GamePro (June 1996)

GamePro (June 1996)

Byte (November 1982)

Byte (November 1982)

Vintage Photos - Oestreicher (1317-1320)

See the previous post in this series here.

I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides a while back. These pictures span from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s. These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are many thousands of these slides. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.

Getting your pictures processed as slides used to be pretty common but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. However, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides from the late 1950s that I acquired after he died. That along with having some negatives I wanted to scan is what prompted me to buy a flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives, an Epson V600. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job.

This set continues a large batch of slides that originally came from an estate sale and appear to have belonged to a locally well known photographer (or perhaps a friend or family member) from the Spokane Washington area and later Northern Idaho named Leo Oestreicher. He was known for his portrait and landscape photography and especially for post cards. His career started in the 1930s and he died in 1990. These slides contain a lot of landscape and portrait photos but also a lot of photos from day to day life and various vacations around the world. Here's an article on him from 1997 which is the only info I have found on him: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jan/04/photos-of-a-lifetime-museum-acquisition-of-leo/

Many of these slides had the date they were processed stamped or printed on them. I've found that in cases where I could verify the date, that this date has typically been the same month the photos were taken. In other words, I expect that in MOST cases these photos were taken relatively near the processing date.

Click the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using. There are also versions processed with the simpler dust removal option along with color restoration.

All of the photos in this set are unlabeled and undated but are likely from the late 1950s or early 1960s. All of these are versions of the images processed with color correction and Digital ICE. Without that they consisted of barely discernible shades of red.

I believe the first photo was taken in Mexico as previous photos from whatever event this is featured a mariachi band:

The second photo features the Washington Monument:

A Google image search helped me identify the third photo. It is the Illinois Memorial in Vicksburg National Military Park:

The last photo is the most interesting. It features the Sprague which was the world's largest steam powered sternwheeler towboat. Nicknamed 'Big Mama' it was built in 1901 and used for more than 40 years towing mostly coal and oil up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers (among others). It could push vast amounts of cargo setting records for coal (the equivalent of 1,500 railroad cars) and oil (11 million gallons). The Sprague was decommissioned in 1948 in Memphis, TN and then used as a floating museum in Vicksburg, MS. Sadly, the Sprague burned in 1974. This photo was probably taken between 1959 and 1962. I'm basing that on another very similar photo I found (see below). It looks like in the one I have that a new paint job was in progress. In the other (presumably slightly later) photo, the paint job is finished but pretty much everything else in the picture looks identical. This photo was taken in the winter and the other was taken in the spring or summer (probably immediately after):

This photo was found at https://steamboats.com/museum/davet-photossprague.html where a lot more info and photos of the Sprague can be found:

The entire collection that has been scanned and uploaded so far can also be found here.

Computer Shopper (August 1992)

Computer Shopper (August 1992)

Computer Shopper, at its height, was by far the largest magazine I ever saw in terms of page count. This issue has about 950 pages. And yes, it really did resemble a telephone book in terms of size. The August 1992 issue includes:

Features

• Windows 3.1 vs. OS/2 - This article compares OS/2 2.0 with Windows 3.1. When I had my 486, I really wanted to move from Windows 3.1 to OS/2 2.1. It had better multitasking and could run Windows and DOS apps. However, at the time, I couldn't find a driver for my video card so I was stuck at like 640x480 and 256 colors (or maybe only 16) which wasn't acceptable. I gave up and went back to Windows 3.1 but upgraded to Windows 95 when it was released.


• Moving Up - Upgrading CPUs was often not a viable option back in the day. The introduction of clock doubled and overdrive processors from Intel changed this. My first "PC" which I bought a year later included a clock doubled 486 (66 MHz). With an overdrive processor you could literally double the speed of your machine and even move from a 486 to a Pentium in some cases. Several systems and overdrive processors are benchmarked here.

