• Tag Archives retrocomputing

  • ANALOG Computing (July 1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: ANALOG Computing – Issue Number 20 – July 1984

    ANALOG was one of the most popular Atari 8-bit computer magazines in the U.S. It was published from 1981 to 1989. It had all the typical stuff you would expect in 8-bit computer magazine of the 1980s including reviews, type-in programs, and more. The July 1984 issue includes:

    Features

    • The Winners (ANALOG’s Favorite Games) – ANALOG editors pick their all time favorite games. Some of these games include Star Raiders, MiG Alley Ace, Breakout, Boulder Dash, Archon, Miner 2049er, Missile Command, Pac-Man, Gateway to Apshai, Donkey Kong, Pole Position, Choplifter, M.U.L.E., Agent USA, Shamus, Wizard of Wor, and others.
    • Buzz-zap! – A type-in maze game in which you control a bee who must avoid killer strawberries and other obstacles to make it back to the hive.
    • Bacterion! – This type-in game is described as a sort of sequel to Robotron though it plays more like Asteroids.
    • What Is It? – A type-in educational game for younger kids in which they must type the name of the object that appears on screen.
    • AlterDOS – A type-in program that modifies DOS to recognize files other than AUTORUN.SYS as the autorun file on a disk.
    • Auto Line Numbering+ – This type-in program will assist you in writing your own programs by autonumbering them and performing other tasks.
    • ConTEXT – This type-in program will convert Letter Perfect word processing files into a more standard format that can be used with other programs on the Atari.
    • Stars 3-D in Action! – Action! is a programming language and IDE provided on cartridge and available only for Atari 8-bit computers. This type-in program is rewrite of a previously published type-in program in ANALOG rewritten here in Action!.
    • Bounce in Action! – An Action! version of a previously published type-in program in which you place obstacles to change the direction of a bouncing ball. This version has higher resolution and more colors than the original.
    • Scredit – A type-in program for helping you to design smooth scrolling screens.

    Product Reviews

    • Boulder Dash – A review of the classic Boulder Dash by First Star Software.
    • Universe – A rather ambitious (for its time) sci-fi adventure game that shipped on four disks and cost $89.95.
    • Seven Cities of Gold – An action/adventure/strategy game from Electronic Arts in which you play the role of a sixteenth century Spanish conquistador.
    • Movie Maker – This software allows you to create animated movies 30 to 60 seconds long.

    Columns

    • Reader Comment – Readers write in about modem usage.
    • Griffin’s Lair – Reviews of educational software with an emphasis on typing skills this month, including Mastertype, Type Attack, Typo, and Touch Typing.
    • Our Game – Game development in which the readers participate.
    • BASIC Training – Useful BASIC tips for those writing games including using vector routines and ways to speed up games.
    • Boot Camp – An ongoing assembly language tutorial. This edition covers multiplying numbers.

    …and more!


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  • Maximum PC (September 2000)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Maximum PC – September 2000

    Another issue of what was my favorite PC magazine. It was among the latest survivors in the magazine world as well. This magazine was generally targeted at those who were power users. People that build their own PCs, do PC gaming, overclock, etc. The September 2000 issue includes:

    • Commport – Letters from readers about the Voodoo 5 5500 AGP, color temperature calibration, the demise of Psygnosis, computer heat, AOL and privacy, the KX133 chipset, turning off the task scheduler, and more.
    • Inside Sources – Low power CPUs shown off at PC Expo including Transmeta’s Crusoe, a low power 600 MHz Pentium III, and AMD’s K6-2+ at PC Expo; the DVD-RAM / DVD+RW war continues; and a look at the new bluetooth technology.
    • Watch Dog – Philips settles lawsuit regarding defective CD-R drives; problems with Access Micro PC, getting Klipsch speakers in Canada, Aureal files for bankruptcy, and more.
    • Peripheral Vision – A look at new tech toys including the Casio Freedia FZ-500P Super-Compact Printer, Creative Video Blaster WebCam GO Plus, and Olympus Eye-Trek FMD-150W-US.
    • Fast Forward – A fair price for MP3a and the future of music consumption.
    • Dream Machine 2000 – Every year, Maximum PC editors built the ultimate PC that could be built. In 2000, that was a desktop featuring dual 1 GHz Pentium III CPUs, an Intel OR840 motherboard, a pair of 256MB Kingston RDRAM modules, a Hercules 3D Prophet II 64MB video card, Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum + Live Drive II, Sigma Designs Real Magic Hollywood Plus MPEG Decoder, Plextor Ultraplex 40x Max CD-ROM, two Plexwriter 12/4/32 drives, Pioneer DVD-115 16x DVD-ROM, two 18GB Seagate X15 SCSI drives, a 75GB IBM 75GXP drive, an Adaptec 39160 Ultra 160 SCSI card, an Iomega 100MB Internal IDE ZIP drive, a Sony F500 monitor, Klipsch ProMedia V.2-400 speakers, Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro USB, Logitech First Mouse Wheel, and a PC Power and Cooling Solid-Steel Tower. All for the low, low price of $11,987.
    Dream Machine 2000
    • Hands Down: The 25 Best Palm Apps – This list of best Palm Pilot apps includes things like Unitconv (an app for converting units), Cruisecontrol (an overclocking app), Arranger (an organizer app), Moon Phase (will give you the phase of the moon for any date), and lots of others.
    • Thunderbird’s A Go-Go! – A detailed look at AMD’s new iteration of the Athlon CPU. The big changes were to the cache architecture which also allowed it to go from slot based back to socket based.
    • Whitepaper – A talk with Matrox regarding its OpenGL driver.
    • Ask The Doctor – Questions answered about using Premiere with a Compaq Presario 7970, problems with IE 5.5, problems with ripping MP3s, DMA issues, using SoftFSB, and more.
    • Hardware Reviews – Reviews of the Polywell Poly A30k7-1000 system, Diamond Rio 600 MP3 player, Hercules 3D Prophet II 64MB graphics card, Elsa Gladiac GeForce 2 32MB graphics card, Hercules 3D Prophet II 32MB graphics card, OnStream 30GB tape drive, Dell XPS8100R Special Edition digital studio, Samsung SM-304B CD-RW/DVD drive, Toshiba SD-R1002 CD-RW/DVD drive, and Hewlett-Packard Deskjet 350CBi mobile color printer.
    • Game Reviews – Reviews of Diablo II, Deus Ex, MDK2, SimCity 3000 Unlimited, StarLancer, and Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana 📎and tagged

