Byte Magazine Volume 10 Number 01 - Through The Hourglass

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Today, there are more Apples in schools than any other computer.

Unfortunately, there are still more kids in schools than Apples.

So innocent youngsters (like your own) may have to fend off packs of bully nerds to get some time on a computer.

Which is why it makes good sense to buy them an Apple" lie Personal Computer of their very own.

The lie is just like the leading computer in education, the Apple lie. Only smaller. About the size of a tee-ring notebook, to be exact.

Even the price of the He is small — under SHOO*

Of course, since the lie is the legiti- programs in all. More than a lew of which

mate offspring of the lie, it can access the you might be interested in yourself world's largest library of educational soft- For example, .-i-in-1 integrated busi

ware. Everything from Stickybear Shapes™ ness software. Home accounting and tax

II Mi a Ik: your kid can do something constructive after school. Like team in write stories

Or learn In fly. Or even learn something sttgltffy more advanced, like nuilliiwiahle calcuim.

for preschoolers to SAT test preparation programs for college hopefuls.

In fact, the He can run over 10,000

programs. Diet and fitness programs.

Not to mention tun programs for the whole family. Like "Genetic Mapping"and

MATH MAZE DtH9^)oit

THE APPLE 11 BASIC HATTOBCXm

1

Hf!

\m

.**«*.

■

S&orH

y

Bi>l

■ >&.

"Enzyme Kinetics."

And the Apple lie comes complete with everything you need to start computing in one box.

Including a free 4-diskette course to teach you how—when your kids get tired of your questions.

An RF modulator that can aim almost any TV into a monitor.

As well as a long list of built-in features that would add about $800 to the cost of a smaller-minded computer.

128K of internal memory—twice

the power of the average office computer A built-in disk drive that would

drive up the price

of a less-senior

machine.

And builtin electronics

for adding

accessories like

a printer, a

modem, an

AppleMouse or

In its optional carrying case, the lie can civil run away from home

So while your children's shoe sizes and appetites continue to grow at an alarming rate, there's one thing you know can keep up with them. Their Apple lie.

To learn more about it, visit any authorized Apple dealer. Or talk to your own computer experts._i_^

As soon

an extra disk drive when the time comes, as they get home from school.

' The FI'C Is concerned about price-fixing So this is only a SsggBSferf Retail Price. You can pay more if you really want to. © /%'v Apple Computer Inc. Apple and the Apple lorn are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Slickyhear Shapes is a trademark of Optimum Resource. For an authorized Apple dealer nearest you call (800) 538-9696. In Canada, call (800) 268-7796or (800) 268-7637.

CONTENTS

96

286

FEATURES

Introduction 96

Ciarcias Circuit Cellar: Understanding Linear Power Supplies

by Steve Garcia 98

Proper design brings simplicity and reliability.

The Visual Mind and the Macintosh by Bill Benzon 113

MacPaint provides a tool for thinking.

A Glimpse into Future Television by ]oseph S. Nadan 135

How will high-definition television open the window on the world for users of personal computers?

Microsoft Macintosh BASIC Version 2.0 by Gregg Williams 155

This new version offers greater support of the Macintosh's distinctive features.

The Apple Story, Part 2: More History and the Apple 111

conducted by Gregg Williams and Rob Moore 167

The interview with Steve Wozniak continues.

Uninterruptible Power Supplies by William Rynone 183

These devices can save you from losing data in the dark.

An Introduction to Fiber Optics,

Part 2: Connections and Networks by Richard S. Shuford 197

Optical fibers are becoming practical for use in applications such as local networks.

Algorithms for a Variable-Precision Calculator

by Paul A. Nikon 211

There's help for those who need to perform decimal computations on large numbers.

Audio-Frequency Analyzer by Mince Banes 223

You can build IBM PC accessories to analyze your stereo.

Font Design for Personal Workstations by Charles Bigelow 255

Improved on-screen and printer fonts can help to make computers more acceptable as tools for a literate public.

Expert Systems—Myth or Reality? by Bruce D'Ambrosio 275

Artificial intelligence is considered by some to be one of the most important technologies on the horizon.

REVIEWS

Introduction 286

Reviewer's Notebook by Rich Malloy 289

The HP 110 Portable Computer by Mark Haas 290

Hewlett-Packard's 80C86-based lap-size machine.

Gifford'S MP/M 8-16 by Charles H. Strom 305

A multiuser S-100-based operating system.

BYTE is published monthly by McGraw-Hill inc Founder: lames H. McGraw |I860-I948|. Executive editorial, circulation, and advertising offices: 70 Main St. Peterborough. NH 03458, phone (603] 924-9281. Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. Friday 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM. Eastern Time. Address subscriptions to BYTE Subscriptions. POB 590. Martinsville. NJ 08836. Postmaster: send address changes. USPS Form 3579. undeliverable copies, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions. POB 596. Martinsville. N| 08836 Second-class postage paid at Peterborough. NH 034 58 and additional mailing offices. USPS Publication No. 528890 [ISSN 0360-5280). Postage paid at Winnipeg. Manitoba. Registration number 9321. Subscriptions are S2I for one year. S38 for two years, and S55 for three years in the USA and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico, S23 for one year. S42 for two years. S6I for three years. S69 for one year air delivery to Europe. 17.100 yen for one year surface delivery to lapan. S37 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon request. Single copy price is S3.50 in the USA and its possessions, S3.95 in Canada and Mexico. S4.50 in Europe, and S5 elsewhere. Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remitted in United States funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of first issue Printed in the United States of America.

B YTE • JANUARY 1985

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT TINNEY

VOLUME 10, NUMBER 1, 1985

Lotus's Symphony by Dick Fountain 317

Another large, multipurpose spreadsheet program from the makers of 1-2-3.

MagicPrint by Alan R. Miller 329

Enhanced print programs for CP/M and MS-DOS systems.

The Hewlett-Packard ThinkJet Printer by Mark Haas 337

Ink-jet technology for HP, IBM, and Apple computers.

The TI Omni 800/Model 855 Printer by Mark Haas 345

Multiple fonts via ROM cartridges.

Review Feedback 353

Readers respond to previous reviews.

KERNEL

Introduction 361

Computing at Chaos Manor: The Fast Lane by jerry Pournelle 363

This month's whirlwind tour of the computing scene includes a look at Orchid's PCturbo 186, the Ml-286 from Macrotech, and Ashton-Tate's dBASE 111.

Chaos Manor Mail conducted by \erry Pournelle 393

lerry's readers write, and he replies.

BYTE U.K.: The Amstrad CPC 464 by Dick Pountain 401

This "home" computer has potential for business applications as well.

Circuit Cellar Feedback conducted by Steve Garcia 413

Steve answers project-related queries from readers.

BYTE West Coast Light Touches by John Markoff and Phillip Robinson. . .415 The Mac goes to college, and mice and laser disks are in the news.

Mathematical Recreations: The Fundamental Counting Principle

by Michael W. Ecker 425

Dr. Ecker explores ways of counting without enumerating.

BYTE Japan: The New and the Old by William M. Raife 429

Our Tokyo correspondent focuses on denser chips and software piracy in the East.

editorial: autonomous weapons and Human Responsibility 6

Microbytes 9

Letters 14

Fixes and Updates 33

Whats New 39, 440

Ask BYTE 48

Clubs & Newsletters 59

Book Reviews 65

Event Queue 83

Books Received 435

Unclassified Ads 493

BYTE's Ongoing Monitor Box, BOMB Results 494

Reader Service 495

Address all editorial correspondence to the Editor. BYTE. POB 372. Hancock. NH 03449. Unacceptable manuscripts will be returned if accompanied by sufficient first-class postage. Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of BYTE.

Copyright © 1985 by McGraw-Hill Inc. All rights reserved. Trademark registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Where necessary, permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) to photocopy any article herein for the flat fee of SI.50 per copy of the article or any part thereof Correspondence and payment should be sent directly to the CCC. 29 Congress St.. Salem. MA 01970. Specify ISSN 0360-5280/83. SI.50. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permission of McGraw-Hill [nc is prohibited. Requests for special permission or bulk orders should be addressed to the publisher. BYTE is available in microform from University Microfilms International, 300 North Zeeb Rd., Dept PR. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106 or 18 Bedford Row, Dept. PR, London WCIR 4EI England. Subscription questions or problems should be addressed to: BYTE Subscriber Service. POB 328. Hancock. NH 03449

SECTION ART BY GEOFFREY MOSS

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE

Inquiry 239

MicroTime

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• ihm it a i*gt«t«r*d trademark oi Iniamational Buiinaia Machines. Corp.

411 West Grant Road Tucson, Arizona 85705

VISA ^Hl^Q

BVTE

EDITOR IN CHIEF PUBLISHER

Philip Lemmons Gene W. Simpson

MANAGING EDITOR ASSISTANT PUBLISHER

Gene Smarte Michele P. Verville

CONSULTING EDITORS PUBLISHER'S ASSISTANT

Steve Ciarcia Doris R. Gamble

Jerry Pournelle

senior technical editors advertising sales

G. Michael Vose, Themes ]. Peter Huestis. Safes Manager

Gregg Williams Sandra Foster, Administrative Assistant

TECHNICAL EDITORS ADVERTISING

Thomas R. Clune Lisa Wozmak. Supervisor

Ion R. Edwards Robert D. Hannings. Senior Account Manager

Glenn Hartwig. Reviews Marion Carlson

Richard Kraiewski Karen Cilley

Ken Sheldon Lyda Clark

Richard S. Shuford Denise Proctor

Jane Morrill Tazelaar advertising/production

Stanley Wszola Wai Chiu Li. Quality Control Director

Margaret Cook Gurney, Associate Julie Nelson. Advertising/Production Coordinator

Alan Easton. Drafting Linda J. Sweeney. AdvertisingiProduction Coordinator

WEST COAST EDITORS

Ezra Shapiro. Bureau Chief. San Francisco CIRCULATION

John Markoff. Senior Technical Editor. Palo Alto Gregory Spitzfaden. Director

Phillip Robinson, Senior Technical Editor. Palo Ailo Andrew Iackson. Subscriptions Manager

Donna Osgood. Associate Editor. San Francisco Cathy A. R. Drew. Assistant Manager

Brenda McLaughlin. Editorial Assistant. San Francisco Laurie Seamans. Assistant Manager

NEW YORK EDITOR SUSAN BOYD

Richard Malloy. Senior Technical Editor Phil Dechert

managing editor. user news mary emerson

George Bond Louise Menegus

user news editors agnes e. perry

Anthony J. Lockwood. Wfoil's New Iennifer Price

Mark Welch. Micro&utes Iames Bingham. Single-Copy Sales Manager

Linda Turner. Assistant Manager

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS CAROL AHO

Dennis Allison, at large Claudette Carswell

Mark Dahmke. video, operating systems Edson Ware

Mark Haas, at large

Rik Jadrnicek. CAD. graphics, spreadsheets marketing communications

Mark Klein, communications Horace T. Howland, Director

Alan Miller, languages and engineering vicki Reynolds. Marketing Associate

John C. Nash, scientific computing Priscilla Arnold. Marketing Assistant

Dick Pountain, U.K. Stephanie Warnesky. Graphic Arts Supervisor

William M. Raike. Japan Sharon Price. Grapfo'c Arts Designer

Perry Saidman, computers and law doug Webster. Director of Public Relations

Robert Sterne, computers and law Wilbur S. Watson. Operations Manager. EKni&its

Bruce Webster, software Patricia Akerley. Research Manager

Cynthia Damato Sands, Reader Service Coordinator

copy editors

Bud Sadler. Chief accounting

Dennis Barker Daniel Rodrigues, Business Manager/Controller

Elizabeth Cooper Kenneth A, King. Assistant Controller

Anne L. Fischer Vicki Weston, Accounting Manager

Nancy Hayes l,nda short. D/P Manager

Lynne M. Nadeau Marilyn Haich

Paula Noonan Diane Henry

'OAN v- R0Y Vern Rockwell

Warren Williamson ,oAnn Walter

assistants building services/traffic

Peggy Dunham Anthony Bennett, Building Services Manager

MARTHA HICKS Br]an H|GG|ns

BEVERLY. JACKSON Marj< Monktqn

Faith Kluntz. Copungnls and Permissions

h'!tJ°.S™. receptionist

L. Ryan McCombs art

ROSSLYN A, FRICK, Arl Director

..,,,,„., PERSONNEL

Nancy Rice, Assistant Art Director _ , .. _,, .. Cheryl A. Hurd, Office Manager

production Patricia Burke. Personnel Coordinator

David R, Anderson. Production Director

Denise Chartrand byte business phones

Michael J. Lonsky Gene Simpson. 603-924-9957

Jan Muller Pete Huestis. 603-924-6137 Sherry McCarthy, Chief Typographer Horace Howland, 603-924-3424

Nan Fornal Doug Webster, 603-924-9027

Len Lorette Brad Browne, 603-924-6616

Kathy Ouist Advertising. 603-924-6448

Donna Sweeney Circulation, 800-258-5485

Editorial and Business Office: 70 Main Street. Peterborough. New Hampshire 034 58. (603) 924-9281. West Coast Offices: McGraw-Hill, 425 Battery St.. San Francisco. CA 94111, (415) 362-4600.

McGraw-Hill. 1000 Elwell Court. Palo Alto. CA 94303. (415) 964-0624. New York Office: 1221 Avenue of the Americas. New York. NY 10020. [212) 512-2000.

_ . , _ Officers of McGraw-Hill Publications Company: President: |ohn G. Wrede. Executive Vice Presidents: Paul F. McPherson. Operations. Walter & Jot D. Serwatka. Finance & Services. Senior Vice President-Editorial: Ralph R. Schulz. Senior Vice President Publishers: Harry L. Brown. David ■^Hl4( '' McGraln- lames R- P'erce- Gene w- Simpson. |ohn E. Slater. Vice President Publishers: Charlton H. Calhoun 111, Richard H Larsen. |ohn ■ ■NIB w Patten. Vice Presidents: Kemp Anderson. Business Systems Development: Shel F. Asen. Manufacturing: Peter I. Balesu'ero. Human Resources: John A. Bunyan. Electronic Information Services: George R. Elsinger, Circulation: Michael K. Hehir. Controller: Eric B. Herr. Planning and Development: H. |ohn Sweger, lr.. Marketing.

Officers of the Corporation: Harold W. McGraw. |r.. Chairman: loseph L. Dionne. President and Chief Executive Officer; Robert N Landes. Senior Vice President and Secretary. Ralph I. Webb. Treasurer.

CROMEMCO COMPUTERS

DESIGNED TO MAKE UNIX SYSTEM V

' •; llflM' PBTTBP

BVEIl DE I I Elf • • •

UNIX System V, the new standard in multiuser microcomputer operating systems, gives you high performance features along with the portability and flexibility of a standard.

Cromemco computers ean make UNIX System V even better. Because our systems are designed with UNIX in mind. First of all, We offer UNIX System V with Berkeley enhancements. Then, our hardware uses anral features like 64K of'on-board cache memory and our high speed STDC controller to speed up disk operations-very important with UNIX.

Mora capability and expandability

We have a high-speed, 68000-based CPU that runs at 10 MHz, coupled with a memory manager that uses demand-paging and scatter loading to work mm UNIX, not for it.

We provide room for expanding RAM to 16 megabytes-with error detection and correction- for running even the most sophisticated and advanced microcomputer programs. And the power to accommodate up to 16 users-all with plenty of memory.

But we give you even more.

A complete solution

We give you a choice in systems: the System 100 series, expandable up to 4 megabytes of RAM, and the System 300 series, expandable to 16 megabytes. A high speed 50 megabyte hard disk drive is standard on the systems. And you can expand the hard disk capacity up to 1200 megabytes using standard SMD drives. You can add floating point processing. High resolution graphics. Video digitizing and imaging. Communications through

MMWWMHHH

standard protocols. Mainframe interface

And software support is here to meet your needs. We offer major programming languages, database management systems, communications software, including SNA architecture, X.25 protocol, and Ethernet; even a program to interlace to an IBM PC if you need to. And, of course, access to the broad range of standard UNIX applications programs that is growing dramatic ally every day.

Easy to use.

We also make our systems easier to use, because we install the operating system before we ship your computer. No complicated installation procedures. And. the Berkeley enhancements give you the standard UNIX System V operating system, but with the added convenience of these widely acclaimed improvements.

Cromemco's System 10Q and System 300 computers: designed to be the,'highest performance UNIX systems available anywhere.

Just call or visit one of our UNIX System V Official System Centers to see for yourself. They'll also give you a copy.of our new publication, "What you should know before you buy a UNIX system." Or contact us directly.

We'll be glad to show you how to get a better UNIX system.

Corporate Headquarters: Cromemco, Inc., 280 Bernardo Avenue, P.O. Box 7400, Mountain 94039, (415) 969-4710. In Europe:

Cromemco GmbH, 6236 Eschborn 1, Frankfurter Str. 33-35, P.O. 5267, Frankfurt Main, ermany.

oMflMaaL..

UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories.

IBM Is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

Cromemco

Inquiry 90

JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 5

EDITORIAL

Autonomous Weapons and Human Responsibility

The human desire to avoid responsibility for difficult decisions probably goes back to the dawn of time. In their brief period on this earth, computers have taken the blame for millions of human mistakes. Who hasn't heard a computer blamed for an error in billing or delivery? One typical case of blaming the computer occurred in a school system in which a computer handled scheduling of classes. On the first day of school, the most vocal complaints came from students whose lunch hours had been assigned at 8:30, 9:30, 10:30, 2:30, and 3:30. That's right-someone had forgotten to instruct the computer that lunch has to occur in the middle of the day The school's new computer took the blame. Those who knew little about computers hated them more over this incident. Those in positions of authority found a versatile new scapegoat.

Anecdotes like this are amusing when little hangs in the balance. In the presidential debates in the fall, however, one of the candidates suggested that military decisions affecting the fate of the earth might be irrevocably delegated to computers if the other candidate's programs were enacted. The candidate making that claim either understood nothing of computers or else he was acting as a demagogue, casting himself as the hero to save the earth from the tyranny of computers. In either case, the candidate did his country a disservice.

Computers, of course, do as people tell them. The hard part is for people to foresee all circumstances and write instructions to handle all circumstances optimally. Lack of foresight and poor planning occur in many fields with or without computers. But computers make wonderful scapegoats. When foresight and planning fail, computers take the blame. Consequently their image as cold, dehumanizing villains is perpetuated. Some fictional and cinematic depictions of computers also endow them with a villainy that exceeds the capabilities of digital electronics.

To be sure, computers are cold and indifferent. But let's consider a few cases in which the inhuman properties of computers enable them to help people. Computer conferencing enables people to exchange text messages with others who share their interests. One advantage of computer conferencing is clear: people needn't be in the same place at the same time in order to exchange comments. But computer conferencing also prevents loud and aggressive people from dominating a group as they can in face-to-face conversation. As Starre Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff point out in their book The Network Nation: Human Communication via Computer (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1978),"... persons who happen to be 'fast on the draw' in a face-to-face verbal situation, and who may not be particularly intelligent or correct, tend to dominate the discussion and decision-making process in small groups." In computer conferencing, "one participant making a statement in no way interferes with the ability of another person to be making a statement that overlaps in time." Computer conferencing for the BYTE staff has led to much better discussions with much broader and more balanced participation than occurs in face-to-face staff meetings. In fact, it has been a joy to see some shy people blossom in our computermediated meetings. Who would have supposed computers would emancipate the shy?

Some of the benefits that computers can bestow on humans are more obvious. In giving instructions to slow learners, computers persist when even the most saintly human instructors would lose patience. In providing simulations of difficult or dangerous situations, computers reduce the risks borne by people who must sometimes face the real hazards. If we use our electronic resources reasonably, bomb disposal will soon become the exclusive domain of robots. We can make computers serve human needs.

People who understand computers understand how these machines can serve people. But some people who understand computers well are letting us

fall victim once again to the myth of computers as villains. The phrase that magically shifts blame from humans to computers is "autonomous weapons." The issue skirted is the same one dealt with so poorly in the presidential debates.

We can build unmanned tanks that detect certain kinds of objects and then destroy them. We can build and program computers to monitor motion and radiation and, upon detection of patterns that we have specified, to hurl devastation on targets that we have chosen. But using the phrase "autonomous weapons" confers on such devices a higher status than that of the glorified booby traps that they are. A concealed pit of sharpened stakes is just as autonomous a weapon as an unmanned tank. A terrorist's time bomb is just as autonomous a weapon as an orbital launching pad or beam weapon. But we have no doubt that the man who digs the pit and sharpens the stakes bears responsibility for killing the man who falls in, or that the man who builds and plants the time bomb murders its victims, even if the victims are not those intended.

Humans will build the coming generation of "autonomous" weapons. Humans will program them, and humans will either make, delegate, or blunder all decisions about their control. Humans will bear all the responsibility for the good or ill these weapons do.

This is not the place to argue the merits of such weapons or the likelihood of events that might justify the manufacture, deployment, or use of such weapons. But as one of the world's most widely read computer magazines. BYTE is the place to say that computers should never be the scapegoats for difficult human decisions affecting the fate of the earth. Computers follow sequences of human instructions. People decide. If we forget this, we may someday find ourselves speechless when we hear a leader explain a missing continent by saying, "The autonomous weapon was in a loop."

We must insist that individuals who decide to deploy autonomous weapons bear responsibility for everything these weapons do.

—Phil Lemmons, Editor in Chief

6 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

\osest

thing

to

*>

Reference Magazine

When it comes to software, nobody's perfect. But according to many of the experts, one word processing program is as close as you can get. No wonder it's called WordPerfect.

What are all the critics raving about?

Simplicity. Most WordPerfect functions require only one keystroke, a simple press of a finger. So you can concentrate on writing, not programming.

Speed. Because it is documentoriented instead of page-oriented, WordPerfect won't make you

wait

between pages. No matter how fast you type,

j

WordPerfect is my favorite ^ because it is easy, simple ; and powerful. The people )

List Magazine WordPerfect won't slow you down.

Features. From writers to doctors, accountants to lawyers, WordPerfect has built-in special functions to meet a wide variety of specific needs. And at SSI, every day is spent upgrading and improving WordPerfect — •*— reaching for

WordPerfect isn't flawless perfection.

^rj r„^c<;inq software, j Get your hands

hut it comQg "prY'J^SS-J 0n the critics'

choice, WordPerfect word processing from SSI.

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It's the closest thing to perfection.

For more information, see your dealer.

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Inquiry 311

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 7

Wordstar Wordprocessing and SuperCalc 3 Integrated Spreadsheet now included Free with all Seequa computers.

SEEQUA

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BUY A CHAMELEON BY SEEQUA.

The Chameleon by Seequa does everything an IBM PC does. For about $1000 less than an IBM.

The Chameleon lets you run popular IBM software like Lotus® 1-2-3 ™ and dBase II.® It has a full 83 key keyboard just like an IBM. A disk drive like the IBM. And a bright 80 x 25 character screen just like an IBM.

But it's not just the Chameleon's similarities to the IBM that should interest you. Its advantages should, too. The Chameleon also has

The Chameleon by

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an 8 bit microprocessor that lets you run any of the thousands of CP/M-80® programs available. It comes complete with two of the best programs around, Perfect Writer™ and Perfect Calc. ™ It's portable. And you can plug it in and start computing the moment you unwrap it. So if you've been interested in an IBM personal computer, now you know where you can get one for $1595. Wherever they sell Chameleons.

COMPUTER

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Chameleon shown with optional second disk drive.

To leam more about Seequa or for the location of the Seequa dealer

nearest you, call (800) 638-6066 or (301) 672-3600.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

8 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 313

MICROBYTES

Staff-written highlights of late developments in the microcomputer industry.

Optical Disks Move Toward Reality

information Storage Inc., Colorado Springs, CO, expects to provide samples of its 525 WC optical-disk drive (write-once, read-often) in April, with full production later this year. The drive uses removable 100-megabyte 5 '/i-inch disk cartridges. ISI hopes to eventually sell the optical-disk drive to computer makers for about $600 and the disks for about $40 each. Initial prices will be much higher.

Compact Discs as Read-Only Memory for PCs

At the fall COMDEX show in Las Vegas, several companies announced products using a standard compact disc (CD) as a read-only-memory device for computers. Each CD ROM can store up to 550 megabytes of data (about 275,000 pages of text) using the same 4.72-inch disc format used in CD digital audio recordings. Philips Subsystems and Peripherals Inc., Hitachi America Ltd., Sony, and Denon America Inc. all announced or showed CD ROM drives at COMDEX. Earlier, 3M announced that it will produce discs for use in CD ROM drives. Sony and Denon both expect to sell drives to computer makers for less than $300; with a controller, a CD ROM should retail for substantially less than $1000.

New Chips Will Find Uses in Image Processing

NEC Electronics announced the /xPD7281D, which it says is the first non-von Neumann single-chip image processor. The 7281 executes as many as 5 million instructions per second. Linking multiple 7281s further increases processing speeds. The chip can also be used for signal processing and mathematical calculations. NEC plans to produce samples of the chip late this year.

NCR announced the Geometric Arithmetic Parallel Processor (GAPP), developed jointly with Martin Marietta Aerospace. The GAPP includes a 6 by 12 array of 1-bit processor elements, each having 128 bits of RAM. Many GAPP chips can be cascaded for use in image processing. NCR suggests that robot vision, image compression and enhancement, digital signal processing, and arithmetic array processing are possible applications. NCR is selling samples of the NCR45CG72 GAPP for $545.

Portable Computers Feature 80 by 25 Displays

Mitsubishi's Tredia notebook computer includes an 80-line by 25-character LCD, 64K bytes of RAM, a Z80A processor, a microcassette drive, a 300-bps modem, serial and parallel ports, a bar-code-reader port, and a ROM cartridge slot. A 64K-byte ROM includes a spreadsheet, database, graphics, word processing, and communications software. Internal nicad batteries allow use of the machine for up to 8 hours. The $1200 Tredia weighs 6.6 pounds and measures 11% by 8'A by 3'A inches.

Quadram announced DataVue, a 14-pound portable computer with an infrared keyboard link. The $2195 system includes 128K bytes of RAM, one 5'/4-inch disk drive, an 8088 processor, parallel and serial ports, a pivoting 80 by 25 LCD, an AC adapter, and batteries that will last about 1 Vi hours. It will be available in March.

Display Technology

Sony announced a new multicolor display technology called Currentron. The monitor alters the shade and color displayed by changing the beam current. Resulting colors include red, orange, yellow, and yellowish-green. Two versions will be available as engineering samples: one displays 900 by 200 pixels, and the other, 1100 by 864 dots. Monitors using the Currentron technology should be sharper but less expensive than full-color monitors.

(continued) IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 9

MICROBYTES

COMDEX: New 2400-bps Modems

Several companies introduced 2400-bps modems at the COMDEX show in Las Vegas. Most of the modems are compatible with the Bell 212A standard at 1200 bps, the Bell 103 standard at 300 bps, and the CCITT V.22bis standard at 2400 bps. Most also include auto-dial capabilities, some phone-number memory, and claim some degree of compatibility with Hayes "AT" modem commands. Some of the modems are stand-alone units; others are IBM PC expansion cards. Two use front-panel LCDs instead of the usual LEDs: Penril DataComm's $895 Datalinx Model 224 and Novation's $795 Professional 2400. Telenetics, Multi-Tech Systems, and Cermetek announced $795 modems; U.S. Robotics chose an $895 list price. Neither NEC America nor Microcom had set pricing for their 2400-bps modems.

Team Technology, Taiwan, introduced a line of low-cost modems, available through Chen Manufacturing, Alhambra, CA. The SmarTEAM 2400 features 2400-, 1200-, 600-, and 0-300-bps capabilities for $450; no availability date was set. The $159 SmarTEAM 103/212A is a 1200- and 0-300-bps modem. Team's ModemPhone 300 is a $37 300-bps modem.

Users May Find Surprises in Apple Insurance

Apple has endorsed a computer insurance policy offered by Emett & Chandler Inc., but neither Apple's letter nor the enclosed brochure explained that only one computer could be covered under a single policy. Since the application didn't require purchasers to list what non-Apple equipment they had—only its dollar value—some owners may not realize their non-Apple computers aren't covered.

NANOBYTES

Volition Systems, Del Mar, CA, is now shipping its $295 Modula-2 compiler for the Macintosh. ... Living Videotext, Mountain View, CA, announced a $245 version of ThinkTank for the 512K-byte Macintosh. . . . Advanced Micro Devices introduced the Am29300 32-bit bipolar microprocessor family. Included are a 32-bit parallel multiplier, a floating-point processor, a microprogram sequencer, and an ALU. . . . Digital Research Japan will adapt CP/M, CP/M-86, Concurrent DOS, and other system software to run on NEC's recently announced V series of 16-bit CMOS microprocessors... . Sinclair Research is developing a wafer-scale 512K-byte memory device. . . . TT&T Corp., Hampton, NH, announced NH-Ada, a $225 subset Ada compiler for the IBM PC. . . . AT&T has published the "System V Interface Definition,'' which defines a minimum set of system calls and library routines that should be included in all operating systems based on its UNIX System V. .. . Microsoft is shipping Microsoft Networks 1.0 and MS-DOS 3.1, both of which add network capabilities to MS-DOS. . . . The FCC has authorized use of the TV vertical blanking interval for data transmission, which could mean software delivery by TV. The FCC had earlier cleared the way for broadcast of software over radio. . . . Versatron Research, Healdsburg, CA, introduced the $225 Footmouse, used to control cursor keys. . . . Lotus Development formally announced Jazz, its long-expected Macintosh product. The $595 program includes word-processing, spreadsheet, database, communications, and graphics functions but requires a 512K-byte Mac. Lotus also announced spelling-checker and text-outlining add-on products for Symphony. . . . Tomcat Computer, Los Angeles, CA, announced the Tomcat 3200-AT, which includes an 80286 processor, IBM PC AT-compatible expansion slots, 640K bytes of memory, one 1.2-megabyte floppy disk, a 20-megabyte hard disk, serial and parallel ports, and a color graphics card for $4529. . . . Maxell is ready to produce 5'/4-inch floppy disks with a capacity of 6.5 megabytes for use in drives made by its parent company, Hitachi. Maxell showed two metal floppy disks: a 10-megabyte 5!4-inch disk and a 5-megabyte 3'/2-inch disk. Maxell also showed a 5!4-inch optical disk that stores 250 megabytes per side. . . . Transtec Technology, Dublin, Ireland, announced its Hydra PC, featuring 800- by 512-pixel graphics in four colors or, optionally, 16- or 4-color graphics with a resolution of 1024 by 1024 pixels. With a I.2-megabyte floppy disk, a 10-megabyte hard disk, and 512K bytes of memory, the Hydra PC will cost $4900.

10 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

' ■

Squeeze More Out Of Every On-Line Minute.

Presenting the software package that makes your computer more productive and cost-efficient.

CompuServe's new Vidtex™ is compatible with many personal computers sold today (including Apple,® Commodore® and Tandy/Radio Shack® brands). And it offers the following features*-and more-to let you communicate more economically with most time-sharing services (including CompuServe's Information Service).

Auto-Logon. Lets you log on to a host simply and quickly by utilizing prompts and responses defined by you. Also allows quick transmission of predefined responses to host application programs after logging on.

Function Keys. Let you consolidate long commands into single keystrokes. Definitions can be saved to and loaded from disk file, allowing multiple definitions for multiple applications.

Error-Free Uploading and Downloading. CompuServe "B" Protocol contained in Vidtex lets you transfer from your computer to CompuServe and from CompuServe to your computer anywhere in the country. Also provides error-free downloading from CompuServe's extensive software libraries.

Full Printer Support. Printer buffer automatically buffers characters until printer can process; automatically stops on-line transmission when full; and automatically resumes transmission when capacity is re-established. Also, lets you print contents of textual video screen or RAM buffer at any time.

'Some versions oi the Vidtex soltware do not Implement all features listed.

Vidtex is a trademark of CompuServe Incorporated Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. Commodore is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines. Radio Shack is a trademark of Tandy Corp

Capture Buffer. Saves selected parts of a session. Contents can be written to a disk file; displayed both on and off line; loaded from disk; and transmitted to the host.

On-line Graphics. Integral graphics protocol displays stock charts, weather maps and more.

If you are already a CompuServe subscriber, you can order Vidtex on line by using the GO ORDER command. Otherwise, check with your nearest computer dealer; or to order direct, call or write:

Inquiry 68

CompuServe

P.O. Box 20212, 5000 Arlington Centre Blvd. Columbus, Ohio 43220

1-800-848-8199

In Ohio, call 614-457-0802 An H&R Block Company

Give people the tools they need, and there is no limit to what they achieve.

Announcing the first major breakthrough in word processing technology since WordStar.

Now, state-of-the-art comes easy.

Introducing WordStar 2000, a totally new word processing program from the makers of WordStar.

WordStar 2000 removes all limits from word processing. From what you can create. From what you can achieve.

Because WordStar 2000 lets you do everything.

Easily.

From windows, to undo,

to spelling correction, WordStar 2000

does it all. And more.

WordStar 2000 gives you the works.

"Windows" allows you to work on different documents—simultaneously. "Undo" lets you replace text you mistakenly removed. A built-in spelling corrector checks and corrects misspellings from over 97% of the most commonly used words.

WordStar 2000 also has a "typewriter mode" to fill in forms or envelopes easily. Plus "format sheets" which give you ready-made

headings, tabs and margins at the touch of one key. It can even create and update footnotes.

Finally, a truly integrated word processing system.

WordStar 2000 goes well beyond words.

It comes with a built-in five function calculator. A built-in mail merge enables you to mass produce form letters. Get our special Plus package and you also get a built-in mail list data base that allows you to create, update and sort your own mailing lists. Also a built-in indexer. Not to mention built-in telecommunications capabilities.

All integrated together, so you never have to leave the program.

The only word processing program

that interacts with you on your level,

whatever your level.

Before we created WordStar 2000, we studied the way people worked, and thought. We also drew from our experience with over 1,250,000 WordStar owners.

12 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

As a result, the keys you press are the keys you'd expect to press ("c" for copy, "p" for print, etc.). You may also use your computer's function keys. Menus have been uniquely designed for easy access to all functions. And MicroPro's exclusive "tutor-in-yourcomputer"1" makes learning fast and fun.

WordStar 2000 is the easy word processing program you'll never outgrow. Of course, the original WordStar and WordStar for PCjr will continue to provide substantial and proven word processing capability for those with more modest budgets.

See your local MicroPro dealer today or call (800) 227-6703 [in CA (800) 632-7979] for the dealer nearest you.

So you can remove all limits from what you can achieve.

WORDSTAR

Current WordStar owners can upgrade to WordStar 2000 quickly and easily through their dealer, or by calling MicroPro Customer Update (800)227-5609. 9am-3pm P.S.T.

Now there are no limits? MicroPro,

Inquiry 235

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 13

LETTERS

QXDraw

In reference to the letter "A Call for QX-10 Support" in the August 1984 issue (page 23)—there is at least one inexpensive program that is semi-educational for the Epson QX-10.

The program 1 am talking about is QXDraw. It is available through your local Epson dealer or directly from American Small Business Computers.

QXDraw is a graphics design tool that uses the graphics capabilities of the Epson QX-10. It allows someone unfamiliar with computers to design and draw figures, charts, schematics, or blueprints in no time. QXDraw has the capability to store, retrieve, and print figures drawn on the screen. In addition, it can fully manipulate figures and text by changing size, angles, and dimensions.

Paula Mibb

American Small Business Computers Pryor, OK

Benchmarking UNIX Systems

I have been using the UNIX operating system on various machines for several years. I am happy to see it gaining popularity in the microcomputer world. 1 enjoy reading the articles in your magazine on the C programming language and on anything dealing with UNIX, and I hope to see more in the future.

1 found the article "Benchmarking UNIX Systems" by David F. Hinnant (August 1984, page 132) interesting and informative. However, I would like to bring to your attention a few errors I found in that article.

In the first benchmark (listing 1), the parent process should issue a wait system call after closing the pipe to wait for the child process to complete for two reasons. First, if the parent process terminates without waiting for the child process to complete, the reported elapsed (real) time may be too small, since the child process may continue reading from the pipe for a while after the parent has terminated. Second, unless the parent process issues

the wait system call, the user and system times reported will be those of only the parent process, rather than the sums of both processes.

In the results of the multitasking UNIX benchmark (table 3 and figure 1), the indicated number of concurrent processes is misleading. This number is actually the number of shell processes concurrently running tst.sh. Each of these shells may have up to three child processes running concurrently (when executing the pipleline containing grep, tee, and wc). The user performing the benchmark has three additional processes: the shell running multi.sh, the time utility, and the shell interpreting commands from the user's terminal. In addition to this, there are at least three background processes: the swapper, init (the system initializer), and update. Thus, it is not surprising that some microcomputer implementations of UNIX were not able to concurrently run tst.sh more than three times. This would have resulted in a total of 12 to 18 processes, depending on how many active child processes each tst.sh had. Note that the limiting factor here was probably the size of the system's process table and not an arbitrary limit of processes per user, as Mr. Hinnant suggests.

Gilbert Detillieux Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Mr. Detillieux's letter brought to my attention a typographical error I had not caught. When developing the benchmark programs, I used two sources for each benchmark; one with comments and one without. This was because I usually had to enter (or have someone else enter) the benchmark sources by hand, and an uncommented source listing is much easier to read. Unfortunately, the line

wait((int *)0);

must have been inadvertently deleted from the commented version of the sources that I furnished to BYTE in machine-readable form. That line should appear immediately after the line

printf("Error in parent closing \ n");

/ regret the error and thank Mr. Detillieux for bringing it to my attention.

The second point Mr. Detillieux raises deserves some discussion. Upon reflection, perhaps a better label for columns I through 6 would be "Number of Background Submissions." However, I still contend that the inability of some of the microcomputer systems to complete the benchmarks is the per-user process limit. One would expect the process table size to be at least as large as the per-user process limit because even on single-user systems there is commonly more than one user. Consider the "root'-owned programs like update, cron, swapper, and init. Also, UNIX UUCP communications programs typically run under their own user ID. You would expect the implementation to take this into account and to provide enough process table slots for all possible normal background processes as well as enough for every "real" user. David Hinnant Raleigh, NC

On FORTH

1 believe the FORTH standards committee has a death wish because it continues to create new dialects with each "standard" it creates. I am concerned that readers will be turned off by FORTH when they read "FORTH-83: Evolution Continues" by C. Kevin McCabe (August 1984, page 137), A careful reader will realize that FORTH-83 is more revolution than evolution from FORTH-79.

If the FORTH standards committee used new names, new dialects would not have to be created. For example, the FORTH-83 DO LOOP and DO + LOOP are very dif

(continued)

LETTERS POLICY: To be considered lor publication, a letter must be typed double-spaced on one side of the paper and must include your name and address. Comments and ideas should be expressed as dearly and concisely as possible. Listings and tables may be printed along with a letter if they are short and legible.

Because BYTE receives hundreds of letters each month, not all of them can be published, letters will not be returned to authors. Generally, it takes four months from the time BYTE receives a letter until it is published.

14 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

WHO SAYS "YOU CANT TAKE IT WITH YOU"?

When we at Intertec introduced our new HeadStart™ computer we said "it's the fastest, smallest, most powerful business computer in its class."

What more could we say?

How about "it's also portable."

Every HeadStart computer comes with its own easy-carrying handle. You can choose between a full size keyboard or a special compact version that snaps easily on the front of the screen. Either way, you get all the great features that make HeadStart unique. A big twelve inch screen, eight and sixteen bit processors, upgradable to one megabyte and it's networkable up to 255 users.

We named our new business computer "HeadStart" because

that's exactly what it'll give you. And because it's also portable, you can take it anywhere.

Well, almost.

For more information call us at (803) 798-9100 or write: Intertec, Dept. "HeadStart;'2300 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210.

intertec

HeadStart Standard Features:

Size: 15.75" wide, 12.75" deep, 11.30" high. Weight: 25 lbs.

Processors: Z80A (8 bit) and 8086 (16 bit). Memory: 128Kto IMBdependingon model. All models are expandable to 1MB.

Disk Storage: 500K to 1MB (unformatted) on a ZW Micro-Disk. RAM disk feature emulates second system drive. Optional 2Wor 5!4" external drives. Display: 12"(diagonal) P31 phosphor, non-glare screen, 25 lines x 80 or 132 columns. Keyboard: Detachable with 104 total keys. A portable version snaps onto the front screen for easy transportability.

Disk Operating Software: TP/M 80 for 8 bit "MS DOS for 16 bit. LAN DOS for multi-user 8 or 16 bit operation.

•Concurrent CP/M 86 optional. Interfaces: One RS 449/RS 232 compatible serial port. One Centronics compatible parallel printer port Extemal data bus. Coaxial communications interface. External disk I/O interface. Optional network print spooling interface.

Networking: Up to 255 HeadStarts may be connected via a coaxial, multi-user network into one of 2 optional data storage systems.

Optional Data Storage Systems: Two models are available. A 10MB, 5Yi"system is expandable to 20MB. A 50MB, 8" system (25MB fixed, 25MB removable) is expandable to 545MB in 165MB increments.

'CPfM 80 and Concurrent CP/M 86 are registered trademarks of Digital Research. "MS DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft.

Inquiry 181

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 15

A COMPUTER

PROGRAM

DELIVERED VIA

SATELLITE!

The Computer Chronicles, a halfhour weekly television series brings you an in-depth look at the latest developments in the computer world.

Correspondent Stewart Chefeit and Gary Kildall. creator of CP/M provide interviews with industry leaders plus news and information from Silicon Valley and around the world.

The Computer Chronicles, every week on a public television station near you.

(Check local listings for time and channel.)

Produced by KCSM. San Mateo, CA and WITF, Harrisburg, PA with funding from McGraw-Hill s BVII and

popular

COMPUTING magazines.

i • RESOLUTION ; REVOLUTION!

SIOO GRAPHICS • 8 COLOR ■ 1024 by 1024 Resolution • 1 BOARD

The Illuminated Technologies single board graphics controller is providing a wide variety of users worldwide with unprecedented resolution, speed, and ease of use.

The heart of the board is the 7220

graphics controller, a dedicated 16 it microprocessor that im

v^xs

bit microprocessor that im- • 3 million pixel display memory

plements Breshenhams algorithm with 1024 by 1024,1200 by 872, or

directly in pipelined hardware, movable window on image plane

allowing vector and arc drawing i.e. 640 by 480.

speeds of 1.3 million pixels per second.

C language driver source for drawing and text application development are furnished.

• Hardware zoom, pan, and windowing

• Up to 44 Mhz video rate

• Programmable sync, timing, resolution, and interface for any monochrome or RGB monitor

SOFTWARE

• AutoCAD 2 now available (or S-100/8086

• Vgraph Tektronix 40xx emulator

• CP/M & MSDOS Console Support

Contact us for applications software currently available

ILLUMINATED TECHNOLOGIES INC.

3005 N. May . Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73107 (405) 943-8086

DEALERS

LETTERS

ferent from the FORTH-78 DO LOOP and DO + LOOP. I would like to use both versions of FORTH and I would be able to if the FORTH-83 commands were D083. LOOP83. and +L00P83. More important. I would use the new keywords only when their new properties are relevant and 1 would continue to use the proven FORTH-78 keywords as before. In this way evolution can take place with a minimum of risk. (Note my use of FORTH-78; the FORTH-79 standard is incomplete and thus useless to me.)

As an experienced FORTH programmer, I find the changes from FORTH-78 listed in table 3 (on page 412) to be marginal and mostly unnecessary. For example, having / and /MOD leave floored quotients is a plus, but the FORTH-78 names create a dialect. The plus is overwhelmed by the dialect minus. If the standards committee had used the names /83 and /MOD83, you would be able to use all of the keywords without any dialect. Furthermore, implementations of the new keywords have not yet been fully evaluated; their practical consequences are not known.

I think the new definitions in FORTH-83 are not significant improvements over the old ones-additions to FORTH-78 would have made more sense.

I suggest that the FORTH standards

committee address new areas such as

graphics, mathematics, and databases in

lieu of massaging yesterday to death.

Nicholas L. Pappas, Ph.D.

Oakland. CA

Alternatives to In-Search

As an information broker and consultant with 10 years of experience in searching various on-line information-retrieval systems, including Dialog. I would like to comment on the July BYTE West Coast. "Trends in Telecommunications" by John Markoff (page 341), especially the section subtitled "In-Search" (page 342).

In-Search purports to make it easier for both the novice and the experienced user of Dialog to interact with the system, but does it? On examination of the package it appeared to me that the introduction of this intermediary to the Dialog system would at most save the user only seconds of on-line connect time. The $399 that InSearch costs could be better spent on some other options available; for example, the Online Teaching and Practice

(continued)

16 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 410

Inquiry 262 —►

s:.-.^rara*X»MC3S:WSMa*»

I77T7TT7

WHILE BALANCING THE BOOKS.

Go ahead. Slip into something comfortable. Ware the most comfortable, most sophisticated microcomputer accounting software in the world. Open Systems. Accounting software so rich in features, it can handle the complex problems of today's small business with unprecedented ease. Software so flexible, it runs on all popular microcomputers. And can grow right along with your business needs.

No other accounting software line is so complete. With a choice of General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Inventory, Payroll, Job Cost, Sales Order, Purchase Order and Fixed Assets as well as a

Report Writer that links your accounting data to popular spreadsheets, word processors and graphics software. Assuring you the luxury of a perfect software fit.

The fact is, Open Systems meets the needs of today's small business so completely, it's become one of the best selling lines of accounting software on the market. More than 301),ODD accounting products are providing comprehensive accounting solutions for businesses throughout the world. Now that's comforting. Call Open Systems right now. And get your mind off the books.

For the dealer nearest you call 1-800-328-2276

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OPEN SYSTEMS • 430 OAK

Inquiry 29

TALK

to your computer

FREE Voice-Activated Software

You get demonstration software for the IBM™ PC and Apple™ II computers

• voice-activated programs for a typewriter, a calculator, and voice-command video games • high quality microphone

• plus communications software for the IBM PC and compatibles. Software for the IBM PC includes EAR-DOS™,for concurrent voice/keyboard input capability while running applications software. And because it plugs into a standard RS-232 interface port, you can use MICRO-EAR with just about any personal computer. MICRO'EAR Voice Command System — suggested price $579.00.

Act Now —

Call or write today for more information.

: systems

9104 Red Branch Rd. • Columbia, MD 21045 • (301) 730-1237

Micro*Ear and EAR-DOS are trademarks of Arctec Syslems, Inc. Apple is ihe trademark of Apple Computer, Inc IBM is the trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

It's as Simple as Saying "On" and "Off"

Plug in the new MICRO-EAR™ Voice Command System, and experience the incredible thrill of talking with your personal computer. Become virtually keyboard-independent, because your computer will now understand and obey your vocal commands. Just Think of the Applications Speak a single word or phrase and you: invoke functions . . . load and run programs . . . enter data . . . perform practically any keyboard operation. You Select the Vocabulary — and Change It at Will Input up to 256 words or short phrases you select, define, and train to your voice. MICRO-EAR achieves 95-98% recognition accuracy . . . and retains its training even when turned off!

PC FORTH™

IBM PC & XT,

HP-150,

Macintosh,

CompuPro,

Sage & CP/M-68K,

Wang PC,

All CP/M and MSDOS computers.

i WOL

WITH IBIi FORTH

Try the professional language offering the utmost performance in the shortest development time. Transport your applications between any of our enhanced

32-bit versions. Choose from our wide selection of programming tools including native code compilers, cross-compilers, math coprocessor support, and B-Tree file managers. All fully supported with hotline, updates, and newsletters.

Laboratory Microsystems Incorporated

Post Office Box 10430, Marina del Rey, CA 90295 Phone credit card orders to (213) 306-7412

LETTERS

(ONTAP) files. These are subsections of several files available for $15 per connect hour, plus less than $10 per connect hour for telecommunications charges. Another option, popular with personal computer users, is a subscription to Knowledge Index, a subset of the complete Dialog files, available after 6 p.m. on weekdays and on weekends for $24 per hour, all inclusive.

Therefore, for the price of the In-Search package, you can have about 15 hours of search time. Since a typical search should take less than 10 minutes, this translates into a lot of searches. As well, to use the In-Search package you have to learn more key functions and commands, all of which are no less complicated than the few Dialog commands you have to learn to use the database. With or without the InSearch package you still must learn and understand the concepts of Boolean logic and search building.

One of the beauties of Dialog is that it is available throughout the world for a good portion of each week. Once you have learned some simple commands and concepts, made more mnemonic and user friendly in Knowledge Index, you can search the system wherever you happen to be and with whatever equipment is available. How unfortunate then, to introduce the In-Search crutch if you cannot operate Dialog without it.

In addition, there are other telecommunications software packages that are cheaper and are not tied to a particular information-retrieval system but that, nevertheless, allow downloading and editing of results.

In conclusion, 1 believe that this package is indeed an example of patronizing the naive user and never giving him a chance to grow up. Currently In-Search and similar tools are being reviewed by several publications. It is evident from reading these reviews that the reviewers have been unable to intensively test and evaluate the products. 1 would suggest that balanced reviews can only be carried out by information professionals who know what to look for.

Mary M. Nash Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

BASIC09

Wendell Brown's desire for a well-structured BASIC that runs on the Apple II (July 1984 Letters, page 16) would probably be

{continued)

18 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 197

And you thought there was only one "Graphics Card'.'

Now you have a choice for bitmapped graphics. Priced at $399— $100 less than what you'd expect —AST's Preview! brings high resolution bit-mapped graphics and clear, crisp text to your IBM® PC, XT or AT monochrome screen. And there's no standard like AST quality.

Preview! provides all the features and functions you'd expect, like bit-map addressing the maximum supported 720 horizontal pixels by 348 vertical lines for two pages of full-screen high resolution graphics, an IBM PC-compatible parallel printer port and Hercules™ bit-mapped graphics card compatibility.

It works with all kinds of software too, no other card offers more. New generation integrated business programs, bit-mapped text processing and advanced windowing applications are specialties.

Then there's the nonstandard features AST is famous for—consistent quality, reliability, comprehensive documentation, service, support and extra value. We include our

SuperPak™ RAM disk simu lator and printer spooler utility diskette. Judged by PC WORLD readers as a World Class Winner for the past two years, ifs worth $45 by itself.

The leadership strength that makes our consistent quality so affordable is carried throughout our complete line of PC enhancement products. We offer a family of graphics products which provide a variety of features from serial ports to expansion memory, as well as multifunction boards, micro-tomainframe communications, local area networks and disk subsystems.

So you can settle for the common, ordinary graphics card and hope for the best. Or you can pay $100 less and know you have the best—Preview! only from AST. For more information and dealer locations call our Customer Information Center (714) 863-1333, Ext. 5249. Or write, AST Research, Inc., 2121 Alton Avenue, Irvine, CA 92714 TWX: 753699AST UR.

I 64K Screen Memory ' Ttvo Pages of High Resolution 720 Horizontal PELS by 348 Vertical Line BitMapped Monochrome Graphics ' 80 Character By 25 Line IBM PCCompatible Text Display

• Standard IBM Character Set

• Compatible With Popular Bit-Mapped Graphics, Text and Windowing Applications Softivare

• Parallel Printer Port

• SuperPak Utility Diskette

• Hercules Compatible

Preview! and SuperPak trademarks of AST Research, Inc. IBM trademark of International Business Machines Corp. Hercules Graphics Card trademark of Hercules Computer Technology. Loius 1-2-3 and Symphony trademarks of Lotus Development Corp. Framework trademark ofAshlon-Tate. Ward trademark of Microsoft, Inc. MetaWINDOW trademark of Metagraphis.

R€S€RRCH INC.

Inquiry 3 for Dealers. Inquiry 4 for End-Users.

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INTRODUCING THE STANDARD

BY WHICH EVERY OTHER PC

WILL BE MEASURED:

THE DATA GENERAL/One™

PORTABLE.

Free yourself from the confinement of your deskbound computer, with the first full-function business system that lets you work

Fits in a briefcase. anywhere.

The DATA GENERAL/One portable offers J the capability of the leading PC: two built-in r diskette drives, a full-size screen and full-size | characters, even the same programs.

In a size small enough to fit in a briefcase: 11.7 x 13.7 x 2.8 inches, and less than 11 pounds.

It's the only portable with a fullsize 80-column by 25-line screen.

It's compatible with IBM®-PC software, so you can run the programs available to PC users. Software like 1-2-3™ and Symphony™

i

It has two built-in diskette drives and runs thousands of IBM-PC programs

from Lotus'," Wordstar? dBase II? Multiplan? pfs® file, and Flight Simulator II.

It's the only portable with two built-in

720 KB diskette drives, giving you twice the storage capacity of the leading PC. And memory is expandable up to 512 KB. Finally, it's the only portable to offer the benefits of integrated office automation—by connecting with Data General's CEO® system.

Options include a built-in modem, a portable printer, an 8-hour battery pack, an external 5.25-inch diskette drive, and an external

1200-baud modem. The DATA GENERAL/One. It gives you what the leading PC gives you. And something the leading PC doesn't.

Your freedom. Find out more about the DATA GENERAL/One portable by contacting your Data General salesperson or nearest authorized dealer.

Call 1-800-DATAGEN.

Connects with Data General's CEO office automation system.

i w Data General

a Generation ahead.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. 1-2-3. Lotus and Symphony are trademarks of Lotus Development Corp. © 1983. dBase II is a registered trademark of

Ashton-Tate. pfs is a registered trademark of Software Publishing. Wordstar is a U.S. registered trademark of Micro Pro Int'l. Multiplan is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. CEO is a

registered trademark, and DATA GENERAL/One is a trademark of Data General Corp. © 1984 Data General Corporation, Westboro, MA

Inquiry 376

[ANUARY 1985 'BYTE 21

LETTERS

satisifed by BASIC09, which runs under the OS9 operating system and therefore requires a 6809 card. The card and software are available from: Stellation Two, POB 2342, Santa Barbara, CA 93120.

BASIC09 features IF. . THEN . . .(ELSE) . . .ENDIF, REPEAT. . .UNTIL, WHILE. . . DO. . .ENDWHILE, LOOP. . .ENDLOOP, EXITIF. . THEN. . .ENDEXIT, and FOR . . TO. . .(STEP). . .NEXT control structures. IF. . THEN . . . ELSE statements can be nested. The language compiles to an intermediate code, which is then interpreted, and, unlike CBASIC the compiler/ decompiler is interactive and flags most errors immediately.

Stellation Two provides excellent support and has a reasonable update policy.

F. KUECHMANN

Vancouver, WA

Modula-2:

Two Dissenting Views

David B. Moffat's "UCSD Pascal vs. Modula-2: A Dissenting View" (August 1984, page 428) was a pleasure to read—a sort of the-emperor-isn't-wearing-anyclothes type of critique. I agree with Mr. Moffat's objections to separate input/output statements for every variable type and to the case sensitivity of the language. The language has one other feature that in my opinion is a nuisance—the required use of IMPORT statements to specify the libraries in which modules exist. Not only do you have to know the names, purposes, and acceptable arguments of procedures that are usually considered "standard," but you also have to know where those modules are located in order to be able to call them into a program. This is the sort of bookkeeping task that higher-level languages were invented to avoid.

As an application programmer 1 fail to see how Modula-2 is an advance in meeting my programming needs. I am far happier with Turbo Pascal, which lets me set up libraries (though not precompiled) that are easily called into programs with an INCLUDE compiler command.

Turbo Pascal is case-insensitive and provides convenient low-level capabilities for bit manipulation and direct access to memory and MS-DOS interrupts.

Perhaps systems programmers, for whom Modula-2 was developed, can appreciate the virtues of that language—but I do not think that Modula-2 is a superior applications language. Every time I read one of Jerry Poumelle's glowing comments about Modula-2,1 react with the question:

But has he tried programming in that language?

)OHN FlGUERAS

Victor, NY

After reading the articles concerning Modula-2 in the August 1984 BYTE, I feel compelled to comment. On the whole, 1 thought the articles were well written and gave a good overview of the language. However, I believe that I detected a certain amount of chauvinism on the part of those committed to Modula-2, and it is this point 1 would like to address.

Engineers have a tendency to fall in love with certain designs, and software engineers are no exception. We put so much time and energy into the designs we work with that it is as if we become married to them and can no longer look at them with objectivity. I know I have been guilty of this on many occasions, and 1 am sure that others can recognize this capacity in themselves. However, as software engineers we have an obligation to be objective when considering designs and to address any legitimate concerns that are raised.

Currently we are confronted with debate between the proponents of both Modula2 and Ada. Being in the Ada camp, 1 would like to have the Modula-2 devotees address my legitimate concerns regarding this language. All too often the debate degenerates to nit-picking about this or that feature of Ada being clumsy or inefficient or not theoretically pure enough. I can play this game as well as the next engineer, but 1 won't because I feel that this only results in the chauvinism 1 speak of. My single largest concern is one I feel is carefully avoided in debates of this nature, and it desperately needs to be addressed in an objective manner by anyone advocating the use of a new language.

Ada, as a language, has one great advantage over all others. It is rigidly standardized and the standard can be effectively enforced. While it may have many serious drawbacks, which opponents are quick to point out, lack of standardization is not one of them. Even a poor standard, enforced by the entire might of the Department of Defense, is infinitely superior to no standard at all. My question to the Modula-2 people is how do they propose to ensure that a software commitment on one machine using one compiler can be salvaged when migrating to another machine with a different compiler? An ANSI standard alone, should one be produced, is not always enough.

1 own a company that has committed

itself to software development in Ada. We believe that our success will hinge on our ability to generate software that is reliable, reusable, and above all else, transportable Reliability is dependent only on our abilities as software engineers and the quality of the tools we select. Reusability is provided in both Modula-2 and Ada through their ability to generate libraries of general-purpose utility routines. However, only Ada provides a language reference manual so precise and detailed that it has spawned a new generation of "language lawyers," a trademarked name that guarantees the DOD the ability to enforce the standards laid down in this manual, and a validation procedure that will test every Ada compiler against the standard before it can bear the name. What does Modula-2 offer me in this respect as a businessman to justify a software commitment to this language?

Ada has some flaws: complexity, lack of certain theoretical advantages, the massive size of its associated compilers, and others. But because we have an effective standard to work with, 1 feel that we can produce software at a lower cost to our clients. The logic is simple: if we stay within the standard, and if our clients have a validated Ada compiler, any software written on our system should run on their system. We spend less time making patchwork fixes and adjustments, and we can bring in software tools developed on other projects without fear of needing to modify the tools.

Modula-2 is a good language. It incorporates some of the best developments in the field of theoretical computer science to come along in recent years. However, I think that it will have some serious problems in the future if the question of portability and standardization is not addressed quickly.

Marin D. Condic, President

Modular Systems Research

Kalamazoo, Ml

Caltechs Computer Network

The article "A Computer on Every Desk" by Donna Osgood (June 1984, page 162) was interesting but failed to mention the educational computing activities at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). I feel our program has several unique features. A fully functioning campus-wide network links all our computers. The network was completed this summer by a team of Caltech students that installed

22 B YTE ■ JANUARY 1985

LETTERS

outlets in the dormitories. The following description of our program is excerpted from the June 1984 edition of Caltech News.

Caltech has received major grants from IBM and from Hewlett-Packard to support its educational computing project.

From IBM. Caltech will receive several hundred IBM Personal Computer workstations, a hostprocessor, several graphics subsystems, and technical support, all to be used in the development of educational software.

From Hewlett-Packard. Caltech will be recipient of 22 color desktop computers and support equipment for an introductory computing course, an introductory solid-state electronics course, and a solid-state electronics laboratory. In the first course, freshmen will use the Hewlett-Packard computers to learn programming, and in the last two. undergraduates will use the computers to design electronic devices. The equipment is worth S528.694.

Along with the IBM equipment will come a cash grant of $150,000 to purchase adapter cards to tie the IBM workstations to Caltech's campus-wide high-speed computer network. IBM has also assigned a technical support person to the project during the three years that the company is involved. . . .

When it is fully implemented over the next three years. . . . [the) Caltech educational computing project will include more than 800 workstations. Linked by the campus computer network, they will be grouped in clusters of up to 10 or 20 machines in classroom areas, laboratories, the computing center, and libraries.

Faculty and teaching assistants will have individual workstations to prepare courseware. Students will have network outlets in their dormitories, enabling them to communicate with the campus system, using their personal computers All the individual units will be tied to campus mainframe computers. . . .

The Caltech project is aimed primarily at developing courseware for all the disciplines at the Institute, Educators will emphasize creation of specialized graphics software that will enable students to "see" abstract concepts in visual terms. . . .

Besides IBM and Hewlett-Packard, other manufacturers contributing to the project include Data General, Digital Equipment Corporation, Evans & Sutherland, and Tektronix. Howard Rumsey |r., Ph.D. California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA

Scout

1 would like to tell BYTE readers about an IBM PC XT product that has saved me a great deal of time, money, and frustration

(continued)

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Inquiry 39

IANUARY

BYTE 23

LETTERS

over the past four months. Scout, a Computer Insights product, provides a set of functions that greatly enhance those provided by DOS 2.X for using subdirectories. Scout allows you to define "imaginary drives." These drives model DOS l.X disk directories and allow programs that do not understand DOS 2.X paths to access files in subdirectories. This makes many older programs usable and will save you money

by eliminating the need to buy new DOS 2.X versions. The "imaginary drives" can be defined as read-only and provide protection of valuable data. Scout can be used to prevent catastrophes such as your accidentally formatting your hard disk. Although these capabilities are useful, Scout's greatest asset is its ability to search subdirectories for data, profile, help, overlay, etc., files in a manner similar to, but

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Inquiry 248

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more flexible than, the DOS 2.X PATH command. This saves a great deal of disk space because it lets you maintain only one copy of files used by programs run in many different subdirectories.

I have yet to find a bug in Scout. I recommend this product to anyone who uses DOS 2.X, especially if you think subdirectories are a good idea and ought to be more useful than they currently are.

If you're interested, you can obtain Scout from Computer Insights, POB ll0097, Pittsburgh, PA 15232.

Paul Crumley Monroeville, PA

"Good-bye, Teacher Explained

Stephan L. Chorover recently referred to me in "Cautions on Computers in Education" (June 1984, page 223) as

. . .a behavioristically inclined psychologist who was one of the leading developers of an earlier system of automated instruction inspired by the work of B. F. Skinner. The so-called "Keller Plan" is one of the old theories that has died along with many other well-intended measures for increasing educational productivity through automation.

In the interest of veracity it should be noted that personalized instruction, to which Mr. Chorover refers, is not a theory, but a teaching method; the method is alive and well and is a frequently used alternative to the group-instruction-by-lecture method; personalized instruction has nothing whatever to do with automation (as Mr. Chorover would know if he had read the paper "Good-bye. Teacher. . ." to which he makes a reference); and it was inspired by, but not modeled after, B. F. Skinner's work on individualized instruction, for which we were all grateful. I am not just "behavioristically inclined," I am a behaviorist and have been one for more than 50 years.

Fred S. Keller Chapel Hill, NC

One Reader s

"Perfect" Microcomputer

in regard to Richard Knop's concept of the perfect microcomputer (July 1984 Letters, page 26): The Olivetti M-20 computer uses the Z8000 microprocessor and meets

[continued)

NewsNet. Inc —Crosstalk Mtcrostul. Inc —Data Capture Southeaslern Soilware— Smartmodem Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc

The right answer every time.

Introducing the Hercules Graphics Card for the technical user.

OK. We confess. The Hercules Graphics Card in the picture above isn't a special version for the technical user.

In fact, it's exactly the same as the standard Hercules Graphics Card running programs like 1-2-3™ and Symphony™ in more than 100,000 IBM® PCs.

We just wanted to make the point that the Hercules Graphics Card is not only big with business users—it's also the most popular high resolution graphics card for the technical user.

Why? We run more software than anyone else.

The Hercules Graphics Card is supported by more technical software than any other hi-res graphics card.

There are word processors that can produce publication quality documents with mathematical formulas.

There are programs that enable your PC to emulate a graphics terminal

and run mainframe graphics software.

There are toolkits of graphics utilities that can be linked to popular programming languages.

There are CAD programs that can provide features normally associated with $50,000 systems.

And we supply free software with each card to do hi-res graphics with the PC's BASIC. No one else does.

Hardware that set the high performance standard.

When we introduced the Hercules Graphics Card in August, 1982, it set the standard for high resolution graphics on the PC.

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Should you want IBM compatible color graphics for your system, then the new Hercules Color Card is the smart way to go.

It gives you a parallel printer port and a size small enough to fit in one of the XT's or Portable's short slots.

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Address: Hercules, 2550 Ninth St., Berkeley, CA 94710 Ph: 415 540-6000 Telex: 754063 Trademarks/Owners: Hercules/Hercules Computer Technology, 1-2-3, Symphony/Lotus Development; IBM, AT/lnternational Business Machines

Inquiry 160

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 25

Achieve laboratory automation at low cost—connect a DAISI™ (Data Acquisition and Instrument Systems Interface) to your Apple® // or He Computer.

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DAISI and Apple work together as a single system to measure, monitor, time, analyze, control and record a wide variety of research and testing functions.

DAISI peripherals plug easily into any Apple expansion slot, ready to be used in chromatography, environmental data collection, evoked response, gas analysis, spectroscopy, signal processing, solar heating, mechanical measurement, structural testing, and many more functional applications.

The AI13 analog-to-digital converter reads instruments and sensors and has its own external unit for easy cable access.

DISCOVER NEW HORIZONS IN

AND KEEP YOUR COSTS DOWN TO EARTH

Here's a rundown on the

DAISI Peripherals:

AI13 12-Bit Analog

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■ 16 input channels

■ 20 microseconds conversion time DI09 Digital Interface

with Timers $330

■ timing and interrupt capability

■ direct connection to BCD digits, switches, relays

AO03 8-Bit Analog

Output Interface $195-$437

■ up to 8 independent channels

■ range and offset adjustable AI02 8-Bit Analog

Input Interface $299

■ 16 input channels

■ 70 microseconds conversion time

Plus the SC14 system for frontend signal conditioning and amplification, the UI16 isolation system for AC or DC power input or output, and more ...

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Using AMPRIS is as easy as inserting an ampersand (&) command where you would normally insert an Applesoft command. For more information about the complete line of DAISI peripheral devices and the full spectrum of their applications, write or phone:

Interactive Structures, Inc. 146 Montgomery Avenue Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 Telephone: (215) 667-1713

LETTERS

most of Mr. Knop's other requirements.

I had come'to the conclusion that since the IBM does not use the Zilog 8000 or the Motorola MC68000, computers with these microprocessors must not exist; one certainly cannot find articles in BYTE indicating that there are software programs that are compatible with the 8000.

It is frustrating, to say the least, to always have to contact Olivetti to learn of programs I can use with the Z8000.

C. L. Norris West Palm Beach. FL

Icons versus Commands

In the 1960s it was batch processing, and 1 felt so modern sitting at a card punch. Around 1970, a number of batch systems introduced timesharing "options," and I signed up for a terminal days in advance. (For a number of years 1 clung to my card decks as a backup; then they were phased out.) In the mid-1970s, minicomputers were the rage, and operating systems came out that were designed from the start to be conversational: henceforth I never wanted to return to the data-entry kind of system. Around 1980. microcomputers became powerful enough to be useful, and the cathode-ray tube has become a fact of life.

Now the issue is icons versus commands, a trend that BYTE apparently has not caught on to.

1 assert that icons are an advance over command-driven systems comparable to the advance from cards to the cathoderay tube. It is not simply a matter of adding a new capability to an old design: after being introduced to icons (you guessed it: I now own a Macintosh), I am still curious to see what wonderful software is available on other systems, but 1 find that 1 have lost the patience to plow through a manual and gobble up the keywords, the syntax, the options, and the modes. Today I want it in dynamic pictures or not at all, and I don't want to have set up statements underneath, like punched cards in a drawer.

Francisco Jose Oyarzun Los Angeles, CA

More Mac Feedback

Two letters in BYTE have caused me to take word processor in hand. The first letter was from Robert Lurie ("More Mac Reactions" May 1984, page 16) concern

(wntinued)

26 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 175

You Would've Been on Time

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^m

*>

x

We know how easy it is to become so totally immersed in your work that you forget all about such things as 10 o'clock appointments, luncheon dates, or even (shudder) Board Meetings. That's why we designed Macalendar to help you plan, organize and implement your busy schedule.

Macalendar is a powerful time management tool for the Macintosh1® which uniquely combines a calendar with an alarm and a notepad - all designed to keep you on schedule and up-to-date. Best of all, Macalendar runs concurrently with all other programs, so it's always there when you need it.

Once you've entered important times and dates into Macalendar, you can go on to work on other applications. Macalendar will automatically interrupt your program with a chime to remind you of your appointment. There's no separate disk to insert; Macalendar is an ever-present, integral part of your Macintosh.

For detailed reminders or notes, take advantage of Macalendar's notepad. Simply enter memoranda for the appropriate day, and the information will be waiting for you when you call it up. Plan weeks - even years! - ahead. And never again miss another appointment, birthday, class, whatever.

Run out of room on your notepad? Just "turn the page" and fill unlimited pages with all your information. Macalendar lets you document phone

calls, assemble "to-do" lists, plan out a daily schedule, etc.

Now, finally losing yourself in your work doesn't have to mean losing track of time . . . thanks to Macalendar. *

Macalendar, $89; Lisa Desktop Calendar, $295

idex

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^Expanded version of Macalendar, the Desktop Calendar,-1 is available for the Lisa. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Lisa is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Inquiry 365 JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 27

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LETTERS

ing Apple's not putting the floating-point software in the Mac's ROM. He mentioned that Apple programmers had exhausted their ROM space, so they moved the software to RAM. How can you exhaust ROM space unless you have reached the central processor's memory-addressing limits? The answer is: you cannot. In this case. they hadn't run out of ROM space—the fact that a 512K-byte RAM Mac is possible refutes that remark. You have to freeze the ROM at a point sometime, however, and possibly the company forgot to add the floating-point software before it froze the final version of the ROM at 64K bytes, so they put it in RAM. 1 have to agree with him, though; if the floating-point will run 2 5 percent slower out of RAM than ROM. then Apple's programmers did make a design mistake. It may be too late to do anything about it, though, because too many Macs have been distributed to change the situation.

The second letter I want to comment on was from David Nibbelin in the )une 1984 issue ("American as Apple Pie." page 14), I have seen patriotism before, but this is ridiculous. I cannot understand why he is so angry that the Mac uses a Sony disk drive. If Mr. Nibbelin hasn't noticed, the computer revolution is not just happening in the United States but all over the world, and if advanced computers are to be built, technology must be used from wherever it is found. If he is really against non-American technology, then he will also boycott the Radio Shack Model 100. the AT&T PC, and almost any computer that uses 2 56K-byte RAM chips (a great deal of which are made in Japan). A person interested in the computer industry cannot shut out a nation like lapan, which has so much to offer us and the industry. To restate and add to a quote by Mr. Nibbelin: I hope the rest of the computerbuying public will recognize this unAmerican approach and express their reaction at the computer-store purchase counter, showing that they are not swayed by where a product is from—rather, by what substance it is made of.

David Zimmerman Elizabeth, N/

I am a software engineer at a major defense corporation. Most of my work is done on Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) super-minicomputers, although 1 also work with military processors and a number of different desktop computers such as the IBM PC and the DEC Pro 3 50. I also own an Apple Macintosh, the cute

[continued)

30 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 244

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IMSI Presents PC Paintbrush

With PC Paintbrush, you'll now be able to do things that you once only dreamed about.

Because, like your dreams, you'll be working with a palette of up to 256 vibrant colors and shades, depending on your color card.

And, as you'll notice, you'll also have drawing tools, drop-down menus, and a range of brush widths and shapes. Plus your choice of mouse or joystick.

In addition to freeform drawing, you'll be able to draw precise triangles, rectangles, boxes, circles and ellipses.

You'll be able to cut, paste, and move things around. Even enhance graphs, text, and images from other programs like Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Word, and SuperCalc 3.

But don't stop with painting. PC Paintbrush also gives you an electronic type shop to work with. Several fonts, from Olde English to Computer. Each in seven styles (boldface, italics, underline, etc.) and seven sizes.

All of which makes it great for designing everything from fliers and report covers to greeting cards and birthday banners. (For a wall-sized work of art, just print sideways.)

The possibilities are endless. But the best way to see for yourself is to see for yourself. Get a demonstration at your nearest computer store.

Then, draw your own conclusions.

I softwarl publishers Inquiry 374 INTERNATIONAL MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE, INC. 633 Fifth Avenue • San Rafael, CA 94901 • 415/454-7101

RUNS ON: IBM PC/compatibles, and Corona PC, 192K RAM. IBM PCjr., and Mindset, 256K RAM. HP 150, 320K RAM. All require DOS 2.0 and up and 1 drive.

MICE: Summagraphics, Mouse

Systems, Microsoft.

JOYSTICKS: Any IBM compatible.

GRAPHICS Amdek, Hercules, IBM, CARDS: PCjr., Quadram, Scion,

Tecmar, STB, Paradise.

MONITOR: Color or black and white.

OUTPUT: Printers: IBM/Epson graphics, Epson FX-80 and 100, MX 80 and 100, IDS Non-Color, IDS Prism Color, NEC 8023, C-ltoh8510, Okidata8X or 9X series, Radio Shack CGP-220, Xerox 1770, PrintaColor TC1040, Quadram Quadjet, Transtar Color, Diablo C150, Tektronix 4695, HP Thinkjet, Star Micronics, Epson JX-80, Data Products 8050, IBM Color printer. Plotters: HP 7475A and 7470A.

PC Painlbtush is a registered trademark of ZSOFT CORP

LETTERS

little machine everyone is so curious about—the one without any documentation or software.

I must admit. Jerry Pournelle hit the nail on the head when he said that many of us who no longer consider ourselves "the rest of us" have been attracted to this little imp. Certainly the Macintosh is the closest thing to a Xerox Star workstation that one might hope to have on one's desk

at home. Oh sure, it could have been cheaper, and it could use more memory. And it obviously could use some more software. But all these criticisms aside, one must admit that it is without a doubt one of the most innovative personal computers ever introduced. It also has great mass appeal because it's the first personal computer that's both fun and easy to use. Personally, I don't feel the least bit in

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suited using a computer that represents information with pictures. Rather, I am intrigued by these uncommon techniques. The concepts alone merit one's attention whether they are the way of the future or not. Witness however, DEC'S latest product announcement, the VAXstation 100 workstation, with its bit-mapped graphics, multiple windows, pop-up menus, use of icons, and even a mouse.

The Macintosh presents a whole new set of concepts to the personal computer user in its man-machine interface. It is a computer that people want to try. It is a desktop productivity tool that anyone can use. 1 won't argue that without application software there is not much you can do with it. But software will come. There is always a learning curve associated with doing something completely new, so it may take a little longer to develop Macintosh software than if you were simply porting software to yet another IBM semicompatible.

1 believe, however, that Apple may have one problem with this wonderful machine—Apple's image. Apple's designers have always enjoyed the image as the wonder boys of the personal computer industry, and this is true now more than ever. However, this image will make it difficult for Apple and others to convince the corporate powers of many large and conservative companies that the Apple Macintosh is the desktop computer their employees really need. After all. the "three-letter" machines they now have on their desks have been quite an improvement over nothing at all.

If I can find any fault with Apple, I must say that I don't believe they are giving the "basement programmer" enough support. Surely they are in need of application software for this new product. Yet by relying only on the proven vendors, I feel they are ignoring the history of the personal computer software industry. Many of the software vendors Apple now considers a good risk started in their basements with just a computer and a unique idea. Also, it seems that most small software companies are good for only one or two really innovative products.

1 don't fault Apple in its goal of securing a solid base of established software products for the Macintosh. This is critical to the Mac's success. However, Apple and the rest of the personal computer industry must not forget the yet-unknown software designers, as these people, unpressured to produce new products, will continue to be key innovators in the industry.

T. M. Nicholson St. Louis, MO m

— Inquiry 206

FIXES AND UPDATES

Solution Doesn't Wash

T. J. Higgins felt that he could improve upon Martin Janzen's solution to the difficulties that pop up when disabling/enabling interrupts during critical sections of code on the early versions of the IBM PC with defective 8088 firmware. (See "Bug in Early 8088 Arises Later. Reader and Author Explain Fix," July 1984 BYTE, page 38.) According to Mr. Janzen, who devised

the fix, Mr. Higgins's touch-up will not work.

In the original discussion, Messrs. Roskos and Janzen concluded that pushf/ cli/popf would work for most applications and, when using a stack switch, that the code needed to be analyzed before cli/sti could be added to the program.

Mr. Higgins, however, saw another op

Listing A: Mr. Higgins's solution for the disabling /enabling problem in early 8088

microprocessors uses the sequence lahf/sahf.

dev strategy:

; switch to local stack

lahf

save flags in register AH

cli

disable interrupts

mov spsave,sp

save DOS's stack pointer

mov sssave.ss

. . . and stack segment regs

mov bx.cs

set up a local stack in

mov ss.bx

. . . this code segment

mov sp,offset stkbot

bottom of local stack

sahf

restore flags to previous status

; switch back to DOS's stack

lahf

save flags in AH

cli

disable interrupts

mov ss.sssav

restore DOS's stack segment

mov sp.spsav

. . . and stack pointer

sahf

restore flags to previous status

ret

tion for the stack switch: why not use lahf/sahf? If another register, perhaps BX, were available, you could save and restore the flags without analyzing the code and inserting cli/sti instructions. Mr. Higgins's suggestion is shown here in listing A.

Mr. Janzen reports that, unfortunately, the lahf and sahf instructions cannot surround critical sections of code, temporarily disable interrupts, and then restore the interrupt flag to its previous value.

"The lahf and sahf instructions ... do not do this. They appear to have been included in the 8086 instruction set to make it easier to convert existing 8080 programs."

Writes Mr. Janzen: "These instructions transfer the lower 8 bits of the 8086 flags register to and from an AH register. The interrupt flag is one of the upper 8 bits and is not affected by the lahf and sahf instructions. Therefore, the sequence of instructions |suggested by] Mr. Higgins will leave interrupts disabled, rather than restoring the flag."

The pushf/cli sequence suggested by Mr. Roskos is endorsed by Mr. Janzen when it is used for surrounding any critical sections that do not move the stack. If you have a block of code that you know is a part of a routine that runs with interrupts enabled, Mr. Janzen recommends you use cli/sti. If you don't know which way to go, he suggests saving and restoring the entire flags register with the program in listing B.

Listing B:

Save and restore the entire flags

register with this program.

criticalsection:

pushf pop ax cli

;push flags register onto stack ;save flags in an unused register ;disable interrupts

■

;switch to local stack as before

push ax popf

;put the old flags on stack ;restore contents of flags register

Carroll Touch Technology Relocates

Ann Marett, marketing communications manager for Carroll Touch Technology, wrote to say that her company has relocated since it was mentioned in a System Review in the July 1984 BYTE. (See "The Sage II and Sage IV Computers," by Allen Munro, page 23 5.)

The correct address for Carroll Touch Technology is POB 1309, Round Rock, TX 78680. The telephone number is (512) 244-3 500.

{continued)

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 33

MINORITY

HI-TECH

INDUSTRIES

CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-428-7979

Call on Other Items Not Listed

PRINTERS/MODEMS/PLOTTERS

Epson

All Models Call

Enter

Sweet-P 6 Pen Plotter $755

Inforunner

Rileman Blue Plus 140 CPS IBM $288

Riteman Plus 120 CPS 229

Riteman 15 160 CPS 480

Juki

6100 $400

6300 Call

Silver Reed

500 $303

550 POR S 39S

770 POR S 799

Anchor

Mark XII $235

Express (100% Hayes) Call

Legend can

Hayes

Smartmodem 1200 $469

Smartmodem 1200B 405

Novation

Smart Cat Plus 2400 $695

Smart Cat Plus 1200 W/Mite 299

Apple Cat II 199

103/212 Smart Cat 357

MONITORS

Amdek can

Taxan

12" Amber (Composite) $119

12" A (IBM) 122 131

12" RGB W/Grn Switch (IBM) 415

NEC Call

Special

12" Amber (Composite) $ 89

DISKETTES Qty 100 Maxell

MD-1 $175

MD-2 220

Fuji

MD-1 $159

MD-2 189

MF1 3V4 (MAG-HP) 425

MD2HD (IBM-AT) 546

COMPUTERS/CARDS

NEC

PC-7401A Computer Call

PC-8201A Computer $299

PC-8201A-90 Battery Pack 17

PC-8206A 32K Ram 215

PC-6271A AC Adapter 17

Paradise

Modular Graphics Card $271

MGC Plus A & B Module 526

A Module 336

B Module 460

SOFTWARE

Enable coil

LotUS Call

Micropro

WS Pro $249

WS 2000 Call

Practicorp

(IBM) Call

MINORITY HI-TECH INDUSTRIES

5021 N. 20th Street, #10261 Phoenix, Arizona 85064

Other Information: (602) 890-0596

• WE BUY • WMI SURPLUS GOODS

Prices reflect 3-5% Cash Discount. Shipping on most items $3.00. Prices and availability subject to change without notice. Send cashier's check or money order ... All other checks delay shipping 2 weeks. ADD #185

FIXES AND UPDATES

BYTE'S BUGS

Patch Now Quilt

A trio of program lines were inadvertently omitted from listing I. the typejustification patch, in the September 1984

justifies Model 100 Type.") Add the lines in listing C to the program. Our thanks to Frederick Crane of Iowa

Fixes and Updates (page 33). (See "Patch City, Iowa, for catching this bug.

Listing C: A patch to the Model 100 type-justification program.

302 FOR Q = VTOR-L+1:IF LEN(PR$)> =R-L+1 THEN 314

314 IF RIGHT$(PR$,1) = " "THENPR$= LEFT$(PR$,LEN(PR$)- 1:GOTO302

315 IF LEN(PR$)>R-L+1THENPR$ = RIGHT$(PR$,LEN(PR$)-1):GOT0315

Bugs in Real-Time Graphics

Marcus Newton found a few bugs in listing

1 in his "Real-Time 3-D Graphics for Microcomputers" (September 1984, page 251).

Make the following changes on page

2 56: delete the comma after POP DS and change MOV AX,' to MOV AX,' ' (note that there are two spaces between the

single quotation marks).

On page 272, change MOV AL,' to MOV AL,' ' (one space between the single quotation marks). Substitute CMPAL,'.' for CMRAL,".

On page 270, replace the lines around the label PER70 with listing D.

Listing

D: Apply this patch around the label PER70 in Marcus Newton's program in

the Septi

mber 198^

BYTE.

ADD

H,AX

;H = ZX*X + ZY*Y + ZZ*Z

MOV

AX,H

CALL

INORM

;BX STILL = SORT Q

CMP

AX.CCLIP

JLE

PER90

;POINT NOT IN FRONT OF CAMERA

PER70:

TEST

P.OFH

JZ

PER80

TRUE PERSPECTIVE

PER75:

MOV

BX,H

PER80:

MOV,

AX,I

CALL

INORM

MOV

l,AX

;l = NORM*l/BX

MOV

AX,J

CALL

INORM

MOV

J,AX

;J = NORM*J/BX

CALL

PLOT

;PLOT PIXEL OR DRAW VECTOR

Bang Is Dud

Symbolic Changes

Pat McHargue wrote to tell us that an error mars Dick Pountain's listing in the August 1984 BYTE U.K. (See "Microcomputer Design," page 361.) The process bang, as defined in listing 1 on page 364, is incorrect. At present, it does not print "WHAM!" on the screen; rather it outputs "HM." The correct definition is presented here in listing E.

Listing E: Corrections to the process bang.

PROC bang (CHAN send) = DEF bang.word = "WHAM! ": SEQ i = [1 FOR bang.word[BYTE 0]] send ! bang.word[BYTE i]:

Dr. Michael W. Ecker found a bug in the sample animation program that accompanies Bill Sudbrink's review of the Sanyo MBC 5 50 microcomputer (August 1984, page 270).

In listing l (page 282), change the greater-than symbol (>) in line 150 to a less-than symbol (<), otherwise the downarrow key will not function as intended.

Book Gets Wrong Name

In the August Fixes and Updates section, we inadvertently misstated the name of one of Scot Kamins's books (on page 40). The correct name is Apple Backpack.m

34 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

What's the best recommendation

you can make when you're asked

about business graphics?

: Ms

\

The Business Professional Plotter from Hewlett-Packard -The 6-Pen HP 7475A

Today, business professionals are more aware of the vital importance of business graphics to their success. Tomorrow, they may ask for your recommendation. Here's some important information that will help. Tell them...

Make a first impression that lasts

Truly impressive graphic presentations can create a first impression of quality and professionalism that lasts and lasts. The way you present your information can be equally as important as the information you're presenting. And that's where the HP 7475A Business Professional Plotter lets your professionalism shine through.

Standards unsurpassed in the plotter business

The technical standards of the HP 7475A have no equal for producing quality graphics. With a resolution of one-thousandth-of-aninch, curved lines are smooth, not jagged, and straight lines are consistently straight. Its exceptional repeatability (the ability of a pen to return precisely to a given point) assures that intersecting lines and circular shapes will meet exactly.

Compatible with almost any personal computer in your office and supported on today's most popular graphics software packages

The HP 747 5A quickly "makes friends" with most of the personal computers you may already have in your office, including IBM®, Apple™, and Compaq™—as well as a host of HP computers. You even have a choice of many off-the-shelf software packages, such as Lotus 1-2-3™ and Symphony™, that give you "first-day" productivity with the HP 7475A.

Your Choice: 2 media sizes

While most professional business applications will be satisfied with standard %Vi x 11" paper or transparencies, the HP 7475A adds the capability of plotting on larger 11 x 17" media, too.

The cost? Surprisingly affordable

The HP 7475A Business Professional Plotter is an amazingly affordable $1895. When you consider the high cost of having your graphics prepared by an outside service, you'll find the return on your investment is almost immediate.

1-2-3 and Symphony are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation Inquiry 389

Another choice: HP's low-cost, high performance Personal Computer Plotter

For the "business on a budget," you may also want a look at our 2-pen Personal Computer Plotter, the HP 7470A. Its low-cost (only $1095) is as remarkable as the quality of its plots. With many of the same features as the HP 7475A, the HP 7470A plots on media up to %Vi x 11." It stores and caps two-pens, and you can easily change the pens for multi-color plotting.

Send for your FREE Package" today!

'Better Presentations

For a FREE sample plot, overhead transparency, and more details, mail the coupon below. We'll also enclose a list of graphics software packages you can use right "off-the-shelf!'

For the name of your nearest Hewlett-Packard dealer, call toll-free 800-FOR-HPPC.

HEWLETT PACKARD

YES! I want to make the most informed business graphics recommendation I can. Please send me your FREE "Better Presentation Package," so I can learn more about the HP 7475A Business Professional Plotter and the HP 7470A Personal Computer Plotter. I understand I will receive this valuable package without cost or obligation.

Name.

. Title.

Company_ Address _

City, State & Zip_ Phone Number ( My computer is _

Send to: Hewlett-Packard, 16399 W Bernardo Drive, San Diego, CA 92127-1899 Attn: Marketing Communications

11404 BT1

JANUARY I985 -BYTE 35

ALOCKEDDOORADEAD MAN

And U Huun ki mht the nrnrr

KSSSSSS.

*gg>

ir%

SUSPEND*®

rt Ct yogw tc Mgtitflure

IIMMI rURCi: S-f-I4.it! A1IICMMIt l*«(l

PLANETFALL

IF?]

€Nl04ANllR

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING INCOMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

NBBH

Incomplete, yes. But it's not just because we're always bringing out new stories in the Infocom interactive fiction collection. Nor is it simply due to the fact that with all the writing and re-writing, honing and perfecting that we put into every one of our stories, our work is seemingly never done.

The real reason is: an Infocom work of fiction can never be complete until you become a part of it.

You see, as hard as we work at perfecting our stories, we always leave out one essential element— the main character. And that's where you enter in.

Once you've got Infocom's interactive fiction in your computer, you experience something akin to waking up inside a novel. You find yourself at the center of an exciting plot that continually challenges you

In CUTTHROATS;" the plot involves a motley band of hardbitten salts who get wind of a shipwreck laden with sunken treasure near the remote island where you live. In exchange for your diving skills, they offer you a piece of the action. Your challenge: survive them, the perils of the deep, and escape with the treasure and your life. Good luck!

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY™ by Douglas Adams is the most mind-boggling story we've ever published. In the person of Arthur Dent, you'll chortle as your planet is demolished. You'll yelp with laughter as your life is threatened by a galaxy of horrors. Your sides will positively split as you search the universe for... well, you'll find out. Maybe.

In SUSPECT™ our newest mystery thriller, you're a reporter who gets the scoop on the society event of the year—the murder of a Maryland Blue Blood at a fancy costume ball. Great! Except you're the prime suspect. And if you can't find the real killer, your next by-line could be in the obituaries.

you have hundreds, even thousands of alternatives at every step. In fact, an Infocom interactive story is roughly the length of a short novel in content, but because you're actively engaged in the plot, your adventure can last for weeks and months.

In other words, only you can complete the works of Infocom, Inc. Because they're stories

that grow out of your imagination. Find out what it's like to get

inside a story. Get one from

with surprising twists, unique

characters (many of whom

possess extraordinarily developed

personalities), and original, logical, Infocom. Because with Infocom's

often hilarious puzzles. Communi- interactive fiction, there's room

cation is carried on in the same

way as it is in a novel—in prose.

And interaction is easy—you type

in full English sentences.

But there is this key difference between our tales and conventional novels: Infocom's interactive fiction is active, not passive. The course of events is shaped by the actions you choose to take. And you enjoy enormous freedom in your choice of actions—

for you on every disk.

inFOCOIR

Infocom, Inc., 55 Wheeler Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

For your: Apple II, Atari, Commodore 64, CP/M8", DECmate, DEC Rainbow, DEC RT-11, IBM PC" and PCjr. KAYPRO II, MS-DOS 2.0.' NEC APC, NEC PC-8000, Osborne, Tandy 2000, TI Professional, TI99/4 A. TRS-80 Models I and III. "Use the IBM PC version for your Compaq, and the MS-DOS 2.0 version for your Wang or Mindset.

CUTTHROATS and SUSPECT are trademarks of Infocom, Inc. THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is a trademark of Douglas Adams.

Inquiry 169

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 37

Is Your PC

Buried By

Floppy Bisk

Back-Up?

mumtn-^mnut

*' "vantanmamm.

1

J o

tmJh' ..••"""

3% ••

Big Out With Model 70 PC Cartridge Tape System

Digi-Data's Model 70 PC cartridge tape system lets you back-up your PC's Winchester drive without getting buried in floppies. One cartridge holds 16.5 Mbytes of data, more than you can put on 51 floppy disks! And you can back-up your 10 Mbyte PC XT® drive in less than 15 minutes of unattended operation. That is a small fraction of the time it would take with the PC's floppy, with you standing there changing disks.

Our file-oriented structure makes it possible for you to back-up only what has to be changed on your disk. That saves still more time and storage capacity.

70 PC comes ready to run on your IBM PC XT and most compatibles like Compaq, Columbia Data Products and Eagle. Complete with controller board, driver software and cables.

Digi-Data's products also include Vz inch and 1A inch start/stop and streaming drives and systems.

j&fi.

DIGI-DATA I CORPORATION

. First In Value

8580 Dorsey Run Road

Jessup, MD 20794

(301) 498-0200 Telex 87580

In Europe contact:

DIGI-DATA LTD Unit 4

Kings Grove Maidenhead. Berkshire England SL6 4DP Tel. 0628-29555-6 Telex 847720

• PC XT is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation

Inquiry 105

WHAT'S NEW

Texas Instruments Adds Briefcase Portable

The briefcase-size ProLite portable computer is compatible with Texas Instruments' Professional Computer. Pro-Lite includes one 720K-byte 3'/2-inch floppydisk drive, an 80C88 microprocessor, an 80-column by 2 5-line liquid-crystal display, and 2 56K bytes of memory, expandable to 768K.

Two internal expansion slots can be used for a 300-bps modem, an external color monitor interface, an RS-232C interface, or a "solid-state software" ROM card. A second 3'/2-inch disk drive and an eight-hour battery pack are available as external expansion options and attach to the rear of the Pro-Lite. An optional inter

face cable allows the ProLite to be linked to any MSDOS computer to transfer files; the Pro-Lite can emulate an external disk drive to simplify file transfers.

Without the battery pack, the Pro-Lite weighs 10.5 pounds with one disk drive or 13.5 pounds with both drives. The Pro-Lite will be available this month through national account direct sales and value-added resellers for $2995; TI will make it available through retail channels at a later date. Contact Texas Instruments Inc., Data Systems Group, POB 809063. Dallas, TX 753809063, (800) 527-3 500. Inquiry 540.

Rolm Unveils Computer/Telephone Systems

Rolm has introduced two new systems combining personal computers with Rolm telephone systems. Cedar is a complete IBM PC-compatible computer and multiline digital telephone, and Juniper is a telephone attachment for the IBM PC Both systems can only be used by companies that have Rolm's CBX private branch exchange (PBX). Both can emulate DEC or IBM terminals to access mainframes.

Cedar includes a multiline digital telephone, a speakerphone, an IBM-compatible personal computer, and communications hardware and software allowing communications over internal phone lines at up to 19,200 bps. Cedar and luniper can also access modems at

tached to the CBX system to communicate with the outside world. The system includes 512K bytes of memory, two 5 '/4-inch disk drives, a 9-inch monitor, and MS-DOS 2.11. Juniper consists of an

adapter board for the IBM PC, software, and a multiline digital telephone with a twoway speakerphone. It requires an IBM PC with 2 56K bytes of memory.

Cedar is priced at $4995. and Juniper is $1495. In

quantities of 100, the prices are $4245 and $1360. respectively. Contact Rolm Corp.. 4900 Old Ironsides Dr., Santa Clara, CA 95054, (408) 986-1000. Inquiry 541.

(continued)

JANUARY 1985

I Y T E 39

WHAT'S NEW

Okidata Introduces $268 Color Printer

Okimate 20 from Okidata combines thermaltransfer and dot-matrix technologies in a $268 full-color printer. Its 24-pin square-dot print head can produce a resolution of up to 144 by 144 dots per inch. Okidata says the Okimate 20 can print more than 100 different shades by mixing the four ribbon colors. The thermal-transfer technology doesn't require special thermal paper—it can print on plain paper, letterhead, or overhead transparencies.

The Okimate 20 also includes either a parallel or serial "Plug 'N Print" interface, which means the printer can be used with most personal computers. It can print 80 characters per second (cps) in draft mode, or 40 cps in letter-quality mode.

For more information, contact Okidata. 532 Fellowship Rd., Mt. Laurel. N| 08054, (609) 235-2600. Inquiry 542.

Video for the Mac

Mentaur Technologies has introduced a solidstate, compressed-circuitry, video-output device for the Macintosh. The Mentaur Composite Video Adaptor provides a composite video signal of the Macintosh screen through a built-in. standard BNC connector. This lets the operator use the Macintosh with largescreen video projectors and monitors for business or educational applications.

The Mentaur CVA installs with no soldering, wire splicing, or mounting hardware. Illustrated instructions are included. This device eliminates the need for hard-wire modifications and interface units.

