• Tag Archives PC

  • PC World (February 2006)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    PC World was one of the most popular PC magazines published in the U.S. It always felt a bit generic to me but it’s still great for nostalgia. 2006 really wasn’t that long ago but computer ears are more like dog years…or even more accelerated. The February 2006 issue of PC World includes:

    Sites & Services

    • New, Improved Web – An introduction to what has been referred to as Web 2.0.

    Features

    • Greater Graphics – A look at some of the graphics cards available in 2006. Included in this round-up are the EVGA e-GeForce 6800 GS, ATI All-in-Wonder X800 XL, BFG Technologies GeForce 6600 GT OC, PNY GeForce 6600 GT, Aopen Aeolus 6800 GT, EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX KO (with 256 MB RAM and at $570 this was PC World’s ‘Best Buy’), BFG Technologies GeForce 7800 GTX OC, XFX GeForce 7800 GT, ATI Radeon X1800 XT, and MSI GeForce 7800 GT.

    • Fakes! – This problem seems less common now but fake and remarked products used to be fairly common among unscrupulous retailers. From exploding counterfeit batterie to overheating remarked CPUS, counterfeits were not uncommon.

    • 23 Things to Do With a Thumb Drive – I think everybody knows what to do with a thumb drive these days but this article offers suggestions from creating a bootable Linux drive, storing portable apps, keeping data safe and encrypted and more. A 1GB drive would set you back about $100 at the time.

    Reviews & Rankings

    • 32-inch LCD TVs – 32-inch LCD TVs were considered a good mid-size option at the time.

    • Wireless Networking – A budget Wireless-G router would set you back around $150-$200 or so.

    • Top 5 Ultraportables – At the top of the list is a Lenovo ThinkPad X41 featuring a 1.6GHz Pentium M, 12.1″ screen, DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, and 512MB of RAM for a mere $2199.

    • Cell Phone/PDA – A review of the BlackBerry 8700c.

    • Accounting Software – A review of QuickBooks 2006.

    • Top 10 Desktop PCs – On the Power System list I would have liked to have had that Alienware Aurora 7500 featuring a 2.8GHz Athlon 64 FX-57 and 256MB EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX x 2 for $4835. On the budget list maybe the CyberPower Gamer Ultra 7500 SE featuring a 2GHz Athlon 64 3200+ and 256MB EVGA e-GeForce 6600.

    • DVD Recorder – A review of the Sony DVDirect VRD-MC1, an external DVD recorder that could operate as a standalone device or with your PC.

    • Productivity Suite – A look at Microsoft’s Works Suite 2006.

    • Notebook Add-On – Review of the DualHead2Go, a device that allowed you to connect two external monitors to your laptop. Most laptops at the time only supported a single external display.

    • Top 5 Photo Printers – PC World ranks the Canon Pixma iP6600D as the best photo printer.

    • Digital Audio – Review of the Squeezebox Wireless Network Music Player, a device for streaming music over your wireless network.

    • Top 5 IM Clients – Of the instant messaging clients listed here, I think Trillian is the only one that is still around.

    • Digital Camera – A review of the Nikon Coolpix P1 digital camera. It’s an 8-megapixel camera featuring wireless connectivity for $549.

    • Desktop PC – Though not exactly big on Mac coverage, PC World did occasionally review new hardware. Here is a look at the 20-inch iMac G5.

    Departments

    • Up Front – A look at the past and future of innovation in the PC world.

    • Letters – Letters from readers about price-comparison sites, new products vs. better products, iTunes on the PC, and more.

    • Consumer Watch – On-line tools to help with tech support, how to clean a PC before selling it or giving it away, and more.

    • Hassle-Free PC – Ways to reduce spam and alternative ways to send text messages.

    • Gadget Freak – A look at new video enabled iPods including 30GB and 60GB models.

    • Bugs and Fixes – Internet Explorer security threats.

    • Full Disclosure – Web 1.0 problems that Web 2.0 doesn’t solve.

    News & Trends

    • A Smart New Office – Microsoft introduces XML-based file formats, a major interface revamp and much more with the upcoming “Office 12”.

    • Sneaky Copy Controls: How Far Will They Go? – Sony’s invasive rootkit-based copy protection.

