Byte (June 1986)

Byte (June 1986)

Though it gradually became more PC-centric over the years, Byte covered many systems. For whatever reason, it seemed to fade away sooner than some other PC specific magazines. Too bad as this was perhaps the best computer magazine. The August 1986 issue includes:

Features

• Similarity Mapping - A program written in Microsoft BASIC 2.0 for the Macintosh that implements a technique called multidimensional scaling to do things like create maps based on distances.


• Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: Parallel Interfacing - Part two of a tutorial on parallel interfacing. This part discusses various parallel adapters and uses for them.


• The Definicon 68020 Co-processor - The second and final article in a series which discusses the DSI-020 co-processor board (featuring a 68020 CPU) for IBM XTs/ATs/compatibles. This part focuses on software available for the board.

_{Table of Contents from the August 1986 issue of Byte}

Theme: Object-Oriented Languages

• Elements of Object-Oriented Programming - A discussion of the features that a language must have to be considered object-oriented.


• A Small Taste of SmallTalk - SmallTalk is an object-oriented language that was briefly popular. It had been around for quite some time by this point but it seemed to reach peak popularity during the second half of the 1980s.


• Objects, Icons, and Software-ICs - Using object-oriented languages to create icon based user interfaces.


• Object-Oriented Languages for the Macintosh - An overview of object-oriented languages available for the Macintosh including SmallTalk, Object Pascal, Neon, ExperCommonLISP, Objective-C, Object Assembler, and Object Logo.


• MacApp: An Application Framework - A framework designed to make software development on the Macintosh easier by implementing most of the Macintosh user-interface standard.

Reviews

• The NCR PC6 - A PC compatible featuring an 8088-2 processor that can run at 4.77 MHz or 8 MHz, 256K to 512K of RAM, two floppy drives or a single floppy drive and 10-megabyte hard drive and optionally a tape backup. Prices range from $2390 to $3690.


• The Sperry PC/IT - An IBM PC AT clone featuring an 80286 CPU with configurable speeds (though the 7.16-MHz 0 wait state option would seem to be the best), a 44.6 megabyte hard drive, a 1.2MB floppy drive, a 360K floppy drive and 512K of RAM for $6044.


• DeSmet C Development Package for the Macintosh - A low-cost ($150) C compiler for the Macintosh.


• TOPSI 2.0 - An implementation of the OPS5 production system language (for creating rule-based expert systems) written in Turbo Pascal for MS-DOS computers.


• Let's C and CSD - An inexpensive ($75) C development package and debugger for XT class machines.

_{Table of contents from the August 1986 issue of Byte (continued)}

Kernel

• Computing at Chaos Manor: Off We Go - United States Air Force Academy starts requiring students to purchase a Zenith 248 PC which will be equipped with AutoCAD for free, a look at the West Coast Computer Faire (including Atari ST coverage), and more.


• According to Webster: Going to the Faire - A report from the 11th Annual west Coast Computer Faire. Highlights include Lightspeed C for the Macintosh, MacCartrige (ROMs to turn your Atari ST into a Mac), Sound Scape for the Amiga, Aztec C for the Amiga, plus interviews with Atari and Commodore personnel and more.


• BYTE Japan: Fujitsu Processor Upgrade - Fujitsu releases an 80286 expansion board for its FM-16b PC for $500. This enables it to run Xenix which would be available separately.

Best of Bix

• Amiga - Discussions related to chaining programs in C, copying files via script, using an IBM 5.25" disk drive, and more.


• Atari ST - Discussions related to reading PC format disks, implementing a selector box, and more.


• IBM PC and Compatibles - Discussions related to DOS 3.1 and disk formatting, MS-DOs load addresses, and more.

Columns

• Editorial - Improvements to source code listings and hardware improvements to the system hosting BIX (replacing three 68000 CPUs with four 68020 CPUs (for a total of twelve 68000s and four 68020s) and increasing RAM from 4 MB to 8 MB. The system services 6000 users.