Documentation includes projector and monitor manufacturer information. The Mentaur CVA lists for $199.95. Contact Mentaur Technologies. POB 1467. San Marcos. TX 78666. (512) 396-1565. Inquiry 543.

PC-Compatible Seequa Cobra Features 16-bit Expansion Bus

The Seequa Cobra is an IBM PC-compatible computer with an extended PC AT-compatible 16-bit ex

pansion bus. The Cobra uses an 8086 processor with a clock speed of 8 MHz. switchable to the standard

IBM PC rate of 4.77 MHz. Seequa says another function of the 16-bit hardware bus is to produce a flickerfree image for the Cobra's color-graphics display.

In addition to the 8086. the Cobra features a Z80 processor. 2 56K bytes of memory, one 5!4-inch floppy disk, a 10-megabyte hard disk, a clock/calendar, and parallel and serial ports. Seequa bundles WordStar, SuperCalc. and a number of other programs with the Cobra.

Seequa plans to release the Cobra in March for $4995 without a monitor. Contact Seequa Computer Corp.. 8305 Telegraph Rd.. Odenton. MD 21113. (301) 672-3600. Inquiry 544.

Juki Announces $299 Daisy-Wheel Printer

The Juki 6000 is a portable letter-quality printer that uses standard daisy-wheel print elements and ribbons. The printer weighs about 13 pounds and measures 16 by 9^ by 5'/2 inches. It prints at a speed of 10 characters per second on paper up to 9 inches wide.

The Juki 6000 is available with either serial or parallel interfaces and can print at 10. 12. or 15 characters per inch using any Diablo-type daisy wheel.

List price of the Juki 6000 is $299. Contact luki Industries of America. 299 Market St.. Saddle Brook. Nl 07662. (201) 368-3666. Inquiry 545.

[continued)

40 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Available for the IBM PC, AT, XT, jr.* and true compatibles

GOT YOUR SIDEKICK YET?

The Super Organizer

Whenever you're using your computer . . . from start to finish of your session Sidekick™ will be there ... ready to serve. And it's as lightningfast and compact as only Borland knows how to make it

There's a notepad that has a fullscreen editor that can time and date stamp your notes, and then save them to disk. You can even pull information into the notepad direcdy from the screen of your "underlying" software.

Suppose you're working in Lotus and the phone suddenly rings. Give your Sidekick a call and it pops right up over Lotus with the notepad you need. Or an appointment calendar... one you can never misplace.

What if you need to do a quick calculation? A keystroke instandy brings up the calculator. And the results of your calculations can even be transferred to your "underlying" software.

Need to make a phone call? Up pops your personal phone directory. Type in the name you want... and Sidekick jumps right to the phone number. Another keystroke, and the phone is automatically dialed for you.**

There's lots more, too. You can move the Sidekick windows anywhere on the screen you like. And you can have as many on screen at a time as you need. There's even an on-line help window for each of Sidekick's features.

We designed it because we needed it. If you've

ever been writing a report and needed to do a quick calculation,

"IF YOU USE A PC,

GET SIDEKICK. YOU'LL SOON

BECOME DEPENDENT ON IT.'

Here!

Side

thats

or jot down a note,

then you need Sidekick, too.

■ 'Only uith Hayes Smartmodeni and compatibles.

WHETHER YOU'RE RUNNING

LOTUS, WORDSTAR, dRASE OR WHATEVER

JUST A KEYSTROKE

AND A SIDEKICK WINDOW

OPENS...

• A CALCULATOR

• A NOTEPAD

• AN APPOINTMENT CALENDAR

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR COPY OF SIDEKICK™ TODAY!

I MasterCard orders call Toll Free 1-800-255-8008 in California 1-800-742-1133

(lines open 24 hours, 7 days a week) Dealer Distributor Inquiries Welcome 408-438-8400 inquiry 42

• AN AUTO DIALER

• A PHONE DIRECTORY

• AN ASCII TABLE

SIDEKICK'" $49.95

Non-copy protected

Version: $79.95

(Plus $5.00 shipping and handling.)

Check □ VISA □

Card # _

Money Order □ MasterCard □

Please be sure your computer is an IBM PC, AT, XT, jr., or true compatible!

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY/STATE/ZIP

TELEPHONE

Expiration Date

'PCjr, runs non<opy protected version only.

California residents add 6% sales tax. Outside U.S.A. add $15.00. (If outside of U.S.A. payment must be by bank draft payable in the U.S. and in U.S. dollars.) Sorry, no C.O.D. or Purchase Orders. Sle

§)) BORlPflD

■>) INTERNATIONAL

Borland International 4113 Scotts Valley Drive Scotts Valley, California 95066 TELEX: 172373

WHAT'S NEW

Device for Macintosh Uses Removable 5-Megabyte Cartridges

Iomega has introduced a 5-megabyte version of its Bernoulli Box for the Apple Macintosh. The Bernoulli Box uses removable car

tridges that contain floppy-disk-like media with an average access time of 50 milliseconds. Iomega also makes 10

and 20-megabyte versions of the Bernoulli Box for the IBM PC and compatibles; the Mac Bernoulli Box is not compatible with the IBM version. Mac Bernoulli Box cartridges can be exchanged with any other Macintosh, however, allowing transfer of large quantities of data on a single disk. The 5-megabyte cartridges are physically smaller than the 10- and 20-megabyte cartridges. The Mac Bernoulli Box costs $1895; cartridges are S65 each. For further information, contact Iomega Corp., 4646 South 1500 W, Ogden. UT 84404. (801) 399-2171. Inquiry 546.

Thesys Offers 5-Megabyte RAM Expansion System for $3495

Fastfile stores up to 5 megabytes of data in a stand-alone device with an access time of less than 250 nanoseconds. Fastfile uses 2 56K-byte RAMs and features an uninterruptible power supply to prevent loss of data. Also included are an expansion card for the IBM PC and software for

print spooling and disk caching. While Fastfile will speed up ordinary PC applications, the company stresses that it can also be used to improve the performance of a local-area network.

Fastfile will be available for the IBM PC in January, according to the manufac

turer. It measures 5.3 by 9.7 by 12.4 inches. Fastfile will cost $1795 with 1.5 megabytes, $2795 with 3 megabytes, and $3495 with 5 megabytes. Contact Thesys Memory Products Corp., 7345 East Acoma Dr., Scottsdale. AZ 85260, (602) 991-7356. Inquiry 547.

HyperDrive Internal Hard Disk for the Macintosh

General Computer Company has introduced HyperDrive. a hardware expansion for Apple's Macintosh computer combining a 5l2K-byte memory upgrade and an internal 10-megabyte hard-disk drive. The company connects the HyperDrive's logic board directly to the Macintosh's main circuit board and fits the disk drive inside the computer. Users can boot from either the floppy or the hard disk. Both Macintosh serial ports remain free for modems, printers, or network use. Software is included to partition the hard disk into many virtual disks, which are automatically resized to accommodate the user's files.

Hyperdrive will be available this month for $2795: for Macintoshes already equipped with 5I2K bytes of RAM, the price is $2195. For more information, contact General Computer Corp.. 21 5 First St.. Cambridge. MA 02142. (800) 422-0101: in Massachusetts. (617) 492-5500. Inquiry 548.

Whitechapel Workstation Displays 1024 by 800 Pixels

Whitechapel Computer Works' graphics workstation has a resolution of 1024 by 800 using the National Semiconductor 32016 processor. The MG-1 includes 512K bytes of memory, a 10-, 22-, or 4 5-megabyte hard disk, an 800K-byte 5!4-inch floppydisk drive, a high-resolution display, a mouse, and the Genix operating system. Main memory can be expanded to 4 megabytes.

Its UNIX-based operating system and optional Ethernet link are designed to enhance the system's usefulness in computer

aided design and engineering and scientific applications.

The MG-1 is about $697 5 with a 10- megabyte hard

disk. $82 50 with a 22-megabyte hard disk, and $9500 with a 4 5- megabyte hard disk. Contact Whitechapel Computer Works Ltd.. 75

Whitechapel Rd.. London El IDU. England, tel: 01-377-8680; from the U.S., 011-44-1-377-8680. Inquiry 549.

Gifford MC-186 Expands to Multiuser MS-DOS System

Gifford Computer Systems' MC-186 uses both 80186 and Z80H processors to support up to eight users. The MC-186 uses Multiuser Concurrent DOS, based on Digital Research's Concurrent DOS, which enables each user to run four applications concurrently. The MC-186 can be attached to an ARC

NET-compatible DR Net network to link with up to 2 55 other MC-DOS computers.

The MC-186 includes one megabyte of RAM, a 23-, 44-, or 62-megabyte hard disk, a 1.2-megabyte floppydisk drive, 10 serial ports, and a single parallel port. Other features are a clock/ calendar, a diagnostic

EPROM. and an optional network controller board. With a 44-megabyte hard disk, the system costs $13,700.

Contact Gifford Computer Systems. 2446 Verna Court. San Leandro, CA 94 577. (415) 895-0798. Inquiry 550.

[continued)

42 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

NEW PRODUCT NEWS FROM TELETEK

Systemaster II. Responding to market demand for speed and increased versatility, Teletek is proud to announce the availability of the next generation in 8-bit technology — the new Systemaster II! The Systemaster II will offer two CPU options, either a Z80B running at 6 MHz or a Z80H running at 8 MHz, 128K of parity checked RAM, two RS232 serial ports with on-board drivers (no paddle boards required), two parallel ports, or optional SCSI or IEEE-488 port. The WD floppy disk controller will simultaneously handle 8" and 5VV drives. A Zilog Z-80 DMA controller will provide instant communications over the bus between master and slave. Add to the DMA capability a true dedicated interrupt controller for both onboard and bus functions, and the result is unprecedented performance

Systemaster II will run under CP/M 3.0 or TurboDOS 1.3, and fully utilize the bank switching features of these operating systems

SBC 86/87. As the name indicates, Teletek's new 16-bit slave board has an Intel 8086 CPU with an 8087 math co-processor option. This new board will provide either 128K or 512K of parity checked RAM. Two serial ports are provided with individually programmable baud rates. One Centronics-compatible parallel port is provided. When teamed up with Systemaster II under TurboDOS 1.3, this 5MHz or 8MHz multiuser, multi-processing, combination cannot be beat in speed or feature flexibility!

mm I* >

gjjELETEK TIMESjal

NEMSBC86M SYSTEMASTER S

SNDJ-150MB

Teletek Z-150 MB. Teletek is the first to offer a RAM expansion board designed specifically for the Z-150/Z-160 from Zenith. The Teletek Z-150 MB is expandable from 64K to 384K. Bring your Z-150 up to its full potential by adding 320K of parity checked RAM (or your IBM PC, Columbia, Compaq, Corona, Eagle, or Seequa to their full potential). The Teletek Z-150 MB optionally provides a game port for use when your portable goes home or a clock/ calendar with battery backup!

Evaluate the Systemaster II, SBC 86/87 or Teletek Z-150 MB for 30 days under Teletek's Evaluation Program. A

money-back guarantee is provided if not completely satisfied! All Teletek products carry a 3-year warranty.

^(Specifications subject to

change without notice.]

WHAT'S NEW

Networking Operating System for IBM PC

Waterloo Port is a networking operating system for IBM personal computers and compatibles. According to the manufacturer. Port users can run such applications as Lotus 1-2-3. WordStar. MultiMate. dBASE 11. and Advanced BASIC using PC-DOS 2.1 as a "guest operating system" under Port. Port also includes a built-in Text Editor and Text Formatter. Port allows several tasks to execute concurrently; they can be displayed as separate onscreen windows or can be hidden from view until selected.

Port uses icons and "offices" for each application function; selections can be made using the keyboard or

an optional mouse. With Port, network users can share printers and other peripherals. Diskless workstations can download soft

ware, including the operating system, through the network.

Waterloo Port also allows users to access mainframe

computers through the network. Port includes its own development system and programming language to develop network-based software. Processes can pass messages to each other through the network, enabling real-time multiuser applications to be developed.

Software and hardware to convert an IBM PC into a Waterloo Port software server is $1540. Workstations can be added to the network with a S920 software/ hardware package. For more information, contact Waterloo Microsystems Inc.. 175 Columbia St. W. Waterloo. Ontario N2L 5Z5. Canada. (519) 884-3141. Inquiry 551.

MicroPro Enhances WordStar

MicroPro's WordStar 2000 adds a number of features to its popular WordStar word-processing program. Some of the enhancements are an Undo command to restore deleted text, use of windows to view up to three documents simultaneously, user-definable function keys, a "keystroke glossary" for frequently typed text or command sequences, footnoting, spelling

correction, proportional spacing, and on-screen boldfacing, underlining, centering, and pagination.

WordStar 2000 also includes some spreadsheet and database features. It can perform calculations within a document, sort lists of text or numbers, and merge data into letters for customized mailings.

A separate version, called WordStar 2000 Plus, adds

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telecommunications, a mailing list database program, and indexing and table of contents capabilities.

WordStar 2000 requires an IBM PC or compatible with PC-DOS 2.0 or later, 2 56K bytes of memory, and two double-sided disk drives; a hard disk is recommended. WordStar 2000 Plus requires a Hayes Smartmodem or compatible modem to use the telecommunications

features.

WordStar 2000 is $495; WordStar 2000 Plus is $595. Current WordStar owners can upgrade to WordStar 2000 for $2 50 or WordStar 2000 Plus for $3 50. For more information, contact MicroPro International Corp., 33 San Pablo Ave., San Rafael, CA 94903, (415) 499-1200, Inquiry 552.

[continued on page 440)

Itlil: Jltt.JM

44 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

v:

«\%

ni

■

Bjfl

1

Brighten up your dumb terminal add a UDS 212 A/D

A little outside intelligence can turn your dumb terminal into a data communications genius. And the intelligence you need is built into UDS' new 212 A/D, a smart 300/1200 bps modem with an integral automatic calling unit.

With the 212 A/D you can dial from keyboard or, with a single keystroke, from memory. Five 30-digit numbers in memory are battery backed for 3-5 year retention after shutdown. Built-in test functions allow fast, reliable verification of system operation.

Before you invest in more microcomputers, check the advantages of add-on intelligence. Call

800/633-2252, ext. 353. Universal Data Systems, [§ Universal Data Systems 5000 Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805. Telephone 205/837-8100; TWX 810-726-2100. ® ^oromoLA inc.

Information Systems Group Inquiry 357

UDS modems are offered nationally by leading distributors. Call the nearest UDS office for distributor listings in your area.

DISTRICT OFFICES: Atlanta, GA, 404/998-2715 • Aurora, CO, 303/368-9000 • Bellevue, WA, 206/45^4429 • Blue Bell, PA, 215/643-2336 • Boston, MA, 617/875-8868 Columbus, OH, 614/895-3025 • East Brunswick, NJ, 201/238-1515 • Glenvlew, IL, 312/998-8180 • Houston, TX, 713/988-5506 • Huntsville, AL, 205/837-8100 Mesa, AZ, 602/820-6611 • Minnetonka, MN, 612/938-9230 • Mountain View, CA, 415/969-3323 • Richardson, TX, 214/680-0002 • Silver Spring, MD, 301/942-8558 Tampa, FL, 813/684-0615 • Thousand Oaks, CA, 805/496-3777 • Tustln, CA, 714/669-8001 • Willowdale, Ont, Can, 416/495-0008 • Ypsilanti, Ml, 313/483-2682

Created by Dayner/Hall, Inc.. Winler Park, Florida

,MpPln9

handling

REMEMBER WHEN THEY SAID, "ALL INFORMATION SHALT BE 80 COLUMNS BY 25 ROWS?" NEITHER DO WE!

ALL INFORMATION ISN'T CREATED EQUAL ... AT LEAST NOT IN SHAPE OR SIZE.

Whoever said information is always 80 columns by 25 rows? Check the directory on your PC sometime. Long and skinny.

Got any ideas on what to do with the other half of the screen?

Or suppose your information needs to be contained in screens bigger than your monitor, as is the case with the average

spreadsheet. How would you handle It? Sure, you can spend the hours and miles of code to work it out... but why

bother? We've already done it for youl

But, let's get a little more interesting. Suppose you were writing a program that used a combination of differing shapes of

information? You might need to combine various help screens, menus, forms and vast "plains" of information. All kinds of

windows on-screen at once.

Now, it's easy to dol

And how about putting some time Into thinking up new shapes of information? The boys who put together those first

spreadsheets sure made a couple of dollars doing that!

With VSI—THE WINDOW MACHINE you can design and test new ideas effortlessly. Then, when you're ready, VSI—THE

WINDOW MACHINE lets you build your Ideas into your code. Very, very easilyl

WHO IS VSI-THE WINDOW MACHINE MADE FOR?

We built it for you. Whether you're a Sunday programmer or a round-the-clock professional, we've built a tool for everybody who writes code.

If you program in Pascal, C, Basic, Cobol, Fortran or even PL1, there's a version of VSI—THE WINDOW MACHINE for you. We've even recently completed an interface for Turbo Pascal"" so that true, full-featured windowing can now be utilized with this fine compiler. (Turbo's own "windowing" procedure is extremely limited.)

WHAT ABOUT TOPVIEW™ ... AND THE ELUSIVE MICROSOFT WINDOWS™ ... WHERE DO WE FIT IN?

VSI—THE WINDOW MACHINE is a racy, compact engine (about 12K) that allows you to put windows into your programs instead of putting your programs into somebody else's windows. So your end-user doesn't have to buy other software in order to run your code.

And we haven't tied ourselves (or your programs) to big-memory machines, graphics cards or the "IBM only" syndrome. We also run on the compatibles and some of the not-so-compatibles.

HERE'S THE BIG SURPRISE ... VSI-THE WINDOW MACHINE WILL FIT RIGHT INTO TOFVIEW, TOO!

Your code will never become obsolete. VSI-THE WINDOW MACHINE can add virtual screens and all of the rest of its power to IBM's Topview. You can rest assured that the software you develop now will have the broadest possible market today and tomorrow.

Turbo Pascal Is a registered trademark ol Borland International. IBM and Topview are registered trademarks of International Business Machines • Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark or Microsoft Corporation

•-'•" '■"'"

■ WHAT DOES THE VSI IN OUR NAME STAND FOR? VIRTUAL SCREEN INTERFACE!

Windowing is only half of the picture. Behind each window there's a much bigger picture. And that picture is what we call the Virtual Screen. VSI defines virtual screens rather than just windows. Each window relates to its own private virtual screen. The window then displays on your monitor whatever portion of its virtual screen you wish to exhibit at any given point in your program. Each screen can be up to 128 x 255 (either columns x rows or rows x columns). And you can have up to 255 of them at a time!!!

■ VSI—THE WINDOW MACHINE INCLUDES:

• Multi-mode Exerciser (Great for rapid design of screens. You can type in commands and watch them happen or you can make a whole file of commands and then stand back and watch the magic. You can even design using just cursor keys and menu selections.)

• Zoom Windows (Windows that grow open as you watch them.)

• Choice of Borders (including flashing borders)

• Support For All Color and Monochrome Video Attributes (no graphics card required)

• Built-in Diagnostics

• Your choice of Language Interfaces (Lattice C. Turbo Pascal, Microsoft/IBM Pascal, Microsoft Basic Compiler, Microsoft Fortran, Digital Research PL1, Realia Cobol)

• Multiple Virtual Screens (up to 255)

• And much, much more!

YOU CAN ORDER YOUR WINDOW MACHINE TODAY!!

(and save hundreds of hours of coding from now on!) inquiry 17

FOR VISA MASTERCARD AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ORDERS, CALL TOLL FREE: 1-800*227-3800 GXt. 986 (Lines are °Pen 24 hrs-a dQy. 7 davs a week.)

For dealer inquiries ... call our 800 number. Language Interface: -Lattice C

— Digital Research PL1

— Microsoft Basic Compiler Computer (please check the list)

$59.95 per copy

Shipping, handling and tax included

— Microsoft Fortran

— Microsoft/IBM Pascal

-Turbo Pascal -Realia Cobol

AMBER SYSTEMS, Inc.

1171 S. Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road

San Jose, CA 95129

(VSI-THE WINDOW MACHINE-IBM PC, XT, AT. PC 3270, IBM Compatibles, and Wang. Tl Professional. HP 150 and Tandy 2000.)

Name

Title Company

Address

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.Zip.

Work Phone (

Check

Card #

)

_ Money Order

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Home Phone (

MasterCard _ _ Expiration Date .

)

. American Express

MAIL TO: Amber Systems, Inc., 1171 S. Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, San Jose, CA 95129

30 Day Money Back Guarantee!

"California residents: tax included. Orders outside the U.S.: please add $5 for shipping and handling. (If outside of U.S., payment must either be by credit card or bank draft payable in the U.S. in U.S. dollars.) Sorry, no C.O.D. or Purchase Orders.

ASK BYTE

Conducted by Steve Ciarcia 80-Column in Slot 3

Dear Steve,

Your August 1984 Ask BYTE column stated that an 80-column card cannot be used in slot 3 of the Apple lie when another card is installed in the auxiliary slot. While this is generally the rule, there is an exception.

Videx's UltraTerm is the only 80-column card that will work in slot 3—even if there is another card in the auxiliary slot. With compatible software, such as Word Juggler lie and Multiplan 1.07, the UltraTerm's 128-column by 32-line display can be used in conjunction with the extra memory of the Apple extended 80-column card. For programs that exclusively use the Apple 80-column card (PFS series for the lie), an optional switch plate is available to toggle between the UltraTerm and the Apple text card's display.

For a list of spreadsheets, word processors, and databases that utilize the expanded display features of the UltraTerm on the Apple He, BYTE readers should call Videx at (503) 758-0521.

William Leineweber

Videx

Corvallis, OR

High-Resolution Confusion

Dear Steve.

As a new subscriber to BYTE, I was delighted to find your Ask BYTE column as a help for the perplexed (me).

I'm hoping you can offer some desperately needed information on a most confusing subject, namely, how are high-resolution graphics created? Are they the product of hardware, software, or both?

In looking through BYTE ads, I've seen monitors, processors, software, and printers all described as possessing high resolution. For example, Quadram's QuadScreen monitor features "bitmapped graphics (that) allow dotaddressable resolution of 960 horizontal by 512 vertical (pixels)." Wang recently introduced a desktop scanner for its Professional Computer that digitizes images at a resolution of 200 dots per inch (1728 by 2200 pixels for the maximum 11- by

14-inch image). Yet the Wang Professional Computer monitor has an advertised resolution of only 800 by 300 pixels. Many microcomputers have add-on graphics boards and image processors offering enhanced resolution; e.g.. the PC Components Bi-Graphix board for the IBM PC offers 720- by 700-pixel resolution with "software support for higher resolution." Similarly, printers are rated at dots per inch with varied high-density settings for high-resolution graphics.

Just how does one go about creating high-resolution (say, 150 to 200 dots per inch horizontally and vertically) graphics hard copy? Must one have a high-resolution graphics-board-equipped computer with graphics-support software outputting through a high-resolution monitor to a high-resolution printer? Help!

Betsy McCloskey Los Angeles, CA

Producing a high-resolution graphics display with a microcomputer depends primarily on features built into the hardware, but software is required to drive the hardware to achieve the desired display characteristics. This is usually in ROM when it is included as a standard feature of a personal computer.

First, a microcomputer that can produce graphics has a video-display controller with graphics capability and enough screen memory to produce a bitmapped image with the desired resolution built into it. The controllers used these days are usually one-chip integrated circuits that can produce either graphics or text displays. Motorola application note AN-834 (Motorola Semiconductor Products Inc., POB 20912, Phoenix, AZ 85036) shows how the MC6845 can be used to produce a 256by 256-pixel or 512- by 512-pixel graphics display. This chip is also used in the IBM PC to produce 320 by 200 color graphics or 640 by 200 monochrome graphics. The actual bit map produced depends on the memory allocated and the software lor firmware) driving the display.

You can also see how another chip, the Texas Instruments TMS99I8A, can be used to produce graphics with sprites in

my article "High-Resolution SpriteOriented Color Graphics" in the August 1982 issue on page 57.

To display the high-resolution graphics requires a high-resolution monitor. The QuadScreen monitor you mentioned is a high-resolution monitor with its own graphics video-driver card, which is made to replace the display driver card in the IBM PC. This system can produce a 960by 512-pixel display, but the usual IBM PC commercial software requires special interface routines to use this resolution, and the PCs BASICA is still limited to 640 by 200 by its own structure. More conventional 12- or 13-inch color (RGB) or monochrome monitors with 15- to 20-MHz video bandwidths are available that can make full use of the standardor second-source video cards for the IBM PC and compatible computers, as well as many other computers with graphics built in.

Creating high-resolution graphics on paper with a printer or plotter is a different story. This doesn't even require graphics capability in the computer. All you have to do is set up an array of points to be plotted and send the points to a printer with dot-graphics capability. The programming is a little complicated because you must first define the dot array you want printed and then sort it into a form the printer can use. This usually means that you must arrange the data to be plotted in a top-down, lineby-line array. Since the print head has seven or eight print wires in a vertical column that can be used in graphics mode, the graphics lines are taken seven or eight at a time and read as columns of dots. These are coded into l-byte characters and sent to the printer one at a time. For example, if a given position on the line needs only the top dot printed, the character sent (in BASIC) would be CHR$(I). Similarly, if all eight dots are to be printed, the character would be CHR$(255). The coding system establishes a correspondence between the wire positions and bit positions in the data byte, so that wire I has the same value as bit I, wire 2 with bit 2, etc. This allows easy calculation of the character

{continued)

48 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

COPYRIGHT © 1985 STEVEN A. CIARCIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

A BUREAUCRAT'S GUIDE TO WORD PROCESSING

Now, if it were you or I and we wanted a word processing program for our IBM-type PC, we'd probably stop off at our local computer store and simply diddle with a few.

You and I, however, are not the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(Nor any of its permutations of subsystems like the Economic Research Service, National Resources Economics Division, Data Services Center, etc., etc.)

So when the USDA told ERS to tell NRED and DSC to look into a truckload of w.p. programs for all their PCs, the last thing they wanted was simple diddling. Their dedicated Wangs and Lexitrons were far too few to handle their needs, their IBM" PCs weren't

THIS! ARETHIPACKAGES fHI COMMITTEE EVALUATED:

-s^-j^t^*

compatible with them anyway, and nobody really, quantifiably, knew from word processing with a personal computer.

Definitely not a diddling-mode condition.

As they put it in The Exchange, an internally distributed publication of the Department of Agriculture: A needs assessment showed that, in the long-term, a word processing system is needed that can increase word processing capability and also be compatible with ERS' Long Range Information Management goals."

Well, "Needs assessment" led swiftly to "procurement action" which galloped into an "objective review" of the eight top-rated PC programs on the market (as compiled by The Ratings Book published by Software Digest), along with WordStar* and Display Write 2, because they had some around.

Thus armed with the names, the final evaluators (a team of secretaries from NRED who would be the primary users of the PC software) became armed with each of the programs, along with checklists to record such things as ease of use, advanced features, and similarity to their existing dedicated equipment.

Since NRED has some hard disk base systems, any packages that were copy-protected could

THIN Willi f HI FINALISTS:

L

ultiMate

Professional Word Processor

MultiMate

Professional Word Processor

not be transferred to the hard disks, and were eliminated on that basis alone. OfficeWriter"" and SAMNA WORD™ II were the first to go.

Next, IBM's Diplay Write 2: because it's "not compatible with other software used in ERS (like Lotus™ 1-2-3™ dBase Hf etc.)!' and it's "full of confusing menu options and cryptic error messages" Au revoir IBM.

Then, three more, for a variety of reasons. Which left:

Volkswriter® Deluxe™

MultiMate™

Leading Edge™

Volkswriter® Deluxe? "Too complicated and confusing" Not "easy to learn or use"

MultiMate? Not bad. It actually tied the winner in a few categories.

The winner being the one that won 82% of the votes in the Ease of Use/Ease of Learning categories. The one about which they said, "The ability to store deleted text and automatic document backup features were both highly desirable!' The one they thought they'd quickly "be able to use... for their day-today word processing tasks"

The whole process took some three months of work by people in DSC to support the NRED in its work with the ERS and DSC to make the world a better place for the USDA.

But the results were well worth the wait. Because at last they've solved their word- a processing problems... ^\

"With Leading Edge!" mm,

THIS WAS THE WINNER: LEADING EDGE" LEADING EDGE WORD PROCESSING

LEADING EDGE PRODUCTS, INC. LEADING EDGE SOFTWARE DIVISION. 21 HIGHLAND CIRCLE. NEEDHAM. MA 02194-0009 TEL. 800-343-3436,16171 449-4655

HELP HOTLINE 800-523-HELP

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. WordStar is a registered trademark of MicroPro International Corporation OfficeWriter is a trademark of Office Solutions Inc. SAMNA WORD II is a trademark of SAMNA Corporation. Lotus and 1-2-3 are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. dBase II is a registered trademark of Ashton-Tate Volkswriter is a registered trademark and Deluxe is a trademark of Lifetree Software Inc. MultiMate is a trademark of MultiMate International Corporation. Leading Edge is a trademark of Leading Edge Products, Inc.

Inquiry 199

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 49

Inquiry 70

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MARK VII 89

HAYES ■• ■„!■•■ ■■:;. CALL

TANDOMTM100-2 165.00

TEAC HALF HEIGHT FLOPPY 175.00

I2 INTERFACE Internal 10 Meg CALL

External 10 Meg/Will boot from Disk SAVE$$$

THE VERY BEST PRICES

IBM PC All Configurations CALL

COLUMBIA SAVE$$$

COMPAQ .... ••■■•••■••••■ CALL

AM KITS 33.00

SWITCH BOXES Parallel 2/3 Position ..96/109

Serial 2/3 Position .... 66/84

DESK TOP PRINTER STANDS Lg./Sm. .. 29/24

DUST COVERS CALL

DISKBANK MEDIA MATE 5 12

Holds 50 Diskettes

CABLES IBM PARALLEL 19

PRINTER BUFFERS CALL

DISKETTES Nasua DSDD 17

SURGE SUPPRESSORS/AH Types . BEST PRICE

TERMS* We guarantee our products against Manufacturer's defects. • Add 3% for shipping charges. $5.00 minimum. • Checks: Allow two weeks for clearance. • Texas orders +6% Sales Tax. • C.O.D.'s payable w/certified check, money order or cash.

Availability and prices subject to change. IBM is a registered trademark.

APPROVED CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOME.

ASK BYTE

value to produce a given pattern: simply add the values of the wires to be printed. Since the wires are in the binary sequence I, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128, the arithmetic is easy.

Printers with 150 to 200 dots per inch in both directions are available, but most of the low-cost graphics printers are in the 72- to 120-dot-per-inch range—Steve

No Need to Modify SA-400s

Dear Steve,

In regard to your response to Claudio Pugliese's letter in the June 1984 issue (page 70) concerning Shugart SA-400s for Apples. I think there is a better solution than the one you proposed, which was to modify the SA-40Os. I use the Suntronics (12621 Crenshaw Blvd.. Hawthorne. CA 902 50) AFDC-1 floppy-disk controller to connect two SA-400 drives to slot 6 of my Apple II+ . Interfacing is as simple as plugging in the drives; at $55.95 you can't beat it. Furthermore, the drives sound like they did on the Radio Shack instead of the way the Apple drives sound when they seek track zero. The only disadvantage is that the AFDC-1 doesn't support half-tracking. I've never had a problem reading, writing, or copying regular Apple ll+-created disks.

Jim Means Lompoc, CA

SA-400-Apple Interface

Dear Steve,

Regarding an Apple II interface to a Shugart SA-400 disk drive, I have been selling the plans for one such interface for the past two years. It's a highly simplified circuit, consisting of five common TTL chips. The SA-400 PCB requires only two cuts, a resistor substitution, and a chip replacement.

For interested readers, I will supply the schematic for this interface, a parts list, complete instructions, and diagrams for $16 U.S. or $20 Canadian. Please send it to J, Cygman, 158 Leslie St., DDO, Montreal, Quebec H9A 1X3, Canada. Money orders only, please. Or call (514) 683-9392 for information.

J. Cygman Montreal, Quebec, Canada

PCjr Screen Modes

Dear Steve,

I have an expanded IBM PCjr, and 1 have not been able to use screen modes 5 and 6. The BASIC manual states that you can

use these modes (and others) only if you have 128K bytes and Cartridge BASIC. I have these, and 1 still get an illegal function call when I attempt to use these modes. I have also experienced the same problem on another PCjr with the same specifications. Can you offer an explanation or a remedy for the problem?

Chris Newbold Lexington, MA

Before screen mode 5 or 6 can be used on the PCjr, it is necessary to allocate some memory for it. The CLEAR command does this, among other things. The simplest way to use it is as follows:

10 CLEAR , , ,32768 20 SCREEN 5

10 CLEAR , , ,32768 20 SCREEN 6 —Steve

Sons of 8086

Dear Steve,

I have been reading a lot of articles and ads in BYTE featuring computers based on the Intel 80186 microprocessor. Now Intel has introduced a new processor, the 80286. An ad in BYTE says "the 80286 is capable of supporting up to 16 megabytes of physical memory and up to l gigabyte of virtual memory when utilized in virtual address mode." What are the differences between the 8086, 80186. and the 80286, and how are the 80286's large memory capabilities accomplished?

Timothy Russell Bellevue, NE

The 8086 is the first processor in the Intel 16-bit line. The 80186 and 80286 are enhancements on the 8086 and will run most or maybe all 8086 software.

The 80186 is a more integrated system than the 8086 in that it includes, on the chip, most of the "glue" parts that are added externally in 8086 applications, such as timers, interrupt controller, and DMA controller. It also includes a few new instructions like PUSHA and POPA, which push and pop all registers at once, and INS and OUTS for strings, instruction execution times are the same as the 8086, and clock speeds up to 8 MHz are available. Addressing capability is the same as the 8086.

The 80286 represents evolution of the 8086 family in a different direction. This processor is designed for multiuser sys

[continued)

50 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

maxell

FUOPPY DISK

Gold

The floppy disk that lets PC AT speed ahead,

makes PC/XT Xtraordinary

and helps IBM.PC

capitalize on its powers

For your Big Blue, only the Gold Standard will do. Maxell. The floppy chosen by many disk drive manufacturers to test their new equipment. Each Gold Standard is backed by a lifetime warranty. And each is a perfect match for your IBM. In fact, there's a Gold Standard for virtually any computer made. Even if it's the new IBM PC AT!

maxell

ITS WORTH IT

PC AT. PC/XT and PC are trademarks of IBM Corp.

Maxell Corporation of America, 60 Oxford Drive, Moonachie, N.J. 07074 Inquiry 220

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 51

Inquiry 247

Fill your IBM XT or Portable's half-size expansion slot

with the only 1200 baud internal modem designed for it:'

The Ven-Tel Half Card? Under $500 from MTI.

The Half Card™ includes the most popular communications software, Crosstalk XVI from Microstuf.

This same modem also works in the IBM PC, the Compaq, and the Panasonic Senior Partner.

MTI is an authorized distributor for Ven-Tel. And we honor Visa and MasterCard. Whether you buy, lease or rent, MTI is the one source for all the computer and data communications equipment, applications expertise and service you'll ever need. At great prices. Call us.

mti

systems

\^

A DUCOMMUN SUBSIDIARY

Computer & Data Communications Equipment Sales / Leasing / Service / Systems Integration

DEC, Intel, Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard, Dataproducts, Diablo, Lear Siegler, Esprit, C.Itoh, Racal-Vadic, MICOM, Ven-Tel, Develcon, PCI, U.S.Design, Digital Eng., Cipher, MicroPro, Microsoft, Polygon & Select.

New York: New Jersey: Ohio: California:

516/621-6200 201/227-5552 216/464-6688 818/883-7633

718/767-0677. Pennsylvania: 513/891-7050 Outside N.Y.:

518/449-5959 412/931-9351 800/645-6530

Powerful in circuit emulation, priced well within your grasp. That's MCE.M

NICK may be only V square and W thick, but it hands you full speed, real-time emulation—over SO emulation functions, software breakpoints^ all memory addresses and all I/O ports.

Just plug NICE directly into the target MP socket and any RS! for system development, troubleshooting, debugging or testing . . .1 in the lab or in the field.

And NICE hands you all this performance, portability and versatility for only S 498". . . the best emulator price /performance ratio on the market; hands down.

Call in your order today using _

your VISA or Mastercard nurn- **HM^flB^^ f~. "M-J*"V~vl*=»'f~

ber; (800) NICOLET outside ^^"^ IXlVAJlCL

CA, or (415) 490-8300 in CA. Or send your check or money order to NICE, Nicolet Paratronics Corporation, 201 Fourier Avenue, Fremont, CA 945

'Payment l»y check, money order. VISA or MasterCard. NICK is a trademark of Nict Paratronics Corporation B/K(l is a trademark of Zilog.

^°V,

ASK BYTE

terns and has direct addressing for up to 16 megabytes of memory. This is accomplished with a 24-line address bus. This chip also has an enhanced instruction set and protection features to prevent actions by one user from interfering with another or to prevent unauthorized access to specific files (memory areas). Up to 16,383 memory areas can be defined with lengths between IK and 64K bytes. Calls and jumps within and across protection boundaries and between tasks in multitask applications are included in the instruction set.

The virtual-memory addressing range is up to I gigabyte for each user. This is accomplished by providing most of the required capacity on hard disks and transferring blocks in and out of physical memory under control of the processor's memory-management program. This is transparent to the user, so that it appears to be the same as "real" memory, although each user gets only as much physical memory as is needed.

Virtual memory can be done in a limited fashion with the 8086 and other processors, but the 80286 s architecture and instruction-set enhancements are optimized for this application.—Steve

Hardware-OS Interfacing

Dear Steve.

I am an engineer who specializes in digital hardware. I intend to build a home computer. My problem is that I do not know how to interface my hardware to an operating system. Can you help?

Richard Goodrich Richardson, TX

Interfacing between the operating system and the hardware was discussed briefly in my article "Build the Circuit Cellar MPX-16 Computer System, Part 3" in the January 1983 BYTE (page 54). As mentioned in that article, the CP/M-86 manuals from Digital Research give the details of writing the BIOS, which is basically a set of device drivers that provides the interface between the operating system and your specific hardware.

The IBM PC Technical Reference Manual gives a good example of a BIOS for 8088/8086-based systems in Appendix A. This contains many of the interrupt-service routines used by the PC for I/O to the keyboard, printer, serial ports, disk drives, and screen as well as the bootstrap loader.

A few books on operating systems are

[continued)

52 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 259

Need RGB color and TTL monochrome A support from a single board?

Color Graphics Mode: 640 dots x 200 lines TTL Monochrome Mode: 640 dots x 350 lines Interlace Mode: 640 dots x 400 lines

ook no further, the INTELLIGENT B-450 has it all. Designed to work with the IBM PC, PC XT, and PC AT, the INTELLIGENT B-450 is also suitable for IBM PC look-alikes. In addition to a parallel printer port, the B-450 has fourteen different screen modes which cover everything from medium-resolution monochrome text to high-resolution color graphics with interlace.

Everyone from the ordinary user to the CAD/CAM specialist will find the B-450 is just right.

Sound good? With a suggested retail price of only $294, it's nothing less than great!

IBM and IBM PC are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

INrELLIGENr D\TASYS1EM

Intelligent Data System, Inc.

14932 Gwenchris Ct., Paramount, CA 90723 Toll Free Tel:(800)325-2455 Calif. Tel: (213)633-5504 Telex: 509098

Inquiry 174

(ANUARY 1985 -BYTE 53

ASK BYTE

TO ORDER OR FOR INFORMATION

CALL OR WRITE:

MANX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Box 55

Shrewsbury, NJ 07701 J

TX 4995812

NJ RESIDENTS ADD 6°. SALES TAX

TRS-80 IS A TRADEMARK OF TANDY CORP. MACINTOSH IS A TRADEMARK OF APPLE. CP M-86 & CP M-80 ARE TRADEMARKS OF DIGITAL RESEARCH. PC DOS IS A TRADEMARK OF IBM

available. Three you might check out are Microcomputer Operating Systems by Mark Dahmke, Operating Systems by Harold Lorin and Harvey Deitel (both from McGraw-Hill), and The Design of Operating Systems for Small Computer Systems by Stephen H. Kaisler (John Wiley & Sons).—Steve

Tape-Drive Controllers

Dear Steve,

I plan to buy an IBM PC or an MPX-16. I want to have two floppy-disk drives and two IBM 9-track tape drives. I want to be able to format the tapes, not just use them as streaming backup. I do not care whether a mainframe can read my tapes or vice versa.

Where can I get a controller for these drives, or can it be done by software? I know a manufacturer who makes a nice system, but I am thinking of used drives for $500 each.

Roger Cain Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

You definitely need a controller to hook 9-track drives onto a PC. Luckily, several manufacturers make such controllers and the software to go with them. I have not used these products, so I can't tell you how well they perform. These controllers are in the $500 to $1000 price range. Contact the manufacturers directly to get current information.

Ibex Computer Corp. 20741 Marilla St. Chatsworth, CA 91311 (818) 709-8100

Innovative Data Technology 4060 Morena Blvd. San Diego, CA 92117 (619) 270-3990

Good luck with your project—Steve ■

IN ASK BYTE. Steve Garcia answers questions on any area oj microcomputing. The most representative questions received each month will be answered and published. Do you have a nagging problem? Send your inquiry to

Ask BYTE

do Steve Ciarcia

POB 582

Glastonbury. CT 06033 Due to the high volume of inquiries, personal replies cannot be given. All tetters and photographs become the property of Steve Ciarcia and cannot be returned. Be sure to include "Ask BYTE" in the address.

Jhe Ask BYTE staff includes manager Harv VJeiner and researchers Bill Curlew. Larry Bregoli. Dick Sawyer, and \eannette Dojan.

54 BYTE • 1ANUARY 1985

Inquiry 215

C COMPILERS FOR PC DOS MS DOS CP/M-86 CP/M-80 APPLE //, lie, lie COMMODORE 64 RADIO SHACK and MACINTOSH

AZTEC C86

Optimized "C" compiler for PC DOS, MS DOS & CP/M-86

PC DOS, UNIX I/O, math, screen, graphics libraries

8086 assembler, linker & librarian, overlays

/PRO-library source, debug, ROM, MASM & RMAC, 8087, large model

NEW C COMPILERS

AZTEC C68K for MACINTOSH VAX cross compilers

C TOOLS & AIDS

Z editor (like Vi), C TUTOR compiler, PHACT database,

C GRAFX, UNI-TOOLS I, QUICK C, BABY BLUE for PC

to CP / M cross, QUADLINK for PC to APPLE cross

fTe*"6

LEASE

AZTEC C II

Optimized "C" compiler for CP/M, TRSDOS & LDOS

assembler, linker & librarian, overlays, utilities

UNIX I/O, math & compact libraries

/PRO-library source, ROM, M80& RMAC

AZTEC C65

"C" compiler for APPLE DOS 3.3, ProDOS or COMMODORE 64

VED editor, SHELL, UNIX & math libraries

/PRO —library source, ROM, overlays

CROSS COMPILERS

Compiles link on HOST—test on TARGET machine HOSTS: UNIX, PC DOS, CP/M-86, CP/M-80, VENIX, PCIX, APPLE TARGETS: PC DOS, CP/M-86, CP/M-80, APPLE, RADIO SHACK,

COMMODORE 64, other hosts and targets available

PRICES

ZTEC C86 C COMPILER

AZTEC CMC COMPILER

AZTEC C CROSS COMPILERS

TARGETS

PC DOS MSDOS

249

CP/M

199

PDP-11 HOST

2000

PC DOS

CP/M-86

249

Oil/PRO

349

PC DOS HOST

750

CP/M-86

BOTH

399

/PRO, UPGRADE

150

CP/M-86 HOST

750

CP/M-80

086/PRO

499

TRS 80 MODEL 3

149

CP/M-80 HOST

750

APPLE

/PRO UPGRADE

250

TRS 80 MODEL 4

199

APPLE HOST

750

RADIO SHACK

Z (VI EDITOR)

125

TRS 80 PRO (3 & 4)

299

VAX HOST

CALL

COMMODORE 64

C TUTOR COMPILER

99

MACINTOSH

CALL

MACINTOSH

PHACT DATABASE

299

AZTEC C65 C COMPILER

C GRAFX

99

APPLE DOS 3.3

199

SUPERDRAW

299

PRODOS

3ALL

UNI-TOOLS 1

99

E EDITOR

99

QUICK C

125

TRS 80 RADIO SHACK TRS DOS

s a trademark of TANDY

MANX SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

Box 55

Shrewsbury, NJ 07701

TELEX: 4995812

APPLE DOS MACINTOSH is a trademark of APPLE.

TO ORDER OR FOR INFORMATION:

CALL: 800-221-0440 (outside NJ) 201-780-4004 (N J)

Australia: Blue Sky Industries - 2A Blakesley St. - Chatswood NSW 2067 - Australia 61-2419-5579

England: TAMSYS LTD — Pilgrim House - 2-6 William St. - Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1BA - England — Telephone Windsor 56747

Shipping: per compiler next day USA $20, 2 days USA $6, 2 days worldwide $75, Canada $10, airmail outside USA & Canada $20

UNIX is a trademark of Bell Labs. CP / M, CP / M-80 and CP / M-86 are trademarks of DRI. PC DOS is a trademark of IBM. MS DOS is a trademark of MICROSOFT.

N.J. residents add 6% sales fax.

Inquiry 2I6

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 55

Three

of today's

most

popular

computer

accessories,

"vqflflP

miEXTBA-STREMGTH

Tyienoi

nln giin itliil ■ cmilains no jspinn

,

\.G<tf

«<?%,*> * mus—

0t

Tylenol® is a registered trademark of McNEILAB, INC. Visine*and Ben-Gay* are registered trademarks of Lemming Division, Pfizer Inc.

Do you ever get the feeling that computers are treated with more respect than people?

Everyone talks about technology.

But what about the people who have to use it?

Quite clearly, they're having problems.

Industry publications like PC Magazine have written about those problems.

And now, more than twenty states are currently preparing special computer legislation to force some changes.

You are not a machine.

Computers are designed by engineers.

They usually know a lot about technology but very little about people.

Which is why so many computers often are technically impressive yet strangely unnatural to use.

Computer-induced problems (%)

Eye strain

Back pain

Headaches

Shoulder

Hand/wrist

Neck pain

(Source: "Ergonomic

Principles in Office

Automation" Pub.

1983 by E.I.S. AB,

Sweden.)

55% 43% 30% 25% 18% 15%

The result has been a whole range of computer-induced problems ranging from stress and fatigue to blurred vision. In Sweden, they have an attitude the world is just catching up with. It's this:

That the machine is the servant of man.

Not the other way around. That excellent ergonomic design isn't a privilege. It's a right.

That ergonomics isn't just a noble gesture.

It's good business. Because computers are only as fast and as accurate as the people who operate them.

If they suffer, so does business. This attitude has made Ericsson No. 1 in Europe twice over:

First, as the giant of European telecommunications.

Then again as Europe's biggest workstation company by far.

(You couldn't ask for a better marriage of technology for the future.)

Here is one example of how Ericsson got there.

It's the first of a range of computers being introduced in the U.S.A.

The Ericsson P C. It's Ergo-Intelligent.™

Ericsson has spent $300 million finding ways to make people and computers work better together.

Here are some of the results.

Ergo-Screen.™

Aspirin gets rid of a headache.

Ergonomics gets rid of the cause.

The Ericsson PC has a nonglare screen with restful amber characters on a specially developed, low-fatigue background color.

Even the shape of the characters was specially developed to allow easier recognition of difficult letters like O and Q.

On the monochrome monitor, the resolution is double that of IBM's, so clarity is remarkable.

You can even have text and graphics on the same screen.

Ergo-Arm.™

Thousands of people get neck and back pain from inadequate screen height ^^^^ and angle adjustment, ^^^t The Ericsson Ergo_^^^^j ^ Arm lets you ^j H move your

screen exactly where you want it.

Ergo-Touch.™

Ericsson keys are full-size, and the layout is ergonomically planned for greater speed and accuracy.

Yet the keyboard is 20% more compact and less than half the weight of IBM's.

Even the cord is adjustable to suit left- or right-handers.

Ergo-Color.™

Even the color of the case is ergonomically selected to be restful on the eye over many hours.

S Ergo-Space.™

The system unit is one-third smaller than IBM's.

It even fits under your desk in a special vertical rack.

So your desktop is your own again.

IBM Compatible.

Many companies claim to be compatible.

Some are. Some are stretching the truth.

The Ericsson PC boasts the highest compatibility rating there is.

It's operationally compatible.

You can take advantage of thousands of PC-compatible programs already available.

In fact, with the best-selling software, program and data disks are interchangeable with those of the IBM PC.

Service. Not excuses.

Ericsson wouldn't give you anything less than on-site or carryin service. The choice is yours.

3 Free Offers.

Ericsson will send you revealing literature on ergonomics.

Also a detailed brochure on the Ericsson PC.

And arrange a hands-on test if you ask for it.

Call toll-free 1-800-FOR-ERGO.

ERICSSON

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

Inquiry 128

Master Piece The 100% compatible accessory

Master Piece is the most versatile accessory ever made for IBM Personal Computers. Master Piece combines the four most popular IBM® accessories into one elegant accessory offering the most convenience and best value available.

A SWIVEL BASE

The Master Piece has a swivel so you can adjust the viewing angle o your monitor with just the touch ol a finger. Since the Master Piece swivels with your monitor, its switches and static control are in front of you at all times.

FIVE SWITCHED OUTLETS

Stop searching for outlets to plug in your peripherals. Master Piece's five outlets put your entire system at your fingertips. Power up with the "Master" switch, then use the individual switches to control your peripherals. Touch the "Master" switch to shut down and you'll never accidentally leave your peripherals running overnight.

SURGE SUPPRESSION CIRCUITRY

Power surges, spikes and line noisi are responsible for 70-90% of all PC malfunctions. They can wipe ou memory in your PC, taking hours o hard work with them. They can zap your delicate chips, sending your PC in for costly repairs. Master Piece clips surges and spikes at a safe level. You end up with an IBM that's more accurate and reliable.

STATIC PROTECTION

Even you are a threat to your IBM. During the day you build up static charges—as much a threat to your PC as surges and spikes. Master Piece offers an elegant alternative to expensive and unsightly static mats, lust touch its nameplate before you begin work and static charges are grounded.

If you bought these accessories separately, you could spend more than $200. Master Piece's recommended retail price is under $150. Available now from IBM dealers everywhere.

Inquiry 194

KENSINGTON MICROWARE

251 Park Avenue South

New York, NY 10010

(212] 475-5200 Telex:467383 KML NY

Trademarks: Master Piece/Kensington Microware Ltd

IBM'Intemationa! Business Machines © 1984 Kensington Microware Ltd

CLUBS & NEWSLETTERS

• C-PRO IN VIRGINIA

The bulletin board of the CompuPro Users Group is up and running at (703) 491-1852, operable via modem at 300 or 1200 bps. A remote CP/M system is also available. Members of the group produce a newsletter regularly that contains software reviews, hardware help, and tips. Annual membership is $20. Call Don Kelley at (703) 6903312, or write Toni Bennett, C-PRO Users Group. 14057 Jefferson Davis Highway, POB 1474. Woodbridge, VA 22193.

• ADAM ON THE HUDSON

Members of the Metropolitan Adam Users Group from the New York-New Jersey area meet in New York City at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month. Information and experiences with the hardware, software, and related literature are shared. At present, no dues have been set; a newsletter is in the early stages of production. Contact Russell Williams, 414 West 149th St., New York, NY 10031, (212) 208-0645.

• BUGS ON THE WEST COAST—The Basis Users Group Sacramento (BUGS) meets at 7 p.m. on the first Sunday of every month at the Shoreline Software Center in Sacramento, California. A magnetic newsletter allows members to exchange technical notes for a $5 fee. A membership is $20. Contact Ms. Leslie Carroll. BUGS, 125 Faro Ave., Davis. CA 95616.

• THE MAC IN L.A.

The Los Angeles Macintosh

Group promotes the exchange of information, offers help to all levels of users, and provides a forum for people to hear about new products from company representatives. Details are available from Eric Anderson, 12021 Wilshire Blvd., #405. West Los Angeles, CA 90025. (213) 392-5697.

• LOGO NEWS OFFERS PEN PALS—The National logo Exchange (NLX) is a newsletter for teachers that covers techniques and philosophies from successful Logo teaching programs. The subscription is $25 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for the eight-month school year. The newsletter also provides a Logo Class Penpal Network, which enables both students and teachers to exchange ideas and projects during the school year. To receive an application, send a legalsized, self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Logo Class Penpal Network at the address below. For details about the newsletter, contact the National logo Exchange. POB 5341, Charlottesville, VA 22905.

• PHOENIX SENDS TELEGRAM-The National Phoenix User Group Newsletter, CBTelegram. contains technical support, news from Goal Systems, details about the formation of regional

groups, and notes about past conferences. Efforts have been made to raise funds at national events to provide members with biannual meetings. The National Phoenix User Group is funded and operated by users. Goal Systems provides free advertisements, the cost of producing the newsletter, and support for user groups associated with the Phoenix. Send inquiries to the National Phoenix User Group, POB 14623, Cleveland, OH 44114.

• DEC DRIVE

The Association of DEC Professionals (ADP) welcomes interested DEC programmers and system managers as new members for 1985. For information, send your title, model, and operating system for your DEC system along with a self-addressed, stamped envelope to ADP, POB 81045, Atlanta, GA 30366.

• ROBOTIC CONSUMER

A monthly newsletter designed for manufacturing managers, Robotics Forum: Management Issues in Manufacturing, addresses issues on manufacturing and industrial robots. Nontechnical, useroriented articles, covering such topics as fiscal justification and the myth of turnkey systems, assist managers in making informed decisions. The annual subscription fee

CLUBS & NEWSLETTERS is a forum for letting BYTE readers know what is happening in the microcomputing community. Emphasis is given to electronic bulletin-board services, club-sponsored classes, community-help projects, field trips, and other activities outside of routine meetings. Of course, we will continue to list new clubs, their addresses and contact persons, and other information of interest. To list events on schedule, we must receive your information at least four months in advance. Send information to BYTE, Clubs & Newsletters, POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449.

is $125. For information, contact the editor. Jay Goldstein, Robotics Forum: Management Issues in Manufacturing. POB 123, Lorane, OR 97451, (503) 683-4445.

• SLUG IN PULLMAN

The Sanyo Lovers' Users Group (SLUG) is an MS-DOS group designed to provide technical support for users of the Sanyo MBC series in the Moscow, Idaho/Pullman, Washington area. Members can benefit from regular meetings and access to a public-domain software library. Contact Michael Russell, POB 2084 CS, Pullman, WA 99163, (509) 878-1714.

• NEWS FOR MEDICAL SCIENTISTS-The New York

University Medical Center Personal Computer Users Group maintains a publicdomain software library that specializes in programs of interest to medical scientists. Information on how to access the group's bulletinboard service and library can be obtained by contacting Dr. James Mihalcik, Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital, 550 First Ave., New York, NY 10016.

• A PAL IN HAL

The Houston Area League of PC Users (HAL-PC) is a group for users of the IBM PC and its compatibles. Benefits include a publicdomain software library, a monthly newsletter that includes software reviews, and more than a dozen specialinterest groups. Members of the club are in the process of setting up a bulletin

(continued)

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 59

o

COMPUTERBANC

GET SERIOUS. STOP PAYING HIGH PRICES NOW!

THOUSANDS OF AVAILABLE ITEMS. CALL FOR COMPLETE PRICING.

SYSTEMS DM PC

256K. Two 360KB Disk Drives, Color Graphics/Monochrome Graphics board, Parallel Printer Port, Monochrome Display (Amber/Green), DOS 2.1. LIST PRICE $2950.00 — ONLY $2095.00

CULL POK OTHER BUNDLED SYSTEMS

SUPER XT $2795.00

IBM SOFTWARE

LOTUS 1-2-3 $299.00

LOTUS Symphony 449.99

MICROPRO Wordstar 249.00

ASCII Ezpreu For IBM 125.00

Wordstar Professional 359.00

Infostar 249.00

Multimate 269.00

MICROSOFT Word 229.00

WordW/Mouse 279.00

Multiplan 139.00

Project 159.00

ASHTON TATE Friday 179.00

dBASED 280.00

dBASE m 359.00

Framework 389.00

LLFETRBE SOFTWARE Vofcwriter ..119

Volkswriter Deluxe 169.00

FOX 8r GELLER Ouickcode 139.00

dUtil 59.00

dGraph 149.00

MICRORIM Rbase:4000 295.00

PFS Write 89.00

File 89.00

Report 89.00

Proof 79.00

Access 79.00

ENERGRAPmCS 269.00

NORTON UTLUIIKS 59.00

IBM HARDWARE

AST Six Pack Plus 64K 259.00

MegaPlus n 259.00

PC Net 1 Starter Kit 830.00

QUADRAM Quadboard OK 219.00

Quadcolor I or Microfazer 64K 205.00

Quadlink 479.00

MICROSCIENCE

10MB Winchester 859.00

HERCULES Mono Graphics 329.00

Color Card 199.00

FLANTRON1CS Colorplus 389.00

STB Rio plus 64K 249.00

Super Rio 259.00

Graphix *U NEW 309.00

TEAC 55B 135.00

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board service. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Radisson Inn in Houston. Texas. The annual dues are $25. For details, write the Houston Area League of PC Users, POB 610001, Houston, TX 77208.

• OSBORNE IN BOULDER

The Boulder Osborne Users Group (BUG), affiliated with the Denver Osborne Group (DOG), offers support to owners of the Osborne through monthly meetings and DOG's monthly newsletter. People interested in portable computers or the CP/M disk operating system are welcome. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month in Room 224 of the University of Colorado's Business School Building in Boulder. Contact Bruce Keith, Boulder Osborne Users Group, 715 South 45th St., Boulder. CO 80303.

• PROS ORGANIZE

The Association of Computer Professionals (ACP) is a nonprofit, educational organization designed for the mutual benefit of programmers, software developers, hardware designers, consultants, and other professionals in the microcomputer field. The newsletter, ACP NEWS$. contains an exchange of information to promote members' effectiveness and career interests. Contact Sy Bosworth. ACP, Suite 460, 230 Park Ave., New York, NY 10169, (212) 599-3019.

• ILLINOIS USERS HELP The Champaign County Computer Club (CCCC) meets at 7:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month to support new or experienced users with computers ranging from Apple to Zenith. Members benefit from special-interest groups, computer classes, a con

stantly updated publicdomain software library of DOS and CP/M disks, and a monthly newsletter. The $12 annual dues also include access to a 24-hour bulletinboard service at (217) 359-9577. Contact Jim Mullen, 1004 Kinch, Urbana, IL 61801, (217) 344-2178.

• SPECIAL SIG

The Gila Valley Apple Growers Association operates a free voice help line for users of the Applewriter He at (602) 428-4073. For information, write to the Gila Valley Apple Growers Association, POB 809, Thatcher, AZ 855 52.

• A ROOM WITH TERMINALS-The Stanford/ Palo Alto Users Group for the IBM PC meets at 7 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month in Polya Hall, the computer science auditorium of Stanford University. Members can see demonstrations on the terminals at each desk. The club maintains a publicdomain software library, produces a monthly newsletter, and opens its membership to the community. The annual fee is $25. Write to the Stanford/Palo Alto Users Group for the IBM PC. POB 3738. Stanford. CA 94305. (415) 326-7006.

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60 BYTE * JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 80

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Getting UNIX Software Down to Business

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62 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

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Inquiry 221

BOOK REVIEWS

THE SECOND SELF: COMPUTERS AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT Sherry Turkle Simon & Schuster New York: 1984 362 pages, $17.95

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SECURITY

Royal P. Fisher

Prentice-Hall

Englewood Cliffs, N|: 1984

240 pages, $24.95

MICROPROCESSORS: HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND DESIGN APPLICATIONS Wunnava V. Subbarao Reston Publishing Reston, VA: 1984 500 pages, $29.95

THE SECOND SELF Reviewed by Anthony Townsend

The press has focused lately on the novelty of computers, telling us what they are, and will be. capable of doing. We are told that we will see them with increasing frequency in everyday life, and that they will become a greater presence in our work and play. Rare, though, is the article or study of how computers are changing our definition of society. While sociological studies obviously take longer to research and compile than feature articles, they are no less important to the public's understanding of computers as a social force.

In The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, Sherry Turkle, a sociologist and psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, attempts to chronicle the impact of computers on humanity. Using six years of data and observations, she portrays the computer as an unprecedented influence on civilization, a tool that can simulate the process of the human mind.

Turkle begins by discussing the relationships that children form with microprocessor-controlled toys. Her discussions of how children interact with even the most rudimentary electronic toys show insight into how the computer is now commonplace, as television was to a previous generation.

Using children as an initial study group, Turkle explored their concepts of whether or not machines are alive. What is it about computers and electronic toys that gives them that added dimension of life? This theme is carried through the book as the author explores what it means for a person to "think" and whether a machine can be expected to perform the same process or merely mimic it.

Turkle chronicles the experiences of children at a private school where they have almost unlimited access to computers. As part of a research project, the children learned to use computers as a method of expressing themselves. Using these children as case studies, Turkle begins to develop her theory of how people interact with computers, classifying how children and adolescents use the computer. A distinction is made between "soft" and "hard" masters, a description dependent on whether the child uses the computer as an artistic tool or as a technological shortcut to play and fantasy.

In the second part of the book, Turkle focuses on how people who interact daily with computers view them. She writes about personal computer owners, hackers, and people involved in artificial-intelligence research. Although all three groups have diverse reasons for their attachment to computers, Turkle draws parallels among all three. She

(continued}

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IANUARY 1985

i Y T E 65

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postulates that computers in general have the capacity to make human beings think about themselves in a different light. This implies a more introspective process where the faculty of thought becomes the vehicle for comparing human reason to the analytical process of a thinking machine. If a machine can think (and Turkle does not imply that this is likely or probable—simply possible), then it is logical that the human race may no longer be at the top of the evolutionary ladder. Humans could boast the dubious distinction of spawning their own successors. In the book's final section, "Into a New Age," the author ties together the research and hypotheses of the previous sections. She looks at what it may mean to think of a human being as a machine, and how this affects the human soul, psyche, and spirit in a culture where machines are quite often taken for granted. This idea dates from the Industrial Revolution, but The Second Self delves into the rationale of such an assumption. The advent of psychoanalysis is compared to research in artificial intelligence. Turkle implies that today's computers and tomorrow's artificial intelligence will beget a new science of the mind.

Study in Style

Turkle employs a literary style quite different from the style of other sociological volumes. Quotations from her research subjects are used extensively, and case studies are predominant. She calls her research methods ethnographic, or employing descriptive anthropology. In this context, the word means that her research consisted of exploring the culture she was studying by being present in those groups germane to her work. She uses this particular technique effectively, conveying a real sense of what computers mean to those people involved in their use.

New Interpretations

The second part of the title, Computers and the Human Spirit, perhaps tells the most about what Sherry Turkle is trying to accomplish. Using a unique blend of sociological research and psychological insight, she makes you think about what it means to think. Is the human thought process merely a multilevel collection of chemical processors and instructions? Can something as complex as emotion be reduced to a set series of equations, however complex? Turkle demonstrates that even the abstract activity of thinking about how we think sets us a step beyond a strictly logical perception of consciousness. She hints that computers may have been created prior to a clear understanding of the possible implications.

Turkle frequently refers to Douglas R. Hofstadter's Godel, Escher. Back An Eternal Golden Braid (Random House, 1980) in formulating her hypotheses on how computers influence and interact with humans. Hofstadter's explanations of esoteric logic have met with wide acceptance among artificial-intelligence experimenters as a kind of symbol that even the most logical proof can be clouded in illogical ramifications. Using the culture of computers and the people involved with them as vignettes of a larger

66 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry I 77

Inquiry 14

BOOK REVIEWS

picture. TUrkle attempts to reconcile the image of the computer as bound by rules with a freewheeling image of the mind that knows no boundaries. She uses paradox, as Hofstadter does, to stimulate the reader to think that just because an item can be taken for granted does not mean that item is without deeper meaning.

A New Discipline

The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit is a book without boundaries. Combining her expertise as sociologist and psychologist, Tlirkle has created an excursion into thought, a fundamental function of the human race. Authors who use such abstract and undefined parameters in writing usually end up with readers as lost as they were at the start. But Turkle's skill makes it otherwise. Although dealing with subjects as hard to quantify as computers and the human spirit, she does not allow herself to lose sight of the fact that without rational, progressive thought, nebulous concepts become just so much babble.

Because Tlirkle is a professor in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at MIT, this work may well be the vanguard of a growing branch of science. This young discipline is vital for perspective as computers become more a part of the fabric of human culture. A better understanding of what it means to be human is only one result of further research into this area. Sociologists, psychologists, and philosophers can benefit from examination of the principles put forth by Turkle.

The Second Self is not a book to be read lightly. It requires you to think and respond to its concepts, to postulate what it is that your mind does and how that process is changed by, and is similar to, the electronic parts of machine intelligence. I recommend Turkle's book to anyone who wants a better understanding of themselves and the culture in which they live.

Anthony Townsend (Box 7603, Charlottesville, VA 22906) is an independent microcomputer consultant and software evaluator.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY Reviewed by Annette Hinshaw

Royal Fisher in Information Systems Security outlines procedures for managers to discover potential danger spots (exposures) in information systems, develop numerical values for each exposure, and decide which security actions are most cost-beneficial. Examples, worksheets, and charts support straightforward, easy-tounderstand explanations of data-security principles. While Fisher uses a mainframe environment as the matrix for his discussion, his techniques can be profitably used by anyone who has information to secure.

Fisher sets out to show managers that data security is a basic business concern, and one that belongs to management as a whole rather than just to managers of data

{continued)

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 67

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BOOK REVIEWS

processing. The author broadens the field of concern. In addition to data theft or modification by intruders, managers should also consider data corruption by error a breach of information security. Fisher also emphasizes a need for tested plans to recover vital data that could be lost in disasters such as fire and flood.

Computer security is only one of the informationsecurity issues the author addresses. A businessperson whose vital data is mostly on paper can utilize the systems proposed in this book as readily as someone working in a large data-processing center.

Fisher defines data security as "the protection of data from unauthorized disclosure, modification and/or destruction whether accidental or intentional." He develops this definition into a classification system for types of exposures. This classification is the first of many practical tools suggested by the author for analyzing potential data-security problems.

The Procedure

The first step in developing an effective informationsecurity system is to draw a flowchart of the data life cycle. In a payroll application, for example, data is generated from workers' time cards, which are physically moved, checked, and entered into the data system. The data completes the cycle when the workers receive their paychecks. Every data-transfer point from time card to paycheck is a potential source of disclosure of privileged information, error, or fraud.

With a complete flowchart, a manager can divide information security into manageable chunks called control points, which can then be handled as separate entities. Fisher's systems are not precise because they do not attempt to map real-world interactions between the modules. However, the complexity of such interactions can easily obscure system analysis. What Fisher's procedures lose in precision they make up for in manageability. The author points out this and other limits in his procedures, which are meant to guide decisions rather than dictate action.

Building information security begins with an analysis of the risks at each control point in the data life cycle, the author says. Considering each type of security exposure (accidental or intentional data disclosure, change, or loss), the analyst identifies the specific exposures for each datatransfer area. He completes a worksheet for each control point and summarizes the risks on another form that maps the data-security system and highlights the greatest risks to information security. Fisher has designed formats for these worksheets.

In a brief chapter, "Limiting Risk," the author reviews a few commonsense, inexpensive ways to improve data security. Fisher shows that careful data-handling procedures in the hands of cooperative employees can eliminate as many potential risks as can elaborate, expensive security designs. Fisher places this chapter between

{continued)

68 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 363

You don't need a computer to talk to another computer.

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The RCA APT (All-Purpose Terminal). Now with built-in 1200 baud modem for greatly expanded data communications capabilities.

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Inquiry 299

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JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 69

High performance to cost ratio...

Programming Chips?

Projects develop profitably with development hardware /software from GTEK.

MODEL 7228 - $599

This model has all the features of Model 7128, plus Intelligent Programming Algorithims. It supports the newest devices available through 512Kbits; programs 6x as fast as standard algorithims. Programs the 2764 in one minute! Supports Intel 2764 A & 27128A chips. Supports Tektronics, Intel, Motorola and other formats.

\ W

MODEL 7956

(with RS232 option) .... $1099. MODEL 7956 (stand alone) $ 979.

GTEK's outstanding Gang Programmer with intelligent algorithm can copy 8 EPROMS at a time! This unit is used in a production environment when programming a large number of chips is required. It will program all popular chips on the market through the 27512 EPROMS. It also supports the Intel 2764A & 27128A chips. It will also program single chip processors.

EPROMS PAL

PROGRAMMERS

—These features are standard from UllfiK.— CompauHe with al RS232 said interface ports • Auto select baud rate • With or without handshaking • BkBrectinnai XorVXoff • CTSDTR supported • Read pin cowpabbfe ROMS-No pa* aonaity modules • Intel Motorola. MCS86 Hex formats • Spit fariiity {or 16 bit data paths • Read program, formatted list commands • Interrupt driven — program and verify real time while sending data • Program angle byte, block, or whole EPROM • Inteffigent dagnnstics diaoern bad and/or erasable EPROM • Verify erasure and compare commands • Busy light • Complete with lextuol arc insertion fare socket and integral 120 VAC power (240 VACffiOHz available) •

MODEL 7324 - $1199 This unit has a built-in compiler. The Model 7324 programs all MMI. National and TI 20 and 24 pin PALs. Has non-volatile memory. It operates stand alone or via RS232.

MODEL 7128 - $429 This model has the highest performance-to-price-ratio of any unit. This is GTEK's most popular unit! It supports the newest devices available through 256Kbits.

MODEL 7316 Pal Programmer $ 599

Programs Series 20 PALs. Built-in PALASM compiler.

DEVICES SUPPORTED

NMOS

by GTEK's EPROM Programmers NMOS CMOS EEPROM MPU'S

2758

2764A

2508

68764

27C16

2716

27128

2516

8755

27C16H

2732

27128A

2532

5133

27C32H

2732A

27256

2564

5143

27084

2764

27512

68766

27C256

5213 I2816A 8748 8741H

5213H I2817A 8748H 8744

52B13 8749H 8751

X2816 8741 68705

48016 8742H

UTILITY PACKAGES

GTEK's PGX Utility Packages will allow you to specify a range of addresses to send to the programmer, verify erasure and/or set the EPROM type. The PGX Utility Package includes GHEX. a utility used to generate an Intel HEX file.

PALX Utility Package — for use with GTEK's Pal Programmers — allows transfer of PALASM* source file or ASCII HEX object code file.

Both utility packages are available for CPM,® MSDOS,18 PCDOS® ISIS* and TRSDOS* operating systems. Call for pricing.

AVOCET CROSS ASSEMBLERS

These assemblers are available to handle the 8748, 8751, Z8, 6502, 68X and other microprocessors. They are available for CPM and MSDOS computers. When ordering, please specify processor and computer types.

ACCESSORIES

Model 7128-L1. L2, L2A

(OEM Quantity) $259.

Model 7128-24 $329.

Cross Assemblers $200.

PGX Utilities Call for pricing

PALX Call for pricing

CTTEX

XASM (for MSDOS) $250.

U/V Eraser DE-4 $ 80.

RS232 Cables $ 30.

8751 Adapter $174.

8755 Adapter $135.

48 Family Adapter $ 98.

68705 Programmer $299.

Development Hardware/Software P.O. Box 289, Waveland, MS 39576 601/467-8048 .INC.

GTEK, PALASM, CPM. MSDOS. PCDOS, ISIS, and TRSDOS are all registered trademarks.

BOOK REVIEWS

"Identifying Exposures" and "Risk Analysis." I can't help but wonder if the chapter is meant to reassure those managers who are shocked at the number of exposures in their systems and concerned about the cost of correction.

The goals of risk assessment are to rank security exposures and assign numbers (costs per possible loss, estimated number of events) to identified data-security exposures. Fisher presents two methods for evaluating a potential loss, neither of which requires special math skills. He outlines the advantages and limits of each. The results of risk analysis are mapped on a grid that distributes exposures by type and potential loss.

The author's insistence that problems can be reduced to numbers and compared more or less objectively is one of the strongest points in his system for handling information security. Every action he recommends is rooted in realities. He never lets managers lose sight of the fact that breaches of data security are potentially losses, but he emphasizes that correction of such breaches should not cost more than the potential losses. He provides rules of thumb for getting numbers, evaluating the validity of the numbers, and making decisions based on the numbers throughout his process.

Fisher does not discuss specific hardware or software control systems. Rather, he divides controls into preventive, detective, and corrective types and discusses the philosophy of control. However, his approach is not at all abstract; he provides concrete examples on each point. His examples are so successful that many people may read this part of the book and not realize they have absorbed principles instead of facts.

In an extensive table, Fisher analyzes data-security features available in IBM products. The reader can extract a checklist of possible security controls from this table. Appendix C is an effective checklist that defines application controls.

The book addresses the making of cost-effective decisions for installing controls. The major factors in the process, the author says, include estimated potential loss from an exposure, estimated cost of proposed controls to prevent the loss, and estimated probability of the success of those controls. Fisher provides formulas for using these factors to determine "return on investment" for proposed controls. Filling out the selection worksheet for all the exposures in a system gives managers numbers for deciding to install or redesign controls or to accept a given risk as too costly to correct.

In two chapters. Fisher explains a highly detailed analysis and selection process that should cover even the largest computer system. For readers who need just a fast assessment of their security system, the author outlines an abbreviated approach. He assumes that the reader understands the concepts of previous chapters. This version uses a worksheet for each control point and for each likely exposure type at that control point. An analyst fills out the

{continued)

70 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 153

When all else

fails.

Most diskettes are pretty good.

And some of the time that's good enough.

But next time you throw away one that won't format or you lose the cash flow analysis you've been working on for weeks, make a mental note to try a box of Dysan diskettes.

They're better.

So much better, in fact, that major computer manufacturers put their names on our diskettes and sell them as their own.

Without fear of failure.

You see, we make our diskettes better with advanced manufacturing processes that our competitors have yet to figure out.

And we test them.

Almost to the point of absurdity

Dysan diskettes are inspected almost a hundred times as they come down the line. They're tested to performance levels way beyond industry standards. And each one is certified to be 100 percent error free.

Then our corporate quality assurance fanatics come along and check them all over again. For all

Dysan is a registered trademark of Dysan Corporation. © 198-t. Dysan Corporation. Pl-'S:" is a registered trademark of Software Publishing Corporation.

the same things. Plus some things only they understand.

When we're done, you get exactly what you wanted in the first place. Diskettes that will record and retain all your data all the time.

We don't expect you to keep all that in your mental note, but we would like you to remember your last diskette failure.

And when your computer products dealer offers you another box of pretty good diskettes, tell him you're ready for something better.

Dysan.

Call toll free for the name of the Dysan dealer nearest you. (800) 551-9000.

Dysan Corporation, 5201 Patrick Henry Drive, P.O. Box 58053, Santa Clara, CA 95050, (408)988-3472.

Dysan

Somebody has to be better than everybody else.

Inquiry 122

Micros. Mice.

When vou can't slop by your local Micro Marl Slore, call us direct. Dot Matrix

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■•/%■ II Wm/,Uk\ I "f\ I |Ji^# okii.m x ■

WV <■■FJL Vr-M. 1-X (200cps.),w/opt.IBM

At Micro Mart, we've got our finger on the pulse of the microcomputer industry. And, from our retail stores to our telemarketing divisions, we're in touch with the very latest developments, the newest products and the cutting edge of expert advice.

When you need the right product at the right price, remember the sales, service and support our local store experts and national distribution center can give you.

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M AYNARD Complete line._

Graphic Cards

PROMS, Pacemark 2410, (350 cps)

TOSHIBA P-I351 & 1340 _$1295/$799

DATAPRODUCTS

PRISM 8050 Color,

132 col.,200

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STARMICRONICS

Complete line..

STB Graphics Plus 11, color & mono, w/par. port

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HERCULES Mono & color graphics cards support

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AT&T Personal Computer. Innovative hardware for a wide range of business applications.

i—. . .

128 K expandable to 640K, 2-360K, DS/DD Disk Drives, Monochrome

Display, IBM Compatible Special

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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS

855 $729

N EC Pinwriters. P2 & P3, 180

cps

DIABLO C-SeriesC-150. Color ink jet, IBM color compatible..$985

Letter Quality NEC Spinwriters2050, 3550, S850._

DIABLO 630/630ECS $1395/$1795

C-1TOH Starwritei; (40 cps), Printmaster,

(55 cps) $950/$1299

We carry a full range of form handling options

Floppy Disk Drives

TANDON TM100-2, DD/DS, 360K

1/2 HEIGHT DISK DRIVES From SHUGART,

TEAC. PC, XT & AT compatible. $119

Hard Discs

Micro Mart carries all the major brands If you don't see it—ask for it. PEACHTREE PERIPHERALS P-10,20&50, auto boot, int. &

ext Start @ $845

SYSGEN/0<£20Meg w/streamer tape. $2395/$2795 SYSGEN Image & Quick/He, streamer tape back-up for

your IBM XT& AT.

BERNOULLI TECHNOLOGY Hard Disc

Subsystems $2895

MAY NARD Complete line of hard disc subsystems

TECM AR Graphics Master, Hi Res color & mono

supports Lotus $459

QUADRAM QUADCOLOR 1& II, color cards._ PARADISE SYSTEM Multi-display or Modular Graphics Cards, color & mono, par. port. Starting @ $299

Software

Accounting SORCIM/IUS Complete line including windows.. BPI ACCOUNTING Complete line..

Spreadsheets & Integrated Packages

ASHTON-TATE/vmnevvo/*. $345

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MICROSOFT MultiPlan, w/templates._

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Enhancements & Utilities SOFTCRAFT Fancy Font..

FOX & GELLER Complete line enhancements tot dBase II, IIIScRbase 4000.

NORTON Utilities. $65

ROSESOFTProA'ey 3.0. $89

EMERALD Hard disc drives w/back-up

LEADING EDGE Color PC, 256K, 2-360K

DS/DD Disk Drives, Amdek Color 600. $1995

MINDSET Personal Computer, 256K, 2-360K DS/DD Disk Drives, W/Mindset Mouse. $1795

Networking/Protocol Conversion

SNA & BISYNC 3780, 5251, 3274,3278..

Chips

INTEL 8087 High speed coproc.

PC TURBO 186 by ORCHID, 80186 coprocessor

board $829

IRMA/IRMALINE Replaces 3278's

w/PC's..

_$899/$1099

IRMAGRAPH Upgrades IRMA to 3278 graphics

capability

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PCnet By ORCHID, complete line._Start @ $299 BLUE LYNX 5251 Mod 12 & 327<5Emulators by

TECHLAND

SANTACLARA PC Terminal

Printers & Plotters

Thousands in stock.

HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS Plotters and

Digitizers.

QUADRAM QUADBOARD, 64-384K multifunc

Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando

72 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

64K RAMCHIPS. 256KRAMCHIPS.

Multifunction Boards

We have a complete line of multifunction

bds. compatible with the Portable, AT, XT, & Jr

SIX PAK 64-384K, multifunc

MEGAPLUS64-512K, max. 8 func I/OPLUSSer., Clk., Splr., Ramdisk, opt. 2nd Ser., Par. & Game

TECMAR CAPTAIN, 64-384K, multifunc._$249

TALLTREEJ-K/4/W//, 0-512K, w/software.

TALLTREE./-/^4M//A•, 0-512K,

w/software $129

MICROLOGft4BrBL(/£7/, 64-256K, Z80 coproc, + software

ORCHID PC Blossom, 64-384K, w/opt. PCnet Piggy-Back $259

Advice. Price.

CENTRAL POINT SOFTWARE

Copy II PC.

ATI Training..

_$35 _$55

SOWSTVLESet FX + and Printworks. Printer

control packages..

SIDEWAYS Inverts printout.. BORLAND Sidekick

_$45 _$39

LIVING VIDEO TEXT Think Tank

Compilers & Language Tools

LATTICE C-Compilers

MICROSOFT Complete line

_$299

WORDTECH The dBase compiler

DIGITAL RESEARCH Complete line

BORLAND Turbo Pascal, Turbo Toolbox

and more $39/each

Graphics & CAD Zsofl PC Paint Brush, mouse driven graphics._$95 DECISION RESOURCES

Chart Master/'Sign-Master pkgs.

AUTODESK/4utoC4D. Complete line. Start @

$745 ENERTRONICS Energraphics.graphics & CAD

package..

MICROPRO Char/Star.

Microsoft Mouse. Bus or serial mechanical mouse, comes with Mouse Menu software. Works with WORD and other popular software $ 159

PC Mouse, from Mouse Systems. Serial optical 3-button mousewith Pop-Up'N1 Menus and PC Paint software. Prcconfigured for all the most popular software $159

MICROSOFT Chart.

DIGITAL RESEARCH Presentation Master

Communications

MICROSTUF CROSSTALK XVI. $99

HAYES SMARTCOMII

Word Processors MULTIMATEw/Spellingchecker&tutorial.$259

SAMNA ///, wd. processor.

MICROSOFT Word, w/orw/out mouse.

LIFETREE Volkswriter Deluxe

MICROPRO WordStar Pro Pack &

Series2000._

SSI WordPerfect.

_$245

WORDMARC Wordmarc.

Office & Project Planning

Call for our Tax and Tax Planning packages.

HARVARD Harvard Project Manager.

IUS Easy SalesPro..

.$249

MICROSOFT Project

Data Base Managers MICRORIM 4000 or 6000, Report Writer & Clout options.

CMS SYSTEMS Power-base.. WARNER SOFTWARE The desk organizer.. ASHTON-TATE dBase II& III.. MICROSTUF lnfoscope._

Modems

HAYES Smart modem 300, 1200, &

I200B..

_$199/$469/$329

RIXON 1200-4800 BAUD sync. &async. models.. ANCHOR AUTOMATION Signalman Mark

XII $259

VEN-TEL 1200 BAUD HalfCard for the IBM Portable & XT.

Service & Repairs

*On-Site—We have hundreds of service locations nationally.

* Depot—Our National Service Center is

one of the fastest in the US.

* We have—A wide variety of services

available. Just call us.

POPCOM Popcorn, int. and ext. w/voice & data comm

Miscellaneous Hardware

& Accessories

DYSAN Diskettes, PC, XT&

AT compatible

MICRO MART Diskettes

DS/DD, 7 yr. war $19/10

KEYTRONICS 5150 & 5151.

Keyboards

LQ SHEET FEEDERS Sheet feeders.. CURTIS Accessories

©Copyright Micro Mart 1984. Technology Corporate Campus 3159 Campus Drive Norcross, Georgia 30071

For information or the store location nearest you, call

(404) 449-8089

HAYES Mach II & Mach ///joysticks..

PENCEPT Penpad, software avail

TOUCHSTONE TECHNOLOGY

Touchstone I. Ten key pad w/ cursor

control.

QUADRAM MICROFAZER, print buffer,

8-128K

TRIPPELITE Back up power supply 200-1000 watts, and ISOBA R surge protectors, 4 & 8 plug.

Monitors & CRT's

PGS MAX 12, amber, 720h x 350v

_$775

PGSSR-12, 690h x 480v, w/dual scan cd.. PGS HX-I2, 690 Dot RGB

QUADRAM QUADCHROME, 690 Dot

RGB

AMDEK COLOR 300, 500, 600, 700, 710, 725, new complete line of HiRes RGB's w/new low

prices.

AMDEK 300A /300G, composite monitors

_$439

.$139/$129

AMDEK310A, amber w/3yr. war

WYSETerminals, 100,75,50, entire line in slock._

YOUR PF.RSONALHI.UECHI!' CARD

Micro Mart has financing options available. Ask for a Micro Mart Blue Chip Credit Card application todav.

America's PC Specialist.

iislered trademark of International Uusiness Machines Corporation. AT&T, Leading ridge, Mindset, Microsoft, Mouse Sysicms and liicirproducis, respectively, are trademarks ^ of AT&T Information Systems, Leading Edge Products lac., Mindset Corporation, Microsoft Corporation and Mouse Systems Corporation. All Prices arc subject 10 change wit honi hoi ice.

Ft. Lauderdale, Louisville, Tyson's Corner, Rockville, Pittsburgh.

Inquiry 230

JANUARY 1985 "BYTE 73

Inquiry 158

HARMONY VIDEO & COMPUTERS

H

2357 CONEY ISLAND AVE., BROOKLYN, NY 11223

TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE

800VIDEO84 OR 718-627-1000 OR 800-441-1144

IBM PCw/DRIVE

APPLE2C

t^2L

P

$1299.95

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OKI DATA 92

GEMINI 10X

$356.95

$229.95

'PRINTER SPECIALS"

Okidata92

356

Radix 15 575

Panasonic KXP 1091

259

0kldala93

559

Radix 10 489

Panasonic KXP 1090

204

Ep3on RX80 FT

291

Powertype 296

Silver Reed EXP 550

389

Epson RX80

237

Dalsywrlter 789

Silver Reed EXP 500

292

Epson RX100

395

Brother HR15 345

Silver Reed EXP 770

759

Epson Fx80

399

Brother HR25 579

Nee 3550

1334

Epson FX100

598

Brother HR35 794

Nee 2050

659

Epson LQ1500

1118

Keyboard 129

OlympiaRO

319

Toshiba 1351

1229

RltemanBlue + 279

Nee 7730

1674

Delia 10

338

Diablo 620 API 699

Nee 7715

1674

Delia 15

464

Mannesman Spirit 80 237

OKI 84

648

Gemini 10X

229

Mannesman 160L 539

Panasonic KXP 1093

578

339

rr

Juki 6100 364

7i\r

Panasonic KXP 1092

1M

389

■

IBM

LA

JLLLk

MONITORS

ATARI

_

PC w/Drlve

1299

Amdek 300 Green 114

800 XL

114

PC XT

2499

Amdek300Amber 124

1027 Printer

169

Portable

1799

310 Amber 139

1050 Drive

159

PCJr.

459

Color 300 229

Indus. Drive

279

Color Card

169

Color 500 324

IBM Monitor (GRNJ

244

Color 600 384

Hercules Graphic

Color 700 489

Master

329

Color 710 529

TecmarCaplain64K

279

Zenith Green 74

APPLE

AST Six Pack

239

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2E vWDisk Drive

859

Tallgfass20Meg

2399

Macintosh

1689

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224

Apple 2C

869

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254

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486

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164

Addt. Drives fromS99

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159

SANYO

550 S.S 648 550 D.S. 659

MODEMS

COMMODORE

555 D.S, 949

Hayes 1200

444

Commodore 64

189

CRT 30 99

Hayes 1200B

389

1541 Disk Drive 1702 Monitor MPS801 Prinler

204

208 179

Hayes 300

1 Micromodem 2E

Access 123

189 214

374

800-441-1144

1526 Printer

215

I Novalion J-cat

95

IBM P.C.

6K Ram, Color card,

onitor, Parallel Port,

DOS

$1995

for other configurations

Printers

Brother HR-15 $365.00

Epson FX-80 399.00

Juki 6100 399.00

Software

dBase III 399.00

PFS.-Write 84.00

Lotus 1-2-3 299.00

IBM P.C.

256K Ram, 2-Floppy drives,

10 Meg. hard drive, Mono card, Monitor, DOS

$2795

call for complete details

odems

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Pro-Modem 310.00

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Teac55B 179.00

10 Meg. Internal drive 750.00

Call for pricing on our complete line of fine computing products

YOU CAN'T BUY COMPUTERS FOR LESS

(619) 579-2730 (800) 782-4242 <ca only)

3855 Avocado Blvd., Suite 140*227 La Mesa, California 92041

Prices subject to change without notice. Prices reflect S 1/2% cash discount • Quantities Limited

BOOK REVIEWS

sheets and evaluates the degree of control for that exposure on a 0-4 scale. A summary sheet uses these grades to map strong and weak points in the system and to average a grade for security control in the system as a whole.

Almost half of Information Systems Security is appendix. The author reprints questionnaires and guidelines on information-system security from IBM and other companies. The appendixes demonstrate that Fisher's ideas are not original. His contribution is that he gives managers practical methods for assessing risk, evaluating controls, and making decisions on new controls for data security. The appendixes are valuable in light of Fisher's methodical approach to dealing with security systems. Once a manager absorbs Fisher's methods, these appendixes become intermediate readings for further study.

Information Systems Security is not exciting or original, but it is competent and readable for managers who are not computer people. Fisher presents a "can-do" framework for a comprehensive introduction to the principles of developing information security. Managers will still have to determine specific control solutions for their information systems, but they can do so from solid points of departure and with methods they can translate into effective data-security decisions.

Annette Hinshaw (POB 580635, Tulsa, OK 74158) is a freelance technical writer.

MICROPROCESSORS:

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND DESIGN APPLICATIONS

Reviewed by Alan Finger

Given the importance of microprocessor courses in today's engineering curriculum, it is natural that many textbooks have been written on the subject. Microprocessors: Hardware, Software, and Design Applications is one example. Its intent is to introduce junior and senior engineering students to the fundamentals of modern microprocessors and the microcomputer systems and software built around them. Wunnava Subbarao is an associate professor at Florida International University and has based this text on his courses there. He examines five well-known microprocessors and illustrates their applications with student projects. This practical approach is well suited to motivating students as well as giving them a hint as to what awaits them in the Real World.

Subbarao begins with an introduction to the general concepts of microprocessors. Other chapters are split into two sections on each device: Intel's 8085, Motorola's 6800, MOS Technology's 6502, Zilog's Z80, and RCAs 1802. The first section on each chip describes the processor and, except for the Z80, a commercial single-board "training" microcomputer using the device. In the second section, the author details several practical applications developed

(continued)

74 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 83

What C did for Programming Mark Williams has done for C Programming

i

The C Programming from Mark Williams

MWC86 gets your C programs running faster and uses less memory space than any other compiler on the market. Then csd, Mark Williams' revolutionary C Source Debugger, helps you debug faster. That's The C Programming tern from Mark Williams Compj

MWC86

MWC86 is the most highly optimized C compiler available anywhere for the DOS and 8086 environment. The benchmarks prove it! They show MWC86 is unmatched in speed and code density.

MWC86 supports large and small models of compilation, the 8087 math coprocessor and DOS 2.0 pathnames. The compiler features common code elimination, peephole optimization and register variables. It includes the most complete libraries. Unlike its competition, MWC86 supports the full C language including recent extensions such as the Berkeley structure rules, voids, enumerated data types, UNIX* I/O calls and structure assignments.

Quality is why Intel, DEC and Wang chose to distribute MWC86. These industry leaders looked and compared and found Mark Williams to be best.

User Friendly

MWC86 is the easiest to use of all compilers. One command runs all phases from pre-processor to assembler and linker. MWC86 eliminates the need to search for error messages in the back of a manual. All error messages appear on the screen in English.

A recent review of MWC86 in PC World, June, 1984, summed it up:

'Unix is a Trademark of Bell Laboratories.

WU

i\ dei

WLdu, get Th

Of all the compilers reviewed, MWC86 would be my first choice for product development. It compiles quickly, prot duces superior error messages, andA

venerates quick, compact object code. ^library is small and fast and closi !y follows the industry standard C libraries."

csd C Source Debugger

Mark Williams was not content to write the best C compiler on the market. To advance the state of the art in software development, Mark Williams wrote csd.

csd C Source Debugger serves as a microscope on the program. Any C expression can be entered and evaluated. With csd a programmer can set tracepoints on variables and expressions with full history capability and can single step a program to find bugs. The debugger does not affect either code size or execution time, csd features online help instructions; the ability to walk through the stack; the debugging of graphics programs without disturb

Off I in t aJ at

■It? I f Hf

SIEVE

Time in Seconds

H Urge Model

■ Small Model Size in Bytes U Urge Model

■ Small Model

1.29

ing the program under test; and evaluation, source, program and history

indows.

csd eases the most difficult part of development — debugging. Because csd debugs in C, not assembler, a programmer no longer has to rely on oldfashioned assembler tools, but can work as if using a C interpreter — in real time.

The C Programming System from Mark Williams now supports the following libraries:

Library Company

Windows lor C

Creative Solutions

Halo

Media Cybernetics

PHACT

PHACT Associates

The Greenleaf Functions

Greenleaf Software

Btrieve

SoltCraft

The C Programming System from Mark Williams

The C Programming System from Mark Williams delivers not only the best C compiler for the 8086 but also the only C source level debugger. That's why it does for C programming what C did for programming. The Mark Williams C Programming System gives the programmer the MWC86 C compiler and the csd C Source Debugger for only $495. Order today by calling 1-800-MWC-1700. Major credit cards accepted.

Technical support for The Mark Williams C Programming System is provided free of charge by the team that developed it.

Mark Williams Company

1430 W. Wrighrwood Ave. Chicago, IL 60614

Inquiry 217

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 75

Inquiry 101 for Dealers. Inquiry 102 for End-Users.

BEFORE YOU BUY CABLE ASSEMBLIES,

Htwygng*

Gold plated pins

22AWG

twilled

conductors

Strain reliever

2mm PVC

Aluminei Shield

CHECK UNDER THE HOOD!

DATA SPEC™ cable assemblies are the very best. Each cable is fully shielded to exceed FCC EMI/RFI emission requirements. The unique P.D.T. technique, introduced by DATA SPEC™ and employed beneath the hood shield, insures maximum integrity under the most adverse conditions. DATA SPEC™ has interface cables for all your requirements: Printers, Modems, Monitors, Disk Drives, and much more. And all DATA SPEC™ cable assemblies carry a lifetime warranty. Insist on DATA SPEC™ cables in the bright orange package. Available at better computer dealers everywhere. For more information, call or write:

A Division of Alliance Research Corporation

20120 Plummer Street • Chatsworth. CA 91311 • (818) 993-1202

CopyngM © 1984 by Alliance Research Corporation Patenl PNO

Powerful Single Board Computer Includes CP/M Plus on Disk

$599

ZGOCI'U MSC-ICO uses trie most popular microprocessor, the ZW. as its man CPU MSC-ICO tun at 4 MHZ without any watt states Ihewfx)4riyM(mmnccMpara(fdmtoit fwjri Quality f our layer PC board mrasur prig only 145mm X 2SOmm jltT * 6~) The system require only I 1 Amps at * SVoltsandOl Amps.it ±12 Vote

B.ml. ed CP/M Plus Included CPtM Plus |3 O banked] n rnctuoed on Or* with all manuals CPIM Plus is upwardly compabble withCPIM re SD debugger. the MAC and RMAC and Wie lIMK-flO (coder MSC-COs Custom BOS provioes Support (or multiple disk formats andHOcrevKrtontrof System specific software tor disk formatting, cksk copying, defining function keys and modifying screen attributes is also mc ludcd

116Kb RAM One 64K bank of memory is devoted to CPIM and us disk cache blocks, wtme the other 64K bank is devoted to applications programs rim anangernenr not only provides more memory for progr.ims, but it significantly increases the speed of disk I/O

Internal Floppy Dlik Controller MSC CO handles ShugartJAiNlSI standard (loppy disk drives m a variety of surs and lor mats

• »" SiSD. 243Kb

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IJp to four drives of any density or sue can be tan netted toMSC ICO Both S 1/4andBmthconneclorsare tin board lo make drsk drive connecuons easy

High Speed CRT Controller MSC-ICO connm an 80 x 74 kne memory mapped CRT toot roller Video output is composite or wparafe to match any monitor Annbutes such as insert and delete kne. reverse video, and semigrdpfKs are supported Cursor escape sequences are an eitenson of DECs VIS? and can be easily reprogrammed to emulate most standard terrrwsars

• MSDOS Coprou-ssc " 68000 Cof«xrsy»

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Two ITS232C Port) MSC-ICO communicates with printers, modems, plot lets, and other standard RS232C devices ihrougfi its two serial porti These ports are independently programmable 'or baud rates, stop tits, data forrn.it ,md parity Synchronous lOmmurw a lion on Port A is jumper selectable

Centronics Parallel Port A standard Centronics parallel pott allows MSC-CO to communicate with printers and other parallel drvKCS

Parallel Keyboard Port MSC-ICO connectl lo any ASCII parallel keyboard of positive or negative potaray with a negative strobe A type-ahead buffer and programmable function keys are provnJrd by MSC-tOs custom BIOS

16 811 TTL I/O Port This port allows you to access prmtets, relays. tEDv DAC's, ADC'v switches. EPROM programmers and many other devices

Clock Calendar The battery backed up tlotk oik-ndar provides rone and date information to CPfM (or file stamping the clock can also be accessed from applications programs.

