Thursday, April 13, 2023

Compute! (July 1982)

Compute! was one of the earliest home computer magazines. By 1982 it had already been published for a couple of years and was covering computers such as the Atari 400/800, Commodore PET, VIC-20, Apple II and others. The July 1982 issue includes:

Features

Gold Rush! - A type-in game for the VIC-20 and Atari 400/800 in which you must mine gold while avoiding cave-ins.

IRA Planner - A type-in BASIC program to help you plan and calculate the future value of your IRA.

Maze Race - A type-in BASIC maze race game in which you can race the computer or a human opponent to the center of the maze.

Education and Recreation

Recursive BASIC Subroutines - A tutorial on using recursive programming in BASIC programs using the Towers of Brahma problem as an example.

Screen Graphics - A tutorial on manipulating screen graphics with specific examples for Atari and Commodore computers.

Answer Selection With Joysticks - A BASIC program for the VIC-20 and Atari computers that demonstrates how to use the Joystick to select items on the screen.

Apple Game Paddles - Think you're a hardcore gamer? Gamers in the early 80s built their own controllers.

Reviews

Caverns of Mars - An action game for the Atari 400/800 in which you must fly your way through the tunnels of Mars battling Martians along the way.

Two Programs from the VIC Six Pack - Reviews of Car Chase, a game in which you race a car around a square while collecting dots and avoiding the other car; and Blue Meanies From Outer Space, a game somewhat similar to Space Invaders.

SoftBox: CP/M for PET/CBM - A CP/M emulator for the PET. It's essentially a CP/M computer that plugs between the PET and disk drive that allows you to use the monitor, keyboard and disk drives of your PET.

_{Table of Contents from the July 1982 issue of Compute!}

Columns and Departments

The Editor's Notes - A brief look at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show and National Computer Conference in Houston. Highlights included a bunch of new computers from Commodore, including the BX256, B128, "P" Series, Commodore 64, and Commodore MAX.

Ask the Readers - A conversation with readers about extending languages, Atari computer lock-ups, Fast-Find for the Commodore PET and VIC-20, using the GET BASIC command on Atari computers, and more.

Computers and Society - Achieving computer literacy with PILOT and LOGO, making music with computers, and more.

The Beginner's Page: Making Files Work - File handling in BASIC using the Commodore PET/VIC-20, Atari 400/800 and Apple II.

Friends of the Turtle - Fractal graphics using Apple LOGO and Atari PILOT.

The World Inside the Computer - Kids and computers.

The Journal

A Direct Access File Editor - A type-in BASIC file editing tool for the PET/CBM and Atari disk users.

MicroDOS - A technique for optimizing your Atari DOS disks to reduce disk storage and memory requirements.

Whither VIC - A look at the brief history of the VIC so far (about a year old at the time) and its immediate future.

Super QuadraPET - A type-in program for partitioning memory on the PET and moving programs between those partitions.

Apple DOS Changer - A BASIC program that will rename potentially destructive DOS commands (like INIT which erases a disk). Useful in a classroom setting.

Atari Video Graphics and the New GTIA - In 1982 Atari computers got a graphics upgrade with the new GTIA chip. It included a new sixteen color mode, the ability to generate 256 colors, and much more.

All About PET/CBM Character Sets - An article describing all of the currently existing PET/CBM character sets in detail.

Language Lab - A type-in program to help you learn a foreign language on your Atari 400/800.

_{Back cover of the July 1982 issue of Compute!}

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