• Microbytes - Screen cover to prevent electronic eavesdropping, NAND gates for storage devices based on biological materials, XT card for the Apple II planned, Engineers at Stanford design "MIPS-X" chip, and more.


• Letters - Letters from readers about the Amiga and Atari ST, the difficulty and expense of using modems in other countries, CRT radiation, Modula 2, and more.


• What's New - A brief look at new products including VCN Concord (integrated graphics package for the PC), The Data General/One model 2 (portable computer), graphics chips from Intel and TI, Smalltalk/V, Sherill-Lubinski's Object Oriented Graphical Modeling System, a math coprocessor for the Amiga, the VAXstation II/RC from DEC, Smalltalk-80, the ProAPP 10 and ProApp 20 hard drives for the Macintosh and Apple II, VersaCAD 3D, Sony's ProMavica still-frame video recorder, Imaginet networking for the IBM and Atari ST, public domain software collection on CD-ROM, SyQuest SQ1500 removable hard disk subsystem, and much more.

_{Back cover of the August 1986 issue of Byte}

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Maximum PC (January 2004)

Maximum PC (January 2004)

Maximum PC, known as 'boot' in its earliest days, was my favorite PC specific magazine. It was also still around until a few years ago. The January 2004 issue includes:

Regulars

• In/Out - Letters from readers about using an AMD64-FX CPU with an Opteron motherboard dual-GPU cards, motherboard recommendations, the nForce3 chipset, the remaining life for EIDE drives, upgrading a Pentium 4 machine, and more.


• Quick Start - A look at a few pocket sized PCs including one by oqo that includes a 1 GHz Transmetta Crusoe CPU and 256 MB of RAM, a look at some new games including Madden 2004, Knights of the Old Republic, and Deus Ex, and more.


• Head2Head - Comparing online music services iTunes, MusicMatch, Rhapsody, and Napster.


• WatchDog - Poor OS X performance on G3s, Belkin router spam, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

Reviews

• HyperSonic Sonic Boom desktop PC - This PC features a yellow case, 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition overclocked to 3.37 GHz, 1GB of DDR400, an ATI Radeon 9800 XT), two Western Digital WD360 10,000rpm SATA drives, and more for $3,384.


• Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ZD7000 laptop - This laptop features a Pentium 4C @ 3.2GHz, 1GB DDR333 dual channel RAM, nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 video, 40GB hard drive and more for $2700.


• ATI 4600 64Bit desktop PC - This PC features a Chieftec case, 430 watt power supply, an AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 CPU @ 2.2GHz, 1GB registered DDR333 RAM, 256MB nVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra video card, two 36GB Western Digital Raptor drives, and more for $3650.


• PNY Verto GeForce FX 5950 Ultra video card - nVidia's new top of the line card gets a positive review here.


• Serial ATA Drives - Several Serial ATA hard drives are reviewed including the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 250GB, Western Digital Caviar SE WD250JD, Hitachi Desktar 7K250 (the highest scoring in this review round-up), Seagate Barracuda 7200.7, and Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 16 300GB (the largest drive in this review round-up).

_{Table of Contents from the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC (continued)}

Features

• Hardcore Hardware - A look at hardware and technologies that will appear in PCs in 2004. These include Serial ATA 2.0, Intel's Prescott Pentium 4 CPU, AMD's Newcastle, DDR2 memory, BTX, dual layer DVD burners, 802.11n, nVidia NV40 based video cards, ATI R420 based video cards, and more.


• Meet the Mach L - An overdesigned PC featuring an 3.2 GHz Pentium 4, 2GB of PC4200 RAM, Raid 0 array of four 18GB 15,000rpm SCSHI drives, Radeon 9800 XT video card, Asetek's Vapochill Case, and more.