MSC-ICOs SO pm bus connector provides expansion for a hard disk (ontrofter. HAM disk, graphics or 1 6B000 system Please call or write lor more iriforrruitmn on

MSC-ICO Saves Time and Money With MSC-ICO's low tost and quality wurksmanship. why spend time, energy ,intj money lu design, debug and test your own system Whether you ir-quire single units or large volLiine quantifier we t.m meet yuur needs Order your evaluation unit fuclay'

Inquiry 31 for Dealers. Inquiry 32 for End-Users. 76 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

BOOK REVIEWS

by students. Although I might quibble with the timeliness of the author's choices of processors and examples, which seem to be governed by what was on hand, they are certainly adequate for an introduction.

Two Points of View

To review this book. I approached it from two perspectives. First. I put myself in the position of an engineering student with a limited knowledge of the subject matter. I would have had courses in digital design and probably an introduction to programming by way of one or two high-level languages. A good textbook should lead me. step by step, through the concepts involved in the design of microcomputer systems and software with appropriate problems to verify my understanding of the material.

I also examined the book as an expert, checking the quality and accuracy of the text and illustrations. Unfortunately, from both viewpoints. Microprocessors fails.

An Introduction?

For students, the trouble starts right in chapter 1. The author plunges into a discussion of the internal contents of a "typical'' microprocessor and then goes on to a description of address, data, and control buses, and instruction formats. Only after all this are we treated to one diagram and a half page of text as an overview of microcomputer-system organization.

The remainder of the book continues similarly. The chapters discussing the 8085 and its cousin, the Z80. are illogically separated by the very different 6800 and 6502. which are somewhat related to each other. Subbarao makes only a vague attempt to relate any processor to the others. Instruction sets are presented as poor reproductions of the manufacturer's summary sheets— usually pasted to the wall by an experienced programmer as a memory jogger.

The book creates an overall impression of topics strewn haphazardly. What organization there is is counterproductive because it lacks purpose. General system concepts such as system clocks, bus cycles, design rules, and assembly-language programming procedures are ignored in favor of more specialized information on such topics as commercial interconnection schemes (S-100 bus and Multibus) and rarely used components. It seems to this reviewer that the author paraphrased manufacturers' data sheets and student reports.

The material is oriented toward hardware; software design concepts are not discussed. The software portions of the design examples are presented in a "pseudoassembly language" used to hand-assemble code, something I haven't seen in 10 years. The explanations relate only to the hardware "bit-twiddling" aspects of the programs.

Adding to the Confusion

If a student does absorb information from this book, much of it will be wrong. Although it hardly seems necessary,

(continued^

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 77

64K S100 STATIC RAM

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* 200 NS RAMi are standard. (TOSHIBA makes TMM 2016s as lasl as 100 NS. FOR YOUR HIGH SPEED APPLICATIONS.)

« SUPPORTS PHANTOM (BOTH LOWER 32K AND ENTIRE BOARD).

* 2716 EPROMs may be installed in any ot top 48K.

* Any of the top 8K (E000 H AND ABOVE) may be disabled to provide windows to eliminate any possible conflicts with your system monitor, disk controller, etc.

* Perfect for small systems since BOTH RAM and EPROM may co-exist on the same board.

* BOARD may be partially populated as S6K.

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BOOK REVIEWS

a number of pages on single-chip microcomputers are thrown in at the end of several chapters. In one such case. Intel's 8048 is incorrectly described as a modified version of the 8085. They do not even belong to the same family. Another error exists in the description of how the 8085 responds to its interrupt input INTR. According to the author's description, the 8085 responds to INTR by issuing an interrupt-acknowledge signal INTA to a requester, which, in turn, places the vector address on the data bus. In reality, the 8085 will accept the next complete instruction, usually a l-byte restart (RST) or 3-byte CALL from the requester. Trying to bring up an interrupt-driven system with information like this would certainly prove interesting. Much of the misinformation is more subtle. Subbarao uses microcomputer jargon, usually with little or no explanation. He uses much of it incorrectly. The term "bus." for example has two meanings. It can be used in reference to a collection of related signals connecting different components within a microcomputer system. It can also refer to any of a number of industry-standard arrangements for interconnecting function boards in a larger system. The second type generally contains several of the first type along with other signals. In several instances, the author discusses them as if they were the same. The IEEE-488 (GPIB) bus somehow finds its way into one of these discussions, even though it is actually a data-communications standard generally used to connect a computer to instruments (and occasionally intelligent peripherals such as disk systems and plotters). I would presume its inclusion is due to the presence of the word "bus." The author uses another term, "I/O |input/output| bound," to refer to something "bound for input or output" as opposed to its normal usage as a reference to a program with its speed limited by I/O operations.

Good Problems

If the book has one saving grace, it is the abundance of examples and problems, many of which are accompanied by answers that provide better information than the body text. After reading the chapters on the 1802 processor, with which I am not very familiar, I was still in the dark about many aspects of its operation. I then worked through some of the problems with an RCA data book at hand and felt much more comfortable about the possibility of dealing with one of these rather arcane devices. Perhaps this is what this book is all about: providing problems to be solved using other sources of information. Subbarao wisely suggests that readers consult the appropriate manufacturer's literature. This book will not provide the student with enough information to use a microprocessor or write software for it. Although the idea behind Microprocessors is a good one. the book is too flawed with organizational and conceptual errors for me to recommend it to anyone. ■

Alan Finger is a vice president at Comprehensive Computer Consultants (270 Littleton Rd.. Building 14, West/ord, MA 01886).

78 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Genicom would like to get personal with you, On a professional level, of course.

m^

Personal computers have become a valuable asset in business. The problem is that most personal computer systems are originally sold with "personal printers "...printers built for home use, not for heavier business work.

These "personal printers" are too slow for many business needs. They can tie-up your computer for extended periods of time...time you could be using to do other work.

Another problem is durability. In business, you need a printer that can produce high volume output over a long duty cycle. The common "personal printer" will often just quit under such continuous operation.

That's why Genicom has created the 3014, 3024, 3304and 3404...professional printers built for personal computers.

Price/performance matched for small business systems, the Genicom 3000 PC printers are designed to increase productivity and maximize the value of your personal computer.

The 3000 PC printers provide 160-400 cps draft, 80-200 cps memo, and 32-100 cps NLQ printing...performance for both high productivity and high quality printing.

The 3014/3024 models print 132 columns. The 3304 and 3404

Inquiry I47

GENICOM

The New Printer Company;

For the solution to your printing needs call

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In Virginia, call 1-703-949-1170.

Epson MX with GRAFTRAX-PLUS is a trademark of Epson America, Inc Okidata Microline 84 Step 2 is a trademark of Okidata Corporation

models give you a full 136 column width, and offer color printing as well.

Each printer is easy to use, lightweight, functionally styled and attractive. And you can choose options from pedestals and paper racks to document inserters, sheet feeders and 8K character buffer expansion, plus more.

Genicom 3000 PC printers feature switch selectable hardware, dual connectors and dual parallel or serial interfaces. Plus the 3014 and 3024 emulate popular protocols for both Epson MX with GRAFTRAX-PLUS" and Okidata Microline 84 Step 2"\ while the 3304 and 3404 emulate popular protocols for Epson MX with GRAFTRAX-PLUS"'. So your current system is most likely already capable of working with these Genicom printers without modification.

Most important, the Genicom 3000 PC printers are quality-built, highly durable printers designed for rapid, continuous duty cycle printing. So take some personal advice. Get a Genicom professional printer for your personal computer today.

Genicom Corporation, One General Electric Drive, Dept. C421, Waynesboro, VA 22980. In Virginia, call 1-703-949-1170.

Great Ideas

look even better

on a Princeton monitor

Your Great Ideas deserve the best image you can give them. But, just as a music system's performance depends on the speakers, your computer system is limited by the quality of your monitor.

Monitor performance can be measured. That's something you should know about.

In other words, your Great Ideas should be seen, not blurred.

W. Shakespeare composing Great Ideas on a Princeton Monitor

80 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Things you should know about monitors

Resolution The quality of a color monitor's image is directly related to its resolution. The greater the number of dots available within a given area for displaying an image the greater the resolution.

Dot pitch The image on an RGB color monitor is made up of a series of tiny dots. Dot pitch measures the distance between those dots. Anything finer than .38mm is considered high resolution.

Price All Princeton monitors set the price/performance standard in their class. The SR-12 at S799 compares favorably with monitors costing hundreds more. The HX-12 is in a class by itself at S695.

9 The PRINCETON SR-12

monitor features an extraordinary 640x480 (non-interlaced) resolution. The result is an extremely high quality, flickerless image with text that approaches monochrome quality. When used in conjunction with the PRINCETON Scan-Doubler card, the SR-12 runs from a standard IBM or equivalent color card, maintaining complete compatibility with all IBM software.

W The PRINCETON HX-12

RGB color monitor, with a dot pitch of .31 mm, offers the finest resolution in its class. The HX-12 delivers 16 crisp, sharp colors including clean whites without color bleed—a not-so-easy accomplishment in an RGB monitor.

The PRINCETON MAX-12,

with easy-on-the-eyes amber phosphor, sets the standard for monochrome monitors at S249. The MAX-12's dynamic focusing circuitry ensures sharpness not only in the center but also in the edges and corners. And it runs off the IBM PC monocard—no special card is required.

All three monitors feature a non-glare screen and an IBM compatible cable. A PCjr adapter cable is also available for the HX-12. And to see your Great Ideas from the best possible angle, you can put your Princeton monitor on the Princeton Undergraduate Tilt and Swivel Base for only S39.95. Or, while supplies last, get the Undergraduate FREE with the purchase of a MAX-12 monitor.

Image The ultimate test of any monitor is how the image looks to your own eyes. Compare the Princeton monitors side-by-side with the competition at Computerland, Entre or your local independent dealer.

Do it soon. You and your Great Ideas deserve the best.

Inquiry 281

For more information call

toll-free:

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IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 81

YOUR PC CAN BE YOUR NEXT SMART TERMINAL.

SmarTerm software can make your personal computer a lot more intelligent than it really is.

Our terminal emulators have the features that do the job: Full keyboard emulation. Multiple setups. TTY mode. "Smart" softkeys. Printer support. Help screens. And a friendly user manual.

Built-in text and binary file transfer is powerful and simple to use, and does not require

A WORLD OF CHANGE, THE SMART GET SMARTERM

any special host software. SmarTerm also features automatic file transfer and two different "error-free" protocols, including XMODEM.

There's a SmarTerm emulator that matches your needs: SmarTerm 100 for emulation of DEC VT100, VT102 and VT52. This program now features 132-column display mode support, using either horizontal scrolling or special 132-column video display boards. SmarTerm 125 includes all the features of SmarTerm 100, plus VT125 ReGIS graphic support. SmarTerm 400 for emulation of Data General Dasher D100, D200 and D400.

More than 15,000 customers have discovered just how smart their PCs can be with SmarTerm. We think you'll agree. Try it for 30 days with full refund privilege.

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SMARTERM is a trademark ol Peisoll, Inc. • DEC. VT and ReGIS are trademarks ol Digital Equipment Corp • Dasher is a trademark of Data General Corp. • IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp

82 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

persafr

Inquiry 377

EVENT QUEUE

]anuary 1985

• DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS—Professional Development Seminars, various sites throughout the U.S. The Institute for Advanced Technology presents seminars in a variety of areas, including data communications, database management, software engineering. CAD/CAM. personal computers, office automation, and personnel management. A catalog is available. Contact Institute for Advanced Technology. 6003 Executive Blvd.. Rockville. MD 20852. (800) 638-6590; in Maryland. (301) 468-8576. \anuary-Eebruary

• NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTING—A Troubleshooting Guide to Supporting and Maintaining the Data Communications Network, various sites throughout the U.S. This seminar outlines a systematic approach to network maintenance methods and procedures, presents specific troubleshooting techniques, and explains software tools. For more information, contact Data-Tech Institute. Lakeview Plaza. POB 2429. Clifton, N] 07015. (201) 478-5400. \anuary-Eebruary

• PROCESSING FUNDAMENTALS—Fundamentals of Data Processing for Administrative Assistants and Secretaries and Fundamentals of Information Processing for Nontechnical Executives, various sites throughout the U.S. Two-day seminars. Contact New York University, School of Continuing Education. Seminar Center. 575 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022. (212) 580-5200. ]anuary-March

• TECH, MANAGEMENT SEMINARS—Technical and

Management Seminars for Professionals, various sites throughout the U.S. Major topic areas include networking, system performance and data management, and realtime applications design. A catalog is available. Contact Digital Equipment Corp.. Educational Services. Seminar Programs BUO/E58, 12 Crosby Dr., Bedford. MA 01730. (617) 276-4949. January-March

• INTENSIVE SEMINARS

Intensive Seminars for Professional Development, various locations in the Boston metropolitan area. Syracuse, NY. and Saddle Brook. N|. Computer, management, and manufacturing seminars are offered. A catalog is available. Contact Kathy Shaw. Office of Continuing Education. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Higgins House, Worcester. MA 01609. (617) 793-5517. }anuary-]une

• SME CONFERENCES, EXPOS—Conferences and Expositions from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, various sites throughout the U.S. For a calendar, contact the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Public Relations Department, One SME Dr.. POB 930. Dearborn. Ml 48121, (313) 271-0777. ]anuary-blovember

• BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS—The Second Annual Business Telecommunica

tions Exposition: BizTelCom Northeast, Aspen HotelManor. Parsippany, N). Seminars and product displays. Preregistration is complimentary; $10 at the door. Contact Michael C. J. Houston. T. E. G. Inc.. The Exposition Group. 83 Bamegat Blvd., Barnegat, N) 08005, (609) 698-7020. \anuary 16-18

• MEASUREMENT SCIENCE

Measurement Science Conference. Marriott Hotel. Santa Clara. CA. Technical sessions will explore such topics as laser and opticalfiber metrology, time and frequency measurements, and the effects of data networks on calibration. Exhibits and formal addresses highlight this event. Registration details are available from Darlene Diven, Measurement Science Conference. POB 61344, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-1344, (408) 756-0270. January 17-18

• C WORKSHOP

C Programming Workshop. Raleigh. NC. Contact Suzanne B. Battista. Plum Hall Inc., 1 Spruce Ave., Cardiff. NJ 08232. (609) 927-3770. \anuary 21-2 5

• IN-FLIGHT COMPUTING EXPLORED—Meeting of the

Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, Washington, DC. An industry committee will look into the possible effects that battery-operated portable computers may have on an airplane's navigational equipment. The com

1F YOU WANT your organization's public activities listed in BYTE's Event Queue, we need to know about them at least four months in advance. Send information about computer conferences, seminars, workshops, and courses to BYTE. Event Queue. POB 372. Hancock. NH 03449.

mittee. called SC-156. meets at 9; 30 a.m. Contact the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics. Suite 500. 1425 KSt. NW. Washington. DC 20005. \anuary 22-23

• MICROS. COMMUNICATIONS, AND BUSINESS

Microspeak '85. San Francisco. CA. This conference will focus on ways to set up a cost-effective microcomputer communications system. The fee is $695. Contact Stephen J. Schneiderman. Micro Communications, 500 Howard St., San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 397-1881. \anuary 22-24

• SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT. CONFERENCE

Advanced Semiconductor Equipment Exposition and Technical Conference. Convention Center. San Jose. CA. Admission to the show is free with preregistration. Contact Joyce Estill. ASEE '85 Show Manager. Cartlidge & Associates Inc.. 1101 South Winchester Blvd. #M2 59, San Jose. CA 95128, (408) 554-6644. January 22-24

• TECH CONFERENCE. TUTORIALS-USENIX Association Technical Conference and Tutorials. Fairmont Hotel, Dallas. TX. Contact USENIX Conference Office. POB 385, Sunset Beach. CA 90742. (2131 592-1381. \anuary 23-2 5

• COURSEWARE TIPS

Selecting and Evaluating Instructional Courseware, Princeton. NJ. This seminar shows teachers how to identify sources and the effectiveness of educational

[continued)

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 83

"There's no magic to using your personal computer for data acquisition."

Fred Molinari, President

There's no trick to it.

Just take your choice of our new single board plug-ins and bring complete analog and digital I/O capabilities to your personal computer.

Whether you're working in laboratory research or industrial process control, our single boards can give you measurement and control capabilities without having to spend big bucks.

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Our boards

include A/D with programmable gain, D/A, digital I/O, clock and direct memory access capabilities. With power and performance to match your PC, our analog interfaces provide 12 or 16-bit A/D resolution and direct connection for high or low level signal inputs.

And these boards just plug into the PC's backplane. No messy external boxes or cables. User input connections are simple with our compatible line of screw

terminal panels.

DATA ACQUISITION FOR PC'S

/i/i/i/i/H

/

IBM PC"

X

X

X

X

X

APPLE II"

X

X

Tl PROFESSIONAL"

X

X

X

X

X

DEC RAINBOW "

X

X

X

X

X

COMPAQ" Portable

X

X

X

X

X

Data Translation is the leading supplier of personal computer hardware and software for data acquisition and control.

Comprehensive user manuals with many programming examples get you up and running fast.

So why look any further? No other analog I/O systems can offer PC users such quality, power and performance for such a reasonable price.

After all, making data acquisition easy is what we're all about.

And that's no illusion.

Call (617) 481-3700,

DATA TRANSLATION

Worid Headquarters: Data Translation Inc., 100 Locke Dr., Marlboro, MA 01752 (617).181-3700 T 1x951-646 European Headquarters: Data Translation, Ltd.. 430 Bath Rd.. Slough, Berkshire SLI 6BB England 106286) 3412Tlx849-862. In Canada: (416) 625-1907

IBM PC is a registered trademark of IBM. Apple II is a registered trademark of Apple Computer Corp. Tl Professional is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments. Inc. DEC Rainbow is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corp. COMPAQ is a registered trademark of COMPAQ Computer Corp.

EVENT QUEUE

courseware, how to evaluate courseware, and how to select and use courseware directories, clearinghouses, databases, and published reviews. Hands-on experience is provided. The fee is $12 5. Contact Educational Testing Service. Princeton. NJ 08541. (609) 734-1108. \anuanj 24

• INFO ON TELECOMM

Finding Telecommunications Information. AMFAC Hotel. Burlingame. CA. This seminar explains how to find and stay up-to-date with information on the telecommunications industry. For seminar details, contact Christopher Sterling at (202) 676-8243. For registration details, contact Phillips Publishing Inc., Suite 1200 N. 7315 Wisconsin Ave. Bethesda. MD 20814. (301) 986-0666. January 28-29

• FAULT-TOLERANT

DESIGN—Introduction to Fault-Tolerant Microcomputer Systems. Sheraton Mockingbird Hotel, Dallas, TX. This course introduces attendees to various topics in fault-tolerant computing, including fault classification, detection, diagnosis, and recovery; error correction and detection; microprocessor testing; and redundancy techniques. The fee is $650. Contact William C Dries. University of Wisconsin-Extension, Department of Engineering & Applied Science, 432 North Lake St., Madison, Wi 53706, (800) 362-3020; in Wisconsin. (608) 262-2061. January 28-30

• INSTRUCTIONAL COMPUTING CONFERENCE

The 1985 Florida Instructional Computing Conference, Sheraton Twin Towers Convention Center and Howard lohnson's Florida Center Hotel. Orlando. FL. This fifth annual conference will feature more than 100 sessions on

instructional and administrative computing as well as general conference sessions. More than 130 companies will exhibit. Contact the Florida Department of Education. Educational Technology Section, Knott Building. Tallahassee, FL 32301, (904) 487-3104. \anuary 28-31

• ADVANCED C TOPICS

Advanced C Topics Seminar.

Raleigh. NC. Contact

Suzanne B. Battista. Plum

Hall Inc.. 1 Spruce Ave.

Cardiff, NJ 08232. (609)

927-3770.

\anuary 28-February 1

• GERMAN TRADE SHOW

Micro-Computer '85. Hall #4, Fairgrounds, Frankfurt, West Germany. More than 200 exhibitors of hardware, software, accessories, and services will display their wares. Other features include seminars, workshops, and discussions. Contact Mr. Philippe Hans, German American Chamber of Commerce. 21st Floor. 666 Fifth Ave, New York. NY 10103. (212| 974-8856. January 29-February 3

February 1985

• COMPUTER COURSES

Courses from Integrated Computer Systems, various sites throughout the U.S. Among the courses to be offered are "Digital Image Processing" and "Modern Pattern Recognition Systems." Course fees are $945. Contact Ruth Dordick. Integrated Computer Systems, 6305 Arizona Place, POB 45405, Los Angeles, CA 90045, (800) 421-8166; in California, (800) 3 52-82 51 or (213) 417-8888; in Canada. (800) 228-6788. February-March

• LANGUAGE COURSES

Courses from The Micro

84 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 103

EVENT QUEUE

Engine Company. Johannesburg. Republic of South Africa. Courses in UNIX. C. and Pascal are offered. Contart Laurie Butgereit. The MicroEngine Co. (Pty) Ltd.. POB 78992. Sandton. 2146. Republic of South Africa. (Oil) 789-1736. February-March

• SPECIAL EDUCATORS

Computers & Reading/Learning Difficulties. Third Annual Western States Conference. Los Angeles. CA. Sixty presentations and hands-on workshops will explore the use of computers in reading, language arts, and learning difficulties. Educational materials will be exhibited. Workshop fees are $55. and conference fees are $55 and $95. Contact Educational Computer Conferences. 1070 Crows Nest Way. Richmond. CA 94803. (415) 222-1249. February 1-2

• AUTOMATED FACTORY EXPLORED—Automated Manufacturing, Don CeSar Hotel. St. Petersburg. FL. Contact Eleanor Bernet. Frost & Sullivan Inc.. 106 Fulton St.. New York. NY 10038. (212) 233-1080. February 4-5

• TECHNOLOGY AND THE OFFICE—The 1985 Office Automation Conference. Georgia World Congress Center. Atlanta. GA. The theme for the sixth annual Office Automation Conference is "Today's Partnership: People and Technology." More than 45 technical sessions are planned. Full-conference preregistration fees are $100. which includes admission to the exhibit area. Student, one-day. and exhibitonly rates are $10. $40. and $30. respectively. Fullconference registration at the door is $125. Contact OAC '85. American Federation of Information Processing Societies Inc.. 1899

Preston White Dr.. Reston, VA 22091. (703) 620-8952. February 4-6

• PROLOG INSTRUCTIONS

Prolog Workshop. New York City. A hands-on program in Prolog, running under UNIX. Subjects covered include the fundamentals of logic programming with Prolog, artificial intelligence representation techniques, and expert system design. Participants should be familiar with a high-level language. Contact Keith Eisenstark. Structured Methods Inc.. 7 West 18th St.. New York. NY 10011. (212) 741-7720. February 4-7

• SIMULATION AND MODELING—Simulation and Modeling with SIMSCR1PT

II.5. Westpark Hotel. Arlington. VA. This course serves as an introduction to the concepts of simulation and model building using SIMSCRIPT II.5. a programming language tailored for simulation analysts, model builders, engineers, and computer scientists. The fee is $850. Contact Ed Russell. CACI. 12011 San Vicente Blvd.. Los Angeles. CA 90049. (213) 476-6511, on the eastern seaboard, call Carl loeckel. (215) 628-3701. February 4-8

• MANUFACTURING EXPO

Florida Computer Manufacturing Expo. Centroplex Expo Center. Orlando, FL. Hardware, software, peripherals, and accessories will be displayed. A seminar program is planned. Contact Great Southern Computer Shows. POB 655. Jacksonville. FL 32201. (904) 356-1044. February 5-8

• STRIDE TO FAIRE

Stride Faire '85. MGM Grand Hotel/Casino. Reno. NV This is the second annual technical trade fair sponsored by Stride Micro, formerly

(continued)

ft

Prii

• spreadsheets

• text

• graphics

in any order!

ZXShuffleBuffer

• Has Random Access printing... an Intelligent processor which stores phrases, passages, entire letters, spreadsheets, graphics and commands, then prints the information in whatever order you want, as many times as you want.

• Has FIFO printing (first-ln, first-out)... acts as a reservoir, accepts data at computer speed, prints on its own, freeing the computer for further tasks.

• Has BYFASS Printing ... permits interruption of long-term buffer operations for straight-thru short-term printing.

PLUS

Data compression ... expands memory storage to 4 times. Infinite copy capability. Simple erase feature to clear buffer. Compatible with virtually any serial or parallel computer, serial or parallel printer (letter quality or dot matrix) as well as plotters and modems.

WRAP it all up with SHUFFLE/BUFFER! Call or write for the dealer nearest you:

iS

Interactive Structures Inc.

146 Montgomery Avenue Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 telephone: (215) 667-1713

Inquiry 176

JANUARY I985 -BYTE 85

Inquiry 62

COMPETITIVE EDGE

P.O. BOX 556 • PLYMOUTH, MI 48170 • (313) 451-0665

LOMAS DATA PRODUCTS INC.

Thunder™ 186, 256K, 2-5" DRS, CCP/M-86 $1995.

Thunder™ 186, 256K, 2-5", 10MB HD, CCP/M-86 3295.

Thunder™ 186, 512K, 2-5", 10MB HD, MCCP/M-86 3895.

ABOVE THUNDER SYSTEMS INCLUDE 8080 EMULATOR LDP S-100-PC $2395. LDP S-100-PCTM 5495.

CompuPro® and/or Macrotech Components

MT286/Z80H, 256K, 4 SERIAL, 2-8" DRS CCP/M™ 5095.

MT286/Z80H, 512K, 9 SERIAL, 1-8", 40MB HD, CCPM 7895.

286/287, 8080 EM, 9 SERIAL, 1-8", 40MB HD, CCPM 8095.

TELETEK COMPONENTS CE INTEGRATED

Master/Slave Systems Single & Multi-User

Syslemaster® II, 8MHZ Z80, Single Turbo 2-8" 2695.

Sysmas II, 8MHHZ Z80, Multi Turbo™ 10MB 1-8"

Two6MHZ, 128K Slaves 5595.

Syslemasler® , SBC-2™ Dual Slave, 1-8" 10MB TD 4595.

CIRCUIT BOARDS

CompuPro®

RAM 22™ . . . $995.RAM23™-64K . . . 308. RAM 23™-128K .539. DISK1A™ .... 459. 286/287 .... 1229. DISK 3™ .... 525. Jan. Only Special 286/287 CPU™ 1229.

LOMAS DATA PRODUCTS

286 .... 1116. Hi-Speed DRAM 512K .... 876. 8086-1 . . LDP 72 . . 220. Thunder™ 186CCP/M . . 1195. CCPM™

TELETEK

Systemaster8 II 899. Systemaster® 557. HDCTC .

SBC-1™6MHZ 128K... 736.SBC-1-4-64K... .525.SBC-2™.

SBC 8086 8MHZ 1035. SBC 86/87 1195. CP/M® 135.

Many Terminals, Printers & Software Packages Available

ALL PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE ON STOCK ON HAND ALL PRICES ABOVE CASH PREPAID PRICES

Turbodos is a trademark of Software 2000 Inc. 286/287 CPU. RAM 22. RAM 23. Disk la. Disk 3 arc either trademarks or registered trademarks of CompuPro® a Godbout Company. CP/M, CCP/M are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Research Inc. Thunder 186, Color Magic, LDP 72, are trademarks of LDP Inc. Systemaster, Syslcmaster II, SBC-1, SBC-2 HDCTC are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Teletek Enterprises

520. 280.

.525. .837.

Introducing USER-PORTABILITY with the

Uirtual/Uolume/Manager ™ 1.0

The user's common link to: (TtSf-dos,pct-dos)

UNIX "Xenix'

VVM T")—(UCSD p-System®)

(CP/M® 2.2,5.0,86,68rP)

VVM, the Virtual/Volume/Manayer, is a screen-oriented directory maintenance utility and working environment. Even if you don't need to be USER-PORTABLE, you'll still love its features:

■ use as a utility or visual shell

• spreadsheet-like file cursor

• full set of single-key directory commands

includes file viewing or directory changes

• multi-column or single column extended info

• simple macro commands

• full color support with user-defined schemes

• Microsoft®mouse support for PC-DOS version

Available PC-DOS, MS-DOS,

NOW for: CP/M 86, UCSD p-System

Coming CP/M 2.2, 3.0, 68K

SOON for: UNIX, Xenix, UNIX work-alikes

$44.95

MicroTASK. Inc. (919) 851 -9(H5 mc/v,sa

Suite 345, 6040-A Six Forks Road, Raleigh, NC 27609

* Add $5.00 shipping inside USA. $ 1 5.00 outside USA ( payment by bank draft payable in the U.S.). North Carolina residents add 4.5? sales tax Payment by MC/VISA/check/money order only. Dealers and OEM's call.

Trademarks: VYM.Yirluel/Yolume/ManeQer, MicroTASK - MicroTASK, Inc.;

MS .Xenix - Microsoft Corporation; UNIX - Bell Laboratories;

PC-DOS - International Business Machines Corporation. Registered CP/M - Digital Research, Inc.; Microsoft - Microsoft Corporation;

Trademarks: UCSD p-Suslem - The Regents of the University of California.

EVENT QUEUE

known as Sage Computer. Contact Laura Smith, Stride Micro. 4905 Energy Way, Reno, NV 89502, (702) 322-6868. February 8-10

• SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT CONTROL-Con

figuration Management of Software Programs. San Diego. CA. Intended to show those working in software management how to control development, maintenance, and operational costs. Familiarity with M1L-STD 480. 483, and 490 is helpful, but there is no prerequisite for this course. The cost is S730. Contact Stod Cortelyou. Continuing Engineering Education, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, (800) 424-9773; in the District of Columbia. (202) 676-8520. February 11-13

• NETWORK COMPONENTS EXPLAINED

Data Communications Network Components. Atlanta. GA. This course provides a thorough overview of the use. operation, applications, and acquisition procedures of 25 major communications components. The fee is $795. Contact Elaine Hadden Nicholas. Department of Continuing Education, Georgia Institute of Technology. Atlanta. GA 303320385. (404) 894-2547. February 12-14

• INTERACTIVE INSTRUCTION-The Third Conference on Interactive Instruction Delivery, Sheraton Towers Hotel, Orlando, FL. Contact the Society for Applied Learning Technology, 50 Culpeper St., Warrenton, VA 22186, (703) 347-0055. February 13-15

• COMPUTERS FILL EDUCATORS' TALL ORDER

The Fifth Annual Conference of the Texas Computer Education Association. Hyatt Regency Hotel, Austin. TX.

The theme for this conference is "New Directions for Education Using Modern Day Technology." Contact TCEA Conference. POB 2573, Austin. TX 78768. February 13-16

• PC SYMPOSIUM

The 1984 UNM Personal Computer Symposium. University of New Mexico. Albuquerque. The second annual Personal Computer Symposium will feature exhibits, seminars, and demonstrations of personal computer systems of interest to businesspeople, educators, and professionals. Contact the Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, c/o Dr. Randy Truman. Department of Mechanical Engineering. University of New Mexico. Albuquerque, NM 87131, (505) 277-6296. February 15-16

• COCO CONVOCATION

Rainbowfest. Irvine Marriott. Irvine. CA. A show for users of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer. More than 50 exhibitors are expected. Contact Falsoft Inc.. POB 385. Prospect. KY 40059. (502) 228-4492. February 15-17

• SOFTWARE UPDATE

The Second Annual International Software Update, Waiohai Resort Hotel, Kauai, HI. An international lineup of speakers will focus on domestic and international marketing concerns and future trends in microcomputer software. Attendance is limited. Contact Raging Bear Productions Inc.. Suite 175. 21 Tamal Vista Dr.. Corte Madera. CA 9492 5. (800) 732-2300: in California, (415) 924-1194. February 16-20

• MICROS FOR

EDUCATORS—Association of Teacher Educators National Conference. Riviera Convention and Resort Hotel. Las Vegas. NV Exhibits and

{continued)

86 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 232

THE PROFESSIONALS CHOICE

WORD PROCESSING/ EDITORS

Easywnter II System

Fancy Font

Final Word

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word/Mouse

Multimate

Peacfilext 5000

PFS: Write

SamnaWord III

Volkswrlter Deluxe

The Word Plus (Oasis)

Word Perlect (SSI)

WordPlus PC with The Boss

WordStar

WordStar Professional

(WS/MM/SS/SI) WordStar Options Pak

(MM/SS/SI) XVWrite 11 +

$219 H59 : 189 239 .299 :269 199 , 95 $Call :;169 :;109 :;249 : 319 1.219

$279

$189

$229

SPREADSHEETS/ INTEGRATED PACKAGES

Aura 5 $329

Electric Desk $229

Framework $369

Integrated 7 $339

Jack 2 $329

Lotus 1-2-3 $309

Multiplan $135

Open Access $299

Smart System $579

SuperCalc 3 $219

Symphony $429

TKI Solver $269

VisiCalc IV $159

DATABASE SYSTEMS

Alpha Data Base

Manager II $179

Condor III $299

dBase II $279

dBase III $369

DBplus $ 89

Friday $179

lnfoStar+ $289

Knowledgeman $299

PFS: File/PFS: Report $169

Powerbase $239

OuickCode $159

R:base 4000 $269

TIM IV $249

Versaform $249

LANGUAGES/UTILITIES

Concurrent w/Wmdows $219 Digital Research

C Compiler $219

DR Fortran 77 $219

Lattice X' $299

Microsoft C Compiler $309

MS Basic Compiler $249

MS Fortran $239

Norton Utilities $ 59

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Harvard Protect

Manager $239

Microsoft Protect $169

Scitor Protect 5000 $299

VisiSchedule $199

ACCOUNTING MODULES

COMMUNICATIONS/

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

Crosstalk

$119

Memory Shift

$ «

Move It

$1U9

Prokey 3.0

$ 9b

Relay

$ 99

Smartcom II

$109

BPI Accounting IUS EasyBusiness System MBA Accounting Open Systems Accounting Peachpak 4 (GL/AP/AR) Peachlrec Accounting Real World Accounting Star Accounting Partner

(GL/AP/AR/PAY) Star Accounting Partner II

$369

.319 369 ;429 :;239 :;299 :;469

$249 $699

GRAPHICS/STATISTICS

Abstat $279

BPS Business Graphics $229

Chartmaster $259

DR Draw $199

Energraphics w/Plotter $319

Execuvision $279

Fast Graphs $219

Graphwriter Combo $399

MS Chart $169

PC Draw $279

PFS: Graph $ 95

Signmaster $199

Statpak-NWA $329

Statpac-Walonick $299

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Management Edge $169

Think Tank $129

HOME/PERSONAL FINANCE

Dollars and Sense $119

Financier II $119

Home Accountant Plus $ 99

Sundex-CPA $109

HARDWARE I PERIPHERALS*

AST Six Pack Plus (64k) Quadboard (0k) Hayes 1200B with

Smartcom Hayes Smartmodem 1200 Keytronic 5151 DLX IRMA

Hercules Graphics Board Epson FX-100 Printer Comrex II Printer C Itoh Prownter Okidata 93A Toshiba P1351 Printer 64K Memory

$269 $Call

$399 $489 $209 $995 $349 SC all Si'dll SCall $689 $Call $ 55

'Call for shipping

LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEE!!

We will match current nationally advertised prices on most products. Call and compare.

FREE!

f

Diskette Library Case

. . . with your order. This attractive case protects, indexes and stores 10 diskettes for quick retrieval. Normally a $10 value, it is nowavailable FREE to Softline customers

TERMS:

Checks—allow 14 days to clear. Credit processing—add 3%. COD orders—cash. M.O. or certified check—add $3.00. Shipping and handling UPS surface—add $3.00 per item (UPS Blue $6.00 per item). NY State Residents—add applicable sales tax. All prices subject to change.

Lotus 1-2-3

'309

Symphony

<429

dBase III

'369

FrameWork

'369

MultiMate

'269

Vol ks writer DLX

'169

R:base 4000

'269

WordStar Professional

'279

AST 6 Pak Plus

'269

Smartmodem 1200B

'399

Quad Board Expanded 64K

'279

Smartmodem 1200

'489

To Order call

1-800-: 1260

In New York State call (718) 438-6057

For technical support

and information call

(718) 438-6057

me Corporation P.O. Box 729, Brooklyn, NY. H230 'TELEX: 421047 ATLN Ul

TARGET MARKET

UBI

mam

^|

HBI CENISOL

w

m\ cmrai

Now last minute presentations

can be made from

your personal computer.

In color. In house. In minutes.

Introducing Polaroid Palette.

Whether your presentation is in 30 minutes or 30 days, the new Polaroid Palette Computer Image Recorder will make it easier. Priced at under $1800* it lets you make Polaroid instant 35mm slides or prints from personal computer-generated data. Right at your desk. So now you can create a presentation in minutes. Without sending out for processing, paying premiums for rush service or risking the security of your confidential information.

Works with the graphics

packages of the IBM PC or XI,

DEC Rainbow, Apple He and 11+

as well as other pes.

The Polaroid Palette is designed to work with many graphics software packages. In fact, when using such popular programs as Graphwriter, Chart-Master, Sign-Master, DR Draw and DR Graph, Palette can virtually double both the horizontal and vertical resolution of your monitor. Plus, a

Inquiry 279

"backfill" feature reduces raster lines for a smoother, more finished appearance. The result—presentation quality slides. On-the-spot.

Color 35mm slides, even from a black and white CRT Think of it as an artist's palette. Because Palette "paints" your graphs, charts and text. You're choosing from up to 72 colors. If you don't want red, press a few keys—it's green. And if you're not die artistic-type, Polaroid has developed a menu of color sets: combinations of colors that have been specially coordinated to complement your presentations. And all of this is yours, even if you have a black and white monitor.

Lets you make last minute

changes or add

up-to-the-minute information.

The Polaroid Palette is the fast, convenient, low-cost way to prepare slides for your presentation. And perhaps

even more important, Palette allows you to keep confidential information confidential. You won't have to send your work out to anyone again.

So why wait until the last minute to find out about Polaroid Palette? Call this toll-free number or return this coupon. Because with Palette you'll make your deadlines, in no time.

For a demonstration, call toll-free, or mail the coupon to Polaroid Corp., E.I. Marketing, Dept. 604, 575 Technology Sq., Cambridge, MA 02139.

CALL 1-800-225-1618

□ Send information, □ Have representative call. B-l/85

Name Title

CompanyAddress—

.Zip

Telephone _L_

PC make and model

=Polaroid

'Suggested list price. Polaroid* JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 89

Inquiry 138

FRIENDLY SERVICE AT A FRIENDLY PRICE

Friendly Computer Center, Inc.

1381 Coney Island Avenue. Brooklyn. New York 11230

EPSON

RXM 219

RX80II 279

FX80 369

JX80 color

Titan 2 Board lor QX-10

RX100 399

FX 100 589

L0.1500 1095

APPLE

APPLE III! Enlry Syslei

NIW APPLE DUOD1SK DRIVE W/IXTFNDED 80 COLUMN CARD IN STOCK -MACINIOSH CALL NEWAPPLE IIC S895

DISK 0RIVES-F0R IBM

Teac Vj ht. DS/0D 149

Rana 2000 IBM 149

ADD ON BOARDS

FOR IBM

r\ST Six Pack Plus 249.00

Ouadram Expanded Ouadboard w/HK 259.00

Hercules Graphics Board 319.00 Hercules Color Caul w/Parallel Poll I7S.00

Koala Speed Key System 149.00 Mouse Systems House w/Mouse w/P C Paml and Meoue 159.00 Hayden Saragoo III Chess 34.90 Miciasolt Flight Simulator 1137.90 Hayden Saragon III lor Mac 39.90 De Base III 389.00

Framework 419.00

SYMPHONY CALL

MODEMS

Hayes 1200B IBM ...

. 370J00

Hayes 1200 RS232 .

459 00

Hayes 300 RS232 .

. 195.00

Micromoden HE w/

Software

235.00

New Hayes 2400

. CAII

flacal-Vadic 1200 EXT-RS

232.

429.00

Raca.-Vadic Internal

w/George

Soltware

419.00

CompuServe Starter K

t

28.95

The Source Starter Kit

28.95

Grappler Butfertt Plus

6K

w'cable . .

149.00

FLOPPY DISCS

Verbalim Datalile w/Free Head Cleanei and Storage Case

S.S/DDbox oMO 22.9b

OS/DD box of 10 29.95

MONOCHROME PRO PACKAGE $2249

■ IBM* PC 64K • J-120K D5/DD DKiVIS

■ MONOCIiKOMI UIS PLAY CARD

- MONOCIIKOMI

MO

11 OK

LEADING EDGE PC

MONITORS

Princelon HX-12 Graphics 459.00 New Amdek Color 300.... 269.00 New Amdek Color 700-Ullra Hires

RGB 499.00

Amdek 310A 175.00

Comrex 5650 Hires 12"

Green B9.00

Gorilla 12" Green 89.00

PRINTERS

Juki-6100 369.00

Juki-6300 CALL

Juki-Traclor 6100 99 0G

New Toshiba 1340 ..... 789.00 Toshiba 1351 1295.00

FOR MAIL ORDERS: Send Money Orilcf Cettihed Check. M.isiercvil. VISA gladly accepted Add estimated puce (or shipping, handling and insurance WE WILL SHIP ORDERS AT THE ADVERTISEO PRICES GUARANTEED UNTIL JAN. 31. 1985

Appla is ,i louistuiuJ Ifailumark ol Apple Compulei, ,lnc. IBM is a ro(] 1st trod trademark ol Intamalional Buslnuas MacMlnuS.

KESaHS" I (718)252-9737 ]cq Friendly Computer Center, Inc.

1381 Coney Island Avenue Brooklyn. New York 11230

«5I

Mk

4&

A Software Implementation within Your Product Hardware

If you manufacture a computer system or a computer based product, allow it to EMULATE COMMUNICATE by installing one or more of Systems Strategies "C" Language based communication packages.

• 3270 SNA SDLC Emulation

• 3270 BSC Emulation

• 2780 3780 HASP Emulation

• X.25 Levels 1,2,3 Communication

You can purchase these "C" Language packages with source code and license to distribute in your hardware product. Each package is available either "Port it Yourself" with instruction manual and training or ported to your hardware by Systems Strategies' communications staff.

Systems Strategies/Advanced Technology Division Specialists in Data Communications Software

,—^. Systems Strategies Inc. / (j)\ 225 West 34th Street \ ~^W/ New York, New York 10001 (212)279-8400

EVENT QUEUE

demonstrations of microcomputers, microcomputer products, and communications equipment will be featured. Contact Peter C. West, Learning Center, College of Education, Gabel Hall 8, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, 1L 60115, (815) 753-1241. February 18-19

• MANAGE YOUR COMPUTER—Managing Computer Resources, Wintergreen Learning Institute, Wintergreen, VA. Focuses on networking, system design, performance evaluation, and operational difficulties encountered by managers and executives. Rates include lodging and ski-lift tickets and vary from $570 to $769 depending on accommodations. Contact Dr. M. D. Corcoran, Wintergreen Learning Institute, POB 7, Wintergreen, VA 22958, (800) 32 5-2200; in Virginia, (804) 325-1107.

February 18-22

• DIGITAL USERS MEET

DECUS Canada Spring Symposium, LHotel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This symposium covers a variety of topics of interest to Digital computer users. Contact Jeanne McNeish. DECUS, 100 Herzbug Rd.. POB 13000, Kanata, Ontario K2K 2A6. Canada, (613) 592-5111. ext. 2782. February 19-22

• COMMUNICATIONS FOR EXECS-lnfo/Central, OHare Exposition Center, Chicago, 1L. This show and conference on computers and communications is tailored to the needs of executives and data-processing managers. Mainframes, microcomputers, telecommunications systems, and micrographics are a few of the areas to be addressed. Contact the Show Manager, Info/Central, 999 Summer St., Stamford. CT 06905, (203) 964-8287. February 20-22

• COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION-The Role of the Computer in Education 5, Arlington Park Hilton. Arlington Heights, IL. A range of topics of interest to educators will be presented. Contact Rick Nelson, The Role of the Computer in Education 5, Micro-Ideas, 2701 Central Rd., Glenview, IL 60025, (312) 998-5065. February 20-22

• BUSINESS GRAPHICS

Computer Business Graphics, Bonaventure Intercontinental Hotel, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Contact Carol Every, Frost & Sullivan Inc., 106 Fulton St.. New York, NY 10038, (212) 233-1080. February 20-23

• MAC IN SPOTLIGHT

MacWorld Exposition, Brooks Hall, San Francisco. CA. A hands-on festival of Macintosh hardware, software, and peripherals. Contact World Expositions, Mitch Hall Associates. POB 860, Westwood, MA 02090, (617) 329-7466. February 21-23

• COMPUTER FAIRE The Fourth Annual IEEE Computer Faire, Huntsville, AL. Sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. For complete information, contact Terry Mizell, POB 5188. Huntsville. AL 3 5805, (205) 532-2036. February 22-23

• FARM AUTOMATION

Agri-Mation, Palmer House Hotel, Chicago, IL. This conference and exposition will focus on the role of automation in agriculture. Contact the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, One SME Dr.. POB 930, Dearborn. Ml 48121, (313) 271-1500. February 2 5-28

• COMPUTING IN

ANESTHESIA-Computing in Anesthesia '85, The Third International Seminar,

90 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

EVENT QUEUE

Miramar-Sheraton. Santa Monica. CA. Medical and computer specialists will describe their research and use of computers in data acquisition and display, computerized monitoring, instruction, education, database management, and knowledge-based systems. The registration fee is $300. Contact Program Chairman. Computing in Anesthesia '85. Anesthesiology Educational Foundation, Federal Building. POB 24230. Los Angeles. CA 90024. (213) 825-7561. February 25-March 1

• SHORT COURSE FOR

ENGINEERS—Dynamics on Microcomputers, University of Michigan-Dearborn. For information, contact R. E. Little. University of Michigan, 4901 Evergreen Rd.. Dearborn, Ml 48128, (313) 593-5241. February 25-March 1

• HIGH-TECH IN FOCUS High-Tech '85 Exhibit and Seminar, Thunderbird Motel, Bloomington, MN. More than 100 manufacturers will exhibit computer terminals, peripherals, data-communications equipment, and digital test instruments. Admission is free. Contact John Bastys or Barb Mueller, Countryman Associates Co., 1821 University Ave.. St. Paul, MN 55104. (612) 645-9151. February 26-27

• AUTOMATION FOR ELECTRON ICS—Automated

Design and Engineering for Electronics, Anaheim Hilton and Towers, Anaheim. CA. This conference and exposition covers the use of automation in the design of electronic circuitry. For further details, contact Michael Indovina. Cahners Exposition Group. Cahners Plaza, 1350 East Touhy Ave.. POB 5060. Des Plaines. IL 60018. (312) 299-9311. February 26-28

• MICRO-AIDED MANAGEMENT—Microcomputeraided Maintenance Management System. Ramada Inn. Airport. Milwaukee, Wl. This course is designed to show how computers can help improve the maintenance functions of any organization. The fee is S60. Contact Unik Associates. 12 545 West Burleigh. Brookfield. Wl 53005. (414) 782-5030. February 27

March 1985

• FOSE SOFTWARE SHOW

Federal Office Systems Exposition (FOSE) Software '85. Convention Center. Washington. DC. Four days of workshops, symposia, and exhibits of software. Contact Rosalind Boesch, National Trade Productions Inc.. Suite 400. 2111 Eisenhower Ave. Alexandria. VA 22314, (800) 638-8510; in Virginia. (703) 683-8500. March 4-7

• MINI/MICRO

Mini/Micro Southeast-85, Georgia World Conference Center, Atlanta. A conference and exposition. Contact Electronic Conventions Management. 8110 Airport Blvd.. Los Angeles. CA 90045. (213) 772-2965. March 5-7

• COMPUTER. COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY

SECURICOM '85: The Third World Congress on Computer and Communications Security and Protection, Palais des Festivals et des Congres, Cannes. France. Topic areas include electronic banking security, security implications of new media, security within microcomputers and distributed systems. Contact SEDER Expositions Department. 8. Rue de la Michodiere. 75002, Paris. France; tel: 742 41 00; Telex: 2 50303

(continued)

And then there

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Inquiry 258

JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 11

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PUBLIC X PARIS. March 6-8

• INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION— AUTOTECH Hong Kong '85. Hong Kong. An international conference on industrial automation held in conjunction with the First Exhibition on Automation Technology. The theme is

"Micros in Affordable Automation—Creating New Industrial Opportunities for All." Contact Hong Kong Productivity Centre, 12th Floor, World Commerce Centre, Harbour City, 11 Canton Rd.. Tsimshatsui, Kowloon. Hong Kong; tel: 3-723 5656. March 7-8

• SUGI CONFERENCE

The Tenth Annual SAS Users Group International (SUGI) Conference, Reno. NV. Topics include capacity planning and evaluation, systems software, education, graphics, information systems, and microcomputers, Contact SAS Institute Inc., SAS Circle. POB 8000, Cary, NC 27511, (919) 467-8000. March 10-13

• CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE—ACM Computer Science Conference. Marriott Hotel. New Orleans. LA. This conference, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery and a number of college and university computer science departments, features an employment register, whereby job seekers can meet prospective employers. Contact ACM Computer Science Employment Register. Department of Computer Science. University of Pittsburgh. POB 13526. Pittsburgh. PA 15234.

March 11-14

• DESIGN SHOW

The 1985 National Design Engineering Show. McCormick Place. Chicago. IL. More than 600 CAD/CAM system and electronic com

ponent companies will exhibit products. Contact the Show Manager, National Design Engineering Show, 999 Summer St.. Stamford. CT 06905. (203) 964-0000. March 11-14

• SCSI SEMINARS

Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) Forum. Houston. TX. Seminars and exhibits of SCSI controllers and related peripherals. Contact Mr. ). Molina. SCSI Forum Ltd.. POB 2625. Pomona. CA 91768-2625. March 12

• EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE-The 1985 Microcomputers in Education Conference. Arizona State University. Tempe. The theme is "Tomorrow's Technology." Emphasis will be placed on integrating computer technology and languages into the educational environment. Contact Donna Craighead. Payne B47. Arizona State University. College of Education. Tempe. AZ 85287. (602) 965-7363. March 13-15

• SIMULATION IN SUNSHINE—The Eighteenth Annual Simulation Symposium, Tampa, FL. A forum for interchange of ideas, techniques, and applications among those working in this field. Contact Alexander Kran. IBM Corp.. East Fishkill Facility. Hopewell Junction. NY 12533.

March 13-15

• COMPUTERS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

COMTEL '85: International Computer and Telecommunications Conference. Infomart. Dallas. TX. Contact COMTEL '85. Suite 600. 13740 Midway Rd.. Dallas. TX 75244. (214) 458-7011. March 18-20

• TECHNOLOGY AND

EDUCATION-The First An(continued)

92 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 274

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Inquiry 27

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IANUARY 1985 • BYTE 93

Inquiry 257

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nual Conference on Technologies in Education, University of Arizona, Tucson. This conference will focus on the effective implementation of research in educational technology. Contact Steve Louie. NACCIS, Suite 12 5, 2200 East River Rd.. Tucson. AZ 85718, (602) 323-6144. March 18-20

• ROBOTICS TECHNOLOGY UPDATE—The Second Annual Robotic End Effectors: Design and Applications Seminar, Holiday Inn Livonia-West, Livonia, Ml. This seminar explores robotic end effector techniques, sensors for tooling, compliant devices, interchangeable end-of-arm tooling devices, multihand tools, and magnets for tooling. More than 2 5 companies will exhibit. Contact John McEachran, Special Programs Department. Society of Manufacturing Engineers. One SME Dr.. POB 930. Dearborn. Ml 48121. (313) 271-1500. ext. 382.

Mardi 19-20

• Al FOR ROBOTS

Aircon 2: The Second Annual International Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Robots, Stouffers Concourse in Crystal City. Arlington. VA. This conference is designed to promote a dialogue between experts and users of artificial-intelligence systems. The theme is "Toward Intelligent Robots: The Droids Are Coming.'' Contact Cindy Mega. NT Research Institute. 10 West 3 5th St.. Chicago. IL 60616. (312) 567-4024. March 21-22

• ELEMENTARY COMPUTING—University of Delaware Second National Conference: Computers and Young Children. University of Delaware. Newark. The emphasis is on programs for children 4 to 8 years old. Contact Dr. Richard B.

Fischer. Division of Continuing Education. University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, (302) 451-8838. March 21-22

• ELECTRONIC TRANSFERS—The 1985 EFT Expo, Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA. The annual convention and exposition of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association. Contact the EFT Association. Suite 800. 1029 Vermont Ave: NW, Washington. DC 20005. (202) 783-3555. March 24-27

• DATABASE SYMPOSIUM

The Fourth Annual ACM SiGACT/SIGMOD Symposium on Principles of Database Systems. Portland, OR. This conference covers developments in the theoretical and practical aspects of database systems. Topics include the application of artificialintelligence techniques to database systems, data models, and data structures for physical database implementation. Contact David Maier, Department of Computer Science, Oregon Grad Center. 19600 Northwest Walker Rd.. Beaverton. OR 97006. March 25-27

• OPTICAL STORAGE TECHNIQUES-The Third Annual Conference on Optical Storage of Documents and Images. Shoreham Hotel. Washington, DC. For information, contact Technology Opportunity Conference. POB 14817. San Francisco. CA 94114-0817. 1415) 626-1133. March 25-27

• WEST COAST FAIRE

The Tenth Annual West Coast Faire. Moscone Center. San Francisco. CA. This is one of the largest computer shows. Contact Computer Faire Inc.. Suite 201. 181 Wells Ave.. Newton Falls. MA 02159. (800) 826-2680: in Massachusetts. (617) 965-8350. March 30-April 2 ■

94 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 58

10 Reasons Why We're #1 for

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With eoch Sanyo 530 2 and 555 2 we include Of no oodntonol chorge (I I Skerch A bosic color graphics drawing program (2) 1 5 Games lor rhe Sonyo*A S2° 95 package (3) Daremate An appointment program wirh a perperual calendar (41 Diagnostics-Tests you' RAM display ond kevboard ( 5) P C Filer The program ihot made Freeware famous <6> 3 Exrro Un'mes rhor don i come on the systems disk < 7)1 5 Monager Allows you to change 'he structure of existing InloVar records .like dDASE II )

Plus ■) you buy Itom Scottsdale Sysiems (fl) you con choose between Mictopro and IUS software on the two drive systems ond (°) we stock sottwaie 'eletence manuals for out customer and ('Oi we o"et factoryiroined service

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JANUARY I985 -BYTE 95

BYTE

Ciarcias Circuit Cellar: Understanding Linear Power Supplies

by Sieve Ciarcia 98

The Visual Mind and the Macintosh

by Bill Benzon 113

A Glimpse into Future Television

by \oseph S. Hadan 135

Microsoft Macintosh BASIC Version 2.0

by Gregg VJilliams 155

The Apple Story. Part 2: More History and the Apple 111

conducted by Gregg Williams and

Rob Moore 167

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

by William Rynone 183

An Introduction to Fiber Optics. Part 2: Connections and Networks

by Richard S. Shuford 197

Algorithms for a Variable-Precision Calculator

by Paul A. Mson 211

Audio-Frequency Analyzer

by Mince Banes 223

Font Design

for Personal Workstations

by Charles Bigelow 255

Expert Systems-Myth or Reality?

by Bruce D'Ambrosio 275

Features

THE JANUARY ISSUE OF BYTE begins what we hope is another banner year for microcomputer enthusiasts. Artist Robert Tinney has restarted the personal computing hourglass, depicting the inevitable flow of new products and technology that will appear in 1985.

This month we offer an exceptional number and variety of feature articles. As in past lanuary issues, we do not have a theme section; we take this opportunity to publish twice the number of features. We'll return to our normal theme format in February with a section dedicated to computing in the sciences.

To start this month, Steve Ciarcia focuses on an analog topic: power supplies and their attendant problems. If you've wanted a robust 12- to 13.2-V, 15-A power supply made from readily available components, check out Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar.

The pictures-versus-words user-interface debate is likely to continue for some time, but Bill Benzon provides a strong argument for the Macintosh as a tool for the visual brain in "The Visual Mind and the Macintosh."

Speaking of the Macintosh, Gregg Williams, senior technical editor, describes the content and structure of Microsoft's latest version of BASIC for the Mac in "Microsoft Macintosh BASIC Version 2.0." And along with Rob Moore, Gregg continues part 2 of "The Apple Story," which began in the December supplement, BYTE Guide to Apple PCs. Also continued from December is part 2 of "An Introduction to Fiber Optics" by Richard Shuford, BYTE's special-projects editor. Richard discusses connections and networks of optical-fiber waveguides.

If you've ever tried "computing in the dark," you'll find William Rynone's "Uninterruptible Power Supplies" enlightening. While not intended to be comprehensive, his article provides a comparison among some commercial units, a do-it-yourself project, and some shopping tips.

New developments in VLSI enable Joseph Nadan to give "A Glimpse into Future Television" and describe how this technology is evolving in parallel with personal computers to bring television into the "information age."

If you do decimal computations on large numbers, read "Algorithms for a Variable-Precision Calculator" by Paul Nilson. He uses a pseudocode to explain the logic in his arithmetic algorithms.

If you have an IBM PC and are interested in charting the frequency response of your lease-breaker stereo system, read Vince Banes's "Audio-Frequency Analyzer" construction article.

A difficult-to-read display based on coarse-resolution dot-matrix letters may be a thing of the past, as described in "Font Design for Personal Workstations" by Charles Bigelow.

In Bruce DAmbrosio's "Expert Systems—Myth or Reality?" he touches on some of the capabilities and limitations of expert systems and the directions in which researchers are heading.

We've quite a variety of topics in January, and we look forward to a variety of editorial topics and themes in the remainder of 1985.

—Gene Smarte, Managing Editor

IANUARY 1985

- YTE 97

98 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

PHOTOGRAPHED BY PAUL AVIS

CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

UNDERSTANDING

LINEAR POWER

SUPPLIES

by Steve Ciarcia

Proper design brings simplicity and reliability

Sometimes it is the more trivial aspects of electronics that create the greatest problems. With all the concern about 16-bit versus 32-bit processors and multitasking operating systems, who would think that a simple linear power supply could cause the demise of a company? Even with a board of directors full of venture capitalists, it's often too late when they look beyond their spreadsheet projections and ask whether the product they are financing actually works.

While looking over someone's shoulder is not my favorite consulting activity, I recently was involved in such a situation. One of the founders of a venture-capitalfunded company was getting very nervous because his engineering department was seriously overdue on two products. Since his responsibility was sales, and about $800,000 in pending orders was riding on cost-effective delivery of these products, it was no wonder that he was concerned. One of the products was way over budget, and the other seemed to have a "heat problem." My job was to determine if there was a problem and help rectify it if possible.

The first product was a speech synthesizer that attached to a parallel printer port. Its problem was "engineering buzzword injec

tion phenomenon." Inexperienced engineers try to impress management by designing microprocessors into products that don't need them.

The synthesizer chip required parallel data and a strobe. It signified that it needed more data with a single ready line. Instead of merely attaching the chip directly to the printer port and pretending it was a printer (attaching printer busy to the ready line), the engineer had added a mask-programmed microprocessor, external character-buffer memory ("In case the programmer wanted it," he said.), external program memory (in case the mask-programmed chips didn't arrive in time and they had to use EPROMs [erasable programmable readonly memories|), and a parallel port for the synthesizer chip. Direct connection to the printer port (without the microprocessor) afforded a 75 percent cost reduction.

The second product, which I'll call E, was a stand-alone speech-and-music synthesizer board that communicated serially with the host computer. To make a long story short, I was called in to look at E after 5000 sets of

(continued)

Steve Ciarcia (pronounced "see-ARE-see-ah") is an electronics engineer and computer consultant with experience in process control, digital design, nuclear instrumentation, and product development. He is the author of several books about electronics. You can write to him at POB 582, Glastonbury. CT 06033.

COPYRIGHT© 1985 STEVEN A. CIARCIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

IANUARY 1985

99

components and printed-circuit boards had been purchased but nothing had been shipped. It was now four months overdue.

I agreed on the basic design method. Because of the data in serial format and multiple peripheral chips, this device did require a microprocessor. Unfortunately, it suffered from another common ailment among inexperienced designers: "threeterminal-regulator narcosis." This occurs when you read the manufacturer's spec sheets on a three-terminal regulator and use the information without understanding it or the other elements in the power supply.

My first experience with the E product almost burned my nose. I leaned over an operating prototype to make a closer inspection and sensed intense heat rising from the powersupply section. According to the designer, everything was within the manufacturer's specifications. The board needed +12 and +5 volts (V) at 0.5 ampere (A), which was regulated down from an 18-V (plus 10 percent ripple) rectifier output. The 90° Celsius (C) case temperature was "warm," but the engineer hotly contested that everything was okay. When further queried about added heat once the unit was enclosed, he assured me that it still wouldn't exceed the manufacturer's specified

limit of 150°C (apparently he didn't know the difference between junction and case temperature).

I come from the school of design that says, "If you can't touch it, you've got big problems." Eventually, my greatest fears were realized. E boards were installed in ABS (acrylonitrilebutadiene-styrene) thermoformed plastic cases and allowed to burn in (aptly named) overnight. When inspected in the morning, the tops of many cases had melted and deformed. In addition, many of the regulators had failed and were now inoperable. At this point, the bad design could not be hidden from the venture capitalists. Even marketing concurred, "We can't ship an incendiary device to every kid with a computer!"

Linear Power Supplies

Virtually all electronic equipment operates on a DC power supply. This DC voltage can come from a battery or can be converted from an energy source such as the AC power line. The two commonly used conversion methods are switching and linear.

The advent of easy-to-use threeterminal regulators has given designers a false sense of security. Because of the wide operating limits and built-in protection of many of these monolithic regulators, brute

force and a rule-of-thumb design technique can still result in functional power supplies. It takes resourceful and knowledgeable designers who understand the interrelationships of power-supply components to produce efficient and cost-effective products. In the case of E, larger heatsinks or lower input voltages would have offered some after-the-fact relief. Some better understanding of linear power supplies and a bit of initial computation would have resulted in a shippable design in the first place, however.

My Circuit Cellar projects range from the esoteric to the instructive. I do, however, presume that the builders of these projects have a certain level of basic understanding and that many hours of construction won't go up in smoke because of a poorly designed power supply. This recent experience has made me hesitate to be quite so presumptuous, and 1 will now add linear power supplies to my periodic tutorial subject list (with speech synthesis, home control, etc.).

This month I'll go back to basics and analyze the construction of linear power supplies. I'll describe transformer selection, input-filter design, regulator selection and connection, heatsinking, and layout. 1 will particularly emphasize the filter, heatsinking, and layout. Most articles seem to

CONFIGURATION

v0(PEAKI

AVERAGE V0DC

PEAK INVERSE VOLTAGE PER DIODE

FUNDAMENTAL

OUTPUT

RIPPLE

FREQUENCY

60Hj

OUTPUT WAVEFORM

-»v0

"RMS 1

SINGLE-PHASE HALF WAVE

Vrms

iV0(PEAKI = 0"5VRMS

,dc/V7Y

r*

-w

SINGLE-PHASE CENTER-TAP FULL WAVE

;V0lPEAKI = °-90VnMS

AAA

SINGLE-PHASE BRIDGE FULL WAVE

>«VBMS

?v0IPEAKI = °9°Vrms

AAA

Figure I: Three single-phase transformer-rectifier configurations.

100 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

overlook these items while they discuss various regulator configurations. If, after building a supply from such a slanted article, the end product is in thermal shutdown most of the time because of naive filter design, you are better off reading comic books. I believe that the construction of power supplies isn't difficult, but perhaps no one has ever described how to do it. Hopefully, the process will become easy after reading this article.

Starting with the Basics

Generally speaking, a basic singlephase linear power supply consists of little more than a transformer, rectifier, and filter. Where it is necessary to accurately maintain the output potential, a voltage-regulator circuit is added. More precisely, the four components function as follows:

1. A transformer isolates the supply from the power line and reduces the input voltage (120 or 220 V AC) into usable low-voltage AC.

2. A rectifier converts the AC to a DC waveform and satisfies the charging-current demands of the filter capacitor.

3. A filter capacitor maintains a sufficient voltage level between charging cycles to satisfy the minimum voltage requirements of either the load directly or a voltage regulator attached to the load.

4. A regulator maintains a specific output voltage over various combinations of input voltage and load.

The three basic forms of singlephase transformer-filter circuits are half-wave, full-wave bridge, and fullwave center-tap. The terms "halfwave" and "full-wave" refer to the ACinput waveform. In a half-wave circuit, only half of the 360-degree input voltage is applied to the load. In a fullwave circuit, the full -360 degrees is usable. Figure 1 shows their configurations and relationships.

The first consideration to be made in the transformer choice is the type of circuit configuration: full-wave center-tap or full-wave bridge. The half-wave rectifier is generally used only for low-current or high-frequency applications since it requires twice the filter capacitance to maintain the same ripple as a full-wave rectifier.

Both the center-tap and bridge configurations have their own merits. The

center-tap circuit dissipates less power, requires less space, and is potentially more economical than the bridge because it uses only two (as opposed to four) rectifier diodes. Using only two diodes, it has a lower impedance than a bridge circuit. However, for the same DC output voltage, the diodes must have twice the P1V (peak inverse voltage) rating. And since diodes are inexpensive, there is less real economy in using center-tap transformers. Their selection often results more from finding available transformers with the proper secondary voltages for a particular application.

A 120-V AC RMS (root mean square) sine wave is applied to the primary winding of the transformer. A similar lower-voltage waveform is produced at the secondary windings. This AC output voltage is then applied to a full-wave bridge rectifier of the form described in figure 1.

Since we are dealing with actual

components and not theoretical examples, it is important to note that different output voltages will be produced from bridge and center-tap circuits, even though they may start with the same secondary potential. If you observe a full-wave rectifier output on an oscilloscope, you will note a period of nonconduction at every zero crossing. Real diodes have an intrinsic voltage drop across them and dissipate power. For most low-current applications, this threshold voltage is about 0.6 V. At 5 A or more it is closer to 1.1 V.

Depending upon the configuration, one or two diode drops may be between the transformer and the filter capacitor. (Figure 2 shows the current flow through a bridge rectifier.) The voltage regulator requires a certain minimum DC input level to maintain a constant output voltage. Should the applied voltage drop below this point, output stability can be severely de

(continued)

Figure 2: The current flow through a full-wave bridge. Two diodes are conducting current at any one time. They present a voltage drop of 1 V each.

TRANSFORMER RECTIFIER CAPACITOR FILTER

120VAC, INPUT

1

T

X

DC OUTPUT

TO

REGULATOR

AA

r\f\ -,rw\

Figure 3: The block diagram of a filtered power supply.

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 101

graded. Where efficient low-dissipation designs are involved, these diode drops can be significant. In full-wave bridge designs, two diodes are in series at all times. The 2.2-V loss through the bridge is an important consideration that should be reflected in the calculations.

To smooth the rectifier output and help maintain a minimum input level to the voltage regulator, a filter capacitor is used (see figure 3). When the diodes are conducting, the capacitor stores enough energy to maintain the minimum voltage until the next charging cycle. With a 60-Hz transformer and a full-wave rectifier, the charging cycle has a frequency of 120 Hz. The capacitor must charge up in 8.3 milliseconds (ms) and maintain a sufficient level until the next charging cycle, 8.3 ms later.

The peak-to-peak magnitude of this periodic charge/discharge cycle is called the ripple voltage (V,1>pi.). The highest level of voltage including the ripple is called peak voltage (Vpc<lt). Shown in figure 4, the ripple voltage should never be more than 10 percent of the steady-state voltage (Vc); Vc should never be less than the minimum input required by the regulator. Selecting the values of these components requires some calculation.

Learning by Doing

The best way to understand the interrelationships of the components in a linear power supply is to design one. For purposes of this discussion, let us design a whopping 12-to 13.2-V 15-A supply using LM338K regulators.

This choice is not arbitrary. Most articles on linear power supplies present low-current circuits that are relatively idiot-proof. At such low currents, simple rule-of-thumb practice is' acceptable. It is only at high power levels that design knowledge, layout

principles, and proper component selection are mandatory. Somewhere in between the 5-watt (W) bench supply you build from an article for hobbyists and the 198-W supply we will discuss is a gray area where experimenters who rely on luck and rule of thumb will be out of one or both.

I am presenting such a big supply for another reason. For quite some time I've been receiving letters regarding uninterruptible power supplies. While 1 can't guarantee that 1 can design one that is more cost-effective than a commercial unit, 1 intend to investigate the options. To aid in this task, I need a high-current DC supply for the initial experiments. Rather than dragging in car batteries (a "12-V" car battery actually produces 13.2 V) and chargers, I thought I'd build a highcurrent supply that demonstrates something for this project and can be put to good use later.

198 Watts!

You might think that specifying the transformer's secondary voltage would be the first consideration when building a power supply. Yes and no. While it is important, the choice of components in a power supply is interrelated. Too great an emphasis on one component over another can greatly influence cost and performance. The approximate secondary voltage can be determined by certain logical rules, but the exact requirements are deduced only by a thorough analysis that begins at the final power-supply output voltage and proceeds backward. In practice, the advantages gained in laborious transformer calculations are of benefit only to those designers capable of specifying custom-wound transformers. The majority of designers will have to rely upon readily acquired transformers with standard output volt

'ripple

J L

VPEAK= VRIPPLE + VC

ages. For greatest efficiency, the standard voltage should be as close to the calculated value as possible.

Given an understanding of the basic filter components at this stage, we can proceed to the case at hand: a 13.2-V 15-A supply. The regulator, which I'll discuss later, uses the LM338K chip. These units are variable-voltage output devices, in contrast to fixedvoltage output devices such as the LM340T-5 (5 V) or 7812 (12 V). For them to properly operate over a temperature from 0 to 70°C, the input voltage to the LM338K must be 3 V greater than the output set point. (Fixed-voltage output regulators by contrast can suffice with a 2- to 2.5-V difference.) To be on the safe side, I always plan a minimum of 3.5 V. If this I/O (input/output) differential is less than 3 V, regulation becomes unstable. For a 13.2-V output, therefore, Vc has to be at least 16.7 V For a 5-V output, Vc should be 8.5 V minimum. (Too much input voltage creates a different problem. Any V0„,-V,„ difference greater than 3 V simply generates heat and should also be avoided.)

Whatever the magnitude of Vp„k and V„■„,,„ Vc must not drop below 16.7 V or the regulator may not work. If this supply, which operates at 115-V AC input, is to still function at 105 V AC, we must make sure that Vc is 16.7 V at 105 V AC. The 8.5 percent voltage rise to 115 V AC, however, will make Vc 18.2 V (and 20.5 V at 130 V AC). Going much above these values, while still satisfying the input criteria, will increase power dissipation substantially.

Thus far, we have calculated or assumed the following at 2 5°C and 115-V AC input:

Vc = regulator input voltage at 115 V AC = 18.2 V

yrippie = 10 percent of Vc maximum = 1.8 V

V

peak

= Vc + V-,

20 V

Figure 4: The components of peak voltage. Wpeak. are the steady-state voltage, Vc and the ripple voltage, Vripp,c.

L, = output current = 15 A V„„ = voltage drop across diode bridge = 2.2 V (two diodes)

Choosing the Transformer

We have determined the voltage drops across the various components and the minimum regulator input voltage. These values can be used to calculate the required RMS secondary output voltage as follows:

102 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

V

sec. rms

vc +

vri„t.

+

v,.„

V2

18.2

+ 1.8

+

2.2

1.414 = 15.70 VAC

In practice. 15-A 15.70-V transformers aren't available off the shelf, but many 15- and 18-V units are available. While 16 V is the proper transformer secondary-winding selection, 15- and 18-V 10-A transformers will work fine if you can live with 10 A rather than 15 A. (One of these is part number F-62U from Triad-Utrad, 1124 East Franklin St., POB 1147, Huntington, IN 46750.) The 15-V unit will not give complete operation to 105 V AC, however, and the 18-V transformer will increase power dissipation in the regulator by 12.5 percent. (1 don't recommend using 2 5.2-V center-tap transformers.)

I don't like presenting an optimized design and then apologizing for not taking my own advice. The calculations might seem a bit rigged when you find that 1 just happened to use a 16-V 1 5-A transformer to complete this project. I have to confess that 1 had it custom wound to meet the application. While I don't expect the average experimenter to resort to such expensive tactics, when 1 build a piece of test equipment, I want reliable and consistent operation. The final transformer secondary winding is 16 V AC at 15 A, and the secondary resistance is 0.04 ohm. (A 2-A 18-V center-tap transformer such as the Radio Shack 273-1515A by contrast is about 0.6 ohm.) With the additional wiring and connections between the transformer and the bridge, the source resistance is about 0.1 ohm.

Using a 16-V transformer, the true, as opposed to calculated, voltage levels are

V„c = 16 V AC

V„„ = 2.2 V

VP«„* = (Vs«cx 1.414)-Vrcer = 20.4 V

Vc = 18.6 V

Vr„„. - 1.8 V

Rs = transformer secondary resistance and resistance of connecting wires = 0.1 ohm

Sizing the Filter Capacitor

When the supply is turned on, a 120Hz rectifier output is applied to the

capacitor. The capacitor is large enough so that it can supply the full load current with only a negligible drop. If the capacitor is very near peak when the next charging cycle occurs, as would be the case with light loads and large capacitors, the diodes conduct for a very short time. The exact time during which the capacitor supplies current is fixed by the permissible peak-to-peak ripple voltage. This time:

1 conduction

= [0/180] (8.33) ms

where 6 = |90 + arcsin(Vc/Vp„*)| degrees.

For ripple voltages equivalent to 10 percent of \lpeak. the filter-capacitor conduction time is 7.14 ms rather than 8.33 ms. For simplicity, however, it is often assumed that the capacitor must carry current for the full half cycle and 8.33 ms is used in the calculations. The capacitor value is chosen as follows:

c = nw „„,.) i

where C = capacitance in farads (F) = ?. I = continuous output current = 15 A, Tc = charging time of capacitor = 8.33 ms, and V,,-,,,, = allowable ripple voltage = 1.8 V. Plugging in the values:

(15) (0.00833) C = " (1.8) = 0.069417 F or

= 69,000 microfarads (/*F)

In the nearest commercial value, C = 7 5,000 fiF at 2 5 V. Generally available commercial electrolytic capacitors have a tolerance of + 50 percent and -10 percent. 1 chose to use a General Electric 86F543 75,000-/*F 2 5-V (Vp.ot is 20 V) unit, but any capacitor of similar size will work. The ripple-current rating on capacitors of this size is also adequate.

Choosing the Bridge Rectifier

The four considerations when choosing a bridge rectifier are surge current, continuous current, P1V rating, and power dissipation. These parameters are generally ignored in rule-of-thumb designs because the 3- and 10-A diode bridges (which are generally available, coincidentally) have ratings

When I build a

piece of test

equipment, I want

reliable and

consistent operation.

that protect against bad designs. With 15-A power supplies, however, we should take nothing for granted. These specifications are not inconsequential and must be considered.

When a power supply is first turned on, the filter is totally discharged and for an instant appears as a dead short to the diode bridge. In this condition, the only thing that limits the current flowing through the bridge is the resistance in the secondary windings and the connecting wires. This sudden inrush is called surge current and is computed as follows:

V

peak

1 surge p

= 20.4/OT = 204 A The time constant of the capacitor is t = (Rs) (C) = (0.1) (0.075000) = 7.5 ms

Generally speaking, power surges will not damage the bridge if the surge is less than its surge-current rating and if the time constant, r, is less than 8.33 ms, which it is. A readily available bridge rectifier that fits the bill is the Motorola MDA990-2. which is rated at 30 A continuous and 300 A surge. Its P1V rating is 100 V which is significantly in excess of our 22.6-V secondary peak.

One final consideration on the bridge is power dissipation. Since diodes exhibit voltage drops when current flows through them, they dissipate power just as the regulators do. The rule of thumb says that if L, is 15 A and Vrec, is 2.2 V power dissipation (PD) is 33 W. Such a high value would suggest the need for a heatsink.

A possibility exists, however, that

(continued)

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 103

OUT

= 12V

IN

7812

30V >Vin>M.5V

ti- 10^F

'T* i6v

1 * vOUI

0.22^iF

GND

l

)\

Figure 5: A typical +12-V fixed-voltage output regulator.

Dl

1N4002

+ C^

35VIN

■o

-w

LM338K

■C3

-0.1MF

adj ?lzoil ;:

02 1N4002

;C2 10/jF

-O V0UT

1.2-32V

CI '10MF

-f^> GND

Figure 6: A fypica/ variable-voltage three-terminal regulator.

vinO 1

32<V|N>7.5

LM338K

OUT

0.10.

AOJ

2N2905H

OUT 01fl vw—

ADJ

LM338K

OUT O.lil

VW l,—Cj>,

4.5V TO 25V 5AMPS

20pF

o

5K

Figure 7: A 15-A multiple regulator.

the true (as opposed to the rule-ofthumb) PD could be significantly different and may or may not need extraordinary measures for heat removal. At the very least, you might like to know how to calculate real dissipation.

First, the only time the diode in the bridge conducts for a full cycle is immediately after turn-on. After that, it conducts only during that period when the input voltage is greater than Vc. In our supply, Vc is 18.6 V and Vpeak is 20.4 V.

You'll remember that 1 previously said that the capacitor supplied power for 7.14 ms of every 8.33-ms charging cycle. The diode, therefore, conducts for the remaining 1.19 ms. (The time depends on the amplitude of the ripple.) During this time, the transformer and diodes must charge the capacitor from 18.6 to 20.4 V while they also supply power to the load. The required current is

I.

(C) (Vr„

Tc

(0.075 F) (1.8 V)

(1.19 ms)

113.4 A

To this you add the output current of 15 A: I, - 128.4 A peak. This translates to a peak power dissipation of

PD = lp x V,«,

= 128.4 x 2.2

= 282.5 W peak!

However, this occurs for each pair of diodes for only 1.19 out of 16.6 ms, and the average power becomes

= (282.5) x (1.19/16.6)

PD = 20.2 5 W average

Twenty watts isn't much. Simply mounting the bridge to the metal power-supply enclosure should provide enough cooling. To know for sure, however, look up the bridge's rated junction temperature, keep the PD value in mind, and calculate the cooling requirements when we get to heatsinking.

Voltage Regulators

Once the filter section is configured, our next consideration is the voltage regulator. All linear regulators perform the same task: convert a given DC input voltage into a specific.

104 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

stable, DC output voltage and maintain it over wide variations of input voltage and output load.

Entire books have been written on regulation circuits, and I think the subject material is adequate. The best sources are, in fact, the data manuals from the regulator-chip manufacturers. These manuals specify the I/O voltages and other specifications important to the power-supply designer. (Rather than go into the history and successive milestones in regulator evolution. I'm going to presume that you know a lot about this and want me to quickly get back to building a real supply.)

Three-terminal regulators come as fixed- or variable-voltage output devices (fixed-voltage output regulators can be configured to provide variable-voltage outputs). A typical + 12-V fixed-voltage output regulator is shown in figure 5. The regulator has three terminals: in, out, and ground reference. In a 7812 regulator, Vou,V,„ should be 2.5 V; therefore, Vc should be 14.5 V for proper operation. The maximum input, disregarding power dissipation as a limiting factor, is 30 V.

If you want a 13.2-V supply, you would substitute a variable-voltage three-terminal regulator such as the LM338K shown in figure 6. Here, the

three terminals become in, out, and voltage adjust. A potentiometer in the adjust line sets a reference level to the chip that determines its output voltage. This circuit also contains diodes to protect the regulator.

While manufacturers would like you to think otherwise, three-terminal regulators are not indestructible and can fail. One source of failure is the discharge of external capacitors through the regulator. For example, if the regulator output is shorted, C2 will discharge through the voltageadjust pin. A diode, D2, diverts the current around the regulator protecting it. If the input is shorted, CI can discharge through the output of the regulator, possibly destroying it. Diode Dl shunts the current around the regulator, protecting it. While such protection is merely insurance on hefty devices such as the LM338K, it is a necessity on lower-current regulators.

The LM338K can be adjusted for outputs from 1.2 to 32 V at 5 A, and devices can be paralleled to provide increased output current. Figure 7 outlines a circuit composed of three LM338Ks configured as a 15-A regulator that will satisfy the regulation requirements of the supply we are building. With a Vc input of 18.6 V at 115-V AC input, the supply is adjust

Three-terminal regulators have been known to fail

able from about 4.5 to 1 5.6 V. Figure 8 is the final schematic of the unit.

Layout Is Important

Three-terminal regulators employ wideband transistors to optimize response. Unfortunately, stray capacitance and line inductance caused by poor layout can introduce oscillations and unstable operation into these circuits. Keeping lead lengths short, as shown in photo 1, and adding external bypass capacitors will limit the problems caused by the regulator. Builder-introduced problems are another matter entirely.

Figure 9 illustrates a typical threeterminal-regulator supply layout, including the areas that can cause problems. All wires and connections within a power supply have resistance. In the case of high-current supplies such as ours, small resistances can introduce major errors. For example, a 0.1-ohm resistance at 15 A drops 1.5 V. Heavy wire should be used, and it is impor

[continued]

16VAC (a) 15A

MDA980-2

25-AMP

BRIDGE

75.000/i 30VDC

NOTES, LM338S ARE MOUNTED ON A COMMON HEATSINK

FAN IS CONTROLLED BY ]30°F THERMOSTATIC SWITCH ATTACHED TO HEATSINK

OP AMP SHOULD BE LOW-OFFSET TYPE LM308 OR EQUIVALENT ONLY.

MOST PARTS ARE AVAILABLE FROM

JDR MICRODEVICES. :224 SOUTH BASCOM AVE.. SAN JOSE. CA 95128, 1800) 538-5000 OR

JOHN J. MESHNA. JR. INC.. 19ALLERT0N ST. LYNN. MA 01904, (617) 595-2275

0.1ft

01ft —^w—

0.1ft ^vw—

1100 ft

•COMMON HEATSINK

15-AMP CIRCUIT BREAKER

-O+v0

100MF 25VDC

-I >GND

Figure 8: A 12- to 13.2-V 15-A power supply that uses readily available components.

IANUARY 1985 • BYTE 105

tant to separate the charging-current and the output-current paths.

As demonstrated in figure 9, improper placement of the input capacitor can induce unwanted ripple on the output voltage. This occurs when the charging current to the filter capacitor influences the common ground or voltage-adjustment line of the regulator. As previously mentioned, the peak currents in the filter circuit are in excess of 100 A. The voltage drop across R2' will cause the output to fluctuate as if the voltage trim were being adjusted.

The output-current loop is also susceptible to layout. In a threeterminal fixed-voltage output regulator, the output voltage is referenced between the output pin and the common line of the chip. Because the load

current flows through R2', R3', and R4' before reaching R/oad, there may not be the correct voltage across the load due to accumulated voltage drops in the wiring. Also, while points B and C are both ground, they are at different voltages depending upon the resistance of and the current flowing through R3'. Similarly, resistance R4' in the output lines continually reduces the output voltage as the current increases. This serves to negate the purpose of the regulator.

Figure 10 is a diagram of the proper layout. In the layout, all high-current paths should use heavy wire to minimize resistance, and the inputfilter and output-load circuits are effectively separated. Most important, the wires from the transformer go directly to the bridge and then to the

IN OUT

COMMON

R4' A

-AM

rh

>R2'

C R3

I vw

Figure 9: Sources of layout-induced errors in a typical three-terminal-regulator power supply.

Photo I: Short leads in the regulator sections limit noise pickup and add to overall stability. In my prototype, I connected the op amp and other discrete components directly to the regulators on the bottom side of the heatsink.

filter capacitor. Power to the rest of the circuit should come directly from the terminals of the capacitor and not from any point between the bridge and the capacitor. The result is two sets of wires (input from the bridge and output to the regulator) connected to the capacitor—but it is absolutely necessary. Mixing current paths is the most common problem in experimenter-built supplies.

The last layout consideration is the concept of a single-point ground. One point in the power supply must be designated as the ground, and the ground connections of the other circuit sections are connected to it. In practical terms, this is often just a metal strip or busbar called a ground bus. There should be virtually no measurable voltage between any two points on this bus. Don't be afraid to use thick wire!

Heatsinking

The final consideration is heatsinking. Generally speaking, linear power supplies, while easy to build, are grossly inefficient. A 45 percent-efficient design is good (the usual range is 40 to 55 percent). Before you start thinking of this as both a 5- and 15-V 15-A supply, remember the old saying, "what goes in, comes out." With a 16-Vrms 15-A input, we are putting in 16 x 1.414 x 15 = 339 Wand taking out 5 V x 15 A = 75 W. The other 264 W is dissipated in heat. Power is simply Vou,-V,„ times the current. If you are going to want a 5-V supply, you should not start with a Vc of 18.6 V but rather something like 9 V. (The best transformer/filter for a 5-V supply is an 18-V center-tap configuration.) In the 13.2-V supply we are building, the maximum power dissipation is

PDm„ = ((Ve + Vrlprj2) - Vout) x (U

((18.6 + 94.5 W

.8/2) - 13.2 ) x 15

For linear supplies of this magnitude, 95 W is relatively cool. Nonetheless, it must be dissipated properly through a device called a heatsink, as shown in photo 2.

Basically, the entire process of calculating factors such as dissipation, temperature rise, and junction temperatures is to determine a quantitative value of absorbable power for a given set of physical conditions. For

106 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

a predetermined rise in heatsink temperature, you will be able to calculate the maximum power dissipation of the circuit to maintain that limit or, vice versa, to calculate the junction and heatsink temperatures given the input power.

Heatsink ratings and heat transfer through component mountings are stated in terms of thermal resistance: °C/W. For a particular application, it is necessary to determine the thermal resistance that a cooler must have to maintain a junction temperature that sustains adequate semiconductor performance. The basic relationship is

PD

AT

LRe

where PD = power dissipated in the semiconductor, AT = difference in temperature between ambient and the heatsink. and ER« = the sum of the thermal resistances of the heat flow path across which AT exists. In elaboration:

PD =

T, - T„

R,-c + Res + EL

where T/ = the maximum junction temperature as stated by the semiconductor manufacturer (°C), T„ = ambient temperature (°C), Rjc = thermal resistance from junction to case of semiconductor (°C/W), Rcs = thermal resistance through the interface between the semiconductor case and the heatsink (°C/W), and R,„ = thermal resistance from heatsink to ambient air (°C/W).

The best way to understand this is to look at an example. First, we have a 7805T in a TO-220 case that is dissipating 5 W, and we select the proper heatsink. Given:

PD = 5 W

Rjc = 4°C/W (from the manufacturer!

T, = 12 5°C maximum for TO-220

package T„ = 50°C ambient R„ - I °C/W insulator with heatsink

grease

We use the equation for PD to solve for Rs„:

12 5 - 50

R,„ =

- (4 +

R„. = I0°C/W

Thermalloy part number 6299B has a 50° rise in temperature for a 12-W in

put. Therefore:

Rsa = 50/12 = 4.16°C/W

The 6299B is more than adequate for the task and will, in fact, heat up only 4.16 x 5 = 20.8°C over ambient in this example.

Getting back to the supply we are building, the minimum power dissipation is at maximum output voltage and vice versa. If the supply will be used in the range of 12 to 14 V, the heatsinking must accommodate the worst-case conditions. When the output is set for 12 V, the power dissipated in the regulator section will be 112.5 W (at 15 A). Each of the three regulators will be dissipating 112.5/3

or 37.5 W. The minimum R„ is as follows. Given:

PD = 37.5 W Rjc = 1.0°C/W T, = I2 5°C T„ = 40°C

R« = 0.28°C/W (anodized washer and heatsink grease)

The R„ minimum is thus

R.

125 - 40 37.5 = 0.99°C/W

+ 0.28)

A 3-inch piece of Thermalloy part number 6560 has a 0.70°C/W R.,„

(continued)

TRANSFORMER RECTIFIER

REGULATOR

IlOAD is HIGH-CURRENT PATH lREG IS LOW-CURRENT PATH l,N IS HIGH-CURRENT PATH

SINGLE POINTGROUND FOR ALL CIRCUIT CONNECTIONS

Figure 10: The proper power-supply layout.

Photo 2: Any high-current linear power supply needs large heatsinks to carry away the heat dissipated in the regulators. When more than one regulator is to be mounted on the same heatsink. special insulated mounting kits must be used.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE

107

Inquiry 241

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Photo 3: The completed power supply has little extra internal space. You'll notice that the filter capacitor has two sels of connecting wires to conform to the layout guidelines I've described. W/ii/e the heatsink is sized properly for ambient air installations. I have added a fan to compensate for the insulating effect of the enclosure. To limit noise, the fan is controlled by a 130°F thermostat attached to the heatsink. The thermostat turns on the fan only when necessary.

value. It would operate satisfactorily for an individual LM338K. A 7-inch piece of the same material would have an effective R„ of 0.42°C/W.

To accommodate the full 12 5 W, forced-air cooling is recommended. From the data I have at hand, it appears that Rso is reduced approximately by half with 600-cubic-feet-perminute forced convection. With a fan on the heatsink, 112.5 W should be adequately dissipated while maintaining a low ambient temperature within the supply case. Photo 3 shows the complete supply with fan. 1 added a 130°F thermostatic switch on the heatsink to turn on the fan only when needed.

In Conclusion

The product failure described in the beginning was not a result of misunderstanding three-terminal-regulator specifications but instead ignorance of the supporting circuitry. I could have discussed a lot more, but much of it relates to experience, and it might sound as if I were a proponent of rule-of-thumb design. Instead, I would hope that you no longer take linear power supplies for granted. Even in today's VLSI (very-large-scale integration) world we continue to depend on tried-and-true, even if somewhat ancient, designs. Linear power

supplies have a definite place in our world of electronics.

I don't expect venture capitalists to get excited about power-supply design, but the next time the words "meltdown" and "incendiary" are mentioned, 1 know a few who will be listening more closely.

Circuit Cellar Feedback

This month's feedback begins on page 413.

Next Month

Steve will be building a low-cost serial EPROM programmer. ■

This article is dedicated to Kram Nurtam and the E product. May that great heatsink in the sky cool any thoughts he might have of designing another linear power supply.

Editor's Note: Steve often refers to previous Circuit Cellar articles. Most of these past articles are available in reprint books from BYTE Books, McGraw-Hill Book Company. POB 400. Hightstown. N] 08250.

Qarcia's Circuit Cellar. Volume I covers articles that appeared in BYTE from September 1977 through November 1978. Volume II covers December 1978 through )une 1980. Volume III covers July 1980 through December 1981. Volume IV covers lanuary 1982 through lune 1983.

To receive a complete list of Qarcia's Circuit Cellar project kits, circle 100 on the reader-service inquiry card at the back of the magazine.

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Inquiry 166

IANUARY 1985

I YT E 111

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Inquiry 150

by Bill Benzon

The Visual Mind and the Macintosh

MacPaint

provides a tool

for thinking

Late in 1974 Ed Roberts and Eddie Curry, principals in Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry (MITS), designed and began marketing a microcomputer kit. That kit was featured in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics and the rest, as they say, is history.

In my opinion, the Apple Macintosh is the most significant microcomputer since that original MITS kit, but its importance hasn't been adequately explained. The Mac is user friendly, but even more important is what lies beyond that user-friendly interfaceMacPaint. MacPaint provides visual power. It

is fun to use—you can zap the mouse around, draw a zillion rectangles in a minute, put four reflecting planes in the drawing space, and create amazing symmetrical designs with mere flicks of the wrist. Why is this important? As figure 1 indicates, one hemisphere of the brain is more or less verbal while the other is more or less visual (see reference 1). The Macintosh is a tool for the visual brain.

The Mac allows us to do fascinating things with typography. We can crank out bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs. We can do maps 50 ways from Sunday and play with line drawings to our hearts' content. But we can also think visually and relate visuals to verbals with a facility not readily available before.

The Macintosh is a tool for thinking. To understand the implications of this statement, we need to know something about the thinking process. In this article 1 hope to discuss thinking in a way that will make the significance of the Macintosh more obvious. Consequently, most of this article is specifically about thinking and only indirectly about the Macintosh.

Visual Thinking

The anecdotal literature on creativity is full of stories about great thinkers who work in images. Consider the

(continued)

Bill Benzon (Language. Literature, and Communication, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12181) holds a Ph.D. in English from State University of New York at Buffalo. He has done research on cognitive science and literary theory and has held a fellowship with NASA to work on a strategic computing plan. Bill also does consulting and freelance writing.

ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM LOW

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE

113

THE VISUAL MIND

following passage from a letter by Albert Einstein (see reference 2):

The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thought are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be "voluntarily" reproduced and combined. ... The above mentioned elements are, in my case, of visual and some of muscular type. Conventional words or other signs have to be sought for laboriously only in a secondary stage, when the mentioned associative play is sufficiently established and can be reproduced at will.

Thus it seems Einstein's primary mode of thought was not words or even mathematical symbols. He thought in images and then translated those image-born insights into verbal or mathematical form.

Or consider Watson and Crick and the double helix. Why did they actually build a three-dimensional model of

the helix while they were working up the basic ideas (see reference 3)? Because however important visual thinking is, it is difficult to hold an image in your mind and work with it— especially if it is a three-dimensional shape. But if you can externalize the image and make a model as Watson and Crick did, then working with it becomes easier.

Writing and drawing provide external support for thought. Writing supports the work of the verbal brain. Learning the mechanics of writinghow to form the letters or use a keyboard—is relatively easy, and once that is out of the way, you can go on to the tough stuff—writing things that make sense and may be beautiful as well. However, images, whether twoor three-dimensional, are different. Becoming proficient in the mere mechanics of freehand drawing—for example, drawing a picture of a horse

Figure I: The left or verbal side and the right or visual side of the human brain. The tree is a McPic image. (McPic is a product of Magnum Software, 21115 Devonshire St., Ste. 337. Chatsworth. CA 91311, (818) 700-0510).

