Source: Commodore Microcomputers – Issue Number 32 – November/December 1984

Commodore had a number of official publications over the years. Well, really there were two, and then one, and they went through a couple of different name changes. In 1984, Commodore Microcomputers was covering at least the Commodore 64, VIC-20, and Plus/4 (which had a very short commercial life). The November/December 1984 issue includes:

Departments

• Industry News – A look at the 1984 Summer Consumer Electronics Show. This year was dominated by software and hardware for the Commodore 64.

Understanding Your Computer

• Technical Tips – A list of disk and DOS wedge commands for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. Plus a memory map for the Plus/4 and C-16.

• Telecommunications – All about BBS systems including what they are, who runs them, what you can do on them, and much more.

Reviews

• Music Construction Set – An excellent music composition program from Electronic Arts for the Commodore 64.

• Studio 64 and Add Mus’in – This software package allows you to easily add sound and music to your own BASIC programs.

Features

• Physics of Sound: how Computers Make Music – A look into the technical details on how computers are able to generate music.

• MIDI: A Marriage of Convenience – MIDI, which stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, was still relatively new at the time. It is the standard by which instruments can communicate with computers.

• Ryo Kawasaki: Sonic Innovator – A musician who also developed software for the Commodore 64 including Kawasaki Synthesizer and Kawasaki Rhythm Rocker.

• The 20th Century One-Man Band – A look at some of the new music software and hardware for the Commodore 64 that lets you be your own one man band.

• MusiCalc for the Commodore 64 – This software package allows you to compose, transcribe, play, store and print music with your Commodore 64.

Using your Computer

• Business – How the Commodore 64 became the star of a cable TV show called The Program Critic Computer Show.

• Education: Special Supplement – A complete list of the educational software available for the Commodore 64 (no doubt out of date by the time it was printed), contact information for educational software vendors, and much more about the Commodore 64 in the education market.

…and more!

Source: Compute!’s Gazette – Issue Number 21 – March 1985

Compute!’s Gazette was a Commodore 8-bit spin-off of Compute! which was a multiformat computer magazine published throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Along with RUN, Gazette was one of the most popular Commodore 64 magazines. The March 1985 issue includes:

Features

• The Peripheral Connection: Enhancing Your 64 – An overview of available expansions for the Commodore 64. These include hard drives, disk drives, modems, monitors and more.

• Peripherals of the Future – A look at input/output devices being worked on for computers in the futures. These include compact discs, laser discs, brain wave input, LCD screens, laser printers and more. Laser discs were never really a big factor but many of the other items sure were. And I guess brain wave input is still coming along.

• Commodore Peripheral Ports – A look at the ports available on the Commodore 64 for connecting devices. These include a serial port, memory expansion/cartridge port, the user port (RS-232), control/joystick ports, A/V output, and cassette port.

• Inside View: David Crane, The Designer Behind Ghostbusters – An interview with David Crane, primarily about his work on the Ghostbusters game. This was a rare licensed game that was actually good.

Reviews

• Microsoft Multiplan – A version of one of the most popular spreadsheet programs at the time for the Commodore 64.

• Also Worth Noting – Short reviews of MicroLeague Baseball, U.S. Adventure (an educational game), Up n’ Down (an arcade style game reminiscent of Moon Buggy), Guitar Master (an aid for learning to play the guitar), and Eliza (an AI for your C64).

Games

• Heat Seeker – A type-in game for the Commodore 64 and VIC 20 in which you have to destroy a base that shoots heat seeking missiles at you.

• Digger – A type-in game for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 in which you must lure goats to their deaths.

Education/Home Applications

• Computing For Families: “Easy-Play” Computer Peripherals For The Family – Using personal computers as self-teaching tools.

• Alpha Anxiety – A type-in educational puzzle game for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 in which you must find all of the letters in the alphabet in order.

• AVAIL – A short type-in program for the Commodore 64, VIC-20, Plus/4 and C-16 that demonstrates the basic principles involved in creating artificial intelligence.

Programming

• BASIC Magic: Computer Math For Beginners – The second part of a tutorial for performing mathematical operations in BASIC.

• Machine Language For Beginners: Memory – A look at the memory structure of the VIC-20 and Commodore 64.

• Hints & Tips: Abbreviated Printer Codes – Various codes that can be used in BASIC to do special things on your printer (like changing case, inserting a carriage return, enabling reverse text, etc.).

• Power BASIC: Quick Character Transfer – A machine language routine that helps you create custom character sets on the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Plus/4 and C-16.

• Baker’s Dozen: Part 3 – The third and final part on a series on sound and graphics. This part includes programs for creating random sized blocks on the screen, drawing rectangles, and more sound and graphics routines.

• Disk Directory Sort – A short type-in program for sorting your disk directories alphabetically on your VIC-20, Commodore 64, Plus/4 or C-16.

• Disk Handler – A type in program that lets you examine and change the contents of a floppy disk on a byte level.

Departments

• The Editor’s Notes – A preview of the upcoming Winter CES. New machines were expected from Commodore including the Amiga, the Commodore 128, and an LCD laptop based C64.

