krjpalmer

[krjpalmer]

PCM October 1983

A program to use your "PoCo" to calculate "current triangles" provided the cover story for this issue. (The Model 100's BASIC defaulted to slow but accurate "double precision" numbers, but there was no disclaimer in the article denying responsibility should you steer your ship onto the rocks.) Lonnie Falk's editorial mentioned that Falsoft published PCM, The Rainbow, and "ScoreCARD, a fan magazine for University of Louisville athletics."

[krjpalmer]

The Color Computer Magazine October 1983

Month-appropriate cover aside, this issue was quite positive about the new, white-cased, "official" 64K Color Computer and a "Multi-Pak Interface" that would let you have several "Program Pak" cartridges ready for instant access. (Dennis Kitsz offered instructions on how to hack your silver-cased Color Computer's hardware, in both newer and older variants, to upgrade it to 64K and then put in a better keyboard than even the latest official one.) Both OS-9 and a previous "6809 DOS," FLEX, were examined.

[krjpalmer]

TRS-80 Microcomputer News October 1983

This issue (a little thicker than the one from the month before) introduced multiple new products. The "Model 16B" was distinguished from the previous Model 16 by a built-in 15-megabyte hard disk and two more open expansion slots (and the whole package cost "only $6999.00"). OS-9 was introduced with the comment it would be a little while until application programs making use of its advanced features would be available, and along with the colour ink jet printer the Color Computer had new educational software from the Walt Disney Educational Media Company and the Children's Computer Workshop.

[krjpalmer]

Basic Computing October 1983

The cover story of this issue computerized the solution to an early problem in Martin Gardner's "Mathematical Games" column. (Hopefully, you wouldn't add additional "bugs" typing the program in.) CP/M options for different TRS-80 models were examined, but Radio Shack's official option for the Model 4 still hadn't been made available by the time this issue went to press...

[krjpalmer]

Info-64 Fall 1983

Developed from Cyborg Gazette, the first issue of a "review & product guide for the Commodore 64" was still produced with lo-fi charm (including all-caps dot-matrix editorial content within). It looked forward to the "transportable" Executive 64 (even if "the old rumors of an 8088 or 86 co-processor option" hadn't come to anything) and passed along a report from Jerry Pierson, head of Videobook Corp. in Seattle, that he would bring out "a new 8bit/16bit dual-processor 500K computer with RGB NTSC video output & keyboard with 10-key pad that will run Apple, 64, and IBM PC software," priced at "under $500.00."

[krjpalmer]

Analog Computing September/October 1983

The near the top of the line home computer promised from Atari received an artistic representation on the cover of this issue, although the 1400XL would, indeed, wind up a lost artifact. Brian Moriarty's editorial (he also reviewed the Sierra illustrated adventure game based on The Dark Crystal) brought up Alan Alda admitting that "game authors should get credit for their work," in possibly unaware opposition to Atari not doing that.

[krjpalmer]

Profiles September/October 1983

Although I've had to begin with something other than the first issue of this particular magazine, a "company magazine" from Kaypro, manufacturer of a CP/M "transportable" computer seen as something of an improvement on the Osborne 1 (although packaged in a more utilitarian metal case), does seem worth bringing up. This issue had an article on how to "conquer staff technophobia" in the small office. One piece near the back took on "the alleged 'reluctance' of women to confront the computer revolution," pointing out that plenty of female clerical workers were confronting them, but concerned that girls were finding educational courses unappealing...

[krjpalmer]

Compute's Gazette September 1983

The lead article on "telecomputing" in this issue suggested that "all of our electronics/communications technologies seem to be merging, moving together toward a common center," a "telectronic" supersystem. It asked "Will it really happen within our lifetimes?", then immediately answered "There are strong indications." In the meantime, you could type in a terminal program for your Commodore 64 or VIC-20. (There was also a review of a commercial terminal program for the VIC-20 that could use that computer's graphics to move beyond "twenty-two characters per line" to forty...)

[krjpalmer]

Antic September 1983

There was plenty of educational content in this issue, but also a look at the first (Atari) games from Electronic Arts and its star developers.

[krjpalmer]

The Portable Companion September 1983

The coming-soon machine from Osborne was shown off on this issue's cover in connection with a suitably upscale application.

[krjpalmer]

Portable 100 September 1983

The first issue of this TRS-80 Model 100 magazine (twice as thick as the debut issue of PCM) was from the same publishing company as The Color Computer Magazine. Along with an article enthusing about how much attention the portable computer had generated in the months since its introduction, its features on telecommunications included a column from someone at CompuServe explaining how the online service offered 128K of storage space to each subscriber, four times the maximum RAM of a Model 100. (He didn't use the term "the cloud.")

[krjpalmer]

PCM September 1983

The cover story in this issue explained how to program your "PoCo" to play music; the Model 100's BASIC didn't have "musical note" commands the way the Color Computer's Extended Color BASIC did. One article by Frank Hogg, whose company offered a variety of advanced technology for the Color Computer, explained how to use control-key combinations to move the Model 100's cursor in a very similar fashion to the WordStar word processor. Lonnie Falk's editorial explained how he'd taken his "Portable Computer" to the great pyramids of Egypt and computed their height there.

[krjpalmer]

After resorting to one of my library’s ebook lending services to read a volume of the Peanuts Every Sunday colour collection I’d never quite got around to buying as a proper printed book, I didn’t rush into the following volumes...

[krjpalmer]

The Color Computer Magazine September 1983

The month-appropriate focus of this issue included an article written "just for kids" and a look at educational software from the Sesame Street spinoff "Children's Computer Workshop." William Barden, Jr. explained how to convert a Color Computer BASIC program to the MC-10 and vice versa (they could load each other's cassettes, but "tokenized" their programs differently) and Dennis Kitsz hacked the MC-10's hardware to put in more memory.

[krjpalmer]

TRS-80 Microcomputer News September 1983

The cover of this "education issue" just happened to be illustrated with Radio Shack's newest and most expensive Color Computer, the white-cased "64K" model, pressed into service running Radio Shack's Color Logo.

[krjpalmer]

Basic Computing September 1983

The graphics programs in this issue (now incorporating another TRS-80 magazine's subscriber list) included one that had produced the cover image on a printer. Its author explained it used instructions that had been intended to produce the image on an ordinary typewriter, if perhaps taking longer and harder to correct errors in that previous case.

[krjpalmer]

Compute's Gazette August 1983

The potential readership of this magazine continued to be suggested by the article at the top of this issue's table of contents being "Your First Hour With A Computer." "Should You Join A Users Group?" talked up the Toronto PET Users Group and Jim Butterfield; another article interviewed the game programmer Jeff Minter. While there was also a type-in program named "Cylon Zap" in this issue, "The Viper" wasn't another reference to Battlestar Galactica...