By making it easy for you to create images and work with them, the Macintosh can help you to think.

that looks more like a horse than like a camel or a rabbit—is difficult. Technical drawing is easier but it is still more difficult than writing.

By making it easy for us to create images and work with them, the Macintosh can help us to think. Perhaps our society will create a pool of images for thinking comparable to our pool of proverbs and stories. We have a large number of proverbs and countless stories, such as Aesop's fables, which we learn and use for thinking. We apply these proverbs and fables to situations that arise and from that we get some idea of how to act. Why not have a pool of images that we can use in the same way? What 1 have in mind can best be illustrated by an example. It is called the gestalt switch.

The Gestalt Switch

In 1962 Thomas Kuhn published a book on the nature of scientific revolutions that set off bombshells in the academic world (see reference 4). For example, Kuhn was interested in how Copernicus's heliocentric model of the solar system replaced Ptolemy's geocentric model, how Newtonian mechanics replaced Aristotelian mechanics, and how Newtonian mechanics was then replaced by relativistic and quantum mechanics. You would think that as more observations came in and older theories didn't hold up, they would be replaced by newer ones. However, in the case of Copernicus's heliocentric model, the old theory fit the available data better than the new one. Kuhn's conclusion is a bit compli

{continued)

114 BYTE- JANUARY

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"Typical MICROCAP Transient Analysis"

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MICROLOGIC: Your Digital Solution

MICROLOGIC provides you with a similar interactive drawing and analysis environment for digital work. Using standard PC hardware, you can create logic diagrams of up to 9 pages with each containing up to 200 gates. The system automatically creates the netlist required for a timing simulation and will handle networks of up to 1800 gates. It provides you with libraries for 36 user-defined basic gate types, 36 data channels of 256 bits each, 10 user-defined clock waveforms, and up to 50 macros in each network. MICROLOGIC produces high-resolution timing diagrams showing selected waveforms and associated delays, glitches, and spikes—just like the real thing.

"Typical MICROLOGIC Diagram"

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THE VISUAL MIND

cated but the basic point can be made rather easily with an image. The upper image in figure 2 shows one of those ambiguous pictures from freshman psychology textbooks. Is it a picture of two men facing each other or is it a vase? You can see it either way, and you can switch back and forth between the two interpretations easily.

Kuhn concluded that scientific data, observations, and hard empirical facts are like this drawing. Before they have meaning, they must be interpreted by a theory; different theories describe them in different ways and lead to different expectations about future observations. In other words, if you see the ambiguous image as two men, you will talk about noses, lips, and chins and expect to find shoulders and arms beneath them. But if you see it as a vase, you will refer to the base, the rim, and the constriction in the middle and expect to see it on a tabletop or a shelf.

Now, imagine that you give two people in two different rooms copies of this ambiguous figure. You tell one that it's a picture of two men and the other that it's a vase. If you give these people a phone and let them talk to one another, how long will it take them to discover they are talking about the same drawing? After all, one is talking about noses and chins while the other is discussing rims and bases. That, says Kuhn, is the problem between scientists with different theories about the same data: they live in different intellectual worlds.

Of course these two people would communicate better if they described the image in terms of, for example, pixels. Why can't scientists do the same? Science isn't as simple as this visual analogy might lead you to believe. Like all analogies, this one is limited; it won't take you all the way, but it gives you a good start.

The original ambiguous figure was created by a school of psychologists interested in perception. They believed that we see images whole, not just as the sum of individual parts, and so they talked of gestalt (a German word meaning "whole") psychology. The phenomenon of switching back

Figure 2: The gestall switch. The drawing at the top is ambiguous; you can see it as either two men facing one another or as a vase. You can emphasize either one of these interpretations by changing the drawing as shown in the middle and at the bottom.

and forth from one interpretation of a visual image to another has come to be known as the gestalt switch and the ambiguous figures that evoke this switch are useful things to think with. They are the visual equivalent of a proverb or a fable.

We all have our own visual proverbs but we don't think of them as such. Our society doesn't gather them together and pass them on like it does verbal proverbs and fables, partly because images are more difficult to reproduce and distribute than words. Talking is easy, but drawing requires that you have proper materials and skills, which aren't always at hand. Words are easy and inexpensive to print, but images are more difficult and therefore more costly.

Images are much easier to create and distribute through the Macintosh's graphics facilities. You can exchange printouts or disks or send the images through computer networks. As this power becomes available to more people, you may well begin to see people creating, exchanging, and collecting visual proverbs.

Webs of Ideas

The further development of a visual society is particularly important as we stand on the threshold of the information age because the intellectual world of information, of computing, is an intensely visual one. From circuit design to chip layout, from flowcharts to data structures, computing is visual. If good diagrams were easier to draw, then more would be drawn, and more people would grasp what computing is about. And the more people understand computing, the more they will use it.

Consider the area of knowledge representation (a subfield of artificial intelligence). Many researchers use a notation called the directed graph (see figure 3). The ellipses are called nodes and the connections between them are called arcs. Nodes stand for concepts while arcs indicate the relationships between them. In this example VAR means "variety of" while CMP means "component of." Thus, maple

(continued)

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JANUARY 1985

117

THE VISUAL MIND

is a variety of tree while trunk is a component of it.

The graph is not, however, the only notation you can use. If you want to prove theorems about the abstract properties of knowledge structure then you'll choose a propositional notation (see listing 1). If you want to program the propositional notation into a computer, then you'll have to think in terms of a complex list with addresses and pointers. But if you want to think about how ideas fit together and teach this material to others, then the graph notation is the most useful one. Further, if you are dealing with structures that are three or four times more complex than the one I've shown and if you typically work with structures 10, 100, or 1000 times more complex, then the propositional form is unreadable. You can't do any useful work with it. However, the visual representation is still useful;

even if your graph covers half your desk and starts climbing up the wall you can work with it.

The graph is a notation system in which the visual form can represent the structure of the information very clearly. Well-drawn graphs show important and interesting information structures at a glance. The more you can encompass in a single mental operation, in this case, a glance, the better you can work with your material (see reference 5). A graph extends the range of a single mental operation far beyond that available with a listing. A single glance at a list of commands tells you nothing; you have to read each one, line by line, and painstakingly assemble them in your mind.

Conceptual graphs were not, however, invented yesterday. Many of us learned English grammar through sentence diagramming, which is a

Listing I: The propositional representation of the relationships shown in the directed graph in figure 3.

VAR (maple.tree) VAR (oak.tree) VAR (pin oak.oak)

CMP (leaves.tree) CMP (trunk.tree)

VAR^^

£tre

e\X^.

-^CMP

^__^^VAR/

CMF*

v OeaveJT)

(jnaple) /

^jalT)

^trunjT)

VAR/

(pin oak)

VAR: variety CMP: component

Figure 3: A notation used in knowledge representation known as the directed graph. The nodes (ellipses) stand for concepts while the arcs (the connections between the nodes] Indicate the relationships between those concepts.

\f you think about how ideas fit, the graph is more useful than propositional notation or a complex list

technique for giving visual form to grammatical structure. One important contemporary form of this is called dependency theory, which, in one version or another, is important in computer models of language (see reference 6). One dependency theorist, David G. Hays, says that he was inspired, in part, by the sentence diagramming he did in his youth.

Beyond this consider the work of Tony Buzan and Gabriele Rico, who have been developing techniques for helping people to think and to write better (see references 7 and 8). Both teach people to draw networks— Buzan calls them mind maps, Rico calls them clusters. Their networks are much freer than the ones knowledge representation theorists use, but their purposes are quite different. The theorists are developing formal models of how people think and they find the network notation useful for this. Buzan and Rico are interested in helping people think and they find that drawing networks is a much better way of working out preliminary ideas than trying to put thoughts into an outline. I suppose that the work of knowledge representation theorists could be used to justify these techniques for helping people to think. For example, if we in fact think with networks, then doodling network diagrams seems to take advantage of that. But that is a long and complex argument, one irrelevant to my main point—that diagrams help us think.

The Method of Loci

Public speaking was very important in ancient Greece and aristocratic youths

(continued)

118 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

FORTRAN 86

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Inquiry I46

IANUARY 1985

119

THE VISUAL MIND

were extensively trained for it. Part of that training was in the art of memory, and the central technique was the method of loci (see reference 9).

To use this method you would choose some place complex enough to contain many nooks, corners, and views (that is, loci, or places)—a temple generally was suggested (see figure 4a). You would then walk through this,place according to some appropriate route (see figure 4b). This memorized walk, this visuo-kinetic image, is your memory map. Whenever you want to memorize a speech you

start at the beginning and associate an image related to your first idea with the first place on your map, your second idea with the second place on your map, etc. To deliver the speech you conjure up the mental map and walk through it on the standard path. As you move from place to place the ideas you had associated with each place will come back to you.

Consider, for example, the speech that Marc Antony delivered at Caesar's funeral (from Shakespeare's ]ulius Caesar, Act III, scene ii, lines 72 and following). For the first line

Figure 4a: A temple. The figures on the pediment are reduced versions of figures from McPk.

Figure 4b: A set of loci associated, in this case, with a temple serves as a memory map.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears . . . "—Antony might have associated the image of a bunch of ears with the first locus, the first position in his walk through the temple. A skull would be a natural association for the second line—'The evil that men do .. . "—at the second position. Further lines would be linked to further loci through appropriate images.

Just how this works we don't know. Given our current knowledge of the brain, we can speculate that loci are established in the visual hemisphere while the words being memorized are stored in the verbal hemisphere. The visual brain is used to index and retrieve the contents of the verbal brain. Instead of assigning memory locations numerical values, as in a computer, they are given pictorial values. But the basic principle is the same—one part of a complex information system is being used to index and retrieve the contents of the other.

The art of memory isn't as important to us as it was to the ancient Greeks and Romans. We have books, typewriters, and word processors (teleprompters too). But the integration of visual and verbal information is important to us. A well-illustrated article is easier to understand and recall because the mind has more material to work with, more external support. Good illustrations help you conjure up your own images and diagrams, making it easier to understand and absorb the material.

We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words and that there are many things that require pictures, diagrams, charts, graphs, etc., to be understood. And yet we still think of visuals as illustrating the text, when it is often the other way around. College courses in technical communication generally have a section or two on graphics but they are mostly about tables, graphs, and charts. Very little is said about pictures (whether photographs or line drawings) except that they are important and perhaps even essential.

What kind of pictures do you need?

[continued]

120 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

ANOTEDAUTHORnY

SPEAKS OUT ON

DATABASE MANAGEMENT

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"Not only that, R:base is designed to work with Clout™ That's the program that lets me — and my elves — talk to

our personal computers in plain English. Clout also remembers where my data is stored, and can search for it across

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FROM MICRORIM*

Requires 256K of memory Runs on MS-DOS and PC/DOS operating systems. CP/M-80 requires 64K.

rR*

THE VISUAL MIND

Figure 5: Variations on a horse. The original in the upper right is preprogrammed on McPic. The variations were created using MacPaint to shorten, reduce, elongate, multiply, and reverse the image.

Figure 6: Various uses o\ parts of the horse from figure 5. MacPaint was used to create these modifications.

What makes them effective? When do you need them? Usually, we are taught little about using pictures and diagrams to illustrate abstract concepts (such as using the ambiguous vase/faces diagram to clarify Kuhn's concept of the relationship between scientific theory and observation]. Some people know, intuitively, what sorts of pictures are good and effective, but explaining that knowledge to others is difficult. And the only people who seem to be able to depict abstract ideas are illustrators for such magazines as Scientific American, who have to figure out, among other things, how to make two-dimensional representations of n-dimensional spaces.

The main problem is that writing and illustrating are thought of as two different tasks. Some people specialize in writing, others in illustrating—but few become adept at both. Yet both images and verbal propositions are essential to thinking. This particular division of labor, in part, is caused by the difficulty of making good pictures; few people are adept at it. This brings us back to the Macintosh because its graphics capabilities can help bridge the gap.

Reconstructing Visual Images

The Macintosh isn't going to make you an artist if you can't draw a recognizable horse, but if you can use an image someone else has already prepared, perhaps you don't need to be an artist. The horse in the upper righthand corner of figure 5 comes from McPic, one of the various disks of images that is available for the Macintosh. The other images were derived from the original horse in obvious and simple ways using tools from MacPaint.

In figure 6 the head and tail of the horse were cut away from the body, modified slightly (the mane was changed for the chessman, the left rear leg was removed from the tail), and treated as abstract design elements. In other words, the images are used as lines and shapes in a visual

[continued)

122 BYTE' JANUARY 1985

WHAT THEY CALL A PORTABLE, WE CAU A LOAD.

Sharp Electronics Corp., 10 Sharp Plaza, Paramus, NJ 07652

Today, almost everyone claims to have a portable computer. The problem is, almost no one does. Most portables have a separate data storage device, separate printer, separate modem, and some even require a separate monitor or bulky battery pack that can make them a liability on the road.

The Sharp PC-5000, on the other hand, is a true portable. It's a compact 16 bit microprocessor, 128K RAM (expandable to 320K) with 192K of ROM, an 80 character display screen, removable bubble memory storage, built-in rechargeable power source and bundled software. It's also available with options like an integrated modem that lets you connect with your mainframe and an integrated correspondence-quality printer which doesn't increase the size of the system. And even with all these features, the PC-5000 fits neatly into a briefcase

and weighs under 14 pounds. Almost 25% less than its nearest major , ,

competitor. At a price that's lighter, too.

Of course, there's one thing about the PC-5000 that isn't small. Its working capacity. It functions as a desktop computer. And is compatible with a wide variety of MS-DOS*' software.

So if you need a truly portable computer, look into the Sharp PC-5000. The one that may be the smallest, lightest—and the best value for the money. In short, a computer that will lighten your work load. Not add to it.

For more information call 1-800-BE-SHARP or fill in the coupon.

MS-DOS® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

FROM SHARP MINDS COME SHARP PRODUCTS

Sharp Electronic Corp. dept-sys-byte-iComputer Systems Division 1909 E. Cornell, Peoria, IL 61614

□ Please send me more information about Sharp's PC-5000.

□ Please set up a demonstration.

Name

Title

Company.

Street

City

Phone(

_State_

_Zip_

A/V EQUIPMENT, AUDIO, BANKING SYSTEMS, CALCULATORS, CASH REGISTERS, COMPUTERS, COPIERS, ELECTRONIC TYPEWRITERS, FACSIMILE EQUIPMENT, MICROWAVE OVENS, PROFESSIONAL VIDEO CAMERAS & MONITORS, TELEVISIONS, VIDEO TAPE RECORDERS.

Inquiry 316

THE VISUAL MIND

composition and their abstract qualities as lines and shapes are more important than the fact that they represent parts of a horse. These manipulations are easy to do in MacPaint. And once you start doing them you are on the way to developing your own drawing skills.

To draw well, you must learn to see the visual world in terms of lines and shapes, not simply in terms of objects: you must draw what your eye sees, not what your mind makes of what

your eye sees (reference 10). Consider the nature of perspective drawing. In figure 7a, which shows the view looking up a temple column, your mind knows that the columns are only slightly tapered. But that is not what your eye sees from this point of view. Figure 7b shows the forms the columns present to your eye from this particular point of view. The trick is to get your drawing hand to override what your mind knows in favor of what your eye sees.

Figure 7a: The view looking up a temple column. Note the intense foreshortening.

Figure 7b: Tin's shows the basic forms presented in figure la.

Figure 7c: The vanishing point of the example in figure la.

figure lb superimposed on the perspective grid given in figure 1c.

Your drawing hand must override what your mind knows in favor of what your eye sees.

The best way to learn perspective drawing is to study the tricks developed during the Renaissance. Figure 7c shows a bunch of lines radiating from the vanishing point (the point on the visual horizon where your gaze is focused). All lines in the image space that are perpendicular to the picture plane pass through the vanishing point. Figure 7d shows the forms of the columns superimposed on the perspective grid. By using an explicitly constructed perspective grid, you can overcome what your mind knows and, instead, draw what your eye sees.

The techniques of perspective drawing didn't just happen. They were painstakingly created over a period of centuries ending about 400 years ago. And they were created at the same time that projective geometry was being developed—in some cases by the same people (see reference II). Thus, artists used projective geometry to help them reconstruct three-dimensional images on the two-dimensional space of the picture plane. The mental process involved in drawing is quite different from that in which the mind comprehends what the eye sees. To draw a picture of an object you must reconstruct what your eye will see in terms of hand and pencil motions (see reference 12). By making it easy to treat pregenerated images as abstract design elements, the Macintosh starts you along the road to this reconstruction. The essential first step is to see lines and forms, not objects. When you play with MacPaint it is quite clear that you are manipulating lines and forms, and that you are dealing with purely visual objects, not just representations of cars, horses, trees, buildings, etc.

[continued]

124 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Introducing SYSTAT 2

"The System for Statistics"

A comprehensive statistics, graphics, and database management package.

Version 2 provides these expanded capabilities:

■ Full screen spreadsheet data editor

■ Missing data, indexed arrays, character variables

■ Unlimited cases, variable record lengths

■ Higher accuracy than popular mainframe statistical packages

■ Relational database management and report generation

■ Sort large files on one or more numeric and/or character variables

■ Merge large files by multiple numeric and character variables

■ Unlimited numeric and character transformations (if...then...else, for...next, go to)

■ Transpose files

■ Interactive or batch (macros)

■ Pass data to and from mainframe and micro-spreadsheets, databases, and word processors

■ Input rectangular (cases by variables) or triangular (e.g. correlation matrix) files

SYSTAT is a trademark of Systat, Inc.

MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft.

CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc.

Z-80 is a trademark of Zilog.

HP9000 is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard.

VAX is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corp.

■ Scatterplots, contour, function plots, histograms, stem-and-leaf, boxplots

■ Quantile and detrended probability plots

■ Basic statistics by one or more groups

■ Save aggregate data into files for further processing

■ Multi-way tables with log-linear model

■ Pairwise/listwise missing value correlation, SSCP, covariance, Spearman, Kendall Tau-b

■ Linear, polynomial, multiple, stepwise, weighted regression

■ Extended regression diagnostics (residuals, autocorrelation, leverage, collinearity)

■ Multivariate general linear model

■ One-way Anova with post-hoc tests (Newman-Keuls, Duncan Multiple Range, Tukey HSD)

■ N-way balanced or unbalanced, crossed or nested, ANOVA, ANOCOVA, MANOVA

■ Univariate or multivariate repeated measures designs

■ Principal components with rotations, plots and scores

■ Linear and monotonic multidimensional scaling

■ Cluster analysis (hierarchical, single-, average-, complete-linkage, cases, variables, two-way, K-means)

■ Nonparametric statistics (Sign test, Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman two-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov-Smirnov one and two sample, Kendall coefficient of concordance)

■ Time Series (smoothing, seasonal and nonseasonal Box-Jenkins ARIMA models, ACF, PACF, Cross Correlation Function, plots, transformations forecasting)

In every published review comparing it to other statistical microcomputer programs, Systat has been rated at the top of the list.

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Call or write for detailed specifications and information.

SYSTAT, Inc.

603 Main Street Evanston, IL 60202

312 864.5670

SYSTAT

Inquiry 'M2

IANUARY I985

IYTE 125

THE VISUAL MIND

To generate a circle with a compass, you select the center point and rotate a radius around it. To generate the circle with MacPaint, you select a point to be the corner of an invisible square in which the circle will be inscribed and drag the mouse diagonally across to the opposite corner. In the compass and straightedge method, the center plays an important role. With MacPaint, it does not. The world of MacPaint is different from the world of compass-and-straightedge geometry; hence an act of reconstruction is required if you wish to mimic compass-and-straightedge geometry in MacPaint.

Listing 2 shows a bit of Logo code that constructs an equilateral triangle. The meaning of the code is not important here. What is important is that it is clearly propositional. The compass-and-straightedge method and MacPaint are visual—more exactly, visuo-kinetic. But computer code is

clearly propositional. A computer language, though quite different from a natural language, is verbal and, therefore, is in some sense a propositional reconstruction of a visual object.

Simple geometrical figures are not particularly exciting, but consider moire patterns (figure 8). You can easily construct them with MacPaint. And once you've spent a day or two playing around with them, you'll want to write short programs to generate them. Drawing all those lines is easy enough, but it's tedious: why not let the computer do it? But to do that you have to learn to program the computer, to make propositional reconstructions of visual objects.

Years ago Alan Kay said that working in a visual computing environment provides a natural incentive for learning to program (reference 13). The graphics power that makes the Macintosh so user friendly also provides an incentive for users to learn enough

Listing 2: Constructing an equilateral triangle in logo. The four lines of code at the top specify a procedure for drawing polygons. The procedure has two parameters, the length of a side {size) and the angle through which the logo turtle must turn to move from drawing one side to drawing the next side. The line at the bottom specifies a side of 74 units and an angle of 120 degrees.

TO POLY :SIZE ANGLE FORWARD :SIZE RIGHT :ANGLE POLY :SI2E :ANGLE

POLY 74 120

Figure 8: Various moire patterns created on the Macintosh with MacPaint.

Working in a visual computing environment provides a natural

incentive for

learning to program.

about programming so that they no longer need that user friendliness. But it is MacPaint that provides this incentive, not the icon-based interface. It is possible that Apple's efforts to produce a computer for people who know nothing about programming (and don't want to learn) may well inspire an increase in the number of such users who do learn to program.

Perhaps we need a revised conception of user friendliness. A userfriendly computer should not be one that lets you use it despite your ignorance; it should provide you with an incentive for learning how to program it. The Macintosh meets this criterion.

The Macintosh Emerges

By now I hope it's obvious that 1 am attempting to produce a gestalt switch in the way we think about the Macintosh. In terms of figure 2 it was designed as an ambiguous figure and marketed as two men staring at each other. 1 suggested that we look at it as a flower-filled vase. If you consider personal computers, some are business machines, some home machines. and some are both.

Business machines are used for word processing, accounting, financial modeling, inventory control, etc., and, if you allow for the necessary peripherals and software, they are likely to cost between $3000 and $20,000. They will probably have a 16-bit microprocessor (or perhaps 32-bit). 128Kto 512K bytes of RAM (randomaccess read/write memory), a hard disk, and compilers or interpreters for

[continued]

126 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

What every Apple owner should know about

WORD

juggler:

If you own an Apple He or He—or you're planning to buy one—here are a few things you should know about Quark's Word Juggler word processor.

First of all, Word Juggler is the only word processor that gives you a powerful spelling checker and a built-in telecommunications feature. So you can create a document—check it for spelling errors—and then send it via electronic mail. All with just one program.

Plus, Word Juggler is the most easy-to-use, professional word processor you can buy for your Apple. Virtually every function—even complicated "cut-and-paste" tasks—can be accomplished with a single keystroke.

There's nothing to memorize, either. Because Word Juggler comes with replacement keycaps—and a special keyboard template—which identify principal editing and formatting commands. So you can focus your efforts on using the program, not learning it.

Fact is, no other word processor for your Apple He or lie gives you this unique combination of power, functionality and ease of use. And if all these advantages aren't compelling enough, check the price. Suggested retail is only $189.

So visit your favorite dealer today. Ask for a complete demonstration—and for a copy of our brochure, "What Every Apple Owner Should Know About Word Juggler." If you don't have a favorite dealer, but would like one, just call 1 (800) 543-7711. We'll fix you up.

Quark

kiMaai INCORPORATED

2525 West Evans, Suite 220 Denver CO 80219 Inquiry 291

Quark and Word Juggler are trademarks of Quark Incorporated. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer. Inc.

Ask about our specially-priced educational version.

Copyright 19X5. Quark Incorporate!

Photography by Barbara Kasten

ad^HH^^^^^BHHO

THE VISUAL MIND

Figure 9a: This drawing represents the various niches that make up the personal computer marketplace.

Figure 9b: \magine that these are the various computers destined to fill the niches in figure 9a.

Figure 9c: This represents the personal computer marketplace; the square holes, the interaction between the niches in figure 9a and the computers in figure 9b. Notice that this interaction creates patterns of diamonds that don't exist in either of the constituent patterns when considered separately. These are called emergent patterns.

Figure 9d: The differently patterned Macintosh—the round peg.

1;

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Figure 9e: When you combine the round peg [figure 9d) with the square hole [figure 9c), something genuinely new emerges—jazzy squares.

various programming languages.

Machines for home use tend to be much smaller. They cost between $300 and $1500 and use a color TV as a monitor. Mass storage is often a tape cartridge. These machines may run the same types of applications as their business-like siblings and in the same languages, but they are more likely to be used for video games and educational programs for the kids.

Figures 9a through 9c contain an abstract representation of the personal computer marketplace. There are certain niches (figure 9a) for all these machines (figure 9b) and they fit perfectly (figure 9c). Those who use microcomputers are generally doing well in their businesses and their kids have a ticket to the future. Those who manufacture and sell the machines are getting rich. When you put the two together, diamonds result from the interaction of two patterns, neither of which contains diamonds. The diamonds are an emergent pattern.

Consider the Macintosh, a differently patterned machine that doesn't fit into this picture at all (figure 9d). It doesn't yet have the power necessary for business computing. It is a lot of fun to use, but it is expensive for home users. And yet it is selling well. Who is buying these machines and what are they doing with them? If you combine this differently patterned machine (figure 9d) with the world of personal computing (figure 9c). you will find a new pattern—jazzy squares (figure 9e). Something genuinely new has emerged out of the interaction.

The Macintosh doesn't fit into any of the current categories of personal computing. It is designed, marketed, and reviewed (for the most part) as one more personal computer that does the standard things that personal computers do. The differences are: it has this easy-to-use icon-based interface: you don't really need a manual, just turn it on and start "mousing" around: and there is this program called MacPaint that's fun to use.

People like to draw, and working with MacPaint is fun. It gives you a

{continued)

128 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

552 words per minute. Letter perfect.

Humanly impossible, yes. NEC impossible, no. In fact, in a head-to-head comparison with letter—quality printers, the NEC PC-PR103A Letter—Perfect Printer not only prints three times faster (4-6 CPS), it gives you letter—quality performance, with true decenders. It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between print-outs from the PC-PR103A and 1ettet—quality printers.

But that's not all. Uith the innovative Impact Line-Dot type Printhead, the NEC PC-PR103A tri-mode underscores its advantages by offering two additional printing modes — graphics and draft quality. It even eliminates "ghosting" with single-pass printing, and includes tractor feed.

Best of all it costs much less.

Near Lettei—Quality? 46 CPS

Draft-Quality: 110 CPS

and Graphics ^/lfktf\

_

There really is no comparison after all.

NEC

NEC Home Electronics (U.S.A.) Inc. Personal Computer Division

1401 Estes Avenue

„

-PRI03A

Inquiry 369

Multifunction Products for the Tl Professional Computers

SEEKER SI BOARD

■ Expandable memory from 0 lo 512K bytes, fully socketed

- SCSI/SASI interface

■ RS-232 Sync/Async port

- Optional clock

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• Plugs into any open Tl PC expansion slot

SEEKER S2 BOARD

■ RAM from OK to 192K

• Fully Tl compatible

- Will attach to SEEKER St

INTERNAL WINCHESTER

Resides inside the Texas Instruments PC, interfaced to the SEEKER S1 board.

- 10 & 20 Megabyte

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EXTERNAL WINCHESTERS

Cables lo SEEKER S1

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- Cabinet matches Tl PC ■ 110/220 VAC operation

EXPANDABILITY

Western Automation SEEKER products allow Tl Professional Computers to expand to their full 768K memory. The SEEKER 81 board will control eight SCSI/SASI Winchester disks and streaming tape drives, like the SEEKER 60MB streaming tape system.

SEEKER S1 board list $425 SEEKER SI and 10 MB internal drive list $1895

Ninety dav warranty on all products. Available through Dealers and OEMs.

WESTERN AUTOMATION LABORATORIES, INC. 5595 Arapahoe Road, Boulder, CO 80303

For Information write or call (303) 449-6400 or Toll Free (800) 227-4637

Put labels on your list.

Next time you shop for computer supplies, pick up a pack of Avery's new self-adhesive labels. By putting all your address lists on labels, you get more done in less time. Name badge labels, shipping labels, piggybacks and new clear labels are also available.

The labels are designed especially for micro computers. And they're packaged to fit neatly behind your printer. Look for them wherever you buy computer supplies.

Avery Label

An Avery International Company Business Systems Division

THE VISUAL MIND

MacPaint actively involves you with the computer. The Niac is easy to use— and it is fun.

much more active involvement with the computer than word processing or a spreadsheet program does. This involvement can lead you into programming. It can lead to deeper thinking and more effective communication. It is easy—and it is fun. ■

REFERENCES

1. Ornstein, Robert E., editor. The Nature of Human Consciousness. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1973.

2. Hadamard, lacques. The Psychology oj \nvention in the Mathematical Field. New York: Dover Publications, 1954. pages 142-143.

3. Watson, James D. The Double-Helix. New York: Atheneum Publishers. 1968.

4. Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago. IL: University of Chicago Press. 1962.

5. Simon, Herbert A. The Sciences of the Artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981.

6. Sowa, John F "Review of Associative Networks-Representation and Use of Knowledge by Computers'.' American journal of Computational Linguistics (1980) 6, 110.

7. Buzan, Tony. Use Both Sides of Your Brain. New York: E. P. Dutton. 1983.

8. Rico, Gabriele Lusser. Writing the Natural Way. Los Angeles, CA: 1. P. Tarcher Inc.. 1983.

9. Norman, Donald A. Memory and Attention. New York: lohn Wiley and Sons. 1969.

10. Gombrich. Ernst. Art and Illusion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969.

11. Ivins. William M. )r. Arf and Geometry. New York: Dover Publications. 1964.

12. Benzon, William L. "System and Observer in Semiotic Modeling," in Michael Herzfeld and Margot D. Lenhart. comp. Semiolics 1980. New York: Plenum Press, 1982, pages 27-36.

13. Kay, Alan C. "Microelectronics and the Personal Computer" in Microelectronics. San Francisco. CA: W. H. Freeman and Company, 1977.

130 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 34 for Dealers. Inquiry 35 for End-Users.

k l •

J

i

i

i

i

80/132-Column Printer

I

k

■® Because they're already built-in. The 80/132column printer. The 9-inch, high-resolution display. There's even a built-in 360K disk ' drive. Which all make the Sr. Partner a complete computer as is. I™ The Sr. Partner is IBM hardware and software

compatible so you can run popular business programs immediately. The software bundle currently offered with the Sr. Partner is WordStar, VisiCalc, pfs:Graph, File, Report, MS-DOS 2.11 and GW BASIC* And with its 256K internal memory expandable to 512K, the Sr. Partner can run the new integrated software. Built-ins also include expansion slots and parallel and serial I/O ports. There's even a built-in RGB monitor port so you can take advantage of the Sr. Partner's color and graphics capability.

If you want 10 megabytes of storage, choose the new hard disk Sr. Partner.

Both the Sr. Partner and the hard disk Sr. Partner come with an exceptional Panasonic warranty.**

For the dealers nearest you, call: 201-392-4261. The Panasonic Sr. Partner. No peripherals needed. It makes the competition look like Jr. Executives.

Panasonic

Industrial Company

Inquiry 270

l"I

9-Inch High-Resolution Display

Optional 10-Megabyte Hard Disk or Optional Second 360K Disk Drive

256K RAM

IBM Compatibility

■vwe.bundfft offer subject to change or withdrawal at any time without notice. :t;*One-year limited warranty, 6 months on thermal printer head. Carry-in or mail-in service. Srtrter is a trademark ot Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Ltd; WordStar is the trademark of MicroPro International Corporation; VisiCalc is the registered trademark of VisiCorp ^Software Arts, Inc.); pfs:Graph, File, Report are the registered trademarks of Software Publishing Corporation; GW BASIC, MS-DOS are the trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IT ALL ADDS UP...

IBM SYSTEMS

Starting as low as

$1399

64K, 1-DS/DD DRIVE KEYBOARD

NEC PRINTERS

NEC 2060 $639.00

NEC 3550 $1399.00

NEC 8850 $1749.00

TANDON

B'A" 320K Floppy $169.00

VI8IC0RP VisiCalc IV $159.00

IDEAdisk 5MB to 4BMB Hard drives with removable Cartridge back up

as low as $1899.00

AST RESEARCH

Six Pak Plus from $249.00

Mega Plus from $299.00

I/O Plus from $139.00

QUAORAM New Quadboard...as low as....$249.00

Quadlink 64K $479.00

Quadboard II as low aB $249.00

Quad 512 Plus...as low as $259.00

Quadcolor I $209.00

Chronograph $89.99

Parallel Interface Board $79.99

64K RAM Chips Kit $29.99

PARADISE

Multi-Display Card $339.00

Modular Graphics Card $319.00

SPI Open Access $339.00

HARVARD

Harvard Project Manager $299.00

PES

IBM/APPLE

Write $89.99

Graph $89.99

Report $79.99

File $89.99

Plan $89.99

ELECTRONIC ARTS Get Organized $139.00

LOTUS

Symphony $469.00

1-2-3 $309.00

HAYES

Please (Data Base) $269.00

MAI General Ledger, Payroll. Inventory, Accounts Payable/Receivable....CALL

MICROPRO

WordStar Professional Pack..$279.00

MICROMIM

R:Base 4000 $279.00

MULTIMATE INT.

Multl Mate $289.00

MICROSTUP

Crosstalk .- $105.00

MICROSOFT

MultiPlan $139.00

ASHTONTATE

Framework $379.00

dBASE II upgrade $139.00

dBASE II $299.00

dBASE III $389.00

Friday! $179.00

IUS

Easy Writer II $249.00

EasySpeller $119.00

Easy Filer $229.00

CONTINENTAL SOFTWARE

1st Class Mail/Form Letter $79.99

Home Accounting Plus $88.99

PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE

PC Plus/The Boss $269.00

SYNAPSE

File Manager $59.99

FOX & GELLER

dGraph $139.00

Quick Code $139.00

dUtil $49.99

Grafox $139.00

ALPHA SOFTWARE

Electronic Desk $219.00

BORLAND Turbo Pascal $49.00

DISKETTES

maxell

rr»

S3

BVi" MD-1 $19.99

6'A" MD-2 $29.99

8" FD-1 $39.99

8" FD-2 $49.99

VERBATIM

SV," SS/DD $21.99

5W" DS/DD $29.99

BIB 5'/i" Disk Head Cleaner $14.99

Elephant 5'A" SS/SD $15.99

Elephant 5'A" SS/DD $17.99

Elephant 5'A" DS/DD $24.99

Elephant EMSP 5'A $34.99

DISK HOLDERS INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS

Flip-in-File 10 $3.99

Flip-in-File 50 $17.99

Flip-in-File 50 w/lock $24.99

Flip-in-File (400/800 ROM) $17.99

PC COMPATIBLES

ZENITH SANYO

PC-150 Desktop CALL

PC-160 Portable CALL

COLUMBIA

Desktops CALL

Portables CALL

MCB 880 $699.00

MBC 880-8 $749.00

MBC 888 $949.00

MBC B8B-2 $1099.00

CORONA

Desktops CALL

Portables CALL

APPLE

APPLE lie STARTER PACK

64K Apple He. Disk Drive & Controller, 80 Column Card, Monitor II & DOS 3.3 CALL

APPLE He CALL

APPLE He CALL

MacINTOSH CALL

AMDEK

300 Green $129.00

300 Amber $149.00

310 Amber IBM Plug $169.00

Color 300/audlo $259.00

Color 500 Composite/RGB/VCR$389.00 Color 600 Hi-Res (640 x 240).$439.00 Color 700 Hi-Res (720 x 240).$499.00 Color 710 Long Phosphor $579.00

BMC 1201 Plus (12" Green Hi-Res).$88.99

9191U Color $229.00

9191 Color + $249.00

NAP 12" Amber $69.99

NEC

JB 1206 Green $109.00

JB 1201 Green $139.00

JB 1206 Amher $149.00

JB 1215 Color $249.00

JC 1216 RGB $379.00

JC 1460 Color $269.00

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

MAX-12 Amber $199.00

HX-12 RGB $489.00

SR-12 RGB $629.00

MONITORS sakata

SC-100 Color $249.00

SG-1000 Green $129.00

SA-1000 Amber $139.00

TAXAN 100 12" Green $125.00

121 IBM Green $149.00

100 12" Amber $135.00

122 IBM Amber $159.00

210 Color RGB $269.00

400 Med-Res RGB $319.00

415 Hi-Res RGB $439.00

420 Hi-Res RGB (IBM) S469.00

USI

Pi 1, 9" Green $99.99

Pi 2. 12" Green $119.99

Pi 3, 12" Amber $129.99

Pi 4, 9" Amber $119.99

1400 Color $249.99

QUADRAM

Quadchrome 8400 Color $489.00

ZENITH

ZVM 122 Amber $89.99

ZVM 123 Green $84.99

ZVM 124-IBM Amber $149.00

ZVM 135-RGB/Color $459.00

MODEMS

ANCHOR

Volksmodem $59.99

Mark IL Serial $79.99

Mark VII (Auto Ans/Auto Dial)$99.99

Mark XII (1200 Baud) $259.00

Mark TRS-80 $99.99

9 Volt Power Supply $9.99

HAYES

Smartmodem 300 $199.00

Smartmodem 1200 $479.00

Smartmodem 1200B $399.00

Micromodem lie $269.00

Micromodem 100 $299.00

Smart Com II $75.99

Chronograph $199.00

NOVATION

J-Cat $99.99

Cat $139.00

Smart Cat 103 $179.00

Smart Cat 103/212 $399.00

AutoCat $219.00

212 AutoCat $549.00

Apple Cat II $249.00

212 Apple Cat $449.00

Apple Cat 212 Upgrade $259.00

Smart Cat Plus $339.00

ZENITH

ZT-1 $339.00

ZT-10 $309.00

ZT-11 $369.00

^^m west

wsT 800-648-3311

— 'hn NV call (702)588-5654 '

Order Status Number: 588-5654

P.O.Box 6689, Dept.100

Stateline, NV 89449

Canada

Ontario/Quebec 800-268-3974 Other Provinces800-268-4559

In Toronto call (416) 828-0666

Telex: 06-218960

2505 Dunwin Drive, Unit 3B, Dept.100

Mlsslssauga, Ontario, Canada L5L1T1

U>

east 800-233-8950

fMastetCard)

DINERSCLUB In PA caU P 1V)38?-9B?8

Order Status Number: 327-9576

Customer Service Number: 327-1450

477 E. 3rd St., Dept.100, Williamsport, PA 17701

Open purchase orders accepted with net 30 days terms, subject to credit approval. Next day shipping on all stock items. No risk, no deposit on C.O.D. orders and no waiting period for certified checks or money orders. Add 3% (minimum $5) shipping and handling on all orders. Larger shipments may require additional charges. NV and PA residents add sales tax. All items subject to availability and price change. Call today for our catalog.

132 BYTE • IANUARV 1985

...THE BEST PRICES

PRINTERS

AXIOM

AT-lOO Atari Interface Printer$169.00 AT-550 Atari Bidirectional....$259.00

GP-100 Parallel Interface $189.00

GP-700 Atari Color Printer...$489.00

GP-550 Parallel Printer $869.00

BMC

401 Letter Quality $589.00

BX-80 Dot Matrix $239.00

BX-100 Dot Matrix $859.00

C.ITOH

Prowriter 8510P $339.00

Prowriter 1550P $569.00

A10 (18 cps) Son of Starwriter$479.00

Hot Dot Matrix CALL

F10-40 Starwriter $949.00

F10-55 Printmaster $1099.00

COMREX

ComWriterll Letter Quality..$449.00 DIABLO

680 Letter Quality $749.00

630 API Letter Quality $1549.00

DAISYWRITER

2000 $949.00

EPSON

RX-80. RX-80FT, RX-100 CALL

FX-80. FX-100 CALL

LQ 1500. JX80 Color CALL

JUKI

6100 $449.00

6300 $779.00

MANNESMAN TALLY

160L $589.00

180L $749.00

Spirit 80 $259.00

INTERFACES

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS

Graphcard $84.99

Seriall Card $109.00

Microbuffer II + $179.00

Microbuffer 32K $199.00

m

ORANGE MICRO

Grappler CD (C64) $99.99

Grappler + (Apple) $109.00

Grappler 16K+ (Apple) $189.00

QUADRAM

Microfazer - Printer Buffers starting at

$139.00

We carry Interfaces and cables Tor most computers on the market today Call to determine

your requirements.

SEC

PC-8801 Portable Computer$Z99.00

PC-8231 Disk Drive $619.00

PC-82S1A Thermal Printers..$149.00

PC-8881A Data Recorder $99.99

PC-8801-06 8K RAM Chips....$105.00 PC-8806A 32K RAM Cartridge$389.00

SHARP

PC-13S0 $159.99

PC-1261 $159.99

PC-1260 $109.99

PC-150OA $166.99

PC-13SOA $88.99

CE-I25 Printer/Cassette $188.99

CE-150 Color Printer Cassette$171.99

CB-151 4K RAM $29.99

CE-155 8K RAM $49.99

CB-161 16K RAM $134.99

CE-500 ROM Library ea $29.99

HEWLETT PACKARD

41CV $189.99

41CX $249.99

HP 71B $419.99

HP 11C $62.99

HP 12C $93.99

HP 15C $92.99

HP 16C $92.99

HP 75D $999.99

HPIL Module $98.99

HPIL Cassette or Printer $359.99

Card Reader $143.99

Extended Function Module $63.99

Time Module $63.99

We stock the full line of HP calculator products

KOALA

Atari (ROM) $79.99

C-64 $79.99

IBM $99.99

Apple/Franklin $85.99

HOME COMPUTERS

NEC

8010/15/30 $719.00

3510/15/30 $1299.00

7710/15/30 SI 699.00

8027 $349.00

OKIDATA 82, 83, 84, 92. 93. 2350. 2410..CALL

Okimate-64 $209.00

OkimateAtari $209.00

OLYMPIA

Compact 2 $469.00

Compact RO $499.00

Needlepoint Dot Matrix $389.00

PANASONIC

1090 $239.00

1091 $309.00

1092 $449.00

1093 S649.00

SMITH CORONA

TP-1000 $449.00

Tractor Feed $119.00

SILVER REED

400 Letter Quality $279.00

500 Letter Quality $349.00

850 Letter Quality $459.00

770 Letter Quality $799.00

STAR

Gemini 10X $259.00

Gemini 15X $379.00

Radix 10 $549.00

Radix 15 $649.00

Powertype $329.00

TOSHIBA

1340 $799.00

1351 $1369.00

A

ATARI

k-.. ssaam

*•■•■■

I

ft-i

rtjasijgiggs

m n

■ o

CALL WHILE SUPPLIES LAST 600XL & 800XL

850 Interface $109.00

1010 Recorder $49.99

1080 Color Printer $79.99

1085 Dot Matrix Printer $199.99

1087 Letter Quality Printer..$869.99 1030 Direct Connect Modem....$59.99

1050 Disk Drive $179.99

Touch Table/Software $64.99

Light Pen/Software $78.99

CXS8 Track Ball $39.9

7097 Atari Logo $74.99

4018 Pilot (Home) $57.99

405 Pilot (Educ.) $99.99

8036 Atari Writer $49.99

5049 VisiCalc $59.99

MEMORY BOARDS

Axlon 38K $44.99

Axlon 48K $69.99

Axlon 1S8K $269.99

Microbits 64K (600) $109.00

SWP

ATR-8000-16K Z80 CP/M $349.00

ATR-8000-64K Z80 CP/M $499.00

BIT 3 Full View 80 $239.00

CX30Paddles $11.99

CX40 Joystick $7.99

4011 Star Raiders $12.99

4088 Pac Man $16.99

4085 Defender $38.99

B026 Dig Dug $32.99

S031 Donkey Kong $32.99

8034 Pole Position $32.99

8040 Donkey Kong Jr. $32.99

8043 Ms Pacman $38.99

8044 Joust $32.99

8045 Pengo $16.99

8068 Moon Patrol $38.99

4003 Assembler $34.99

8186 Microsoft Basic I or II $64.99

BISK DRIVES

Indus GT Drive (Atari) $279.00

Rana 1000 $249.00

Trak AT-D2 $389.00

Trak AT-D4 $539.00

MODEMS

Micro Bits MB-1100 $129.99

INTERFACES Microbits MB-1150 $79.99

Qz commodore

CBM 8038 $839.00

CBM 8096 $869.00

CBM 9000 $999.00

B188-80 $99.00

8038 to 9000 Upgrade $499.00

2031 LP Disk Drive $299.00

8050 Disk Drive $999.00

8250 Disk Drive $1249.00

4023 Printer $329.00

8023 Printer $589.00

6400 Printer $1449.00

Z-RAM $369.00

Silicon Office $499.00

The Manager $199.00

BATTERIES INCLUDED

Paperclip w/Spell Pack $84.99

The Consultant DBMS $69.99

Bus Card II $149.00

80 Col Display $149.00

DISK DRIVES

MSD SD1 $349.00

MSD SD2 $599.00

Indus GT/C64 $279.00

PERSONAL PERIPHERALS Super Sketch Graphics Pad $39.99

SX-64 Portable $749.00

Commodore Plus 4 $889.00

CBM 64 $199.00

C1541 Disk Drive $849.00

C1530 Datasette $59.99

C15S0 Color Printer/Plotter....$189.00

M-80I Dot Matrix Printer $219.00

C1526 Dot Matrix/Serial $299.00

C1703 Color Monitor $259.00

C1600 VIC Modem $59.99

C1650 Auto Modem $89.99

Simons Basic $29.99

MCS 801 Color Printer $499.00

DPS 1101 Daisy Printer $459.00

PFS

File (64) $59.99

Report (64) $59.99

PRECISION SOFTWARE

Superbase 64 $59.99

PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE

Word Pro 2 Plus $159.00

Word Pro 3 Plus $189.00

Word Pro 4 Plus/5 Plus each.$839.00

Info Pro $179.00

Administrator $399.00

Power $69.99

Word Pro 64 Plus $59.99

Fleet System II $59,99

west 800-648-3311

In NV call (702)588-5654

o

Canada

Ontario/Quebec 800-268-3974 Other Provinces800-268-4559

In Toronto call (416) 828-0866

Telex: 06-218960

2505 Diinwin Drive, Unit 3B, Dept.100

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5L1T1 CANADIAN ORDERS: All prices are subject to shipping, tax and currency fluctuations.

VISA

DINERS CLUB

Order Status Number: 588-5654

P.O.Box 6689, Dept.100 Stateline, NV 89449

east 800-233-8950

In PA call (717)327-9575

Order Status Number: 327-9576

Customer Service Number: 327-1450

477E.3rdSt„ Dept.1 OO.Williamsport.PA 17701

Call for exact pricing in Canada. INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: All orders placed with U.S. offices for delivery outside the Continental United States must be pre-paid by certified check only. Include 3% (minimum $5) shipping and handling. EDUCATIONAL DISCOUNTS: Additional discounts are available to qualified Educational Institutions. APO & FPO: Add 3% (minimum $5) shipping and handling.

Inquiry 76

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 133

LOOK WHO BUYS SOFTWARE FROM US!

If you order software from us, you're in good company. You see, some of our best customers are America's biggest corporations.

Maybe they're attracted by our low, low prices (big companies are price-conscious too!). Or maybe when you're an "IBM" you're looking for something extra. Like the personal service, giant inventory, and indepth technical support you'll findat800-SOFTWARE.

You see, when you call us, we'll take care of you like our business depends on it. Because it does. Which means when you place an order, you can be sure we'll fill it promptly. And that our unique Order Tracking System™ is keeping tabs on your order every step of the way.

Most important, we'll be there if you need us after your software arrives. We'll make sure that you'll receive the finest technical support and customer

service in the industry. And that's a promise. If you purchase in large quantities, you'll be delighted by the service our National Accounts Program provides.

Next time you're looking for low price and great service, do what IBM, General Electric, and a lot of other big companies do. Pick up the phone and give us a call.

We'll show you why some hard-headed companies buy their software from us.

CHECK OUT ALL OUR INCREDIBLE BUSINESS SOFTWARE PRICES:

Lotus 1-2-3

dBase ll/lll

Framework

WordStar 2000/2000 Plus

$309

$299/$379

$379

$269/$329

Lotus Symphony

Crosstalk $105

SuperCali3 $209

Hayes Modems I200/1200B $489/$409

AMDEK"

LIFETREE"

Fortran $269

Monitors

CALL

Volkswriter Deluxe

$179

All Other Products CALL

ASHTONTATE"

LOTUS"

MICR0STUF"

dBase Nllll $2

)9I$379

1-2-3

$309

Crosstalk $105

Framework

$379

Symphony

$439

MULTIMATE" $299

Friday!

$219

MAXELL "DISKETTES

CALL

NORTON UTILITIES" $ 59

AST" PRODUCTS

CALL

MEMOREX"DISKETT

ES CALL

QUADRAM" CALL

ATI-&CDEX-TRAINING

CALL

MICROPRO'

R0SES0FT"

DIGITAL RESEARCH"

CALL

WordStar 2000/2000

Plus $269f$329

Pro Key $ 99

FOX&GELLER

CALL

WordStar Pro Package

P.P. Plus $259f$359

SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS"

HAYES"

InfoStar

CALL

PFS: File/Graph/Write $ 84

Smartmodems

ChartStar

$239

PFS: Report $ 75

1200/12D0B 54

89IS409

TelMerge

$ 99

S0RCIMIIUS

All Other Products

CALL

All Other Products

CALL

SuperCalc2/3 $1591$ 209

HERCULES"

MICRORIM"

EasyWriter II System $185

Graphic Card

$325

RBase 4000

$289

IUS Easy Business Accounting $299lmod.

IMSI"

MICROSOFT'

All Other Products CALL

4-Point Graphics

$ 99

Multiplan

$149

WESTERN UNION EASY LINK FREE

PC Paintbrush

$ 99

Word uvjMouse

$299

PLUS MUCH, MUCH MORE! CALL

WE ALSO CARRY HUNDREDS OF OTHER PRODUCTS!

WRITE:

800-SOFTWARE.INC. 940 Dwiitht Way Berkeley, CA 94710

AoOSOFTWARE

TO ORDER CALL TOLL FREE:

800-227-4587 or 415-644-3611

|l.-;l|.-rim11iirils«r!,-...M,-.

Quanlitv discount.- uvaiHttiif i rmiUR NiiUnniiiApci»unwI*r.»sram.

forsacpppifit.Plwisi'M

available. Wdtimolatlil:

rb.rKiw.Oi

IBM Praiuleinnpatihles.

Imt>ntat»imilar<h'r»tt-t'k-t>tiH':

TE1.EX 1751743 SOOKOKTWARKl'l LZ CinujiUKoncKeyWHiil-GO-EH." U Mt'irvhei-iifDiriKfl Marhi-iincAjiiwicta

Ketti rUusiii.-s,, Hmvtui.

134 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry

by Joseph S. Nadan

A Glimpse into Future Television

A technology

evolving in parallel with personal computers

Editor's note: How will high-definition television [HDTV] open the window on the world for users of personal computers? This article presents the technical possibilities and describes a scenario for the evolution of television in the "information age'.' The author explains the relationship between HDTV and two-way interactive cable television (CATV). As envisioned, HDTV will have wider computer-type displays with increased resolution. This could support the preparation of larger spreadsheets using databases located both inside and outside the home. Shop-alhome services could benefit from "video facsimile',' the ability to send a picture from one location to any other on a CATV system in about 1 second. We could see what we are interested in buying, rather than viewing simple graphical representations.

When used as an entertainment device, the future television receiver probably will be very different from that of today. The author discusses new features made possible by digital memory within the receiver. We'/! be able to watch more than one program at once and use our personal computers while also watching, for example, one or more sporting events. Or we could shop interactively while watching a movie. When operated in high-definition mode, the larger and wider picture could enable the viewer to experience a theater-like presentation.

Color television has been in the American household for about 30 years. It is somewhat ironic that the television industry, the storehouse of creativity that has stimulated the development of VLSI (very-large-scale integration) digital video memories and significant improvements in rear-projection displays, is having so much difficulty in making the transition into the "information age." The cost, reliability, styling, and picture quality of color television have vastly improved over the years. However, color television still has its original display shape and one-way receive-only capabilities.

Television Improvements

The next generation of television receivers, in order to gain our acceptance, will most likely have

• a large display area with a wider aspect (width to height) ratio

• flexibility and interactivity

• approximately twice the perceived horizontal resolution and vertical resolution of NTSC (National Televi

sion System Committee) television

• true high-fidelity stereophonic sound (not discussed here)

• no artifacts (visible effects on the display; for example, shimmer and color flashing) that were not present in the original scene

Because of economic, social, and technical considerations, we at Philips Laboratories believe that the optimum maximum size of a consumer display will be about one-half square meter. While researchers still work toward very large flat-panel displays, it appears that vastly improved rearprojection displays are more imminently practicable. It is possible that in the next few years we will be able to purchase rear projectors that will have better subjective performance in normal room lighting than the 26-inch direct-view cathode-ray tubes (CRTs)

[continued) )oseph S. Nadan (345 Scarborough Rd.. Briarcliff Manor. NY 10510) is director of electronics and optical systems research for Philips Laboratories, a division of North American Philips Corporation.

IANUARY 1985

135

FUTURE TELEVISION

that are in use today.

A second important display parameter is the aspect (width to height) ratio (see the glossary on page 151). To more closely match the aspect ratio of human vision (1.80:1) and to better match film material, which is predominantly 1.66:1 and 1.85:1, we suggest an aspect ratio of 514:3 (or 1.78:1) in place of the standard 4:3 (see photo 1). We selected 514:3 over 5:3 because it is more noticeably different than 4:3. (Note that 5:3 is a 25

percent increase in width over 4:3 while 5/3:3 represents a 33 percent increase over 4:3.) It also supports new features made possible by digital memory in a television receiver.

Digital Memory

The availability of a low-cost digital memory within a television receiver makes possible new features, including both local- and network-level interactivity. (See the text box "Memory Technology for Digital-Feature Televi

Photo I: A comparison of the standard 4 5/3:3 version [b\.

3 aspect ratio CRT (a) and the proposed

sion" on page 148.) Digital signal processing within the receiver may be broadly classified into two categories: those that provide new features and those that replace existing analog signal processing at lower cost. Digital memory in the receiver falls into the first category and provides these new features: multiple-picture-in-picture (MPIP) display, single-picture-inpicture display, and frame storage (freeze-frame).

When first powered on, the new receiver could show 12 channels—that is. multiple pictures in one display (see photo 2)—to enable us to preview what is "on the cable." This display could also indicate the programming mix: that is, those programs available in an HDTV format could have a flashing contrasted dot as an indicator mark. By pressing one button on the remote-control unit, we could choose another set of favorite channels (which we have previously loaded into the receiver). After using an MPIP preview, we could select one or two programs to watch in real time (see photo lb). For example, we might want to watch two sporting events simultaneously, switching the more interesting programming to the larger portion of the display almost instantaneously by pressing one button. We could also watch one main program while "clicking through" other programs on the smaller display area. We also will be able to store a picture in memory and retain it on the display for closer viewing later.

The 5/3:3 aspect ratio is special in the respect that it synergistically relates to 4:3: in other words, one 5/3:3 picture may be formed from one 4:3 picture and three smaller 4:3 pictures. These capabilities may be combined for great flexibility. For example, we could use our personal computers while watching three different broadcasts. Preparing a wide spreadsheet or any type of document that is horizontally oriented is also facilitated by this aspect ratio.

Interactivity

A conventional CATV network consists of a head-end facility broadcast

136 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

FUTURE TELEVISION

ing perhaps 30 channels into several trunks, each having a bandwidth of about 400 MHz. These are then bridged into branches, split into subbranches, and tapped into perhaps 10,000 homes. Several immediate consequences come to mind: a vast underutilization of bandwidth; no interactivity except for a few "experiments" like QUBE (even QUBE interactivity is responsive in only one way: from the home to the head end); and a large investment in installed plant, including the head end, cable, distribution amplifiers, etc.

When two-way network-level interactivity is available, we will be able to send data from our location to any other location on the system. We could watch one program on the large portion of the display, two smaller programs on the small displays, and use the remaining small display to monitor our electronic mail. Figure 1 illustrates a distributed interactive CATV system having this two-way network capability. When we want to interact with the head-end facility, we first communicate via an access method with the nearest upstream video switch. This switch determines the type of data and its destination. Routing of traffic in this system is much simpler than in a packet-switching system because of the limited number of choices (upstream, downstream, return to same branch, and channel to be used). For this example, video switch 1 routes the message upstream using network-level protocol to video switch 0, which converts the RF (radio frequency) message to baseband for serial input to the head-end computer. The return message follows an analogous path to the origination address.

The distributed nature of the network enables users 7 and 8 to interact via video switch 2 without affecting communication with the head end. In this manner, average throughput of the network may be increased and average message delay minimized; when traffic and revenue warrant further investment, the system operator can install more switching at appropriate nodes to improve the network.

Each video-switch node also could contain memory for user applications. This would serve two purposes. First, many messages would be highly correlated, hence system performance may be improved. For example, at 7:55 p.m. it is reasonable to anticipate that many messages would request broadcast programming information. Answers could reside at the nearest installed video switch to minimize trunk traffic. Weather, road conditions, news, and other information could be similarly located. The second purpose for "application memory" involves storing large amounts of information for users, as more fully explained in the next section.

User-to-User Video Facsimile

Because the receiver will be able to store digitally frames of information (pictures or data) and communicate between any two users on the system, video facsimile is possible. Using this capability, a user can send one picture to any other user on the system with a similar interface capability. It must be emphasized that this is not realtime video (continuously sending one frame after another, each frame taking 1/30 second) but rather the transport of one single frame between destinations in about 1 second. An

example is offices transporting documents between different locations on the system.

Perhaps shop-at-home services would become economically viable when high-quality video pictures that would take about 1 second to transmit over a cable TV network replace cartoon-like "pictures" that take tens of seconds to transmit over telephone lines. After all, we like to "see" what we are buying.

It is unreasonable to expect people to manually input each frame if they want to participate in multiple-request interactive services. Fully automated interactive service will require multiframe storage capability. This should be economically viable, could be used to provide responsive information to all users of the network, and may be located conveniently at the bridge nodes or video switches.

Firmware

Reliable operation of both the receiver/set-top converter and the network switches will require well-developed firmware. This should not be difficult to obtain because equipment manufacturers have considerable experience in these areas. The receiver's remotely controlled tuner already operates under the control of a micro

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■■*$£ |

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1

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Photo 2: An example of multiple-picture-in-picture display using the 5]A:3 aspect ratio CRT The red dots in the two corners of the small windows indicate high-definition television display availability.

IANUARY 1985

iYTE 137

FUTURE TELEVISION

processor. Some addressable CATV set-top converters have as many as three microprocessors. These use a token-passing scheme to gain access to a shared NOVRAM (nonvolatile random-access read/write memory with a back-up array of electrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory cells) that stores channel requests, favorite channels, and other control information. Packet switches typically have used the most modern technology; design of video switches will most likely include 32-bit microcomputers.

It is important to emphasize that the video switch also most likely will have extensive mass-storage capability and perhaps even will include many videodisc storage systems. Firmware will have to be developed to support the single-frame queries of hundreds of users to a given videodisc database in a manner that will not noticeably

degrade the performance of the system.

Picture Quality

The subjective quality of a picture is determined partly by its vertical resolution, horizontal resolution, and artifact content. The vertical resolution of a picture is defined as the number of horizontal lines that may be seen in one picture height. This depends on the number of lines actually scanned across the display, the quality of the "spot" scanning each line, and our ability to perceive the light that is produced. In the current NTSC system, 52 5 interlaced lines are transmitted 30 times per second. Only about 480 of these lines appear on the display, 240 in each l/60th-second interlaced field. The remaining "lines" are not shown on the display and occur during the vertical flyback interval. This is the time required for the

scanning spot to travel from the bottom to the top of the display and is necessary for the receiver to synchronize the picture scan to the proper position on the display. The vertical resolution may be represented by the relationship V = Kd Na, where V is the vertical resolution, Kd is the display factor, and Na is the number of "active" lines.

The horizontal resolution of a picture is defined as the number of vertical lines that may be seen in a width of the picture equal to the picture height. This is primarily determined by the maximum frequency at which the spot scanning each line may be modulated (turned on and off). In the NTSC system this frequency is 4.2 MHz, although many color television receivers restrict this value to about 2.5 MHz, as explained later.

Artifacts are visible effects on the

{continued)

HEAD-END CATV SYSTEM

VIDEO SWITCH 0

VIDEO

SWITCH 1

£

VIDEO SWITCH 2

t>

O O o—O O n- (> n

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(>—P— (>—Q—

U2

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us_

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INTERACTIVE

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| J NON-IN

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2-WAY SPLITTER

TERACTIVE (»- COUPLER

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Figure 1: An example of a two-way interactive cable-television system.

138 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Meet

promal:

The First Fast

Structured

Language

That Lets You

Program The

Way You

Always

Wanted To.

And For

Only

A New Age Dawns for Microcomputer Programming

PROMAL" is innovative.

PROMAL (PROsrammer's Micro Application Lansuage) was designed toachieve maximum performance from small computers-performance previously impossible except with machine language. And it was developed, specifically, to meet the need for a development system for limited memory environments.

PROMAL is complete.

It's a fast, structured programming language. It's also a true development system, complete with its own command-oriented operating system executive; fast one-pass compiler; and fullscreen cursor-driven editor. In short, PROMAL is the complete set of tools that microcomputer programmers have been waiting for. PROMAL is fast.

with saves to memory and com pilationfrom memory workspace PROMAL is elegant.

PROMAL overcomes the performance limitations inherent in all small systems. It gives you access to the power of the machine. But it doesn't require the complexity of machine language programming. With PROMAL, you can have performance the easy way... since it was developed from the very beginning to work on small systems...elegantly PROMAL may be the answer to your programming needs. Finally, there's an answer to the need for a complete environment for simple and rapid program development. Finally a new age has begun for microcomputer programmers. Finally, there's PROMAL.

Commodore 64 Benchmark

(Sieve of Eratosthenes)

Execution Time (sees.)

Object Code Size (bytes)

Program Load Time (sees.)

Compile Time (sees.)

30

128

3.2

8.5

630

255

3.8

490

329

6.3

51

181

11.2

3.9

55

415

235

108

As the benchmark results in the table show, PROMAL is much faster than any language tested. From 70% to 2000% faster! And it generates the most com pact object code. The PROMAL compiler is so fast that it can compile a 100-line source program in 10 seconds or less. And, notonlyisitfastincompile and runtime, it also reduces programming development time PROMAL is easy. It's easier to learn than Pascal orC or FORTH. It makes use of powerful structured statements, like IFELSE, WHILE, REPEAT, FOR, and CHOOSE. Indentation of statements is part of the language's syntax, so all programs are neatly and logically written. There are no line numbers tocom plicate your programming. And comments don't take up memory space, so you can document programs completely. And with the fullscreen editor, you can speed through program development

PROMAL is available for the Commodore 64 now.

PROMAL is scheduled for release on the Apple lie in December, 1984 and on the IBM PC in 1st Quarter, 1985.

PROMAL FEATURES

COMPILED LANGUAGE

Structured procedural language with indentation

Fast, 1-pass compiler

Simplified syntax requirements

No line numbering required

Long variable names

Global, Local, &Arg variables

Byte, Word, Integer & Real types

Dec or Hex number types

Functionsw/passed arguments

Procedures w/ passed arguments

Built in I/O library

Arrays, strings, pointers

Control Statements: IF-ELSE, IF, WHILE, FOR, CHOOSE, BREAK, REPEAT, INCLUDE, NEXT, ESCAPE, REFUGE

Compiler I/O from/to disk or memory

EXECUTIVE

Command oriented, w/line editing

Memory resident

Allows multiple user programs in memory at once

Function key definitions

Program abort and pause

22 Resident system commands, 8 user-defined resident commands, nolimitondiskcommands

Prior command recall

I/O Re-direction to disk or printer

Batch jobs

EDITOR

Full-screen, cursor driven

Function key controlled

Line insert, delete, search

String search and replace

Block copy, move, delete & write to/

read from file Auto indent, undent support

LIBRARY

43 Machine-language commands Memory resident Cal I by name with arguments I/O, Edit, String, Cursor control and much more

PROMAL runs on Commodore 64s with disk drive.

HOW TO ORDER

Q Please send me my copy of PROMAL for the Commodore 64 at $49.95 plus $5.00 for shippins and handling at a total cost of $54.95. Satisfaction guaranteed.

□ Please send me a PROMAL demo diskette for the Commodore 64 at $10 for the diskette plus $2.50 for postage and handling for a total cost of $12.50. (Non-refundable.)

D My check is enclosed. □ Please charge my purchase to my... D Visa D MasterCard

Signature

City, State, Zip North Carolina residents add 4'/*% sales tax. For quicker response on credit card orders, call... Toll Free 1-800-762-7874 (in North Carolina 919-787-7703) Our Guarantee

Try your copy of PROMAL for 15 days. If you are not completely satisfied, return it to us undamaged and we'll refund your money. No questions asked. Dealer inquiries invited.

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES

3700 Computer Drive, Dept. PB-1 Raleigh, North Carolina 27609

Inquiry 343

IANUARY

BYTE 139

FUTURE TELEVISION

display that were not present in the original scene. They are caused by the manner in which a scene is encoded for transmission and the way it was originally sampled and then displayed. The most common are

• cross color, in which narrowly spaced lines break out into a rainbow of colors; striped shirts and windows on a building, for example, often become more colorful in certain areas due to this effect

• cross luminance, in which sharp vertical color transitions and large saturated color areas appear to have small moving dots

• large-area flicker, in which very bright areas seem to flash on and off at the 60-Hz field rate

• line flicker, in which stationary

edges that are not perfectly horizontal appear to move slightly up and down (or twinkle)

• line crawl, in which certain vertically moving objects lose about half their vertical resolution due to the interlaced display

In an attempt to minimize transmission bandwidth, the NTSC encodes chrominance and luminance information within the same bandwidth. Hence, the bandwidth from about 2.3 to 4.2 MHz is shared; the luminance information is centered on frequencies that are a multiple of the line frequency, while the chrominance information is offset by half the line frequency from these values. Successful decoding of the chrominance and luminance signals requires true

field 1 r

FIELD 1

Tl ME

FIELD 2 *'

1 ^-^——

LINE 1

LINE 3

LINE 5

—-~

LINE 7 j

Figure 2: The sequential-scan conversion process. X indicates a transmitted line; O indicates a locally interpolated line. The solid green line indicates line average (motion) green dashes indicate picture average (still), green dots indicate field insertion (still).

Figure 3: Line structure visibility. There are twice as many horizontal lines in the sequential-scan representation.

separation of this frequency-interleaved information. To decode luminance inexpensively, many manufacturers separate the signals by lowpass filtering the luminance. This limits the horizontal resolution rather severely but eliminates the crossluminance artifact. Line comb filters make it feasible to extend the horizontal resolution to the NTSC limit of 4.2 MHz with reduced cross effects.

Improved Picture Quality

Picture quality may be improved by increasing vertical or horizontal resolution and encoding the information in a different way that precludes cross effects. At Philips Laboratories we have shown that the subjective picture quality of an NTSC signal could be improved further by the use of digital picture-store memories in the receiver without changing the transmitted signal. Motion-compensated interlaced-to-sequential scan conversion demonstrates that perceived vertical resolution could be increased and line flicker eliminated. Figure 2 illustrates the interlaced scanning of normal NTSC television. If the transmitted lines are represented by X, the user sees the Xs in field 1 during the first sixtieth of a second (lines one, three, five, seven, etc.) and the Xs in field 2 during the second sixtieth of a second (lines two, four, six, eight, etc.). This alternate-line scanning repeats every other field.

With our approach, the transmitted signal format is not changed at all, but the alternate lines (represented by Os) that would appear in field 2 are stored in the receiver by spatial and temporal interpolation, and then all the lines are scanned in sequence rather than being interlaced. This technique results in a quiet appearance (with no line flicker) of the sequential display and an apparent increase in vertical resolution.

As illustrated in figure 3, the most striking effect is a noticeable reduction in the visibility of line structure. We are "misled" into believing that the number of transmitted lines has been doubled from 52 5 to 1050. The

(continued)

140 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

HIGH TECHNOLOGY AT AFFORDABLE PRICES

Dot Matrix Printers

Brother 2044L/Dynax DM-40 $ 1039.88

C. Itoh Prowriter(8510) 359.88

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w/IBM graphics compatibility 399.88

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93 w/IBM graphics compatibility 639.88

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Anchor Volksmodem, 300 bd $ 69.88

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Curtis Monitor Stand 39.88

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Keytronics 5151 keyboard 219.88

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PC-Mouse (w/o PC-Paint) S 129.88

PC-Paint Software S 69.88

SPECIAL!: Columbia Computers

One of the Top-5 IBM-PC compatible computer systems. Includes Perfect Software series, TIM IV database, FastGraphs, MS-DOS 2.0, CP/M 86 and much more. A powerful package at an incredible price.

MPC 1600 (256K Desktop) S 1949.88

MPC VP (256K Portable) $ 1949.88

Ask about our now PC Software selections!

Quadram 384K Quadboards (64K)... 269.88

Quadram Quad 512+ (64K) 239.88

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QuadVue (TTL output) 259.88

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STB Graphics Plus II 359.88

STB Super I/O 169.88

STB Super RIO (64K) 289.88

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TandonTM 100-2 DSDD 199.88

Titan Cygnus I/O (clock/parallel) 149.88

Titan Cygnus I/O (clock/RS-232) 169.88

TG Joystick 59.88

Apple Peripherals

ALS CP/M Plus Card (CP/M 3.0). ...$ 279.88

ALS Smarterm II (80 col) 139.88

ALS Dispatcher (RS-232) 74.88

AMT MicroDrive (half height) 179.88

Grappler+ Printer Card & cable 109.88

Microsoft Softcard (CP/M) 244.88

Microsoft Softcard lie (CP/M, 64K,

80 col. for Me only) 279.88

Pkasso-U Printer Card & cable 129.88

Printer Card & cable 79.88

Quadram E-Ram (lie, 80 col/64K).... 109.88

Rana Elite-1 Disk Drive 219.88

Rana Controller 84.88

Titan/Saturn Memory Boards

32K $ 154.88

64K 244.88

Neptune 64k/80 col (Me) 194.88

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Videx UltraTerm (80/160 column).... 244.88 Videx Enhancer II 109.88

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1 st Base DB $139.88

Diskettes (5-pk) 24.88

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Flin-n-File Diskette Holder. 24.88

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TECHNICAL INFORMATION/SALES

(603) 881-9855

TOLL-FREE ORDER DESK

(800) 343-0726

Hours: 9:00 to 5:30 EST, Mon-Fri

■ FREE UPS ground shipping on all orders over $50 (under $50 add $2.50 handling)

■ MasterCard, VISA American Express, Diners Club & Carte Blanche credit cards accepted

■ No surcharges on credit card orders

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■ CODs accepted up to $1000 (add $10 for COD handling). Payable with certified check money order or cash.

■ Allow 10 days for shipping from date of order

■ All personal checks held 30 days for clearance

■ Full manufacturer's warranty on all products sold

■ Software can be returned for an exact exchange only no credits or refunds issued

■ Sorry, no APO/FPO or foreign orders

HIGH

TECHNOLOGY

AT

AFFORDABLE

PRICES

THE BOTTOM LINE

MILFORD, NH 03055-0423 • TECHNICAL (603) 881-9855 • ORDER DESK (800) 343-0726

Inquiry 43

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE \41

FUTURE TELEVISION

transmitted signal remains unchanged (52 5 lines 30 times per second) but has its perceived value increased by conversion for display at 52 5 lines 60 times per second.

Sequential Scan Conversion

Three methods can be used to convert a transmitted interlaced-scan signal to a displayed sequential-scan signal. Line averaging displays double the number of lines of information per picture but reduces the vertical resolution. However, line structure visibility is reduced without introducing artifacts on moving parts of the picture. Line flicker, however, is not eliminated by line averaging. Picture averaging (or field insertion) combines the information of all lines of both fields to preserve the vertical resolution and eliminate line flicker. However, in moving scenes, the relatively large time difference between the two fields pro

duces jagged edges on moving contours. A third approach combines the previous two and adds motion-detection circuitry.

R. Prodan, of our laboratory, has demonstrated motion-detection circuitry that switches between the two methods to avoid new artifacts created by the scan-conversion process. Line-averaged and field-delayed information is combined in a complementary way based on the amount of motion in each picture element. A gradual switching from one interpolation technique to the other minimizes the visibility of the switching process. The scan conversion is accomplished by digitizing the composite video signal. Two field memories are used with the digitized input signal to provide the three fields of information needed to produce a motion-adaptive sequential-scan conversion. In this way, displayed picture quality is im

proved without introducing any new scan-conversion artifacts.

HDTV System Considerations

The fundamental relationship between the various factors that may be improved in a television picture is

RhRvRv

Nc

Dn

Da

where RH is the horizontal-resolution improvement factor, Rv is the verticalresolution improvement factor, R„ is the width improvement factor, Nc is the number of channels used, and D„ and D„ are the display factors of the new and old systems, respectively. Of particular interest are two-channel sequentially displayed systems for which Nc = 2, D„ m 0.8, and D„ = 0.5.

Doubling the perceived vertical resolution of an NTSC display may be ac

(conHnued)

CAMERA

SATELLITE RECEIVER

b—1

VIDEODISC PLAYER

HDTV RECEIVER

CABLE TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

PC TEXT ON SCREEN

PICTURE

PICTURE

PICTURE )

55

TUNER #1

TUNER

#2

3

'-Y

SPEAKER SPEAKER #1 #2

t

PICTURE

SPEAKER #1

-T

nanDn

a □□□□ana

DDDOaOOD

dooddaon

□ CD

□ □a

nan

TELECINE

NTSC RECEIVER

Figure 4: A block diagram of a two-channel high-definition television system.

142 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

INSTANT LAN

WITH STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS' NEW ARCNET-PC, ARCNET-S100 OR ARCNET-LINK, YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN LOCAL AREA NETWORK.

The world's first single-chip local area network controller established Standard Microsystems as a leader in networking technology. Now we're devoting our technical expertise to bring you revolutionary LAN board products, too.

Our ARCNET-PC board interconnects up to 255 IBIW-type personal computers, permitting them to share disk files and printer resources

ARCNET-LINK

ARCNET-PC

ARCNET-S100

at an extremely efficient 2.5 Megabit data rate.

The ARCNET-S100 board links up to 255 S100 computer systems, providing the S100 computer user with a high performance local area network.

The ARCNET-LINK is a self-contained unit that provides a simplified interface between equipment with a programmable asynchronous RS-232 port and an ARCNET local area network.

All three products incorporate SMC's industry-standard MOSA/LSI local area network chip set to give you a totally integrated and cost-effective LAN solution. Software available from Standard Microsystems and others provides increased capability for your networking applications. Standard Microsystems Corporation, 35 Marcus Boulevard, Hauppauge, NY 11788. (516) 273-3100.

STANDARD MICROSYSTEMS CORPORATION a^^==i

IBM" is o trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. ARCNET"" is a trademark of the Datapoint Corporation.

gr

Inquiry 329

IANUARY I985 -BYTE

143

FUTURE TELEVISION

complished by simultaneously increasing the number of lines and the display factor. Because the required bandwidth of a system increases in proportion to the square of the number of lines, it is preferable to use the minimum number of lines in an HDTV system. Hence, an 112 5-line interlaced display has a perceived vertical resolution of about 562 lines, while a 657-line sequential display has a vertical resolution of 526 lines while using only (657/1125)2 = 34 percent of the bandwidth. It is possible, therefore, to double the perceived vertical resolution of an NTSC display by increasing the number of lines from 52 5 to 657, transmitting this interlaced signal, performing an interlaced-to-sequential scan conversion in the receiver, and finally displaying the result sequentially. For a 5 Vr.3 aspect ratio (Rw = 1.33) two-channel system, this results, how

ever, in only a 20 percent increase in horizontal resolution.

Another point to consider is available transmission bandwidth. A straightforward doubling of the number of lines from 525 to 1050, increasing the width from 4:3 to 51/3:3, and doubling the resultant signal bandwidth would require 5lA times the single-channel bandwidth. By increasing the display factor and increasing the number of lines from 52 5 to 657, the required bandwidth is reduced to only 3[A times the singlechannel bandwidth.

These two approaches are unacceptable because they use an excessive amount of bandwidth. The two-channel 657-line system offers only a 20 percent improvement in horizontal resolution: doubling the horizontal resolution would require VA times the NTSC bandwidth. We

HDTV

657 LINES 5 1/3:3

P

1 P

A

1 A

N

CENTER

1 N

E

1 E

L

1 L

—

5.5yus

31/is

—-\ 5.5/is

CHANNEL 1

CHANNEL 2

525 LINES 1:3

525 LINES 4:3

HIGH

P A N E 1

FREQUENCY

1 p

1 A 1 N 1 E

SUBSAMPLES

CENTER

(393 LINES)

(LOW PASS)

L 1

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f~~

132

EXTRA LINES

~

5.5/isU

12

us

Figure 5: A possible method for delivering a two-channel NTSC-compatible high-definition television transmission.

feel that these problems may be overcome by better matching the transmitted television signal to the properties of human vision.

PSYCHOVISUAL ENHANCEMENT

Drs. William Glenn and Karen Glenn at the New York Institute of Technology have shown that it requires a finite time to perceive changes in images. Although the exact relationship is complex and not completely understood, the general principle is 'that the difficulty in perceiving an image increases as its subtended spatial angle decreases and/or its rate of motion increases. The operational impact is that it is unnecessary to transmit the high spatial-frequency information in pictures at the standard rate of 30 frames per second (fps). The required transmission bandwidth may be reduced significantly without affecting the perceived horizontal resolution by transmitting low spatialfrequency information (below 4.2 MHz) at the standard rate and refreshing high spatial-frequency information (above 4.2 MHz) below the standard rate. This, of course, requires digital memory in the receiver so that the 60-Hz field rate sequential display may have the full horizontal resolution composed from the previous few fields. The doubling of horizontal resolution at 30 fps, which normally increases bandwidth requirements by a factor of 20/15, may be reduced by a factor of 5 to 4/15. A two-channel HDTV system having about twice the perceived vertical and twice the perceived horizontal resolution of NTSC television may be realized by transmitting the higher frequencies at an equivalent of only 6 fps.

Two-Channel NTSC-Compatible HDTV

In a two-channel NTSC-compatible HDTV, signal sources may be distributed over a cable system to either present NTSC receivers or new HDTV receivers (see figure 4). In this manner producers, distributors, and equipment manufacturers will be able to continue to operate as the evolu

[continued]

IANUARY

Inquiry 178 for Dealers. Inquiry 179 for End-Users. —►

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FUTURE TELEVISION

HDTV DISPLAY

657 LINES

5 1/3:3 ASPECT RATIO

30 FRAMES/second

1

'

'

'

'i

657-TO-525

LINE

INTERPOLATOR

PANEL EXTRACTOR

132-LINE STRIPPER

HIGHFREQUENCY DECIMATOR (6 FRAMES/second)

I

'

CHANNEL 1 (STANDARD NTSC)

CHANNEL 2

(HDTV

ENHANCEMENT)

Figure 6: A block diagram of two-channel decomposition.

CHAN!

(EL 1 CHANf

(EL 2

'

1

'

i

HIGH

132-LINE

FREQUENCY

PANEL

STRIPPER

SAMPLER

EXTRACTOR

(6 FRAMES/second)

. r~

525-TO-657

HIGHFREQUENCY

RECONSTRUCT

INTERPOLATOR

(30 FRAMES/second)

^^^

^^^

^^vjOr

HDTV DISPLAY

657 LINES

5 1/3:3 ASPECT RATIO

30 FRAMES/second

Figure 7: A block diagram of two-channel reconstruction.

tion toward HDTV occurs.

Figure 5 shows one possible method of delivering this HDTV signal over two standard NTSC channels. This approach separates the HDTV signal into a standard NTSC channel (channel 1) and an augmentation channel (channel 2). Channel 1 contains the "center" 4:3 aspect ratio portion of the HDTV picture that has been low-pass filtered to 4.2 MHz horizontally and converted from 657 to 52 5 lines by a vertical filtering operation. This signal can be displayed on all current NTSC receivers. Channel 2 contains 132 of the original 657 lines, the side panels for the 5H'.3 aspect ratio display, and the highfrequency information for the entire 5'/3:3 picture in the remaining 393 lines between the side panels. The side panels and 132 extra lines are low-pass filtered to 4.2 MHz. The highfrequency subsampled information is shifted into the same 4.2-MHz lowpass region by a filtering and samplerate conversion process. This signal also can be displayed on all current NTSC receivers.

Figure 6 is a block diagram of the two-channel decomposition. The 657to-525 line interpolator produces the horizontally low-pass filtered 525-line NTSC picture from the 657-line wideband, wide-aspect ratio source. During this process, 132 of the original 657 lines are low-pass filtered and inserted into channel 2. This information represents a linear transformation of the original 657 lines, which makes the procedure reversible at the HDTV receiver.

The panels outside the normal 4:3 center portion are extracted after a 52 5-line interpolation and similarly inserted into channel 2. This permits reconstruction of the 5'/3:3 aspect ratio low-pass information at the HDTV receiver. The high spatialfrequency information is subsampled temporally at a 6-fps rate, shifted to the baseband low-pass frequency region, and inserted into the 393 remaining lines between the panels in channel 2. The two channels are transmitted simultaneously over two

{continued)

146 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

THE 8087 AND 80287 ARE IN STOCK!

MicroWay is the world's leading retailer of 8087s and high performance PC upgrades We stock a complete selection of 8087s that run at 5 and 8mhz. All of our coprocessors are shipped with a diagnostic disk and the best warranty in the business - 180 days! We also offer daughterboards for socketless computers such as the NEC PC and PCjr, and a board which increases the clock speed of the80287 in the PC AT. Our new NUMBER SMASHER'" will run the IBM PC at clock speeds up to 10mhz and achieves a throughput of.1 megaflops with 87 BASIC/IN LINE,

SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE

87FFT" performs Forward and Inverse FFTs on real and complex arrays which occupy up to 512K bytes of RAM. Also does convolutions, auto correlations, hamming, complex vector multiplication, and complex to radial conversions. Callable from MS Fortran or 87BASIC/INLINE $150

87FFT-2" performs two-dimensional FFTs Ideal for image processing Requires87FFT...$75

MATRIXPAK"" manages a MEGABYTE! Written in assembly language, our runtime package accurately manipulates large matrices at very fast speeds Includes matrix inversion and the solution of simultaneous linear equations Callable from MS Fortran 3.2, 87 MACRO, 87BASIC/INLINE, and RTOS each $150

DATA ACQUISITION PACKAGE

Interactive, user-oriented language which allows the acquisition and analysis of large data streams CALL

GRAPHICS PACKAGES

Energraphics (stand alone) 295

Grafmatic for MS Fortran or Pascal 125

Plotmatic for Grafmatic 125

Halo for Basic C or Fortran each 150

OTHER TOOLS

Alpha Software ESP 595

Borland Sidekick, Toolbox, or Graphics 45

COSMOS Revelation 850

PSI MATHPAK 75

smARTWORK 895

SPSS/PC 695

STSC APL-fk-PLUS/PC 475

Pocket APL 85

PC AT and 86-310 DRIVES

30 MEGABYTE WINCHESTER 2000

53 MEGABYTE WINCHESTER 2600

SYQUEST FIVE MEGABYTE 950

FIVE MEGABYTE CARTRIDGE 100

MAYNARD WS1 HARD DISK 950

MAYNARD WS2 or WS3 HARD DISK.... 1109

Micro Way

P.O. Box 79 Kingston, Mass 02364 USA (617) 746-7341

Intel Fortran, or Microsoft Fortran Software reviewers consistently cite MicroWay software as the best in the industry! Our customers frequently write to thank us for recommending the correct software and hardware to meet their specific needs They also thank us for our same day shipping! In addition to our own products which support the 8087 and 80287, we stock the largest supply of specialized software available anywhere These include three FORTRANs, three PASCALS, APL, Intel's ASM-86 and PL/M-86, several Cs, 87BASIC/INLINE,

87 MACRO, 87FFT, and MATRIXPAK. For real time or multi-user applications we offer RTOS™ - our implementation of Intel's iRMX executive. Our new products include a professional debugger with 8087 support and a translator that converts object modules into readable assembly language filea If you have a question about which computer, language, compiler, operating system or application package is best suited to your problem, we can answer it. Just call:

617-746-7341

Micro Way

8087 &

0 0 0

rr

rt

For the IBM PC, PC XT, PC AT and Compatibles.

RTOS - REALTIME OPERATING SYSTEM

RTOS is a multi-user, multi-tasking real time operating system. It includes a configured version of Intefs iRMX-86,LINK-86,LOC-86, LI B-86.0H-86, and MicroWay's 87DEBUG. Runs on the IBM-PC, XT, PC-AT and COMPAQ 400

INTEL COMPILERS1

FORTRAN-86 750

PASCAL-86 750

PL/M-86 500

87C (LATTICE/MICROWAY) 750

ASM-86 200

87 BASIC/I N LI NE" converts the output of the IBM Basic Compiler into optimized 8087 inline code which executes up to seven times faster than 87BASIC. Supports separately compiled inline subroutines which are located in their own segments and can contain up to 64K bytes of code. This allows programs greater than 128K! Requires the IBM Basic Compiler and Macro Assembler. Includes 87BASIC $200

87MACRO™ - our complete 8087 software development package. It contains a "Preprocessor," source code for a set of 8087 macros, and an object iibrary of numeric functions including transcendentals, trigonometries, hyperbolics, encoding, decoding and conversions Forthe IBM Macro Assembler, Version 1.0 or 2.0 $150

OBJ —ASM'" - a multipass object module translator and disassembler. Produces assembly language listings which include public symbols, external symbols, and labels commented with cross references Ideal for understanding and patching object modules and libraries for which source is not available $200

87DEBUG - a professional debugger with 8087 support, a sophisticated screen-oriented macro command processor, and trace features which include the ability to skip tracing through branches to calls and software and hardware interrupts Breakpoints can be set in code or on guarded addresses in RAM $150

You Can TalkToUs!

HARDWARE AND LANGUAGES

8087-3 5mhz $149

Including DIAGNOSTICS and 180-day warranty For IBM PC and compatibles

8087-2 8mhz $275

For Wang, AT&T, DeskPro, NEC, Leading Edge

80287-3 5mhz $275

For the IBM PC AT

64KRAMSet $30

256KRAMSet $195

128K RAM Set pc at $225 NUMBER SMASHER" call

10mhz 8087 coprocessor board for the IBM PC

FORTRAN and UTILITIES

Microsoft Fortran 3.2 239

IBM Professional Fortran 595

Intel Fortran-861 750

FORLIB+ 65

STRINGS and THINGS 65

C and UTILITIES

Lattice C 299

Microsoft C 329

C86 299

C TOOLS 85

C Trigs and Trans 150

BASIC and UTILITIES

IBM Basic Compiler 270

87BASIC/INLINE 200

Summit BetterBASIC™ 175

Summit 8087 Module 87

MACRO ASSEMBLERS

IBM Assembler with Librarian 155

87MACRO 1 50

PASCAL

Microsoft Pascal 3.2 209

Borland Turbo 45

Turbo with 8087 Support 85

'Requires RTOS or iRMX-86. All Intel compiler names and iRMX-86 TM Intel Corp

Formerly MicroWare, Inc. - not affiliated or connected with MicroWare Systems Corporation of Des Moines, Iowa.

Inquiry 240

IANUARY I985 -BYTE 147

Inquiry 110

DISCOUNT

1 - 800 - 354 - 2985

HOT LINE

GUARANTEED BEST PRICES CALL MON - SAT 8-5

SUPER SALE

OKI 92P - $349 STAR 10X - $235 HAYS 1200B-$399 LOTUS 123-$295

MODEMS

HAYS

1200-$475 MICROMODEM - $225 U.S. ROBOTICS

PASSWORD - $310 IBM PC - $320

COMPUTERS

ALTOS

586-20 - $5695 586-40-$7195

SANYO

550-1 -$679 555-2 - $1049

PRINTERS

C-ITOH

F10-$899 8510-$1175

DATASOUTH

DS180-$1099 DS220 - $1399

DIABLO

620 - S725 630-$1675

EPSON RX80 - $220 JX80 - $560

NEC

3510-S1215 3550-$1519

OKIDATA

182-Call 93-$575

SILVER REED

400 - $269 770 - $839

TELEVIDEO

TPCII-$1729 1605-$1699

SOFTWARE

LOTUS

123-$295 SYMPHONY - $439 MICROPRO

Wordstar - $189 Wordstar Pro - $295

DBase II-$299 Friday - $175

Multiplan - $139 Supercal III - $200

MBSI - $325 TCS - $75

BOARDS

AST

Six Pac - $259 Combo + - $259 QUADRAM

Quadlink - $449 Quadboard - $279

TERMINALS

TELEVIDEO

914-$515 925 - $699 WYSE

50 - $495 75 - $565

DISCOUNT COMPUTER

4655 N. ORACLE RD. #207

TUCSON, ARIZONA 85705

Prices Subject To Change.

FUTURE TELEVISION

separate NTSC channels. Standard receivers would receive either of these; the channel 1 signal is the equivalent of the present transmission, the channel 2 signal is recognizable as the extra information necessary to build the perceived better picture.

Figure 7 is a block diagram of the two-channel reconstruction. Channel 1 carries the center portion of the wide-aspect ratio picture. The side panels are extracted from channel 2 to give a 5 Vr.3, 52 5-line low-pass picture. The extra 132 lines are stripped from channel 2, and a linear transformation yields the original 657 lines in the low-pass region of standard NTSC horizontal resolution. The high-frequency information is extracted from channel 2, shifted up to the original high-frequency region to refresh a digital memory frame store that receives the information over the channel at 6 fps. The frame store is continuously read out at the standard 30-fps rate. This increases the perceived horizontal resolution to double the standard NTSC resolution for still pictures. Horizontal detail will

have lower temporal resolution due to the subsampling. The eye is less sensitive to fine detail that's moving; we will not perceive this loss in "theoretical" resolution.

Non-Shared Bandwidth Systems

A digital frame memory in the receiver enables further improvements in picture quality. The noise performance of the receiver may be improved about 3 decibels by constructing a nonrecursive digital filter having a 30-Hz periodicity. This is more important when relatively noisy sources (for example, videocassette recorders) are used. "Frame combing" further reduces cross effects.

Some video engineers say that this level of performance should be improved still further by completely eliminating cross effects. This may be done by frequency or time multiplexing the luminance and chrominance information in the video signal. To eliminate cross effects by frequency multiplexing, the encoding must not let the luminance and chrominance information share the same bandwidth.

Memory Technology for Digital-Feature Television

Many new television features described in this article are made possible by low-cost digital memories used to store displayed images. The displayed portion of each of the 480 lines in the current 4:3 NTSC system takes about 53.5 jis to scan. When sampled at 13.5 MHz, this results in 720 1-byte samples per line, lb facilitate signal processing, this is expanded to 720 + 180 + 180 = 1080 bytes per line; the extra samples are added so that luminance and two color-difference signals are digitally available. Widening the screen to 5!4:3 without increasing the horizontal resolution increases this to 1080 x5'/j/4 = 1440 bytes per line. Doubling horizontal resolution results in a total of 2880 bytes per line. Because the

657-line system has about 600 lines on the display, one HDTV image requires a total of 1.728,000 bytes of storage. Currently there are two competing technologies for implementing this store: high-speed DRAMs (dynamic RAMs) and charge-coupled devices (CCDs). DRAMs offer the advantage of easily handling multiple-picture composition. CCDs, which operate as a FIFO (first-in/first-out) sequential store, do not require address generation. Further, the extremely high-speed requirements, 2880 bytes in 42 fis, or 1 byte about every 15 nanoseconds, may be more readily attainable in this technology. Components similar to lineaddressable RAMs (LARAMs) could be developed by 1C manufacturers to fill this need.

148 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 275

FUTURE TELEVISION

Glossary

Active lines: lines of the television signal that appear on the display; the NTSC television signal has 52 5 lines, of which about 480 are displayed; the remaining lines are used for synchronization and test purposes.

Artifacts: visible effects, generated in a picture due to its transmission, that were not present in the original scene.

Aspect ratio: picture width divided by picture height; standard television has a 1.33 (or 4:3) aspect ratio; highdefinition television will have a wider (perhaps 1.66 or 1.78) aspect ratio more like that of motion picture film.

Chrominance: part of the television signal that characterizes the color (hue and saturation) without reference to its luminous intensity (brightness).

Comb filter: an electronic filter with a spectral response that consists of several equally spaced elements that resemble the teeth of a comb.

Display factor: a constant that converts the number of active lines transmitted into the number of vertical lines perceived on a display.

Field: a sample of the lines in a TV picture (or frame): a field in NTSC TV consists of 262 Vi lines transmitted in 1/60 second; i.e.. all the odd- or evennumbered lines in the picture.

Frame: smallest number of fields comprising one complete television picture; in NTSC television, two fields having a total of 52 5 lines transmitted in 1/30 second (i.e., all the lines in a picture).

Frame memory: a digital device using either RAMs or charge-coupled devices to store a complete television picture; for NTSC television, this requires about 500,000 bytes.

Interlaced scan: a means of displaying a picture whereby the lines of the second field of a frame are placed halfway vertically between the lines of the first field of a frame.

Luminance: part of the television signal that characterizes the light intensity (brightness) without reference to its color (chrominance).

Resolution: the number of lines that may be represented in a distance equal to the height of a display.

Sequential scan: a means of displaying a picture whereby all the lines of a frame are presented one after another in sequence; sometimes referred to as progressive scan.

Video facsimile: transmission of one television picture from one to any other location on a CATV system in about 1 second.

if all the luminance information from 2 to 4.2 MHz is up-converted by 3 MHz, then the chrominance and luminance information are easily separable, completely eliminating cross effects.

Cross effects also may be eliminated by time multiplexing the chrominance and luminance information. Instead of encoding the chrominance and luminance information on each line into a sharedbandwidth composite-video signal, the information is individually timecompressed and shifted. For a typical MAC (multiplexed analog component) signal, sound and sync information occupies the first 10 /*s (microseconds) of each line; one of the color

difference signals, time-compressed by a factor of three, occupies the next 18 /xs of the line; and the luminance signal, time-compressed by a factor of three to two, occupies the remaining 36 lis of the line.

Time compression of the signal by an amount X increases the required bandwidth for transmission X times. Hence, the required bandwidth for transmission of the luminance is 1.5 x 4.2 = 6.3 MHz, while the required bandwidth for the chrominance is 3 x 1.5 = 4.5 MHz. The choice of the compression factors is based not only on bandwidth considerations but also on noise performance over the communication channel. In principle, any

[continued]

New graphics system offers wide

open

architecture

tothe

designer

♦ Open architecture.

♦ Industry standard buses.

♦ Adapts to thousands of tasks.

♦ Expandable with modules from us and many others.

♦ Obsolescence proof.

♦ Color or monochrome.

Our new Perigraf 1 is built around a standard Q-bus with slots for many extra cards to expand or customize your system.

