Source: Byte – September 1985
Subtitled “The Small Systems Journal”, Byte covered a wide variety of home and hobby computers in its earlier days. Towards the end of its life, it became more of a standard PC magazine. In 1985, however, it was large (almost 500 pages for this issue) and covered a lot. The September 1985 issue includes:
Features
- Ciarcia’s Circuit Cellar: Build the SB180 Single-Board Computer – The SB180 was a single board computer featuring a 6 MHz HD64180 processor from Hitachi that was Z80 code compatible and could directly address 512KB of RAM (as opposed to the more limited 64K that the Z80 could directly address). This first part of a two part series focuses on the hardware.
- Programming Project: An Analysis of Sorts – A look at the algorithms and speed of various sorting algorithms including the selection sort, merge sort, and quick sort.
- The DSI-32 Coprocessor Board, Part 2: The Software – The second of a two part series on the DSI-32 co-processor board for the IBM PC. The co-processor in this case is the National Semiconductor 32032. This part focuses on the software.
- An Algorithm for Disk Caching with Limited Memory – A set of C-language routines for caching data from floppy disks.
- Astrophysical Number Crunching – A history of the use of “personal computers” in theoretical astrophysics. Or at least the history from one astrophysicist’s perspective.
- Two Generalized Floating-Point Representations – A look at both a partitioned representation which allows a trade-off between range and precision and a variable-based representation featuring a larger range but fixed accuracy.
- Turbo Pascal Drives the Mouse – Two Turbo Pascal procedures that you can use to interface your programs with a mouse.
- IBM Compatibility for the NEC APC III – It was not uncommon in the early to mid 1980s for computers to have limited or no IBM PC compatibility even thought they had the same basic architecture. A patch is presented here that gives the NEC APC III compatibility with at least some PC apps.
- Programming Insight: Printing Pascal Graphics – A routine for dumping Pascal graphics on the Apple II to any Epson MX Printer.
Themes
- EGO: A Hombuilt CPU, Part I: The Software – The first of a two-part series on the author’s experience crating a homemade CPU. This part focuses on the instruction set.
- The Quarter-Meg Atari 800XL – Upgrading your Atari 800XL all the way to 256K and turning some of that RAM into a RAMdisk. This article includes a parts list and instructions for constructing your own 256K expansion.
- A Parallel-To-Serial Printer Port Adapter – Instructions for building a $35 parallel-to-serial printer port adapter that will allow you to connect a serial printer to your parallel port.
- Add Function Keys to your Microcomputer – Instructions for building a function-key-generator circuit. The idea is to let you add additional keys to your keyboard via an attachment (similar to an external numeric pad) and then be able to program those keys to perform various functions (up to 15 keystrokes).
Reviews
- Reviewer’s Notebook – A brief look at upcoming products including the HP 110 Portable Plus and a WORM drive featuring a 400MB capacity for a mere $5000.
- The Kaypro 16 – A portable PC compatible featuring two floppy drives (or one flopp drive and one hard drive) and 256K of RAM for $2295 to $3295 depending on whether you want that hard drive or not.
- The Osborne 3 – Another portable PC compatible featuring an 80C86 running at 3.5 MHz, two 5.25″ disk drives, 256K RAM and an LCD (80 characters x 16 lines). It’s only partially PC compatible though and will not work with programs that directly address the hardware.
- WordStar 2000 – A new easier to use version of this word processor for MS-DOS 2.0. It cost between $500 and $600 depending on whether you got the plus version or not.
- XyWrite II Plus – A less expensive word processor ($300). It was somewhat unique in that many of its commands were done through a command line interface vs. menus.
- Filevision – A visual data management system for the Macintosh.
- DB Master for the Macintosh – A simple to use database managment system for the Macintosh.
- Paradise Modular Graphics Card – A graphics card from Paradise that could display both color graphics on an RGB monitor and or 16 shades on a monochrome monitor (16 shades). It was common at the time for you to need two different video cards if you wanted to be able to display on both color and monochrome monitors.
- The RAMDISK-64 – A RAMdisk device for the Commodore 64 that simulates a disk drive. It comes with 64K of RAM for $149 and is expandable up to 256K.
- Keyport 717 – A programmable membrane keyboard for the Apple II. It has 717 key locations that can be programmed to be whatever you want.
Kernel
- Computing At Chaos Manor: PC’s, Peripherals, Programs, and People – Jerry Pournelle reports on a joint press conference by Apple’s Steve Jobs and Microsoft’s William Gates in which they announced Excel for the Macintosh and Switcher, a program that allows you to switch between programs on the Mac. Plus a look at a lot of other products including a new version of BASIC.
- Byte U.K.: Seventh Anniversary of Microcomputing – A condensed history of personal computing in Britain for the 10th anniversary of Byte. Plus a look at the Husky Hunter.
- Byte Japan: A History of Japan’s Microcomputers – Some of the computers covered here include the TLCS-12, uCOM-4, uCOM-8, uCOM-16, NEC 700, TK-80, MZ-80, and PC-8001.
- According to Webster: West Coast Faire, Mac Stuff, and the Amiga – The West Coast Computer Faire isn’t what it used to be; Apple to offer ROM upgrade for the Mac but only for those that haven’t done their own mods; the Amiga shines as the only easily expandable new low cost computer; and more.
- Mathematical Recreations – Dealing with irrational numbers (like Pi) in BASIC.
- Circuit Cellar Feedback – TI-99/4A memory expansion, monitoring phone calls from a 6809 single-board computer, books on building computers, and more.
- Bytelines – Verbatim demonstrates 47 megabyte 3.5″ erasable optical disk; top ten microcomputer makers include IBM, Apple and Commodore at the top; Apple experiences first quarterly loss; and more.
Departments
- Editorial – Looking back at the last 10 years of personal computers plus, helping The Computer Museum expand its exhibits.
- Microbytes – Optical drives, CD-ROMs, image scanners and laser printers show up at the National Computer Conference in Chicago; Motorolla asks FCC to allow radio LANs; Epson, ABC and Indesys signed agreement to deliver electronic info over FM radio station; and more.
- Letters – Letters from readers about the AT&T PC 6300, DEC’s Rainbow, the IBM PC (a vote against coverage), more powerful BASIC, and more.
- What’s New – A brief look at new products including the SwyftCard for the Apple IIe, VP-Planner from Paperback Software, Corvus Cheetah 68010 based workstation, the Megadata 8300 Model Seven 68000 based Unix workstation, 10 and 20 megabyte hard drives from HP, and more.
- Ask Byte – Questions answered about a computer for a starship, S-100 emulator boards, the Radio Shack PC-3 pocket computer, and more.
- Book Reviews – Reviews of A Computer & Communications Network Analysis Primer, Applied Programming Techniques in C, Diagramming Techniques for Analysts and Programmers, and Introduction to Computer Engineering.
…and more!