  • Big K (August 1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Big K – Issue Number 5 – August 1984

    Big K is a gaming magazine that was published in the U.K. in the 1980s. It mostly covered the popular home computers of the time and included type-in games. The August 1984 issue includes:

    Games Programs

    • Mines! for BBC – A type-in game in which you have to navigate a minefield and rescue damsels in distress.
    • Space Seeker for Spectrum – Avoid obstacles and find prizes in this type-in game for the ZX-Spectrum.
    • Speed Arena for VIC-20 – A type-in racing game for the VIC-20.
    • Boggle for ZX81 – A type-in computerized version of this word game for the ZX81.
    • Platform Leaper for Spectrum – A type-in game in which you must make from one platform to another to the top of the screen while avoiding robots.
    • Planet Electro for VIC-20 – A type-in space battle game for the VIC-20.

    Utility Program

    • Sprite Creator for CBM 64 – A type-in program that lets you create your own sprites on the Commodore 64.

    Software Reviews

    • Pick of the Month – A review of Aviator by Acornsoft for the BBC Model B. This is a flight simulator with wireframe graphics.
    • Review Pages – Reviews of Deep Space (Spectrum), Red Meanies (Dragon 32), Rubble Trouble (BBC Model B), Trom (Spectrum), Horace Goes Skiing (Commodore 64), Heathrow Air Traffic Control (BBC Model B, Electron, Spectrum), Transistors Revenge (BBC Model B), CityAttak (Commodore 64), Wheeler Dealer (Commodore 64), Red Alert (Commodore 64), Fruity Freddy (BBC Model B), Odyssey (Commodore 64), Jammin (Commodore 64), Flint’s Gold (BBC Model B), Mindbender (Spectrum), Zodiac (Commodore 64), Pit Stop (ColecoVision), Triad (Commodore 64), Space Shuttle (Atari 400/800/XL), Klartz & The Dark Forces (Dragon 32), Zalaga (BBC B), and more.

    Hardware

    • 68000 Assembler Part 2 – Part 2 of an assembly language programming tutorial for the Motorola 68000.
    • Boost Your Beeb’s Memory – A guide to adding an additional 2K of RAM to the BBC Model B.
    • Wonder Widgets – A look at some joysticks from Wico along with various other controllers, plus a plotter for the Aquarius, and expansion module for the Electron (including printer port, two ROM slots, and a joystick port), a new keyboard for the Spectrum, and more.

    Features

    • A Windy City Wind Up – Coverage of the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. Some new items on display there include the Commodore Plus 4 and Commodore 16, the Atari 7800, Star Wars The Arcade Game and Frogger II for various systems, a variety of Activision games including H.E.R.O., Zenji, Space Shuttle, River Raid, Pitfall II, and lots more.
    • Where Are Next Year’s Games Coming From? – The lack of originality in many recent games and where gaming is going in the future.
    • The Image Benders – A look at specialized computers for creating special effects including Quantel’s Paintbox and Mirage.
    • Atari Graphics – The third part in a series on graphics on Atari 8-bit computers. This part covers manipulating the display list to create jewel-like effects, redefine character sets, and more.
    • Richard Taylor’s Spectrum Graphics – Creating animation on the Sinclair Spectrum.

    Regulars

    • On-Line News – Seiko introduces computer watch, Dragon 32 support dries up, Sabre Wulf released, new fast load program for the Commodore 64, Imagine faces financial difficulties, Atari releases Pole Position on various home systems, and more.
    • Classic Games of Our Time – A look back at Atari’s Star Raiders.
    • Dorkslayer – A look at a first batch of games created with The Quill adventure writing tool including Barsak the Dwarf, Devil’s Island, Mindbender, Magic Castle, and Spyplane among others.
    • Charts – A list of the top 30 games and top video games (for dedicated consoles). At the top of the first list is Jet Set Willy and at the top of the second list is Pole Position.
    • He Wrote One – An interview with Terry Watts, a programmer at K-Tel.
    • Zip Code – A look at things going on in the U.S. market including Apple’s comeback with the Macintosh and IIc, Atari tries to recover from previous year’s losses, Commodore and RCA may join forces, new ColecoVision games, and more.
    • Books – A look at some computer related books including Step-By-Step Programming on the BBC Micro, Awesome Games For Your Atari Computer, Crazy Games For Your Commodore 64, Astounding Games For Your Apple Computer, and Exploring Adventures on the BBC.
    • Arcade Alley – A look at the Tazmi TX1 three screen racing game.
    • Letterbase – Letters from readers about submitting programs to Big K, game censorship, back issues, and more.

    Competition

    • Win a Trip to Florida, U.S.A. – Though short on details, entering this competition could win you a week in Florida.

    …and more!


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