• The Softies - Maximum PC's 2nd annual software awards featuring the 10 best applications and utilities of 2003. These include Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP, DVD X Copy Platinum, Cakewalk Project 5 Soft Synth Workstation, JBuilder, Adobe InDesign 2.0, POPFile, Spybot Search and Destroy, iTunes, Trillian Pro 2.0, and Mozilla Firebird.

_{Back cover of the January 2004 issue of Maximum PC}

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PC World (May 2001)

PC World (May 2001)

PC World was one of the main PC magazines throughout much of the 1980s, all of the 1990s, and into the 2000s. Like most magazines, especially computer related ones, this one died off as the Internet matured. The May 2001 issue includes:

Top of the News

• Notebooks Reach 1 Gigahertz - A look at some of the first laptops on the market to feature a 1 GHz processor. Thse include the Toshiba Tecra 8200, Dell Inspiron 8000, Gateway Solo 9500, and Hewlett Packard OmniBook 6000. They all feature 128MB of RAM and hard drives in the 32GB range. Prices range from around $3000 to around $4500. I wouldn't buy a laptop until prices came down significantly in the Pentium M era, however, I was a fan of Gateway so the Solo may have been my choice here. However, the Dell would have tempted me as it offers a little more bang for the buck.


• Record More, Pay Less - Less is relative here. Recordable DVD drives were still relatively new. The newly released and "cheap" Pioneer DVR-A03 would only set you back $1000 and discs were $10 each.


• Great Xpectations: Next Windows - A preview of Windows XP. The version examined here is Beta version 2. While Windows 2000 and Windows ME were being put on new computers, most people were using Windows 98SE at this time.


• A Lovelier Linux - A look at Linux kernel 2.4 and new distributions using it including SuSE Linux 7.1.

New Products

• New Products - New products previewed here include the Dell OptiPlex GX1505SD which is a small form factor business oriented PC with a Pentium III-933, Easy CD cReator 5, the Digital Relay CRX10U-A2 portable CD burner, GoToMyPC, PCAnywhere 10, Photoshop Elements, Kodak MC3 digital camera and mp3 player, the Apple PowerBook G4 featuring a 500 MHz G4 processor and 256MB of SDRAM for $3499, DriveWorks (hard drive utility), and more.

Here's How

• Windows Tips - Customizing system properties plus viewing your desktop files in a folder.


• Answer Line - Transferring old drivers to a new computer, removing uninstalled app information from the registry, networking two PCs without a hub, getting a list of file associations and more.


• Internet Tips - Finding the source of attacks reported by Zone Alarm, synchronizing bookmarks, disabling Encompass, branding Internet Explorer, and more.

_{Table of Contents from the May 2001 issue of PC World}

Top 100

• Top 10 Power PCs - Coming in at the top spot this month is the Gateway Professional S 1500 featuring a 1.5 GHz Pentium 4, 128MB of RDRAM, a 40GB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon SDR graphics card. I still want a Gateway machine with this case to add to my collection. It was the last one by them I liked.


• Top 10 Value PCs - At the top of this list is the Dell Dimension 4100 featuring a Pentium III-1000, 128MB of SDRAM and a 20GB hard drive, and an ATI Radeon card with 32MB. Second placye features a Gateway E-3400XL Deluxe with a Pentium III-933, 128MB of SDRAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and an ATI Rage Fury Pro graphics card with 16MB. There are also machines with Athlon and Duron processors in this list. This was probably not long after I built my first PC which was Duron based.


• Top 15 Notebook PCs - In this list, the IBM Thinkpad A21p gets the top spot for power notebook, the Gateway Solo 5300 gets the top spot for midrange notebook, and the Dell Inspiron 3800 gets the top spot for budget notebook.


• Top 15 Home PCs - Top Power System = Dell Dimension 8100, Top Midrange System = Dell Dimension 4100/1GHz, Top Budget System = Dell Dimension L866r. Gateway gets the second and third spots in the Power System category with the Gateway Select 1200 and Gateway Performance 1500.


• Top 10 Color Laser Printers - Coming in at the top spot is the Minolta-QMS Magicolor 2200 GN for a mere $1895.