Pcritek offers cards for color or monochrome, for dot graphics or alphanumerics, for low to high resolution, and for one or more display channels.

You can choose a single unified bus or a bus split for two microprocessors. Choose a standard single-wide enclosure or a double-wide enclosure for super micros.

You get a hard disk and two floppies on a single plug-in module that you can replace in one minute.

You can link up to six Perigrafs for parallel data transfer by DMA at 250,000 bytes/sec—or link any number for local area networking by Ethernet.

Complete development software is included. Image editor. Vector de-jagging. System diagnostics. GKS-compatible software. All supported by popular operating systems.

Basic $14,500 price includes 11/73 CPU, 512 Kb RAM, 2 RX50 type floppies, 36 Mb hard disk, 4 port serial I/O, RT clock, and graphics interface.

Contact Peritek Corporation, 5550 Redwood Road, Oakland, CA 94619 (415) 531-6500. Eastern Regional Sales Office (516) 9 31-4664 TWX 910-366-2029.

Peritek

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 149

"It reminded me of some of

the early micro conventions,

the fun ones before they

got so large... there were

also a number of industry

heavyweights to make it likely

that what was said would

have an effect."

— Jerry Pournelle on Sage Faire '84

For three days in February, Stride Faire '85 gives you an opportunity to learn where high performance supermicrocomputer technology is going. Some of the heavyweights in the industry will discuss what's happening, and more importantly, what's about to happen. You'll see and hear panel discussions, speakers, demonstrations and workshops regarding products, companies and items like:

Digital Research

Modula

UNIX

RM/COS

CAD/CAM

Multiuser

Flexware

Local Area Networking

Sales Techniques

BOS • PDOS

TOM Software

CP/M • Forth

Idris

Wyse Terminals

Flooring

Retail Software

DB Master

APL • LISP

MCBA

We are very proud to announce that our keynote speaker will be Niklaus Wirth, considered to be the father of Pascal and Modula-2.

Stride Micro will also introduce some very important and exciting new products at the Faire.

It all happens at the fabulous MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nevada. Besides attending the Faire, you may want to venture out into the picturesque scenery of Lake Tahoe for some of the best skiing in the world. Special hotel and travel rates are available through Stride Micro.

Make plans to attend Stride Faire '85, February 8-10. It's your chance to stay a step ahead in the computer race, with a chance to win a Stride 420 computer (complete with software) valued at over $4,000, just for attending the Faire.

Call today for an information package on Stride Faire '85.

Contact:

Laura Smith Stride Faire '85 (702) 322-6868

W0

FEBRUAM8-W, 1985

Stride Micro (Formerly Sage Computer), 4905 Energy Way, Reno, Nevada 89502

FUTURE TELEVISION

choice of

l

+ — = I

Xc XL is possible; Xc = 3 chrominance compression and XL = 1.5 luminance compression are selected to optimize subjective performance for signals having the same RGB (red-green-blue) inputs as European PAL (phase alternation line) over a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) system.

E-MAC AND

the Smart Receiver

Unlike current TV systems, with both the two-channel NTSC-compatible HDTV and MAC coding systems, the time position of the transmitted signal no longer directly corresponds to the position of the information on the final display. The decoder uses the memory in the receiver to change the time sequence of the signal to reassemble the picture according to a fixed predetermined mapping. S. Liong Tan (N.V. Philips) and Richard lackson (Philips Redhill) suggested that a large number of different formats could be decoded by a "smart" receiver if the transmitted signal included format-decoding information. Recently the European Broadcasters Union modified the proposed MAC specifications to include signal format information in the last line. A "smart" receiver could select the correct picture format map from the information provided by the last line.

Summary

In this glimpse into future television, I have presented the technical basis for the evolution of color television in the "information age." This is made possible by the development of frame stores using VLSI. These new components increase the extent of signalprocessing capabilities that are economically viable. Local- and network-level interactive capabilities will be emphasized, including interuser transmission of digital data and video facsimile.

The exact format for HDTV and the extent of receiver flexibility are being evaluated. Once a path is cleared, the journey to future television may be completed in a few years. ■

150 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 332

Despite the recent press notices, multiuser microcomputers aren't

anything new!"

This is the first in a series of discussions with Rod Coleman, President of Stride Micro (formerly Sage Computer) on the 68000 multiuser market and its current environment.

Q: Why do you say that? RC: "The technology to build a high performance multiuser system has been around for five years. And while some of the leaders in this industry have been pretending that micro multiuser didn't exist, we've been shipping complete systems for nearly three years. The benefits of multiuser are undeniable; it is more cost effective, and offers greater flexibility and utility. But until just recently, the marketing pressure to be compatible instead of being better, has blinded the industry."

0.* What do you mean? RC: "Well, for example, the Motorola 68000 processor introduced 16/32-bit technology to the personal computer world a long time ago. It was fully capable of

"A surprising feature is compatibility. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it."

meeting high performance and multiuser design requirements in 1980. Instead of this trend taking off, most energy was spent promoting 8088/8086 products that

Inquiry 333

were clearly inferior from a technical point of view. This phenomenon leads me to believe that they will soon rewrite the old proverb: 'Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door,' but only if they can find the way through the marketing fog." Q; Are things changing now? RC: "Yes and no. With the business world starting to take more and more interest in microcomputer solutions, the advantages of a solid multiuser system couldn't be kept hidden forever; companies like ours and a few others were beginning to make a dent. Instead of taking a fresh approach, some of the newest multiuser offerings will probably only give the technology an undeserved black eye! Multiuser is far more than the ability to plug in more terminals. It involves things like machine compatibility, fast processors, adequate memory, large storage capacities, backup features, networking, and operating system flexibility."

Q: Is this what makes the new Stride 400 Series different? RC: "Exactly. That sounds selfserving, but it's true. Today a number of companies are introducing their first multiuser system. We've been building and shipping multiuser machines for almost three years. We know the pitfalls, we've fallen into some of them. But we have learned from our mistakes." Q; Give me some examples. RC: A hard disk is almost mandatory for any large multiuser installation. Yet, backing up a hard disk can be a nightmare if you only have floppies to work with. That's why we've added a tape backup option to all the larger Stride 400 Series machines. It's irresponsible for a manufacturer to market a multiuser system without such backup. Another good lesson was bus design. We started with one of our own designs, but learned that it's important not only to find a bus that is powerful, but also one that has good support and a strong future to serve tomorrow's needs. We

'The marketing pressure

to be compatible

instead of being better,

has blinded the industry."

think the VMEbus is the only design that meets both criteria and thus have made it a standard feature of every Stride 400 Series machine."

Q: What are some of the other unique features of the 400 Series?

RC: "A surprising feature is compatibility. Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it. Our systems are completely compatible with each other from the 420 model starting at $2900, through the 440, on to the powerful 460 which tops out near $60,000. Each system can talk to the others via the standard built-in local area network. Go ahead and compare this with others in the industry. You'll find their little machines don't talk to their big ones, or that the networking and multiuser are incompatible, or that they have different processors or operating systems, and so on." 0." When you were still known as Sage Computer, you had a reputation for performance, is that still the case with the new Stride 400 Series?

RC: "Certainly, that's our calling card: 'Performance By Design.' Our new systems arc actually faster; our standard processor is a 10 MHz 68000 running with no wait

states. That gives us a 25% increase over the Sage models. And, we have a 12 MHz processor as an option. Let me add that speed isn't the only way to judge performance. I think it is also measured in our flexibility. We support a dozen different operating systems, not just one. And our systems service a wide variety of applications from the garage software developer to the corporate consumer running high volume business applications." Q: Isn't that the same thing all manufacturers say in their ads? RC: "Sure it is. But to use another over used-term, 'shop around'. We like to think of our systems as 'full service 68000 supermicrocomputers.' Take a look at everyone else's literature and then compare. When you examine cost, performance, flexibility, and utility, we don't think there's anyone else in the race. Maybe that's why we've shipped and installed more multiuser 68000 systems than anyone else."

trnierly Suyc Computer

For more information on Stride or the location of the nearest Stride Dealer call or write us today. We'll also send you a free copy of our 32 page product catalog.

Corporate Offices: 4905 Energy Wav Reno, 1^89502 (702) 322-6868

Regional Offices: Boston: (617) 229-6868 Dallas: (214) 392-7070

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 151

-At

And AT&T, Columbia, Compaq, Corona, Eagle, TI Professional, anc QICSTOR-PLUS, PC-DISC, PC-BACKUR PC-CARD, and PC-9 TRACK.

Alloy Computer Products, Inc.. 100 Pennsylvania Ave., Framingham, Mass. 01701 (617) 875-6100, TWX: 710-346-0394

152 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

*

■

$9 ■.

■■■■

Zenith. With PC-QICTAPE, PC-STOR, PC-SLAVE/16, PC-QICSTOR, See Alloy's full line of innovative products in action at your local dealer.

Europe: Alloy Computer Products (Europe) Ltd.. Cirencester, Gloucestershire, Eng. Tel: 0285-68709, Tlx: 43340 Inquiry 15

Computer Produces, Inc.

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 153

Get the Picture

with PHOTOBASE

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Call or write and we will send you information on PHOTOBASE, PC-EYE, compatible cameras and other imaging equipment in the Chorus Family of products. (603) 424-2900 or 1-800-OCHORUS.

TM PHOTOBASE and PC-EYE are trademarks of CHORUS Data Systems. "dBase II is a trademark of Ashton-Tate; R-Base 4000 is a trademark of Microrim, Inc.; IBM Filing Assistant is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

Inquiry 53

CHORUS Data Systems, Inc., 6 Continental Blvd., P.O. Box 370, Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054

by Gregg Williams

Microsoft Macintosh BASIC Version 2.0

Author's note: This article describes the features of the new version of Microsoft BASIC for the Apple Macintosh, available for $150. Because it is based on a prerelease copy of the software involved, this article does not include any evaluation of the software's performance. Since the software's functionality had been "frozen" [i.e., no new features were to be added to the product), this article should be an accurate description of the software's content and structure. A full software review will follow sometime in the future.

Microsoft Corporation released a version of its BASIC for the Apple Macintosh computer shortly after the machine's release. Although this version used few of the Macintosh's special features (windows, pull-down menus, etc.), it became popular, largely because it was the only BASIC available. (Apple's Macintosh BASIC as of this writing, was still not available.) Microsoft recently introduced Microsoft BASIC version 2.0 (I'll abbreviate Microsoft BASIC for the Apple Macintosh as MBASIC 2.0 to contrast it with Apple's product, called Macintosh BASIC). Because most people are familiar with the generic Microsoft BASIC (which is similar to MBASIC version 1.0 for the Macintosh), I'll limit this description to those features that are new. MBASIC 2.0 is upward-compatible with programs and data files created using MBASIC 1.0. Figure 1 shows the List (program listing) window for an MBASIC 2.0 program and the contents of the Windows menu.

Windows

The WINDOW statement lets you create and close (eliminate) windows,

direct program output to one of

several windows, and get information NiOYC WiCiC SUVVOft

about a certain window (for example, ^

its size or the position of the cursor ny\A fYUP

in the active window). The number of uriu U UC

windows in your program is limited «

only by the amount and usage of the pafCLIfiet€1r''pClSSing

Macintosh's memory.

In addition, the PICTURE ON statement causes a variable called PICTURES to accumulate, according to the manual, "a set of encoded Macintosh instructions which, together produce a screen image." The

[continued) Gregg Williams is a senior technical editor for BYTE. He can be contacted at POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449.

subprograms

6 File Edit Search Run

Windows

t

Show Command

Show List SSL Show Second List Show Output

si 1 =^

—r—

' Micro Monsters

i>

k

G0SUB initsys

ON MENU G0SUB processmenu

MENU ON

WHILE true

gosub Initgame

WHILE alive

GOSUB i nit wave

WHILE alive AND rnorenemy

IF NOT laststand THEN GOSUB moveuser movcnt=skill

8

01

. :.■ : ■...■■.-. ■.■■■■■■■ ;■ .■....: ■:■■ ..;.■.■.. .:■■■■■■■... ■■■■ ■ .....

0

a

Command

Figure I: Microsoft Macintosh BASIC 2.0. Note the lack of line numbers in the program and the selections in the new Windows menu.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE

155

MBASIC 2.0

MBASIC 2.0 comes in two versions that

use different

floating-point-number formats but are otherwise identical.

programmer can use the stored value of this string to reproduce the contents of a window. With some additional programming, you can use this statement to create a program that redraws the contents of an output window when an obscuring window is removed. (MBASIC 2.0 automatically redraws List windows but not output windows.)

Edit Fields, Buttons, and Dialog Functions

The EDIT FIELD statement allows you to specify any rectangular area of an output window as an edit field. This lets the user of your program edit the contents of that field (which can be blank or contain a string of your choice) with the mouse and the edit functions (cut, copy, and paste)—just as you would be able to do with, say, MacWrite.

The BUTTON statement allows you to place buttons of various kinds (push buttons, check boxes, or radio buttons) in a window and change and inquire about their status (among "inactive," "active, not selected," and "active, selected").

The DIALOG function returns a value that states whether or not something significant has happened in the active windows. This includes such information as whether or not a button has been pressed, whether an inactive window or the active window's "close box" have been clicked, or whether a window needs to be refreshed.

With the above statements and the WINDOW statement, you can create windows that refresh their contents

when needed and windows that look and behave like standard Macintosh alert and dialog boxes.

Menu Bars

The MENU statement lets you create up to 10 custom menus, each with up to 20 items; menu items can be inactive, selected, or selected and marked with a check box. MBASIC 2.0 makes no provision for a Command-key sequence to substitute for a menu item (like, for example, Command-C to substitute for the menu item "Cut"). The MENU function returns the values of the menu and item numbers of the last menu selection made.

Event Trapping

The numerous event-trapping statements let you control your program via various events without tedious programming—things like mouse clicks, button and menu selections, and window activations. These functions are the "glue" that will usually hold together a BASIC program that makes heavy use of the Macintosh user interface.

In addition to the ON ERROR GOSUB nnnn from MBASIC 1.0, which executes the subroutine at line nnnn when the program detects an error, MBASIC 2.0 allows you to execute a subroutine: ON BREAK (whenever Command-period, the break sequence, is pressed), ON DIALOG (when the value of DIALOG(O) becomes nonzero, indicating some dialog-box-related event), ON MENU (when a custom-menu item is selected), ON MOUSE (when the user presses or drags the mouse button), or ON TIMER (when an internal timer counts down to zero). In addition, sensing of these events can be enabled (e.g., MOUSE ON), disabled (MOUSE OFF), or stored for later use (MOUSE STOP).

Sound

MBASIC 1.0 had only the simple BEEP command, but MBASIC 2.0 adds a SOUND command that lets you control the tone and length of up to four sound generators. In addition, sound commands (to an unspecified

limit) can be queued up with the SOUND WAIT command, then released with SOUND RESUME; this allows you, for example, to set up and then play several sound generators in synchronization.

Another statement, WAVE, lets you use waveforms other than the default (a square wave). The parameter SIN specifies a sine wave; 2 56 elements from a selected integer array specifies any other arbitrary waveform. While the use of a single square-wave sound generator may slow program execution about 2 percent, the use of multiple arbitrary waveforms can cut execution speed by more than 50 percent.

Two Versions

Microsoft has made the unprecedented move of supplying two versions of MBASIC 2.0, which use different floating-point-number formats but are otherwise identical. The BCD (binary-coded decimal) version is better for business and financial programming because it eliminates the rounding errors that sometimes occur when using binary floating-point arithmetic (the kind used by most BASICS). This version is compatible with programs and data files created by MBASIC 1.0 and defaults to double precision for numeric values. The binary version of MBASIC 2.0 (which adheres to the IEEE floating-pointnumber standard) is faster than the BCD version because it defaults to single precision for numeric values and for the calculation of transcendental functions. The binary MBASIC 2.0 icon and BASIC program icons show a small flowchart and a pi symbol. (The decimal-version icons look like their counterparts that are found in MBASIC 1.0.)

Editing and Debugging

MBASIC 2.0 adds a number of muchneeded editing and debugging features. Find and find-and-replace menu selections automate the tedious process of looking through a program listing for things that need to be changed. A find-the-cursor menu

[continued]

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JANUARY I985 -BYTE 157

MBASIC 2.0

selection allows you to scroll through your program and return to your original location without the trial and error that you previously had to do. You can also do full Macintosh-style editing in the List window; this is a great improvement over MBASIC 1.0. which forces you to copy a BASIC line to the command window for editing.

Another improvement is that MBASIC 2.0 allows you to make only two List windows. In MBASIC 1.0 you can have three List windows open, which wastes memory.

MBASIC 2.0 adds a single-step capability to the TRON and TROFF statements available in MBASIC 1.0. Single-stepping, which is invoked

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using the Step selection under the Run menu (or by pressing CommandT), causes MBASIC 2.0 to execute one statement and highlight it in the List window (if it is visible). Note that only one statement is executed; if a line contains multiple statements, only the current one is highlighted.

New Language Features

The Macintosh-environment enhancements to MBASIC 2.0 are certainly exciting, but Microsoft has made improvements to the BASIC language itself that are actually more important. None of these features are new to BASIC itself, but their inclusion in a Microsoft BASIC tends to ensure their inclusion in future Microsoft BASICS, which will probably set a de facto standard for the microcomputer community. The new features, which include program-format changes and subprograms that pass parameter values, rectify most of the shortcomings that programmers have against the language and make it a serious competitor to Pascal for many users.

The criticism of BASIC as an unreadable, monolithic language is largely due to its lack of formatting (indenting lines to clarify, for example, the body of a DO loop) and its requirement of line numbers. MBASIC 2.0 programs are stored as they are typed in—this includes any cosmetic use of spaces, even blank lines. MBASIC 2.0 requires line numbers—or, equivalently, alphanumeric labels delimited by colons—only when needed to specify the destination of GOTOs, GOSUBs, or IF-statement branches. MBASIC 2.0 also converts BASIC keywords (which may be entered in lowercase) to uppercase and boldface in the List window.

The subprogram (delimited by SUB and END SUB statements) differs from the subroutine in that the former can pass values from the calling statement to the subprogram definition; this feature greatly increases the power of the language and is a part of most sophisticated programming languages (FORTRAN, Pascal, and Modula-2, among others). The vari

(continued)

158 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 7

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Inquiry 292

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MBASIC 2.0

ables used in the SUB statement are called formal (or dummy) parameters because they are not actual variables that can conflict with variables of the same name elsewhere in the program—they are placeholders for the values that are passed to the subprogram when it is called. MBASIC 2.0 subprograms support

call-by-reference and call-by-value parameter passing (in the latter, the subprogram cannot change the value of the variable used as a parameter in the calling statement). Simple variables in the calling statement are called by reference (meaning their values can be changed) unless they are surrounded by parentheses, in which

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case they are called by value. Calling statements can pass array names as parameters, and the size of the array does not have to be declared in the definition of the subprogram.

In addition to its formal parameters, which are local to the subroutine (meaning their values do not exist outside the subprogram), the SUB statement can include a list of shared variables, variables that are global (meaning they have the same value both inside and outside the subprogram). The SUB statement can also declare that all the variables inside it are static; the variables retain their values from one invocation of the subprogram to the next.

Subprogram definitions cannot contain other subprogram definitions. This means that variables cannot have varying degrees of locality (as they can in Pascal, for example). However, you can limit the scope of some variables by defining them as shared with some subprograms but not others.

A subprogram can be called either by its own name or with the CALL statement (which is also used to call machine-language subroutines). For example, if a subprogram is defined with

SUB POLY_AREA

(SIDES, LENGTH,RESULT)

it can be called as

CALL POLY_AREA(5,12,area) or as

POLY_AREA 5,12,area

(note the lack of parentheses in the latter case).

Documentation

The MBASIC l.O reference manual has 215 pages; the MBASIC 2.0 manual has 378 pages, which includes examples of almost every feature described. For example, the "Access to Macintosh ROM Routines" appendix is five pages in the first manual and eleven pages in the second (which documents the same number of routines, only in greater detail). The MBASIC 2.0 documentation spells out

[continued)

160 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 172

fcUSS*.

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IEEE-488

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Lattice C only 395

DeSmet Cw/db_VISTA 595

11717 Rainier Avenue South Seattle, WA 98178 206/772-1515 3

Special REDUCED

price through January 31-$295

MBASIC 2.0

the language's functions more completely, which allows most of us to more fully use the language without having to be wizards that understand the inner workings of the Macintosh.

Miscellaneous Features

MBASIC 2.0 contains too many other improvements to mention here, but some notable ones follow.

You can now load in BASIC files using the "Open..." menu selection (which gives you the scrolling window display known as the Mini-Finder). Because the Mini-Finder has a "Disk" button, you can load (without knowing the names of) files from your system's alternate disk drive.

MBASIC 2.0 allows you to cut and paste pictures between it and an external application (MacPaint, for example). This allows you to draw a picture using MacPaint, then manipulate it within an MBASIC 2.0 program.

You must interrupt a running MBASIC 2.0 program with the Command-period keystroke instead of Command-C This makes MBASIC 2.0 consistent with other Macintosh applications and frees the Command key to be used (as in a terminal-emulation program) as a control key.

The FILES function allows a program to prompt the user for a filename using either a fill-in-the-blank dialog box (as is used by MBASIC l .0 itself to get a filename) or the MiniFinder dialog box mentioned above. Both forms let you specify an optional prompt string, which allows you to use this statement to get something other than a filename.

Closing Remarks

This product description makes no attempt to evaluate the performance of MBASIC 2.0. By the time you read this, Microsoft BASIC for the Apple Macintosh version 2.0 (called MBASIC 2.0 in this article) and Apple Computer's own Macintosh BASIC should be available. We will compare the published versions of both BASICS as soon as they are available. In any case, MBASIC 2.0 is a considerable improvement over its predecessor, Microsoft Macintosh BASIC 1.0. ■

162 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 297

GUIS. GLORY.

Parallel port included. Standard interlace for popular printers.

Five full-length expansion slots for IBM PC/XT compatible option cards. Hard disk machine with 640K, real time clock, three I/O ports and display has two slots free.

Small overall dimensions, sturdy metal case, designed inside and out with horizontal or vertical operation in mind

ROM BIOS AND MONITOR by ITT: Interrupt compatible with IBM PC/XT and more. Everready menu-driven, diagnostic monitor debugger. Test hardware device by device and channel by channel. Examine registers, alter or dump memory, read or write tracks and sectors. Even set drive timing.

256K byte, parity-checked RAM on planar board. Combo board with one, two and three banks of 128K bytes each. Real time clock and parallel port also available to give 640K RAM total with only one slot used.

Serial (RS-232) communications port built in. Console I/O may be redirected to this port by switch setting. Menudriven DOS utility (set up) to configure this port or redirect printer I/O to it. Communications program included.

ITT's own heavy duty, high efficiency, switching power supply (115 watts continuous service) saves weight without compromising support tor fully-equipped machines. 95 to 132 volts or 180 to 240 volts.

Switch controls allow console I/O redirection to serial port—use whatever ASCII terminal you want. Enable/disable power-on memory test for faster starts on large machines. Enable/disable screen-saving blanking when left idle.

Floppy disk controller on planar. Saves a slot.

Space-saving half-heigh t disk drives.

Pop the rugged metal case on the new ITT XTRA™ Personal Computer and you'll find what thousands of our personal computer users across the country have already discovered.

The beauty of the ITT XTRA Personal Computer ^- is definitely more ^**0 fhan skin deep.

In fact, it runs all the way down to the very last power supply winding. This is one of the most cleanly designed, most extraordinarily simple machines to come along in quite awhile.

mm

Monitor conveniently tilts and swivels. Green, amber or color. Threeposition keyboard. Our very own, fullysupported ITT Mouse.

We modestly consider it the finest personal computer compatible on the market.

An example. Where IBM has BIOS support routines for its BASIC, we have a ROM monitor and diagnostics utility that's always available, provides direct disk access and isolates problems right down to the chip level.

It's a finely crafted, expertly engineered machine that's predictable, reliable and a pleasure to use.

We've taken great pains to provide all the right guts.

We leave all the glory to you PERSONAL COMPUTERS

IBM PC and XTare registered trademarks ol International Business Machines.

^LU-Uit;, itfiiLAJ^it; u.iiu. u.

ITT

HELPING AMERICA WORK SMART.

For more iniorrnation. or the location ot your nearest ITT authorized dealer call 1-800-321-9872.

E 1984, ITT Inlorrnalion Sysloms

Inquiry 403 for Dealers. Inquiry 404 for End-Users.

IANUARY 1985

. YTE

163

■ gl^iVM:U

BUY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE AT WHOLESALE +8%, AND GET 14-28 DAY SOFTWARE RENTALSt...

In just the last few months, The NETWORK has saved its members more than $18,000,000 and processed over 45,000 orders.

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some of the nations largest onal concerns including some in the computer industry:

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On our corporate roster are financial industrial and profess ot the most important names

AT&T

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Columbia University

Data General

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Gillette

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t

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GAMES & EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE

(Please add S1 shipping and handling for each title ordered from below.)

Avant-Garde An Traffic Controller

Bluebush Cnoss (Vow Toughest Opponent)

Broderbund Laos Runner

CBS Goten-Bfidge Made Easy

CBS Mastering the SAT

Epyx Temple o> Apshai

Inlocom Zork 1 or Witness

Infocom Dasdhne, or Suspended

Microsoft Fitdhi Simulate'

Orion JBiro'CBen Look Alike)

Scarborough Mastertype

Screenplay Asylum iworky, with mono card ft

(Please add 52.50 sh<

ATI How to use Multimate

ATI How to use Microsoft Word

ATI How to use Lotus 1-2-3 *•* Ashton-Tate DBase/// t** Ashton-Tate Framework

Ashton-Tatef'iLL'ii,'

Central Point Copy it PC

Conceptual Instruments Desk Organizer

Cosmos Revelation \ reunites 8087}

Digital RGsearch CP-M-86

Digital Research DR Logo

Digital Research PL I Compiler

Digital Research Concurrent CP'M— Windows

Funk Software Sideways

Harvard Harvard Project Manager >■ Hayes Smadcom II - New V i 100 Emulator

Human Edge the Management Edge

Human Edge The Sales Edge

Lattice C Compiler r** Lotus Development Lotus 1-2-3

Lotus Development Symphony

pning andhandl S 42.00*

42.00"

42.00* 347.50* 347.50* 158.00- ►

23.00" 177.00* 575.00

33,00

57.00" 399.00'

90.00*

36.00' 215.00"

68.00145.00' 145.00' 270.00* 270.00*

CALL

Wholesale

Sierra On-Llne F toqger

S 21.00

Sierra On-Llne Crossfire

18.00*

Sublogic Nmnt Mission Pmbali

24.00

Spinnaker Alphabet Zoo

17.00"

Spinnaker Delta Drawing

29.00*

Spinnaker 1-aceMaker

20.00*

Spinnaker Hev Diddle Diddle

17.00'

Spinnaker KmderComp

17.00*

Spinnaker Rhymes & Riddles

17.00'

Spinnaker Story Machine

20.00*

Spinnaker Mosr ■vnazma TnniQ Virtual Comblnatics Micro Cookbook

23.00*

21.00'

OFTWARE

ng for each title order from below.)

MicroRim.RBa st-JOOO

230.00*

Microsoft C Compiler

S275.00

Microsoft u'o.rfj with Mouse— Latest Version

255.00

Microsoft Mirtliptan

105.00*

Monogram Dollar*, & Sense

CALL

Multimate Multimate dates: Version)

240.00*

Oasis The Ward Plus

90.00"

Open Systems p () Sale:. A R inv G-L A-P Jean

Mgi 370.00*ea

Real World G LAP A RPR or OE INV

387.50*

Rosesoft Prokey Version 3

74.00"

Ryan McFarland RM COBOL iDev System)

570.00

Samna Samoa III Warp Processor

325.00*

Satellte Software WordPerfect

225.00*

Softcraft Fancy Fonts

125.00

Softstyle SET-FX

35.00*

Software Publishing PFS Fife

72.00*

Software Publishing ?■' S Report

64.00*

Software Publishing PFS. Write

72.00

Software Publishing PI'S Graph

72.00"

TCS Total Ledge'

440.00*

Verbatim Desk Drive Analyser

25.00*

(Please add shipping and COMPLETE SYSTEMS

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I am under no obligation to buy anything. My complete satisfaction is guaranteed. Please check (t^) all boxes that apply:

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□ One-year membership for S8 H Two-year membership for

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Library for $25 add! per

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Signature _ Copyright t

164 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

(Signature required to validate membership) 1984. PC NETWORK, INC.

Apple Macintosh Base System Apple Apple lie

App\eApplelle

Columbia Desktop & Pattabie Systems Compaq AH Models Eagle Desktop PC and Spirit Portables ' IBM PC Starter System l DSDDl

FDQCulor CD/Pat PoiVMoniloi:64K

■ IBM PC Base System 2 DSDDIFDC-25CK

■ IBM PC Professional Hard Disk (XT) ( I DSDD'FDC 10MB Hard DtSkt236K)

\BM PC AT All Contigs

■ Sayno MBC 550 "Lowe:-! Cost Compatible

■ Tava PC CcrnMeii- IBM Compatible (64K,Color or Mono Card/2 drives)

Texas Instruments Prolessional

$1,580,00* 860.00CALL CALL CALL CALL 620.50

HARDWARE

handling charges found In Italics next to price.)

MULTIFUNCTION CARDS

(34 )2) Apparat 2.WK Memory Board with OK 5 67.00*

(18 5flJ Apparat Combo II wsehpar game 123.00*

AST 5

AST IV

AST/

► ORCH

229.00" 229.00105.00* 205.00*

1,581.40" (34 W)

CALL 620.00*

1,375.00'

DISK DRIVES & CONTROLLERS

S 665.00" (14.301

145.00 225.00 200.00

MMI T lOMRl.o,'. Pi.-.wei Winchester

Mounts Like Half Height Drive Maynard Floppy Disk Controller

■ Maynard WS-1 }0MB Internal Hard Disk

with Sanastar Mum Function Card

■ Maynard WS-2 same as WS-1 but with

Sandstar Floppy Controller tujes. t slot) Maynard Floppy Controller Serial Port

■ Panasonic n,/." Heiont DSDD Drive Pair PC Network Half Height Drive Pairs

Our Volume Lets us Impon These Name Brand Drives Directly from the Source They are the quietest, most reliable drives we've seen yet Qume Hall Heigh! DSDD Dtive Parr (same a:, useoon IBM Portable! - Tandon TM 1QQ-2 Full Height DSDD Drive

■ Tandon tOMB Internal Winchester

mIBM Controller

■ Tallgrass 20MB External Hard Disk

with Tape Backup

MEMORY CHIPS

All chips guaranteed lor hie 64K Memory Upgrade Kits <9 chrosi S 28.80

64K Dynamic Ram Chips (Each) 3.20*

256K Dynamic Ram ChipstEacPi 27.00"

MODEMS

Anchor Mark Xli L OWES 1 PRICE 1200BPS $ 230.00*

HAYES COMPATIBLE EXTERNAL MODEM* Hayes Smartmodem 300 180.00*

Hayes Smarf/noo'am '200B with new 366.90*

Smarlcom ll VT too Em-Jala Rixon R2V2A St;md Alone I200PBS 335.00*

U.S. Robotics Password (Compact 290.00*

12Q0BPS External)

(20 30)

(2.50) (5 40)

2.150.00' (4644)

MONITORS

Amdek Video HOQG Composite Green Amdek Viwo 300A Composite Amber Amdek V,o,-:i3WA IBM I,-pe Amber Amdek Cukn 30i J iNE W', Composite Amdek Color 500 (NEW1)

Composite RGB'VCR Amdek CoU» oOUiNEV/1, High Res RGB Amdek Color 700 <NE'.\"> Ultra High Res Amdek Color TIOfNEW1) 7Q0w/Non

Glare/Land Phosphor Princeton I ft- >'J RGB Monitor Princeton MAX- !2 IGB Mono Princeton SR-12 Ultra High Res RGB ■ Quadram Ouadctitome if NE W'

640x200 RGB W/J4" Screen'

Black Phosphor Mask-IBM Case Taxan 420 Suow HiQh Res RGB Monitor Taxan -140 H<alu--,l R,-, RGB i /?0>:-l()0i

Currently Available Works YJith Persysi Zenith ZVM423 Green High Res

Consumer Reports Rated Best Buy 0

110.00* 120.00* 130.00* 215.00320.00*

395.00* 455.00* 485.00'

CALL CALL CALL 370.00

380.00525.00*

Bob Card

76.00*

(5.00) (3 60)

(3 00} (3 00) (3 00) (4 54)

SOMW64K '.',■'.'.' -.-, th networking at an

i,i,t,-„i-. ttOsprice Upto384K/Ser'Pai

l..'- S rtware'NeiSh Quadram imprt..-.ea Cuadboardw.QK Tecmar Captain Multifunction Card 0 K

PRINTERS

Amdek 5025 tNE W' ■ 25CPS L O wi2K Butler

C.ltoh F\a/40Stwwine' 40CPSLO

C.llohProv.!<tei85WAP + Epson RX-80 "- Epson FX-80 ■* EpsonFX-WO

Epson LQ1500

Epson IBM-tc-EPSOFJ Pr-ra'h'l Cab'-

NEC 2030 20CPS LQ Parallel **■ NeC2050 20Cf'.~il.ei!:-' Duality Printer

NEC 3530 33CPS L 0 Parallel

► NEC 3550 33Ci'S Later Oualily Printer NEC PS50 55CPSLQ New Mode!

IBM Version

► OkuiBlaMl 84P 200CPS 132 Col *■ Okidata ML92P ioOCPS SO Col Printer

► OkidataW.MF !60CPS W.d,: Platvn

► Okldata 24 I0P Pacemaker 350CPS OMdata IPM-tc-Ohaa!:'. Parallel Cable Qume Spun! 1 ' 45 45CPSLetter Quality Qume Spimt t ' DO 90CPS Letter Quality

New' Fastest Da-s.-wheel Out' Qume IBM Cable and interlace (required) >■ Slar Micronics Germm *0X I20CPS

w Tractor Epson Graphics Compatible P- Star Micronics Gemnn I5X tOX Features

wi 132 Col

► Star Micronics Power-Type WCPS

LQ Diablo Code Compatible Texas Instruments 355 DPLOw Tractor Toshiba P-1340 HO Co: Version of P-1351 ToshibaP-1351 '60'IOD CPS Draft LQ

LQ Printer

VIDEO CARDS

■ Eagle Monocmome Display Cara Hercules Color Card w.ParallelPort

■ Hercules Mcnoc'ircme Graphics Cards

■ Paradise New Modular MuiiidiSplay Card Persyst Bot> Cam Ulna Hgh fles Color

. .-..-:j.:i!lit.tG'.oOual'!y Te-imCutGt Quadram Ouadcolor I Color Card 170.00*

STB Graphix Plus II NEW1 295.00*

(simultaneous Mono Graphics & Colon

ACCESSORIES AND SUPPLIES

■ Brand Name DSDD Diskettes S 16.00'

Guaranteed lot Life" Not Generic Curtiss PC Pedestal ll 36.00"

■ Key1ronicKB5l:Ji Deiu+e IBM K^-Pui,:-.! 170.00 PC Network Replacement 130 Watt IBM PC 165.00*

Power Supply—Gives your PC (Old -'->-■ Nev/ftlie .-.:-■ capacity as an XT Good hi add m (ape drives (wittiout lor a piggyback unit) and laroe capacity disk rim WP Printer Paper 2(100 Sheets Microfine Perl-, (invisible wlien torn

875.00

285.00

220.00*

370.00*

525.00

CALL

21.00

625.00*

625.00'

1.185.00*

1,260.00*

1,650.00*

620.00* 350.00* 550.00* 1.640.00* 20.75* 1,155.00 CALL

325.00*

300.00'

716.00*

696.00*

1,200.00*

CALL 298.00 255.00* 365.00*

17.00" (WOO)

(8 211 -PC NETWORK Members pay just 8D0 above the wholesale

(11.34) price, plus shipping. All prices relied a 3% cash discount

Minimum shipping S2.5Q pet order.

/RENT BEFORE YOU BUY—Members are eligible to join The NETWORK'S Business and Game Software Rental Libraries and evaluate products for a full 14 (Regular) or 28 (VIP) days to see if it meets your needs. And The NETWORK'S rental charges are far less than other software rental services—JUST 20^0 OF THE MEMBER WHOLESALE PRICE

Hardware prices highlited by

reflect recent major price reductions

COMPLETE

PC SYSTEMS

NETWORK

$1,581.40* (34.16)

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IBM PC STARTER SYSTEM

IBM PC W/64K (256K capacity) $1,620.50* ps.oo)

Floppy Drive Controller

1 Double Sided Double Density 320/360 Disk Drive Hercules Color Card w/Parallel Port Zenith ZVM-123 Display Monitor

The NETWORK has the perfect starter system for you! The combination of a double sided drive, color card and printer part allows you to run most any program and grow without need for replacing any component you buy now.

IBM PC BASE SYSTEM

IBM PC W/256K $1,581.40* mfe)

■ Floppy Drive Controller

2 Double Sided Double Density 320I360K Disk Drives

The Base System is your lowest cost starting point for configuring the exact system of your choice. Combine it with any of the monitors, video cards, multifunction cards and accessories listed in this ad. and prove the Network can't be beat as your system source.

IBM PC PROFESSIONAL

HARD DISK SYSTEM (XT) $2,146.40* ^

IBM PC W/256K

Floppy Drive Controller

1 Double Sided Double Density 320/360K Disk Drive w/MMI new technology 3" 10MB Hard Disk.

Uses less power than a floppy.

Shock mounted '/> height installation leaves room for tape drive in pc.

Automatic Hard Disk Boot Feature This system increases productivity in any business or professional situation. The 10Mb hard disk eliminates cumbersome floppy disk changes, simplifies operations and dramatically speeds program execution time. The NETWORK'S buying power provides you with better than XT performance at a price lower than you'd expect to pay for a standard PC.

*PC Network Members pay just 8% above this wholesale price plus shipping. These prices have been prepared in November, 1984 and may have been changed with new product announcements. Call for latest prices.

LATEST ISSUE REDUCTIONS!

64K MEMORY EXPANSION KITS .. $ 28.80*

Set of 9 chips Guaranteed for Life.

LOTUS 1-2-3 $270.00

New Best Price!

MMI 10MB INTERNAL

HARD DISK 665.00'

Low Power Automatic Boot

PANASONIC/SHUGART per pair 225.00*

% Height DSDO Disk Drives with Mounting Kit

STAR MICRONICS GEMINI 10X 225.00*

120 CPS Epson IBM Graphics Compatible w/Tractor

TANDON TM100-2 DRIVES 143.0

ORCHID BLOSSOM 64K installed 205.0

New Price! Full Six-Pack Features with networking capability!

AMDEK MONITORS

V300G Composite Green 110.t)1

V300A Composite Amber 120.0

V310A IBM Amber 1 30.0'

HERCULES MONOCHROME CARD 298.0

HAYES 1200B with new Smartcom II 366.9

NEC SPINWRITER 2050 625.0'

20 CPS-Letter Quality Printer

BRAND NAME DISKETTES 16.0I

DS/DD Box of 10 Guaranteed for Life Not Generic

'NETWORK members pay just 8% above these wholesale prices plus shipping

143.00* 205.00*

8

CALL TOLL FREE 1-800-621-S-A-V-E (

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OPTIONAL BUSINESS RENTAL LIBRARY — All members can join our BUSINESS RENTAL LIBRARY featuring over 1000 available titles for just $25 PER YEAR above the base membership fee. This entitles you to rent business software AT JUST 20% of the DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR A14 DAY PERIOD. If you decide to keep the software, the entire rental fee is deducted from the purchase price. VIP MEMBERS GET A FULL 28 DAYS for just $30 above the V.I.P. base fee. This also includes the game library privileges for a $5 combination savings. t Q OPTIONAL GAME SOFTWARE RENTAL LIBRARY — The 5/Game Rental library is available to members for just $10 PER YEAR and permits evaluation (or just enjoyment) of any game or educational software product as above.

■4 f\ SPECIAL SAVINGS BULLETINS — THE PRINTOUT 11/ The NETWORK seeks every opportunity to save money for its members. We buy excess dealer inventories, and store bankruptcy closeouts regularly. We then turn around and make this merchandise (only top quality name brand products) available to our members at fantastic savings via THE PRINTOUT, our newsletter and savings bulletins.

■4 4 DISCOUNT BOOK LIBRARY — Working with numerous

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I £m valuable source of new members is you! To date almost 40% of our members have been referred by word of mouth from other satisfied members. For those of you who refer new members, THE NETWORK will credit a cash bonus to your account applicable to any future purchase. -4 Q CORPORATE ACCOUNT PROGRAM —Almost 50% of

I O The NETWORK'S members are corporate buyers and users (see opposite page left). The NETWORK can establish open account status and assign designated account managers to expedite orders, and coordinate multiple location shipments. ■4 A QUANTITY DISCOUNTS — For large corporations, clubs

I *T and repeat or quantity buyers The NETWORK can extend additional single order discounts, when available to us from our manufacturers and distributors. •4 (T PRICE PROTECTION — The PC Industry is crazy!! Prices

I 3 change not yearly or monthly or even weekly but often day by day! These changes are sometimes up but are mostly down!!! THE NETWORK GUARANTEES THAT IN THE EVENT OF A PRODUCT PRICE REDUCTION, BETWEEN THE TIME YOU PLACE YOUR ORDER AND THE TIME THE PRODUCT SHIPS YOU WILL ONLY PAY THE LOWER AMOUNT!!

Inquiry 272

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APRI1 14-18, 1985

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DALLAS, TEXAS

CONDUCTED BY GREGG WILLIAMS AND ROB MOORE

The Apple Story

PART 2: MORE HISTORY AND THE APPLE III

Ah interview

with Steve Wozniak

Last month, Steve talked about his background, the evolution of the Apple I and II, and the early days of the company. In this part, the conversation switches to various aspects of the Apple II design, later personal history, and Steve's thoughts about the personal computing industry.

SWEET-16

BYTE: One of the more interesting things in the Apple II ROM was your \6-bit pseudomachine called "Sw*eM6." How did you come up with that?

Wozniak: While I was writing my BASIC, I had been thinking about ways to save code. There were several places where I had to handle 16-bit pointers with an 8-bit processor, and that was pretty awkward.

So I decided to write a little emulator and implement a 16-bit machine that could interpret pseudocodes and implement registers 0 to 15 in the 6502 base page. It ran about 30 times as slow as 6502 assembly language, but it saved tons of code every time I used it in a program.

BYTE: Did you actually use it in your Integer BASIC?

Wozniak: No, I never had the time to reimplement the BASIC to use it. But I did use it in later years to write things like BASIC renumbering routines totally in Sweet-16. It was easy to mix Sweet-16 code with assembly language.

BYTE: Isn't Sweet-16 still used in Apple DOS and ProDOS editor/assemblers? Wozniak: Yes, it's used in EDASM [the Apple Tool Kit 6502 editor/assembler], mostly in the editor portion. Randy Wigginton wrote EDASM. He's worked here since before we even had a com

pany. Lately he's written the Macintosh word processor—MacWrite. He's done a lot for the company, and he's used Sweet-16 in several things he's done.

The Disk Drive

BYTE: Can you tell us a little about how you came up with the Apple II disk drive and how you ended up picking your form of groupcoded recording?

Wozniak: The disk design was my most incredible experience at Apple and the finest job I did. 1 never really knew what a disk controller was or what it had to do. But at HewlettPackard I had looked through a Shugart manual to see what signals were used and what they did. There were signals to make the head step in and out and signals to cause magnetic flux changes. It was similar to audio recording, and I knew about that. It was like a signal on a tape where you write it and then you read it back. So I figured out a simple little circuit to write signals at changing rates and read them back. I didn't know how disk controllers worked, so I assumed that I was doing something totally different. Maybe it wasn't as efficient, but at least I could write some data and read it back.

Well, Mike Markkula was annoyed because the cassette tape was too slow. He had a favorite checkbook program, and it took two minutes to read in the program and another two

{continued)

Gregg Williams is a senior technical editor at BYTE. Rob Moore is a hardware designer and frequent contributor to BYTE. They can be contacted at POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF APPLE COMPUTER INC.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 167

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

'Hobbyists are a tiny part of our market, but they're faithful to the company!

minutes to read in his check files. He was complaining about this at a staff meeting, and I mentioned that I had this clever little five-chip circuit that could read and write a floppy disk. At the time, all the existing floppy-disk controllers were 40 or 50 chips, so I knew there must be something important that I wasn't doing.

1 went off and tried to figure out what it was that I wasn't doing. One of our technicians had a North Star system, so I looked through their manuals. I read their schematics and figured out what every chip did. And I looked through their listings until I understood exactly what they were doing.

1 was doing a lot more. I didn't even have to look at the sector holes, so I could use any disk drive, any floppy disk in the world. It was then that 1 new I had a really clever design.

The next week was Christmas vacation. Randy Wigginton and I spent the entire week, including the holidays, trying to get this disk reading and writing with a very simple operating system. We did the bottom levels of an operating system in that week. You could type R (for "read") followed by a program name like STARTREK, and it would load STARTREK into memory.

We were highly motivated because, at the end of the week, a show called the CES |Consumer Electronics Show] was starting in Las Vegas, and we wanted to go.

We worked all night the day before we had to show it [the disk drive| at CES. At about six in the morning it was ready to demonstrate. Randy thought we ought to back it up, so we copied the disk, track by track. When we were all done, he looked down at them in his hands and said, "Oh, no!

I wrote on the wrong one!" We managed to recover it and actually demonstrated it at CES.

BYTE: Had you been exposed to group-code recording before, or did you invent yours independently?

Wozniak: The first version of the floppy-disk routines did not have group coding. I had followed the Shugart manual, which showed that you had alternate clock bits and data bits, so every other bit was wasted. I couldn't understand why it was necessary, but I started that way.

Then I came up with this idea to use coded recording. I knew the technical rule was that you could only have one or two zeros in a row. You could have either 4 or 8 microseconds between flux transitions. I didn't really know what group-coded recording was; I just knew that 1 could fit 13 sectors on a disk instead of 10. 1 had to write a program to take bytes off the disk, convert them to 5-bit chunks, and reassemble them into 8-bit data bytes.

It was a difficult routine to write. It was about a 20-hour job, and I'd work through the day for 10 or 12 hours and I wouldn't quite get there. The next day I'd come back and find out that I was starting exactly where I had the day before. This went on for almost a month. I was not quite getting the routines, and we were getting within a month of shipping the disk drives. Finally I stayed up all night until I got all five routines that had to work together done. So we were able to ship it the first time with the groupcoded recording in place. Later, we changed the encoding method and stepped up to 16 sectors. That was DOS 3.3.

BYTE: The Macintosh uses a custom chip called the IWM—integrated Woz Machinethat does the same sort of recording. Can you tell us anything about that? Wozniak: My design was basically a little sequencer, or state machine. It used a PROM and a latch and cycled through various states depending on the input data coming off the floppy disk. The IWM takes that design and adds other features like the ability to go twice as fast—it can also do IBM

format, double-density recordings.

BYTE: It sounds like a fascinating part. Do you think we'll see Apple II owners benefit from it in any way?

Wozniak: Well, it's our standard disk controller now, and it's cheaper than the older design. It's used in the Apple lie.

BYTE: Could you use it to get higher-density recording on an Apple II 5%-'mch disfe? Wozniak: No, because the disk drives themselves aren't certified for doubledensity recording. You need heads with the proper gap, and they're more expensive.

BYTE: You're a former hobbyist. Could a hobbyist buy one of these chips and a spec sheet and start playing with it? Wozniak: I don't think Apple would give out the spec sheet. I totally disagree with that policy because I'm very respectful to the hobbyists. They're a tiny part of our market, but they're loyal supporters and faithful people to the company. If they had a spec sheet, they could start playing with it and figure out a lot more incredible things that we never planned it to be used for—even using it as a communications channel from Apple to Apple, Macintosh to Macintosh. There are a lot of great tricks you could do with that little part. It's a beautiful random I/O device that has too many things that have not been taken anywhere.

Personal Details

BYTE: \n 1981 you were in a plane crash and you left Apple for a while shortly after that. How long did it take you to recover from the accident?

Wozniak: That was in February 1981. For about five weeks I had a type of amnesia that prevents you from forming any new long-term memories. After I recovered, people would show me pictures of myself in the hospital, playing games with my computer with my face all battered up. They would tell me stories of how 1 tried to sneak out of the hospital to visit my wife, Candy, or how I went to parties and rode my motorcycle. I didn't remem

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168 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

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Inquiry 360

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 169

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

ber any of that. I had all of my old memories, but I'd forget new things from one day to the next. Finally I came out of it one night, but I never got those memories back.

BYTE: W/?y did you leave Apple? Wozniak: We had a hundred engineers at that point, and I was no longer really important to the company. I didn't want to be a manager; I was just an engineer, and 1 wasn't really needed there. But I didn't feel comfortable going to Steve Jobs or Mike Markkula and saying I wanted to take off. The plane crash was a good excuse. After five weeks of amnesia, I simply didn't go back. I decided that if I was going to take a year off I might as well finish college. It was the hardest year of my life.

BYTE: We've heard that you went to UCBerkeley and had some run-ins with your instructors. Could you tell us about that?

Wozniak: I was going under an assumed name—Rocky Clark—so they didn't know who I was. I took computer science courses, economics, statistics, and a few other courses.

My computer science courses were interesting, but I have to criticize them a little because they taught only specific problems with specific solutions. You spent your time memorizing standard problems and solutions and then tried to recognize variations of them in the tests. You weren't supposed to explore new avenues or try things that nobody else was doing. You were only supposed to learn the proper answer. They thought that you could be trained to know all the problems and the standard solutions. Once you learned them all, you could solve them. It was wrong because they weren't really teaching you to solve problems—they taught you to identify them.

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My economics course was interesting also. We had a socialist TA (teaching assistant] who taught us that companies made money by cheating the consumer. All the kids in the class thought that companies would make a lot of profit if they could figure out a way to cut the costs of a product down, to make it cheap and screw the consumer.

I contrast that with the way we did things at Apple. Every product design decision was based on what consumers wanted, what would compete the best, what they would buy. We tried to do what customers wanted, in our best judgment, and give them high-quality products.

So I would stand up in class and argue about what the TA was saying. After a while he started telling me to shut up, or that he would kick me out if I interrupted him again. Apple was the greatest business success in history, but I couldn't tell him who I was.

BYTE: So you came back to Apple after about a year. What would you say is the most important thing that you've worked on since you came back?

Wozniak: There isn't too much. When I came back I started getting a little bit involved with this division's management, but it was unofficial. Officially l took the title of Engineer. Mostly. I've stayed involved with the Apple II because that's where I've got the most to offer.

Because I'm a founder at Apple, I could take almost any role I want, but I've tried to avoid the newest, most far-reaching projects because there are other capable people to do them. I try to stick to small projects where I can sit down and handle them myself.

Current Work

BYTE: Do you have anything interesting going on now?

Wozniak: There are not many individual projects in this whole business. The floppy disk may have been the last one for Apple. I have got a few projects that I'm working on now, but they're not all going at once.

170 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 126

Inquiry 107

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

The language Fifth is one of them, but I haven't written it yet. I'd like to combine the best features of BASIC, FORTH, and Pascal, and leave out the worst ones. You could have the formal structures of Pascal, the immediateness of BASIC, and the extensibility of FORTH. In FORTH or Logo, new words become part of the language, and you can use them immediately. It's really helpful for debugging. In Macintosh Pascal, you can define a procedure and run it immediately. 1 also want some level of globalness, like BASIC. 1 don't want to always have to declare a variable before I can use it. I like variables with scope, but I'd like undeclared variables to be totally global.

Another project is an operating system, like the one on the Macintosh, only a bit different and a lot more relational.

I also have a hardware project that I'd like to do, a personal computer based around consumer video sources like TVs, videotapes, and videodiscs. It would switch them around, synchronize them, and mix them, sort of like a little home editing studio. 1 think it's possible because memories are getting so cheap. You could hold a frame from each of your video sources in memory and let the software accommodate the sync variations. There are a lot of new chips available that do NTSC modulation and demodulation, so there ought to be a minimal chip solution.

My main interest is still the Apple II—the home computer we started with. I'd like to see Apple do more with speech. There are some really inexpensive speech chips now, and that's the way the rest of the personal computer world is heading. 1 think we've been deficient in that area.

Speculations

BYTE: Are you thinking about using the new 65816 processor for anything? Wozniak: We're thinking about it and doing some R&D with it, but I don't know if we'll use it. Anything we do has to be compatible with the Apple II. If we found out that the 65816

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JANUARY 1985 •BYTE 171

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

THE Spreadsheet

In late 1982, A.P.P.L.E., a national Apple users group, offered an astounding value to its members. For $22.50, A.RP.LE, members could purchase a fully functional VisiCak-like spreadsheet program called "THE Spreadsheet'.' At the time, various versions of VisiCalc and other popular spreadsheet programs were selling for between $200 and $300. THE Spreadsheet offered most of the features found in VisiCalc and added a few of Us own. What's more, it was coauthored by the now legendary Steve Wozniak. Mysteriously, THE Spreadsheet was available for only one month, after which it was permanently discontinued. Since that time, original copies of THE Spreadsheet have become one of the few legitimate microcomputer collector's items. In the following segment. Steve describes how THE Spreadsheet came about.

Wozniak: It started because Mike Scott was having difficulty negotiating with Personal Software [now VisiCorp| about VisiCalc. They just wouldn't do what he felt was right as far as giving Apple breaks on price or doing new enhancements to it. So he came by one day and he said to me, "Would you like to do a VisiCalc?" It wasn't even known as a spreadsheet then.

I was really scared. VisiCalc was the only spreadsheet for a long while, and none of us had really been in business before. Was it legitimate to go out and do your own spreadsheet? Or was it equivalent to just copying and ripping somebody off? I didn't want to get close to this whole thing because I didn't want it to look like 1 was copying somebody else.

Mike got Randy Wigginton and Randy said, "Sure, I'll do it." 1 said I'd do the arithmetic routines because they were general—something that could be used by any program—and I had some good algorithms that I had picked up at Hewlett-Packard that I wanted to implement.

So we started working on it and, a little ways in, Randy finished it. He wrote 4K of code in a couple of weeks, and I was shocked that he came in so quick; I hadn't even started mine. So, I was getting to work on my arithmetic routines and my first demo was almost ready but still a few days off.

At the time, everyone was trying to get the Apple III into production. Mike

Scott was camped out in the Apple III building, forcing the things that had to get done to get it finished and delivered on schedule.

He was in a bad mood. Everywhere anyone ran into him in the company, he had a sour face—no laughs, no jokes. And because Randy finished his first part of the spreadsheet and I hadn't finished my first part, he'd always come to me. The way he was talking to me, 1 was afraid I was going to get fired. He was in a bad mood.

It was the scariest time of my life at Apple. 1 was really getting badly addressed just for not being on time with something. I had three more days to go, and I didn't dare run into him once more because I was already way overdue. So I said. "I've got to get him in a good mood for three days."

Well, he's a Star Wars fan. He gets the T-shirts the cast gets before they get them because he knows who prints them. So 1 had a friend of mine call his secretary saying, "This is George Lucas. Is Mike Scott in?" Of course he wouldn't leave a phone number, but he said, "I'll call back." It actually worked. Mike was in a good mood for a few days, and I got my routines done.

Anyway, we finished the spreadsheet, and Apple started looking it over. Originally it had been defined to be as accurate as VisiCalc, and we were so much faster than VisiCalc it was ridiculous. The exponential routines that I really wanted to write for so long, because 1 had a good algorithm, were 30 times faster than VisiCalc's.

All of a sudden we started hiring experts on precision and things like that, and they started redefining the project from what Mike Scott had originally defined. They added a lot of features that Randy had to implement. This made life very difficult here at Apple, so we finally decided, "No, it won't be a Special Delivery Software product [a line of software offered by Apple a few years ago]."

After a long, long time, Randy went to Call-A.P.P.L.E. |the magazine put out by A.P.P.L.E.|. One night we were out to dinner and he said to Steve, "Well, I'm going to sell that to Call-A.P.P.L.E." or "I'm going to give this spreadsheet to Call-A.P.P.L.E." Steve said, "Well,

that's good" or something like that. It was not official or formal. Randy went ahead and hit on it and gave it to CallA.P.P.L.E. It was sold for $22.50—really cheap. We didn't want any money out of it. It was just the old Homebrew Computer club spirit of "Give to help others."

It was a good product, and it had been delayed well over a year. If Apple didn't want it, they should have just gotten rid of it, and it would have been out a year sooner. As soon as it popped up from Call-A.P.P.L.E. and was advertised, Apple got in a real huff about it. They forced Call-A.P.P.L.E. to only sell it to members, and only one copy per member. So Apple basically put it out of business—only allowed it to be sold for one more month.

It's really funny, because how did Apple get started? 1 designed the Apple while 1 was at Hewlett-Packard. Hewlett-Packard has a policy of deciding about these things very quickly. They would check with their legal department and other divisions and decide very quickly. So they gave me a formal release on it quickly because they didn't want it. But here was Apple. which didn't want it but wasn't going to release it.

If you use much Apple II software, you'll be surprised when you take the spreadsheet that Randy and I wrote and boot it in. It boots in so fast, you can't believe what's going on.

BYTE: Is that because there's no copyprotection on it?

Wozniak: No. Believe it or not. 1 used those routines that I did for Apple II Pascal.

BYTE: You, Randy Wigginton. and Guil Banks were listed as the authors. Wfto is Guil Banks?

Wozniak: Guil is right here in this building. I did the boot stuff, and he had written a lot of the other fast disk routines in there. He did all the routines that managed the disk and read and wrote DOS files appropriately without using DOS.

This was basically an all-volunteer project that we did all on our own time. And it was really neat, so we decided that we'd give it to the rest of the world.

172 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

wasn't, it would be a serious question. It's too new a part right now.

BYTE: How is its performance compared to the 68000?

Wozniak: It should be available soon in an 8-MHz version that will beat the pants off a 68000 in most applications, and in graphics applications it comes pretty close. Some of the Macintosh people might disagree with me, but there are ways around most of the problems they see. An 8-MHz 65816 is about equivalent to a 16-MHz 68000 in speed, and a 16-MHz 68000 doesn't exist.

BYTE: The Apple II family has been a great success, and many innovations have come along to extend its life. What things do you think were responsible for its success? Wozniak: For three years we were one of the biggest business successes in history. We had three years of fantastic business success, and lately we've had three years of sort of dismal business. We've grown, but any additional revenues have just replaced the stock dilution, and the price remains about the same.

During that three years there were two main factors that led to our success—our floppy disk and VisiCalc. Out of the original home computers, which included the TRS-80 and the Commodore PET, ours was the only one that had enough memory to run VisiCalc. VisiCalc and the floppy disk sent this company into the numberone position.

We were also very faithful to our users—we tried to support everybody. When we changed over to floppy disks, we still supported cassettes heavily. When we moved up to the Apple 11+ with floating-point BASIC built in, we still supported the original Apple 11.

Lately our strategies seem to be changing. When we come up with a new enhancement, we start moving away from the prior version much more quickly. This could be harmful to our good relationships with a lot of our faithful users.

The Apple lie is a good example. Most new software that really uses the features of the Apple lie won't run

properly on an Apple 11 or II + . A lot of good software for the Apple 11 + won't run on the Apple lie. It's an incompatible world.

BYTE: How do you think the Apple II family will be extended and improved in the future? Wozniak: There are obvious areas. We're always trying to come up with better combinations of features and still reduce the cost. We're looking into improved processors like the 65816 we discussed before. Video resolution is always improving. We're trying to increase speed and the amount of memory in the machine because it's critical to certain applications.

The IBM PC is very successful, and it had no competition from Apple for the last three years because we made sure that it didn't. We would not allow the Apple II to compete in that market for three years.

PCSD is the most difficult division in the company. |Steve is referring to the Personal Computer Systems Division, responsible for the Apple II and Apple III products.] We're hamstrung by the need to be compatible: Macintosh isn't.

So we will continue to make improvements and produce new machines, but they'll always be compatible. With the Apple lie we went to 128K, 80-column display, and doubleresolution graphics. We came out with the lie portable.

Apple versus IBM

BYTE: What did you mean when you said that the Apple 11 was not allowed to compete in the IBM market?

Wozniak: Apple has never really supported the Apple II in the business market. If you walk around a trade show and look at the software running on the IBM PC, you'll see that most of it is a step above what's possible on today's Apple II. They have more RAM that's easily addressed and better access to hard-disk drives. Programs like 1-2-3 cannot be easily implemented on a 128K Apple II, but IBM has a capable machine for that level of software. Our machine has to be able to address more memory and

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JANUARY 1985

1YTE 173

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

'I have positive and negative feelings about things Apple has done'.

handle larger disk drives before we can really start to compete with equivalent software because IBM beats us in capability today. We need better screen resolution, more memory, and better speed. A 16-bit processor would help, although "16-bit" really doesn't mean that much.

Whatever we do will be compatible, because we don't want to alienate our existing customer base. If we can come up with the right machine, then we can start to talk about some really good software and compete well with IBM. Even if we do, the new features

won't really be used right away.

BYTE: Have you said all that you meant to say about where Apple is vis-a-vis IBM and where you personally feel that Apple has made its mistakes?

Wozniak: I have both positive and negative feelings about things Apple has done, but I'm always honest. There is one real mistake that Apple made, in my opinion, and this is very subjective. It is symbolic of what could happen to IBM with its PCjr.

We had become a huge business success in 1979. We had really made it with our floppy disks and VisiCalc, and it looked like we were going a long way. So we decided it was time to start putting together a real company, a big company. We needed to start staffing up and hire a lot more engineers. So we set the Apple 111 project in motion.

The executive staff felt it understood

the Apple II market. After VisiCalc, it was perceived that 90 percent of all Apple lis sold were going to small businesses. Only 10 percent were going into this home hobby market that we originally thought was going to grow to be billions. Originally we were a home hobby computer. Now. suddenly, small businesses were buying Apple lis, and they wanted more features—an 80-column display, lowercase characters, maybe more graphics modes and colors, and more memory. These were all the things that one product, VisiCalc, led to.

According to any research we could dig up, many people were buying the Apple II for small business because it had a disk drive and it could run VisiCalc. These weren't the people I was closest to, so I kept my mouth shut because I was only one out of the staff of 15. So we started staffing

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■ 256K RAM, plus up to 64K EPROM ;* SASI port for hard disk controller

■ Two full function RS232C serial ports with individually programmed transmission rates —50 to 38.4K baud

e; Software compatibility with the 8086 and 8088.

■ 8K of EPROM contains drivers for peripherals, commands for hardware checkout and software testing

■ Software supports most types and sizes of disk drives

® Source for monitor included on disk

« Bios supports Xebec 1410 and Western Digital WD 1002 SHD controller for hard disks

Fully assembled and tested only $995 Also available in several kit forms

THE SLICER SYSTEM

EXPANSION BOARD

For expanded memory, additional ports,

and real time clock

■ Up to 256K additional dynamic RAM ss 2 RS232C asychronous ports

with baud rates to 38.4K for serial communication

■ 2 additional serial ports for asynchronous RS232C or synchronous communication (Zilog 8530 SCC)

■ Real Time Clock with battery backup for continuous timekeeping

■ Centronics type parallel printer port Fully assembled and tested only $800

Available in several kit forms also

THE SLICER PC EXPANSION BOARD Gives your Sheer high performance video capability

■ IBM compatible monochrome video

■ Video memory provides 8 pages of text or special graphics capability

■ 2 IBM type card slots for color video, I/O expansion, etc.

■ IBM type keyboard port

Fully assembled and tested only $600 Available in several kit forms also

Also available: The Slicer 80188 system. 5 1/4" form factor. Call or write for more information.

Operating systems are CP/M 86 by Digital Research, Inc. ($85), and MS DOS by Microsoft Corporation ($175).

MasterCard, Visa, Check, Money Order, or COD. Allow four weeks for delivery. Prices subject to change without notice.

SLICER Slicer Computers, Inc.

2543 Marshall St. N.E., Minneapolis, MN 55418 612/788-9481 • Telex 501357 SLICER UD

174 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 3If

/.

/

K

/

/

/

AddDiskette StorageWhenYouNeedIt With The Disk Bank System.

No matter how large or small your diskette filing and storage requirements may be, the DiskBank System by Amaray is the most revolutionary, versatile and cost-effective approach available today.

Its unique modular interlocking design allows you to add new modules as your storage needs expand. Each impact-resistant module conveniently

organizes up to 10 diskettes in a safe, dust-free environment. When you need a diskette, simply open the DiskBank drawer and slide it out. Diskettes automatically come forward allowing you to select the one you need.

In addition, the System is portable. DiskBank modules are designed to go with you anywhere. Simply slide out the modules you need, put them in your briefcase, and go.

Available in three media format sizes, System 3for3&"-3J£" diskettes, System 5for5%"diskettes, and System 8 for 8" diskettes, DiskBank System may be purchased individually or in money-saving volume packs.

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AMARAY INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

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HOW TO MAKE YOUR FILES CO MILES.

Telpac™ is the complete telecommunications software system that allows one computer to communicate with another. Working in conjunction with a modem, your computer now has the ability to upload and download important information.

You can transfer files at speeds of up to 9600 baud at any time of the day or night. And Telpac doesn't even require your presence because it's smart enough to perform unattended. So you can send or receive large amounts of data after business hours by programming your computer to automatically make connections with virtually any other computer during the night—when phone rates are low.

For more information send for a free Telpac brochure.

For a poster size reprint of this ad, send S3.00 to U.S. Robotics, Inc.

Best of all, the host computer will receive information exactly the way it was sent. There's no chance of error because Telpac features XMODEM, XON/XOFF and user-defined protocols for error-free transmission.

Telpac also allows you to log on to information services such as The Source, Dun & Bradstreet, NewsNet and other popular on-line data bases.

And these time-sharing systems can be programmed into Telpac's unlimited phone directory.

What's more, you can run application programs that were meant for terminals other than the one you're using, because Telpac provides Terminal Emulation.*

Compare the features. Compare the price. You'll discover that Telpac has all the other data communications software packages beat—by miles.

///,

III,

by U.S. Robotics, Inc.

8100 McCormick Blvd.

Skokie, IL 60076 Phone: (312) 733-0497 Telex: 650-186-3130 Outside Illinois: 1-800-Dial-USR

TELPACIS COMPATIBLE WITH THESE SYSTEMS:

Computers:

Apple'" II, II+ , lie, lie

Columbia™

Compaq™

Corona™

Heath™ H-100

IBM™ PC, PC/XT, PCJr.,

PC Portable or AT Kaypro™ II, 10

Northstar™ Horizon/Advantage Televideo™ 1605.TPCII Zenith™ Z-100, Z-151 Most other systems running

MS-DOS ™, Apple-DOS, or CP/M

Modems:

Anchor™

Apple™

Bizcomp™

Bytcom ™

CTS™

Datec™ (Pal Modems)

Hayes™

Incomm™

Inmac™

Multi-Tech™

Novation™ ("Smart Cat Plus"

Series Only) Prentice™ (Pop-Corn) Prometheus™ Quadram™ Qubie™

Racal-Vadic™ (Maxwell Modems) Rixon™ (R212A, PC212A) Transcend™ (PC Modem Card) U.S. Robotics™ Ven-Tel™ This list concerns only

modems AUTO-DIAL.

///////////////////////////////////////

Telpac'" is a registered trademark of U.S. Robotics, Inc.

VT is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corp.

'Emulates VT'" 52/100; Televideo'' 910; TTY (ASCII) Inquiry 354

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

up and building an organization and a management structure based around doing this new product—the Apple 111.

The Apple III

We had some problems getting things done on time with the Apple 111 because of (a) our lack of experience as a group working together, and (b) not being able to predict project lengths well enough.

We started hiring intermediate levels of managers. Sometimes the managers were getting hired at a rate that added a completion date to the project faster than it was getting completed.

Around this time we started developing a perception of market separations—good strong separations between products so they don't overlap. You don't want to design a product that competes heavily with your own existing product. I claim that's untrue. What you really don't want to do is design a product that doesn't offer any more than your existing product.

So we started setting up strong boundaries. The Apple 111 would be our 80-column business machine and have 90 percent of our market. The Apple ll would be our 40-column home/school machine and have 10 percent of our market. The entire executive staff was sure that once the Apple III was out, the Apple II would stop selling in six months. I felt really down, because this 10 percent were my friends—the hobbyists and home users.

The Apple III hurt Apple in many ways, but it was a very well conceived product. And because we were so successful with the Apple II, we decided to build in an Apple II emulation mode to take advantage of all the software that was out there. The emulation mode did get built in, but, because of our concept of market separations, jt was a very limited emulation. While our Apple II customers were adding 80-column cards and 16K RAM cards to their machines, we actually added chips to the Apple III to prevent access to many of its features during emulation mode. In

emulation mode you only had access to 48K of memory—you couldn't use the 80-column display, the extra graphics modes, or the extra memory. The emulation mode wouldn't even run much of the existing Apple II business software, and there wasn't much Apple III software available.

Originally, we planned to deliver four applications with the Apple Illword processing, a spreadsheet, business graphics, and a database program. Steve Jobs's thinking at the time was, "People don't really want to buy a computer. They don't want to know about microprocessors or cards or buses. They want to buy VisiCalc— they want to buy a solution." So we were going to provide the four major solutions. But because we were having problems managing the Apple 111 project while we were building our management structure, we were only able to deliver our operating system—SOS—and VisiCalc, which was done by Personal Software |which later became VisiCorp|.

The Apple III shipped very late and had 100 percent hardware failures. This is very subjective, and some people might disagree with me, but 1 think we were trying to be too pure. We wanted to do it on one PC board, not two, and it didn't fit on one PC board. So we got a company that could put three traces between two IC pins, had them do the PC board, and 100 percent of the Apple Ills failed.

The Apple III is really very good, but we spent three solid years keeping the Apple II down, and now it's finally being allowed to grow in that direction. We've come out with ProDOS, which is a major improvement, and the ProFile [hard disk| is available for the Apple II now. It's a good start. 1 think they are going to find out that allowing the Apple II to get there will improve the whole Apple image.

The III will do very well in its established vertical markets forever, but it really won't make the huge success we thought it would. It may have the best chance it's ever had. ProDOS is the best way to get someone closer

(continued]

JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 177

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

%We did SOS 3 years ago, and the rest of the world hasn't caught up!

to SOS. We did SOS three years ago. and the rest of the world hasn't caught up or come close to it. Macintosh went in a different direction, so I can't compare the two systems.

BYTE: Is SOS really that good? Wozniak: 1 think it's the finest operating system on any microcomputer ever. It's the greatest thing in the world, but I wish we gave out listings of it.

BYTE: Wasn't it the first commercial system that actually had installable device drivers? Wozniak: Yes, the Apple II uses device drivers in ROM, on the I/O cards, but they won't work on the III because they depend on specific memory locations. On the III, you load a device driver into RAM for any device you add to a system, so it's infinitely flexible. You can always change it, correct bugs, and it's clean. But it's

more difficult for outside manufacturers, because they have to supply a disk and instructions on how to update your system. It would have been the best of both worlds if you could plug in a card with a ROM on it and if the first byte in the ROM were a 12, for example, the system would recognize that the ROM holds a device driver and link to it automatically. That would have made it much easier for the card manufacturer. It would have been really easy to allow both techniques, but the Apple III engineering group didn't want to do anything the way it was done on the II. Marketing just didn't have enough leadership and control.

Anyway, having the Apple III as a failure didn't really hurt the company much. The Apple II was still very healthy, but for the next three years the Apple III hurt the company tremendously because everyone in Apple knows how great a machine the Apple III really is. It's a very clean machine, it's easy to use, and it's really been organized right with the operating system.

Unfortunately, we made it very difficult for anyone to get access to the insides of the machine. We had hired some very bright people who figured, "This is the right way it should be

done. So we'll give out enough information to do this and we won't give them any more, because they might try to do something they're not supposed to do." The right way for one person is not the right way for another. We closed that machine up to where somebody could have a very difficult time finding out how to add their own I/O drivers. We did not make it easy for the outside world. We thought we wanted all of the markets for ourselves.

You have to let the end users develop their own standards. You've got to give them the freedom to discover how they're going to use an operating system, what sort of things they're going to buy. And if you're really right and have provided a good solution, that's where they're going to settle. The thinking on the III was very much like a religion in that it could only be done one way—our way. We made it very difficult for outside developers, instead of providing all the information as we did with the Apple II.

BYTE: Has that attitude changed now? Wozniak: No. It's still the most negative thing in our whole company, and it will be for years. I think that when a new market

(continued)

BVTffl

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Telex: 4310073 MEVBTC Distributor Inquiries Welcome

178 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 44

models 82/83/84 and 92/93!! also 2410 (350 cps!)

IBM PC

or 2 drivei/256K, 10 mg hard disk

2 drvs:

$2495^

1695

J^ \ IBM XT

10 mg. hard disk S^yjAg

256K, 1-360Kb drive only

FRAMEW0RK$355

ASHTON-TATE

"•"SPECIAL*""

$355 dBASE III

COMPUTERS

IBM PC S XT See special abovell!

PC with 1 drive/64K 139S

PC with 1 drive/256K 1575

PC with 2 dfives/256K 1695

PC with 10mg HDi2 drvs<256K.... 2495

XT with 1 drive/128K 3449

XT with 2 drives/256K 3695

( MONITORS )

IBM MONOCHROME 259

COLOR 589

AMDEK 300G 129

300A 145

310A 165

COLOR 600 419

COLOR 700 469

TAXAN 12" Green 114

12" Amber 117

420 RGB 439

PRINCETON HX-12 467

SR-12 649

MAX-12 184

ZENrTH 122-12- G 93

12" A 93

124 MONO-IBM 169

133 RGB 446

I35RGBCOMP 475

( MODEMS )

HAYES 300 199

1200 468

1200B IBM INTERNAL 389

MICROMODEM II E 209

ANCHOR MARK XII 259

} c

PRINTERS

DOT MATRIX

EPSON RX 80 100 cps 239

RX 80 FT 100 cps 294

RX 100 100 cps. 132 co: 399

FX 80 or JX 80 best price

FX 100 160 cps. 132 col in

LQ 1500 200 cps NEW magazine

OKIDATA 82A8384 Save

92P All

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2410 Drastically Reduced!!

GEMINI 10-X 239

15-X 349

DELTA 10 or 15 Special

RADIX 10 or 15 SCall

DAISY WHEEL—

PRIMAGE I 55 cps, SER PARR 1395

w/Cut Sheet Feeder 1695

BROTHER DAISY WHEEL

HR-15 339

HR-25 569

HR-35 (36 cps| 769

JUKI 6100 409

JUKI 6300 749

DIABLO 620 829

36 1276

630 1689

DYNAXDX-15 339

NEC a.i models SCall

QUME all models SCall

c

DRIVES

J

IBM 360 KB 219

TANDON 100-2 360KB 165

APPLE DRIVES Sale 149

TEAC •/! HI-360 KB

SHUGART <A HI-360 KB

COGITO 10 MG H.D. WCONTRL ATARI INDUS GT

124 .,,.115

699 .... 349

(_ IBM SOFTWARE

)

■""SPREADSHEET

FRAMEWORK Monlhiv Special FRIDAY

355 195

SUPERCALC 3

MULTIPLAN

228

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84

MULTIMATE

249

WORD W MOUSE

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VOLKSWRITER DELUXE

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dBASE III

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PFS FILE

84

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R-BASE 4000

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129

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45

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29

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.... 129

PROKEY 3.0

79

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SIDEWAYS

245

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PFS REPORT

56

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SET FX +

219

47

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39

MATHBLASTER

FROGGER

45

28

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35

ZAXXON

35

GATO SUB SIMULATOR

35

( IBM-BOARDS

)

HERCULES GRAPHICS

.... 315

HERCULES COLOR New!

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AST SIX PAK W/64K

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QUADRAM QUADBOARD W/64K QUADLINK

... 379 .... 299 199 .... 269 .... 449

IBM MONOCHROME

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PLANTRONICS COLOR PLUS MA SYSTEMS PC PEACOCK

COLOR GRAPHICS

TECMAR GRAPHICS MASTER

249

219

.... 358

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(_ IBM ACCESSORIES

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64K RAM CHIPS 200ns

39

150ns

IBM KEYBOARDS

KEYTRONICS 5151 NEW!

39 .... 179 .... 199

5150

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MICRO-SOFT MOUSE

MOUSE SYSTEM-MOUSE KOALA PAD

144

139

85

JOYSTICKS-KRAFT/HAYES

45

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ORANGE MICRO GRAPPLER + 113

BUFFERED w 64K 168

MICROMAX GRAPHMAX 99

VIEWMAX 80 139

VIEWMAX 80E W/64K 189

MAC DISKETTES 26

He PRINTER INTERFACE 59

SUPER COOLING FAN 49

( ACCESSORIES )

PRINTER RIBBONS all makes Low!!!

64K RAM chips SALE 39

VERBATIM SS/DD diskettes 21

DS/DD diskettes 27

DYSAN SS/DD diskettes 26

DS/DD diskettes 34

DISK MINDER-PLEXI (75) 19

DISK MINDER W/KEY (100) 24

SURGE PROTECTOR Compugard 59

PTI POWER BACK-UP 200 w 299

300 w 399

FINGERPRINTS-EPSON all models .. 48

PRINTER DUST COVER all models 10

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PRINTER STANDS Plexiglass 29/39

SURGE PROTECTORS SCall

c

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J

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C-64CARDCO +G 79

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APE FACE 69

GRAPPLER CD COMMODORE 99

QUADRAM 384K

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W/64K RAM

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WORDSTAR pro pack

t Wordstar • Star Index • Correct Star » Mail Merge

COGITO

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CO-PROCESSING

The most cost effective way for Z80 system owners to obtain 16/32 bit processing power and software compatibility is via the HSC CO-16 Attached Resource Processor.

CO-16 is compatible with any Z80 system running CPM 2.2 or CPM 3. A few examples include:

• KAYPRO2/4/10»TRS2/12/16

• AMPRO LITTLE BOARD

• HEATH 89 • SUPERBRAIN

• XEROX 820 • TELEVIDEO 802/803

• MORROW • EPSON QX-10

• LOBO • OSBORNE 1 /EXEC

• CROMEMCO • Plus many more

CO-16

Every CO-16 is delivered with

• 16/32 bit micro processor • 16 bit Operating System • 256 Kilo RAM

• Z80 interface • 16 bit RAM disk driver • CPM80 2.2 RAM disk driver

• CPM 2.2 or CPM 3 compatibility

• sources with tools • hardware diagrams • board level or case with power supply.

CO-1686

The only Z80 16 bit co-processor includes • INTEL 8086 • 6Mhz no wait states • MSDOS2.11 • IBM BIOS emulator • Memory expansion to 768K • 8087 math co-processor • 3-channel Real Time Clock • Runs many IBM PC applications • Shares hard disk space with CPM80 • PC diskette compatilibility on many systems • CPM86 • Concurrent CPM is coming.

CO-1668

The only Z80 16/32 bit co-processor includes • MOTOROLA 68000 microprocessor • 6 Mhz no wait states • CPM68K • Full "C" compiler with UNIX V7 library and floats

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• Real Time Clock • Complete software development environment

• 100% file compatible with CPM80

• OS9/68 UNIX look alike coming

in February.

Hallock Systems Company 262 East Main Street Frankfort, New York 13340 (315) 895-7426

[Hse]

1ED

WOZNIAK INTERVIEW

evolves, like personal computers did, there's a period of time when you've got to let the world go in all random directions, and eventually it will subside because it wants standardization. Then, once it's, obvious what the standards are, they should be heavily supported by the manufacturer. You can't try to dictate a standard.

The Apple II and the Apple III

When we came out with the Apple III, the engineering staff canceled every Apple II engineering program that was ongoing, in expectation of the Apple Ill's success. Every single one was canceled. We really perceived that the Apple II would not last six months. So the company was almost all Apple III people, and we worked for years after that to try and tell the world how good the Apple III was, because we knew.

There is a lot to somebody's perception or image of a machine and how good it is. How many of my friends have them? How many people in the world have them? The Apple 111 was a failure the first year as a product—it had a bad image. When you give a bad first impression, you can go for five years trying to overcome it.

If you looked at our advertising and R&D dollars, everything we did here was done first on the III, if it was business related. Then maybe we'd consider doing a sub-version on the II. To make sure there was a good boundary between the two machines, anything done on the II had to be done on a lower level than on the 111. Only now are we discovering that good solutions can be implemented on the II.

The Apple II was kept out of the business market to keep the III going, to give our users only one choice. We wanted to make the III the success it hadn't become and that it deserved.

Unfortunately, we made sure that the Apple II was nowhere close to the market that the |IBM| PC took. We made sure the Apple II was not allowed to have a hard disk or more than 128K. of memory. At a time when outside companies had very usable

schemes for adding up to a megabyte of memory, we came up with a method of adding 64K to an Apple lie, which was more difficult to use and somewhat limited. We refused to acknowledge any of the good 80-column cards that were in the outside world—only ours, which had a lot of problems.

At one point during the Apple III development. I wrote some fast disk routines for our Pascal system on the II. And I got a lot of flak from Apple III engineers who felt that they shouldn't go on the Apple II. Nothing on the II should be allowed to run as fast or faster than the Apple 111. That was the thinking that stuck with the company for three solid years.

It was unfortunate the way things worked out. because we probably put $100 million in advertising, promotion, and research and development into a product that was 3 percent of our revenues. In that same time frame, think what we could have done to improve the Apple II, or how much could have been done by Apple to give us products in IBM's market.

BYTE: Are uou putting more resources to work in that direction now? Wozniak: Yes, but things don't change in six months. In the Apple ill we had a beautiful machine, and we spent a lot of money to try and emphasize that. We were trying to force the world to finally accept the machine because we knew just how good it was.

The PCjr had a poor initial reception like the Apple III did. It came out in the wrong month—the month when Macintosh was going to be perceived as the leader. The PCjr was perceived as an uninteresting product.

They may try for three years to overcome its bad first impression. They may put a lot of their corporate resources into trying to promote the PCjr and lose sight of the PC. The PC will keep selling because it's been accepted and there are a lot of aftermarket companies out there selling software and hardware for it. But if IBM neglects it enough, we may have a chance to turn it over on them in the next few years if we have a better product. ■

180 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

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Inquiry 82

IANUARY I985

I81

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182 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 367

by William Rynone

Uninterruptible Power Supplies

ti dvertisements for uninterrupZA tible power supplies (UPSs) J. V proliferate in computer magazines. But do you know what they are or how to buy one? This article should help answer your questions.

Many users of small computers have suffered the nasty consequences of an electrical power loss while operating their systems. You can lose a long file that is in working memory. Your disk head may crash, destroying a floppy disk or doing irreparable damage to a Winchester or cartridge disk. Most disk destruction occurs when the computer is reading from or writing to the disk at the instant of

Devices to save you from losing data in the dark

power failure. Consequently, serious damage can result should you panic at the flickering of your overhead lights and attempt to "save" your work.

One way to temporarily retain your working data during a power failure is to connect batteries to the powersupply bus lines. For an S-100 system you'll need three different battery voltages: +8 volts (V), +16 V, and -16 V. This is a short-term solution, acceptable only if power returns within a reasonable period (that is, before the batteries die).

Though the preceding measure may protect data in working memory, your computer must maintain 117 V AC in

order to store and retrieve data. Unless full power returns, you won't be able to save your data. And, of course, if the batteries can maintain only bus voltages, your disk hardware remains unprotected; you may have already experienced a head crash.

Another alternative to protecting both data in active memory and your hardware is to use a source of 117-V AC power that is independent of the anomalies of your local public utility. There are two approaches to this method: continuously supply power

[continued)

William Rynone teaches in the department of electrical engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD 21402).

ILLUSTRATED BY STEVE SALERNO

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE

POWER SUPPLIES

to your computer with a continuousduty UPS or supply power only when the electricity fails, using a standby power supply, (in this article, I'll use the term UPS to describe both types of units, differentiating when necessary.)

A continuous-duty UPS supplies power to your computer all the time. The 117-V AC power is developed by a static inverter that uses a storage battery, or batteries, depending upon your power requirements. The batteries are continually charged by power from your local utility. Simultaneously, the inverters are synchronized to

the utility-line frequency—60 Hz—to eliminate any undesired effects upon the computer system. Such an effect might be a beat frequency between the utility's power and the frequency of the power generated by the freerunning static inverter.

Under normal operation, the inverter frequency is maintained in power-line sync via a phase-locked loop circuit quite often operated in conjunction with a ferroresonant circuit, which may be thought of as a tuned inductance-capacitance oscillator. When the line power disappears, the inverter frequency drifts

slowly to a factory-preset 60 Hz. The line frequency must change gradually so as not to induce any transients. Similarly, when power returns, the frequency of the inverter is gradually synchronized with the power company's line frequency. Many continuous-duty UPSs are designed to switch the computer input connections back to the utility's power line when the inverter fails.

Standby UPSs are maintained in a ready state with their battery, or batteries, receiving a trickle charge. When the utility's power-line voltage falls below a preset level, the inverter

T^ble 1: Standby uninterruptible power supplies compared according to

manufacturer specifications.

Some information may have changed since press time.

POWER

TRANSFER

PRICE

RATING

CUT-IN

BACK

MANUFACTURER

MODEL

PER UNIT

(WATTS)

VOLTAGE

TO LINE

Cuesta Systems Inc.

9012060

$350

90

102 V

106 V

3440 Roberto Court

San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

20012060

$495

• 200

102 V

106 V

(805) 541-4160

Electronic Protections

Grizzly 200

$895

200

93 V

97 V

Devices

(with surge protection)

POB 673

Waltham, MA 02254

(800) 343-1813

General Power Systems

GPS-0.1K126R

$495

100

102 V

109 V

1400 North Baxter St.

GPS-0.2K126R

$595

200

102 V

109 V

Anaheim, CA 92806

GPS-0.3K126R

$695

300

102 V

109 V

(714) 956-9321

GPS-0.5K126R

$895

500

102 V

109 V

Kalglo Electronics Co.

LS-240

$485

240 VA

102 V

106 V

6584 Ruch Rd.

Bethlehem, PA 18017

LS-480

$795

480 VA

102 V

106 V

(800) 524-0400

(both have multistage surge suppression and RFI filtering)

Meirick Inc.

Ml 400

$495

400

102 V

106 V

Power Systems Division

POB 298

Ml 800

$795

800

102 V

106 V

Frisco, CO 80443

(both have surge pro

(303) 668-3251

tection and spike and line filtering)

PTI Inc.

Datashield PC-200

$359

200 (240 VA)

108 V

102 V

320 River St.

Santa Cruz, CA 95060

XT-300

$499

300 (380 VA)

108 V

102 V

(408) 429-6881

MU-800

n.a.

800 (1000 VA)

108 V

102 V

(all have spike, EMI,

and RFI protection)

184 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

POWER SUPPLIES

is switched in. A simple relay coil that detects the loss of power-line voltage can trigger the switch. In other cases, very elaborate electronic sense circuits can trigger the standby UPSs, based upon parameters such as the absolute line voltage, the rate of decay of the line voltage, the occurrence of line transients, or whether the frequency and phase of the inverter are in sync with the decaying utility-line voltage.

UPSs are classified in different ways. Manufacturers may specify a voltage level at which the standby UPS will be activated—the "cut-in level"—or they

may specify a switching time for the UPS to come on line—the "reaction time"—when there is a complete loss of power. Neither figure by itself is adequate for making a purchase decision. One UPS cut-in voltage may be sufficient to power your system, but it may have a long reaction time. A long reaction time can result in a loss of data in working memory. Even more serious is the probability of diskdrive damage that can occur during a lapse of 117-V AC power. Another manufacturer rates the reaction time of its standby UPS at less than one cycle of the AC line voltage, equal to

16^3 milliseconds (ms). However, the cut-in level when the line voltage is decreasing slowly is 80 V rms (root mean square), well below the necessary 117 V AC. The effect on your computer components at this level is, at best, unpredictable.

How critical is the reaction time relative to your hardware? Your main system box contains large filter capacitors if it uses linear power supplies (with switching power supplies, capacitor filtering may be minimal), and a 10- to 2 5-ms reaction time for a UPS won't significantly affect operation.

[continued)

ALLOWABLE

LOAD

POWER FACTOR

TRANSFER TIME OF UTILITY TO UPS

OUTPUT VOLTAGE

EXTERNAL BATTERY TERMINALS

OPERATING PERIOD ON INTERNAL BATTERY AT RATED LOAD

does not matter does not matter

10 ms maximum; 8

typical

10 ms maximum; 8

typical

ms

ms

102 - 132 V, stepped sine wave

102 - 132 V, stepped sine wave

yes, 10.8 - 14 V yes, 10.8 - 14 V

at least 5 minutes at full load; at least 15 minutes at half load at least 5 minutes at full load; at least 15 minutes at half load

1.7 A at 200 W

8 ms maximum

102 V AC, stepped sine wave

no

20 minutes at full load

0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8

less than 2 ms less than 2 ms less than 2 ms less than 2 ms

115 V AC rms rms rms

yes yes yes yes

9 minutes at full load 16 minutes at full load 18 minutes at full load

10 minutes at full load

0.6 0.6

4 ms maximum 4 ms maximum

120 V AC, modulated pulse-width output 120 V AC, modulated pulse-width output

yes, 12 V nominal yes, 24 V nominal

11 minutes at full load; 27 minutes at half load 11 minutes at full load; 27 minutes at half load

0.8 0.8

4 ms i 2 4 ms ± 2

140 V square wave; 115 V AC under load 140 V square wave; 115 V AC under load

yes, 12 V nominal yes, 24 V

20 minutes at full load; 45 minutes at half load 9 minutes at full load; 20 minutes at half load

doesn't matter for these models

10 ms maximum; 4 ms typical 120 V AC, phaseshifted square wave

4 ms maximum; 1 ms typical 120 V AC, phaseshifted square wave

10 ms maximum; 4 ms typical 120 V AC, sine

wave

no

yes, 12 V

yes

at least 5 minutes at full load; at least 20 minutes at half load at least 5 minutes at full load; at least 20 minutes at half load at least 6 minutes at full load; at least 25 minutes at half load

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 185

POWER SUPPLIES

T&ble 1: continued

MANUFACTURER

MODEL

PRICE PER UNIT

POWER RATING (WATTS)

CUT-IN VOLTAGE

TRANSFER BACK TO LINE

Qubie'

SB200

$329

200

108 V

108 V

4809 Calle Alto

Camarillo, CA 93010

XT300

$429

300

108 V

108 V

(800) 821-4479

(both have surge and EMI protection)

R. H. Electronics Inc.

Guardian Angel

$495

200

102 V

106 V

566 Irelan Dr.

(20012060)

Buellton, CA 93427

(805) 688-2047

Power Angel

n.a.

800

102 V

106 V

SAFT America

200 VA

$549

200 VA

102 V***

106 V

Electronic Systems Division

2414 West 14th St.

400 VA

$749

400 VA

102 V***

106 V

Tempe, AZ 85281

(both have spike

(602) 894-6864

protection)

Sun Research Inc.

M60

$400

150 VA

104 V

110 V

POB 210

M60 + S

$475

150 VA

104 V

110 V

Old Bay Rd.

M60 + 3

$525

300 VA

104 V

110 V

New Durham, NH 03855

M60 + 3S

$700

300 VA

104 V

110 V

(603) 859-7110

M60 + 6

$900

600 VA

104 V

110 V

M60 + 6S

$1140

600 VA

104 V

110 V

Mayday

$240

150 VA

104 V

110 V

Mayday + S

$325

150 VA

104 V

110 V

Mayday+ 3

$350

300 VA

104 V

110 V

Mayday+ 3S

$500

300 VA

104 V

110 V

SR3

$595

300 VA

104 V

110 V

SR6

$995

600 VA

104 V

110 V

( + S indicates surge

protection)

Topaz Electronics

84461

$760

400 VA

102 V

110 V

9192 Topaz Way

San Diego, CA 92123

84462

$820

400 VA

102 V

110 V

(619) 279-0831

84462-01*

$870

400 VA

102 V

110 V

84864

$970

800 VA

102 V

110 V

84864-01*

$1020

800 VA

102 V

110 V

84126-01*

$1085

1000 VA

Tripp Lite

BC-200

$359

200

85 V**

500 North Orleans

Chicago, IL 60610

BC-425

$559

425

85 V**

(312) 329-1777

BC-1000

$1179

1000

85 V**

(all have surge

protection)

* with status monitor ** may be used in series with vendor's brownout protection system; as supplied, the

BC series is for complete blackout protection only ** option for higher specification available

186 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

POWER SUPPLIES

ALLOWABLE LOAD POWER FACTOR

TRANSFER TIME OF UTILITY TO UPS

OUTPUT VOLTAGE

EXTERNAL

BATTERY

TERMINALS

OPERATING PERIOD ON INTERNAL BATTERY AT RATED LOAD

doesn't matter for these models

10 ms maximum 4 ms maximum,

4 ms typical 1 ms typical

120 V 120 V

yes, 12 V yes, 12 V

5 minutes at full load; 20 minutes at half load

6 minutes at full load; 20 minutes at half load

10 ms maximum; typical

10 ms maximum; typical

4

4

ms ms

102 V - 132 V rectangle sine

120 V ± 3.5 V sine wave

yes

no

2-6 minutes at full load; 15 minutes at half load

12 minutes at full load; 35 minutes at half load

0.8 0.8

6 ms maximum; 6 ms maximum;

4 ms typical 4 ms typical

117 V ± 15%, square wave for both models

optional, 24 V optional, 24 V

20 minutes at full load; 50 minutes at half load 10 minutes at full load; 24 minutes at half load

16 ms maximum; 16 ms maximum; 16 ms maximum; 16 ms maximum; 16 ms maximum; 16 ms maximum; 8 ms maximum 8 ms maximum 8 ms maximum 8 ms maximum 8 ms maximum 8 ms maximum

8 8 8 8 8 8

ms typical ms typical ms typical ms typical ms typical ms typical

120 V rms;

+ 3 V over 80%

of battery energy;

sine wave;

5% harmonic

distortion

120 V, square wave

120 V, square wave

120 V, square wave

120 V, square wave

120 V, square wave

120 V, square wave

all models except SR6 have external battery terminals; SR6 has an internal gel

at least 30 minutes at full load for all models except SR3 and SR6, which have a period of at least 15 minutes at full load

doesn't matter for these models

10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum

4 4 4 4 4

ms typical ms typical ms typical ms typical ms typical

120 V ± 3.5 V, sine wave for all models

no for all models

at least 9 minutes at full load; 25

minutes at half load

at least 35 minutes at full load;

75 minutes at half load

at least 35 minutes at full load;

75 minutes at half load

at least 12 minutes at full load; 35

minutes at half load

at least 12 minutes at full load; 35

minutes at half load

at least 9 minutes at full load; 30

minutes at half load

doesn't matter for these models

10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum 10 ms maximum

120 V AC, rectangular wave for all models

no for all models

10 minutes at full load; 30

minutes at half load

10 minutes at full load; 30

minutes at half load

16 minutes at full load; 38

minutes at half load

IANUARY 1985 "BYTE 187

POWER SUPPLIES

T^ble 2: Continuous-duty

uninterruptible power supplies compared according to manu

facturer specifications.