• Gazette Feedback – Questions from readers are answered about moving multiple things on the screen at the same time, BBS software, INPUT statements without question marks, Commodore file types, the RESTORE key, self modifying BASIC programs, and more.

• Horizons – A look at the Blue Chip Printer.

• News & Products – New products previewed here include Silicon Slick’s Lowball Draw Poker, Fortress of the Witch King, London Blitz, Breakthru, the Quick Cassette storage system, Broadsides, President Elect, Computer Quarterback, Breakthrough in the Ardennes, Monty Plays Scrabble, and more.

…and more!

Source: Your Commodore – Issue Number 4 – January 1985

Your Commodore is a magazine that was published in the U.K. and covered the Commodore line of computers, including the Commodore 64 and Amiga. It was published from October 1984 through October 1991 for a total of 84 issues. The January 1985 issue includes:

• Plus/4: How Does It Add Up? – A review of the Commodore Plus/4. It wasn’t meant to be a replacement for the C64 exactly but more for people who wanted something a bit better suited for business/professional uses. The problem is that it was not significantly better than the C64 even for that. One of its features was that it came with four built in applications (word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphics). These were ok but there was better software on the C64 already and since these were in ROM, there was no updating them. Shipping with applications is fine but they should have been on disk or at least a cartridge. The Plus/4 and its little brother the C16 were among Commodore’s biggest failures.

• Data Statements – News and new products related to Commodore including a Commodore sponsorship for the 1985 British Computer Society Schools’ Computer Quiz, a new word processor for the VIC-20 (TOTL.TEXT 2.0), Wildest Dreams offers game rentals, The Staff of Karnath coming for the C64, Ghostbusters for the Commodore 64, Alien for the Commodore 64, four new titles from Beyond Software (Ankh, Aztec, Mr. Robot, and My Chess II), games featuring speech from Tymac (Gandalf, Pegasus and the Trials of Perseus and DEADZONE, and others), and much more.

• Input/Output – Letters from readers with questions about how to program the function keys on the Commodore 64, using sound on the PET, reading keyboard input on the PET, moving graphics using keyboard input, speeding up the disk drive on the Commodore 64, finding software and RAM expansion for the VIC-20, and more.

• Screen Clock – A type in program for displaying the time on the screen while you do other things.

• Graphics Solutions – A guide to graphics software on the Commodore 64. Some of the products mentioned include Doodle, Paintpic, Panorama, Picture Builder, UltraBASIC 64, Games Creator, Graphics Master, Graphics Designer, and Go Sprite.

• Calling Compunet – Compunet was an online service for the Commodore 64 in th U.K. One interesting thing about it was that anyone could put up content and charge for it.

• Gamemanship – The first part in a series on writing games for the Commodore 64. This part focuses on handling foreground objects and includes code examples.

• Laser Track – A type-in game for the Commodore 64 that is a sort of Space Invaders/Galaxians/Galaga clone.

• Mastering Machine Code – An ongoing series on using machine language on the C64. This part focuses on branching and the status register.

• The Wall – A type in-action game in which you must guide Pinky through multiple waves of walls and ladders while avoiding those that are out to get you.

• Sense of Adventure – A guide to mapping in adventure games, especially when things are not straightforward.

• Software Spotlight – Reviews of several recent games for the Commodore 64, including House of Usher, Car Journey, Terrorist, Borzak, Ghouls, Bristles, Ant Attack, High Noon, Secret Agent, Cybertron Mission, Falcon Patrol, Magic Micro Mission, Ballooning, Phase 4, See-Saw, Boulder Dash, Strontium Dog and the Death Gauntlet, Time Zone, Chiller, Punctuation Pete/Wordfinder, Cuthbert Enters the Tombs of Doom, Summer Games, and Swoop.

• Drawn Together – A look at a couple of tools for drawing on the Commodore 64 including the Koala Pad Touch Tablet with Koala Painter and Designer 64.

• 64 Symbols – How to input the various symbols in your code to to do things like change colors, clear the screen, etc.

• 4 Crowns of Adelim – A type-in action/adventure game for the Commodore 64.

• Doing It Yourself – Part four in a series on creating your own business software for the Commodore 64. This part deals with the best way to store and retrieve data on disk.

• Turn Turtle – A look at Valiant Turtle and LOGO. LOGO is an educational programming language that seemed to be very popular for about 5 minutes.

• Light Fantastic – A review of lightpens including the Datapen lightpen and Stack Lightpen.

• VIC Games Programming – The fourth in a five part series on BASIC games programming for the VIC-20. This part deals with creating User Defined Graphics on the VIC-20.

• All Clear – A machine code routine that will automatically add comments via REM statements for lines with control characters.

• Business Files – Reviews of some spreadsheet and database software for the Commodore 64 including Practicalc, Practifile, and Inventory 64.

• BASIC Facts Part 5 – A continuing series on BASIC programming. This part deals with the INPUT statement and using arrays.

• Computers In Business – A look at Minehead Radio, a small electronics shop that has started selling computers as well.

• Reference Library – A look at some of the Commodore games books on the market including Winning Games on the Commodore 64, Crazy Games for Your Commodore 64, Games Commodore 64 Computers Play, Challenging Games for the Commodore 64, The Commodore 64 Program Book, and more.

…and more!