Departments

• Up Front - An editorial on the dangers of the Internet.


• Letters - Letters from readers about wireless services for PDAs, video downloads, tax software, price matching, and more.


• Consumer Watch - Some ISPs are getting too aggressive with their spam filtering.


• Web Savvy - Tips for searching the web and when using search engines other than Google is useful.

_{Back cover of the May 2001 issue of PC World}

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Info (September 1990)

Info (September 1990)

At this point in time, this magazine was actually titled ".info for Amiga Users". In the past it had covered both Commodore 8-bit machines like the Commodore 64 and the Amiga but by late 1990 it was focused on the Amiga. Info was notable for being entirely produced on Commodore machines. The September 1990 issue includes:

Features

• Computer Magic - Photography with the Amiga. The art of digitizing photos and adding digital effects.


• Interview - An interview with Laurence Gartel, an artist known for his computer artwork and how he enjoys working with the Amiga more than million dollar systems.


• Multiplayer Games on GEnie - GEnie was an early online pre-Internet service similar to CompuServe, Delphi, and others. This article looks at some of the multiplayer games that can be played via GEnie as well as some of the specialized Amiga front ends for the service.

The Amiga Pro

• Brush Mapping in Turbo Silver - A guide to using the 3D renderer of Turbo Silver.


• .info Preview: Power PC Board - A preview of an expansion board that plugs into the memory expansion slot of the Amiga 500 and provides both memory expansion and an IBM PC clone featuring a NEC V3 CPU @ 8.0 MHz and 1 MB of RAM. It allows your computer to boot in Amiga mode and use the expansion RAM or to put in PC mode which basically transforms your Amiga into a PC.


• .info Review: PageStream 1.8 - A review of this desktop publishing program for the Amiga from Soft-Logik.

_{Table of Contents from the September 1990 issue of Info}

Departments

• Editor's Page - Thoughts on the new CDTV.


• Reader Mail - Readers write in about Info's new monthly format, dropping 8-bit coverage, playing PC games on the Amiga using a bridgeboard, and more.


• New Products - A brief look at new products including The Art Department (image manipulation), Saxon Publisher (page layout software), Professional Draw 2.0, TSSNet (ethernet networking), TV*Show Version 2 (allows you to combine animation and sound into a presentation), Tiger Cub (music), Digital Landscape (wireframe landscape generator using real data), and much more.


• News & Views - New products from Commodore including the A2065 Ethernet Adaptor, A2060 ARcnet Adaptor, AS220 Amiga Client for Novell Netware, TCP/IP and NFS software for the Amiga, educational Amiga 3000 bundles, and more; Broderbund celebrates 10th Anniversary; Compute! merges titles; and more.

Cyberplay

• Adventure Road - This column was formerly published in Commodore Magazine and features adventure games. This month there is discussion of Starflight on the C64, Amiga and MS-DOS.


• 17 New Diversions - Reviews of a bunch of games including Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess (Data East), Tunnels of Armageddon (California Dreams/EA), Aquanaut Miles Computing/EA), Day of the Viper (Accolade), The Game of Harmony (Accolade), ChronoQuest II (Psygnosis), Infestation (Psygnosis), TV Sports Basketball (Cinemaware), Jugsaw Puzzlemania (Artworx), Courtroom (FairBrother & SoeparMann), Pipe Dream (Lucasfilm), Breach 2 (Omitrend), Iron Lord (UBISoft/EA), Leisure Suit Larry III (Sierra On-Line), Hoyle's Book of Games (Sierra On-Line), Hero's Tale I (Sierra On-Line), and Manhunter 2: San Francisco (Sierra On-Line).
• Player Tips - Tips and tricks for Drakkhen, Infestation, Batman, Sim City, Indiana Jones, Space Ace, Forgotten Worlds, and Chop N' Drop.

_{Back cover of the September 1990 issue of Info}

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