Shopper's Guide: Tape Backups

• Random, and Proud of It - Tape drive were a (relatively) inexpensive way to back up data but were not random access which means they were not easy to use except for complete system backups and restores. This article goes over some of the random access alternatives such as floptical drives ($500 plus $22 for a 20 MB disk), Bernoulli Drives ($800 plus extra for the 90 MB disks), SyQuests's removable hard drive ($800 plus $70-$100 for 105 MB disks), and others.


• How to Buy Tape Drives - A guide for determining what you need in a tape backup drive. Or if you even need one at all.


• Reckoning the Cost per Megabyte - A look at several different backup devices (tape drives and others) and the cost per megabyte factoring in both device and media cost.


• How It Works - A technical look at how tape storage works.


• The Tale of the Tape: What's New - State of the art in upcoming tape backup technology at the time included 425 MB storage on a single tape and speeds of 27 Mb per minute.

_{Table of Contents from the August 1992 issue of Computer Shopper}

Trends and Technology

• Contents - CD-ROM drive prices drop to $200; more vendors selling direct; IBM and Microsoft code sharing agreement to end; usage of e-mail and voice mail explodes; more software shipping on CD; new class of smaller "subnotebooks" including the Gateway 2000 Handbook featuring a 286 processor, 1 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard drive; world's smallest hard drive at 1.3-inches holds 200 MB of data; PC theft skyrockets 400 percent; new technology allows for wireless data transfer; Spain digitizing historical documents; and more.


• John Dickinson - The link between lowering real-estate values and increasing PC sales and why companies like Gateway 2000 are having huge success while companies like IBM are struggling.


• Charles Cooper - A look at mail order computer prices versus quality plus the increasing availability as computers are sold in more places; preventing your 486 from overheating; Ziff Buyer's Market to help you buy PC; and more.


• Michale Slater - The ACE Initiative was intended to set a hardware standard for running both Windows NT and SCO Open Desktop Unix on 80x86 and MIPS. It failed as Compaq ran into financial problems and withdrew support.

Reviews

• Approach 1.0 - Database software for Windows.


• Excel 4.0 - The latest iteration of the best spreadsheet software for Windows.


• SuperStor - Disk compression software similar to Stacker or DoubleSpace.


• Fujitsu DL 1200 - A color 24-pin dot-matrix printer for $649 which at the time was a "good value".

_{Table of Contents from the August 1992 issue of Computer Shopper (continued)}

Tech Section

• The Hard Edge - Setting up DOS 5.0 properly, the PC as a video production tool, document management, a 3.5" disk shortage, competing local bus implementations, and more.


• Ask Dr. John - Questions answered about FAX modems, repairing laser printers, Video BIOS Shadow settings, and more.


• Beginner's Corner - Questions answered about automatically disabling NUM LOCK and print buffers.


• What's New Online - New windows based front ends for CompuServe and BIX and further trends in this direction. Plus, a look at what's new at BIX, CompuServe, Delphi, and GEnie online services.


• Freebies of the Month - A look at some of the latest freely available software, including TreeWalker (file management) and Downline 1.1.1 (archive utility for the Mac).


• Binding Time - Book reviews of Voodoo DOS, DR DOS 6.0 Customizing Toolkit, PC Magazine Guide to Linking LANs, and Telecommunications 2.


• Simple Tips for NetWare Users - Basic power commands for NetWare.


• Souping Up a 286 - In the early 1990s, computers were advancing fast but it was still common to see 286s and even XTs still in use. This guide offers options for upgrading your 286 based machine. In addition to common upgrades such as increasing memory and adding more hard drive space, there are also software options including disk doubling software, task swapping software, tools like Norton Desktop, etc. Plus there are options for adding a mouse upgrading or adding a modem, and more.

Software

• Presentation Packages - A look at presentation software for both the Mac and the PC including Persuasion 2.1 for Windows, Freelance Graphics for Windows, Harvard Graphics for Windows, PowerPoint for Windows, and More 3.1 for the Mac.