Some information may have changed since press time.

POWER

RATING

POWER

BYPASS UPS

MANUFACTURER

MODEL

PRICE

(WATTS)

FACTOR

TO UTILITY

Computer Power Inc.

OUPS48-500

$1650

500

0.75 lag to 0.9

yes, 1 second

124 Main St.

OUPS48-750

$1750

750

lead for all

yes, 1 second

High Bridge, NJ 08829

OUPS48-1000

$1975

1000

models

yes, 1 second

(201) 735-8000

UPS36-500M

- with lead-antimony

$1690

500

yes, less than 1

battery

second for all

- with small gel battery

$1710

500

UPS36 and

- with large gel battery

$1795

500

UPS48 models

UPS36-750M

- with lead-antimony

$1795

750

battery

- with small gel battery

$1860

750

- with large gel battery

$1940

750

UPS36-1000M

- with lead-antimony

$2075

1000

battery

- with small gel battery

$2140

1000

- with large gel battery

$2220

1000

UPS48-1500M

- with lead-antimony

$3500

1500

battery

- with small gel battery

$3565

1500

- with large gel battery

$3645

1500

Electronic Protections

Grizzly 500

$2400

500

0.8

standard at

Devices

Grizzly 1000

$5200

1000

0.8

125% overload

POB 673

(both have surge

for both models

Waltham, MA 02254

protection)

(800) 343-1813

RTE Deltec Inc.

3056

$1995

500

1

standard

2727 Kurtz St.

San Diego, CA 92110

DSU-720

$2995

700

0.8 to 1

optional

(619) 291-4211

DSU-1220

$3395

1200

0.8 to 1

optional

DSU-1820

$3895

1800

0.8 to 1

optional

7026

$6295

2500

0.7 to 1

standard

Sun Research Inc.

Mayday 60 + 3C

$800

300 VA

1 for all models

optional on all

POB 210

Mayday 60 + 6C

$1325

600 VA

models

Old Bay Rd.

Mayday 60+10C

$2295

1000 VA

New Durham, NH 03855

SR30

$995

300 VA

(603) 859-7110

SR60

$1495

600 VA

SR100 (220 V in,

$2395

1000 VA

110 V out)

SR150 (220 V in,

$3195

1500 VA

110 V out)

188 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 302

POWER SUPPLIES

BATTERY CONNECTION

OR INTERNAL BATTERY

OUTPUT VOLTAGE

AT RATED LOAD

120 V AC, sine wave

OUPS48 models operate on ex

for all models

ternal battery

120 minutes at full load

50 minutes at full load 120 minutes at full load

75 minutes at full load

30 minutes at full load 75 minutes at full load

50 minutes at full load

20 minutes at full load 50 minutes at full load

40 minutes at full load

20 minutes at full load 45 minutes at full load

120 V AC, sine wave

both models have 60-V external

battery; 15 minutes at full load,

12 minutes at half load

120 V AC, sine wave,

48-V external battery

5% THD

72-V external battery on all DSU

DSU models offer user

models

selectable sine wave,

5% THD

120 V AC, sine wave,

72-V external battery

5% THD

120 V AC, sine wave

24-V external battery

for all models except

24-V external battery

SR100 and SR150; for

48-V external battery

those models, 110 V

12-V internal gel

AC, sine wave

24-V internal gel

SR100 and SR150 offer choice of

lead-sulfate battery or internal gel

UhUlUH 3.L1 N

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Keylronic (10 keys)

21.95

m KEY OVERLAYS

Blank Overlays (99 keytops)

21.95

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Do-it-yourselt Kit (154 pieces)

29.95

■ 5520 (95 keytops)

28.95

MulliMate

29.95

1 Display Write 2 (36 keytops)

21.95

EasyWriler II

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26.95

Lolus 1-2-3

29.95

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26.95

WordPerlect

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TOTAL ENCLOSED JL

Write for information.

I I I I

I I I I

Icity

_Slale_

-Zip

Inquiry 163

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 189

POWER SUPPLIES

Constructing

AN

Emergency Light Source

Unless you enjoy programming in the dark, an auxiliary light source adjacent to your UPS-protected computer Is a wise idea. I use a highintensity desk lamp that incorporates a 12-V automobile taillight bulb and a built-in 12-V transformer. Break the lead to the lamp where shown in figure A, add relay Kl, and connect the battery and other wires. While the 117 V power is available, the lamp is lighted from the 117-V line. During a power failure, the relay contacts switch the lamp to the 12-V battery. You can add a single-post, single-throw switch, SI, if you want the option of turning the emergency lighting on and off to conserve battery power.

Another alternative, albeit more complicated, is shown in figure B. With this design, you can modify your highintensity lamp with all solid-state (no relay) circuitry and include batterycharging capabilities. When nearly fully charged, the 12-V car battery will receive a trickle charge of about 30 milliamperes, guaranteeing many hours of emergency lighting from a fresh battery.

A photocopy of the printedrdrcu.it board artwork is available from William Rynone Sr.. POB 292, Ocean Gate. NJ 08740. You must include a stamped self-addressed envelope.

12V

117 VOLTS AC INPUT

BREAK HERE

H=^ 12V p=^ #93 L<

ORIGINAL LIGHT WIRING

117 VOLTS AC INPUT

HIGH

N.

NC

-° »

L=N12V rt=' #93 LAMP

>12V 'BATTERY

n:

NO 1

EMERGENCY LIGHT SOURCE WIRING

NOTE: Kl IS A 117-V0LT AC COIL WITH SPOT CONTACTS. CONTACT POSITION SHOWN WITH COIL ENERGIZED

Figure A: This emergency lighting setup powered by a UPS can keep you from computing in the dark. (Original schematic by Barbara Campo.)

1N5821

BRIDGE DIODES (NO SUBSTITUTES)

•TO-66 =PNP POWER TAB

TRANSISTOR hFE2 100© l, = l AMP

GE#93 (cEfc

1N914

-w

loon

1/2W -VW—

1N9H TO-66

lOOfiF © 25V

100ft 1W

680ft 1/2 W

2.6V OR 3.2V 'ZENER ® 1/2 W

12V CAR BATTERY

Figure B: A high-intensity lamp modification with backup power source and battery-charging capabilities. Schottky diodes must be used in the bridge in order to maintain adequate lamp brilliance. Any PNP power-tab mount (TO-66) transistor with a gain of 100 at 1 ampere will work with this design.

190 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 67 —*

iumm

H

■

The Choice is Yours

El

« ■ ■

The time has come when one computer just isn't enough. You have a choice. . .add more personal computers or move up to multi-user with the CompuPro 10 PLUS.

Personal computer networks are one alternative. But in a four-user network, you'll need four personal computers plus a networking package.. .Cost.. .$18,000.*

In contrast, the CompuPro 10 is specifically designed to be a four-user microcomputer. One fully-integrated system with multi-user capability. . . Under $10,000.**

Price isn't the only advantage CompuPro 10 has over networked personal computers.

The CompuPro 10's multi-user operating system allows you to run both 8- and 16-bit software at the same time. So you can choose from a library of over 3,000 programs, as well as use your existing CP/M^ software. And our innovative multi-processor design lets you work faster without the performance degradation associated with personal networks.

For a complete demonstration, visit one of our Full Service CompuPro System Centers. Or call (415) 786-0909, ext. 206 for the System Center nearest you.

Don't get personal, get CompuPro.

ompuPro

3506 Breakwater Court. Hayward. CA 94545

'Suggested list price for four popular personal computers, 40 Mb of hard disk storage and network package. "Includes CompuPro 10 PLUS with 1 Mb RAM. 40 Mb hard disk and applications programs ($7995 list), plus four terminals. CP/M is a registered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. 1984 CompuPro

POWER SUPPLIES

Floppy-disk drives are not as well protected. They can generally be divided into two types: those with DC motors and those with AC motors. Those with DC motors are deenergized when not reading or writing to disk, but they have heads that are in continual contact with the disk. Drives with AC motors contain read/ write heads that are lowered into position only during data transfer. As long

as the filter capacitors are large enough to sustain voltage above TTL (transistor-transistor logic) minimum levels, you will not lose data. However, if the head is traveling across the disk, a sudden power loss—below 117 V— can result in a scratched floppy disk. Winchester drives are an exception. Their heads require a nominal 15 seconds to be lifted to the normal operating position and a comparable

UPS

Shopping Questions

Here are some appropriate questions to ask when shopping for a UPS device. Questions 2 through 9 are particularly applicable to standby UPS units.

1. Should I purchase a continuous-duty or a standby UPS? (A quality standby UPS may perform acceptably at a considerable savings.)

2. What is the power rating of the UPS? If it has a built-in battery, how long will the battery supply power at a usable voltage level? Will the vendor supply an output-voltage versus time curve for its UPS unit under rated power conditions?

3. You may wish to purchase a UPS with reserve power to accommodate future computer components. How much 117-V rms output voltage variation will occur if the unit is not used at its rated load power? That is, how well is the output voltage regulated? Will the vendor supply an outputvoltage versus percent-of-rated-load power curve for its UPS? (This question is appropriate because the intermittent operation of disk drives and printers causes variations in the load current that must be supplied by the UPS.)

4. Are terminals available on the case of the UPS whereby an external battery may be employed (thus enabling a longer operating period)? If so, what voltage must the external battery be? (Twelve volts is desirable, so a low-cost car battery may be used.)

5. Will overheating problems occur if operated with an external battery for an extended period? How long can you operate?

6. Is the UPS unit available without the internal battery? (You may decide to use a 12-V car battery.)

7. lb what voltage must the power line decrease before the UPS activates? Does the UPS activate at the same voltage value for slowly as well as rapidly decaying line voltages? Does it employ a phase-locked loop circuit with gradual line frequency capture circuitry?

8. In the event of a sudden and complete loss of power, what is the switching time for the standby unit to "cut in"?

9. Is delay circuitry included in this product? (Delay circuitry can keep the unit on line for a period of time after it has been activated by line transients, thus giving the power company's line voltage an opportunity to settle.) If so. what is the delay period?

10. Is the output of the UPS sine wave or square wave? (Some printers malfunction with a square-wave power source. If you're content to save some data and power down your computer, the UPS output waveshape might not be important, and you could purchase a lower-cost unit. A sine-wave unit may cost two to three times as much as an equivalent square-wave unit.)

11. Most microcomputer users already have line transient suppressors. Is the UPS available without this built-in circuitry? If not, can you connect an existing multi-outlet power strip with surgesuppression capability to the output of this UPS without excessive voltage drop?

12. Who services the UPS? (Hong Kong is rather inconvenient.)

time to be de-energized. It appears, therefore, that a 2 5-ms loss of power should have no detrimental effect. Some 5^-inch Winchesters do have an electromechanical brake that activates at approximately 9 V, making it difficult to predict what will happen to them at different levels of power loss.

The Price of Power

The price of uninterruptible power is a purchase factor. A low-power continuous-duty UPS may cost three to four times more than a standby UPS of equivalent rating. Power ratings of UPSs may be as low as 100 watts or up to many kilowatts. Your home computer doesn't need that much protection. These high-kilowatt units are used by banks and hospital operating rooms.

You can determine the UPS power required to protect your system by adding the individual power ratings of each component. You'll find the power ratings for the central processing unit, disk drives, video-display terminal, and printers on each manufacturer's nameplate or in the accompanying data sheets. If you own a totally integrated computer system, you'll find only one power rating. You may want to purchase a UPS with a slightly greater power rating than your system requires. The extra power will enable you to add one or more new components.

Tables 1 and 2 are based upon information supplied by UPS manufacturers. In some instances their data was incomplete and would not help a reader answer the "consumer" questions that accompany this article (see "UPS Shopping Questions" at left).

A common power rating for standby UPSs used in typical home computer systems is 150 to 200 watts. These units operate on their built-in battery, or batteries, for about 20 minutes. This is just enough time to complete important data entry, albeit by flashlight or candlelight, and save your work (see "Constructing an Emergency Light Source" on page 190). ■

192 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

THE BRIEFCASE DAIA BASE.

CARTRIDGE DATA MANAGEMENT GOMES OF AGE.

Today's business microcomputers have generated an information explosion that today's data storage devices-including the highly-touted, high-capacity Winchesters-have been illprepared to contain.

With one notable exception. The Bernoulli Box" from IOMEGA Available for the IBM PC, XT, most compatibles, the TI Professional, and Apple's Macintosh"the Bernoulli Box delivers unparalleled data base dynamics. Thanks to its removable 10-megabyte cartridges (5-megabyte for the Macintosh) and its proprietary removable disk technology.

And that, more and more, is what your business needs today. Not centralized, monolithic banks of information, but data

bases defined by job function and software application. Data bases that give people the versatility to work more productively.

But there is more. More performance and reliability. Transfer rates and access times faster than most Winchesters. No head crashes ever. And cost per megabyte that Winchesters cannot touch.

The Bernoulli Box's cartridge capacity, portability, and absolute interchangeability give your business more options. You can easily build primary data bases. You can package individualized data bases, software and all—for payroll, accounting, marketing-in convenient, dedicated cartridges. You can secure them quickly and economically in backup. And you can pack all of the data into a briefcase, an interoffice envelope, or even a file drawer.

For the dealer nearest you, call 1-800-556-1234 ext. 215. In California call 1-800-441-2345 ext. 215.

. I

L'THzGA

IOMEGA Corporation

1821 West 4000 South Roy, Utah 84067

Inquiry 182

THE

BOX"

FANTASTIC COMPUTER PRINTER SALE!!!

COMSTAR T/F

Tractor Friction Printer

only

* He

COMSTAR

W

• Lowest Priced, Best Quality, Tractor-Friction Printers in the U.S.A. Fast 80-120-160 Characters Per Second • 40, 46,66,80, 96,132 Characters Per Line Spacing • Word Processing • Print Labels, Letters, Graphs and Tables • List Your Programs

in»i'imwiii.7iii..rerrni>-Mt-ii.Mi

** DELUXE COMSTAR T/F 80 CPS Printer - $169.00

This COMSTAR T/F (Tractor Friction) PRINTER is exceptionally versatile It prints 8'.<" x 11" standard size single sheet stationary or continuous feed computer paper Bi-directional, impact dot matrix. 80 CPS. 224 characters (Centronics Parellel Interface).

Premium Quality 120-140 CPS

10" COMSTAR PLUS+

Printer $249.00

The COM STAR PLUS+ gives you all the features of the COMSTAR T/F PRINTER plus a 10" carriage, 120 140 CPS. 9x9 dot matrix with double strike capability for 18 x 18 dot matrix (near letter quality), high resolution bit image (120 x 144 dot matrix), underlining, back spacing, left and right margin settings, true lower decenders with super and subscripts, prints standard, italic, block graphics and special characters It gives you print quality.and features found on printers costing twice as much!! (Centronics Parallel Interface) (Better than Epson FX80). List $499.00 SALE $249.00

lliT^mirTTT.l.]iH,lfJ^lM.li'IMA;.HrT»

Premium Quality 120-140 CPS 15WCOMSTAR PLUS+ Business Printer $349.00

Has all the features of the 10" COM STAR PLUS+ PRINTER plus 15' " carriage and more powerful electronics components to handle large ledger business forms! (Better than Epson FX 100) List $599 SALE $349.00

Superior Quality

10" COM-STAR+ H.S.

HIGH SPEED 160-180 CPS

Business Printer $369.00

This Super High Speed Com-Star+ Business Printer has all the features of the 10" COMSTAR+ PRINTER with HIGH SPEED BUSINESS PRINTING 160-180 CPS, 100% duty cycle, 8K Buffer, diverse character fonts, special symbols and true decenders. vertical and horizontal tabs. A RED HOT BUSINESS PRINTER at an unbelievable low price (Serial or Centronics Parallel Interface) List $699.00 Sale $369.00.

Superior Quality

15%" COM-STAR PLUS+ H.S.

High Speed 160 - 180 CPS

Business Printer $469.00

This Super High Speed COM-STAR+ 15%" Business Printer has all the features of the 10" COMSTAR BUSINESS PRINTER witha 15'/?" Carriage and more powerful electronic components to handle larger ledger business forms! Exclusive bottom feed. (Serial Centronics Parallel Interface) List $799.00 Sale $469.00

OOlympia

Executive Letter Quality DAISY WHEEL PRINTER $379.00

This is the worlds finest daisy wheel printer Fantastic Letter Quality, up to 20 CPS

bidirectional, will handle 144" forms width! Has a 256 character print buffer, special print enhancements, built in tractor-feed (Centronics Parallel and RS232C Interface) List $699 SALE $379.

• 15 Day Free Trial - 1 Year Immediate Replacement Warrant

l

PARALLEL INTERFACES

For VIC-20 and COM-64 - $49.00 For Apple computers — $79.00 Atari 850 Interface — $79.00 For ALL IBM Computers - $89.00

Add xi 4 SO lor shipping, handling and inturonc*. Illinoil ratidanti plcatwpdd 6*'. lax. Add S29 00for CANADA. PUERTO RICO. HAWAII. ALASKA. APOFPO ordart. Canadion ordart mud b« in U.S. dollar* WE DO NOT EXPORT TO OTHER COUNTRIES.

EncloM Caihlart Chack. Monay Ordar or Partonol Chxk. Allow I * dayt lor dalivary. 2 to 7 doy> lor prion* ordart. I day axpratt moill VISA—MASTER CARD—We Ship C.O.D to U S Addresses Only

ENTERPRIZES *************

BOX 550, BARRINQTON, ILLINOIS 60010 Phone 312/M2-5244 to order

COM-STAR PLUS+ ABCDEFGH ZJKLMNOPQI Print Example: ABCDEFGHZJKLHN0PtaR8TUVWXYZ 1234!

ITUVMXYZ 7B90

194 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

NEW 128K —MEGA BYTE DUAL DISK DRIVE-80 COLUMN

COMPUTER SYSTEM SALE!

HOME • BUSINESS • WORD PROCESSING

LOOK AT ALL YOU GET FOR ONL Y $895* © B128 COMMODORE 1 28K 80 COLUMN COMPUTER © 4023 - 100 CPS - 80 COLUMN BIDIRECTIONAL PRINTER

8050 DUAL DISK DRIVE (over 1 million bytes)

12" HI RESOLUTION 80 COLUMN MONITOR

BOX OF 10 LORAN LIFETIME GUARANTEED DISKS

1 100 SHEETS FANFOLD PAPER

ALL CABLES NEEDED FOR INTERFACING

TOTAL LIST PRICE

0

LIST PRICE

$ 995.00

499.00

1795.00

249.00

49.95

19.95

102.05

$3717.95

PLUS YOU CAN ORDER THESE BUSINESS PROGRAMS AT SALE PRICES

Professional 80 Column Word Processor Professional Data Base Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable

LIST

S149.95 S149.95

S149.95 S149.95

SALE

599.00 S99.00 599.00 599 00

Payroll Inventory General Ledger Financial Spread Sheet Order Entry

LIST $149.95 S149.95 S149.95 $149.95 $149.95

SALE 599.00 599.00 599.00 599.00 599.00

PRINTER REPLACEMENT OPTIONS

(replace the 4023 with the following at these sale prices)

LIST sale

Olympia Executive Letter Quality Printer S699.00 5379.00

Comstar Hi-Speed 160 CPS 1 5 '', " Business Printer $779.00 5469.00

Telecommunications Deluxe Modem Package $199.00 5139.00

IEEE to Centronics Parallel Printer Interface $179.00 5139.00

15 DA Y FREE TRIAL. We give you 1 5 days to try out this SUPER SYSTEM PACKAGE! ! If it doesn't meet your expectations, just send it back to us prepaid and we will refund your purchase price! !

90 DAY IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT WARRANTY. If any of the SUPER SYSTEM PACKAGE equipment or programs fail due to faulty workmanship or material we will replace it IMMEDIATELY at no charge! !

Add 550.00 for shipping and handling!! 5100.00 for Alaska and Hawaii orders.

WE DO NOT EXPORT TO OTHER COUNTRIES

Enclose Cashiers Check Money Order or Personal Check. Allow 14 days for delivery, 2 to 7 days for phone orders I day express mail! We accept Visa and MasterCard We ship C.O.D. 1o continental U.S. addresses only.

ENTERPRIZES "!i0"io«uswf"s

BOX 550, BARRINQTON, ILLINOIS 60010 Phont 312/382-5244 to ordtr

Inquiry 287

IANUARY I985

IYTE 195

You already own a computer that can talk.

Now let it.

Now you can upgrade almost any personal computer and make it more powerful than ever, by giving it the power of speech.

The Votrax Personal Speech System is the least expensive sophisticated voice synthesizer available today The PSS's text-to-speech vocabulary is virtually unlimited, and you can define an exception word table and customize your translations. So the PSS can say just about anything

It's a speech and sound specialist.

The PSS can also mix speech and sound effects or speech and music. It contains its own speaker a programmable master clock, 256 programmable frequencies, a programmable speech rate for a more natural rhythm, and 16 programmable amplitude levels for incredible control of word emphasis. You can control the volume. Plus, it doesn't use any of your computer's valuable memory

It's computer friendly.

The PSS is unbelievably easy to use. It doesn't need an interface card for most computers. It comes with standard serial and parallel ports. Speech, music, and sound effects are as simple as printing out a document.

What do you do with a talking computer?

There are countless practical applications. Businesses may want the PSS for spoken transmission of information, narration of displays, and product demonstrations. It makes verification of data input possible for the blind. It can be part of a burglar alarm system. Children can use the PSS as a study aid. And it helps games come alive, speaking while you play

Whatever your computer can do, the PSS can help it do it better, at a cost that makes it all worthwhile: only $395* Call (313) 583-9884 to hear an actual voice demonstration of the PSS.

retail price

There's also the Type 'N Talk.

If you want a less sophisticated unit and want to spend a little less, consider the Votrax Type 'N Talk (TNT). Its vocabulary is also limited only by what you can type. It doesn't use any computer memory it's compatible with most computers, and it's only $249* Just plug it in to your own speaker and go!

For more information about the Personal Speech System or the Type 'N Talk, see your local computer retailer call toll-free or write:

WK

1394 Rankin

Troy Michigan 48083

521-1350 (In Michigan, call collect 313-588-0341)

196 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 366

by Richard S. Shuford

An Introduction to Fiber Optics

PART 2:

CONNECTIONS AND NETWORKS

Optical fibers are becoming practical for use in applications such as local networks

Editor's note: Last month we looked at the new technology of optical-fiber waveguides and examined their fundamental principles. This month we'll concentrate on the more practical aspects of fiber optics: how they are connected together and how they are being used in computer communications.

The rapid development and change of the fiber-optics industry is evident in microcosm in the little parts that enable the major components of a fiber-optic system to be fitted together: the connectors. Established electronicconnector companies are in hot competition with unknown upstarts to develop, patent, and sell the fiberoptic cable connector that will become the equivalent of the audioequipment "phono" plug or the coaxial-cable PLr2 59. The SMA 905 and 906 connectors for multimode fibers, made by Amphenol, AMP, Optical Fiber Technologies Inc., and a few others, are candidates (at least in commercial systems), but their role is not yet a dominant one.

To the user of a fiber-optic system, the continued competition indicates that none of the connectors hitherto available have been really satisfactory in all respects. Among their defects have been high price, fragility, high loss, noninterchangeability, difficulty of installation, and uncertainty of supply. Fortunately, the majority of the products on the market have overcome most of these flaws, but the connectors all seem to have at least one drawback.

Most of the connector designs now in wide use require a good deal of expertise as well as special polishing or test equipment for proper installation.

Many of the ones with low loss must be assembled using an epoxy adhesive to hold the optical fiber in alignment; the epoxies often require exposure to an ultraviolet curing light or high temperatures. Furthermore if, once the epoxy has cured, the fiber alignment is unsatisfactory, the connector has to be cut off and discarded.

Engineers laying out a fiber-optic communication link have to pay close attention to the total signal loss in the system. Transmitter and receiver gain are weighed against the losses caused by each passive system component; the balance sheet of gain and loss is called the flux or power budget. In systems that have many connections between the transmitter and receiver, as is often the case in a computer local network, the connectors usually introduce more loss than any other factor. There is also a trade-off between the quality of the connection produced and the ease of installing the connector: the easiest to install are the most lossy. With really tight power budgets, installers have to resort to the difficult but effective fusion splice for joining fibers, in which the cloven, stripped fiber end faces are precisely aligned and then melted together by subjecting them to an electric arc.

But new kinds of connectors and splices are being invented, and one of them may yet combine the virtues everyone is waiting for. For example, promising developments have appeared in the multimode expanded-beam lens (EBL) connectors. The lens in an

[continued) Richard S. Shuford is BYTE's special-projects editor. He can be contacted at POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449.

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 197

FIBER OPTICS

EBL connector spreads the light emerging from the attached fiber into a larger exit angle or, on the other side of the connection, gathers light from a larger region of space than would normally be permitted by the fiber's numerical aperture. Compared

to other connectors, EBL connectors reduce the precision of fiber alignment required, but they tend to be expensive simply because they incorporate lenses, which have to be ground and then coated chemically to prevent power loss from extra reflec

tion. However, at least one simplification has been made possible by new EBL designs now available from General Telephone and Electronics and from the Deutsch (pronounced "doysh") Corporation; these can be in

[continued)

Driving the Fiber-Optic Ethernet Bus

The Ethernet was designed to use a network-access protocol called carrier-sense, multiple-access with collision detection (CSMA/CD). The. inspiration for this, according to inventor Robert Metcalf, was the so-called "cocktail party algorithm": a man at a party wishes to speak, but first he listens, finding out if anyone else is already speaking. If he hears silence, he begins to talk. But if the woman next to him begins to speak at the same instant, neither will be understood by their listeners. So, each hearing the other, they both stop. After waiting for a brief moment, the man tries again to speak, and if the woman is inclined to wait for a slightly longer interval, the man succeeds in communicating.

A CSMA/CD computer network works essentially the same way. The transceivers at each node sense the state of the transmission medium (usually a coaxial cable) before attempting to transmit, looking for a carrier signal from another station's transceiver. Sometimes two devices attempt to transmit at once, but when this collision is detected, both stop and pause for a random interval before trying again. The likelihood of a collision is increased by delays of propagation along the length of the cable: by the time the signal from one station has traveled down the cable, another station has already started its own transmission, having heard nothing.

In Ethernet, a station can easily tell that a collision has occurred by sensing the DC voltage level on the coaxial cable, which becomes higher than usual when two stations are transmitting simultaneously. But a network in which signals travel through glass in the form of light waves cannot use DC voltages to detect collisions. Nor can it use comparison of the levels of light present in the optical fiber. Different

levels of light arrive at various points in the system because of the attenuation of the light at each connection. Furthermore, the power emitted by optical transmitters varies—some emit twice as much light as others, and the sensitivity of receivers also varies. There is no practical way to use direct measurement of the transmitted signal as a reliable collision detector. A team of researchers headed by Richard P. Kelly at Siecor FiberLAN took this as a challenge in designing a fiber-optic network that would be compatible with Ethernet.

The researchers looked at some previous efforts to use an active central controller with a hybrid signal path (including work at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, where Ethernet was developed). In many such previous designs, transmissions coming over optical fibers from each network station were fed into an optical transceiver at the central node. The transceiver converted the signal into electrical form and then placed it on a metallic electrical bus, permitting collision detection to occur the same way as in the original Ethernet. The signal was then reconverted into modulated light and sent out on a second set of fibers to the other nodes.

But an active central node for propagating the signals negates one of the basic reasons for using the bus topology: the network could fail totally if anything goes wrong with the active central controller. (The same principle applies if active T-taps are used on a pure fiber-optic bus, although possibly only part of the network would fail.) So Kelly's team devised a clever alternative in which the physical bus of Ethernet is emulated by a passive optical multiplexer, the transmissive star coupler. For each network node, separate transmit and receive fibers (in a

dual cable) are used, physically laid out in a star configuration and converging at a wiring center. The transmit lines enter the input side of the transmissive coupler, which divides the incoming light equally and broadcasts it to all the stations on the network over the receive lines (as shown in figure 4). Any collisions of transmissions occur inside the coupler.

However, at some point in the transmit line coming from the remote stations, an optical tap diverts a small amount of the optical power (around 10 percent) to separate fibers that feed a separate active collision detector. The collision detector has individual inputs for each network station, each feeding a receiver connected to one gate of a logical comparator. Whenever signals arrive simultaneously on more than one collision-detection line, a collision is known to be occurring. With multiple inputs active, the comparator emits an output signal to activate a "jam" transmitter that feeds the central coupler with a distinctive signal subsequently broadcast to all nodes, lb find out if there has been a collision, the network nodes merely have to detect the special jam signal. If there is a failure in the collision detector, the network falls back into a somewhat less efficient mode of operation, without collision detection; data, however, can still flow throughout the system.

In this design, the passive transmissive coupler maintains the robustness of the bus topology, while the active collision detector allows complete interconnection and protocol compatibility with existing coaxial-cable Ethernet installations. And the efficiency of optical-fiber transmissions results in longer network segments, increasing from 500 meters to 2800 the distances that can be handled between nodes before repeaters are needed.

198 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 286 —►

BE, PROMETHEUS

■ l||

Hayes Compatible • More Features • Only $495

The best price/performance ratio of any 212A modem on the market today for under $500! That puts ProModem 1200 on top of the stack. Compare the 26 features. You'll see why. Only ProModem offers all 26.15 are exclusive.

212A Modem Comparison Chart* STANDARD FEATURES

They're important features. The Real Time Clock/Calen- 300/1200 Baud (212A)

dar for example. Used with Applications Programs, or the OPTIONS PROCESSOR, gives you pre-set timed operation of the modem. Also, time and duration records of all calls. The convenient HELP command makes ProModem easy to use. It promptly displays the Instructions Menu whenever there's a question about what to do next. With Call Progress Detection, you can "tell" ProModem to do things like automatically "Redial When Busy."

It's the only modem that lets you expand into a full telecommunications center with add-ons. The OPTIONS PROCESSOR gives you Data Store and Time Base Continuity with battery backup, Personal/Business Telephone Directory, and Automatic Receipt/Transfer Buffer, expandable to 64K. The OPTIONS PROCESSOR also enables ProModem to operate unattended, with or without your computer.

The optional 12-character ALPHANUMERIC DISPLAY indicates modem operating status, system diagnostics, message status, phone numbers, and real time clock data... to name just a few.

Together, these standard and optional features give you a sophisticated electronic mail and communications capability unmatched by any other modem in this class. And, there's more. See your local dealer for additional information and a demonstration. He'll show you why ProModem 1200 is tops.

ProModem 1200 from...

Prometheus Products, Inc., 45277 Fremont Blvd., Fremont CA 94538, (415) 490-2370

NOW AVAILABLE • ProModem plug-in cards for IBM PC and Apple II • ProCom Software

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Intelligent Microprocessor

Tone and Pulse Dialing

Hayes Command Compatible (Works with Smartcom -)

Additional telephone jack with exclusion switching

Analog loop back self test

Self Test at Power Up

Call Progress Detection (Busy, Dial { Tones, Trunk Busy, etc.)

Speaker and External Volume Control I <s I K" I j»"

Full Complement of Status Lights | v* | *<" |

8 Switch Selectable power-up defaults i i v i Adaptive Dialing

Auto Redial on Busy

Ergonomically designed easy to j

read front display panel

Internal Stand-Alone Power Supply Built in Real Time Clock/Calendar

Help Command

300 baud connect while maintaining 1200 baud RS-232 link

EXPANDABLE OPTIONS

Automatic Receiver Buffer

Automatic Transmit Buffer

Onboard Personal/Business Directory | Buffer, Expandable to 64K

Auto Logon Macros

Auto message transmission to groups of numbers

Records call duration c^

Comparison made by Prometheus on the basis of the best information "available to Prometheus at time of printing.

12-character Alphanumeric Display |

Introducing Dow Jones Straight Talk™

Now there's smart software' for the Macintosh

Think of it. Now there's software as smart as the Apple® Macintosh™ computer. Dow Jones Straight Talk™ offers you all the facts in Dow Jones News/Retrieval® and the other leading information services. With Straight Talk, you get the exact information you need when you „. ^j need it.

Dow Jones Straight Talk 1b a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Smart software is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. The Information Game is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Apple Is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc. Copyright © 1984 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Get an'ft' onyour Paper.

It's one o'clock in the morning, \four term paper on the American Revolution is due at 8 a.m. Where was the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill really fought? It could be the difference between an "A" and a "B'.'

Now there's smart software™ for the Macintosh™ computer.

With Straight Talk, the smart software from Dow Jones, you can use an electronic encyclopedia to find the historical fact you need. Even if it's the fact that on June 17, 1776 the Batde of Bunker Hill was fought on Breed's Hill.

Dow Jones Straight Tklk™

Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Macintosh is a trademark licensed to Apple Computer, Inc.

FIBER OPTICS

stalled on multimode cables without special polishing of the fiber's face.

Intercomputer Communication

Optical fibers are becoming an increasingly attractive medium for communication between computers. Organizations with large data-processing chores are discovering the efficiency and security of fiber optics for connecting computation centers that are a few miles apart. The small physical size of fiber-optic cables is no small advantage in upgrading an installation where cable ducts are already crowded. And fiber-optic links are beginning to appear where engineers planning for greater capacity recognize the potential for expanding the bandwidth by merely upgrading the interface equipment.

A significant new area of use is in the so-called "back-end" networks, connecting large-scale, high-speed processors to their attendant memory and peripheral devices. One of the projects of technical subcommittee X3T9.5 of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the Fiber Distributed Data Interface, a back-end interface designed to use fiber-optic links at data rates of 100 megabits per second (Mbps).

But the application of most interest to users of personal computers is the lower-speed general-purpose localarea network (LAN), which connects workstations, file servers, and miscellaneous peripherals in an office or factory environment. Any local network that needs wide bandwidth, long cable runs between stations, immunity to electromagnetic interference, or high security is a candidate for fiberoptic cabling. And although an optical-fiber-based system costs initially somewhat more than an equivalent network built from copper twisted-pair wire or coaxial cable, the bandwidth of a fiber-optic system can be easily expanded later by merely changing the interface equipment.

Local Networks

If you've been following the recent commercial developments in local

200 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry llf

FIBER OPTICS

networks, you know that battles are being waged over what is the best general-purpose network-node connection and layout scheme, or topology. The three major systems are the bus, the ring (or loop), and the star. The champions are well known: Xerox and Digital Equipment Corporation attacking on behalf of the bus, IBM stoutly defending the ring, and AT&T recently launching a kind of Star Wars offensive.

The inherent characteristics of fiberoptic technology cause its most natural network implementations to take the form of the ring or star. But currently, bus-type networks seem to have the best strategic position in the topology skirmishes, largely because of the success of the Xerox-developed Ethernet and its imitators. This poses somewhat of an obstacle to the use of fiber optics in many currently existing local networks; however, it is not an insurmountable one.

In figure 1, the bus, ring, and star topologies are shown in their idealized forms. A bus network has all its nodes connected directly to a single distribution medium; a signal broadcast by any node can be received by every other node. In a ring network, each node communicates directly only with the nodes immediately adjacent to it (in the logical sense), receiving on one side and transmitting on the other. Provisions are usually made to bypass a malfunctioning node. The star network features a central switching point that receives transmissions from the originating nodes and redirects or retransmits the data to the destination nodes; each node talks only to the central switch.

(Another distinction can be drawn between different kinds of networks. If the signals are transmitted in more or less raw form, the network is called baseband. If the data signals are modulated onto a very-high-frequency carrier signal, the network is called broadband. A broadband system can mix the computer data with other kinds of signals; telephone conversations, video images, etc. But the interface equipment for broadband is

{continued)

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inquiry 119

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 201

FIBER OPTICS

somewhat more complex.)

In addition to the physical connections between nodes, a network must have a traffic cop: some means of deciding what data from which nodes can be passed over the system. Several schemes for enabling the system to make this decision exist, each with good and bad points. The topology selected for a network will be a chief factor in deciding which networkaccess protocol is appropriate.

Both IBM and AT&T have announced support for fiber-optic links as part of a computer local network. At the time of this writing (November), IBM's commitment is limited to specifying an option in the IBM Cabling System for use of fiber-optic cables (in pairs, multimode 140-micron-cladding/100-micron-core type). IBM says it intends to implement a local network with a logical ring topology imposed on a star-shaped physical wir

ing setup, as in figure 2. Access to the network will be granted by a protocol based on passing a logical "token" around the ring. The centralized wiring closets in the announced cabling system are well suited to use of optical fibers. Some installations will probably be hybrids, with copper twisted-pair wire used for short runs and fiber-optic cables for longer links to distant nodes or between wiring

(continued)

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lANUARY 1985 'BYTE 203

FIBER OPTICS

closets; any interface needed from metallic to fiber-optic links would be installed in the wiring closet.

AT&T's Information Systems Network (ISN), tied closely to the technology of telephone private branch exchanges, will not use fiber-optic links to individual network stations; conventional four-pair metallic wiring will be run in a star layout from nodes to the central controller or to remote concentrators. However, the linkage from the concentrators to the controller will be over multimode fiber

(a) BUS

D

D

D

(b) RING

(c) STAR

O

-n

Figure I: The bus, ring, and star topologies [or connection configurations) shown in their idealized forms.

optic links operating at 8.64 Mbps over distances up to 1 kilometer. The fiber-optic connections serve as extensions of two metallic signal buses inside the central controller, on which packets of data are passed according to a time-division multiple-access protocol before being redirected to their destinations (see figure 3).

Token-ring networks have been popular among Japanese designers, with Hitachi offering its fiber-optic SigmaNet and NEC (Nippon Electric Company) selling its C&C-Net Loop

6770. These systems contain several redundant features to assure continuous service in the event of a partial network failure, including duplicate transmission paths in the ring. Fujitsu Ltd. has exhibited the Optical Data Highway local network, but this ring (or loop) configuration uses timedivision multiplexing instead of token passing. And some ring-based networks have appeared in Great Britain, where pioneering work was done on the Cambridge ring system.

(continued)

DUAL CABLE

D^^:

WIRING CLOSET

^O

Figure 2: IBM's predicted local network uses a logical ring topology Imposed on a star-shaped physical wiring setup, with a token-passing access protocol. Centralized wiring closets in the cabling system are well suited to use of optical fibers.

204 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

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JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 205

FIBER OPTICS

The largest players on the bustopology field are concentrating on developing their metallic systems, but fiber optics has by no means been completely neglected. Attracted by the success of Ethernet, several organizations have experimented with bus networks based on optical fibers. Unfortunately, someone trying to design a fiber-optic version of Ethernet finds that the CSMA/CD (carriersense, multiple-access with collision detection) network-access protocol designed for a copper coaxial-cable system does not fit naturally into a system that uses long, thin pieces of glass as the medium of communication. But technical ingenuity has been

[continued)

REMOTE CONCENTRATOR

RS-232C CONNECTION

RS-232C OR OTHER LOW-SPEED CONNECTION ■

CONTENTION BUS AND CONTROL

Figure 3: The fiber-optic connections in AT&T's 8.64-Mbps \nformation Systems Network serve as extensions of two metallic signal buses inside the central controller.

NETWORK INTERFACE

FIBER-OPTIC TRANSCEIVER

L

RECEIVE LINK

OPTICAL TAP

STAR COUPLER

FIBER-OPTIC TRANSCEIVER

OPTICAL TAP

3

-E

OPTICAL TAP

o

FIBER-OPTIC TRANSCEIVER

METALLIC CONNECTION ■

NOT USED

3MHz

JAM SIGNAL

Vcc

LED DRIVER

^OH

COMPARATOR

-T

Figure 4: Ungermann-Bass's Fiber Optic Net/One local network uses Siecor FiferLAN's Net 10 optical transmission system, a cabling setup similar to IBM's in that a star-like formation of cables is used to connect devices on the network with centralized wiring locations. A passive star coupler lets data-bearing light propagate throughout the network for Ethernet compatibility.

206 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 229

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FIBER OPTICS

applied and workable solutions found.

One successful solution is embodied in the Fiber Optic Net/One network being sold by UngermannBass Inc. The underlying Net 10 optical transmission system, developed for Ungermann-Bass by the FiberLAN Division of Siecor Corporation, uses a cabling setup similar to IBM's in that a star-like formation of cables is used to connect devices on the network with a central wiring point, called the Star Wiring Center (SWC). The SWC offers flexibility in that the individual optical fibers may be interconnected in various ways, but the Ethernet-compatible arrangement requires a passive star coupler that lets the databearing light propagate throughout the network (see figure 4). The CSMA/CD access control is assisted by an active collision-detection-determination module. (See the text box "Driving the Fiber-Optic Ethernet Bus" on page 198.) Net/One can serve as a self-sufficient network or be connected through a repeater to an existing metallic Ethernet system.

Other network topologies besides the three just described have been suggested. Canstar Communications Ltd. of Toronto developed a dualrooted tree topology for its Hubnet. And a group at Hewlett-Packard has proposed a topology called Anarchy, in which nodes are connected by arbitrary bidirectional point-to-point links (some ingenious software has also been proposed to sort out the routing of data traffic). Especially fault-tolerant schemes with multiple propagation paths include the FOREMAN design, which uses a four-way optical Y-coupler on each node, and the Discobus, in which several small star couplers are placed around the network. Perhaps further development will some day bring one of these, or other new ideas, into common acceptance.

Possibilities for the Future

Most computer local networks that offer use of fiber-optic cables allow some intermixing with conventional copper wiring because the interface

FIBER OPTICS

equipment needed for fiber-optic cables is still somewhat more costly for short distances and noncritical links. Net/One, for example, is priced about 20 to 30 percent higher than an equivalent baseband coaxial-cable system (a configuration with 200 ports would cost about $135,000). But the day may soon come when costs are brought down even further, and we may yet see hair-thin threads of glass begin to replace the venerable copper wire.

As the technology of photonics begins to catch up with electronics, integrated electro-optics may begin to provide completely optical amplifiers and logic gates, which would open up whole new realms of applications.

And widespread use of fiber-optic data links could have unexpected side effects. For instance, current computer architectures are developed with the assumption that input/output (I/O) operations will be slower than computation. But if the computer is connected via a wide-bandwidth optical connection, the I/O channel might be able to outrun the processor. If this traditional bottleneck suddenly opens up, we can look for the appearance of new and exciting ideas in building computers. ■

REFERENCES

1. Allan, Roger. "Local Networks: Fiber Optics Gains Momentum." Electronic Design. June 23, 1983, page 97.

2. "AT&T Local Network Draws Mixed Reactions." Data Communications, August 1984, page 41.

3. Balbus. Peter C, and Joseph L. Healey. "Out of the Labs and Into the Streets." Datamation. September 1, 1984, page 96.

4. Bartik, lean. "IBM's Token Ring: Have the Pieces Finally Come Together?" Data Communications. August 1984, page 12 5.

5. Feldt, Terry. "CLEO Lights Way to Optical ICs." Electronics. June 28, 1984, page 102.

6. Kelley, R. P., J. R. Jones, V. J. Bhatt. and P. W. Pate. "Transceiver Design and Implementation Experience in an EthernetCompatible Fiber Optic Local Area Network." Proceedings of \nfocom 1984, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

7. Storozum, Steven L, and Roger W. Uhlhorn. "Fault-Tolerant Fiber Optic LANs." Photonics Spectra. September 1984, page 61.

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210 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 104

by Paul A. Nilson

Algorithms for a Variable-Precision Calculator

A pseudocode

is used to describe the logic behind the algorithms

I developed the algorithms described here in the process of building a variable-precision calculator, which is now an integral part of a commercial spreadsheet package. 1 believe the material covered in this article will be valuable to people who need to perform decimal computations on large numbers.

1 have a 68000-based microprocessor running a UNIX operating system with C as the main programming language. Using my version of C on the 68000,1 can represent numbers as integers (16 bits) or long integers (32 bits). I have no floating-point arithmetic package. Because 32 bits limits me to nondecimal numbers with a range of -2,147,483,648 to + 2,147,483,647,1 needed the capacity to handle more digits and the decimal point. I thought, "How many digits are enough?"

I had only two routes to follow. The first was to pick a number (perhaps 100 digits) and develop fixed-precision algorithms using that as a base. The other approach was to let users specify what precision they needed and develop the necessary algorithms to support variable precision. I chose the second approach because the algorithms for a variable-precision calculator are really not much more complicated than those for fixed-precision calculators, and because they do not have the internal string space overhead common to fixed-precision calculators.

I gave considerable thought to computation speed. Using division as an example, I am able to divide a 40-digit number by an 8-digit number to 100 places of accuracy in 71 milliseconds (ms). Considering that 1 am dealing

with numbers represented as digits within character strings, that is a fairly quick computation. If 1 were to code the calculator in assembly language it would speed it up even more.

Preprocessing

The calculator is set up with virtually no internal string space. The user routine that calls the calculator defines within itself three character arrays and passes pointers to those arrays to the calculator. Two of these arrays (first and second) hold the operands while the third array (results) holds the results from the computation. The arrays are defined externally to the calculator so that a user can have the flexibility of defining only as much string space as is necessary, based on the precision of the computation. The user routine also passes to the calculator an integer that defines the precision of the computation and a character (+, -, *, /) to indicate the operand. Decimal points, signs, and leading or trailing blanks can be used in the number strings. The number strings (first and second) are unmodified by the calculator.

Upon being called, the first thing the calculator routine does is establish a set of integers related to each of the number strings. These integers point to the first digit, the last digit, the

(continued) Paul A. Nilson (663 5 Southwest Hyland Highway, Beaverton, OR 97005) is an application development manager at Graphic Software Systems in VJilsonville, Oregon. He has an M.S. in mathematics from San ]ose State University, California. He is the founder of Midnight Oil inc., a software marketing firm.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 211

CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

decimal point, and the current position within the number string. Using the first (addition) operand as an example, the integers are represented as /head, /tail, /point, and /current. Figure 1 shows the results of pointing to the fourth character position in the first array. The second and results number strings have similar integers, and their variable names start with an s or r, respectively.

(The algorithms presented here are written in a pseudocode. This code is

not a real language; it merely serves as a shorthand notation to describe the logic of the algorithms.)

Addition

Addition is a snap. All you need to do is determine which of the two operands has the longest tail following the decimal (i.e., /tail-/point vs. stail-spoint). You then place the current pointers for both numbers the same distance to the right of the respective decimals and proceed from the right to the left,

Array position 01234567890123456 first = +12 3.4

/head = 2

/head digit

= 1

/tail = 6

/tail digit

= 4

/point = 5

/point digit

= .

fcurrent = 4

/current digit

= 3

Figure 1: An example of the pseudocode labeling.

Addition Example

1 2 + 5

3.4 6 . 7

8

1+0 2 + J 0 0 1

3 + 6 4 + 7 1 0

0 + 8 0

Carry

0 1 8 0.1

Addition Pseudocode

length = /tail - /point or stail /current = /point + length; scurrent = spoint + length; rcurrent = rtail; carry = 0;

8

spoint; (whichever is longer)

while (( /current > = head ) or ( scurrent > = shead ))

{

/•current digit = /current digit + scurrent digit + carry; if ( rcurrent digit >= 10 )

{

rcurrent digit = rcurrent digit - 10; carry = 1;

}

else

{

carry = 0;

}

decrement /current, scurrent, and rcurrent;

Figure 2: Addition algorithm example and pseudocode.

adding the corresponding digits of both numbers and bringing forward a carry. If a number does not have a digit for that position, then 0 is assumed (see figure 2).

To handle cases in which the return value array is not long enough to hold all the digits resulting from the addition, shift the digits right 1 byte each time a new digit is computed to produce a full return string. You can do this as long as there is some tail left after the decimal point. If you find that a right shift will destroy digits to the left of the decimal, an error should be returned. Note also that an addition of two numbers with different signs is really a subtraction and should be handled as such.

Subtraction

Subtraction, like addition, is very easy. Once again, we work from the right to the left, bringing along a borrow (see figure 3). Note that the subtraction of two numbers with different signs is really an addition and should be handled as such. Note also that a smaller number always is subtracted from a larger number, with the appropriate sign affixed. This eliminates the need to worry about complement arithmetic while performing the algorithm.

Multiplication

With multiplication, things start to get interesting. Once again, the action is from right to left and includes bringing along a carry. In multiplication and division you do not need to worry about the length of the longest tail. The computations are independent of decimal-point location (see figure 4). The final position of the decimal in the array results is determined after the computation is complete.

To multiply all you need is to define two loops. The inner loop carries over the number of digits of the second operand (in this case, four: the digits 5, 6, 7, and 8). The outer loop carries over the sum of the number of digits in the two operands (in this case, eight). Once again, the digits in the return string must be shifted to the

(continued)

212 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

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CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

right if there is not enough room to hold all the digits returned from the multiplication. If a shift will result in loss of digits to the left of the decimal, an error should be returned from the multiplication.

The integer example in figure 3 works for any two numbers, but it involves a lot of multiplications. In certain cases, things can be done to speed up the multiplication. Because I can represent any number with nine or fewer digits as a long integer, I can take advantage of that fact. If either first or second can be represented by eight digits, I can convert it to a long integer and multiply it as a whole by each character of the other number, obtaining a number that will always be nine digits or less. This eliminates the inner loop in the multiplication and speeds up the algorithm considerably. Figure 3 also shows the results of converting the second operand (5, 6, 7,

8) to a long integer.

As can be seen, the algorithm using long integers requires far fewer multiplications than the one using characters. If, however, neither number is a candidate for a long-integer operation, then an approach using character manipulation must be used. There is a speed advantage in the character algorithm if the first operand is the longer number, however.

Division

Division is totally different from the other three operands. While addition, subtraction, and multiplication are straightforward algorithms that work from the right to the left, division is a process of successive approximations that works from left to right (see figure 5).

As you learned in grammar school, the process for finding each digit in the quotient involves making a guess

Subtraction Example

1 2 3.4 5 6.7

First 8 Second

1-0 2-5 3-6 4-7 0 -1 -1 -1 -1

0-8 (note: 0 - 8 < borrow 1) 0 Borrow

0 0 6 6.6

2 Results

Subtraction Pseudocode

length = /tail - /point or stail fcurrent = /point + length; scurrent = spoint + length; /•current = rtail; borrow = 0;

spoint; (whichever is longer)

> 10-8

while (( fcurrent > = head ) or ( scurrent > = shead ))

{

/■current digit = fcurrent digit - scurrent digit - borrow; if (/-current digit < 0 )

{

/•current digit = /-current digit + 10; borrow = 1;

} else

{

borrow = 0;

}

decrement /current, scurrent, and /-current;

Figure 3: Subtraction algorithm example and pseudocode.

for the digit, multiplying the digit by the divisor, and subtracting the result of the multiplication from the remainder of the previous process, remembering to bring down either a 0 or a digit (depending on what's left in the dividend). Because a computer can't guess at a trial digit, what is generally done is a series of trials for each digit. First, a 1 is tried as a target digit in the quotient. If the remainder is negative, then 0 is the proper digit for that position in the quotient. If the remainder is positive, then 2 is tried. This continues until the remainder turns negative, at which time the n- 1 digit is placed in the quotient. This approach results in about five trials for each digit returned to the quotient.

My approach is a little different. While I first try the digit 1, 1 save the remainder and divide that by the divisor to determine what the actual digit should be. In general, only one trial per digit is necessary with this approach.

As shown in the long-integer example in figure 5, I start out by multiplying the second by a 1 to get a product. I then subtract the product from the first and look at the remainder. In the first four tries, the remainder was a negative number, which implied that 1 was too big and that 0 should be used in its place. On the fifth try, I got a nonzero remainder (+6662). Dividing this remainder by the second (+5678) yields a factor of 1. Adding this factor to the trial digit (1) shows that the actual digit in the results array should have been 2. This number is then placed in the results array at the fifth position to compute the sixth position.

As in multiplication, there are two cases to consider for division. If the number of significant digits in second is less than or equal to eight, you can use a long-integer algorithm (in which the divisor is placed into a long variable) and call a routine that will use the long-integer algorithm. If, however, the number of digits in the divisor is too large to let it be placed into a long-integer algorithm, you must call a character-based algorithm. This

{continued)

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Inquiry 136

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CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

algorithm also will do the preceding computation, although not nearly as quickly as the long-integer algorithm. As an example of a division using the character algorithm, consider for a moment the last case in the longinteger example, in which 000021731 is multiplied by 5678 and then subtracted from 123400000. The specific purpose of that exercise is to produce a remainder. Because multiplication and subtraction work from the right to the left, you also can develop each

digit in the remainder from the right to the left by doing the multiplication and subtraction simultaneously.

The character algorithm works from right to left, developing each digit in the remainder as it works its way to the left. As should be clear from this example, the character algorithm involves many more multiplications and subtractions than the long-integer algorithm. In fact, the loops nest three deep with the character algorithm and only one deep with the long-integer

Multiplication Example (integer)

1

2

3

4

First

X

6

7

8

Second

9

8

7

2

8

6

3

8

7

4

0

4

6

1

7

0

Results

Example (long integer)

X

1 5

2 6

3

7

4 8

5678x0

5678x0

5678 x 0

5678 x 1

5678 x 2

5678x3

5678x4

0 7

0 70

0 700

5678 1328

11356 1930

17034 2271

22712 0

First 8 Second

Carry 2 Results

Example (character)

1

2

3

4

First

X

5

6

7

8

Second

0x8

0x8

0

x8

0x8

1 x8

2x8

3x8

4x8

0x7

0x7

0

x7

1x7

2x7

3x7

4x7

0x7

0x6

0x6

1

x6

2x6

3x6

4x6

0x6

0x6

0x5

1x5

2

x5

3x5

4x5

0x5

0x5

0x5

0

0

0

0

8

16

24

32

0

0

0

7

14

21

28

0

0

0

6

12

18

24

0

0

0

5

10

15

20

0

0

0

0

5

16

34

60

61

52

32

Product

0

2

4

6

6

5

3

0

Carry

0

7

0

0

6

6

5

2

Results

Figure 4: Multiplication algorithm examples and pseudocode.

216 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

algorithm. The character algorithm does have one saving grace, though: it works for any number of any size. In using the character algorithm, a very important point to consider is the handling of the remainder. The character routine is called only because the divisor is too big to fit into a long integer. This means that the remainder also will be too big to fit into a long integer. In this case, as the remainder is developed, the first eight digits of the remainder are

stored in an array. When it is time to figure the factor, the remainder from the array and the first eight digits of the divisor (second) are moved to a long-integer algorithm and divided one by the other to figure the factor. This usually gives satisfactory results, enabling the correct factor to be predicted accurately. Consider, though, the case where the remainder is very nearly an exact multiple of the divisor. While this doesn't happen very often,

[continued)

Multiplication Pseudocode (character algorithm)

flength = flail - fhead + 1; slength = stail - shead + 1; flength = slength + flength; rcurrent = rtail; carry = 0; offset =0;

( First's length )

( Second's length )

(total length )

( start at the right and work left)

while ( offset < flength )

t

product = carry; i - o

J u<

while (j < slength )

{

scurrent = stail - j; fcurrent = flail + j product = product + increment j;

offset;

fcurrent digit x scurrent digit;

}

rcurrent digit = product mod 10; carry = ( product - rcurrent digit) / 10; increment offset; decrement rcurrent;

I

Multiplication Pseudocode (long-integer algorithm)

flength = flail - /head + 1;

slength = stail - shead + 1;

flength = slength + flength;

rcurrent = rtail;

slong = Second as a long integer

carry = 0;

offset = 0;

( First's length )

(Second's length )

(total length )

( start at the right and work left)

while ( offset < flength )

{

product = carry;

fcurrent = flail - offset;

product = product + fcurrent digit x slong;

rcurrent digit = product mod 10;

carry = ( product - rcurrent digit) / 10;

increment offset;

decrement rcurrent; ) }

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 217

CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

Division Example

Example (long integer)

Example (character)

Division Pseudocode (long-integer algorithm)

0 0 0 0

Second 5

- 3

Results

First

Product

Remainder

Product

Remainder

Trial Results

1

01

001

0001

00001

000021

0000211

00002171

000021731

0000217331

0

Second

First

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

5678 =

Trial Product

5678

5678

5678

5678

5678

119238

1198058

12326938

123388618 - 123400000

etc.

Remainder

Process

etc.

Actual Results

1

12

123

1234

12340

123400

1234000

12340000

- 5677

- 5666

- 5555

- 4444 + 6662 + 4162 + 35942 + 13062 + 11382

/ 5678 / 5678 / 5678 / 5678 / 5678

-1+1 -1 + 1 -1 + 1 -1 + 1

1 + 1 0 + 1 6+1

2 + 1 2+1

0

0

0

1

0x8 0x8

0x7 0x7

0x6 0x6

0x6 2x5

0x8 0x7 2x6 1 x5

0x8 2x7 1 x6 7x5

2x8 1 x7 7x6 3x5

1 x8 7x7 3x6 1 x5

7x8 3x7 1 x6 0x5

3x8 1 x7 0x6 0x5

1x8 0x7 0x6 0x5

Results Second Multiply

0

0

0

10

0

0

12

5

0 14

6 35

16

7 42 15

8 49 18

5

56

21

6

0

24 7 0 0

0

1

10 2

17 6

55 8

80 8

80 8

83 3

31 0

8 0

1

2

3

3

8

8

6

1

8

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 3

0 8

0 8

0 6

0 1

0 8

1-1

0

2-2 0

3-3 0

4-3

-1

0-8

-1

0-8

-1

0-6

-1

0-1

-1

0-8 0

0

0

0

0

Carry

Product

Subtract

First

Product

Borrow Remainder

remainder = 0;

/•current = mead;

slong = second in a long variable;

while ( rcurrent < = rtail )

{

rcurrent digit = 1;

rlength = current length of the results string;

fcurrent = mead + riength - 1;

dividend = remainder x 10 + fcurrent digit;

rcurrent digit = dividend / slong;

remainder = dividend - rcurrent digit x slong;

dividend = remainder;

increment rcurrent;

(trial digit)

( drop next digit)

( divide )

( get remainder)

( set up next pass )

Figure 5: Division algorithm examples and pseudocode.

218 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 51

CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

Division Pseudocode (character algorithm)

remainder = 0; /■current = mead ;

while ( rcurrent < = /tail)

{

rcurrent digit = 1;

flength = flail - mead + 1;

slength = stail - shead + 1;

factor = carry = borrow = offset = 0;

while ( offset < flength ) {

product = carry;

J = 0

while (j < slength )

{

scurrent = stail - j;

rcurrent = flail + j - offset;

product = product + fcurrent digit x scurrent digit;

increment j;

}

rcurrent digit = product mod 10;

rcarry = ( product - rcurrent digit) / 10;

remainder digit = fcurrent digit - rcurrent digit - borrow; if ( remainder digit < 0 )

{

remainder digit = remainder digit + 10; borrow = 1;

} else

{

borrow = 0

}

add remainder digit to remainder array;

(trial digit)

( multiply

( subtract )

/•long = convert remainder array to a long integer; slong = convert Second to a long integer; factor = /-long / slong; if (factor > = 10 )

{

increment ( rcurrent - 1 ) digit;

try rcurrent again; }

if (factor x ( divisor + 1 ) > = remainder)

{

rcurrent digit = factor;

} else

{

rcurrent digit = factor + 1;

}

increment rcurrent;

( handle remainder)

( eight digits ) ( eight digits )

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 219

CALCULATOR ALGORITHMS

it can, in certain circumstances, make things difficult, as shown in figure 6a. As shown, division of the actual numbers results in a quotient of 2, while taking only the first eight digits results in a quotient of 3. To handle this, the factor is checked each time it's developed. If 1 is added to the divisor and the sum multiplied by the factor, the product can be compared with the remainder (figure 6b).

Generally, the product should be less than the remainder. If it is greater than or equal to the remainder, you cannot be absolutely sure that a factor of 3 is correct. Therefore, you must assume the worst case and decrement the factor by 1 and use that value to predict the actual digit. In this case, you would assume that the factor of 2 was correct. It could be, though, that 3 was the correct digit to

(6a)

Remainder Divisor Factor

Actual numbers

370370365 / 123456789 = 2

First eight digits

37037036 / 12345678 = 3

(6b)

Divisor + 1

Factor Product Remainder

(12345678 +■ 1)

x 3 = 37037037 >= 37037036

Figure 6: Comparison of factor-determining approaches: actual numbers vs. the first eight digits (a) and comparing the product and the remainder (b).

use; this will be discovered on the next pass through the character routine when the factor produced is greater than 9. At that time, you must go back and increment by 1 the actual digit used in the previous case, taking care to handle strings of 9s correctly (e.g., 399 + 1 = 400) and tell the division routine to call the character routine again for the current digit. What all this means is that in this special case you will at worst have to make two trials to get a given digit for the result. Generally, though, one trial is sufficient.

Summary

In this article, I've described addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division algorithmic approaches used in a commercial spreadsheet. The logic behind the algorithms is described using a pseudocode—not an actual programming language. ■

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JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 111

<s.

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by Vince Banes

Build IBM PC

accessories to

analyze your stereo

In this construction project. I'll show you how to chart the frequency response of your stereo using your computer. If high fidelity is not your cup of tea, you'll still learn how to interface a DAC (digital-toanalog converter), a VCO (voltagecontrolled oscillator), and an ADC (analog-to-digital converter) to the IBM Personal Computer (PC) using a general-purpose I/O (input/output) device.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the entire project, which is pictured in photo 1. The computer selects a control voltage for the VCO via the I/O section of the board and DAC. The sine-wave output signal from the VCO goes through the stereo's Aux (aux

Audio-Frequency Analyzer

iliary) jack, through the stereo, and out the speaker. A microphone receives the audio energy from the speaker and feeds it through a fullwave rectifier to an ADC. The computer then reads the output of the ADC through the I/O section of the board. The system does not measure harmonic distortion; it just measures the power hitting the microphone when the system outputs a known frequency.

You could use a sine-wave generator and a very sensitive AC (alternating current) voltmeter to make these measurements. The results would be the same, but using the computer will make the tests easier and faster.

System Considerations

This system measures the stereo's relative responses at different frequencies. The idea is to have the stereo sound as loud at 100 Hertz (Hz) as it does at 10,000 Hz, provided, of course, that the two signals have the same input-signal power. Therefore, we are not concerned with the exact

value of the response, just how it compares with the responses at the other frequencies. Also, we want to determine what effects the room has on the stereo's sound.

The system must cover the normal audio-frequency spectrum (20 to 20.000 Hz), produce a sine wave that has less than 1 percent distortion, and have a constant power output for all frequencies. The ICL8038 waveform generator covers all of these requirements.

To reduce noise, you need shielded cables for the first stage of the input circuit. The inside of a computer is probably the worst place in the world to try to keep EMI (electromagnetic interference) noise down, but the shielding is good enough for this project. Since the noise level is constant. all of the input signals are biased equally. Thus, the difference between

[continued) Vince Banes (2020 Sierra Dr., Lewisville, TX 75067) is an engineer with Texas Instruments. His interests include trying to find a perfect commodity-tracking system.

Photo I: Audio-frequency analyzer board.

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 223

AUDIO ANALYZER

readings is constant. Keeping the noise less than 12 decibels (dB) below the signal being measured keeps the noise sufficently low. It is true that 12 dB sounds like a large signal-to-noise ratio, but for this application, we are looking only for deviations from the standard flat response curve. If the response differs by more than 12 dB from another signal, then an adjustment must be made to bring that frequency back to normal.

The microphone is the weakest link in the system, so try to use the best one you can find. I used a Pioneer DM-21, and the specifications on the box said that the response was flat from 20 to 12,000 Hz. The signal from this dynamic unidirectional microphone was just a few millivolts. 1 had to amplify it 300 times to get a usable 2-volt (V) signal.

Make sure you connect the output from the VCO to either the Aux or Tape input on the stereo. If you connect to the Phono input jacks, you will have the added response of the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) recording standards. Since the frequency response of a needle

on a record is far from level, the record industry has changed the response curve to counteract this phenomenon. For a short experiment, after you have adjusted your stereo to a flat response, connect the output to the Phono input and observe the difference in the curves.

I could have used just a DAC and some fancy software to construct the sine wave, but that would have meant added problems writing a machinelanguage routine. I spent a few extra dollars for the VCO, which eliminated the problems. The VCO is simply a set-and-forget output device. The software can go off and start some other task and the VCO continues outputting the selected sine wave.

Theory of Operation

The I/O section of the board, shown in figure 2, has 24 software-controllable I/O lines. It uses the NEC 82 5 5 A-5 I/O chip. This chip was originally designed to work with the 8080 family of micros, but since the 8088 microprocessor uses many of the same I/O methods as the 8080, the 82 5 5 A will work with the higher-level

chip. The 40-pin 82 5 5A has three 8-bit I/O ports that tie directly into the system bus, with only a few decode logic chips to select the proper I/O address.

The control voltage for the VCO starts out as the output of port A on the 82 55 chip and goes to an R-2R ladder network. The network acts as the DAC, "adding" the bit voltages from the 8255 into a single voltage whose value depends on the number of Is output from the 8255. The signal from the 82 55 then goes through a summing operational amplifier (op amp) to change the range of the signal from 0-3.5 V to 8.5-12 V, as measured at test point A of figure 3. This voltage controls the frequency of the VCO.

The heart of the VCO circuit is the ICL8038. which is a precision waveform generator and voltage-controlled oscillator. If you look at a spec sheet for this versatile chip, you will see that it can be used for many types of waveform generation, such as square waves, sine waves, and triangular waves. Basically, the chip needs a timing capacitor connected from pin 10

(continued)

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224 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Now there's no excuse to drop dead.

Producing a brochure. Introducing a new product. Moving your entire company across town. Every project has a start date, a completion date, and a date beyond which you absolutely, positively cannot go. The drop dead date. Blow that date and you've got positively, absolutely no excuses.

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AUDIO ANALYZER

to ground to select the frequency range, and a control voltage on pin 8 to vary the frequency. The capacitor should range from 1 microfarad (/*F) to 500 picofarads (pF). The control voltage must be between 8.5 and 12 V. This gives a 4-to-l dynamic frequency range for each capacitor.

The timing capacitor is selected by an output through port B. The output transistor of a TTL (transistor-transistor logic) open-collector chip, the 7406 chip in figure 3, controls the capacitors' ground leads. When the output of the chip is OFF, one side of the capacitor is at a high impedance and therefore has no effect on the VCO. When the chip's output is ON, the capacitor is grounded and then

can affect the VCO's output. This allows the computer to select the capacitor (or capacitors) needed for the desired frequency range.

The sine-wave output from the VCO has an output impedance of about 1000 ohms. This is too high to drive anything except another op amp. Thus, I've included a simple noninverting buffer amplifier to drive the stereo. By the way, only one channel of the stereo is driven at a time. During testing, the opposite channel's volume should be off.

The full-wave rectifier, shown in figure 4, converts all the negative parts of the signal to positive, because if we did the integration on the unrectified input signal, the average would

work out to zero at all frequencies. By inverting the negative half of the signal, we can integrate the resulting waveform to get a voltage level that is proportional to the input power. This is the signal that is fed directly to the ADC in figure 4. Figure 4 also shows the signal before and after the rectifier. The humps of the rectifier's output may not be equal; you can adjust the DC bias on the input amplifier so that they are. But, for this project, a slight difference will not affect the results.

The ADC0804 is an 8-bit microprocessor-compatible ADC. The chip's spec sheet shows many different configurations. I've chosen the freerunning mode for this circuit. If you

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226 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

AUDIO ANALYZER

are looking at this circuit as a basis for some other project, get a hold of the spec sheet to see how to connect the V;„(+). V,.„(-). and Vr.j2 signal lines to activate the other modes. 1 used a resistor divider network with a large capacitor for V„/2. It was good enough for this application, but for other projects it should be connected to a more stable voltage source.

Since the ADC is in a free-running mode the 8255s port C is updated automatically approximately every 200 microseconds (/^s). The exact update rate is determined by the value of the 150-pF capacitor and the 15Kbyte resistor connected to pin 4 of the ADC0804 chip. On the other hand, if

the chip were connected directly to the bus lines, then the software would have to output a "start conversion" command, wait for the chip to convert the frequency, then input the data from the converter. Therefore, in the interest of saving software, the hardware keeps restarting itself when a conversion is completed.

The chip may not start free-running when the power is first applied. To prevent this, connect the last gate from the 7406 chip to the WR and INTR lines (pins 5 and 3). At the start of the program, the software generates a 1 on the MSB (most significant bit) of port B, and then a 0 on the same line. This pulls the WR line low then high again. After the first

software initialization, the INTR line goes low when the chip finishes converting. This wraps around back to the WR line and starts the chip converting the next voltage.

I/O Construction

The construction of the I/O section of the board is straightforward and has no tricky isolation requirements. The best part about this section is that the I/O lines can be accessed directly from BASIC without any special machine-language routines. The update rate in BASIC is about 15 to 25 milliseconds (ms), so if more speed is required, you have to use machine language.

[continued]

AUDIO

* SEE TEXT

Figure 3: Voltage-controlled oscillator and driver circuitry.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 227

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* 12* Amber, H3O0A S 199 I

* ir Amber, K310A for IBM-PC $230 1

* 13", Color IV, RGB, 720Hx400V,(IBM| $ 795 I •PRINCETON. RGB Hi Res, HX 12 $ 795 I

* RGB Hi Res, SR-12 S 799 ! Scan Doubter tor SR-12 $ 249 I

* Amber, MAX-12 [for Mono Board) S 249 I •QUADRAM, QuadctiromeirRGBCofor S 695 I

* Qua*OTenL7-968x512w/-able S1995 I Quadchrome II. 14" RGB Color NEWS 650

• Amberclirome, 12" Amber

ZENITH, ir Amber, 2VM122

12" Green, 2VM123

12" Amber, 2VM124

12" Color, 2VM135

NEWS 250 I NEWS 159 I S 200 I $ 200 I $ 599 I

•AlS/SBcon Valley. Word Handler

• List Handier

• Handler Pak (Wild, list Spell •Applied Soft Tech.. Versafbrm

Anrtronict, Jane w/Mouse 01+ or lie)

Jane w/o Mouse (lie) Artsci. Magic Window It •Aahton-Tats, dBase II (Req CP/M 80) Friday Pequires CP/M 80) BPl Job Cost

ARAP.PRorlNV.each Broderbund, Print Shop

60$ 39

50$ 33

130$ 85

—' $ 249

295$ 195

179 $ 119

150$ 99

495$ 269

295$ 199

NEWS 595$ 375

S 395 $ 250

$ 50$ 34

Print Shop Refill NEWS 15$ 10

Bank Street Speller $ 70 $ 45

Bank Street Wrrter (specify ll+,e,c|$ 70$ 45

Continental, GL.AR.AP or PR. each S 250 $ 165

• Home Accountant S 75 $ 49 CDEX.ta Wstalc, MuHiplan, Apple lle,cach S 60 $ 40 Dow Jonec, Market Analpei $350$ 219

Market Manager $300$ 189

Market Microscope $349$ 219

Fox 8. Geller, Quickcode or ilGraph, ea $ 295 S 195

dUtrlity [for dBase II) $ 99 $ 65

Hayden. Pie Writer (vers 2.2) S 150 $ 89

•Howard Soft. Tax Preparer. 1984 $ 250 $ 185

Human Edge, Sales Edge or Management $ 250 $ 165

Knoware, Knoware NEWS 95$ 64

Living vioeotext, ThinkTank NEWS 150$ 99

UK. Letter Perfect w/Mail Merge $150$ 99 Moca, Andrew Tobias'

Managing Your Money NEWS 200$ 125 Micro Pro, (all require 280 CP/M Card)

• WbtdStar-w/Starcard",C/PM SPECIAL! 495 $ 295

• WordStar Professional. 4 Pdk SPECIAL $ 495 $ 265

• WordStar'"+ Training Manual $ 350 $ 189

• SpelStar'-or MaJMerge", each SPECIAL $ 99 $ 54

• InfoStarw/StarcanJgiCP/M SPECIAL $ 495 $ 259 MicroarAMulthHaniAi^DOSorCP/M) $ 195 $ 129

•Oaboma/ComX, [Disk and Book)(Stat. Bus. 8 Math)

Some Common Basic Programs(75ea.) $100$ 49

Practical Basic Programs(40ea.) $100$ 49 Peachtrae. Requires CP/M 8 MBasic, 64K

Series 40GL8AR&AP, all 3 S 395 $ 239

Professional Soflw.. Trivia Fever NEWS 40$ 25

•Quark. Word Juggler 8 Lexicheck (lie) S 189 $ 129

Sensible, Sen. Speller or Bookends, ea. $125 $ 79

Skwra/On-Line, The Dictionary NEW S 100 $ 69

Gen.ManagerII NEWS 230$ 155

Screenwriter II. 2 Pak w/Dict. $130$ 89

Homeword S 50 $ 45

Software Arts, TKISolver (for lie or lie) $ 299 $ 199

Software Publishing, (specify + or e)

PFSfile, PFSfiraph, PFS:Report,each $ 125 $ 79

PES: Write (lie) $ 125$ 79

Stoneware, DB Master Version 4.0 $ 350 $ 225

DB Utility Pak I or II $129$ 82

WsiCotp, Full line In Stock Call

PRINTERS ACCESSORIES

DOT MATRIX: list our

EPSON.L0150Q2008 67CPS NEWS 1,195 InStock

Parallel Interlace to IQ1500 NEW 5 100 InStock

JXSU Color Printer NEWS 799 InStock

RX80, lOOcps S 269 InStock

RX80F/T S 369 InStock

RX10Q 100cps,136cot,pingrj. $ 499 InStock

FXKUEOcps

FX100, 160 cps

•MANNESMANN Spirit 80 col 80cps

TAUY, 16ft 80 col 160cps

18ftl32cot 160cps

OKIDATA, 82A. 80cm. 120cps,para.

83A, 132 col., 120 cps. para.

84, 136 col, 200cps, para.

92, 80 col, 160 cps, para.

93,136 col., 160 cps, para.

2350P Pacemark.350cps.para

2410P,Pacemark. 350cps,para.

Accessories, Hug N F^,Trac^Cfajinh

QUADRAM QuadfeL Jet Color Printer

•STAR MIC, Gemini IPX, 120cps

Gemini 15"X, 120cps

TOSHIBA, 1351. 100 cps

TTXTTXpress, port/1iandheld,40cps

LETTER QUAUTY:

AMDEK. 504Q 40 ops. Para. USer. •TTX, 1014, 13cps,Para8iSer,Wn8fnc3p. 1114, same as 1014 att T/f. 2 coLSProp, MACpac, Interface TTX to Apple MAC •JUKI, 610ft 18CK, Para, 3 pitch I 599 $449

PRINTER INTERFACES and BUFFERS:

IBM-PC Parallel Printer Cable S 60 $ 35

Apple II l/E 8 Cable for Epson or Gemini $ 95 $ 59 ORANGE MICRO,Grappl«+, tor Apple $ 165 $ 119 PRACTICAL, Mcobutf In-ljne 64K.Para. $ 349 $ 259 tVfcmbufl In-Lme r34K,Ser. $ 349 $ 259 QUADRAM. W apandabk- rji/copy to 512K) (Srapoi to 64K) Microfazer.w/Copy.PP, 8K.HMP8W/PS S 179 $ 139 l*OTlaKt,w/tom,PP,l34Ki*MP64w/t>S $ 299 $ 229 tVicrofater. w/Copy, PP, 128K, w/PS $ 375 $ 345

Mjcrotazer. Sna|H)n, 8K. PP, Epson w/PS $ 169 $ 129 Mcrolazer, Snapon, 64K, PP, Epson w/PS S 299 $ 229

S 699 InStock S 895 InStock $ 399 $ 299 S 798 $ 568 S1098 $ 778 $ 349 $ 319 S 749 $ 599 $1395 $1095 S 599 $ 395 $ 999 $ 649 S2695 $2095 $2995 $2395 S 50 $ 42 S 895 $ 795 S 499 $ 269 S 549 $ 419 $1895 $1375 NEWS 229 $ 129

$ 1675 $1395 $ 499 $ 349 S 599 $ 439

InStock

Beagle, GP1.E or Alpha Hot. each $ 35$ 27

Ap. Mechanic, Drsquick or Pronto D0S,ea. $ 30 $ 19

Double Take or Utility City, each $30$ 19

Typefaces, Tip Disk ft 1 or DOS Boss.each $ 20 $ 15

Central Point Filer. DOS 3 3 & Ulil $20$ 15

• Copy II Plus (bit copier) s 40 $ 30

Einstein, Compiler $

Epson, Graphics Dump $ Funk Software. Sideways NEW $

Hayes. Terminal Progfor Smartmodem) $

•Insotl GralORTH II by Paul tutus, $

Microsoft A.LD.S. $

Fortran 80 $ COMPLETE MICROSOFT LINE IN

Omega, locksmith $

Penguin, Complete Graphics System II $

Graphics Magician $

phoenix. Zoom Grafix $

Quality. Bag of Tricks $

Tarrapin, Logo $

United SWI, ASCII Express The Pro $

Lraiico, Essential Data Duplicator III S

129$ 95

15$ 9

60$ 40

100$ 65

90$ 65

125 $ 85

195 $ 129 STOCK

100$ 75

80$ 54

60$ 41

40$ 34

40$ 29

99$ 65

130 $ 87

80$ 49

HOME & EDUCATIONAL

Barrons, Study Program for SAT Beagle Bros., Beagle Basic

Beagle Graphics

Fat Cat

Triple Dump

$

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS $

s

NEWS

s

Btuechip, Millionaire Brrnaatund, Print Shop CBS, Mastering the SAT

Chas Goren Learn Bridge •Continental, Home Accountant $

Davidson, Speed Reader II $

Word Attackf or Math Blaster! ea. 5 Dow Jonas, Home Budget 5

Edu- Ware, Large InventDry in Stock CALL Electronic Arts, Einanoal CookbookNEW i Music Construction Set NEW S

Pinball Construction Set NEW S

Harcourt Computer Prep for SAT $

Knoware. Knoware NEW $

Koala, Full line in stock. CALL Learning Co.Large trtventony in StockCALl

. Typing Tutor III $

ram. Dollars and Sense 5

SAM S

Scarborough/lightning. Mastertype $ Simon SiSchuster. Typing Tutor III $ Sub Logic, Flight Simulator II $

Terrapin, Logo i

90 $ 60

35$ 27

60$ 45

35$ 27

40$ 30

30$ 19

60 $ 32

50 34

150 $ 95

150 $ 95

75$ 49

70$ 45

50$ 32

95$ 69 40% off list

50 $ 33

40 $ 29

40$ 29

80$ 49

95$ 64

35%off list 35% oft list

25$ 17

100$ 69

100$ 59

40$ 27

50$ 33

50$ 35

99$ 65

Atari. Centipede or PacMan, ea. J

Donkey Kong or Jungle Hunt ea $ Brodertjund Chcprter or [pee Runner,each $

Arcade Machine

Apple Panic

Datasoft. Aztec or Zaxxon, each

Electronic Arts, Sky h ix

Rnliall Construction Set

Music Construction Set

. Sargon III [Chess)

, Zork I.II.III, each

S S

s

NEWS NEWS NEWS

s

s

35$ 28

35 $ 28

35$ 23

60$ 40

30$ 20

40$ 27

40$ 29

40$ 29

40$ 29

50$ 34

40$ 27

•lnsoft3Games,2arg/Spider Raid/Grapple $ 82 $ 25

Origin, Ultima III S 60 $ 40

Penguin. Transylvania $ 35 $ 24

Professional, Trivia Fever $ 40 $ 25

Sien-a/On-Una, Ultima II $ 60 $ 40

Sir-Tech, Wizardry S 50 $ 35

Spinnaker, Full line in stock CALL 35%olflist

Sub Logic, Flight Simulator II S 50 $ 35

Night Mission Pinball $ 35 $ 22

ACCESSORIES

Curt* Cumond Emerald Ruby Sapphrre EPD, Lemon Lime Orange

feat* S

KwawjcnPC Saver" lite Cord w/fte S

Masterpiece NEWS 140$ 95

NetworX, Mraiee, 4out)et. w/later-surge S 70 $ 32

50$ 29

60$ 35

90$ 52

80$ 46

60$ 38

90$ 57

S

S

s

s s s

$ 140$

■ 98$ 63

50$ 39

CALCULATORS

IV-aM 41CX Calculator NEW! I 325 $ 275

Hl/m 41ftCalculator S 195 $ 149

"HM 41CV. Calculator W/22K $ 275$ 185

PLOTTERS

AMOEK. Amplot II. 6pen, 10k 14 Bed $1099 $ 899

PRINTER SUPPLIES

Tractor Faad Paper, Ribbons, Daisy Wheels. CALL

• FREE GIFT

I Use our order forms and

I get a rree gift with your order. Get on our mailing I 1st now (or order forms. [ sales fryers and our I newsletter Our customers are already on the list

I are already on the list CITY # B13 STATE ZIP J

j i2f£?i?JHAJL — 12P&^ SW Qartfon Plac&fortland OR97223%

ORDERING INFORMATION & TERMS:

MAIL TO: 12060 SW Gvdrtn Placa, Poiilaknd. OR 97223 Include your tetepfwie number.

double check your figures lor Shipping, Insurance and Handling (SIH). All items usually in stock. NO COD. Cashiers checks, money orders, fortune 1000 checks and government checks—we immedsatety honor. Personal and other company checks—allow 20 days to clear Prices reflect 3% cash dscounL so ADO 3% to above prices for VISA. MasterCard or American Express. Add SIH CHARGES: U.S. Mainland, 3% {(5 minimum) for standard UPS ground; UPS Blue, 6% (J10 minimum); kx US Postal, APO or FPO, 12% ($15 minimum). Hawaii—UPS Blue. For Alaska or Canada—UPS in some areas only, a« tf here Postal-call or write, or specify Postal, foreign orders except Canada. 18% ($25 minimum). Morirtors by Postal or to foreign countries, 30% ($50 minimum). Orders received with insufficient SIH charges wJI be refunded. All pnees, avadablrty and specificabons subtect to errors or change without notice, so cal to verify. All goods are new, include warranty and are guaranteed to work. Due to our low prices and our assurance that you will get new. unused products—ALL SALES ARE FINAL CaH before returning goods for repair or replacement. ORDER DESK H0URS-6AM to 6PM PST, Mwxiay throush Friday, Satfurday 10 to < (6AM here ts 9AM in New York) Fr^noRAH': Fttlnkn, VKlGmirtt'-n

228 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

LOW PRICES TO PROFESSIONALS WHO KNOW WHAT THEY WANT AND KNOW HOW TO USE ITT

1984 by Conroy-LaPointe. Inc. All Rights Reserved

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

— Call for Details —

256K IBM - PC

360K

Disk Drives

by CDC

90 Day A

Limited Warranly By Us

LIST OUR

COttlMO. Portable.

256K, 2 360K Disk Drives $2995 CALL

W SANYOssk

256K, 2 320K Disk Drives $1499 CALL

Teld/idea

PC.

256K. 2 360K Disk Drives. 8088Chip $2499 CALL "TtMITM

m 7.150.

256K. 2 320K Disk Drives,

MS DOS 2.1. 8088 Chip, 2S/P $2799 CALL

Iwlhe TMDTTTCC AN0

IBM-It: or XI UlUVEO ACCESSORIES

^_ Llil UUK

alloy price price

PC Backup, 16MB. Cartridge lape System $2195 $1796

PC-SIOR.41MB/17MBDrskSBackupSystem $5995 CaH

XlMHEK

ArrrdskV. Khagrt internal. 320/360K $ 658 $ 498

Smdsklll, 3"DualHoppies,5C<K $ 299 $ 249

DISK DRIVES

320K/360K

DS/DD

<§§>

CONTROL DATA

Call For Larger #1CQ

OjiantiiyPnces SlO? FULL HEIGHT

$149 HALF HEIGHT

30 Day Limited Warranty by Factory Authorized Distributor

CDC, -.■Hi Dual Drive Installation Kit $ 30 $ 16

MAYNARO, Floppy ConL (w/Pata Port) $ 300 $ 239

Interface * /Para Port $ 300 $ 185

Interface w/Ser. Port $ 310 $ 195

QL1A13RAM Quaddisk Internal Hard Disks w/Controller

IN STOCK CALL

10 MEG XTI DISK KITS

Convert your PC to 10 meg and to be XT compatible wrth one ol the following INTERNAL HARD DISK SYSTEMS. Kits are quality engineered to work with DOS 2.0/2.1. Completely XI compatible. All you need is your DOS manual. Easy to install. Includes 10 Megabyte Hard Disk. Controller Card and Instructions.

•ComXl'*^10megHardrjrskSI/f NEW $ 869

KKamermcm LCFJS

Megallighl 100, 10 mbyte Hard Disk Kit NEW $ 869

MAYNARD

10 meg Hard Disk Kit WS1 Sandstar

Controler vol accept 3 Sandstar modute $1395 $1150

^ MEANS A BEST BUY

SUPPLY CENTER for IBM-PC or XT

LIST OUR

S>PakHus,64K,S/P/CC*S/W $395 $265

$495

$ 50 $ 39 $215 $150 $265 $185 $315 $215 $495 $375 $1490 $795 $695 $365 Cal CI

SBPakFtis,256K,S/r'/a>S/W

SKPakPrjs,384K^/P/CC+SAY $895 $595

Game Port for SixPak

l/0Piusll.S/P/CC

l/0Plusll.S/P/CC/G

1/0 Plus II. 2S/P/CC/G

McoaGraphHuS"BCC"Mcfjjsl

PCNet. Starter Kit, PC002

PCNet Crcuit Board.PC.001

ComboPlus Products

MegaRus Products

* ComX EconoRAM™ 256K RAM Card w/Fastrak'-RAM disk

emulator and spooler software. $ 495 $ 256

EconoRAM™ 384K RAM Card $549 $350

«, in-nc UN1 -LMonnac bit & swivel base $ 50 $ 39

UUK I Id 3tD9foot keyboard cable $ 40 $ 30

Vertical CPU System Sand" $ 25 $ 19

Monochrome Ext Cable Par $ 50 $ 35 HAUPPAGE 8087 Chip NEW $ 175 $ 159

/uTnin 8087MattlPak HEW J 295 J235

(MOW) 8087SoltwarePak NEW $ 180 $138

8087 Macro Pak NEW $ 245 $195 LJCpflll EC Color Card w/para $245 $169

Graphics Card, Mono KENSINGTON. Masterpiece

PC Saver "line Cord w/f Her

$499 $329

$140 $ 50

$ 95 $ 39

Key

Itmni-. KB5I50. Std. keyboard $209 $159

IrOniC KB5151. Std. keyboard NEW $ 255 $ 199

KB5151ir. keyboard NEW $ 255 $199

H,-, — !— Koala Pad~w/PC Design I lUdld Programmer's Curie

MAYNARD r*ilbtullctOT(6]Card,MFC $ 89 $ 79

$150 S 15

$ 89 $ 14

SAND STAR

SERIES

Memory Card no RAM Memory Card 256K HardDiskl/F Module (HDM) HardDsk Cable Para Port Module (PPM) Serial Port Module [SPM] Clock CaL Module COM] Game Adapter Module (GPMI Memory Module "OK (MMO) Memory Module 256K IMM256) XTlOmegHardOiskil/FWSl

$199 $ 169 $495 $395 $499 $399

$ 30 $ 59 $ 95 $ 55 $ 49 $ 122

$ 27

$ 49

$ 79

$ 48

$ 43 $

$422 $357 $1395 $1150

kAI/^EVUCfMrT System Card 256X $ 625 $ 450

NVk^rKJMJT I Mxse $ 195 $ 139

PCidDjstBrwihMouse NEW $ 495 $ 329

System Card. 64K $ 395 $ 275

MOUSE SYSTEMS.PC Mouse w/Soltware $ 295 $ 189

MAGNUM PC Mast-Card'-. L536K MuWuncton S/P/G/CC with SolRAM™software which provides printer spooler, RAM disk & many other functions $3995 $1995

PARADISE Modular GrapricsCard NEW S 395 $285

PLANTR0NICS

Color Boards Corxmagc 16 cdor.w/Para Color Board & Draftsman. 16cotor, w/Para

$559 $ 395 $559 $395

QUADHAM

■ Quadlmk

NEWEST VERSION $E

Quadboard, no RAM. expand to 384K Quadboard 64K. expand to 384K.S/P/CC Quadboard 256K, expand to 384K.S7P/CC Quadboard, 384K, S/P/CC/G Quadboard II, no RAM, expand to 256K Quadboard II, 64K,expand to 256K.2S/1X Quadboard II, 256K, 2S/CC Quad 512 + 64K plus serial port Quad 512 + 256K plus serial port Quad 512 » 512K plus serial port Quadcolor I, board, 16cokxs Upgrade Quadcolor I to II kit Quadvue, board, Mono/S/P/CC * Quadchrome, 12" RGB Color Monitor Quadchrome II, 14" RGB Color Arnberchrome, 12" Amber Quad 3278 Quadnetvl QuadnetlX

$295 $395 $675 $795 $295 $395 $595 $325 $550 $895 $295 $275

$795 NEW $ 650 NEW $250 NEW $1195 NEW $2295 NEW $1935

$449 $225 $275 $525 $625 $215 $265 $395 $265 $420 $625 $ 195 $ 199 Cal $495 $450 $ 165 $1090 $1545 $1745

Titan Accelerator PC (8086+ 1280, $ 995 $ 750 TG PRODUCTS, Joystick $ 45 $ 29

®1983 Conroy-LaRjinte, Inc.

Memory Chip Kit

$35 s

Quantity Pricfts

9 Each. 4164 200 ns 90 Day Warranty by us

• ComX EconoRAM1" 256K BOARD

$256

•ComX EconoRAM'" 384K BOARD

$350

Wrth Fastrak'" RAM Disk Emulator and Spooler Software Fully Compatible, 1 Year Limited Warranty by ComX

Works on DOS 1.1, 2 0or 2.1 Prices and availability subject to change. Call.

SOFTWARE for IlM.pc or XT

BUSINESS & TRAINING

BUSINESS & TRAINING

APPLIED SOFT. VersaForm ARKTRONICS. Jane *>/Mouse ASHTON-TATE. Friday!

Framework

dBase III

* dBase II, (rep. PC-DOS 1128K) dBase II to 111 upgrade dBase II User's Guide (Book) Everyman's DB Primer (Book)

ATUraining Programs—Wdetuie in stock $ 75

* BRODERBUND. Bank Street Writer $ 80 BPI, Gen'l Acctg.AR.AP or PR, each

Personal Accounting CDEX, Training for... (targe Inventory) CHANG LABS. Micro Plan

* CONTINENTAL UltraSle

Tax Advantage Home Accountant Plus FCM (Filing. Cataloging. Mailing) Property Management

$389 $295 $295 $695 $695 $495 $200 $ 30 J 15

$595 $195 $ 70 $495 $195 $ 70 $150 $125 $495

WUTHIUMPRES&PCtoMAC8&diNEW$!00 $ 65 DOW JONES, Market Analyzer $350

Markel Manage $300

Market Microscope $ 349

FOX&GELLER

Quickcode, dGraph. Grafox or Qi, each $ 295

dUtil (MSD0S or CP/M86. each) $ 99

HARVARD, Harvard Protect Manager NEW $ 395

HAYDEN. IBM Pie Writer $ 200

Pie Spelter or Sargon lll.each $ 50

HOWARD SOFT.

Tax Preparer. 1984—lor 1983year $ 295

HUMAN EDGE Management or Sales, ea. $250

IUS, EasyWrrter II System $ 350

EasySpdler II $ 100

Business System: GL+AR+AP $1495

GLAR.AP.OE or INV, each $ 595

*INSOFT.C«F0IITH|animatBd30graptics) $125

* KENSINGTOHEasy Link m Mngr NEW 5 95 KNOWARE, Knoware (reg graphics) NEW $ 95 UFETREE Volkswnter 1.2 $ 195

Volkswriter Deluxe $ 395

* LOTUS, 12 3 $ 495

Symphony NEW $ 695

QUE Using 1-2-3 (Book) $ 15

LIVING VIDEOTEXT, Think Tank NEW $ 195 MDBS, Knowledgeman NEW $ 500

MECA, Andrew Tobias'

Managing Your Money NEW $ 195

MICROPRO, WordStar* $ 350

WordStar Professional Plus $ 695

* WordStar Professional, 4 Pak $495 WordStar 2000 $495

$249

$195

$159

$349

$369

$289

$119

$ 20

$ 12

$ 50

$ 56

$375

$125

$ 45

$335

$125

$ 45

$ 89

$ 79

$329

$

$219

$189

$219

$195 $ 65 $249 $135 $ 34

$220 $159 $259 $ 68 $995 $375 $ 95 » 65 $ 64 $130 $189 1309 $465 $ 12 $115 $300

$125

$189 $365 $265 $295

$100 $100

MICROPRO, MailMerge" Starlndex™ Preoptions, SS/MM/SI lnfoStar™+ v MKRORIM, II base, Series 4000

Extended Report Writer R base Clout MICROSOFT, Chart or Protect .each Muttiplan Word

Word with Mouse MONOGRAM, Dollars & $ense MULTIMATE Multimate OPEN SYS, GLAR.AP,PR.INVor POeach > OSBORNE/COMX. (Book & Business. & Math Programs on OS /DO Disks) Some Common Basic Programs(70ea) Practical Basic Programs (40 each) PEACHTREE. Peach Pak (GLARSAPj

Peach Text 5000 PERFECT, Perfect Writer QUADRAM, Tax Strategy NEW

Investment Strategy NEW SOFTWARE PUBLISHING.PES Report ffSfile,PFS:Write,PFS.firaph PFSfreol SORCIM. SuperCalc 3 SSI /SATELUTE. WordPerfect

Personal WordPerfect STONEWARE Advanced OB Master SUMMA, Trader's Forecast NEW

Trader's Data Manager NEW Trader's Accountant NEW

Complete System T/MAKER, T/Maker THOUGHTWARE. Mgt Series VISICORP, WsiCalc 4 Ful Line In Stock

BORLAND, Turbo Pascal NEW $ 50

Sidekick NEW $ 50

* CENTRAL POINT, Copy II PC NEW $ 40

* COMX, Fastrak". RAM/Disk emulator and printer spooler program. Works on any PC/DOS version or RAMCard.Menu Driven $100 DIGITAL RES., CP/M-86" (PC/XT) $ 80

Concurrent CP/M-86~w/windows $835 CBASIC86"(CP/M86) $200

CBASIC Compiler [CP/M-86» PCDOSea) $600 PL/1 (PC DOS) $ 750

$ 99 $ 54

$195 $109

$195 $105

$495 $259

$495 $285

$150 $ 89

$195 $125

$250 $165

$195 $129

$375 $235

$475 $289

$165 $110

$495 $295

$695 $429

$ 69 $ 69

$395 $239 $395 $239 $349 $219 $395 $295 $395 $295 $125 $ 79

$140 $ 95

$

$ 59

$395 $245

$495 $275

$195 $149

$595 $395

$250 $159

$200 $129

UTILITY & SYSTEM

DIGITAL RES., PL/1 (CP/M-86) $750

Speed Prog Pkg (CP/M-86) $200

DRL0GO86ICP/M86) $100

FUNK SOFTWARE, Sideways NEW $ 60

HAYES, Smartcom II (Data Com.) $ 149

• INSOFT, GraFORTHIanimated 3D graph) $ 125

LIFEBOAT. Latticed NEW $ 500

MKROSTUF. Crosstalk XVKData Com.) $ 195

MICROSOFT, muMath/muSimp $300

Business BASIC Compiler $ 600

Pascal Compiler $ 300

C Compiler $ 500

BASIC Compiler $395

FORTRAN Compiler $350

COBOL Compiler $700

NORTON, Utilities 2.0. 14 programs $80

ROSESOFT, Prokey $ 130

HOME & EDUCATIONAL

r ahmonr, executive Suite $ 40

BLUE CHIP. Millionaire or Tycoon.each $ 60 BPI SYSTEMS, Personal Accounting $ 99 CBS Mastering the SAT $150

Chas. Goren Learn Bridge NEW $ 80 COMPREHEN.. PCTutot(l loi 2 0, ea) $ 60 CONTINENTAL. Home Accounlant Plus $ 150 DAVIDSON. The Speed Reader II $ 75

Word Attack! or MathHasterL each $ 50 DOW JONES. Home Budget $ 139

HARCOURT, Computer SAT $ 80

MICROSOFT, Flight Simulator II $ 50

MONOGRAM, Dollars & Sense $165

PBL CORP., Personal Investor $145

SCARBOROUGH, MaslerType

$479 $135 $ 69 $ 40 $ 99 $ 95 $295 $129 $199 $399 $199 $329 $259 $229 $459 $ 54 $ 87

$225 $135

$395 $525

ATARI Centipede, PacMan or Donkey,each $

* BRODERBUND, Apple Panic (Color) $ Lode Runner or Serpentine, each $

ELECTRONIC ARTS.Full Line in Stock

EPYX. Auto Sim or Temple of Apshai $

HAYDEN. Sargon III (Chess) $

INFOCOM. Deadline or Suspended, ea. $

Zork I or 2ork II or Zork III. each $

* INSOFT, Mystrix,Wordtrix or Quotrix.ea $ MICROSOFT. Flight Simulator II $ ORIGIN, Ultima II $ SPINNAKER. Snooper Troops (I or 2) $

Story Machine or Face Maker $

SUB LOGIC, Night Mission Pinball $

CASH-n-CARRY COMPUTER STORES, INC.

