Byte (July 1984)
Cover of the July 1984 issue of Byte
Throughout much of the 1980s, Byte was really the magazine to have if you were into computers. It covered pretty much everything and was an excellent resource, especially before the PC dominated everything. The July 1984 issue includes:
Features
- Symphony: A Full-Orchestra Version of Lotus 1-2-3 - A preview of the new integrated software package from Lotus centered around the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application.
- Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar: A Musical Telephone Bell - A guide to customizing the ring of your telephone...it wasn't as easy as just changing your ringtone.
- The West Coast Faire - A report from the West Coast Computer Faire including a Modula-2 panel, Turbo Pascal, and more.
- The Ada Language Primer, Part 2: Tool Building in Ada - The second in a two-part series on Ada. I used Ada a little in my very first job.
- Kermit: A File Transfer Protocol for Universities, Part 2: States and Transitions, Heuristic Rules and Examples - The second part of a technical look at the Kermit protocol. I remember that this file transfer protocol was also frequently available on BBSes but XMODEM and ZMODEM were more commonly used.
Table of Contents from the July 1984 issue of Byte
Theme: Video
- Electronic Encyclopedias - Today when you hear "electronic encyclopedia" you probably think of Wikipedia. However, in the early 1980s, the idea was to combine computers with "interactive video" - think laserdiscs.
- Televisions as Monitors - It was already common to use a TV as a monitor for some computers such as the Atari and Commodore 64. This article talks about current technologies as well as future technologies such as LCD.
- Computer Control of a Video Recorder - A project for controlling VCRs with varactor tuners with a TRS-80 (or any sound-generating computer).
- Controlling Videodiscs with Micros - A look at current videodisc formats, ways to interface with computers, and potential use cases.
Reviews
- The Sage II and Sage IV Computers - A series of computers that included up to 1 MB of RAM, 40 megabyte hard drive and floppy drive, based on the Motorola MC68000 chip.
- The Compaq Plus - A follow-up to the original Compaq portable that was basically identical except for the inclusion of a 10 MB hard drive.
- Xenix for the IBM PC XT - An add-on card for the IBM PC XT that includes an 68000 processor and an additional 256K of RAM for running Microsoft's Xenix OS.
- Turbo Pascal - A review of Borland's original Pascal compiler. I used a later version in high school.
- LISP for the IBM Personal Computer - A look at two implementations of the Lisp programming language for the PC including IQLISP and muLISP. LISP was one of the original AI languages.
- The Smith-Corona L-1000 Printer - A 12cps daisy wheel printer for $549 (tractor feed optional).
Table of Contents from the July 1984 issue of Byte (continued)
Kernal
- Computing at Chaos Manor: The AT&T Computers - A discussion of various products including the AT&T 382/300 Computer, CompuPro 8/16 System, Disk Maker I, Enchanter and Sorcerer from Infocom, the Macintosh, RAM Disks for the Z400 and Z-100, the Sage II and Sage IV computers, and more.
- BYTE West Coast Trends in Telecommunications - A look at online search software (software designed to search online databases) such as In-Search and Dialog and new, faster modems up to 9600bps such as the Gamma Technology FAXT-96 for $1995.
- BYTE Japan Start-Up - A look at Seiko's wrist computer, Tokyo's Akihabara district, and more.
- Mathematical Recreations: Invariance - Card tricks with numbers.
- Editorial: Patronizing the Naive User - How computer companies mistrust their users.
- Microbytes - New battery powered portable from Morrow called Pivot, new laser and color printers, new 3.5" disk drives, new 20 megabyte hard drives and 10 megabyte half-height drives, new Apricot computers from ACT, Digital Research introduces Concurrent PC-DOS, new speech recognition hardware for the PC, and more.
- What's New - A brief look at new products including the NEC Advanced Personal Computer III, Omni-Reader, Otrona 200I portable computer, Gibson Light Pen, StarLink multi-user system for the IBM PC, 512K memory expansion for the PCjr, and more.
- Ask BYTE - Questions answered about power-line pollution, bank switching, infrared links, MS-DOS vs. PC-DOS, and more.
- Book Reviews - Reviews of Algorithms by Robert Sedgewick, Forth Fundamentals Volume I by C. Kevin McCabe, The Unix Operating System by Kaare Christian, and Artificial Intelligence Applications for Business by Walter Reitman.
Back cover of the July 1984 issue of Byte
...and much more!
Check out some of my other recent posts:
Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (737-740)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-737
Advanced Computer Entertainment (January 1988)
https://ecency.com/retrocomputing/@darth-azrael/advanced-computer-entertainment-january-1988
Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (733-736)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-733
General Chaos (Sega Genesis)
https://ecency.com/hive-140217/@darth-azrael/general-chaos-sega-genesis
Vintage Photos - Lot 3 (729-732)
https://ecency.com/photography/@darth-azrael/vintage-photos-lot-3-729
Palamedes (NES)
https://ecency.com/hive-140217/@darth-azrael/palamedes-nes
Check out my other Social Media haunts (though most content is links to stuff I posted on Hive or re-posts of stuff originally posted on Hive):
Wordpress: https://www.megalextoria.com/wordpress
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/darth-azrael
Blogger: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/
Odyssee: https://odysee.com/@Megalextoria:b
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-2385054
Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/Megalextoria
Books I am reading or have recently read:
The Altar Path by Joseph Lisiewski.
Red Star Falling by Steve Berry.
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry
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