    • New Ways to Access Your Files Anywhere – New online services to sync or otherwise access shared files. None of which are around anymore as far as I am aware.

    • Wi-Fi Reaches the Speed of Ethernet – New Wireless-G based routers match ethernet speeds…at close range anyway.

    • Command-Line Comeback – Microsoft increases the power of the command line interface with the upcoming Windows Vista.

    • Plugged In – Microsoft makes its XML file formats public; new FBM-DIMM memory coming in 2007; Tivo service enhanced to sync with iPod; and more.

    Here’s How

    • Backup Tips – Tips on making backups including partitioning tips and what folders in Windows are important. Plus what media and software to use.

    • Windows Tips – A quick way to make multiple folders, customizing the command prompt, and more.

    • Internet Tips – A glossary of Internet terms.

    • Hardware Tips – Free software tools to help you identify hardware, find drivers, and more.

    • Answer Line – Questions answered about slow hard drives and using screen savers.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Next Generation (May 1995)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Next Generation was a magazine that covered “next generation” systems if the title didn’t make it obvious. Primarily that included 16-bit systems and beyond as well as the PC. It also was written with a little bit older audience in mind than the typical gaming magazine. The May 1995 issue of Next Generation includes:

    Talking

    • Can Sony handle the PlayStation? – An interview with the person in charge of the Sony PlayStation launch in North America, Steve Race.

    Breaking

    • News – Sega Saturn launch planned for September 2, 1995 with 20 games on the shelves; stats on Saturn sales in Japan; Nintendo adds satellite gaming to the Super Famicom; Tao Systems develops high end arcade/VR hardware that includes a Pentium based motherboard with four PCI cards each featuring a 100MHz PowerPC chip and a 50MHz 3Dlabs GLINT processor; and more.

    • Joyriding – A look at the Internet and stuff you can find there such as PC gaming newsgroups, FTP sites, and this new fangled thing called The World Wide Web.
    • Arcadia – A look at new stuff in the arcade including Battle Tek, Sega Championship Rally, Virtua Fighter II, Street Fighter: The Movie, Cyber Commando, and more.
    • Generator – A look at a new optical disc format that would become DVD and Peter Molyneux talks about cartridge vs. CD formats.

    NG Hardware

    • Ultra 64: the story so far… – A look at rumors, speculation and facts surrounding the upcoming Nintendo Silicon Graphics machine then known as the Ultra 64.

    NG Special

    • The ripe stuff – A look at the history of Apple and their latest strategies which include Apple clones, the Bandai Power Player and more…which was all a pretty massive failure for Apple as a company, but not to worry, Steven Jobs would soon be back…

    NG Software

    • Alphas – Previews of upcoming games including Daytona USA (Sega Saturn), Prisoner of Ice (DOS), Panzer Dragoon (Sega Saturn), Kingdom (DOS), Jumping Flash (PlayStation), Secret of Evermore (Super NES), MechLords (DOS), Cyber Commando (Arcade), and Chrono Trigger (Super NES).

    Rating

    • Finals – Reviews of 54 new games for the PlayStation, 3DO, Atari Jaguar, Sega 32X, Neo-Geo, PC, Macintosh, Sega CD, Genesis, SNES, Saturn, CD-i and arcade. Some highlights include Raiden for the PlayStation, Theme Park for the 3DO, Burn Out for the Jaguar, Mortal Kombat II for the 32X, Night Trap for the Sega CD, Samurai Showdown II for the Neo-Geo, Atari Action Pack for the PC, Descent for the PC, Discworld for teh PlayStation, Heretic for the PC, Dark Forces for the PC, Spaceward Ho 4.0 for the Macintosh, Dungeon Explorer for the Sega CD, Lords of Thunder for the Sega CD, Earthworm Jim for the Sega CD, Lemmings 2 for the Genesis, Kirby’s Avalanche for the Super NES, and much more.

