• Tag Archives PC

  • Turbo Touch 360 (1994)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/703137135963832320/retrocgads-usa-1994

    Once upon a time, there used to be tons of 3rd party controllers to chose from. Some of them were very good and some of them were cheap junk. First party controllers were always among the best but not always the very best. I haven’t really kept track with the most recent generations of consoles but it seems like this changed a while back. Probably around the PS3 generation. From then (or some time near then) it seems like first party controllers were the best and generally the only thing you would ever want unless you just needed an extra cheap controller for guests or as a temporary emergency replacement. These days it seems like first party controllers are the only quality controllers. If you can even find 3rd party controllers they are almost always junk or at least obviously lower quality than the first party controller. This isn’t universally true of course. There are still good third party controllers. Just fewer of them than there used to be.

    I guess one place where this isn’t as true is with the PC. There’s not really such a thing as a first party PC controller (I mean I guess you could make an argument for Microsoft but even that doesn’t apply if you are gaming on Linux or MacOS). This ad from 1994 is for a controller for the PC. In 1994 pretty much all PC gaming meant DOS gaming (unless you were playing something like Minesweeper or Solitaire in Windows 3.1 and you didn’t need a controller for that anyway). This controller would have used a gameport connection, not USB.

    While this particular ad is for the PC, the Turbo Touch 360 from a company called Triax Technologies was available for other platforms. It was available for at least the NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis. The Genesis version also worked with Commodore and Atari systems as they used the same connector.

    So what made the Turbo Touch 360 special? For the most part it was a pretty standard controller with turbo support. However, its one unique feature was the D-pad. Instead of using physical switches underneath a button that could be moved in different directions, it used eight capacitive touch sensors. The claim was that because it took less force to operate, it was better for your thumbs and was even endorsed by an orthopedic surgeon. Those used to playing games on mobile devices like phones might find the feel a little familiar. The buttons, however, were standard buttons and not touch sensitive.

    So how did it actually compare to other controllers? Unfortunately, not that well. I’ve never tried it but this doesn’t surprise me. I’ve always felt that even modern games that use touch sensitive control were pretty crappy. A similar but older and less refined version of the same technology can’t be an improvement.


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  • Maximum PC (February 2007)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Maximum PC – February 2007

    Maximum PC was by far my favorite PC magazine. Sadly, they recently ceased publication. I think it was the last monthly PC magazine being published in the U.S. The February 2007 issue includes:

    Features

    • Lean Machine – Maximum PC builds their version of the best budget PC possible for $1500. It features a BFG GeForce 8800 GTS video card, EVGA nForce 680i SLI motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 CPU, 1GB Corsair TwinX DDR2/800 RAM, Antec Nine Hundred case, Antec TruePower Trio 650 power supply, Windows XP, 250GB Maxtor DiamondMax9 hard drive, and Lite-On SHM-165H6S optical drive.
    • Vista – A look at Microsoft’s latest OS and why you don’t need it.
    • Quad FX – A look at AMD’s new enthusiast dual CPU Quad FX platform featuring two 3GHz AMD Athlon 64 FX-74 CPUs.
    • Browsers – The latest versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox battle it out.

    Departments

    • Quick Start – The Justice Department investigates Nvidia and AMD for GPU price fixing; AMD announces its 65mm processors and sets timeline for 45mm processors; HDMI version 1.3; and more.
    • Head2Head – A comparison of the latest consoles (PS3, Wii and Xbox 360) and a modern gaming PC featuring a GeForce 8800.
    • WatchDog – Maximum PC’s consumer advocate weighs in on AVG, HP’s expiring ink, and Dell notebook drivers.
    • How To – A guide to using Google Search, Google Books, and more Google tools.
    • Ask the Doctor – Questions answered about a potential power supply problem with an Athlon XP 2600 based machine, safely removing USB devices, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro refresh problems, and more.
    • R&D – A look at how “electronic paper” works, the technology behind many eBook readers.
    • In the Lab – The best way to configure dual channel memory in AMD Quad FX based machines and a look at the Microsoft Zune Marketplace.
    • In/Out – Questions answered about virtual machines, Windows Vista, CRT monitors, desks, Linux, motherboards and more.
    • Rig of the Month – User submitted system featuring a small form factor, hornet theme, two EVGA 7900 GTX cards and an AMD FX-60 CPU (all watercooled).

