect Writer, Microsoft Word, MultiMate, Samna Word III, OfficeWriter, Textra, Spellbinder, Personal QWERTY, and PFS: Write. While Word destroyed most of these, at least Word Perfect is still around.
    • Software: Lexical Electronic Filing – A look at word oriented database managers designed to replace paper filing systems. A couple of software packages looked at here include ZyINDEX and OCRS.
    • 3-D Reconstruction: Seeing Beyond the Surface – A look at some of the uses of 3D visualization and the software that makes it possible. In this case, the software is called PC3D.
    • A Footnote to Word Processing – A look at software that combines support for footnotes and indexing with WYSIWYG editing. There is a review of three different word processors here including WordPerfect 4.0, XyWrite II-Plus, and WordStar 2000 Plus.
    • Gateway Software to the Information Stars – A look at gateway software that makes searching online databases simpler. These include Sci-Mate Universal Online Searcher, PC/NET-LINK, Searchmaster, and In-Search. They all assist with searching a different combination of online databases.
    • AT Multifunction Boards: The Fast Five – A look at five boards for the IBM AT that combines memory expansion with various other functions. These include the AST Advantage!, SMF/AT210, Grande Byte, Rio Grande, and Maestro.
    • Good Is Not Good Enough – A look at two new “laptop computers”. The Visual Commuter is more of a hybrid portable machine with an optional 25×80 LCD display, 2 5.25″ disk drives and 256K RAM for $2495 or 512K for $2935. The Datavue 25 features a 25×80 LCD, 1 5.25″ disk drive and 128 RAM for $2195 or 640K for $2795.
    • One Small plus for CPAs – A look at CPA+, an accounting package based on Lotus 1-2-3.
    • RS-232C LANs: A Basic Bargain – A look at two software packages, LANLink and EasyLAN, that let you use your PC’s RS-232 ports for networking.

    Columns/Departments

    • PC News – Windows (1.0) is ready for release; IBM announces workstations based on IBM AT; Panasonic introduces portable IBM PC compatible featuring 256K RAM, two floppy drives, 8087-2 coprocessor, and more for $2795; new memory expansion boards from Quadram and AST; 10MB hardcard; and more.
    • From the Editor’s Screen: Waiting for WYSIWYG – An editorial on WYSIWYG word processors and how they aren’t quite perfect yet.
    • Letters to PC – Letters from readers about software piracy, using multiple serial devices with one PC, making macros, and more.
    • The Norton Chronicles: Software Makes the PC – The importance of software in the value of a PC. A look at some of Peter Norton’s favorite software including Framework, Lotus 1-2-3, DOS PATH, PFS: Write, MultiMate, Word, SideKick and more.
    • Quantum Leap: The Gigabyte Age – Of course we’ve moved well past gigabytes at this point… A look at CD-ROM technology.
    • Computers In Society: The Republic of Technology – A new technology for taking orders at restaurants on handheld wireless terminals.
    • Programming: End Big Blue’s Backup Blues – A type-in program that creates BAC.COM, a backup program superior to the COPY and BACKUP commands in DOS.
    • Spreadsheet Clinic – Tips, tricks and solutions for using various spreadsheet software including Lotus 1-2-3 and more.
    • Power User – Patching WordStar to customize features, including an example. Also, tips for running WordStar from RAMdisk and more.
    • User-To-User – A type-in program for creating a master index of all the subdirectories on a drive.
    • New on the Market – The Merchandiser, a software package that combines point-of-sales, inventory control, and mailing list management; Peak Performance:Run, software for scheduling personal training; Life/Time Manager, software for managing your time; SongWright III, a PC based music processor; PC Commander, a DOS shell for navigating via menus; and much more.
    • PC Tutor – Questions answered about the differences between different iterations of the IBM PC, interrupts and BASIC, monitor noise, and more.

    …and more!


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