Over-the-countet sales only. Open Monday through Saturday, 10:00 to 6:00. SAN FRANCISCO - NEW STOREI 550 Washington Slreet (at Montgomery, opposite the Pyramid). Interstate 80, to Highway

480: tike Washington Street Exit. CALL (415) 982-6212. PORTLAND, OREGON - At Park 217, Tigard at intersection of Highways 217 and 99W. CALL (503) 620-5595. SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - 3540 128th Ave. SE, Bellevue. WA 98006 In Loehmann's Plaza near Factoria Square, South East of Highway 405 £ 90 and at South East 36th and Richards. CALL 641-4736

OURAD

#B13

<^>

OUR REFERENCES:

We have been in computers and electronics since 1958. a computer dealer since 1978 and in computer mail order since 1980. Banks: 1st Interstate Bank, (503) 643-4678 We belong to the Chamber of Commerce (503) 228-9411 and Direct Marketing AsstHcation, or call Dunn and Btadstreet if you are a subscriber.

NO SALES TAX

MskTOLLFREE (800) 547-1289

OREGON ONLY (800) 451-5151

Foreign

£

Portland

1503) 620 9877

HOTUNE

Informatjon on your order

:. 620-9878

WEEKDAYS ONLY

ORDER DESK HOURS

Mon-Fri-6AM to 6PM PST SMurtuv-lOAM 10 4PM PST

(6AM here s 9AM vi New York)

Inquiry 84 for IBM Peripherals. Inquiry 85 for Apple. Inquiry 86 for all others.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 229

AUDIO ANALYZER

(4a)

V V

10/iF

TO A/D CONVERTER

(4b)

+ 5V t

FROM ICH i—-5_

PIN 4 '

8255-PIN 10 |—v_

(FROM FIG. 2) '—

4-5V t

1

15K -±r 4.7^F

:r

VINI+) VINI-)

WR

INTR

IC12 ADC0804

MND LSB

OGND

CLKIN CLKR

-Oio

■On

-O 12

On

-o»

Ol6

-Ol5

-Ow

150pF

7h

(4c)

+ 5¥ O—f

(B3) t-*^

OND £> f

(Bl) l—

+ i2v ,->—4

(B9) ■—

;47f.F

VA£ 1MF

-12V r-v^ (B7) '

; °-vF

TO DIGITAL ICs

; o.i/»F

, O.l^F

TO ANALOG ICs

Figure 4: Audio input and full-wave rectifier (a). ADC (b), and power connections (c).

230 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 242 —►

YOUR COMMODORE 64 CAN NOW USE STANDARD APPLE ll+H ARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

■ Tti« -.ii.ift.iri mi-, • Rolsunm Manuill

E.C

• N

1 \

■

K

£pnRTnn

wtmm WWmm.■ Wmm■

WITH THIS

At Mimic we believe that you and your computer should dictate the choices ot hardware and software you can use.

The Spartan™ was developed to allow you to choose the hardware and software that best suits your needs.

Our goal in designing the Spartan™ was simple. To take what you already have and give you more.

Mimic Systems is proud to give you the Spartan™ The Apple™ 11+ emulator for the Commodore 64™

Spartan™ Suggested Retail Prices: le Spartan™ (includes BUSS, CPU, and DOS cards) $599.00

BUSS card $299.00

R INFORMATION WRITE:

CPU card (requires BUSS card) $ 199.00 DOS card (requires BUSS and CPU card) $ 199.00

(All prices in U.S. Funds. Freight not included.) American Express, Visa and MasterCard accepted. .. nmodore 64 and Commodore logo are trademarks of Commodore Electronics Ltd and or Commodore Business Machines, Inc. Apple' II + Is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc Spartan ■ Is a trademark of Mimic Systems Inc., and has no association with Commodore Electronics or Apple Computer, Inc. The Spartan Is manufactured by Mimic Systems Inc under license granted by ATG Electronics Inc. of Victoria, B.C., Canada.

MIMIC SYSTEMS INC

1112 FORT SI,, FL. 6H VICTORIA, B.C. CANADA V8V 4V2

To Order Call:

1-800-MODULAR

(663-8527)

AUDIO ANALYZER

CONTROL WORD

D7

°6

D3

DON'T CARE

Do

BIT SET/RESET 1 = SET 0 PRESET

PORT C BIT SELECT

BIT SET/RESET FLAG 0= ACTIVE

Figure 5: Setting the portC bits of the 8255A using the control word.

Table 2: Control words that control the data direction of the 82 5 5 As ports. Bits 2. 5. and 6 are 0. Bit 7 is I.

PORTC

PORTC

D4

D3

D1

Do

PORTA

(UPPER)

PORTB

(LOWER)

0

0

0

0

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

0

0

0

1

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

0

0

1

0

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

0

0

1

1

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

INPUT

0

1

0

0

OUTPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

0

1

0

1

OUTPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

0

1

1

0

OUTPUT

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

0

1

1

1

OUTPUT

INPUT

INPUT

INPUT

0

0

0

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

0

0

1

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

0

1

0

INPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

0

1

1

INPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

INPUT

1

0

0

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

OUTPUT

1

0

1

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

INPUT

1

1

0

INPUT

INPUT

INPUT

OUTPUT

1

1

1

INPUT

INPUT

INPUT

INPUT

Table 1:

I/O addresses.

Pin number

Name

I/O address

(hex)

15

YO

0780-0783

14

Y1

0784-0787

13

Y2

0788-078B

12

Y3

078C-078F

11

Y4

0790-0793

10

Y5

0794-0797

9

Y6

0798-079B

7

Y7

079C-079F

The 74LS138 provides eight strobe lines. Only one of these is used for the 8255. The other seven are spare and can be connected to more 82 5 5 As for even more I/O lines. These strobe lines are normally high and go low for approximately 1 /ts. The I/O address for the 8255A is 0780 hexadecimal (1920 decimal). Table 1 gives the I/O addresses for the eight strobe lines from the 74LS138.

The decode logic does not use lines A14 and Al 5. That means that if any other part of the IBM PC uses an I/O address higher than 3FFF hexadecimal, there could be an I/O conflict. Most of the boards built to be compatible with the IBM PC and the computer itself use I/O addresses of 03 FF hexadecimal or less. This puts these I/O addresses safely above the system I/O.

There are three basic softwareselectable operation modes for the 82 5 5A: Mode 0 (basic input/output). Mode 1 (strobed input/output), and Mode 2 (bidirectional bus). The chip has three separate data ports: A. B, and C. The mode selected for ports A and B can be different, but port C is configured to follow what is selected by A and B. The upper half of port C is configured with port A and the lower half of port C is configured with port B. This mixture of mode selection along with the I/O modes for each of the ports may seem confusing at first, but the following review of the main I/O operations will clear up the matter.

Port C may be written to differently from the other ports; that is, individual bits may be changed in the port without affecting the other bits of the port. The bit pattern required to either set or reset a single bit is shown in figure 5. To set bit 5 in port C to a 1, output an 11 (decimal) to the control-word register. To make bit 2 a 0, output a 4 to the control-word register.

There are four internal registers in the 82 5 5A chip. The first three are for the three data ports and the fourth one is the control-word register that I mentioned earlier. In the configura

(conlinued)

232 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

The PCturbo 186™ takes a good computer and makes it the BEST!

PC

PC AT

■ Vast selection

■ Faster than

of software

the PC

■ Software

compatible

Faster than the PC

Total software compatibility

Automatic Disk Caching

More affordable than a PC AT

80186 works in complement to 8088

Orchid's PCturbo 186

First the standard was the IBM™ PC. Then it became.the IBMPCATwith it's high processing speed. For those, however, who have an IBM PC and need PC AT-like performance, Orchid Technology will put you out in front again with a new standard— the PCturbo 186. The PCturboout performs the PC AT in speed with fast disk access, and unmatched performance while providing complete software compatibility.

Best of all, PCturbo allows you to protect your existing hardware and software investment without the cost of replacing your existing PC or the need to learn to use a new computer and its software. Simply install the PCturbo adapter board and Orchid's "Productivity Software" and your PC becomes a powerful turbo-driven computer.

The PCturbo 186 is actually a second computer within your PC. Powered by the advanced Intel 80186 processor, the PCturbo

is transparent to your favorite programs like Lotus 1-2-3'" Symphony!" dBase II or III,T" Framework™and Multimate™ running them at turbo speeds. So, with PCturbo, your PC looks and acts the same as before; it just runs faster.

While the PCturbo is speeding up your processing power the 8088 microprocessor in your PC takes care of the I/O functions. Most importantly, complete compatibility is assured since the PCturbo allows you to switch back and forth between Turbo Mode and PC Mode with a simple command.

Since PCturbo boosts the processing speed of your PC, there's no more waiting to recalculate spreadsheets or to retrieve data. With the unique built-in features like automatic disk caching, electronic RAM disks and print spooling, you can get even more done in less time. Now isn't that why you bought a PC in the first place?

PCturbo 186 is a trademark of Orchid Technology. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony are trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. dBase II, dBase III, and Framework are trademarks of Ashton-Tate. Multimate is a trademark of Multimate International.

Inquiry 263

TECHNICAL DETAILS: Hardware

■ Single slot plug-in board with high-speed 16-bit processor (80186).

■ Up to 640K memory expansion for a maximum of 1.28 Megabytes total memory.

■ Simple "one-step" installation.

Software

■ Runs IBM PC-DOS 2.X/3.X on either the IBM PC/XT and versions of most compatibles.

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■ Standard PC (8088) operation for total compatibility.

Write or call for more information today.

ORCHID

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

47790 Westinghouse Drive

Fremont, CA 94539

(415) 490-8586 Telex: 709289

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 233

AUDIO ANALYZER

Listing 1: Output to all three ports.

10 BASE = 1920

20 INPUT "DATA FOR PORT A";A

30 INPUT "DATA FOR PORT B";B

40 INPUT "DATA FOR PORT C";C

50 OUT BASE + 3,128

REM SET ALL LINES TO OUTPUT

60 OUT BASE.A

REM OUTPUT TO PORT A.

70 OUT BASE+1.B

REM OUTPUT TO PORT B.

80OUTBASE + 2.C

REM OUTPUT TO PORT C.

90 STOP

Listing 2: Input data from all ports.

10 BASE=1920

20 OUT BASE + 3,128 + 16 + 8 + 2 + 1

REM SET CONTROL WORD.

30 PRINT "DATA FROM PORT A = "

INP(BASE)

40 PRINT "DATA FROM PORT B = "

INP(BASE + 1)

50 PRINT "DATA FROM PORT C ="

INP(BASE + 2)

60 STOP

Listing 3

TWo output ports and one input port.

10 BASE =

1920

20 OUT BASE = 3,128+ 2 .REM SET CONTROL WORD

30 INPUT

'DATA FOR PORT A";A

40 INPUT

'DATA FOR PORT C";C

50 OUT BASE.A

60OUTBASE + 2.C

70 PRINT

'DATA FROM PORT B =

';INP(BASE + 1)

80 STOP

Listing 4: Machine-language

routine to test the 82 5 5A.

0500:0000 B080

MOV

AL.80

0500:0002 BA8307

MOV

DX.0783

0500:0005 EE

OUTB

DX

0500:0006 90

NOP

0500:0007 BA8007

MOV

DX.0780

0500:000A B0FF

MOV

AL.FF

0500:000C EE

OUTB

DX

0500:000D B000

MOV

AL.00

0500:000F EE

OUTB

DX

0500:0010 EBF8

JMPS

000A

f

- CHASSIS GROUND

A

STEREO

1 lOOil \

COMPUTER

1

i

i

VOLT METER

\

di;_

[el PLUG

|o| PLUG

Figure 6: Potential ground problem test configuration.

tion given by the decode logic, port A has an I/O address of 1920 (decimal), port B has an I/O address of 1921, port C has an I/O address of 1922, and the address of the control word is 1923.

lb change the direction of the ports, set the control-word register as shown in table 2. For example, to set all the ports to outputs, set the control word to 128. lb make all the ports inputs, set the control word to 155. For the last example, make port A an output port, port B an input port, and port C one-half input and one-half output. This would give an output word of 128+8+2 or 138 to the mode control word.

The output pins of the 82 55A can produce or sink about 1.5 milliamps. This is more than enough for most experiments. The biggest problem is if the experiment is located more than about 4 meters from the computer; the outputs might be loaded down by too much capacitance on the cables. If the experiment does require long lines, then it will be best to use line drivers and receivers. Fortunately, in this project, the lines to the DAC are short.

Software Examples

The three BASIC routines in listings 1, 2, and 3 show how to control the data on the I/O ports by using the INP and OUT commands. The first example asks the operator for three data words and then outputs them to the three ports. When the program is finished, the data is latched on the output pins. The second example makes all three ports into input ports and displays the data present on the I/O lines. The third example is just a mixture of the two. Data is output to ports A and C, and input from port B.

The machine-language routine in listing 4 produces a pulsed pattern on all pins of port A. This is useful in checking out the board during construction. Simply connect an oscilloscope probe to any of the port A pins and observe the square-wave output. The routine was produced with the DEBUG utility. Once the routine begins, the only way to stop the pro

234 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 225

AUDIO ANALYZER

gram is to hit the reset switch. This example also shows the machine-language instructions needed to control the 82 5 5A.

Before you go any further, I want to warn you about the possibility of a dangerous voltage difference between the ground of your stereo and your computer. First, connect the chassis of the two machines with a 100-ohm resistor. This is shown in figure 6. If the resistor does not get hot, then the stereo and the computer power supplies are not exchanging angry words over which side of the power line is ground. If you take a voltmeter and measure the difference between the two grounds without the resistor, you could get a 60-V reading. That is because the two power supplies are floating with respect to earth ground. The 100-ohm resistor will allow the two floating grounds to adjust themselves to each other. When the resistor is used, there should be less than a 10-V potential between the two systems. If there are more than 10 V, then you have a grounding problem that must be fixed before anything else can be done. Maybe you need to flip the stereo's power cord. But do not connect the two if there is a grounding problem.

DAC, VCO, AND ADC Construction

Since we want to keep some of the noise out of the system, keep the leads as short as possible. I used a mixture of wire-wrap and soldered printed-circuit board material, but you can use whatever is best for you. I built the system in sections so 1 could test each separately. This made it easier to find errors without subjecting the computer to my hacking. Remember to make some test points on the boards. This will help in both calibration and in testing.

DAC Calibration and Testing

The first step in calibrating the system is to adjust the 5k-ohm potentiometer (pot) on the output amplifier of the DAC. This pot adjusts the offset of the DAC to get it into the 8.5- to 12-V range. First, set all the inputs to the

4050 chips to 0. Do this by either outputting a 0 to port A or, if the DAC is not connected to the 82 55 yet, by connecting them to ground with clip leads. Then measure the output at point A of the drawing. Adjust the level of the 5k pot until the voltage is 8.4. Now bring all the inputs to the 4050s to 1. The voltage at point A should be close to 12 V. If not, go back and check for errors.

VCO Calibration and Testing

The calibration of the output section now depends on selecting the proper values for the five capacitors used on the 8038 chip. Try to find the following five capacitors either at a store or in your junk box: 0.33 pF. 0.1 pF, 0.033 liF. 0.01 pF. and 3300 /mF. You might have to connect capacitors in series or parallel to get these values. But anything close will do. As you experiment with the selection, you might be able to expand the range beyond the 20- to 20.000-Hz limits. By selecting the right capacitor, the system will work at up to 400,000 Hz.

There are 32 different combinations of capacitors. Take the five capacitors you have collected and put them in the circuit as shown in the drawing. Don't worry about which goes where, because it doesn't make a difference.

Now comes the problem of measuring the frequency. If you have access to an audio-frequency counter, just connect the counter to the squarewave output line of the VCO. Most people will probably have to use the computer to help tune the system. As you know IBM BASIC has the SOUND command. This command will produce a tone at a particular frequency for a given length of time. The builtin speaker should generate a tone loud enough to be heard.

If you have an oscilloscope, then you can use the Lissajous figure technique to determine the frequency of the system's output. For this, first place the output from the VCO in the x-axis input and then connect the wire going from the computer's speaker to the y-axis input. Adjust the frequency from the computer's speaker with

[continued)

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switches 20 lines

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IMOVs suppress spikes, surges. 3 isolated, switched socketpalrs. One unswitched for clock, etc. Lighted power, reset switch. Pop-out fuse. 3 wire, 6 ft. cord. 15A, 125V, 1875 watts. Aluminum case. Black. 18x23/4x2 in. MFJ-1107, $79.95. Like 1108 less relay. 8 sockets, 2 unswitched. MFJ-1109, $129.95. Like 1107 but intelligent. Switch on device plugged into control socket and everything else turns on. Others available.

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ENTERPRISES INCORPORATED

» 921 Louisville Rd., Stirkvllle, MS 39759

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 235

Time and again, you've heard it said, "To make money, you have to have money."

The truth is, you have to know how to save money before you can think about making more.

That's why more and more people are joining the Payroll Savings Plan to buy U.S. Savings Bonds. That way, a little is taken out of each paycheck automatically.

In no time, you'll have enough Bonds for a new car, your child's education, even a dream vacation.

Whatever you save for, Bonds are the safest, surest way to gain capital.

TakefW

A public service o( this publication

WkWil A public service ol this pu! (j^K* an<3 The Advertising Coun

. stockXs^ in^merica.

HAVING BLLN SUCCESSFULLY PLACED IN OFFICES WORLDWIDE, QUICK* PLAN IS RECOMMENDED BY USERS AS THE MANAGEMENT TOOL OF THE FUTURE.

Menu driven; 2S0 actrvittes/500 connector relationship All input can be edited with lull feature editor. Unit specified time units - minute, hour, day, week, rrtootJi Precedence logic (Activity on Node capability) with Futisb-to-Start Si.m-io-Surt. Fmish-to-Finish, Sturt-to-Finbh, Logic Connectors. Activities .inJ Resources can be transferred between projects. Assignable and selectable Activity Numbers and Activity Codes. Multiple currencies {with a currency convener within the program). Six resources per activity; 100 item resource libraryAll activities can carry Time, Cost, .ind Resources. Permits specified dates with constraint options. TAILS and LAGS to simplify modelling.

Memory resident system for maximum computational speed. Network logic display with ability to zoom, spread, and isolate activity displays.

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Mt.„..,,.|P'0'M ■■ Park 70 ■0Ho".'«it7>36ri0BD0

AUDIO ANALYZER

Listing 5: Program to determine endpoints of the VCO ranges.

10 OUT 1923,128 + 9

20 OUT 1921,128:OUT 1921,0

30 INPUT "CAP CODE",CC

40 OUT 1920.CC

50 INPUT "FINE FREQ",FF

60 OUT 1920.FF

70 INPUT "COMPUTER FREQUENCY",F

80 SOUND F,20

90 GOTO 70

the SOUND command to make the display stop rolling. When the display is in the shape of a circle or something close to a circle and it does not cross itself, then the frequency of the speaker is the same as the frequency of the system. The third method is to make both the stereo and the computer's speaker sound at the same time. Then you just listen and adjust the computer speaker's tone until the two tones match. The difference between two tones going at the same time should be rather easy to detect, unless you are tone-deaf, in which case this entire system will not be of much use anyhow. The short BASIC program in listing 5 should make this process easier.

If you have the frequency counter, delete lines 70, 80, and 90. In any case, measure the frequency at the upper and lower ends of each of the 32 different capacitor-combination ranges. Make a chart of these measurements similar to the one in figure 7 and show what areas of the frequency spectrum are covered by what capacitor combination. From this chart 1 was able to select the capacitors needed to cover the entire audio range. The VCO response is linear over most of the control-voltage range, except for the upper and lower 10 percent of the range, which you should avoid.

The graph in figure 8 shows the finefrequency code versus the output frequency for one of the capacitor codes. The actual numbers are not important; the point of the graph is to show the slight nonlinearity at the ends of the control-voltage range. On

{continued)

236 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 243

ANTEX

DATA

SYSTEMS

ADS 8212 Data Exchange/64K Spooler

ADS 2000 DOT MATRIX PRINTER

165 CPS CORRESPONDENCE QUALITY 9X9 DOT MATRIX 40 CPS VERY NEAR LETTER QUALITY 17X17 DOT MATRIX

The Antex Data Systems ADS 2000 prints at 165 characters per second in correspondence quality using a 9x9 dot matrix. By turning on the "FINE" mode with a push ol a button or through software command it is possible to obtain Very Near Letter Quality (VNLQ) at 40 characters per second using a 17x17 dot matrix. Typestyles included with the ADS 2000 include Pica. Elite. Proportional and Italics and the ability to design up to 256 characters Subscript and Superscripts can be used for scienlific equations, notations and formulas. The ADS 2000 can interface to almost any computer on the market using the Centronics parallel inlerface.

SuperFont. is an optional soltware program designed to utilize all Ihe special features of the ADS 2000. With SuperFont. the user can create save and download custom fonts or choose one ol the 20 lonts already available on diskette.

ADS 8214 Winchester/Tape Storage*

ADS 8214 5.25 inch Winchester storage with tape back-up systems are designed for the IBM PC and XT. The systems are combinations of the ADS 8213 and ADS 8218 systems. All 8213 and 8218 specifications are applicable to the 8214. In addition to the above, the PC can communicate independently to the Winchester or tape. The tape unit can back-up the Winchester data without read and write through the PC.

All

» f •

?

ADS

The ADS-8212 DATA EXCHANGE/64 is a computer independent interlace converter and print spooler. II can be installed between virtually any computer and any peripheral. A microprocessor controls the exchange of data. Input the data in one form and Ihe DATA EXCHANGE/64 stores it in the 64K bytes of buffer memory and then outputs it in another form to the peripheral. The DATA EXCHANGE/64 also allows the user to make multiple copies of the bufler memory.

FEATURES: RDY/BSY. Xon/Xoff or

ETX/ACK for input/output

*><

'K

K

ADS 8213 Winchester Mass Storage System -IBM PC/XT

The Antex System hard disk systems are designed to upgrade the IBM PC, or compatible to a system that operates similar to the IBM PC XT. When installed the hard disk system will operate just like an XT. Once it is formatted, you can use all ol IBM's DOS 2.0 or 2.1 utilities designed for their hard disk. And, since il has its own ROM, you can "boot" without a floppy diskette. All systems come complele with interface and controller boards, necessary cabling, and easy step-by-step instructions. Available in 12. 20. 33 and 46 MB with power supply, fan, controller and cables.

ADS 8218 Tape Back-Up Systems*

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ANTEX

DATA

SYSTEMS

A Division of International Antex Inc.

2630 California Street • Mountain View, California 94040

(415)941-7914 • TWX 704969 INTERAX UD

ADS is a registered trademark of International Antex. Inc. IBM. IBM PC. IBM PC XT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

Inquiry 24

JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 237

AUDIO ANALYZER

30

1 .

29

28

27

26

25

24

23

22

21

20

19

J ]8 < ,7

o 16 UJ

o 15

-CROSSOVER FROM ONE SUBRANGE

tu u

o

° 13

TO ANOTHER

Q. 12

<

<-> 11

10

^SELECTED RANGE WITHIN A

9

/ CAPACITOR RANGE TO COVER

a

/ THE ENTIRE SPECTRUM

5

3 2 1

0

10 20 40 60 80 100 300 1000 3000 10.000

30.000

FREQUENCY (Hz)

Figure 7: Spectrum coverage by each capacitor range.

my selection of codes, I had to use the lower end of the range twice, but I just used a different slope in the conversion equation when 1 was near the ends. If you study the data I used, you will see that I divided one of the ranges into three separate subranges, each of which has a different slope. Table 3 shows my selection of ranges and the codes, slopes, and starting points for each range. These values give me an accuracy of better than 1 percent over the entire audio spectrum.

The procedure 1 used to compute the values in the BASIC routines is this: first, take the difference between the lower and upper limits of the selected ranges. Now, try various finefrequency codes to find the code that will produce the frequencies required

for the ends of the ranges. Second, take the difference between the finefrequency codes required to generate these frequencies. Divide the finefrequency code delta (difference) by the frequency delta. This becomes the slope of the selected capacitor. The DATA statements have the information organized as lower-frequency limit, capacitor code, slope, and lower finefrequency code.

The Ik pot adjusts the output level of the VCO to match the particular stereo you are testing. Most require a 200-millivolt (mV) signal for the best frequency response.

ADC Calibration and Testing

To calibrate and test the input section, use a resistor divider network similar to the one in figure 9 to reduce the

voltage from the output section to about 5 mV. Feed this 5-mV signal to the input section and check that everything is okay. If you run the Sweep program in this configuration, you will see a straight line, as shown in figure 10a. (The program actually plots using plus (+) symbols. For discussion purposes, we've used a solid line in this and subsequent figures.) Just to check the theory, connect a capacitor across the input connection of the resistor network. Figure 10b shows the classic low-pass filter response. Connecting a coil produces the opposite effect.

Software

1 used BASIC in these software examples because all IBM PCs and their

(continued)

238 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Unlock the productivity

of the Perkin-Elmer computers

in your lab.

If one of your analytical instruments is controlled by a Perkin-Elmer Series 7000 microcomputer, you now have one of the finest Professional Computers in the world.

The keys to productivity

Perkin-Elmer offers an exciting variety of software for the P-E Series 7000. Many packages are available to make your work easier, more satisfying and more productive. For example: write with PECOWRITER/ 7000, our easy to learn and use word processing package, or with LEX-68""', another word processing program which includes a spelling dictionary and a mass mailing database. Communicate with other computers and online databases using TERM/7000. And acquire

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Unleash your creativity

Our list of general purpose software is constantly growing. You can analyze data with Supercomp-Twenty™ spreadsheet. Organize information with our database management package. And graph data with our curve-fitting statistics program. For your own special purposes, create programs in either BASIC or FORTRAN 77.

Access our huge library

Whether you're choosing from the most extensive collection of analytical software available, or using your P-E Series 7000 as a sophisticated laboratory tool, you

have all the power and flexibility required. All our programs and computers are truly chemist-friendly.

Seize the opportunity

Perkin-Elmer software will dynamically increase the productivity of your people and your instruments. To discuss the opportunities touched on here, call your Perkin-Elmer representative today. For literature, dial 1-800-762-4000.

Perkin-Elmer Corp., Main Ave. (MS-12), Norwalk, CT 06856 U.S.A. Tel: (203) 762-1000. Telex 965-954. Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer & Co., GmbH, Postfach 1120, 7770 Ueberlingen, Federal Republic of Germany. Tel: (07551) 811. Perkin-Elmer Ltd., Post Office Lane, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 1QA, England. Tel: Beaconsfield (049 46) 6161.

LEX-68 is a registered trademark ot ACE Microsystems Ltd SuDercomp-Twenly is a registered trademark ot Access Technology. Inc

PERKIN-ELMER

The science and computer company. Where solutions come first.

Inquiry 402

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 239

Inquiry 1

1st PLACE

COMPUTER SYSTEMS 13422 N. CAVECREEK RD.

PHOENIX, AZ. 85022

OTHER INFORMATION: 602-867-9897

Frw shipping is on UPS ground only. I

■'% chick or monty ordtr all othar checks

dtlay shipping two i

Hi — I'm Joan,

I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you for a successful 1984.

We are looking forward to an even greater 1985. With your help, we can do it, so keep

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PRINTERS COMPUTERS

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ALTOS 580-20

IBM PC

LEADING EDGE PC

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TELEVIDEO

803 $1769 1603 .

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MICROMODEM HE...

$235

AUDIO ANALYZER

250

240

230

220

210

200

190

180

170

g 160 8 150

"

>- 140

U

Z 130

UJ

=> 120

o

HI 110

QC

u. 100

£ 90

U. go

70

60

SO

40

30

20

10

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

FREQUENCY (KHz)

Figure 8: Graph of fine frequency versus output frequency.

Table 3: Calibration data.

Capacitor Frequency

zine Frequency

Delta

Code

Low

High

Low

High

Freq F

-ine Fr

Slope

31

8

20

0

110

12

110

9.16670

30

21

35

70

95

14

25

6.78570

19

36

70

31

86

34

55

2.52940

7

70

124

90

114

54

24

2.11110

22

126

200

15

45

74

30

0.60810

22

201

300

45

59

99

14

0.59600

16

301

552

78

118

251

40

0.46990

6

553

1007

23

69

454

46

0.15210

2

1005

2002

58

118

997

60

0.11840

4

2009

3994

26

86

1985

60

0.04332

4

4001

6660

112

128

2659

16

0.04814

0

6670

7744

0

16

1074

16

0.01490

0

7785

14279

16

65

6494

49

0.01001

0

14280

30116

81

159

15836

78

0.01004

Vc0 OUTPUT > f

TEST ■?fZ CAPACITOR (SEE TEXT)

300KA

£ IKil

_A MICROPHONE ' INPUT

Figure 9: Input section calibrate and test setup.

240 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

SYSGEN

Get the Sysgen XL™ expandable hard disk and tape back-up system,

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JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 241

Inquiry 106

TM

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Transparent Operation Full Support

APPLE FEATURES HARD_DISKS operate with a mixture of DOS 3.3, PRODOS 1.0, CPM 2.23, and PASCAL 1.1 on the same or any of 12 drives on one Apple up to 1.8 billion bytes. DOS • up to 400 kb per volume, 254 volumes per drive: the equivalent of 5,800 floppy diskettes per Apple. Up to 217 files per volume and does not require any user memory. CP/M ■ up to 150 mb per volume, 63 volumes per drive. Fully compatible with CPM software.

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IBM FEATURES

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AUDIO ANALYZER

700 1900 3100 4300 5500 6700 7900 9100 10300 11500 12700 13900

FREQUENCY (Hz)

(10a)

:

w in

z o

O

ir> u a.

^A

UJ

>

i<

i

UJ

\

^_

:

\A

1 1 1

1 1 1 1

1 1

i i i

1900 3100 4300 5500 6700 7900 9100 10300 11500 12700 13900 FREQUENCY (Hz)

(10b)

Figure 10: Straight connection through a resistor divider network (a): 0.47jtF capacitor across the input (b).

Listing 6: BASIC input and output routines.

10 OUT 1923,137: ' SET-UP THE 8255 FOR OUTPUTS ON

PORTS A AND B, AND INPUT ON PORT C. 20 OUT 1921,128:OUT 1921,0:' CLEAR THE FREE RUNNING MODE. 30 INPUT "RANGE CODE",RC:' INPUT THE CAPACITOR SELECT CODES. 40 OUTPUT 1921,RC:' OUTPUT THE CAP CODE TO HARDWARE. 50 INPUT "FINE FREQ CODE",FF:'INPUT THE VALUE USED

FOR THE DAC. 60 OUTPUT 1920.FF:' SEND THE DATA TO THE HARDWARE. 70 REM NOW WASTE SOME TIME TO LET THE HARDWARE SETTLE

TO THE CORRECT VALUE. 80 FOR I = 1 TO 200:X = X+1:NEXT

90 ADC = INP(1922):'GET THE ADC DATA FROM THE HARDWARE. 100 PRINT "RESULTS = ";ADC

242 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Not long ago, PC Magazine called MDBS III "The most complete and flexible data base management system available for microcomputers." That's a powerful statement. But then, MDBS III is an amazingly powerful software package. So powerful, in fact, that it lets you build mainframe-quality application systems on your micro or mini. MDBS III is not for beginners. It's for application developers with large data bases or complex data interrelationships who want to define data base structures in the most natural way—without resorting to redundancy or artificial constructs. It's for professionals who can appreciate its extensive data security and integrity features, transaction logging, ad hoc query and report writing capability and its ability to serve multiple simultaneous users. And if you want the power and the glory that only the world's most advanced data management system can provide, MDBS III is for you. For information on MDBS III and our professional consulting services, write or call Micro Data Base Systems, Inc., MDBS/Application Development Products, 85 West Algonquin Road, Suite 400, Arlington Heights, IL 60005. (800) 323-3629, or (312) 981 -9200. MDBS III. ABSOLUTE POWER.

Inquiry 228

WE'LL GIVE YOU THE POWER.

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AUDIO ANALYZER

clones have BASIC. If you want to use another language, then just convert the input and output commands to

the appropriate command in the new language. If you are the type to tackle a project like this, then you should

Listing 7: The Tune program.

10 ' AUDIO FREQUENCY ANALYZER [TUNE] 20 '

30 '

40 CLS:OUT 1923,137:DIM FL(14),CC(14),SL(14),FCL(14)

50 OUT 1921,128:OUT 1921,0:OUT 1920,255

60 '

70 ' Read the calibration data from the DATA statements.

80 '

90 FOR I = 0 TO 14

100 READ FL(I),CC(I),SL(I),FCL(I)

110 NEXT:KEY OFF

120 LOCATE 12,20:INPUT "FREQUENCY = ";F

130 IF (F<30000) AND (F>8) THEN GOTO 170

140 LOCATE 2,25 :PRINT"BAD FREQUENCY"

150 LOCATE 12,30:PRINT"

160 GOTO 120

170 LOCATE 2,25 :PRINT"

180 '

190 ' Convert the frequency [hertz] to cap code and fine freq code.

200 '

210 1 = 1

220 IFF>FL(I)THEN I = l + 1:GOTO 230 1 = 1-1

240 DF = INT(.5 + (F - FL(I))*SL(I) + FCL(I))

250 IF DF<0 THEN OUT 1921,0:OUT 1920,255:GOTO 120

260 '

270 ' Output the codes to the VCO.

280 '

290 OUT 1920.DF :OUT 1921,CC(I):II = 0

300 '

310 ' Average the data over eight iterations.

320 '

330 FOR J

= 1 TO 8

340 ll = ll +

NP(1922)

350 NEXT

360 II = 255

-II/8

370 LOCATE 16,20 : PRINT 'ADC VALUE =";INT(II)

380 A$ = INKEY$:IF A$<>'"

THEN GOTO 120

390 GOTO 290

400 DATA

8,31,9.1667

0

410 DATA

21,30,6.7857

70

420 DATA

36,19,2.5294

31

430 DATA

71, 7,2.1111

90

440 DATA

126,22,0.6081

15

450 DATA

201,22,0.5960

61

460 DATA

301,16,0.4699

78

470 DATA

553, 6,0.1521

23

480 DATA

1005, 2,0.1184

58

490 DATA

2009, 4,0.04332

26

500 DATA

4001, 4,0.04814

112

510 DATA

6670, 0,0.01490

0

520 DATA

7785, 0,0.01001

16

530 DATA 14280, 0,0.01004

81

540 DATA 30000, 0 O.0OO0C

, 0

have no trouble with these examples. I expect that you will modify these listings to fit your situation.

Listing 6 shows the basic operation of the hardware without any fancy software to get in the way. It just takes the inputs from the operator and sends them directly to the VCO. It lacks the ability to convert a frequency to the proper capacitor code and fine-frequency value. The next example, the Tune program in listing 7, shows the software getting a frequency from the operator and converting it to a capacitor code and finefrequency code. The numbers in the data statements will be different, depending on the capacitors you use in the VCO circuit and the adjustment of the 5k-ohm pot on the DAC output.

After the software checks to see if the frequency is a valid number, it searches the table for the correct VCO range for this frequency. When the computer has determined the range to use, it computes the delta between the selected frequency and the lower frequency of the band. This delta is then multiplied by the slope factor and added to the lower fine-frequency code to get the final fine-frequency code. This is just straight-line interpolation. The software then takes this fine-frequency value and sends it to the DAC. This method gives a I percent accuracy across the band. If you have a good frequency counter and want to get better accuracy, you can write a program that checks all the possible capacitor codes to select the one that matches the selected frequency the closest.

There are two unused output lines on the 8 2 5 5 that could be connected to two more capacitors. This will allow you to provide some intermediate values. Now the software will keep looping around, inputting the results and displaying the results on the screen. When the operator hits any key, the software will accept a new frequency to tune.

The Sweep program in listing 8 is similar to the single Tune program. This time the operator gives the starting frequency and the ending fre

(conlmued)

244 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

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ASHTON-TATE dBase Ill/Framework SCall

PRENTICE HALL VCN ExecuVision SCall

REAL WORLD MBSI Accounting SCall

LOTUS 1-2-3/Symphony $3l9/$Call

MICROPRO WordStar 2000/Pro pack. . . SCall

MICRORIM R:Base4000/Clout $285/$Call

MICROSOFT Multiplan $129

SAMNAWnrd III S375

SATELLITE SOFTWARE WordPerfect SCall

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING PFS Write S97

CENTRAL POINT Copy II PC/PLUS $29

FOR APPLE ll/lle

APPLE Macintosh/Me SYSTEMS SCall

ALSCP/M Card $279

Smarterm II (80 Column Card) $129

AST RESEARCH INC. Multi I/O Card SCall

DIGITAL RESEARCH CP/M Gold Card W/64K . $339

FOURTH DIMENSION 16k RAM Card $55

80 Column Card W/64K (lie Only) S129

HAYES

Micromodem lie w/SmartCom I S239

Smartmodem 300/1200 S199/S479

INTERACT. STRU. PKASD Universal S125

MICROSOFT Premium Softcard (He) SCall

Softcard (Apple/Franklin) $229

MICROTEK Dumpling-GX $69

NOVATION

J-Cat (Auto Orig/Answer. 300 Baud) $99

Apple Cat II (300 Baud) $209.

212 Apple Cat II (1200 Baud) $389

103/212 Smart Cat (1200 Baud) S3B9

ORANGE MICRO Giapplet* $109

Buffered Grappler+ (16K) $169

Grappler Interface for ImageWriter SCall

PCPI Applicard 6 MHZ ( S249

RANA Elite l/ll/lll ' SCall

TRANSEND ASIO S125

Modemcard w/Source S239

SCa

Dysan. Verbatim

MISCELLANEOUS

RAM CHIPS

64K SET SCall 256K SET

DOUBLE-SIDED DISKETTES

**SKC (10 box min)... $12 same as3M**

3M S30

Maxell S30

PRINT BUFFERS OUADRAM Microfazer

Parallel/Parallel

16k . . 5139 64k.

Serial/Serial, Serial/Parl, Parl/Serial

8K. . . S145 16K. . . S155 64K INTERACTIVE STRUCT. ShuffleBuffer 32k . PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS Microbufler 32K

$31 $30

S1B5 128K. $239

S209 S269 $209

^ATARI

0..S245

SURGE PROTECTORS

EPD/CURTIS All mndels SCall

NETWORX Wire Tree/Wire Tree Plus. . S45/S60

ULTIMA SF-BOO $39

EMERGENCY POWER SYSTEMS

TrippLite BC200-10 (battery incl) S270

TrippLite BC425-FC (425 Watts) S429

SOLA ELECTRIC Mini UPS SCall

CUSTOMER SERVICE

401-781-0020

ORDERS ONLY

800-843-4302

150 Broadway, Suite 2212, N.Y., NY 10038

NO CHARGE FOR CREDIT CARDS.

Money Order. Cashiers Ck, Personal Ck {2 Weeks To Clear).

APO Orders Add 6% (minimum S7). Add 3% For Net Terms

All Returned Non-Defective Merchandise Are Subject To

20% Restocking Charge

GenTech Reserves the Right to Change Adverlised Prices

AMERICAN EXPRESS,

©

VISA*

Inquiry 145

Inquiry 74

Now used by Aerospace Industry, TV Networks, Law Firms, Consultants, Research Labs, Academia...

At last!

At last, WordStar and other word processing programs can now be perfected— thanks to MagicPrint™, Magiclndex™, and MagicBind™ from CES, the leader in precision software.

True proportional spacing, footnoting, multiple line heading/footing, file merging, indexing of legal citations, 3-tray sheet feeder control — MagicSeries™ provides over 70 features that will enhance the quality of your documents and improve your professional image.

More and more reviewers and users discern the superior quality and performance of MagicSeries:

"I, for one, wouldn't want to do without it." (Creative Computing, June/83)

"MagicBind supersedes MailMerge."

(Microsystems, March/84)

"If you're fussy about print quality, and if you want the best possible output from your [computer] system, there is nothing to compare with Magiclndex."

(PC, October 30/84)

"A set-up of WordStar and Magiclndex is,

I think, the ultimate in word processing."

(Pennsylvania law firm)

"Thanks to MagicBind, the 'missing link' in my system [IBM PC] has been found. With so many things in the world which don't work, it's marvelous to find a product that does what you expect—and even more." (Network TV news producer)

Yes, we run into many users who have spent much time (and money and frustration) tyring out every program offering proportional spacing or footnoting only to find the results unsatisfactory—until, that is, they try MagicSeries.

For dealers, MagicSeries will serve as an effective sales tool and help build a satisfied customer base.

The cost for all three packages is only $295! You will save this amount in paper alone, because proportional spacing puts up to 20% more words on a page. But the real pay-offs are in (1) increased ease of operation, (2) savings in time and money through efficiency, and (3) a much improved professional and corporate image through typeset quality documents.

For more information, call or write:

Computer EdiType Systems

509 Cathedral Parkway Suite I0A New York. NY. 10025

(212)222-8148

AUDIO ANALYZER

Listing 8: The Sweep program.

10 ' AUDIO FREQUENCY ANALYZER [SWEEP] 20 '

30 ' This system will sweep through a frequency range and

40 ' display the responce to each frequency.

50 '

60 CLS:OUT 1923,137:DIM FL(14),CC(14) ,SL(14) ,FCL(14)

70 PRINT PRINT" AUDIO FREQUENCY ANALYZER"

80 '

90 ' Output the pulse to start the ADC conversion.

100 ' Also, park the VCO at the lowest frequency.

110 '

120 OUT 1921,12B:OUT 1921,31:OUT 1920,0

130 '

140 ' READ THE CALIBRATION DATA FROM THE DATA STATEMENTS.

150 '

160 FOR I = 0 TO 14

170 READ FL(I),CC(I),SL(I),FCL(I)

180 NEXT

190 KEYOFF:IX = 5

200 '

210 ' Input the lower and upper bounds of the range to sweep.

220 '

230 LOCATE 10,15:INPUT "FREQ LOW =";FL

240 LOCATE 12,15:INPUT "FREQ HIGH = ";FH

250 FD = (FH - FL)/72

260 CLS

270 IF (FD>0) AND (FH<30000) AND (FL>8) THEN GOTO 330

280 CLS: LOCATE 3,30:PRINT"BAD FREQUENCY LIMITS"

290 GOTO 230

300 '

310 ' Print the axis on the screen.

320 '

330 FOR I = 1 TO 22:PRINT " - ":NEXT:PRINT "";

340 FOR I = FL + FD*3 TO FH STEP FD*6:PRINT USING " #####";I;:NEXT

350 FOR F = FL TO FH STEP FD

360 '

370 ' CONVERT THE FREQUENCY [F] FROM HERTZ TO CAPACITOR CODE AND

380 ' FINE FREQUENCY CODE.

390 '

400 I = 1

410 IF F>FL(I) THEN l = l + 1:GOTO 410

420 I = I -1

430 DF = INT(.5 + (F + FL(I) )*SL(I) + FCL(I))

440 '

450 ' If an incorrect code appears, then abort the run and start over.

460 '

470 IF DF< 0 THEN OUT 1921,0:OUT 1920,255:GOTO 230

480 OUT 1920,DF :out 1921,CC(I):II = 0

490 '

500'' Delay to let the stereo settle to its response.

510 '

520 FOR T = 1 TO50:l = l + 1:NEXT

530 IF F=FL THEN FOR I = - TO 300: T = T + 3: NEXT

540 '

550 ' Take eight samples and average.

560 '

570 FOR 1 = 1 TO 8

580 ll = ll + INP(1922)

590 NEXT

600 ll = ll/8

(continued)

246 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Giant Killer

$195.00 (0K)

Thinking of buying a multifunction board? You owe it to yourself to check out the BT6Plus.

There's a new entrant into the IBM PC multifunction board market and we are proud to be the first company to sell thenproducts. Basic Time's BT6Plus is a functional equivalent to AST's SixPakPlus™ and Quadram's Quadboard™, but at a fraction of the price.

BT6Plus is made with scrupulous attention to quality and detail. Basic Time runs all their boards through a battery of tests throughout the production process with all options installed This insures that if you buy a 64K board today, it will function normally when you upgrade it later. BT6Plus comes with memory sockets for adding up to 384K, parallel printer port, asynchronous communications port (RS-232C), electronic disk emulation and printer spooling software, and cable mounting bracket. All functions are fully IBM compatible. Our price, $195.00, includes a one year warranty. 64K memory, installed and tested, is available for $35. An optional game port for $20.

Qubie' has been a pioneer in

marketing quality products, providing service to back them up and offering them at low prices. You don't supply companies like IBM, Exxon, General Motors and Lockheed unless you have first-rate products and service Join the tens of thousands of corporations, institutions and PC owners who have come to Qubie' for enhancement products.

Good service starts with answering your questions before and after you buy. It continues with same or next day shipment of your order. Since we only sell a few selected products, we have the information and inventory to help you fast.

We perform repairs in our own service department within 48 hours, should you ever need service during the one year warranty period

Our price is the whole price.

All prices include UPS surface charges and insurance. In a hurry? Two day UPS air service is just $5.

Corporations, dealers and institutions, call for volume purchase price information

Inquiry 293

4

4 «

4 4 4 4

4

No Risk Guarantee If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you may return it within 30 days for a full refund, including the cost to send it back. If you can get any of our competitors to give you the same guarantee, buy both and return the one you don't like.

*•****«*****;**'***«

Order Today, Shipped Tomorrow!

For fastest delivery, send cashiers check, money order, or order by credit card. Personal checks, allow 18 days to clear. California residents, add 6% sales tax. Hours: Mon.-Fri 8:00 am.-6:00 p.m. PST Sat. 9:00 a.m.-l:00 p.m. PST

(800) 821-4479

Toll Free Outside California

(805) 987-9741

Inside California

QUBIE'

4809 Calle Alto Camarillo, CA 93010

London (01) 223-4569 Paris (01) 321-5316 Sydney (02) 579-3322

©Qubie' 1984

Other daisy wheel printers still make you choose.

T>evel°^e ^retiae

Graves

■**

At 80 characters per second, the DaisyMax 830 is one of the fastest letter-quality, daisy wheel printers you can buy.

And that means you no longer have to sacrifice image quality to increase productivity!

Speed and superb quality are but two of a long list of benefits you get with the DaisyMax 830.

Multiple users can share the DaisyMax 830 since it is designed for heavy volume word processing environments. Plus, you get standard

interfaces for easy installation, and friction, tractor and cut sheet feeders to handle all your office forms. All these great features also are available in the DaisyMax 320, offering print speeds up to 48 cps.

And of course both printers feature rugged reliability—a hallmark of Fujitsu products earned from over 30 years as a technology leader and equipment supplier to companies worldwide. Reliability backed by TRW service nationwide.

Contact your nearest distributor for your local dealer.

Inquiry 139

Fiijitsu Printers

Maximum Quality Maximum Value.

Authorized

Fujitsu Distributors

Algoram Computer Products (415) 9694533, (714) 535-3630, (206) 453-1136, (916) 481-3466; Allen Edwards Associates Inc. (213) 328-9770; Four Corners Technology (602) 998-4440, (505) 345-5651; Gentry Associates Inc. (305) 859-7450, (305) 791-8405, (813) 886-0720, (404) 9982828, (504) 367-3975, (205) 534-9771, (919) 227-3639, (803) 772-6786, (901) 6838072, (615) 584-0281; Inland Associates, Inc. (913) 764-7977, (612) 343-3123, (314) 391-6901; Logon Inc. (201) 646-9222, (212) 594-8202, (516) 487-4949; Lowry Computer Products, Inc. (313) 229-7200, (216) 398-9200, (614) 451-7494, (513) 4357684, (616) 363-9839, (412) 922-5110, (502) 561-5629; MESA Technology Corp. (215) 644-3100, (301) 948-4350, (804) 8720974; NACO Electronics Corp. (315) 699-2651, (518) 899-6246, (716) 223-4490; Peak Distributors, Inc. (An affiliate of Dytec/Central) (312) 394-3380, (414) 784-9686, (317) 247-1316, (319) 363-9377; R^ Distributing, Inc. (801) 595-0631; R- Distributing of Colorado, Inc. (303) 455-5360; Robec Distributors (215) 3689300, (216) 757-0727, (703) 471-0995; S&S Electronics (617) 458-4100, (802) 658-0000, (203) 878-6800, (800) 243-2776; The Computer Center (907) 456-2281, (907) 561-2134, (907) 789-5411; USDATA (214) 680-9700, (512) 454-3579, (713) 6810200, (918) 622-8740. In Canada, Micos Computer Systems, Inc. (416) 624-0320, (613) 230-4290, (514) 332-1930, (204) 9433813; SGV Marketing, Inc. (416) 6732323, (1-800) 387-3860 (outside Ontario); Systerm Inc. (514) 332-5581.

Additional Ribbon Distributors

Altel Data (403) 259-7814; EKM Associates, Inc. (416) 497-0605; Metropolitan Ribbon & Carbon (703) 451-9072, (800) 368-4041; The Very Last Word (415) 5520900, (800) 652-1532 CA, (800) 227-3993 USA. In Canada, Tri-Media, Inc. (514) 731-6815.

Fujitsu Printers

Maximum Quality. Maximum Value.

Inquiry 140

AUDIO ANALYZER

610 '

620 ' Convert the data to a range of 1 to 22 for the screen.

630 '

640 l = INT(22-(255

l)/4

650X$ = " + "

660 '

670 ' Check for out-of-range conditions

680 '

690 IF l<1

THEN I

1 :X$='

"m

700 IF l>22 THEN l =

22 :X$ =

"#"

710 '

720 ' Place the mark on the screen.

730 '

740 LOCATE I,IX:

PRINT X$;

750 IX = IX+1

760 NEXT

770 OUT 1921,31:OUT 1920,0

780 LOCATE 23,1'END

7gg '

800 ' - CALIBRATION DATA

31Q '

820 ' FREQ LOW, CAP CODE, SLOPE, FINE FREQ LOW

830 '

840 DATA

8,

31,

9.1667

0

850 DATA

21,

30,

6.7857

70

860 DATA

36,

19,

2.5294

31

870 DATA

71,

7,

2.1111

90

880 DATA

126,

22,

0.6081

15

890 DATA

201,

22,

0.5960

61

900 DATA

301,

16,

0.4699

78

910 DATA

553,

6,

0.1521

23

920 DATA

1005,

2,

0.1184

58

930 DATA

2009,

4,

0.04332

26

940 DATA

4001,

4,

0.04814

112

950 DATA

6670,

0,

0.01490

0

960 DATA

7785,

0,

0.01001

16

970 DATA

14280,

0,

0.01004

81

980 DATA

30000,

0,

0.00000

0

Figure 11: Frequency response with all controls even.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 249

AUDIO ANALYZER

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575 698 822 945

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quency. The software then sweeps through this range and records the results. These results are shown on the screen as a graph with the frequency across the bottom and the computed value of the input up the side. There are no units for the vertical axis, it is just the relative power of the signal. The character "*" means that the signal went off the top of the chart. The character "#" means the signal went off the bottom of the chart.

Sample Results

I placed the microphone on a pillow to reduce noise. I connected the system to the right-channel Aux input of the stereo and set all the tone controls to the middle position; I set all the filter switches (loudness, high, and low) off. The most dramatic change happened in the lower frequencies, so I ran the Sweep program with limits of 20 to 1500 Hz. Figure 11 shows the results of this test. There was a peak at 200 Hz and at 500 Hz. Next, I turned the bass control full on, which gave the results shown in figure 12. Between 100 and 575 Hz the response went off the top of the scale. Above 800 Hz the two curves are similar. I then set the bass back to even and switched on the loudness filter. Figure 13 shows a boost in the frequencies below 500 Hz. The last test was to turn the loudness filter off and turn the bass control off. The results are shown in figure 14; they show that there was a small hump around 500 Hz. With some more fiddling with the controls, I reduced the hump and then adjusted the upper half of the spectrum.

Conclusions

You can use this system to test audio filters, graphics equalizers, or musicalinstrument amplifiers. You can also use the output section alone as an audio-frequency generator or the input section with a microphone to monitor for a rapid change in sound or for an upper limit on the sound. Finally the I/O section can be adapted to many other projects besides the one I described. ■

250 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

m

Join The Leader

... and be a Leader!

MicroAge is the computer solution leader. Throughout the United States and Canada, businesspeople rely on MicroAge for advice, leading products, and service when computerizing their companies.

But remaining the leader takes talented professionals who are willing to invest in their own community. People who are willing to assume a leadership position. That's why MicroAge is meeting with indi

viduals who want to own and operate a MicroAge sales organization.

Owning a MicroAge franchise is more than running a store. We sell multi-user systems, local area networks and telephone systems.. .along with personal computers. We provide service, installation and training for our customers.

If you would like to develop a long-term relationship serving the businesses in your area, let's talk business! Call or write:

MicroAge

co/MPUTer STores

"The Solution Store"®

1457 West Alameda • Tempe, AZ 85282 1-800-245-4683

In Arizona or outside the continental U.S. call (602) 968-3168 "The Leader In Multi-User Technology"

Inquiry 226

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 251

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24 O-BateDmial MODEM

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40 Genwal Cuiirasc lit) Annjiler

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40 HAM w.lli I O Fun ,iiiJ nme

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40 Hii|lilVti l'ti:i; DMACciit l'.MH;i

26 SwttmCwiBrtlet |74S43RI

24 10 E-p.imter lor 45 Sern-s

40 Async Conirtt Elerntnl

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7B pitni Comtr inttrtoce iusahh.

24 Piiiii liilL'lv.ll Hmer

to Prim Pwtptteiil NO (PPI)

40 PriKi Puri|!tier,iM'n(Pni 'Mtii

26 Prwj liitt'ttuui Control

JO SsjV [Jlrit Dftis.ty Flajijn Iliit. Csnl

40 Mnlii Piotccoi Serial dun i720li

40 Piraj Ke»tmai<i Deploy kikfteee

20 Oi.i.iil.dili

16 Clock GenetalDrTDtntr

20 Octal Bus Iransceimr

20 Octal Bus SansCTtvot (hivcriEfl)

20 fin1, Crummier.

20 li-iiillriSt.i.tiiBilJir.'diiiii.jl trans

20 B Oil Ili-niii'CM.ri.il RecOMH

2D (li.l.ill,illhi'i!H',;.|n;r.|l [llivi-r

40 O-Bii Umv PwiplwMl Inleilarc

40 HMDS EPIIOM MID

40 MPU B EH lEPROM UBUM ul B049|

40 t6K LPROM with 10

68 Hir|li InlMiMliriri Hi Bit MPU

DISK CONTROLLERS

40 Siiinie Density

OSiiul'iiCJ INS2fi!.l

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M!,1't':i 7.1AII

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24 MenptOCtW Real lime Clock

1G Micro Compani)!* lime Cintk

0 Pmii Oscillaioi'timiii-r intui.'j

8 I'lmi Osnllaloi'Oiviilei HOIHI/j

v Prolile ITinl Sockets

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IB LP 4S

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SolriBhill (Gold) Slandatd

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B orn SG 39 .35

20 pin SG 75 65

4DpmSG 139 125

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IB 4096i 1 |250ns|

16 ^3B4.I USQnsi

16 I0 38J.1 i2li(lnsr

16 InlH-t.l I750HSI

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22 256i4 |450ns)BH)l

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2I14N-L 2114N-2

I'lLtfj..': 2147HN ?14BHIi !f^540J5

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IB 2SC4

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16 10?W (450ns|LP. 1'J!

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IB 1024«4 (2D0nslLP IK

IB 409Gi1 i70ns|

II 1024.4 i70ns|

18 1024.4 |450nsl

20 1024.4 |450nS|

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28 B192.B (120nijCMUS

28 B192.B (l?Dnfi)LPCMOS

26 BI9?«fl (150ns) CMOS Rt'Oni rl:Jjn,it I'CV.ih IBOflsl L P (50nsi31DI i750ns) CMOS l250ns)CMQS n"i51Bl I35nsl 93405 I35nsl31fll. (SOnsiaC (93415) iMVrsI O.C (74S2H9)

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27C32A-:i'.j

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74S474

74S475

74S47S

74S47B

74S570

74S571

74S572

74S573

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B2S19I

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■ PROHS/EPROMS —

2295

. 24.95

ti 21V 21 9'j

20 .'Wi.ri

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24 512.3

24 512.8

IB K),M..l PliOMIS

24 HJLM..ii LHOM IS

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PHOMIS i?/Sl!.i PROM IS l?7S19) PHOM D.C 127S20) PHQM IS i//:;:i, PHOMOC (2/S12I PROMTS ITuP74SB1l

21 512.H

IG 32.B

16 ?5i.-1

16 ?%'A

16 '.12.4

16 2ty

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18 ZlJ-i.-i.l PHOMOC (S;MH4j

18 2li.l!i.4 p!ii.)MIS rWSlHM

24 204B«8 PHOM IS I82SI9I)

—DATA ACQUISITION

Moslek UC'DC Convertoi • 5V 1o

20 ■ ii ■ a ;! r.-.-...-v ■! .ii-ii.

40 rl Hit A [)[> Xftl-r 111 - C.I. M;-I!ii

16 BlJilllA C.-ir.^rter (i!7Fi ,lm!

IE B Bit O'A Cranertei IMCI40B7)

15 .- - ■ M .■ : -ii

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20 i?-i:'\ D/ACom [OS 1 n

20 17 114 Up DiA Cum. |10'.;lin1

40 JOKBiurl 11*81 (TH1E02)

Wire Ittis ^» Sockets ^"'

Hie id | Level H3

Pin Ho. 19 1099 IPQ-i

i< |i.r:'.V.\'

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10 pm WW 69 14 pin WW 75

16 pin WW 79 72

IB pin WW 95 65

20 pm WW 119 1.09

22 pin WW 120 I 19

24 pm WW 135 I 13

2B pin WW I 69 1 55

36 cm WW IB!) I 73

40 pin WW 2 29 195

Header Plugs |Gold|

Pin Kd 1 9 1099 100 up

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16 pin HP

1.5

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S1O.00 Minimum Order - U.S. Funds Only California Residents Add 6V-i% Sales Tax Shipping — Add 5% plus SI.50 Insurance Send S.A.S.E. for Monthly sales Flyer!

Spec Sheets - 30c each Send S1-00 Postage for your FREE 1935JAMECO CATALOG Prices Subject to Change

1355 SHOREWAY ROAD, BELMONT, CA 94002 12/84 PHONE ORDERS WELCOME — (415) 592-8097 Telex: 176043

DT1050 — Applications: Teaching aids, appliances, clocks, automotive, telecommunications, language translations, etc.

The DT105O is a standard DIGITALKER kit encoded wilh 137 separate and useful words. 2 lones, and 5 different silence durations. The words and lones have been assigned discrete addresses, making it possible lo oulput single words or words concatenated into phrases or even sentences. The "voice" output ol the DT105O is a highly intelligible male voice. Female and children's voices can be synthesized The vocabulary is chosen so that ii is applicable lo many products and markets.

The DT1050 consists ol a Speech Processor Chip, MMS41D4 (40-pin) and two (2) Speech ROMs MM52164SSR1 and MM52164SSfl2(24-pln) along with a Master Word list and a recommended schematic diagram on the application sheet.

DT1050 Digitalker"" S34.95 ea.

MM54104 Processor Chip $14.95 ea.

DT1057- Expands !he DT1D50 vocabulary Irom 137 id over 260

words. Includes 2 ROMs and specs.

Pari No. 0T1057 S24.95 ea.

Knlum

Part No

7045IP1

«M5Ev7Kil

7I06CPL

1107030

7l06iV/Kil

7I07CPL

7I07EVKII

7116CPL

721)1 IUS

7205IPG

7705EV/KH

7206CJPE

7206CEV/Kri

7207AIPD

7;'n7AEV/Kil

7715IPG

7?15EV/Ki1

7216AIJI

72IBDIPI

72I7IJI

7217A1PI

7224IPL

7776AEV7K.il

CMOS Precision Timer

Stopwatch Ctiio xU (Eifliuaiiiin KM)

3ft Ditji1A/|)(LCDDrii,-e)

3'/? Oiait LCD Display lor 710C & 71 IF,

IC. Cticuil Bona. Display lEMbatWi Kai

3"r Digit A^OlLEDDrive)

lC,CircinlBo,ird Display iEvalnation Kilt

3V; Digit A/0 LCD Dis HLU

LowBaltory Volt Indicator

CMOS LEU Stojtwaich/Timer

Stopwatch Cinp XTL (Evaluation Kill

low Gencraior

loneGenoMlot Chip, xtl lEvatotion Kit

Oscillator Controller

Freq. Courilsr Chip. XTL (Evaluation Kill

4Fu)ic CMOSSIopwatchCKT

4Funt Stonwatcti Chip. Xll. iEvalnalmn

BDigilUnii' Counter C A

BDrgiiFien CounterC.C

4 Digit LED Up7Down Counter C A

4 Drgil IU) Up.-[tuwii Cuunlnr C C

LC0 4Vj Diqit Up Conflict 1)111

erDiip XII ilv.i

1049 14 95 4G95

1095

11195 1949 3149 7143 1095

I30OO9 1983 INTERSIL Data Book ii.-M.tM . $9.95 I

74HC High Speed CMOS

74IICO0 It

74HC02 It

74HC03 14

74HC04 It

/■1HCU04 It

74HC08 It

MIICKJ 14

7-111011 It

74IICI4 It

74HC20 it

7JHC77 It

74HC30 14

74UC32 It

74HC42 IG

MHC51 It

74HC5B 14

74HC73 It

74IIC74 It

MHC75 16

74IIC76 15

741IC85 16

74HCB6 14

74IIC107 14

74HC109 16

/4HCH2 18

74HC123 IB

74HC125 14

71IIC132 It

MHC137 IB

MHE138. 16

74IIC139 16

74HCI-1

16

74HC151 16

74HC153 16

7-1HC154 24

74HC157 16

24HCI5B 16

74UCKU1 16

74UCI61 15

74HCI62 16

Mn; '■ ■ IB

74HC164 It

74IIC165 16

74HC16G IG

74HCI73 16

74KC17.1 IB

74HC175 IB

74HC1SO 16

74MC101 15

74HCI92 16

74HCI93 IG

741 IC 194 IB

74HC195 16

74HC221 16

74HC237 16

Mht240 20

MHCM1 20

7.IIC242 It

74HC?43 It

74RC2.14 28

74HC245 74HC25I 74HC253 74HC257 74HC259 74HC2M 74HC273

/.mci'iiii

74H029U 74HC36F, 74HC36? 74HC373 74RC374 74HC39U 74HC393

74IIC533 i

74HC53I I

24HC595 I

74n:{,;? ;

74HCJ074 I 74HC4ll.il)

Mri:-:,. 74HC4075 I

74HC451I I

74IIC4514 1

MHC.15i.-i '

74HC45.1.; '

74C00 74C0? 74C04 74C03 74010 74014 74020 74C30 74C3? 74C42 74C48 74C73 74C74 74C65 74C86 74CB9 7JC9Q 74C93 74C95

74C1Q7

14

7'J

74C151

IB

219

74C154

74

325

740157

16

1.75

74C16D

16

74C161

16

74C1G2

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1 19

74C163

IB

1 >9

740164

14

179

74C165

In

179

74C173

16

B9

740174

16

i IB

74CI75

IB

i IB

74C192

IK

i:i'i

/CI 93

Ih

139

7.101'15

16

129

74C240 74C244 74C37:i 74C.174 7409(11 MCno;> 74C903 74C90t. 74C507 74C9H 74C912 74C9I5 740917 740)2? 74C973 74C925 74C926 B0C35 8X97

IL07ICP B 1L072CP B IL074CN 14 TL.081CP B

1L0B7CP B

ILUB4CN It

I.MIU9K

LM301CN 8

LM302H

LM3D4H

LM305H

LM307CN B

IM308CM 8

IM3D9K

LM310CN B

LM311CN B

LM312H

LMJ 171

IM317K

LMJ1BCN B

LM319N It

IM320K5

IM320K-I2

LM320K-15

LM320K-24

LM320T-5

1.M320M2

LM320T-I5

LM3201-74

IM322N 14

LM323K

IM324N 14

LM3290Z

I.M331N 8

LM3347

LM335Z

IM3362

LM337MP

LM3371

IM338K

LM339N It

LM340K5

LM340K-12

IM340K-15

i m:ijcik?4

LM340T-5 LM340T-13 IM3.10T-15 LM340T-24 I.F347N 14 LM348N 14 LM350K LF351H B LF353'J 8

LF355N 8

LF356N B

IM35BN B

LM359N 14

LrTO/ON It

1M373N It

LMS77H 14

LM;I80CN B

IM360N 14

LM3S1N It

1M382IJ It

LM384N 14

LM3B6N-3 8

LU387H 8

IM389N IB IM39IN-60 l(

LM3B2N B

tM393fi B

LF396N B LM.199H

LF412CN B

FL494CN 16

1L49BCP B

NF53IV B

NE544N 14

NE550A 14

NE555V B

XH-L555 B

LM556N It

NE55BM IG

HBSHtH 16

LM565N 14

IM566CN S

IM567V 8

NE570N 15

NE571N 16

HE592S 14

LM703CN 8

LM710N It

I.M7IIN 14

IM723N It

LM733-I It

IM7W! 14

IM747N 14

LM743H 8 UA760H0

LM1456V 8

LMMSaCN 8

LM14HIIN II

LM14B9N It

LMI496N II LM1C05CK

LMIBOOM IB

LMI67IN IB

LM1B72N IB LM1B/7N-SI II

LM1B89N IB

LM1B96N It LM2002T

UUeOSSA IG

XR2206 16

XH2207 It

XR22UH IB

XR2711 14 LM2B77P LM2B7BP

1M»901N 14

LM7902N 14

IM7907N II

LM7917K 8

LM3900r< II

LM3905CN 8

LM39D9N B

LM3914N IB

LM3915N IB

LM391f« IB

RC4I36N It

HC4I51M1 8 RC4195TK

LM425HCN B

LM45MA 16

NE5532 B

NE5534 8 79MD5AH

iaB03BB 14

LM1308ON g

LM1360ON IB

7W77 2t HORL IVUtABIE

30003 1982 Nat. Linear Data Book ii

252 BYTE • JANUARY I985

Commodore' Accessories $fc HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

RS232 ADAPTER FOR VIC-20 AND COMMODORE 64

The JE232CM allows connection of standard serial RS232 printers, modems, etc. to your VIC-20 and C-64. A 4-pole switch allows the inversion of the 4 control lines. Complete installation and operation instructions included.

• Plugs into User Port ■ Provides Standard RS232 signal levels ■ Uses 6 signals (Transmit, Receive. Clear lo Send, Request to Send. Data Terminal Ready, Data Sel Ready).

JE232CM $39.95

VOICE SYNTHESIZER FOR APPLE AND COMMODORE

JE520AP

JE520CM

• Over 250 word vocabulary-affixes allow the formation of more than 500 words • Built-in amplifier, speaker, volume control, and audio jack • Recreates a clear, natural male voice • Plug-in user ready with documentation and sample software • Case size: 7V«"L x 3%**W x 1-3/8"H

APPLICATIONS: • Security Warning • Telecommunication

• Teaching • Handicap Aid

• Instrumentation • Games

Pad No. Description Price

JE520CM For Commodore 64 & VIC-20 . $114.95 JE520AP For Apple II, ll+,and//e $149.95

Computer Memory Expansion Kits

IBM PC AND PC XT

Most ol the popular Memory Boards (e.g. Quadrant Expansion Boards) allow you lo add an adrJ'l 6AK. 128K, 192K or 256K. The IBM64K Kit will populate Ihese boards in 64K byte increments. The Kitis simple lo msiall-jusl insert the 9 - 64K RAM chips in Ihe provided sockets and set the 2 groups ol switches. Complete conversion documcnlaiion included. IBM64K (Nine 200ns 64K RAMs) $43.95

COMPAQ • COLUMBIA • EAGLE

These PC compatibles and others use Ihe IBM64K for memory

expansion.

IBM64K (Nine 200ns 64K RAMs) $43.95

APPLE lie

Extended 80-Co,urnn/64K RAM Card. Expandsmemory by 64K to give 12BK when used with programs like VisiCalc™. Fully assembled and lesied JE864 $99.95

TRS-80 MODEL I. Ill

Each Kil comes complete wilh eighl MM5290 (UPD416/4II6) 16K Dynamic RAMs and documeniaiion for conversion. Model 1: 16K equipped with Expansion Interlace can be expanded lo 48K with 2 Kits. Model III Can be expanded Irom 16K 'r> 48K using 2 Kits. Each Kil will expand computer by 16K increments.

TRS-16K3 200ns (Model III) $8.95

TRS-16K4 250ns (Model 1) $6.95

TRS-80 MODEL IV

Easy to install Kit comes complete with 8 ea. 4164N-20 (200ns) 64K Dynamic RAMs & conversion documentation.

TRS-64K-2 (Converts from 16K to 64K) $38.95

TRS-64K-2PAL (8 ea. 4164 w/Special PAL Chip to expand from 64K to 128K). . . $59.95

TRS-80 COLOR AND COLOR II

Easy to install Kit comes complete with 8 each 4! 64N-20 (200ns) 64 K Dynamic RAMs and documenlation for conversion. Converts TRS-80 Color Computers with D. E. ET F and NC circuit boards lo 32K. Also converts TRS-80 Color Computer II to 64K Flex DOS or OS-9 required lo utilize full 64K RAM on ali compulers. TRS-64K-2 $38.95

O tA&b$mi£s Protect Yourself... m ^ DATASHIELDH \*## Surge Protector

\ ttft^ft^ft i iannates voltage spikes and EMI-RFI noise

1 ^B^^ before it can damage your equipment or cause

% data loss • 6 month warranty - Power dissipa

1 00 j lion (100 microseconds): 1,000.000 watts • 6

1 + ^ sockets ■ 6 loot power cord ■ Normal line voll

\ ago indicator light ■ Brown out/black out resel

Model 100. . fT?*! $69.95

Protect DATASHIELD

Yourself... BaCk-Up

Power Source

Provides up lo 30 minutes ol continuous 120

Li . '. VAC 60Hz power to your computer system

\ gfl (load dependent) when you have a black out

\ or voltage sag ■ Six month warranty ■ Weight

1 (PC200): 24 lbs.-(XT300): 37.5 lbs.

PC200 (Output rating: 200 watts) $299.95

V XT300 (Output rating: 300 watts) $399.95

j)j£|- Intelligent 300/1200 Baud Prometheus Telephone Modem with Real Time Clock/Calendar

TheProMorJem™ is a Bell 212A (300/1200 baud) intelligent stand-alone modem • Full featured expandable modem • Standard features include Auto Answer and Auto Dial. Help Commands. Programmable Intelligent Dialing, Touch Tone'" and Pulse Dialing S More • Hayes command set compatible plus an additional extended command set- Shown w/alphanumeric display option.

Part No. Description Price

PM1200 RS-232 Stand Alone Unit $349.95

PM1200A Apple II. II+ and lie Internal Unit $369.95

PM1200B IBM PC and Compatible Internal Unit $269.95

PM1200BS IBM PC & Comp. Int. Unit w/ProCom Software $319.95

MAC PAC Macintosh Package $399.95

(Includes PM1200. Cable, & ProCom Software)

OPTIONS FOR ProModem 1200

PM-COM (ProCom Communication Software) $79.95

Please specify Operating System.

PM-OP (Options Processor) $79.95

PMO-16K (Options Processor Memory - 16K) $10.95

PMO-32K (Options Processor Memory - 32K) $20.95

PMO-64K (Options Processor Memory - 64K) $39.95

PM-ALP (Alphanumeric Display) $79.95

PM-CC (Apple lie to PM1200 Cable) $29.95

PM-MC (Macintosh to PM1200 Cable) $29.95

KEYBOARDS

£{WM

• 111ii-ii

13'a"Lx4VWx VH

New!

16-9/16'Lx6VWx 1VH

Mitsumi 54-Key Unencoded All-Purpose Keyboard

■ SPST keyswitches ■ 20 pin ribbon cable connection ■ Low profile keys ■ Fealures: cursor controls, conlrol, caps (lock), funclion, enter and shift keys

■ Color (keycaps): grey • Wt.; 1 lb. ■ Pinout included

KB54 $14.95

76-Key Serial ASCII Keyboard

• Simple serial interface ■ SPST mechanical swilching ■ Operates in upper and lower case • Five user function keys:F1-F5 - Six linger edge card connection - Color (keys): tan • Weight: 2 lbs. • Data incl

KB76 $29.95

Apple Keyboard and Case for Apple II and II t

■Keyboard: Direcl connection Willi 16-pin ribbon connector -26 special functions -Size: 14VL x 5VWx 1'7"H

• Case: Accommodates KB-A68 ■ Pop-up lid lor easy access -Size: 15WVx I8"Dx4VH

Price

New!

KB-EA1 Keyboard and Case (pictured above) $134.95

KB-A68 68-Key Apple Keyboard only $ 79.95

EAEC-1 Expanded Apple Enclosure Case only $ 59.95

POWER SUPPLIES

TRANSACTION TECHNOLOGY, INC. 5VDC @ 1 AMP Regulated Power Supply

■Oulpul: + 5VDC® 1.0 amp (also I 30VDC regulated) ■ Input: 115VAC, 60 Hz ■ Two-tone (b/ack/beige) self-enclosed case • 6 foot, 3-conductor black power cord - Size 6 V L x 7" W x 2V H • Weight: 3 lbs.

PS51194 $14.95

%

Power/Mate Corp. REGULATED POWER SUPPLY

■ Inpul: 105-125/210-250 VAC al -17-63 Hz • Line regulation: ■ 0,05% - Three mounting surfaces ■ Overvollage proloction • UL recognized * CSA certified Part No. Output Size Weight Price

EMA5/6B 5V's»3A/6V@2.5A ^VLxfflxJ'BH 2 lbs. $29.95 EMA5/6C 5Vi?6A'6V®5A 5VL x 4VW x 2VH 4 lbs. $39.95

POWER PAC INC. REGULATED POWER SUPPLY

• Perlecl lor computer systems'Output: ■ 5VDC(? 11 Amps, -5VDC@1 Amp, *12VDC i 2 Amps, 12VDC £ 0 5 Amp and * 24VDC 0 3 Amps • Overvoltage proteclion -Size: 12-e"l_x6VWx 4VH •Weight: 17 lbs. ■ Spec incl

PS2922 $69.95

4-CHANNEL SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY

• Microprocessor, mini-computer, terminal, medical equipment and process conlrol applications -Inpul: 90-130VAC, 47-440HZ -Oulpul: '5VDC @ 5A, -SVOC's11 A;-t-12VDC<S' 1 A, -12VDC><? 1A - Line regulations: ■ 0.2%* Ripple: 30mV p-p • Load regulation: *1<ft •Overcurrenl protection • Adj: 5V main output ' 10%-Size: 6VL x WW x 4-15/16"H - Weigh!: tlrj lbs.

FCS-604A $69.95

Switching Power Supply for APPLE II, 11+ & //e,M

■ Can drive lour floppy disk drives and up to eight expansion cards

• Short circuit and overload proteclion ■ Fits inside Apple computer

• Fully regulated +5V (§ 5A, +12V @ 1.5A, -5V @ .5A. -12V @ .5A

• Direct plug-in power cord included • Size: 9'a"L x 3'2"W x 2IVH

• Weight: 2 lbs.

KHP4007(SPS-109) $59.95

$10.00 Minimum Order — U.S. Funds Only California Residents Add 6Vj% Sales Tax Shipping — Add 5% plus S1.50 Insurance Send S.A.S.E. lor Monthly Sales Flyer!

mmmwmmwm

ameco

ELECTRONICS

Spec Sheets — 30e each Send $1.00 Postage for your FREE 1985 JAMECO CATALOG Prices Subject to Change

VISA*

1355 SHOREWAY ROAD. BELMONT. CA 94002 2/mPHONE ORDERS WELCOME —(415.) 592-8097 Telex: 176043

Apple® Accessories

5V4" APPLE™

Direct Plug-In

Compatible Disk Drive

and Controller Card

The ADD-514 Disk Drive uses Shugart SA390 mechanics-143K lormatted storage ■ 35 tracks ■Compatible with Apple Controller & ACC-1 Controller • The drive comes complete with connector and cable - just plug into your disk controller card • Size: 6"L x 3VW x 8-9/16"D ■ Weight: 4'? lbs.

ADD-514 (Disk Drive) $169.95

ACC-1 (Controller Card) $ 49.95

More Apple Compatible Add-Ons...

APF-1 (Cooling Fan) S39.95

KHP4007 [Switching Power Supply) $59.95

JE614 (Numeric/Aux. Keypad tor «e) $59.95

KB-A68 (Keyboard w/Keypad lor ll & ll-t■) $79.95

MON-12G(12 Green Monitor lor 11.11 t,//e.llc,. . . . $99.95

JE864 (80 Col. - 64K RAM for He) $99.95

ADD-12 [Stt" Hnlf-Heighl Disk Drive) $179.95

DISK DRIVES

RFD480 (Remex 5»" full-hl.) $129.95

JA551-2 (Panasonic 5V half-ht.) S139.95

TM100-2 (Tandon 5V full-hl.) $159.95

FD55B (Teac 514" half-ht.) $149.95

SA455 (Shugart 5V half-ht.) $159.95

FDD100-8 (Siemens 8" full-ht.) S139.95

PCK-5 (5V Power Cable Kit) $2.95

PCK-8 (8" Power Cable Kit) $3.95

UV-EPROM Eraser

8 Chips-21 Minutes

1 Chip-15 Minutes

Erases all EPHOMs. Erases up to 8 chips within 21 minules(1 chip in 15 minutes) Maintains constant exposure distanced one inch. Special conductive toam liner eliminates sialic build-up Buill-m satety lock to prevent LV exposure Compact - only 9.00'L x 3.70"W x 2.60"H. Complete with holding tray lor 8 chips.

DE-4 UV-EPROM Eraser $74.95

UV5-11EL Replacement Bulb $16.95

I nQQL \

JE664 EPROM PROGRAMMER 8K to 64K EPROMS - 24 & 28 Pin Packages

Completely Self-Contained - Requires No Additional Systems tor Operation

■ Programs and validates EPROMs ■ Checks lor properly erased EPHOMs

■ EmulatesPDOMsor EPROMs- RS232C Computer Interlace (or editing and program loading ■ Loads data into RAM by keyboard ■ Changes data in RAM by keyboard • Loads RAM Irom an EPROM • Compares EPHOMs lor content differences ■ Copies EPROMs ■ Power Inpul: 115VAC. 60Hz. less than 10W power consumption • Enclosure: Cotor-coordmated, light tan panels with molded end pieces in mocha Ivown • Sue: liWt x8VDx3VH -Weight 5*i lbs.

Ilir. JE66-1 Ef'filJM PHdjHfflRW cmulaiM and programs various fl-fii! Word EPIIOMs Horn BK in li-IKI!ilmi.'irii>iy(:i|i.ii:i!v. Data („ni lie milereJ into the JLI.il .■l'i: .illi.'innl UK ( HIM ItAM ill llmie ways; (1) from a HUM « EPROM; (?) 'rem an fxterruil raiiipmer vi.i lite onlmiul JE665 RS232C WJS. (31 Irom its p.inf!l kyftxuil Ihe JEGGI's RAMs "w !:>; .icrrsscd lor <-mui.iiic:n purposes bODI Itie panels lest sockel to an external mTCioproccssor In programming and vmiilaiian. Ifie JE664 allows tor eiaminatipn. etianne and validation of program content Iht: j[6(,j's flAM> canbeprog'ammeOquicl(lyloall"l"siMany valueLaiiiwiii'i iiiiiisc-.:ai!;!'i-i.:r\iiiIhd EPROM in in: programmed rata wttmH narassity ot "JV" nssim liw JE664 ttpttyi DATA ami ADDFIESS rn OOiTVSfllBnl liuxadecmt.il f.ilphnnumencl luim.it A "0ISPUV EPROM DATA" hiittmi i.inriiK':. tin- llAIA ri:.iit;iu! lumi HAM v.-nn.l ;i. i t'KOM word and 15 dislilayed ill tiolh tii^.idtcmialnriillnri.in iO.li' Ilii'lriiiil;.,iiiL'Mc,ilii:c;,:i':o;i-,.':j:rril(:^i;il rii|.;-,inli' TdOJEG6-1 Programmer includes rjne JM16A Jumper Module las liSled rjclowL

JE664-A EPHOM ProgrammEr $995.00

Assembled S Tested (Includes JM16A Module)

JE665 - HS232C INTEHFACE OPTION - llw RS23IC Interlace Option .mpiemenlr, compuler access lo the JES64's RAM This allows Ihe rompuler lo mampuiaii'. Mm anO

tfansto eprom data to and irom me JSB64, a sample program tattoo, is supftiud m mbasiC im

CIVM compulcri; [)iii.iimi:iii,iliriri i>. iimuiiti! lo .idni'i tin; Miiiw.iru ti) olhcr raninuiiirs wrln an

u:,:'.t,»;,.

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<p mis

EPROM Programmer W/JE665 Option JE664-ARS $1195.00

Assembled S Tcsied (Includes JM16A Modulei EPROM JUMPED MODULES - ItieJEGM'sJUMPEII MHUULE (Personality Moduty is a

UMll'in Mudulfj thai BTfl-SJlI llii! JE6M tor the proper iirmiiarriinriig pulses tu Itie EPflDM nnii ton Injures the EPROM socket aiimeiliois lor ilial pafHCUlat EPHOM

mm kul'iiciuhii

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Inquiry 187

1ANUARY 1985 -BYTE 253

A B Computers

THE VALUE LEADER I | SINCE 1976

@SANYO ®SANYO

Sanyo 550 & 555 PC's. Built-in software includes MDOS Version II, Wordstar. CalcStar. Basic, more. Great Prices.

Computer Ram

550-1 12BK

550-2 128K'

555-1 128K

555-2 128K

Drive

180K (1 drive) 360K (1 drive) 360K (2 drives) 720K (2 drives)

'EXPANDABLE TO 256

Price S895. 950. 1075. 1275.

YtMiTM I data

I systems

All Zeniths fully software & patible with the PC and keyboard.

Computer Ram Drive

ZF-151-21 128K360 ZF-151-52 320K720 (2 drives) ZW-151-52 320K10.6MB + 360 ZF-161-21" 128K360 ZF-161-52' 320K 720 (2 drives) • Portable

hardware cornXT superior

Ports Price

IPL/2SER CALL

IPL/2SER CALL

IPL/2SER CALL

1PL/2 SER CALL

1PL/2 SER CALL

Panasonic.

PANASONIC 1090

Friction & tractor,

excellent correspondence mode,

Epson code compatible $239,

OTHER COMPUTER SPECIALS

IBM PC and PC XT in slock

available at special prices CALL

ALSPA 8" CPM Computers. 64K memory workhorse at super special prices.

1/SS as low as S500.

2/SS S700. 2/DS $1,000.

Franklin Ace — not many left,

super prices CALL

Commodore—lull line CALL

DISKS & ACCESSORIES

Price per 5'A" Disk 3M ss DS AT

Oty. SS/DD DD/DD 96 TPI 96 TPI H DENS

200 S1.S6 2.14 3.16 3.49 CALL

100 1.59 2.19 3.22 3.S6 CALL

10 1.62 2.23 3.29 3.63 CALL

VERBATIM SS DS AT

Oty. SS/DD DD/DD 96 TPI 96 TPI H DENS

200 $1.61 2.17 3.29 3.63 CALL

100 1.65 2.22 3.36 3.71 CALL

10 1.66 2.26 3.43 3.78 CALL

MAXELL SS DS AT

Qly. SS/DD DD/DD 96 TPI 96 TPI H DENS 200 S1.93 2.56 2.74 3.43 5.04 100 1.97 2.61 2.80 3.50 5.15

10 2.01 2.66 2.86 3.57 5.25

30 Macintosh 3W' diskettes in Amaray diskbank $135.

SOFTWARE

Master Type (Scarborough) $22.

Math Blaster! (Davidson) 35.

Typing Tulor III (S&S) 35.

Alphabet 200 (Spinnaker) 22.

Success with Math (CBS) 18.

Typing Tutor II (Microsoft) 18.

Algebra I (Peachtree) 22.

Story Machine (Spinnaker) 22.

Word Attack! (Davidson) 35.

Get Organized! (Electronic Arts) 159.

Spotlight (Software Arts) 120.

Microsoft "Word" (w/Mouse) 325.

Unix Operating System for PC CALL

Copy PC 29.

Flight Simulator II (Sub Logic) 39.

1-2-3 (Lotus) 299.

PFS:File (Software Pbshg.) 89.

HIT PARADE

Symphony (Lotus) 499.

PFS:Report (Software Pbshg.) 79.

PFS:Write (Software Pbshg.) 89.

dBase III (Ashton-Tate) 489.

dBase II (Ashton-Tate) 349,

Framework (Ashton-Tate) 489.

Mullimate (Multimate) 320,

Chart (Microsoft) 179.

Multiplan (Microsoft) 129.

Wordstar (Micropro) 335.

•Personal Pearl (pearlsoft)—Database liling/reporting system for personal productivity. Manipulate database thru simple English sentence commands. Great lor beginner or pro. Super business aid. Includes functions for bookkeeping, general ledger, billings management, mail list, sales analysis, budget planninq, more $235.

We carry full software lines by Electronic Arts, Scholastic, Scarborough, PFS, Spinnaker, Batteries Included, Others. If you don't see it here. CALL

•AB's OWN DISKETTES-top disk quality at a low, low price.. buy 100 (DS/DD) and pay only $1.50 per disk. Plus, before February 28, get a free Amaray Mediamate 5 disk file in the bargain!

AB carrys all major brands.. 3M, Verbatim, Maxell, Wabash, BASF, Sentinel, Dysan.. .in all popular sizes and configurations. CALL for super prices.

DISK STORAGE

Mini Flip 'N File (50 5" disks) $17.45

Rolltop 100 |100 disks.

10 dividers) 28.99

Mini Kas-ette/10 (lor 5" disks)

1/2.25 10/2.05 ea.

Amaray Mediamate 5 11.99

Innovative Concepts—fold out style for 5"

Flip 'N File/25 16.50

Flip'N File/50 22.95

Smith & Bellows Wooden Storage Boxes lor 5" disks. Natural or dark finish

For 50 disks 18.

For 70 disks 21.

For 100 disks 24.

PLUS—"HEAD" disk cleaning kit

(w/2 disks) 11.99

IBM drive analyzer (Verbatim) 22.50

MONITORS

USI-20 Mhz band width, 1000 lines

resolution. Easily capable of 80 character

display.

*1200G (Pi-2)p12" green phosphor

SPECIAL $85.

*1200A (Pi-3)-12" amber phosphor

SPECIAL 89.

AMDEK

Video 310A-12" amber. 18 meg.

TTL-IBM $155.

ZENITH

ZVM-124-12" amber-22 MHz, TTL

for IBM $150.

ZVM-135-High res. RGB + composite

monitor 470.

ZVM-135-1-Cable for RGB

monitor 23.

PANASONIC

12" Green 20 MHz (Sound) $137.

12" Amber 20 MHz (Sound) 145.

ELECTROHOME

ECM 1226-12" Green $95.

ECM 1302-1-13" Color RGB 195.

ECM 1302-2-13" Color (Hi Res.) 330.

POWER DEVICES

Dalashield back-up power source

200 PC-200 watt $265.

300 XT-300 watt 390.

"BITS" Power back-up-250W 695.

True uninlerruptable

Brooks 6 Outlet—Surge Supressor/Noise Filter 54.

Computer Power Inc.-500 VA 1320.

Tripp Lite 425 VA 390.

'Ordering Information: Order by check. MasterCard or VISA Personal checks lake 15 days lo clear, no wailing on certified checks or money orders Add 3% shipping and handling on all orders (minimum $2.00). Mail. APO^FPO Air may require additional charges PA residenis add 6% sales lax. MA residents add 5% All items subject to availability Prices subiect to change Additional discounts available to qualified educational institutions. Requests for bid on volume requirement invited

OUTPUT DEVICES

Printers by Star, Epson, C. Itoh, Amdek, Panasonic, Okidala, Diablo, Brother:

Star Micronics Gemini 10X

-10" carriage. FIT 120 CPS $258.

Epson LQ-1500-NEW 24-pin

letter quality dot matrix CALL

Epson RX-80-Tractor Feed, Graftrax + 289.

Oktdata 92 CALL

Amdek Printers

5025-25 CPS Daisywheel. 2K Butler CALL

5040-40 CPS Daisywheel. 2K Butter CALL

5055-55 CPS Daisywheel, 2K Butler CALL

Brother HR-35 Daisywheel25 CPS Bi-Directional 889.

Brother HR-25 Daisywheel23 CPS Bi-Directional 649.

Brother HH-15 Daisywheel13 CPS Bi-Directional 389.

Star Radix 10 600.

Slar Radix 15 695.

C. Itoh

Prowriter I (Parallel) CALL

Starwriter (40 CPS) CALL

Diablo 620 (Daisywheel) CALL

IBM Parallel Printer Cable 19.

COMMUNICATIONS

Mark X Auto Dial/Auto Answer $119.

Anchor Mark XII Smart modem 265.

Hayes Smartmodem 1200B 459.

(includes Smarlcom II software)

Hayes SmartModem 1200/300 529.

"Crosstalk" software 135.

* Voad keyboard-phone software for IBM PC and compatibles. Features mail merge, call reporting, "Note Pad" and more CALL

FREE CATALOG!

This ad space can accommodate only a few of the exceptional values available | from AB. Our latest catalog is packed with I fantastic buys, top brands, thousands of items. For a free copy call or write.

commodore commodore

WC 6420 AutO Modem [also available lor Alan 8

Apple al slighlly higher price) 5 65.

Tech Sketch Light Pen & Micro

Illustrator 44.

MSD Superdrives, single and dual CALL CBC 4/12 Analog to Digital

4 Chan/12 Bit 179.

Typing Tutor III w/Lelier Inyaders 35,

(Also lor Apple & IBM)

Paper Clip Word Processor

CBM/C64 60.

80 Column Display Card

by "Batteries Included" 149

Oracle (Consultant) Data Base

by "Batteries Included" 89

BusCard II

by "Batteries Included" 149,

Cable Irom BusCard lo Parallel Printer 25.

All other "Batteries Included" items

in stock CALL

FORTH for PET/C 64

(Full Fig Model) by Cargile/Riley 50.

Ditto Disk 64 (copy discs even if original is

copy protected) 36.

STAT for PET/CBM/C64 95.

Comprehensive Statistical Analysis Routines

* AB's C64 Upgrade Kit: includes BusCard II.

IEEE Cable S MSD Superdnve 319.

KMMM PASCAL IV. 1 (C64/PET) 95.

NEW64 + PASCAL CALL

FLEX-FILE II - User friendly. Set-up and

maintain data base. Includes report writer

& mail label routines 59

Pelscan—Connect up to 37 CBM/PET compu

ters as networked cluster to shared drives

& printers CALL

C-Scan—Connect up to 8 computers (C 64.

VIC 20, or similar buss) lo shared drives and

printers 125.

/ETC.

Panasonic, Amdek, Hitachi & Other — V2

height, double side drives Irom $149.

*Data Technology TeamMate Drive-super new system Puis 3 3 MB on 5V floppy Formals lo 2 8 For PC XT owners, an alternative lo hard disk

4 disks back-up 10 megabyies CALL

♦ Winchester Drives (10 MB) 799.

Quadram Quadboard^Paraliei port, serial port,

clock/calendar

No RAM-$299. w/64K-$379. w/384K-$499

*AMDEK MAI graphics card for

IBM PC 200.

Hercules graphics board 359.

Votrax speech synthesizersPersonal Speech System 249.

AST-full line of IBM cards & boards CALL

Keytronics 5150 keyboard 179.

Hewlett Packard calculators, all models:

LOW, LOW PRICES CALL

Koala Pad (w/soflware) 98.

4164 Chip-Memory expansion for

IBM, 64K 39.

Interface Cables—6, 10. 12 ft, all

popular connectors CALL

(Dealer inquiries invited)

ORDER LINE, 9 AM-6 PM EST

800-822

1Z1

1

(IN PA., 215-822-7727)

CUSTOMER SERVICE

215-822-7727

A B Computers

252 BETHLEHEM PIKE COLMAR, PA 18915

254 BYTE • JANUARY I985

Inquiry 5

by Charles Bigelow

Font Design for Personal Workstations

Better fonts mean greater legibility and productivity

Business users are increasingly suspicious about the automated office. It has not provided the increase in productivity that system vendors promised. One reason for its failure is that the fonts on business systems have not been as legible as the traditional typefaces familiar to the office worker.

When a vendor claims that the fonts on a system are "pretty good" or "close enough" or "almost correspondence quality," this is the same as saying that the fonts are less than optimum and that the vendor has short-changed the reader on legibility. Considering the amount of time office workers spend reading digital fonts, anything less than the highest possible quality is counterproductive. Until recently, few remedies were available for the problems caused by poor font designs for personal computers. The character-generator technology still used to produce letter

• ■ • •

rii rm t-M-t ■»t

• t ■♦-+-H..., .

i . .