    Reviews

    • Gaming Rig: ABS Ultimate X8 III – Featuring an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 overclocked to 3.47GHz, EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 2GB Corsair DR2/800, two 140GB Western Digital (10,000 RPM SATA) in a RAID-0 config, two GeForce 8800 GTXs, and more for a little over $4,600.
    • Videocard: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GTS – Nvidia’s “cheaper” DirectX 10 card featuring 96 shaders and 640MB of GDDR3 for $440.
    • MP3 Player: Samsung YP-K5 – An expensive MP3 player ($210) with only 2GB of memory.
    • Media Player: Microsoft Zune – Zunes weren’t cheap but I generally liked them better than iPods.
    • Headphones: Ultrasone iCans – A decent pair of over the ear headphones for $129.
    • Earbuds: Etymotic ety8 Bluetooth – Expensive, large and ugly but they get a good review here.
    • HDTV Tuners – A look at two portable HDTV tuners including the Pinnacle PCV HD Pro Stick and Onair USB HDTV-GT.
    • Video Streamers – A look at the Sling Media Slingbox Pro (which gets the better review) and Sony Locationfree TV LF-B20.
    • Case – Reviews of several PC cases including the Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1, Cooler Master Itower 900, and NZXT Adamas.
    • Wi-Fi NAS Unit: Asus WL-700gE – A wireless router with NAS, bittorrent and print server capabilities.
    • CPU Cooler – Zalman CNPS9700 LED – A highly rated and nice looking CPU cooler with copper heatsink and blue LED lighting.
    • Speakers – Reviews of three PC speaker systems including the ABIT Idome D500 Digital 2.1, Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System, and Altec Lansing FX5051.
    • Digital Camera: Oympus SP-510 UZ – A decent digital camera for the time featuring 7.1 megapixels for $300.

    …and more!


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  • PC World (September 1987)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: PC World – September 1987

    PC World was perhaps the widest read PC magazine during its life. Issues from the 1980s were massive with this issue from September 1987 coming in at around 420 pages. The page count gradually decreased over the years with the Internet finally destroying this magazine as it did so many others. Contents of this issue include:

    Getting Started

    • Worksheets by Design – A beginner’s guide to creating a worksheet in your favorite spreadsheet program.
    • Laser-Perfect – Using the LaserJet Plus with WordPerfect 4.2.

    Community

    • DOS Amigos – Interviews with Compaq’s Rod Canion and Tandy’s John roach in which they talk about the PS/2 and the future of personal computing.
    • The Knowledge Engineers – Capturing knowledge with Expert Systems.

    Review

    • NewViews Breaks the Rules – A look at a new accounting software product from Q.W. Page that combines a spreadsheet with an audit trail.
    • Letters From Cell A17 – A look at three add-in products for Lotus 1-2-3 that add word processing capabilities. These are 4Word, InWord, and Write-in.
    • Dimensional Fortitude – A look at two three-dimensional spreadsheet programs (basically combining the functionality of multiple worksheets), Boeing Calc and MVP Spreadsheet Plus.
    • Magical Multiscan Tour – MultiScan monitors were a relatively new technology at the time. Their advantage being that one monitor could handle multiple video standards so you didn’t have to buy a monitor every time you went to a new graphics standard. They were not cheap though. This review looks at seven different monitors and they all come in at somewhere near $900 and we aren’t talking big screens either, probably maxing out at around 14-inches with most having a max resolution of around 800×600. Monitors reviewed include the NEC MultiSync, Sony Multiscan, JVC GD-H3214, Taxan Super Vision 770, Magnavox Multimode, Thomson Ultra Scan and Nanao 8060S.
    • Cache on Demand? – A look at various disk caching programs including Flash 5.0, Lightning 4.5, PolyBoost 1.7, Quickcache 2.1, Super PC-Kwik 1.5, and Vcache 2.01.