• Screen Savers - Modern screens aren't really susceptible to burn-in and haven't been for a long time. That combined with the fact that modern monitors also have power saving modes that turn them off has really eliminated the need for screensavers. Nevertheless, I wish Afterdark was still a thing. This review examines six screen-savers including After Dark for Windows 2.0, Intermission for Windows 3.0, Pyro! for Dos 2.0, Screen Saver Plus for Dos, Microsoft Entertainment Pack, After Dark for Macintosh 2.0, and Pyro! for the Macintosh 4.0.


• Tech Q&As for Windows Word Processors - Answers to the ten most frequently asked questions for Word for Windows, Ami Pro, and WordPerfect for Windows.


• Soft Watch - A look at the best selling software in a variety of categories on both the PC and the Mac.

Smart Shopper

• Ad Watch - A look at trends in advertising including the inclusion of antivirus software with systems, Intel cutting prices on 486SX chips to undercut AMDs 386 sales, Cyrix 486SLC competition, and more.


• System Price Index - A chart of PC prices over the past few months based on processor.


• New Distribution Strategies for Software - New ways to sell software include demos on CDs, software downloads, and more.


• Components Price Index - Price charts over the past few months for motherboards, hard drives, modems, and printers.

Departments

• Feedback Forum - Feedback from readers about voice recognition, retailers passing along credit card surcharges, maintaining trackballs, and more.


• Bulletin Boards - A list of BBSes all around the country. The BBS of the month is Channel 1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts which includes 70 lines, 2,000 conferences, and 8 gigabytes of storage.

_{Back cover of the August 1992 issue of Computer Shopper}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2024/09/09/computer-shopper-august-1992/

Comrade Kamala? Assessing Three of Harris’s New Economic Proposals

The Kamala Harris campaign is still relatively young. The current Vice President and previous US Senator from California has barely been in the race for a month. Her first concrete economic plans are being announced and, for the most part, panned by economists. Let’s examine some of these proposals, their effects, and why economists oppose them.

1. Price Caps on Groceries

Let’s begin with the most shocking Harris proposal—a federal ban on “price gouging” for groceries. Let’s start with the rhetoric and then get down to brass tacks. What is price gouging? It’s a term without any clear tie to economic facts.

Historically, “price gouging” referred to price increases caused by disasters (e.g., bottled water being more expensive during hurricanes). But of course, when demand increases or supply decreases, prices do naturally rise to prevent shortages. Labeling this as “gouging” in certain circumstances is arbitrary at best.

Furthermore, what sort of crisis are we appealing to in order to say there is price gouging? Covid still? Since the Covid pandemic ended over two years ago (even according to Fauci), that really doesn’t make sense. Is the crisis that inflation is making things unaffordable? Well, if the disaster behind this gouging is price increases, then all price increases are defined as gouging. That doesn’t make any sense either.

To be blunt, gouging is just a word used for emotional effect. We can always pick some arbitrary benchmark of “fair” or “unfair” price increases, but that benchmark will remain arbitrary.

Now let’s move to the brass tacks. What would this mean? The way the language is couched, this policy would amount to nothing more than a form of price control. Regardless of the particular form this ban takes, any law which penalizes a store for having prices above some point is a price control. Insofar as this policy affects prices at all, it is a price control. Insofar as it doesn’t affect prices, the policy is spurious.

What’s the problem here? Well, when either demand increases or supply decreases (or both), the competition to buy a good increases relative to the available supply. This means that more people will be bidding for the same number of products. If prices do not rise, the products will run out, and some people who are willing to pay the current price cannot purchase the good in question because it has run out. Economists call this a shortage.

If, instead, prices are allowed to rise, two things happen. First, higher prices cause buyers to decrease their consumption relative to lower prices. Second, higher prices incentivize producers to supply more of a product, since a higher price commands a higher revenue. These two forces work together to make sure that all potential buyers can purchase the number of goods they are willing to pay for.

Harris’s team claims that the pandemic was used by businesses as a pretext to trick people, to increase prices more than rising costs called for, and that this is a corrective measure. So are grocery stores pulling one over on people? Not so.

