Source: Commodore Magazine – January 1987

Commodore Magazine was one of the first magazines I ever bought on a regular basis. It covered the Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Amiga line as well as Commodore’s PC clones. I only had the Commodore 64 but I enjoyed reading about the Amiga since I wanted one at the time. The January 1987 issue includes:

Departments

• Letters – Comments on previous articles and reviews including Invisible BASIC, Kinney Video Digitizer, and more.
• News – Making the news this month is Epyx’s 500XJ Joystick, a laser printing service using GEOS and QuantumLink, an update to the 128 Buyer’s Guide, The Commodore Show at L.A., and more.

• Software Reviews
  • Mind Walker – An odd sort of puzzle game for the Amiga.
  • Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? – Explore the world looking for Carmen Sandiego with this game for the Commodore 64.
  • Vizastar 128 – Vizistar 128 is a combination spreadsheet/database/graphing program. It takes advantage of the Commodore 128’s additional memory and 80 column display.
  • Color Mail – A program for the Commodore 64 published by Hallmark for creating and sending (via CompuServe) electronic greeting cards.
  • ABC Caterpillar – An educational game for the Commodore 64 that teaches spelling.
  • Mrs. Mac – A reading/phonics educational game for the Commodore 64. There are actually two separate programs each costing $30 at the time, Mrs. Mac’s Consonants and Mrs. MAc’s Short Vowels.

• Tips & Tricks – This month, a Commodore 128 mind reader, a disk buyer’s guide, tips on using the second side of a disk, making tabs and labels, storing disks, making disk mailers, a program loading tip, and a screens saver.

• Technical Tips
  • How to Build a Light Pen – A complete parts list and instructions for building a light pen for your Commodore 64.
  • CP/M Public Domain – A guide to obtaining public domain CP/M software that will work with the Commodore 128.

• Amiga Update
  • Deluxe Video Advanced User’s Guide – Some excerpts from the book of the same name.

• Silicon Valley Insider
  • From America’s Cup to OutrAegis ’86 – Aegis announces support for the CD-I along with a bunch of software for it; Digital Engineering releases a new video digitizer for the Commodore 64; Electronic Arts releases two new games, America’s Cup and Star Fleet 1, for the Commodore 64.

• Telecommunications
  • Connect! – A beginner’s guide to telecommunications including the definitions of some commonly used terms such as Answer/Originate Mode, ASCII, Baud, Bit, Buffer, Bulletin Board, and more.

• Computer Tutor
  • Mobsters! – A guide for creating and using Sprites and other Moveable Objects on the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128.

• 64 Users Only
  • Show Anything Slide Show – This type in program provides a slide show that will work with your graphics in a variety of formats, including KoalaPainter, Doodle!, Flying Colors, UltraBASIC 64, HES Graphics BASIC, CadPak 64, Two Color, title and B/Graph.

• Jiffies
  • Kaleidoscope – A short program that displays an ever changing kaleidoscope pattern on your Commodore 64.
  • E.S.P. – A program that tests your E.S.P. abilities by letting you sense what shape will be displayed on the next card.
  • Basic Clock – This short program displays an on screen clock.

• User Groups – A list of Commodore user groups around the country that have been officially recognized by Commodore as Approved User Groups.

• Adventure Road
  • Bastian, the Back-seat Adventurer – Some commentary on recent adventure games for the Commodore 64 including The Neverending Story, Tass Times in Tone Town, Trinity, Breakers, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Auto Duel, Knights of Destiny and more.

• Q-Link Update
  • Inside QuantumLink – QuantumLink was a Commodore 64 only online service that was the direct predecessor to America Online. This month’s update discusses downloading public domain software among other things.

Features

• Inside GEOS – GEOS was the graphical user interface for Commodore 64 and 128 computers by Berkeley Softworks. This is an interview with the president of Berkeley Softworks and includes some of their plans for GEOS and associated applications.

• 1986: The Year In Computers – Some computer related highlights for 1986 including quotes from Ronald Reagan, Jay Leno, Matthew Broderick and others; first year success for the Commodore 128; the redesigned Commodore 64C; the first wave of software for the Amiga and much more. For context, 1986 included the Challenger disaster, Halley’s comet, Microsoft announces public stock offering; Max Headroom is born…

• What To Do With Your Christmas Money – A sort of after Christmas buyer’s guide. Items listed include a binary clock, computerized greeting cards, a hat with built-in fan and solar panel, a jigsaw puzzle of an Intel CPU, playing cards with a heroes of the computer age theme, and much more.

…and more!

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