    Corresponding

    • Letters – Letters from readers regarding Doom at the shareware method of marketing, the upgradeability of the 3DO, supporting the Macintosh, PC gaming, the Atari Jaguar, and more.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • PC World (May 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – PC World – May 1985

    In 1985 the IBM PC was still relatively new and it (or more accurately its clones) had not yet taken over the home market. Other computers like the Commodore 64, Apple II and Atari 8-bit were cheaper, better for games, and could still do pretty much anything the PC could do. However, the PC was becoming more common in the home and had already pretty much completely taken over desktop computing in the business environment that had been dominated by custom systems and CP/M based systems only a few years earlier (for businesses that even had computers anyway). PC World was one of the most popular PC magazines and the May 1985 issue checks in at over 400 pages. It’s hard to even conceive of a magazine having that many pages today. It includes:

    Getting Started

    • Tapping Into On-Line Data Bases – While the public Internet was still years away, there were various online services that could be accessed with a modem and a fee (usually per minute). There were various online databases that could be accessed and for a variety of use cases, this could replace doing research at a library.

    Community

    • Islands in the Mainstream – This article discusses the implications of connecting PCs to mainframes, something that was starting to happen in the business world.
    • Birth of a Sales Tool – Automating sales forecasting with Framework and Lotus 1-2-3.


    Table of Contents from the May 1985 of PC World

    Review

    • Gateways to On-Line Services – While online databases could be useful, they were usually cryptic. This article discusses gateway services that would translate English language like search commands into something these databases could understand. If only they’d had Google…
    • DG/One for the Road – Review of the Data General/one, a laptop featuring a 12-inch LCD screen (the same size as typical PC monitors at the time), a 3.5″ 720K double desnsity disk drive (with a second drive optional), an optional external 5.25″ disk drive (for $895), an 80C88 CPU, 128K RAM (upgradeable to 512K), an optional 300bps internal modem ($300) or 1200bps modem ($699), and an OPTIONAL rechargeable battery for $178. The base price for 1 disk drive, 128KB, no modem etc. was $2895. Upgraded to be a reasonably usable system for business purposes it would have cost you $4571.

    • Keeping Murphy’s Law at Bay – A review of Microsoft Project project planning software.
    • OfficeWriter: Simply Dedicated – A review of this word processing software from Office Solutions.
    • Speaking in Codes – A look at two software packages that can be used to encrypt your files: DataSafe and Crypt Master. DataSafe uses DES while Crypt Master uses RSA encryption. On a typical PC of the time, Crypt Master could perform encryption at 1.25K per minute and decryption at 131 bytes per minute. Given the shorter key lengths probably used, you could probably crack that encryption with brute force on today’s systems much faster…

    PCjr World

    • Move Over MacPaint – A look at PCjr ColorPaint, the PCjr’s answer to MacPaint.

    State of the Art

    • A Matter of Public Record – A look at DATASTORE:lan, sfotware for managing a local area network.

    Hands On

    • Tactics for Teleconferencing – Teleconferencing today probaly brings to mind something like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. In 1985 it meant e-mail and voice calls.
    • On-Line Search Strategies – Some hints on how to approach searching for information on-line. This wasn’t like Google. Different online services contained different databases that could be searched in different ways. For example, if you want to search for information about U.S. sales of personal computers, you could enter “S PC = 3573098(L)EC = 64(L)CC=1USA” into the appropriate online database. Intuitive it was not and search results could be just as cryptic.

    Departments

    • David Bunnell – Dave Bunnell discusses software piracy and copy protection.
    • Eric Brown – Eric Brown looks at online databases, most of which consists of bibliographic abstracts from journals around the world.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about DisplayWrite 2, the first word processor, the current state of the personal computer market, and more.
    • PC World View – The president of the Boston Computer Society (Jonathan Rotenberg) looks at the history and the future of personal computing.
    • The Help Screen – Questions answered about accessing more than 64K in BASIC, programming the TRS-80 Model III, and more.
    • Compatibles Update – The current state of the PC Clone market plus an expansion board for CP/M based machines that turn them into a PC compatible (the SWP Co-Power-88) which includes an on board 8088 CPU, 128K or 256K of RAM, DOS 2.11 and more for $400-$500 depending on options.
    • From the Software Shelf – A brief look at recent software releases including Heads of the Coin (an interactive fiction game), PC Write (word processor), PC-File III version 2 (data manager), The Spreadsheet Auditor (checks spreadsheet formulas for errors), and more.
    • Just Announced – A look at new products including the Ericsson 8088 based PC, the Kaypro 16 “transportable” computer, the UltraLink 1200bps modem, the Epson JX-80 color dot matrix printer, and more.

    …and much more!


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