Grocery stores have tiny margins compared to other industries. Look at the data.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a 1.2 percent profit margin means that for every 1 dollar of sales a grocery store makes, it keeps 1.2 cents in profit. The rest goes to pay costs. If costs were just a couple of cents per dollar higher in the grocery industry, grocery stores would take losses and start to go out of business.

The Harris team may try to walk this back and propose a policy to help grocery stores with their costs so that they can “pass on” the savings (though that’s not exactly how it works), but as of now the wording threatens at least de facto punishment for increasing prices. Low grocery prices sound nice, but food shortages don’t.

The bottom line is that grocery stores aren’t responsible for increasing the money supply by 40 percent over two years during the Covid policy era, which is the real driver of the price inflation we’ve experienced.

2. A Subsidy for New Homebuyers

Next, Harris is considering offering a $25,000 subsidy for new homebuyers. The policy has a similar ring to it. Housing is a significant part of the average American’s budget, and Harris will play well with getting young voters to turn out if she promises them $25,000 off their housing bill.

So what’s wrong with this? Do myself and other economists hate affordable housing? Quite the contrary. Harris’s policy will hurt housing affordability for many. If someone is considering whether to rent or buy for housing, promising him $25,000 to buy is going to convince many people on the fence to buy. This wave of new buyers will increase the demand for housing, and, as a result, prices will rise.

Not only this, but as prices rise, many landlords may decide that the new higher price tags on their rental units are worth selling for. The supply of houses for rent would tend to decrease, resulting in higher rental prices.

So while new homebuyers might experience a slightly lower cost (net of the new price increases), everyone trying to move and buy a new home is going to face higher prices.

The problem doesn’t end there. The government isn’t sitting on any piles of cash to hand out $25,000 subsidies. The policy will ultimately be financed by debt, and debt must be repaid (plus interest!) with future taxes. So even the first-time homebuyer may be worse off in dollar terms over the course of his life, as he pays higher future taxes for others.

Put simply, subsidizing demand means higher prices and higher taxes. This is no gateway to affordability.

3. Increasing the Child Tax Credit

The last of Harris’s policies on the docket is the only one that I can think of in a positive light: increasing the child tax credit for newborns.

I think there are good reasons to support a kind of policy like this because the current Social Security welfare system is subsidized heavily by parents. Under current US law, parents pay the bulk of the expenses of raising their children, but when those children grow up and work, their wages are used to support the retirement of everyone—so parents are indirectly supporting retirements.

Historically, support for retired parents was directly assumed by their children. Now, the benefit of children in this facet is socialized, while the cost is privatized to parents.

As such, I’m generally supportive of more tax credits. In theory, it tackles the twin problems of an anti-natal system combined with the looming baby bust.

My praise for Harris for this policy proposal is qualified, however, because the numbers just don’t amount to much. The policy proposal calls for a one-time increase in the child tax credit for newborns, to $6,000. Right now, the child tax credit varies, but it hovers around $3,000 per child.

So, as I read the proposal, this is a one-time increase of $3,000 spread out over 18 years of a child’s life. It isn’t nothing, but a couple hundred bucks a year isn’t exactly consequential either.

Will this policy fix a looming baby bust? Probably not. While money incentives can work to increase birth rates, they tend to come with high price tags before they work. Besides, there are better ways to increase birth rates that cost a lot less money and would have a far greater impact.

In sum, Kamala Harris’s first round of economic policies range from underwhelming to downright bad. We can only hope that, if she wins, cooler heads prevail at the policy table.

Comrade Kamala? Assessing Three of Harris’s New Economic Proposals

Source: https://fee.org/articles/comrade-kamala-assessing-three-of-harriss-new-economic-proposals/

Byte (October 1978)

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 8x8 chess board in such a way that no queen can take another. This article presents multiple ways for solving the problem.

_{Table of Contents from the October 1978 issue of Byte}

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.

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.

_{Back cover of the October 1978 issue of Byte}

Read more: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress/index.php/2024/09/07/byte-october-1978/