    State of the Art

    • Routines for Rent – A look at APIs and DOS. APIs were a relatively new fad at the time. This article points out that the best known example at the time was how Lotus Developer supports the creation of add-ons for Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony 1.1.

    Hands On

    • From Ledger to Spreadsheet – Using EasyBusiness Systems, Lotus 1-2-3 and DOS Exports, you too can movie data from a Ledger to a spreadsheet.
    • Up From WordStar – Various macros to make Microsoft Word and WordPerfect work more like WordStar.

    Departments

    • David Bunnell – The FCC proposes to add “access fees” to dial-up to online services such as CompuServe of $4.50 to $5.40 an hour.
    • Letters – Letters from readers regarding IBM, the PS/2 Model 60, the PS/2 Model 50 and converting programs to 3.5″ disks, the Kyocera F-1010 laser printer, software piracy, PC-Talk, and more.
    • Harry Miller – Using new to tools beyond spreadsheets for financial analysis and budgeting.
    • Stewart Alsop – The strategy behind new product announcements.
    • Top of the News – Toshiba gets in trouble for selling submarine propeller technology to the Soviet Union; Koryo Systems announces the Inchon, a 286/386-upgradable desktop system the size of a laptop; Hercules announces PS/2 card; Daybreak announces Satin integrated package that includes spreadsheet, file manager, word processor, communications package and idea processor; Epson to release low end PC clone called Apex featuring an 8088-2 processor, 512K RAM and two 360K floppy drives.
    • PC World View – An interview with Ashton-Tate CEO Edward Esber, Jr. about dBase IV and Ashton-Tate’s future plans.
    • Product Outlook – Recent product announcements and upcoming releases including Byline (desktop publishing software); the Zenith Easy PC; new Wyse models including the PC 286 Model 2108, Model 2112, Model 2214 and Model 3216; the Turbo 888-XT Headstart Computer System; and more.
    • From the Software Shelf – Reviews of the latest software, including Xerox Ventura Publisher (desktop publishing program), True BASIC 2.0 (BASIC compiler), Eureka: The Solver (equation solver), and Opt-Tech Sort (DOS sort utility), Glyphix (font designer).
    • From the Hardware Shelf – Reviews of the latest hardware, including Datavue Spark ($995 laptop with 384K and 384K), PC Laser 6000 (laser printer), Slimline 4200 (286 based with 360K floppy for $1495), and the Maynstream 60 (60MB-125MB tape drive).
    • The Upgrade Path – A look at various PC upgrades including: The MicroSoft Mach 10 turbo board featuring a 9.54/4.77-MHz 8086 for $549; the Essential Card, a 256K RAM expansion for the Epson Equity I; and more.
    • Consumer Watch – What to look for when buying floppy disk drives and cheap disks. Plus, reader letters about the Tandy 3000 and PC compatibility, The Source and fees, the AT&T 6300, and more.
    • Soucrcebooks – Book reviews of The Cognitive Connection: Thought and Language in Man and Machine, The Brady Guide to Microcomputer Troubleshooting and Maintenance, Microcomputer Data Security: Issues and Strategies for Business, Quick Start Guide for 12 Top PC Programs, and more.
    • The Help Screen – Questions from readers answered about searching text files, Dvorak keyboards, installing a 3.5″ floppy drive in an IBM PC XT, syncing files between PCs, PageMaker hardware requirements, and more.
    • Next in PC World – Coming in the October 1987 issue, readers choose the best hardware and software of 1987, a review of Crosstalk MK.4, a look at Borland’s Reflex, and more.
    • Another Angle – Software piracy and the cost to consumers.

    …and more!


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