krjpalmer

[krjpalmer]

Microcomputing March 1984

After running out of issues of (formerly Kilobaud) Microcomputing on the Internet Archive, I did find a source for the last few of them, although the February 1984 cover was in black and white. As for this issue, the Macintosh was examined (if with non-finalized software) in some detail and with some interest, although there was the comment "This type of ease of use may create some resentment in the hacker in you—the machine consciously places distance between you and the operating system." One columnist wondered if "household robots" could replace "tinkering on microcomputers," but also noted they would be best as multiple devices tailored for specific uses and plugged in to keep their batteries charged in between those uses. Wayne Green's editorial enthused about the "Tandy 100," noted he'd replaced a "Sony Typecorder" with it, and predicted there might be five million "briefcase computers" sold in 1985. He would later start a magazine called "Pico" ("nano," apparently, called Mork and Mindy rather than the promised technology to mind at the time) striving to promote portable computers.

[krjpalmer]

Compute's Gazette March 1984

"Sea Route to India" in this issue was compared to "Westward Ho" for the PET, which was "an abbreviated version of Oregon Trail". "Guess America" was more of a quiz than a simulation. One page far back in the magazine explained there in fact weren't any "emulators available for the Commodore 64 that allow it to run all Apple software and software for other computers," and the rumours of them had sprung from an old statement by Commodore and the early lack of software for the 64.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing March 1984

Disk drive options from various companies (even including Atari itself) stacked up on the cover of this issue. Brian Moriarty's editorial took on the recent issues at Atari and James Morgan's new reign, but insisted Atari ought to "throw everything they've got into a second-generation machine that's as far ahead of the competition as the 800 was back in 1979."

[krjpalmer]

Antic March 1984

Topics involving Atari computers outside the United States (including an article about the complications of importing them into Canada to try and dodge inadequate distribution there) featured in this issue. As for Atari business closer to home, the magazine also interviewed Atari's new chairman and CEO James Morgan, formerly "a vice president of Philip Morris, Inc.", who was expected to "turn the company around." He insisted Atari was "a company that has bottomed out, that is on its way back."

[krjpalmer]

After a week’s break I returned to my Twilight Zone Blu-Ray set. In that extended pause I had been thinking ahead to the episode “Walking Distance.” It was one of the handful I was already aware of through adaptations, but I did have the impression it hadn’t left quite as much of an impression on me as other examples had. When I did get around to the episode, though, I could see a real point to it now. I suppose I also thought a bit about how my week’s break had involved going home, which put me in a better position than the main character of the episode...

[krjpalmer]

A+ March 1984

This issue was able to report on the actual trip into space of an Apple II motherboard configured to run a Spacelab experiment. The Macintosh was introduced (if not in a lot of detail); another article described Motorola 68000 coprocessor cards to put into your Apple II (although they might not have seemed as immediately useful as Z80 cards to run CP/M or 8088 cards promising to run MS-DOS).

[krjpalmer]

Portable 100 March 1984

Crossing company lines to interface a Model 100 to an Apple II, proclaimed a frequently asked question on CompuServe, was examined in this issue. There were apparently issues doing this at high speed. Telecommunications also provided the subject of a column discussing an "electronic debate on the nuclear arms race" featuring a congressional critic of the administration's policy on a different online service, The Source.

[krjpalmer]

PCM March 1984

A box from Radio Shack that would let your Model 100 access mass storage on floppy disks and the more ample display of a video monitor received enthusiastic attention in this issue. Lonnie Falk's editorial, in enthusing about the Disk/Video Interface, also noted "the Portable" was being bought more by companies than individuals, and wondered if this was cutting down on the number of "hobbyists (or hackers)" writing programs for it.

[krjpalmer]

The Color Computer Magazine March 1984

The background of this issue's cover might fit in with the number of "communications" articles within (including a machine-language terminal that had to be compiled on a 16K machine but would run on a 4K "CoCo"); the foreground might have had to do with the first anniversary of the issue. The back page had editor-in-chief Kerry Leichtman boasting that The Color Computer Magazine had "joined the Ziff-Davis family of computer magazines," alongside Creative Computing, PC, A+, Computers & Electronics, "and many, many more."

[krjpalmer]

TRS-80 Microcomputer News March 1984

A "Line Matrix Printer," which cost $3995 but could print "80 to 150 lines per minute" (Radio Shack also recommended a $149.95 printer stand, given "regular printer stands may not hold up well under the stresses imposed by the LMP 2150") and a "Printer Controller" that could accept print data from a computer and then pass it along to a printer that would otherwise have tied up that computer (similar devices were often called "spoolers") were shown off on the cover of this issue. There were articles inside on advanced features in XENIX and OS-9.

[krjpalmer]

With the continued impression manga releases from Denpa keep missing release date after release date before they’re available for purchase at last, there was some element of “trying to help the company” in my mind when I ordered a copy of They Were 11! When that manga arrived, though, I was a bit impressed by its oversized pages and production values, including not just colour plates at the front but “semi-coloured” pages within...

[krjpalmer]

Basic Computing March 1984

The ever-thorny question of "compatibility" (which might have been of particular interest with Radio Shack computers, given the number of different CPUs they used) featured in this issue, which had a program to transfer Model III BASIC programs straight to a tape the Model 100 could load and offered tips to convert Apple II BASIC programs to the TRS-80. However, this issue also happened to be the last, unheralded appearance of Basic Computing...

[krjpalmer]

Compute's Gazette February 1984

"PBS's new series" about computers mentioned in the corner of the cover of this issue happened to have first aired on TVOntario. One article inside managed to compare the "software and record industries," mentioning that both of them had issues with piracy. Fred D'Ignazio enthused about how his four-year-old son was becoming creative with the Koala Pad graphics tablet.

[krjpalmer]

ANALOG Computing February 1984

The graphics programs in this issue ranged from a font editor to a short demo "to silence that neighbor who won't stop bragging about his new Commodore 64," according to Brian Moriarty's editorial. (The demo was an opportunity to bring up "display list interrupts and color indirection.")

[krjpalmer]

Antic February 1984

Along with its personal finance articles, this issue reported in more detail on Atari becoming "the official home computer of the 1984 Olympics."

[krjpalmer]

A+ February 1984

Interfacing your Apple II to the wider world (using means as simple as the "game controller connector" or as complicated as expansion cards) provided the cover stories for this issue. There was also an article about how the computers were helping "Third World countries make crucial population-control decisions."

[krjpalmer]

Portable 100 February 1984

Tracking your appointments and expenses on the go through a type-in program provided the cover story for this issue. The magazine also reported on the introduction of the non-portable Tandy 2000, with John P. Mello Jr.'s editorial getting in a dig at those who'd brushed off the Model 100 as merely "made in Japan and repackaged by Radio Shack."