Byte (October 1978)

Source: Byte – October 1978

Byte was a long running computer magazine published between the late 1970s and the early 1990s. This issue is “only” around 200 pages but it grew quickly and some issues reached 500 pages and more. The October 1978 issue would have hit the stands almost exactly 46 years ago and includes:

Foreground

No Power For Your Interfaces? – Instructions for building a 5 watt DC to DC converter designed to power add-on boards.

A “Tiny” Pascal Compiler, Part 2: The P-Compiler – The second part in a series on creating a Pascal compiler.

Testing Memory in BASIC – A BASIC program for testing memory (other than the 8K it is loaded in).

First Steps in Computer Chess Programming – A tutorial for creating a chess program using Sargon as an example.

Linear Circuit Analysis – An article that presents the fundamentals of a frequency domain linear circuit analysis program. This article gives you flow charts and mathematical equations but you have to write your own program.

Solving The Eight Queens Problem – The eight queens problem is a chess puzzle the object of which is to place eight queens on an 8×8 chess board in such a way that no queen can take another. This article presents multiple ways for solving the problem.

A Simpler Digital Cassette Tape Interface – A guide to building a simple computer cassette interface. Cassettes were the affordable method of secondary storage before floppy drives became affordable.

Souping Up Your SwTPC 6800 – The SWTPC 6800 was one of the first microcomputers based around the Motorola 6800 processor. This article presents a hardware mod to speed up the CPU by 10%.

A Novel Bar Code Reader – This idea of scanning a lengthy barcode to input a computer program showed up in byte on a few occasions. This particular implementation of the idea used a turntable and fruit juice can.

A Computer Chess Tutorial – Keeping with the theme of this issue, another article on computer chess.

Background

A Memory Pattern Sensitivity Test – An assembly language program that detects pattern sensitivity related errors in memory. These are errors that occur when accessing one area of memory alters another memory location when it contains a certain pattern of bits.

PAM/8: A New Approach to Front Panel Design – An article on the design of the front panel firmware of the Heath H8 computer. Of course, the idea of front panels as such would rapidly become obsolete.

Assembling The H9 Video Terminal – A terminal was essentially a monitor and keyboard assembly that connected to computers via a serial interface. If you wanted a video display and keyboard input in the early days of computers then this is how it was done. You could buy a terminal fully assembled but given the cost of computer equipment at a time it was common to be able to buy stuff in kit format and assemble it yourself for significant savings. This tutorial covers assembling the H9 Video Terminal which was designed as an accessory for the Heathkit H8 computer though I’m sure it could be used with other machines.

Creating a Chess Player – Another chess article. An interesting quote from the article: “In the 1990s, … the compactness and reasoning power of an intelligence built out of silicon will begin to match that of the human brain.”

Nucleus

On Using a Personal Computer for a Practical Purpose – Practical uses for an Apple II in Byte offices includes analyzing reader survey information.

Letters – Letters from readers about modular programming, the TRS-80, a KIM-1 timer, resetting the SwTPC 6800, personal computer insurance, and more.
Book Reviews – A review of Microprocessor Programming for Computer Hobbyists by Neil Graham.

Technical Forum – Discussions on the discovery and use of undocumented op codes and analog computers.

Programming Quickies – Short type-in programs for formatting dollars and cents (BASIC), generating mazes (Apple I BASIC), and altering the North Star’s deletion characters (assembly).

Product Description: Micro-Scan Corp Bar Code Scanner – A technical look at the BCS-1 hand held bar code scanner.

What’s New – A look at new products including Microchess 1.5 for the TRS-80, a new accounts receivable package for CP/M based machines, the Boris chess computer, Tiny BASIC extended for the North Star, Star Wars game for 8080 based machines, a PDP-8 Simulator for 8080 machines, and more.