C.J.I)

•

forms on most computer terminals usually provides a single size of a single style of coarse-resolution dotmatrix letters. Character-generator technology usually does not let the user modify the fonts because the character images are contained in hardware or firmware.

Moreover, the designs of such fonts are often the work of people untrained in letterform design, while traditional lettering artists have rejected computers because the tools and output media of digital typography have been so clumsy and crude. The result is that most existing workstation fonts are not designed for optimum legibility even within the limitations of the technology.

Computer literacy has therefore been a good deal less pleasant and productive for the reader than traditional scribal and typographic literacy. The hackerish look of dot-matrix fonts on screens and printers has partially prevented full acceptance of computers as tools for a literate public.

Today, however, the look of computer fonts is undergoing a major change. The newer raster-based technologies of bit-mapped display and nonimpact printing offer potential solutions to many of the technical and aesthetic problems with digital fonts. These technologies can produce digital font images that more closely

(continued) Charles Bigelow is Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Art at Stanford University. A MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellow, he organized the international seminar "The Computer and the Hand in Type Design" at Stanford in 1983. You can write to him at Stanford University. Department of Computer Science, Stanford, CA 94305.

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 255

FONT DESIGN

resemble traditional analog typefaces. The secret of designing digital fonts is to adhere to the principles of readability found in traditional letterform designs, while tuning the features and details of the design to the digital medium (for an example, see photo 1).

Readability

The resolutions of common bitmapped screen displays range from 60 to 100 lines per inch, with an average of approximately 72 lines per inch. This is about one-tenth the resolution of average-quality digital typesetters used in the graphic arts and publishing industry.

It is a truism that communication of information is most effective and economical when the characteristics of the transmitter match those of the receiver. In literate communication, the transmitter is the system that produces the text image, and the receiver is the human visual system. The digital text image must contain as much resolution as the eye and brain can

receive and interpret but need not contain more information than that.

There is a way to estimate the theoretical minimum resolution for good-quality digital text. Experiments by psychophysicists and perceptual psychologists suggest that the visual system cannot detect spatial frequencies greater than 60 cycles per degree of visual angle. That is, the visual system perceives a bar grating of regularly spaced black and white lines as solid gray if the spacing is so fine that more than 60 black and white line pairs are imaged in one degree of visual angle as measured at the retina. This provides a measure of the upper limits of the visual system's ability to resolve the kind of detail produced by a digital raster. At a reading distance of approximately 12 inches, 60 cycles per degree of visual angle is equal to a resolution of 300 cycles per inch at the screen.

We can now estimate the minimum resolution necessary for good-quality digital text by using a principle of digital signal-processing theory devel

Photo I: Display screen of the VAXstation 100. a workstation made by Digital Equipment Corporation. The proportionally spaced screen fonts on the VAXstation are members of the Pellucida family, a set of original typeface designs optimized for legibility and clarity on bit-mapped computer displays. The characteristics of the Pellucida digital lellerforms were developed by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes.

oped by Harry Nyquist at Bell Laboratories in the 1920s. It states that a signal can be digitally sampled and reconstructed without loss or distortion if the sampling rate is at least twice the rate of the highest frequency in the original signal. This minimum sampling rate is known as the Nyquist limit or Nyquist rate. Sampling below the Nyquist limit introduces aliasing, in which the high-frequency components of the original signal are erroneously reproduced as spurious lower-frequency components of the reconstructed signal. In digital typography, one form of these aliases is the jaggies—the jagged stair-step patterns that fringe the edges of digital type.

To faithfully sample and reconstruct a signal of 300 cycles per inch, you need a minimum sampling rate of 600 lines per inch. In fact, resolutions in the range of 600 to 720 lines per inch were used for many common digital typesetting devices developed during the late 1960s and the 1970s. A decade of experience with these machines showed that this resolution range was adequate for low- and medium-quality printing such as newspapers, telephone books, and magazines, but not for the highestquality typesetting and printing, which required digital resolutions of 1200 or more lines per inch.

The Nyquist limit is only a theoretical minimum, and for highquality letter images, real-world sampling rates often have to be higher. The practical evidence suggests that today's screen resolutions of 72 lines per inch are at least one or two decimal orders of magnitude too low to produce text of optimum visual quality.

The lesson here is that traditional analog typefaces cannot be imitated and jaggies cannot be eliminated on today's display screens. The only practical solution is to design screen fonts within the limitations of the available raster system, to optimize the font's features to the mechanisms of the human visual system, and to make sure these features conform to the

{continued)

256 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

i

Of .

ylThla page was converted via standard

e a_b_o_u_t_ 5_ m_i_n_"

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ojX'JSj*-'--'- t-i-m-e-1-°- "-c-1-e-a-n-"

u p . '• Almost

as long as it takes to rekeyl

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ted

"•" "an3mU „, nB Which

format instructions.

split by

_y2Patagraphs are

or indented so *• *»P

arOU"d W ^'indented margin rather the ear left margin

What's more, the words but not the means lines are

tight justified

than to

as in a tab.

the original ,30r tabs may be set in look like this

document"

How to avoid the document conversion trap.

Now, in just minutes, you can convert a full diskette without losing headers, footers, tabs, underlines or any other formatting codes.

And without cleanup.

Announcing the KEYWORD 7000. A revolutionary new breakthrough in document conversion.

It's finally happened. Keyword has discovered the key to document conversion. Now documents can be transferred to and from all major office automation systems in letter perfect order. Automatically.

What's more, simple on-screen prompts and a special "HELP" feature key make the KEYWORD 7000 extremely easy to operate. In fact, even a beginner can learn to use the 7000 in minutes.

Plus, the KEYWORD 7000 costs just pennies a page, compared to service bureaus at $3 a page. Or rekeying at about $4.50 per page.

But that s just the beginning. To find out more about how the KEYWORD 7000 can help you avoid the conversion trap, call 1-800-227-1817 (ext. 801 A) and get your free booklet: How to Win the Compatibility Battle. Exciting New Facts about Today's Office Automation Compatibility Solutions. Or fill in-or attach your business card to-the tear-off coupon. And mail it to the address below.

Call 1-800-227-1817 (ext. 801A)

for your free booklet.

Keyword Office Technologies, Inc. Inquiry 195

25354 Cypress Avenue • Hayward, California 94544

How

io Win the

Compatibility

Battle.

Keyword Office Technologies, Inc.

25354 Cypress Avenue Hayward, California 94544

801A2

XC S • I want to find out more about the KEYWORD 7000, an exciting new breakthrough in document conversion.

Name. Title _

Company. Address

D Call me ASAP at ( )

ExL

City.

Phone (_

.State.

-)

.M/S_

_ Zip

_ Ext..

LJ Send me your free booklet.

Fill in and mail this coupon (Or attach your business card) TODAY. Or call 1-800-227-1817 (ext. 801 A).

H KEYWORD

FONT DESIGN

familiar historical principles of letter design.

Size

Type size is an important factor in legibility. Up to about 18 point (a printer's point is approximately Sfa inch), the larger sizes are easier to read than the smaller. This article is set in 10-point type.

Most users view the screens of computer workstations at a somewhat greater distance than they do books and printed documents because paraphernalia such as a keyboard, mouse, or graphics tablet tend to intervene between reader and screen. Some ergonomic guidelines recommend a viewing-distance range of 16 to 28 inches; other guidelines recommend a range of 13 to 20 inches. At this distance, screen fonts should be about 1.2 to 2 times as large as printed text fonts.

This measure must be corrected for the fact that the apparent size of text in English (and other languages that use the Latin alphabet) is more dependent on the size of lowercase letters than on the body size of the whole font. Lowercase is measured by its "x-height," which is the vertical distance from the baseline (on which all the letters appear to sit or stand) to the top of the lowercase x. The body size of a font is the vertical distance from the bottom of a descender, such as the stem of a p, to the top of an ascender, such as the stem of a b.

The x-heights of common text types range from about 40 percent to 60 percent of the type's body size. A type with an x-height of 50 percent of the body is a face of medium-large appearance. A popular 10-point book face might have an x-height of about 5 points. If we assume a display

screen with resolution of 72 lines per inch (one pixel per printer's point), then a screen font should have an xheight of 7 to 10 pixels to adjust for the greater average reading distance.

Weight

The weight of a typeface is its relative density, or proportion of black image to white background. Weight can be measured as the ratio between the thickness of a straight vertical stem (such as the stem of an 1) and the xheight. The greater the stem thickness in proportion to the x-height, the heavier the weight, and the darker the text image appears. For printed matter, the optimum weight ratio ranges from 5 to 6 stems per x-height (5:16:1).

This presents a difficult problem for the screen font designer. For example, given an x-height of 7 pixels, a stem

(continued)

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JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 259

Inquiry 130

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FONT DESIGN

weight of one pixel is too light, but a stem weight of two pixels is too heavy. The digital raster cannot permit noninteger stem weights, and thus an optimum ratio seems impossible.

However, on a computer screen the perceived stem thickness is almost always different from the nominal thickness computed from the specified raster resolution. Physical factors that influence perceived stem weight include the size and intensity of the writing spot, the amount of spot overlap, the speed with which the writing beam turns from on to off versus the speed from off to on, the characteristics of the phosphor, and the brightness and contrast of the display.

When the letterforms are black and the screen background is white, these factors usually combine to erode a significant portion of the perceived stem weight. If this erosion is around 20 percent total (not an unusual amount), the perceived weight ratio of a font with x-height of 7 pixels and stems of 2 pixels would be approximately 4.4:1. While rather dark, this is preferable to a one-pixel stem, which would produce a weight ratio of 8.7:1—far too light and spindly. A larger x-height of 9 pixels with a stem of 2 pixels would, under the same conditions, yield a perceived weight ratio of 5,6:1, within the optimum range.

Thus, an interaction occurs between font size, as measured by x-height, and stem thickness that makes some size/stem combinations significantly more legible than others. A font designer has to filter the matrix of all possible low-resolution digital fonts to pass only those of acceptable weight ratios.

Contrast

In traditional text typefaces and lettering based on the Latin alphabet, vertical letter elements are thicker than horizontal elements. The stems of an n are thicker than the serifs or the connecting arch: the vertical bowls of an o are thicker than the horizontal hairlines. This difference between vertical and horizontal features is called contrast. Faces with

high contrast have a brilliant, glittery look, and faces with low contrast have a stolid, monotonous look.

For screen fonts to have some of the legibility of traditional typefaces, the traditional contrast must be preserved. Fonts in which the vertical and horizontal elements are the same thickness have an unfamiliar texture; this unfamiliarity impairs legibility.

When both horizontals and verticals are only one pixel in thickness on a CRT display and the letters are black on an illuminated background, the legibility problem is exacerbated by the erosion of vertical stems, which become even thinner than horizontals, contrary to the reader's visual expectations. Such fonts not only appear weak and spindly, they seem unclear and ill-defined, as though the reader's vision is blurred or something is misadjusted on the display screen. What is actually blurred and misadjusted is the font's design. However, thicker stems require a larger x-height to maintain the proper font weight, so there is a lower limit to the size at which contrast can be implemented on a screen font.

Spatial Frequency

1 have discussed visual spatial frequency as a means of estimating the visual system's limits of sensitivity, but the lower spatial frequencies in text are even more important. Many psychophysical experiments suggest that the human visual system is most sensitive to spatial frequencies in the range from 2 to 6 cycles per degree of visual angle. A line of text contains multiple spatial frequencies: the fundamental one is the regular alternation of black vertical stems with intervening white counters (the space inside a letter like n or o) or inter-letter spaces.

Estimates of the fundamental spatial frequencies of printing types at text sizes show a range from 4 to 6 cycles per degree of visual angle, which is within the range of the visual system's peak sensitivity. When large text sizes (such as those used in luxury books where typographic econ

(continued)

260 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

THE FORTH SOURCE

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Inquiry 246

JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 261

FONT DESIGN

omy is not a factor) are included in the estimates, the range expands to include 2 and 3 cycles per degree, the remaining area of peak sensitivity. Type size and spacing are not arbitrary; they have been carefully tuned to the mechanisms of the visual system by centuries, even millennia, of careful experimentation. Screen

fonts should also be tuned to this band of fundamental frequencies.

A failing common to many screen fonts is spacing between letters that is too tight in some combinations, too loose in others, and generally irregular. Irregular spacing between letters is faddish in advertising typography, where it serves to attract at

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tention to sales pitches that the reader would otherwise ignore, but analysis of several centuries of typographic texts demonstrates that open, rhythmic spacing is the most readable.

Proportion

Because the alphabet is a system, the proportions of the letters must be tuned to each other and to the overall proportions of the alphabet design. The widths of the letters must conform to three main criteria: the xheight of the alphabet design, the optimum spatial frequency of the text, and the historically evolved letter shapes.

The average width of the letters in relation to the size of the font determines the fundamental spatial frequency of the font at a particular reading distance. This frequency should be within a certain range, as discussed earlier. Moreover, the different widths of the letters in relation to each other help the reader discriminate their forms and permit a rhythmic spacing pattern.

Proportionally spaced fonts are more legible than monospaced fonts because of the more finely tuned pattern of the text. When monospaced fonts are necessary, a font designer should compensate for the irregular rhythm and distorted proportions, but such compensation is possible only up to a point. The limitations of mechanical typewriter technology created a need for monospaced fonts, but these limitations are not necessary in digital typography. The less legible monospaced fonts can now be retired from most applications.

Differentiation

Serifs act as flags on character shapes to aid in differentiation. Note that in a sans serif (i.e., without serifs) font, an r followed by n is easy to confuse with an m whereas the same combination in a serifed font is less easy to confuse with m. Similar demonstrations are possible for other letter combinations. Therefore, while sans serif fonts might seem more modern,

(continued)

262 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 41

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264 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

! T T ' T ! ! r - • I ' I J J'j" III- M' \ \

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 265

Every option you'll ever need.

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FONT DESIGN

they are less legible because they lack these significant distinguishing elements.

The construction of Latin-based alphabetic characters also aids in differentiation. These characters are like molecules constructed from simpler atoms. The primitive atomic elements are called strokes because they were originally a single motion of a pen or brush. The various kinds of strokes include verticals, horizontals, curves, and diagonals. The alphabet can be subdivided into groups of letters made up of particular primitive elements.

For example, in the lowercase, the letters n, m, h, r form one group based on the vertical straight stem and arch; o, c, e form a group based on the curved bowl; b, d, p, q form a related group based on the curve plus straight; and v, w, x, y form a group based on the diagonal. These groups help the reader to distinguish the letterforms.

Faced with the problem of screen jaggies, which are worst on curved and diagonal strokes, some font designers have reduced the letter shapes to straight vertical and horizontal elements. While this technique reduces the effect of the jaggies, it also destroys the legibility of the font by eliminating two of the four primitive elements and collapsing the form groups together.

When every letter in the alphabet resembles every other letter, the basic principle of discrimination is lost. While the jaggies are a problem, it is preferable to maintain the traditional shape primitives and keep the letterforms unambiguous, even if the diagonals and curves show jaggies.

Gray Scaling

Low-resolution screen fonts are another problem for the designer. One technical response to this problem is to increase the display information from one bit per pixel (the black and white bit-mapped display of current workstations) to several bits per pixel (the gray-scaled display of some ! experimental and color workstations).

(continued)

,TM

The Quick Silver Fox Jumps Over The Big Blue Dog.

We really hate to pick on the big guys but compared to the Silver Fox your basic IBM-PC™ is an overpriced dog.

2S6k RAM

Why? Well, for starters, your basic Silver Fox comes with 256k of RAM which acts like a disk drive so that more of your software is accessed at the speed of light rather than the speed of a mechanical drive head.

1.6 Megabytes

You also have more than twice as much software to access because the Silver Fox comes with dual 800k disk drives for a total of 1.6 Megabytes. Yet the Silver Fox can read and write to all popular PC formats.

Free Silver-ware

1. MS-DOS

2. HAGEN-DOS

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4. WordStar™

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9. CalcStar

10. Color Graphics Basic

11. MailMerge

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13. 25 Games, graphics and utilities

The best free software bundle in the business, and the Fox will run some programs written for the IBM-PC like dBase II and Multiplan, and programs written for Sanyo's new MBC-550 series.

Reliability

Because the Silver Fox is born on a totally automated production line in Japan it is inherently more reliable than

systems built by hand. The Fox is burned and tested for 14 days in Japan, and further tested after final assembly here in the good old U.S.ofA.

One Year Warranty

The Silver Fox is built better so we can back it with a limited, one-year warranty, four times longer than IBM. We're Scottsdale Systems and since 1980 we've shipped over $10,000,000 of microcomputer equipment directly to microcomputer users.

Because we deal directly with users, we think we have a better idea of what you want. So the Silver Fox includes graphics with twice IBM's resolution, a printer port, a keyboard with a big return key, and a 12", highresolution monitor as standard equipment.

Of course, you could spend $4729 at Computerland for an IBM-PC that will perform almost as well as a Silver Fox. But why bother when you can call

1 C*02) 941-5856

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to perform like $4729?

For additional information call 1 (602) 941-5856. or wriie Scottsdale Systems. 617 N. Scottsdale Road ttB, Scotisdale. AZ 85257.

IBM PC price is based on a phone quote from the Mesa. Az Computerland on July 30 1984 Price included 256k RAM dual 360K drives (800K s weren't available), software and a graphics monitor

Trademarks Silver Fox and Hagen DOS, Scottsdale Systems Ltd IBM PC. International Business Machines Corporation Wordstar, Calcstar. Mailmerge, SpellStar, and Infos tar, Micropro International MS-DOS. Multiplan, Microsoft Corporation Filebase EWDP Software, Inc dBASE II. Ashton Tate

Ordering: Telemarketing only, all prices are for cash, F OB Scottsdale, price subject to change, product subject to limned supply Visa Mastercard add 3%. AZ residents add 6uo Returned merchandise subject to a 20% restocking fee Personal company checks take up to 3 weeks to clear No C 0 D s or A P 0 s

FONT DESIGN

Because they contain more information, gray-scaled fonts can better depict traditional letterforms, at least when viewed in isolated words and phrases. Also, the low-contrast edges of curves and diagonals reduce the visual effect of the jaggies. The letterforms appear smoother.

Some researchers have hypothesized that gray-scaled text would be more readable than bit-mapped text. Other evidence suggests that the eye relies upon high-contrast edges to focus the text image during reading. The soft, low-contrast edges of grayscaled fonts might actually reduce legibility by preventing the focusing mechanism from finding a sharp edge. It is not yet certain whether the conservative eyes of readers will accept gray-scaled text, nor whether it is physiologically more difficult to read despite its less jagged appearance.

Gray-scaled fonts are also more expensive to display and more difficult to design. They require more bits of memory to store the gray value at each pixel, and more elaborate and stable display electronics. The shapes of gray-scaled letters are more dependent on precise control of brightness and contrast on the display.

Screen and Printer

The foregoing principles have concentrated on designing screen fonts for optimum readability (for more information, see "Digital Typography" by Charles Bigelow and Donald Bay, Scientific American, August 1983). However, text is also read as printer output on paper. The relation between screen text and printer text is the subject of intensive research, with many recent efforts attempting to integrate screen and printer in what are called "what you see is what you

get" (WYSIWYG) editing and layout systems.

The WYSIWYG principle is that the screen should show exactly how the printed document will look. WYSIWYG text editors and document formatters usually attempt to show different typeface styles in different sizes, spacings, and page organizations.

The usual model for WYSIWYG systems is traditional typography, which offers so vast and complex a range of possibilities that present WYSIWYG systems can offer only a reduced subset. This is true because 72-lineper-inch screens have only one-fourth the resolution of 300-Iine-per-inch printers, and one-tenth the resolution of 720-line-per-inch typesetters.

Usual WYSIWYG implementations fall into one of two categories: bottom-up or top-down. Bottom-up

(continued)

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268 BYTE • JANUARY I985

Inquiry 405

The only Modula-2 native code compiler

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Modula-2 is Niklaus Wirth's second generation programming solution. All the best features of his Pascal language plus major features for true modularity, support for multi-tasking, type checking between program modules, syntax improvements, and features for increased portability (to namejust a few).

A complete program development system.

LOGITECH MODULA-2 includes a complete implementation of Wirth's design, plus 8086 large model support and additional LOGITECH modules (including display handling and dynamic string handling).

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Inquiry 208

To order, or for more information, call or write:

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FONT DESIGN

WYSIWYG systems start with screen resolution and force the printer to conform to the limitations of the screen. In the simplest case, each screen pixel is mapped one-to-one onto the paper output by the printer.

While this provides a certain Cartesian satisfaction, since it can be logically demonstrated that the printer page is exactly like the screen display, the two images will actually appear very different. As I discussed earlier, the screen characters are eroded by the characteristics of the display technology. However, the printed characters are either emboldened, as by ribbon-spread on a dot-matrix printer or by toner effects on a black-writing laser printer, or not eroded to the same degree as the screen fonts, as by a white-writing laser printer.

Thus, if a font is tuned to the optimum weight and contrast on the screen, it will appear too dark and too low in contrast on the printout. Conversely, if the fonts are tuned to the printer, they will appear too light and too high in contrast on the screen. This is unavoidable. What you see is not what you will get at the present level of display and printer technology.

A second problem with bottom-up WYSIWYG is exaggeration of jaggies on the printout. Aliasing on the screen is somewhat ameliorated by the soft intensity contour of the CRT writing spot. The spot does not have sharp edges, nor is it square or rectangular; instead it is blurry and round. The low-contrast edges of the pixels tend to soften the apparent jaggies. Printers, however,, produce a high-contrast spot that clearly renders the edges of the jaggies. The jaggies become even more apparent to the reader, since the human visual system tends to enhance edges.

On a laser printer that has several times the screen's resolution, several printer pixels render a single screen pixel. This emphasizes the rectangularity of the raster and further enhances the jagginess of the digital artifacts. Printer fonts that simulate screen resolutions look noticeably in

ferior to printer fonts that are optimized to the full resolution and imaging characteristics of the printer.

Top-down WYSIWYG systems store fonts as high-resolution master images. These are usually outlines that can be scan-converted to raster images to represent arbitrary sizes at arbitrary resolutions on screens, printers, or typesetters. This deviceindependent method is intellectually appealing, since the same design produces all characters at the writing resolution of each target device.

However, low-resolution and highresolution fonts will not be truly the same. In top-down systems, the fonts on low-resolution devices become the inferior ones, both in comparison to high-resolution versions and to optimized low-resolution designs. The current generation of master-image data structures and associated scanconversion algorithms can do good automatic rasterization at bit-mapped resolutions of around 1200 lines per inch, and an acceptable job at 600 lines per inch, but only a mediocre to inadequate job at 300 lines per inch, an incompetent job at 150 lines per inch, and a hopelessly botched hash at 75 lines per inch.

Conclusion

The personal workstation offers powerful tools to the worker, but these tools are dependent upon typography: legible fonts in effective arrangements. Unfortunately, traditional typefaces cannot be successfully reproduced at current display screen and printer resolutions. To optimize legibility, new fonts must be designed for the digital media.

These fonts will be most effective if they take into account the nature of the human visual system, the logical and historical principles that shaped present-day alphabets, the characteristics of current digital imaging devices, and the conceptual structures underlying typographic variations and arrangements. The new technology requires a new typography that preserves the fundamental features of literacy but expresses them with new clarity in a new medium. ■

270 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

The PC Plotter:

It will change the way

business looks at graphics.

The lowest-priced professional plotter on the market today is Houston Instrument's new fourpen PC Plotter. It is designed to produce the crisp graphics you need to compete — and communicate — in business. Just what makes this plotter so competitive? Let's take a look:

Price — A multi-pen, compact, single-sheet plotter at $595* isn't just a low price — it's an unbelievably low price. What an affordable way to link the power of graphics communication to your personal computer.

Performance — Yours and Ours — Until the PC Plotter was born, it was too expensive to let the pictures do the talking. Now that's no longer true. So, the next time the boss walks into the office needing some "nice charts and graphs," you can guickly fill the reguest with clean, colorful, wonderful graphics. Who knows, you might even get a raise!

As to our performance, we're the only plotter manufacturer offering you hundreds of graphics software packages which are

compatible with the PC Plotter.That means you can produce any type of drawing you reguire.

Flexibility — Depending on your needs, you can select from two PC Plotter models. One (PC Plotter Model 595 for $595.00*) allows you to produce graphics or overhead transparencies on 8V2" x 11" paper or film; the other (PC Plotter Model 695 for $695.00*) permits either 8V2" x 11" or 11" x 17" graphics. And we didn't forget the OEM. Houston Instrument will work with you to configure a plotter that's perfect for your particular application.

For the name of your closest PC Plotter distributor or dealer, contact Houston Instrument, P.O. Box 15720, Austin, Texas, 78761 or call (512)835-0900. Outside Texas call 800-531-5205. In Europe, contact Houston Instrument, Belgium NV., Rochesterlaan 6, 8240 Gistel, Belgium. Tel. 059-27-74-45, Tlx. 846-81399.

Inquiry 164

-» <*""'.

instrument

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*U.S. suggested list price.

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4 Good Reasons to Join

1. The Finest Books. Of the hundreds of books submitted to us each year, only the very finest are selected and offered. Moreover, our books are always of equal quality to publishers' editions, never economy editions.

2. Big Savings. In addition to getting either the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Electronics and Computers for $3.00, or 3 books for $1.00 each when you join, you keep saving substantially, up to 30% and occasionally even more. (For example, your total savings as a trial member, including this introductory offer, can easily be over 50%. That's like getting every other book free!)

3. Bonus Books. Also, you will immediately become eligible to participate in our Bonus Book Plan, with savings up to 70% off the publishers^ prices.

4. Convenient Service. At 3-4 week intervals (16 times per year) you will receive the Library of Computer and Information Sciences News, describing the Main Selection and Alternate Selections, together with a dated reply card. If you want the Main Selection, do nothing and it will be sent to you automatically. If you prefer another selection, or no book at all, simply indicate your choice on the card, and return it by the date specified. You will have at least 10 days to decide. If, because of late mail delivery of the News, you should receive a book you do not want, we guarantee return postage.

If the reply card has been removed, please write to The Library of Computer and Information Sciences, Dept. 7-DA9, Riverside, N.J. 08075 to obtain membership information and an application. Byte 1/85

IANUARY I985 -BYTE 273

SuperSoft Languages

When Performance Counts

A programmer's most important software tool is the language compiler or interpreter he uses. He has to depend on it to work and work well.

At SuperSoft, we believe it. That's why we offer three excellent compilers: SuperSoft FORTRAN, SuperSoft C, and SuperSoft BASIC. They answer the programmer's need for rock solid, dependable performance on microcomputers.

SuperSoft FORTRAN

With large code and data.

SuperSoft FORTRAN version 2.0 with large code and data space is now available under MS DOS and PC DOS. It gives you the power to compile extremely large FORTRAN programs on micros. It allows double precision and complex numbers, full IEEE floating point, and a full range of other important features for the serious FORTRAN programmer. Both 8087 support and a RATFOR preprocessor are optionally available. FORTRAN (CP/M-80 & 86, MS

DOS, PC DOS): $325 8087 support $50 RATFOR: $100

SuperSoft A

A true Ada* subset

SuperSoft A is a completely standard subset of the Ada language, incorporating approximately 63% of the standard Ada syntax and including such important features as packages and separate compilation. For CP/ M- 80 microcomputers: $300.

SuperSoft C

SuperSoft C is a high-powered, fullfeatured C compiler designed for serious C applications. It is fastboth in compilation and execution, and it is packed with more than 135 library functions (all delivered in source code form). SuperSoft C produces optimized assembly code, and object code can be ROMed.

SuperSoft C (for CP/M-80, CP/M-86, MS DOS, PC DOS): $350

..Hit!

SuperSoft BASIC

The SuperSoft BASIC compiler lets you get serious with business and financial programs. It uses BCD math to give you highly accurate results for demanding applications. SuperSoft BASIC is a true native code compiler that is generally compatible with Microsoft's BASIC interpreter. And an additional bonus — no run time license fee is required.

SuperSoft BASIC Compiler (for MS DOS, PC DOS, and CP/M-86): $300

Also available for programmers:

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programmer's text editor: $225.00 Disk-Edit, an invaluable

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To order call: 800-762-6629

In Illinois call 217-359-2112

In conjunction with SuperSoft, Supersoft FORTRAN was developed by Small Systems Services, Urbana, IU a feader in FORTRAN development

Japanese Distributor: ASR Corporation International, TBL Building, 7th Floor, 1-19-9 Toranomon, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 105. Japan Tel. 03-5025550. Telex 222-5650 ASRTYO J.

•Ada is a trademark of the Department of Defense PC DOS is a trademark of International Business Machines. MS DOS is a trademark of Microsoft. CP/M-80 and CP/M-86 are trademarks of Digital Research, Inc.

274 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

SuperS ft

SuperSoft, Inc., 1713 S. Neil St., P.O. Box 1628, Champaign, 1L 61820

Inquiry 339

by Bruce D'Ambrosio

Expert SystemsMyth or Reality?

The Department of Defense has identified artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the 10 most critical technologies to pursue in the remainder of this century. The Japanese have launched an ambitious fifth-generation computer project with Al's application, "expert systems," as one of its cornerstone technologies. The British and the French have responded with major national projects of their own. And the United States, currently the leader in this area, recently increased funding for basic research in AI. But what are expert systems, what is all the hoopla about, and is it justified?

A Short History of AI

In the beginning there was the computer—and it was very difficult to program. Then John Backus et al. in

Artificial intelligence is being applied

vented FORTRAN and the world of numeric programming was born. Shortly afterward, John McCarthy invented LISP and, with it, symbolic programming came into existence. In the same way that FORTRAN was an outgrowth of numerical analysis, LISP was basically an outgrowth of abstract mathematics, in particular Alonzo Church's lambda calculus. The result of this was that early users of LISP spent most of their time in search of those things that abstract mathematicians seem to love best—elegant and terse solutions to broad classes of problems. During the 1960s computer scientists developed a number of general problem-solving mechanisms, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s they tried to apply these mechanisms to "real" problems. For the most part, these attempts resulted in dismal

failure. In fact, the results were so disappointing that one country, Great Britain, completely abandoned its AI research and development effort.

What was the problem? Consider one particular case—that of determining the molecular structure of a compund when given its chemical formula and other information. This can be formulated as a "generate and test" problem. The system consecutively generates each of the possible structures the compound can have, based on its formula. It then tests the candidate structures against the other evidence to determine which one is correct. This algorithm works fine for a compound with few possible structures. However, the number of possible structures for any compound of interest to a chemist runs into the millions, and all hope of ever finding a solution vanishes, even on the fastest computers. The solution to this problem is not faster computers. Adding a single atom to a compound can increase the number of possible structures by a factor of hundreds, and computers are only getting faster by a factor of 10 or so each decade.

Researchers realized that what was needed was knowledge—enough information to understand the subject at hand. If, instead of generating all possible structures, the program only generated those that were physically realizable, the number of candidate structures would drop from millions

to thousands. It would then become

(continued)

Bruce D'Ambrosio (2156 Word St., #4, Berkeley, CA 94705) has a B.S.E.E. and M.S. from the University of California at Berkeley and is still there working toward his Ph.D. He lists motorcycles as his hobby.

ILLUSTRATED BY CHRIS SPOLLEN

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 275

EXPERT SYSTEMS

possible to test all candidates against the evidence to determine which would be the correct one. This is the approach that was taken in Dendral,

a landmark AI system for elucidating chemical structure when chemical formula and mass spectrograph evidence are known.

Personal Computers and Expert Systems

Many people assume that AI and large computers are synonymous. This is less true today than it was in the past. For expert systems in particular, one of the promises is inexpensive distribution of expertise.

Much of the expert-systems development now taking place follows a fairly standard model. First, a productionrule interpreter is written in LISP, then the actual rules for an expert system are written. This has two impacts on the development environment. First, LISP itself is usually interpreted. That means that the final production rules are interpreted by a program that is also executed interpretively, and things run slowly. For this reason AI researchers like fast central processing units. Also, even if the production-rule interpreter is fairly small, the LISP interpreter must be in memory simultaneously (as well as all of the production rules themselves), and most serious LISP systems require at least 1 megabyte of main memory to run well. To my knowledge the only LISP systems available for computers with 64 K bytes (or smaller) of address space are toys. Recently, however, Gold Hill Computer announced a LISP implementation for IBM PCs with memories of at least 2 56K bytes. While details about this system are still sketchy, this seems like it might be a product for building real systems. Still, interpreted LISP on a 5-MHz 8088 processor is almost useless because of its slowness. However, Gold Hill also says it will release a LISP compiler in the near future, and the system would then become a viable development tool.

More useful, but also more expensive, are the major research LISP systems that have been ported to several of the 68000-based UNIX systems currently available. However, with adequate memory (2 megabytes) and a hard disk, these cost $15,000 and up.

Another alternative is to abandon

LISP. A major reason for building expert systems in LISP is that writing interpreters in it is easy. However, if you're more concerned with building rule-based systems than with experimenting with rule interpreters, you should be able to implement a rule interpreter in a language that makes more modest demands on computer resources. Several research projects have been conducted in which the system was designed in a LISP-based environment and then ported to either BASIC (Puff—a pulmonary diagnostic program developed by Stanford and UCSF) or FORTH (Delta/Cats-a locomotive diagnostic program developed at General Electric research). Both systems now run on a small PDP-11 and I have heard that Delta/Cats is being ported to an IBM PC. Also, rumor has it that IBM is developing an expertsystem shell (rule interpreter and associated utilities) in Pascal for operation on a variety of their computers. Taking this approach, you should be able to develop a consultation-style expert system on a computer with from 128K bytes to 256K bytes of memory. Backward-chaining interpreters of the Mycin sort can be written so that their computation demands are also rather modest. In fact, consultation-style systems usually spend most of their time waiting for user input, rather than computing.

Disk facilities are not crucial, since many expert systems load all data and rules into memory before they begin operation. Again, 512K bytes to 1 megabyte of on-line storage should be adequate for both the rule interpreter and the text of several hundred rules. Most expert systems seem to require from 500 to 2000 rules. In fact, some of the new expert-systems producers have taken this approach. These startup companies usually target IBM PCs as the hardware for their developed expert systems.

A second dominant theme in AI, "pattern-directed inference," was developed in the early 1970s. During this period, AI returned to its roots, so to speak, to pick up a technique for higher-level symbolic-program organization. This technique is alternately called pattern-directed inference or "production rules." Once the need for extensive domainspecific knowledge was recognized, pattern-directed inference seemed to provide an answer to the dual questions of how to represent this knowledge inside the computer and how to use it.

The twin themes, then, of extensive domain-specific knowledge and pattern-directed inference dominate expert systems work today.

Knowledge

It is all very well to say that a system needs knowledge, but, by itself, this statement is of little use in system design. Specifically, it raises two questions. First, what kinds of knowledge are needed? Second, how will this knowledge be used? In some sense, a house's furnace thermostat can be said to contain knowledge about heating houses, but no one would call it an expert system. At least three kinds of knowledge have been identified as useful for symbolic problem solving. These are simple domain facts, relations between these facts, and methods for using these relations in problem solving. (Other systems-development-related questions are addressed in the text box "Personal Computers and Expert Systems" at left.)

To make this taxonomy concrete, let's look at an example problem of determining where to invest some money. (A system that seriously addresses this question is far beyond the scope of this article. The following only suggests how you might use expert-systems technology to address this problem. Do not judge it for its financial acumen.) To simplify the problem, consider only three alternatives: a "safe" investment (e.g.. Treasury bills or certificates of

(continued)

276 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

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EXPERT SYSTEMS

deposit), blue-chip stocks, and growth stocks. Simple facts in this domain will include the age of the investor, the amount to be invested, and the amount already in each of the three categories mentioned above. These are formalized in figure 1. In addition, you will meet some simple relations between these facts to build your system, such as relations between the investor's age and the desired amount of money in each category. Some relations that might be in such a system are shown in figure 2. Finally, there is knowledge about how to solve problems, given facts and relations. For your sample problem, at least two strategies are possible. You could ask the user for all applicable information and use the known relations to deduce which investments are appropriate. Or you could try to prove that each possible form of investment is the proper one and ask the user questions as they come up in the course

of the attempted proofs.

The first technique is called forward reasoning, and the second is backward reasoning or "backward chaining." A third possibility, often used in more complex problems, is a mixed strategy, in which both forward and backward reasoning are used where appropriate. For example, in attempting a medical diagnosis, you might want to gather initial data first, then establish plausible hypotheses to explain this data (forward reasoning from facts to conclusions), then predict unobserved symptoms (backward reasoning from conclusions to facts that would support them) and order tests to check for the presence of these unobserved symptoms (backward reasoning again), and finally use the test results to confirm or rule out the hypothesized diagnosis (forward reasoning again).

Now that you know what kinds of knowledge you need to solve the in

age The client's age in years

amount-to-invest Amount the client wishes to add to his investment portfolio safe-cash-amount Amount the client has already placed in "safe" investments (e.g.,

T-bills or CDs) blue-chip-amount Amount the client has already tied up in "blue-chip" investments growth-amount Amount the client has already invested in "growth stocks" safe-cash-target Target amount the client should have in "safe" investments blue-chip-target Target amount the client should have in "blue-chip" investments growth-target Target amount the client should have in "growth stocks"

enough-safe The truth of the statement "the client has enough cash in safe

investments" enough-blue-chip The truth of the statement "the client has enough cash in

blue-chip investments"

Figure 1: Simple facts for the toy investment advisory.

The client should have a reasonable amount of money in "safe" investments before entering the stock market.

The client should have a reasonable amount of money in blue-chip stocks before venturing into high-risk "growth" stocks.

Age

Amount in "safe"

Amount in "blue-chip"

<30

$1000

$1000

30 — 40

$3000

$3000

40 — 50

$6000

$4000

50-60

$9000

$8000

>60

$9000

$20000

Figure 2: The informal statement of rules for the toy investment advisory.

vestment problem, you have to consider one additional factor. What would you like to accomplish with this knowledge? Initially, you want to use it to recommend an investment, but expert systems typically have additional goals. Often, expert systems are expected to be able to use their knowledge to explain why questions are being asked and to justify conclusions once they are reached. They can do this because the relationships between data items are represented explicitly within the system as further data, rather than as procedures or pieces of code (e.g., Pascal if statements). Usually, you should represent these relationships as rules, using a technique called pattern-directed inference.

Pattern-Directed Inference

Pattern-directed inference is actually a rather simple technique. The basic idea is that you can express knowledge, especially relational and methodological knowledge, as a set of "condition/action" pairs. That is, if you can prove the condition part of a pair, then you get to perform the action part. The condition is a simple conjunction of elementary queries; it can be thought of as the if part of an if...then statement. I hope that the word "query" will make you think of database queries, which are similar. That is, the condition need not be a simple test as in the usual programming-language if statement. Rather, the condition can be more general, as in database-query language. For example:

IF (safe-cash-amount > safecash-target) and (blue-chipamount > blue-chip-target)

THEN (invest growth-stocks amount-to-invest)

One difference between this example and a standard programming-language if statement is that both the "safe-cash-amount" and "safe-cashtarget" may be unknown when the rule is first tested. Additionally, there may be several rules that can make conclusions about "safe-cash-target."

(continued)

278 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

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JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 279

EXPERT SYSTEMS

After you encode knowledge as a condition statement, the next step is to use it. The most common way to do this is to check each rule in turn until you find one whose condition part is satisfied. Then the action part of that rule is executed, and the cycle starts over. An alternative is to find all rules whose condition parts are satisfied before you execute any of their action parts. When execution begins, you choose a starting point by using a "conflict resolution" strategy. In either case, a production-rule interpreter must implement a two-part "recognize/act" cycle. The productionrule interpreter must first recognize which rules apply and then act (i.e., apply the relevant rule or rules). AI programmers have implemented many variations of this scheme, but you have to remember that this style of execution couples the rules loosely. In other words, it generally does not matter where you insert a rule in a production system. If you want to handle a new condition, you simply insert the appropriate rule, thus expanding system capability as in figure 3. This is in marked contrast to the usual "rat's nest" of if statements in a typical program. Normal if statements can be hard to update because their control information (that is, when they should be used) often is repre

sented implicitly by each statement's location.

A variation of this scheme was used in Mycin, a medical diagnostic program developed at Stanford. Mycin has a built-in back-chaining rule interpreter. That is, if the needed values are unknown when Mycin evaluates the condition part of a rule, it attempts to establish them. Mycin does this by looking for rules that make some assertion in their action parts about the unknown values in the condition part of the original rule. Then it looks to see if these rules are executable. This might, of course, result in back-chaining to yet another level. Consider the following example. Suppose you want to show that blue-chip stocks are the appropriate investment for someone. You might have a rule that says: If the amount already invested in safe Treasury-note-type instruments is greater than the safeinvestment-target amount, take some of that money out of those instruments and put it into blue-chip stocks. Through backward chaining, the system looks for rules that will first establish the safe-amount-invested, and then the safe-investment-target amount. There are no rules that draw any conclusions about the safeamount-invested, so the system simply asks how much is tied up in "safe"

IF (enough-safe = TRUE) AND (enough-blue-chip THEN (invest-growth (amount-to-invest))

IF (safe-cash-amount ^ safe-cash-target THEN (enough-safe TRUE)

IF (age < 30)

THEN (safe-cash-target $1000)

IF (age ^ 30) AND (age <40) THEN (safe-cash-target $3000)

IF (age s 40) AND (age <50) THEN (safe-cash-target $6000)

IF (age ^ 50)

THEN (safe-cash-target $9000)

IF (client-in-rush = TRUE) THEN (enough-safe TRUE)

TRUE) ■

Figure 3: The formal statement of some of the rules for the toy investment advisory. Note the last rule. This is an example of how new rules can be easily added to modify the performance of a rule-based system after the system has been constructed.

investments. However, there is a rule that makes an assertion about the safe-investment-target. In turn, it requires information about the client's age. Since there are no rules that make any conclusions regarding the client's age, the system must again ask for this information.

Once you implement a domain-independent interpreter of this type, you can quickly build any number of such "consultation" systems. However, the system is rigid in the sense that its third kind of knowledge, that of how to use the rules to solve problems, is hard-wired. And because it's hard-wired, you can't build a more sophisticated forward- and backwardreasoning problem solver using a Mycin-style rule interpreter since there is no way to make it deviate from its built-in control strategy.

By examining its recursion stack, the rule interpreter can answer some questions the client might pose at this point. For example, if the client wants to know why the expert-system program is asking a particular question, the interpreter can answer by listing its "goals." The system asks the client's age to determine his "safe-investmenttarget" and attempts to determine his "safe-investment-target" to recommend an amount to invest in bluechip stocks.

If the production-rule interpreter notes which rules were applied during the consultation, it can "justify" its recommendation by citing the rules it used to arrive at its conclusions. If the client asks why the system recommends he invest $5000 in blue-chip stocks, the system can respond: "Rule xx says that if your safe-investmentamount is greater than your safeinvestment-target and your blue-chipamount is less than your blue-chiptarget, then you should invest X% of your net worth in stocks." This facility is especially important in systems designed to advise professional people, who don't often follow advice blindly. This brings up the final point: rule-based inference seems to be a natural way to express many kinds of knowledge, especially knowledge that

[continued)

280 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

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experts use to solve many kinds of difficult problems.

Putting the Pieces Together

You now have three kinds of knowledge and a pattern-directed inference system for using this knowledge to solve problems. What can you expect from them?

Expert systems are best at solving data-interpretation problems, such as inferring situation descriptions from sensor data. HASP/SIAP, for example, is a system that can infer the locations and types of ships traveling in the Pacific Ocean from data transmitted by a network of submerged acoustic sensors. Other successful AI systems include the Mycin medical diagnostic system, the Delta/Cats mechanical diagnostic system, the Rl design system for configuring objects under constraints (the Rl system configures VAX orders for Digital Equipment Corporation), and the Molgen system for planning experiments in molecular genetics. A key aspect of expertsystems technology is that its production-rule formalism permits expression of knowledge in a form close to the way an expert uses it. Therefore, systems can be built by interviewing relevant experts and directly coding their problem-solving knowledge into rules. Such systems provide expert-level performance by giving us an automated copy of human expertise. This is the reason for much of the current excitement about expert systems. The technology promises to be an inexpensive way to widely distribute human expertise.

In such a short article I can't discuss all of the issues involved in designing expert systems. In particular, I neglected the topic of uncertainty. Many of the rules elicited from experts will follow the form "a and b together often imply c," and the data available for problem solving is often either unreliable or vague. Many expert systems have built-in facilities for dealing with uncertain information. These may include an ability for a "degree of belief" about various facts (e.g., medical diagnosis) or the ability

to make an assumption and later retract it if it leads to undesirable results (as in a planning system).

Successful as expert systems have been, several major problems limit their applicability. First, the technology described here has no way of recognizing when a problem is outside its domain of expertise. If you present Mycin with a broken arm, it may not only fail to recommend a cast, but it might not even recognize that this patient's ailment is beyond its scope. Connected with this is the liability that Mycin has no independent way to check that its conclusions are reasonable. Also, the "explanations" that expert systems can give are shallow and do not really address fundamental issues. For example, in our toy investment advisory, you can't ask why a person under 30 should have $1000 in "safe" investments. The system does not know why, it only knows the fact. And perhaps a major failing of all current expert systems is that they can't learn from experience. We can accept that human experts sometimes make mistakes; however, we can generally expect a person to learn from that error and not repeat it.

Despite these failings, all of which are being researched, the current generation of expert systems offers a higher level of performance than more traditional programming techniques. You can expect to see their increasing use in more and more situations where expert advice is widely needed and in short supply. So far, this has already happened in the field of finance. Deregulation has expanded the number of financial services beyond the number of knowledgeable financial advisors. As a result, several companies are pursuing the possibility of using expert systems to distribute their financial advice. ■

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Barr, A., and E. Feigenbaum. The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, Volume 2. Los Altos, CA: William Kaufmann Inc., 1982.

2. Hayes-Roth, E, et al. Building Expert Systems. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1983.

3. Winston, P. Artificial intelligence. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1977.

282 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Mnee-top API system for idea processing. A new epoch in the history of personal computing.

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 283

General DataComm beats Hayes for accuracy.

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We put our 1200 bps modem to the critical test. We stacked it up against Hayes, one of the "smart" modems.

The Performance

Hundreds of phone calls were carefully monitored, analyzed, and verified by telecommunications engineers. After exhaustive testing, the results were conclusive: when line quality was good, our modem was one and a half times more accurate than Hayes. When line quality was bad, however, our modem was up to ten times more accurate. And when line quality was really bad, their error rate shot up to as much as 100 times ours! The errors ranged from misspelled words to incorrect numbers. The implications for modern business are understandably serious.

The Reliability

Then we went inside and did a component count. The final score: Hayes 252, us 155. This can be viewed two ways: Either Hayes has a 60% better chance of developing part failure, or our modem has a 60% better chance of delivering higher reliability.

Eliminating operator risk is as important to us as eliminating errors. With our modem there's virtually no risk of electrical damage because there are no internal switches to deal with. General DataComm modems automatically select all call parameters.

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The General DataComm intelligent modem is the newest product of a company that has been designing data communication systems for 15 years. A company whose customer list is a "Who's Who" of international business. Most of the Bell operating companies, and other telephone companies in the U.S. and Canada. Major banks. Brokerage firms. And many of the Fortune "500."

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Reviews

Reviewer s Notebook

by Rich Malloy 289

The HP 110 Portable Computer

by Mark Haas 290

Gifford's MP/M 8-16

by Charles H. Straw 305

Lotus's Symphony

by Dick Pomtain 317

MacicPrint

by Alan R. Miller 329

The Hewlett-Packard ThinkJet Printer

by Mark Haas 337

The Tl Omni 800/Model 855 Printer

by Mark Haas 345

Review Feedback 353

THERE'S A CERTAIN understandable fascination with the idea of a computer small enough to go with you anywhere yet powerful enough to handle your work without forcing you to make excuses. We're not exactly up to our chins, or laps, in these briefcase-size machines, but enough are now coming out so that we can see they're being regarded as useful devices rather than curiosities. The HP 110, reviewed this month by Mark Haas, fills the description of briefcase-size (13 by 10 by 2% inches, 9 pounds). As to whether it's a tool or just a conversation piece, Mark's review provides an answer.

Our second review details the other end of the fashion spectrum. S-100 systems are far from new but have shown a resiliency that belies the occasional news of their demise. As evidence, Charles Strom presents Gifford's MP/M 8-16, developed from CompuPro hardware and Gifford's operating system, with a variety of disk controllers and other options. The Gifford MP/M 8-16 won't be joining you in the coach section of the airplane, but there's an interesting story here, told by an informed user.

We previewed Lotus's Symphony back in July when those cryptic television commercials first appeared. At the time we promised we'd come back to it after giving it a more thorough going-over. Dick Pountain, BYTE's U.K. editor, fulfills our promise, pointing out some of the differences between its rumored attributes and reality. If you're at all interested in integrated software, this is an article you should read.

For readers looking for a way to create finished documents with a professional, typeset appearance, Alan Miller has reviewed MagicPrint from Computer EdiType Systems. A print processor rather than a word processor, MagicPrint has specific applications and specific limitations you should be aware of before you buy.

The subject of printing is taken up from another angle in Mark Haas's review of the HP ThinkJet printer. Mark reports on its pluses and minuses and gives close inspection to some of its more curious aspects.

Finally, we called on Mr. Haas again to give us a review of the TI Omni 800/Model 855 printer. This unit has plug-in ROM cartridges that carry the different fonts and can give you more variety in document preparation. A nice idea, but how well does it deliver? Mark gives you a pretty good idea.

—Glenn Hartwig, Technical Editor, Reviews

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 287

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just to get additional users!

Kimtron is the only one that enables you to expand your IBM PC, XT, AT or the other PC compatibles to Multi-Tasking and Multi-User system at a fraction of the cost of additional PC's. Only Kimtron can display the screen exactly as your PC monochrome monitor, even for software like Lotus 1 -2-3 or Word Star. Plus only Kimtron provides an IBM PC keyboard look-alike.

Operators will not only think and feel the KT-7/PC as if they're using IBM PC, but the KT-7/PC

provides many more useful features such as tilt, swivel and height adjustment of monitor, optional amber screen, a dedicated serial printer port for each user at no extra cost, and optional 14 inch screen.

In addition, the KT-7/PC is designed for flexibility so that it can also be used as an industry compatible ASCII terminal.

Kimtron, a 5-year technology leader - we're going places and want you to join the Kimtron family of satisfied users. For more information about our KT-7/PC and your other terminal needs, call the Kimtron Corporation.

(408)727-1510

NOTE: IBM PC. XT. and AT, Lotus 1 -2-3. and Word Star are trade marks ol IBM Corporation. Lotus Development Corp.. and MicroPro International Corp.

2225 -1 Martin Avenue Santa Clara. CA 95050 408-727-1510 TWX 910-338-0237

Kimtron

288 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 22

REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK

The PFS Series of software from Software Publishing (1901 Landings Dr., Mountain View, CA 94043) has been popular for quite some time. All the entries in this series (pfs:File, pfs.Report, pfs:Graph, and pfs:Write) are relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Though they are not extremely powerful, they represent one of the best software values on the market. IBM used them as the basis for their Assistant series-of .software.

The only gap in this series was the absence of a spreadsheet program, and now that gap has been filled by pfs:Plan. This spreadsheet program was designed with some minor deviations from the Visi—Multi—1 -2-3 school of thought. The titles for each column and row are always present on the screen no matter where you are in the sheet. Formulas appear in the margin of each row or column. This is helpful, but writing formulas for individual cells can get pretty complex. Also, pfs:Plan recalculates at about half the speed of Multiplan on the IBM Personal Computer (PC). This program seems well suited to shorter, simpler spreadsheet models and seems to integrate well with pfs:File databases. It will not replace Multiplan as the current spreadsheet of record, but at a list price of $140, it seems to be a fairly good bargain, especially if you already have one of the other PFS packages.

I was really looking forward to the new Commodore Plus 4 from Commodore International (1200 Wilson Dr., West Chester, PA 19380). Computers from Commodore have tended to be somewhat erratic, but the bestselling Commodore 64 is, despite its flaws, one of the best bargains in the industry. And now that it is so popular, it has become the beneficiary of some pretty good software. I was hoping the Commodore people

would allow the new Plus 4 to take advantage of this huge software base and would add built-in software that would be comparable to the excellent third-party software that is available.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. The $300 Plus 4 is only slightly compatible with the 64, and the software that is included with the machine is just a tiny bit better than bad. For example, the maximum length of a document in the word processor is 99 lines of 77 characters each, (lust the right length for a complaint letter to a computer manufacturer.) Another thing, in order to insert a character, you first have to insert a space and then write over the space with the character. The spreadsheet and database programs are similarly underpowered and hard to use. This machine should have been called, not the Plus 4, but the Minus 60. A Commodore 64 with Multiplan from HesWare (150 North Hill Dr., Brisbane, CA 94005), a word processor such as WriteNow! from Cardco Inc. (313 Mathewson, Wichita, KS 67214) or SkiWriter 11 from Prentice-Hall Home Software (POB 819, Englewood Cliffs, N) 07632), and some public-domain database programs (from CompuServe) would cost less and would vastly outperform this machine. We'll cover this in more detail later.

Telecommunications seems to have become one of the more popular reasons for buying a microcomputer. Indeed, modems are outselling most other computer peripherals. The problem is that most of the databases accessible to personal computers haven't changed since the days when mainframes ruled the computer world. The emphasis on user friendliness, a prime component of any personal computer product, seems to have completely bypassed these large and potentially intriguing databases.

To help us out, the Business Computer Network (BCN) (POB 37, Technical Research Park, Riverton, WY 82 501) has given us SuperScout, a combination database gateway and communications software package. When you sign on to SuperScout, you are automatically signed on to about 10 databases at the same time. The most important of these is CompuServe, but Dialog and NewsNet are also there. BCN handles all the initiation costs for these services and even provides you with a free communications software package. This software package presents you with a menu of all of the databases available, calls the selected database, and takes you through the log-on procedures. This software will also automatically update itself as more databases are added. BCN charges you 2 5 cents over the cost of each database access, with a $5.00 minimum charge each month.

One problem with SuperScout is that it is so automatic, you are not sure what it is doing. It seems to take over your computer and to start making mysterious phone calls without asking permission. As you watch your modem lights go on and off, you wonder who SuperScout is calling and what devious schemes it is planning with other computer systems. Another problem is that you do not get the original manuals for each database. You get BCN's version, which is adequate but not comprehensive. However, you do get a nice glossy monthly update from BCN explaining the changes in each database.

A well-mannered program should never use your phone without asking. SuperScout is certainly user friendly, but I wish it were more "user courteous."

—Rich Malloy, Product-Review Editor

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 289

A small

package with

powerful

capabilities

by Mark Haas

SYSTEM REVIEW

The HP 110 Portable Computer

Mark Haas (2600 Tenth St..

Berkeley. CA 94710) is the

technical director (or

OsbornelMcGraw-HHI.

In many ways more powerful than popular desktop computers, the HP 110 (see photo 1) combines an impressive array of hardware and software components in a compact, truly portable machine. Although its price might surprise you at first, a closer look reveals a computer with true desktop capability and performance well worth its cost for those who need the power.

The HP 110 measures 13 inches wide, 10 inches deep, and 2% inches high when closed, and weighs in at nine pounds. It contains an 80C86 microprocessor, the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) version of the 8086, with a clock rate of 5.33 MHz—about 12 percent faster than that of an IBM or Compaq personal computer. Memory consists of 272K bytes of CMOS static RAM (random-access read/ write memory) and 384K bytes of ROM (read-only memory). The ROM contains a full complement of software ranging from Lotus 1-2-3 to a set of preliminary diagnostic programs. A disk supplied with the HP 110 contains some MS-DOS utilities, the Lotus tutorial, and more extensive diagnostic programs. The HP 110 also contains a 300 bit-per-second (bps) modem, a clock/ calendar, an RS-232C port, and a HewlettPackard Interface Loop (HPIL) port. The cover over the keyboard flips up to reveal an 80-column by 12- or 16-line liquid-crystal display (LCD).

The LCD tilts up and you can vary the display angle for optimum viewing. You can control the contrast from the keyboard. Comprising an array of 480 by 128 pixels, the LCD can display text as well as graphics. The LCD is actually a 16-line window into a larger display area. For example, when using the terminal-emulation software built into the HP 110, you can move the window through a 48-line display. You can move forward and backward a screen at a time by using the Prev and Next keys. HewlettPackard is about to release a version of Microsoft's GW-BASIC that will allow greater

access to the display's graphics capabilities (it should be available as you read this review).

The keyboard (photo 2) has a nice feel to it, slightly stiffer than the Tandy Model 100's keyboard, but otherwise far superior. It has sculpted keytops and virtually no wobble in the keys. I think it will stand up to a lot of pounding. The 76 keys are arranged into six groups according to function: alphanumeric keys, display-control keys, edit keys, function keys, function-control keys, and terminal-control keys.

The computer is powered by a 6-volt, 2.5ampere-hour sealed lead-acid battery good for up to 16 hours of operation on a single charge. The charge remaining in the battery is indicated in a window on the main PAM screen (described below). A recharger plugs into the back of the HP 110. It provides a 95 percent charge after being connected for 12 hours if the unit is off, or 20 hours if the unit is on. Should the battery charge fall below a predetermined level, a low-battery indicator will appear in the lower left corner of the screen and reappear every eight minutes as long as the battery is low. At this point you have enough juice for about one and a half to two hours. If you let the charge drop further, the HP 110 halts all normal operations. The clock and the memory are preserved, however, for one week to one month.

Living with PAM

Like the larger desktop HP 150, the HP 110 comes with an operating system named PAM (Personal Applications Manager). PAM is a software utility designed to insulate the user from the nasty operating system. When I reported my impressions of PAM as implemented on the HP 150 (November 1984 BYTE, page 262), 1 was less than enthusiastic about it. When 1 first turned the HP 110 on, there was the now-familiar PAM main screen (see photo 3) showing me what applications I could start and what functions I could perform, as well as providing me

290 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

with some system statistics.

I grew to like PAM on the HP 110, though it took me some time to figure out why. I decided that PAM was successful on this machine because it was fast and less cumbersome to use than on the HP 150. Also, the system overhead for PAM is low. As it turns out, all these improvements can be explained by one factor: software in ROM.

Having software in ROM is like having a hard disk. Well, maybe a read-only hard disk. It is fast, nonvolatile (unerasable), and always there. You are not burdened with over 100K bytes of system files on every floppy disk. You don't have to search for the floppy that contains MS-DOS installed as an application if you want to venture into the operating system. You don't have to go through cumbersome installation procedures for every new application.

PAM on the HP 110 also has some nice new features. You can schedule alarms— either message alarms to remind you of meetings and birthdays or program alarms that tell the HP 110 to run a program or batch file. This is all controlled by a file you create called PAM.ALM. Each line of this file controls one alarm and contains the date and time for it. It also contains either a message to remind you of something or a command as you would enter it at the MSDOS prompt.

PAM.ALM is easily updated using the built-in MemoMaker word processor. The only other requirement is that the alarm entries in the file be in chronological order. The file length is limited only by memory, and you can schedule alarms months (even years) in advance or as rapidly as one minute apart.

If you happen to be in another application when an alarm goes off, you will hear a warbling tone signaling you to retrieve your message. You must return to PAM to see the message or have another program execute. If the computer is off, the alarm will turn it on. Up to eight message alarms will be

stored if you're not around to answer them or are too busy with another application, but only the first program alarm will be retained if it goes unanswered.

I used this feature quite a bit, mostly as a message alarm, and liked it very much. It reminded me of meetings and phone calls to make, and told me when to go home. It did seem to have one small bug, though. Sometimes after I returned to PAM from answering an alarm, the next application I tried to run would abort and I'd be returned to PAM. After that everything worked fine. It seemed to happen only when I stopped the alarm by pressing a key instead of letting the alarm run its course (about 10 to 15 seconds).

PAM has another special file it looks for called AUTOANSR.BAT If the HP 110 is connected to the phone line and the phone rings, you will hear a low tone. If you are in PAM or the file manager and the AUTO

(continued)

Photo I: Tie HP 110 Portable Computer.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 291

REVIEW: HP 110

ANSR.BAT file exists, PAM will execute it. 1 did not test this feature.

Finally, installing new applications in PAM has been greatly simplified. It is necessary to add only two lines to a file you create called PAM-.MNU. The first line is the label that will appear in the box in PAM's main screen. The second is the actual command line. You do not need to list every file involved or the total size of all the files as with PAM on the HP 150. If you are using external disk drives, you simply create a PAM.MNU file on each disk. It's a very small file, typically occupying less than 512 bytes.

One thing missing from this version of PAM is the Browse function of the file manager that lets you look at the contents of a file. I do miss that, but ROM space was at a premium according to Hewlett-Packard.

Other ROM Software

Besides PAM and MS-DOS, HP has included a complete set of what have become known as productivity tools: a spreadsheet, database, graphics program, word processor, and communications package.

Probably the single most unique feature of the HP 110 is Lotus 1-2-3 in ROM. This program alone will likely account for more HP 110 sales than any other single feature. This is a full version 1A of Lotus 1-2-3: nothing has been left out. Two utilities, Printgraph and Translate, and the tutorial are contained on an external floppy disk.

Lotus 1-2-3 loads with blinding speed. Less than three seconds after selecting this application from the PAM screen, you are ready to start. Worksheets load equally quickly, as the benchmark results indicate.

Recalculation is almost instantaneous, due in part to the efficiency of the 80C86 processor, which scores extremely well in the BASIC singleprecision and Sieve benchmarks. Graphics on the LCD are perfectly presentable, although the pie charts would more aptly be called egg charts. It appears that the graphics routines for drawing circles still expect the normal CRT (cathode-ray tube) aspect ratio where it takes fewer dots to draw a line of any given length vertically than horizontally. On the HP 110's display, the aspect ratio is 1 to

M.i.i.i-i.i.i.i.i.n-h-m

n

Photo 2: The keyboard of the HP 110.

1, and no compensation is necessary.

MemoMaker is HP's word processor. It is easy to use and works well, but it is somewhat limited in function. For instance, it does not have a Search and Replace function. It is a "what you see is what you get" word processor that HP describes in its manual as "for people who need to write although their primary occupation is not writing." I don't think that's entirely true: HP might be shortchanging itself.

MemoMaker is perfectly adequate for preparing first drafts of manuscripts and performing light editing on them. For more extensive editing after the first draft is down, you would need a more powerful word processor. This could always be done on a desktop with a larger display or with the version of WordStar for the HP 110. I didn't spend too much time with MemoMaker, preferring to try out a prerelease version of WordStar instead. But I did find MemoMaker useful for creating system files such as PAM.ALM and installing new applications into PAM.

MemoMaker is described by HP as having WordStar-compatible files. However, later in the documentation HP admits to compatibility with WordStar document files "to a limited degree." In my opinion, the degree is very limited. The only features MemoMaker preserves are Control-B and Control-S used for boldface and underline, respectively. Soft carriage returns and hyphens are not preserved, and all other control codes are stripped. This won't pose much of a problem for someone preparing a manuscript but would be an obstacle to anyone preparing a finishedlooking document.

The Portable as Terminal

Because of its limited storage capacity, a portable computer needs some mechanism to move information into and out of itself. The HP 110 provides two avenues for moving data: the Hewlett-Packard Interface Loop (HPIL) described below and a terminalemulation program called Terminal.

[continued]

292 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

AT A GLANCE

sssss

__ ^.,

Name

HP 110, aka The Portable

Manufacturer

Hewlett-Packard Co. 3000 Hanover St. Palo Alto, CA 94304 (408) 257-7000

Components

Size: 13 inches wide, 10

inches deep, 2% inches high

when closed (33 by 25 by 7.3

cm)

Weight: 9 pounds (4.1 kg)

Processor: 80C86

Memory

272K bytes of CMOS static RAM, 384K bytes ROM

Display

480- by 128-pixel liquid-crystal display, dot addressable, formatted as either 12 or 16 lines high and 80 characters wide

Keyboard

Full size, 76 keys with sculpted keytops

Storage

RAM can be partitioned to provide from 44K to 176K bytes of electronic disk, ROM treated as read-only electronic disk

Expansion

One RS-232C port, one HPIL port, built-in 300-bps directconnect modem

Software

Personal Applications Manager (PAM), Lotus 1-2-3, MemoMaker, Terminal, MS-DOS 2.11, HP Link, Diagnostics

Price

HP 110 with case: $2995

Optional HP 9114 disk

drive: $795

Optional Desktop Link: $150

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MEMORY SIZE (K BYTES)

0 200 400 600

DISK STORAGE (K BYTES) 0 400 BOO 1200

1600 2000

Wi

H

* OPTIONAL

BUNDLED SOFTWARE PACKAGES 0 2 4 6

PRICE ($ 1000) 10 0 2 4 6

^

IH IBM PC Y//A APPLE HE

The Memory Size graph shows the standard and optional memory available for the computers under comparison. The Disk Storage graph shows the highest capacity for a single disk drive and the maximum capacity for each system (the HP 110 supports up to eight disk drives). The Bundled Software graph shows the number of software packages included with each system. The Price graph shows the list

price of atypical configuration for each system: two floppy-disk drives, a monochrome monitor, graphics and color display capability, a printer port and a serial port, 256K bytes of memory (64K for 8-bit systems), the standard operating systems, and the standard BASIC interpreters. Note that the price of the HP 110 does not include a floppy-disk drive or a BASIC interpreter.

IANUARY I985

i Y T E 293

The rear panel of the HP 110: From left to right are the HPIL's in and out ports, the AC recharger connector, the battery compartment (usually covered), the serial port, and the modem phone jack.

DISK ACCESS IN BASIC (SEC) 250

200

100

BASIC PERFORMANCE (SEC) 250

150

WRITE

SYSTEM UTILITIES (SEC) 50

READ

SIEVE

CALCULATIONS

SPREADSHEET (SEC) 25

40K FORMAT/ DISKCOPY 40K FILE COPY

H HP RAM DISK

HP FLOPPY

LOAD RECALCULATE

IBM PC Y//A APPLE 13 E

The Disk Access in BASIC graph shows how long it takes to write and read a 64K-byte sequential file to both the electronic RAM disk and the floppy-disk drive. The BASIC Performance graphs show how long it takes to run one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes primenumber benchmark. The Calculations column shows how long it takes to do 10,000 multiplication and division operations using singleprecision numbers. The System Utilities graph does not include col

umns for Format/Disk Copy because the HP 110 had only one floppydisk drive. The File Copy columns show how long it takes to transfer a 40K-byte file using the system utilities. The Spreadsheet graph shows how long the computers take to load and recalculate a 25by 25-cell spreadsheet where each cell equals 1.001 times the cell to its left. The HP 110 used Lotus 1-2-3 both in ROM and on a floppy disk. The IBM PC and the Apple lie used Multiplan.

294 B YTE • IANUARY I985

REVIEW: HP 110

Terminal is a nice little communications package. It features many of the capabilities you'd expect to find only on desktop computers. Terminal can auto-dial and auto-answer the phone, automatically log you onto the host system, and transfer files using several error-checking protocols including Modem7. It is also easily configurable.

The basic operation of Terminal revolves around the use of three screens: the terminal- upload-, and download-configuration screens. The screens determine how Terminal will function. They are accessed by pressing a function key for each screen from the main menu. You can establish many configuration screens and swap them in and out as necessary, depending on your particular requirements. The terminal- and downloadconfiguration screens are shown in photo 4. The upload screen is identical to the download screen except for the absence of the overwrite field.

The terminal-configuration screen sets up the communications parameters. You enter the data rate, number of data bits, and parity, as well as the communications channel you wish to use (modem, RS-232C, or HPIL). The built-in modem supports only data rates of 300 bps and below, but the RS-232C and HPIL ports can handle up to 19,200 bps. Even the end-of-line character can be defined as either CR, LF, or both. Another field is provided to label the configuration for future identification. If appropriate, you can also enter a phone number to dial, including commands for access pauses, answer or originate mode, and tone or pulse dialing, and an automatic logon string.

Automatic log-on is accomplished by using a small programming language to create a log-on string. An E transmits the currently defined endof-line character, a W followed by a number indicates a pause, a string in quotation marks is transmitted literally, and a string in curly brackets specifies a prompt to wait for from the host. If the log-on string is too long to fit on the single-line field of the configuration screen, it can be placed

(continued)

mm\

msm

Photo 3: The main PAM screen lets you access the installed applications. The first three boxes show applications I installed, two of which are turnkey log-ons to remote computer systems. The screen also provides information on the remaining battery charge and the number of bytes free on the internal electronic disk. The bottom row shows other options such as the system-configuration screen, setting the clock, and the file manager.

(4a)

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Photo 4: Configuration screens are the core to the built-in terminal-emulation software. The terminal-configuration screen (a) sets up the communications parameters, and the download-configuration screen (b) establishes how file transfers will take place. A similar upload screen does transfers in the opposite direction.

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 295

REVIEW: HP 110

Terminal is

fairly easy to use once you get past the documentation.

in a file and the filename placed in the log-on string field.

The automatic log-on works very well with The Source. But with some slower systems (like the hundreds of individual bulletin boards around the country), you might encounter difficulties due mainly to the speed at which data is sent from the HP 110. The automatic log-on system has no provision for small delays between characters on the order of 70 milliseconds or so. which would probably solve this problem.

For some reason the automatic logon feature works only when you first start Terminal from RAM or the operating system and specify an existing terminal-configuration screen either in the command line with the /t option or at the initial screen when the program first comes up. You cannot, for example, finish one on-line session, load another terminal-configuration screen, and log on automatically. Terminal will dial the phone for the next session but will not proceed with an automatic log-on even though a logon string is included in the configuration. You must exit Terminal and reenter it, this time specifying the new terminal-configuration screen.

While this might not be a major shortcoming for commonly called systems (these would usually be installed in PAM as described below), it does get annoying when you first try to establish a workable log-on string. It means entering a log-on string, saving the configuration screen, exiting Terminal, reentering Terminal with the configuration screen specified, trying the automatic log-on, revising the logon string if necessary, and repeating the whole procedure over and over until the log-on string works.

You perform file transfers by using upload- and download-configuration screens. These two screens let you set the transmission protocol (none, Modem7, or something called HP Prompt), specify the name of the file you want to upload from or download to, and set the file type, either 7- or 8-bit text or binary (used with Modem7).

It turns out that HP Prompt protocol is HP's way of saying character-echo protocol, where one character is transmitted and the system waits for the character to echo back before sending the next character. This is useful when you transmit to slow bulletin-board systems.

Next is something called a Remote Invocation field. The string you place in this field will be automatically transmitted to the host as soon as you start a file transfer. In this field you typically place the last command necessary to start the file transfer from the host end. For instance, if you want to set up a download-configuration screen to capture a file named EXAMPLE from The Source, you would place the string TY EXAMPLE in the Remote Invocation field; this is the command that tells The Source to start sending the file. You would also have to enter a filename in the To Local File field of the configuration screen to tell Terminal where to save the incoming file.

For some reason the download screen contains a From Remote File field and the upload screen contains a To Remote File field. The functions of these fields are unclear from the documentation. I can understand the need to tell Terminal which file to send from the HP 110 to a remote computer and what to name a file on the HP 110 being received from a remote computer, but I don't know why you would have to tell Terminal the names of the files on the remote computer. I left these blank and everything worked fine.

The last field is the Command Options field. This appears to be an extension of the Remote Invocation field, as the manual says it is transmitted after the Remote Invocation field. This, too, is not very clear. Does

Terminal send an end-of-line sequence after each field? 1 left this blank also.

After you enter all the parameters, you can copy the configuration screen to disk by using the electronic A: drive of the HP 110. When you exit the configuration screen setup, it becomes "active," and the parameters it contains determine how Terminal will act. By combining terminal- upload- and download-configuration screens, you can customize Terminal for each system you call. Then from MS-DOS you enter the command line

TERMINAL /T TSOURCE.CFG /D DSOURCE.CFG /U USOURCE.CFG

This line loads Terminal and the three configuration files you designed for (in this case) The Source. But you have an even easier way. You can install commonly used command lines directly into PAM and label them with the name of the system they call. Then from the PAM screen you merely have to select the label you created from the menu and press one key. The rest is automatic.

Terminal can also be set up for autoanswer. According to the user's manual, you can configure the HP 110 to let a remote terminal (or computer) control it. When the phone rings and the HP 110 is in PAM, the computer looks for a file named AUTOANSR. BAT. If it finds it, the contents of that file are executed as with any other batch file. By just calling your computer, you can have it execute a predetermined set of commands. This opens up many possibilities for remote data logging, security, and other functions.

Terminal is a fairly easy program to use once you get past the documentation. I found many of the explanations confusing, and in some cases rather incomplete. The explanations of uploading and downloading were particularly sparse, especially in their descriptions of how the upload- and download-configuration screens affect these procedures. It was only through experimentation that I finally figured them out.

{continued)

296 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 352 ■

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REVIEW: HP 110

In spite of the few complaints mentioned above, I found Terminal to be more than adequate. The inclusion of Modem7 protocol struck me as so unusual from a company like HewlettPackard that I have to think they are serious about personal computers.

Disks: Electronic and Otherwise

The HP 110's memory has a unique structure. The ROM portion of memory, fixed at 384K bytes, is treated like a disk drive by the operating system. Designated the B: drive, the ROM contains nearly all the software you are likely to need, including Lotus 1-2-3, Terminal, MemoMaker, PAM, and MSDOS. Anything else you care to add would reside in the RAM portion of memory.

The CMOS RAM in the HP 110 is partitioned into two parts. One section is reserved for program and datafile storage and is referred to as the A: drive. The other section is considered main memory, but the partition is movable. You can designate anywhere from 96K to 228K bytes of the total 272K bytes of RAM to be main memory in 4K-byte chunks. The balance, 176K to 44K bytes, is reserved for the electronic A: drive. The partition can be moved at any time, and the system will protect any files

that exist on the A: drive by not letting you move the partition any further in that direction.

When you select one of the programs stored on the B: drive (ROM), such as Lotus 1-2-3 or Terminal, you do not lose any of the main RAM memory to holding the program itself. Thus, when using a program like Lotus 1-2-3, you have all the available main memory for your worksheet. Programs and data stored on the A: drive are loaded into main memory, just like from any other type of disk drive.

In addition to the two electronic disk drives in the HP 110, you can add up to eight external disk drives using the HP1L. (For a brief description of the HP1L, see "An Introduction to HPIL on page 300.) 1 was able to test the HP 9114 disk drive, shown in photo 5, which is a double-sided, 3 /2-inch Sony drive that can hold 684K bytes of data. If you consider the heavy system-file overhead of the HP 150, these disks provide the HP 110 with nearly four times the storage capacity of the HP 150's disks. The HP 9114 can read from and write to disks formatted on the HP 150. Access times for data on this external drive are not bad at all, especially considering the constraints of the HPIL. They compare very favorably with those of the IBM PC.

Photo 5: The HP 9114 portable disk drive contains a Vh-inch, double-sided Sony disk drive capable of storing over 680K bytes of data. Also included is a lead-acid battery and interface electronics.

The HP 9114 is also battery powered, which accounts for the size of the unit: 11 '/2 inches wide, 8 inches deep, and 3 inches high. That's about the size of the 5 '/4-inch disk drive for the Commodore 64 computer. When the battery starts to wear down, a light flashes on the front of the unit, and if the unit isn't recharged, it starts getting flaky. The disk drive will not start working again immediately when the charger is plugged in. You must wait for the battery to be sufficiently recharged.

The Portable-Desktop Link

Besides the communications link offered by terminal emulation, HP has developed a more direct means of connecting the HP 110 to another computer. Called the Portable-Desktop Link (or just the Link), this method turns your desktop computer, either an IBM PC, PC-compatible, or HP 150, into a peripheral of the HP 110. I tested this link, also called the extended I/O (input/output) accessory, with the HP 150.

The Link is a combination software/ hardware package retailing for $150. An interface card plugs into the desktop and connects the computer as a peripheral device on the HPIL with the HP 110 as the controller. The software supports the HPIL capabilities and determines what function the desktop will perform. When connected to the loop, the desktop becomes three peripherals in one: a mass-storage device, a printer, and a display. However, you can use only one function at a time, and this is controlled by a single keystroke on the desktop's keyboard.

To use the Link, you install the interface card in a peripheral slot in the desktop like any other card. Next, the two-wire HPIL cable is used to connect all the devices in the loop together. Where in the loop the desktop is connected is determined by what other devices exist in the loop. Then you run the software that comes with the Link on the desktop computer, which is now a peripheral of the HP 110. Finally, you must reconfigure

[continued]

298 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

The right network isn't a matter of choice. Its a

matter of feet

Fact: You carit buy smarter than an OMNINET" Network.

Whether you have 2 microcomputers or 200, you bought them to handle information. If each micro has to handle it separately, both your equipment and your people are working inefficiently

Because they could network with OMNINET. Sharing information — as well as the printing and data storage equipment that really puts information to work.

Add CORVT IS' SNA Gateway, and you can link your entire network directly to your mainframe.

The price? At under $500 per hookup, OMNINET is the most cost effective network you can install. Or expand.

Fact: This network was designed for microcomputers.

Micros get moved. Businesses expand.

Your network should be able to grow and change just as last as your business does.

That's why an OMNINET Network uses simple, telephone-type line. Even relocating the system to a whole new building is just a move. Instead of a construction project.

Fact: OMNINET Networks offer unmatched compatibility.

From Apples to Zeniths, OMNINET handles more varieties of computers than any other network. So keep the DEC's in Data Processing and the PC's in Purchasing. OMNINET will keep them all on speaking terms.

Fact: The experts network with OMNINET.

Over 30 of the major computer companies have licensed OMNINET for networking their micros. So you don't have to worry about support tomorrow for the system you pick today.

And OMNINET already has the most software options around — over 500 programs to choose from, according to your people's needs. Not their network's limitations.

Fact: The facts have made us *1.

CORVLJS pioneered local area networking for microcomputers, and we've never stopped working on ways to improve it.

Just give us a ring at~800-4-CORVUS to find out more.

Because while calling ourselves the best is a matter of opinion, telling you that 3 out of every 5 locally networked micros work on a CORVTJS network is something else*

It's a matter of fact.

Gorvus

The Networking Company.

"5996 of all focal^iietwQriecdmiqpsopqa^ IBM rcisatrademai* of International Business Machines. APPLE is a trademark ofAPPIJB COMPUTER INCDEC is a trademark of i)i(irrAi.i:QiHPMi:NTa)RK)RATiON. Zenith is a trademark of Zenith Corporation.

Inquiry 88

IANUARY 1985

I Y T E 299

An Introduction to HPIL

HPIL is an interface system defining the way stand-alone, desktop, and hand-held devices can work together. The characteristics of HPIL are formally defined in the HPIL reference specification. This specification defines both a physical link and a message protocol between a number of devices and controllers.

HPIL systems can comprise three types of devices: talkers, listeners, and controllers. Talkers send data over the interface loop. Listeners receive data from a talker or commands from a controller. Devices can be both talker and listener, such as a printer that receives data to print (listener) and sends out status information (talker). The role of talker or listener is assigned to a device by a controller.

Controllers are in charge of all loop operations. They are typically responsible for assigning addresses to devices, assigning device roles (talker, listener, or controller), servicing device requests, and initiating the transfer of data from talker to listener(s). Only one controller can take control of the loop at any one time, although several can be physically connected to it and pass control from one to the other.

The HPIL specification allows for a maximum distance of 10 meters be

tween devices using simple two-wire cable. Distances of up to 100 meters can be achieved with the use of shielded twisted-pair cable.

HPIL supports a maximum of 31 devices on a single loop using the standard method of addressing. An extended form of addressing supports up to 960 devices. Theoretically, data can be transferred over the loop at rates up to 20,000 bytes per second, but with current devices rates of only 2000 bytes per second are much more common.

Hewlett-Packard has defined a message structure: a common set of messages that all HPIL devices must understand. These messages define the way a device must operate to communicate over the loop. Each message comprises 11 bits: 3 bits of control information followed by 8 bits of data or command. This 11-bit message travels over the loop from controller to device or from talker to listener, with the most significant bit of control information arriving first. Since messages on the loop can arrive at any time, the first bit to arrive at a device acts as a start bit. It also signals whether the message contains data or a command.

HPIL messages are divided into four basic classes or major types: Corn

Table A: HPIL peripherals that work, with the HP 110. Other HPIL peripherals, such as interfaces to scientific instruments, require special devicedriver software that is not included with the computer.

Mass Storage

HP 9114A double-sided microfloppy drive

HP 82161A digital microcassette drive

Printers

HP 2225B (ThinkJet) ink-jet printer

HP 82905B 80-column impact dot-matrix printer

HP 2671A 80-column thermal printer

HP 2671G 80-column thermal graphics printer

Plotters

HP 7470A two-pen graphics plotter

Displays

HP 82163B 32-column video interface

Mountain Computer MC00701A 80-column video interface

Interfacing/Communications

HP 82168A acoustic coupler modem

HP 82973A HPIL card for the IBM PC XT

HP 45643A extended I/O accessory for the HP 150

HP 82164A HPIL/RS-232C converter

HP 82169A HPIL/HPIB converter

mand class. Data or End class, Ready class, and Identify class. These classes are based upon the coding of the message's 3 control bits.

The Command class includes all messages sent from the active controller to other devices on the loop. These messages contain commands that control either interface or device functions. Instructions in the Command class can pertain to a single device or to all devices residing on the loop.

A device receiving a Command class message immediately retransmits the message to the next device on the loop and saves its own copy of the command before beginning execution. The active controller must follow the Command class message with a Ready For Command message to verify that the device has completed command execution.

Messages in the Data or End class include all data sent from an active talker to an active listener. The last byte of data in a record is called the end byte.

Ready class messages control loop operation. Three subgroups of messages are within the Ready class: the Ready For Command message, the group of messages known as the Addressed Ready group, and the group of Ready frames called the Auto Address group. The Ready For Command message lets the active controller determine when devices have completed execution of a prior command. Addressed Ready commands normally are used to control sending data from talker to listener. Auto Address messages simply let a controller bring up or configure a loop without operator intervention. In this mode, devices are effectively assigned addresses through the use of messages in the Auto Address group.

Identify class messages are used by the controller to determine whether a device on the loop needs servicing. The process of identifying which device needs attention is called polling. The HPIL command structure allows for two methods of polling: serial and parallel.

See table A for a list of HPIL peripherals that work with the HP 110.

\Adapted from The HP-IL System: An Introductory Guide to the HewlettPackard Interface Loop, by Gerry Kane, Steve Harper, and David Ushijima. Copyright 1982 by McGraw-Mi Inc. Used by permission.]

300 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

REVIEW: HP 110

the HP 110 to tell it that additional disk drives are available on the loop, and perhaps a printer, too.

Once this is done, the desktop computer's disk drives become the HP 1 IO's. That is, the A: and B: drives of your IBM PC or HP 150 become the C: and D: drives of the HP 110. If an HP 9114 disk drive is already installed in the loop as the C: drive, the desktop's A: and B: drives become the HP 110's D: and E: drives. If your desktop has a hard disk, it also becomes part of the HP 110. If a printer is attached to your desktop, you can print from that. Finally, you can print to the desktop's display. The desktop's display, however, does not substitute for the HP MO's.

Should you happen to want to exchange data with another HP 110, all you need is already built into the HP 110. A version of the Link software is supplied in the HP 110's ROM, though not listed on the PAM menu, and the HP1L port is also included, just connect up the cables and you're set.

The Link is a cost-effective addition to the HP 110 for those already owning a complete desktop system. It precludes buying a separate printer for the HP 110. It gives the HP 110 access to your desktop's mass-storage system, making the exchange of data rather straightforward; you merely copy the files from one disk drive to another using the Copy command.

Benchmarks

After experiencing the performance of the HP 150, I didn't expect any remarkable times from the HP 110. However, the HP 110 proved to be a formidable machine. The BASIC benchmarks shown in the "At a Glance" box were performed with the same BAS1C-86 used to perform them on the HP 150. Since the HP 9114 disk drive can read the HP 150 disks, and since BASIC-86 is a generic MS-DOS BASIC, I had no problems in transferring it over to the HP 110.

Where applicable, I performed benchmarks using both the electronic A: drive and the HP 9114, which was the C: drive, for comparison. In most cases, test results for the electronic

disk were 55 to 65 percent faster than the same tests run using the floppy disk. Another point not shown in the benchmarks is the consistency of times achieved using the electronic disk. While floppy-disk times varied from trial to trial by as much as 25 percent, times for the electronic disk rarely varied more than a tenth of a second.

I did not perform one of the two system utility benchmarks. Disk Copy requires that both disks be the same format, as it is a track-by-track copy program. Unfortunately, I have only one external disk drive, and it is formatted differently from the internal electronic disk drive. It appears that Disk Copy can only be used between two external disk drives. If this is the case, I don't understand why Disk Copy is included in the ROM and the Browse function of the file manager is left out.

The file-copy benchmark was performed using the Copy command to move the standard 40K-byte text file from the electronic A: drive to the external floppy disk.

lust to get an idea of how the HP 110 can handle word-processing tasks, I obtained a prerelease copy of WordStar for this machine and compared it to results BYTE has obtained with the IBM PC running WordStar version 3.3 and BYTE's standard 4000-word document. Of course, the electronic disk (A:) allowed very fast document loads and saves (6.1 and 11.1 seconds) compared to the IBM PC (9.9 and 24.9 seconds), but even the HP's floppy disk (C:) scored respectable times (7.8 and 26.1 seconds). Likewise, the search test results for the RAM drive and floppy were comparable with the IBM PC (8.5 and 19.1 seconds versus 10.5 seconds). The only major difference was in the scroll test (195 seconds versus 41.2 seconds for the IBM), due to the slow speed of the LCD. These times were obtained with a prerelease version; the final version might be a bit faster or slower.

I had one problem with WordStar that probably will not change from version to version, and that has to do with the size of the RAM drive. When

The HP 110

performed better than the IBM PC in most benchmarks.

all of WordStar is loaded onto the electronic disk, only about 64K bytes is left for documents, not counting any memory used by other programs. Also, WordStar usually makes three copies of a document: the original, a backup copy, and a temporary copy WordStar is working on. This can quickly eat up the memory in the RAM drive. You might have to delete all the backup files to save space.

Conclusions

The HP 110 performed better than the IBM PC in most of the benchmarks, especially when taking advantage of the electronic A: drive. The HP1L, the RS-232C port, the built-in modem, and the optional Portable-Desktop Link provide a flexible system that can be easily expanded and allows easy exchange of data.

Built-in software provides most of the functions most people will need. The terminal-emulation software supports Modem7 protocol, MemoMaker provides adequate word processing, and Lotus 1-2-3 provides powerful business tools. Unlike its predecessor on the HP 150, PAM works. This implementation of the MS-DOS shell actually makes using the machine easier.

All this is contained in a portable package you can use while traveling, not just when you get to your destination. The optional HP 9114 disk drive and the Thinkjet printer are battery powered for portable use, too.

The ads for the HP 110 depicted it as the sports car of computers, driving circles around the lumbering desktops (too bad one of them wasn't the HP 150). They implied that the HP 110 is both highly portable and more powerful than the desktops. Perhaps they're right. ■

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 301

Get yourself a

This little critter comes with specially-designed software that flies through the maze of keystrokes on the most popular business programs faster than you can say "cheese."

Microsoft" Mouse puts the power to run Multiplan® Lotus 1-2-3™ VisiCalc@ and W)rdStar@ in the palm

of your hand. Click

the left button on

the mouse, a custom

menu appears. In

English, not hierogly- ^""^^^^

■ shies. Click the right

mutton and execute your

command: move text or data, edit, format, print. All at

blinding speed without touching the keyboard.

It also lets you create your own menus for editing and formatting existing application programs. So people can learn programs quicker and do more productive work as theyleam.

The mightiest mouse*

Microsoft Mouse runs circles around other mice. It is the high performance mouse for the IBM" PC and PC XT From the company known for high

302 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

trained mouse.

performance software. Microsoft BASIC is the language spoken by nine out often microcomputers worldwide. MICROSOFT ^ir MS™DOS operating system tells

The High Performance Software® yQUr IBM PC llOW tO think.

So don t monkey around with any other mouse. Call 800426-9400 (in Washington State call 206-828-8088) for the name of your nearest Microsoft dealer. Then go with Microsoft Mouse. The mouse that soars.

Microsoft and Mutripran are registered trademarks and MS is a trademark oi Microsoft Corporarioi

Lotus 1-2-1 is;i trademark of Lotus Developmeni Corporation VisiCalc

is,i registered trademark of VisiCorp. WordStar is a registered trademark ol MicroPro.

IBM i-. ;i registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation,

TOR CaMT/MU6U5

row? m/vr/Mc^

oi/em?£oo /NTE^cmmFABLE

mi$YWHBEL6 /)VA.ILABL£

SHORT S*f PAPERP4TM/HCpEQ£E£

Reliability

Automatic 5HEET TbED Built /a/

COMP/l7?5L£ H/irt I3M PdS, 45 H/ELL 45 MTHAIMYoTHez MICROCOMPUTER

The new IBM Wheelprinter: A simpler path to letter quality.

The new IBM Wheelprinter is a personal computer printer with a simplified approach to paper handling.

This new IBM personal printer is the only daisy wheel printer that offers both a built-in sheet feed and pin feed capability. It's the latest example of IBM's expertise in the design and manufacture of reliable paper feeds.

Because it has a paper tray capacity of 100 sheets, large jobs can be printed without reloading. And, at the flip of a

switch, you can go from automatic to manual sheet feed.

The Wheelprinter prints quietly on plain paper, letterhead, multi-part forms and even envelopes at up to 25 characters per second. And you can easily attach it to IBM personal computers and to many other microcomputers.

The Wheelprinter is just one example of the more than 70 printer models we build. But they all serve a single purpose: To make your printing as effective as your

processing. To give your work the finishing touch.

Contact your IBM marketing representative or call 1 800 IBM-2 468. Ext. 587/3W, for the IBM Product Center or authorized IBM — —— — —*

you. ==r = " =

IBM PRINTERS

uw'tBi

Inquiry 165

SYSTEM REVIEW

Here's a

no-nonsense S-100 system

by Charles H. Strom

Charles H. Strom, director of

laboratories at New York

University [Department of

Chemistry, 4 Washington Place.

New York. NY 10003). is a

chemical physicist by training and

a computer user by choice.

Gifford's MP/M 8-16

Contrary to commonly expressed views, the S-100 bus is still very much alive. One study predicted a 40 percent growth in 1984 sales of S-100 systems. More than half the sales of S-100 systems and board-level components are attributed to CompuPro. Several years ago, it became apparent that CompuPro would do better to establish a dealer network rather than provide end-user support. One of the earliest authorized CompuPro System Centers was Gifford Computer Systems. In this review I examine a system that has been developed by Gifford based on CompuPro hardware and Gifford's own operating system (OS), known widely as MP/M 8-16.

Hardware

Gifford's MP/M 8-16 system is built around an S-100 mainframe and CompuPro circuit cards. A typical system consists of a 20-slot mainframe cabinet, dual Qume 842 doubledensity double-sided 8-inch floppy-disk drives (for a storage total of 2.4 megabytes), and a privately labeled and packaged Winchester hard-disk drive.

Gifford has researched the rapidly changing Winchester market and has offered the CompuPro Disk 2 and Disk 3 controllers, Morrow controllers, Konan controllers, and a wide variety of drives. The systems used in this review are based upon the Konan DGC-100 ("David") controller interfaced to an ST-506-compatible Ampex Pyxis harddisk drive (manufactured by Rodime), offering a formatted capacity of 21 megabytes. This controller/drive combination has rather conservative specifications in terms of speed but has been found by the Gifford staff to be extremely trouble-free.

A typical three-user system is equipped with 3 2 OK bytes of memory. The OS itself requires 64K bytes for a basic system, and a 32K- or 64K-byte hard-disk cache (which is automatically flushed every 30 seconds or when a SYNC command is issued) also eats into the basic memory inventory. It quickly became apparent that there is no

such thing as too much RAM (randomaccess read/write memory); 1 have 448K bytes in a four-user (plus modem line) system. Up to nine serial devices are accommodated by the CompuPro System Support and Interfacer 3 boards, and Gifford can configure systems with more serial ports.

The system supports four TeleVideo 950 terminals, a Diablo 630ECS printer, an Okidata Microline 82 A printer, and a RacalVadic 3451 modem. Total RAM in the system determines how many devices may be used simultaneously as, of course, do the particular applications being executed at any time. I could thus add two additional terminals, though it is unlikely there is enough memory to support simultaneous operation of all consoles.

Gifford sells and supports the TeleVideo 92 5 and 950, the Freedom 200, and the GCS 80 terminal (manufactured by C Itoh and privately labeled by Gifford). I've had no problems running any "atypical" terminal (such as the Zenith Z-29 1 use on my MP/M 8-16 system at home).

CompuPro's M-Drive/H board, a popular option for the system, is a 512K-byte RAMdisk emulator. This board is integrated into MP/M 8-16 as drive N:, or it can be optionally made the A: drive using Gifford's SWAP command. The advantage of the latter approach is related to a feature of generic MP/M-86 that allows global access to any files on drive A:, USER 0 that have the SYS attribute set. Thus, you can place commonly used executable files, such as STATCMD, D1R.CMD, WS.COM and its overlays, on drive A: as SYS files and enjoy a significant speed advantage.

Normal system RAM can be partitioned at cold boot to be a pseudodisk (in this case drive M:), but there is no SWAP command to convert M: to A:.

Booting MP/M 8-16

The system is designed to run continuously; in fact, with the advent of version 2.1G,

(continued)

JANUARY 1985

) Y T E 305

MP/M 8-16

Gifford supplies utilities to make the OS easy to use.

I have not needed to cold-boot the system for many weeks. In any case, it is not a terribly tedious process to boot up an MP/M 8-16 system. A floppy loader disk contains a bootstrap on the system tracks, and MPM.SYS, the actual OS image, is the only required file in the directory. Once booted, the hard disk is partitioned into several logical drives (A:, B:, and C: in my case), while the 8-inch floppydisk drives are D: and E:. My single 514-inch floppy-disk drive (which requires a separate Disk 1 controller) is drive F:, and the M-Drive/H is N:. The 5^-inch floppy-disk drive can read/write/format IBM- (CP/M-86) and Morrow-format disks. Gifford was having some trouble supporting doublesided 5 !4-inch floppy disks at the time I obtained a single-sided add-on.

After loading MPM.SYS, the OS searches drive A: for several initialization files. MPM1N1T.SUB is a SUBMIT file configured by the user for his particular system characteristics. When MPMINIT.SUB terminates, you can optionally execute a command, MPMINIT.CMD, go into multiuser mode, activating all terminals with a user-alterable banner and a NAME: prompt.

System Security

Gifford apparently has devoted a great deal of effort to system security, particularly in recent updates of its OS. The company has produced a reasonably secure system. It is possible to configure MP/M 8-16 with no security, a moderate level of security, or a relatively high level of security. Most users will opt for the middle route since it offers a good deal of safety without taxing the resources of the hardware to the point of significantly reduced throughput (every added security measure results in increased system overhead).

A PASSWD file has an entry for each user permitted on the system; security features also include two related utilities, NEWUSER.CMD and PASSWORD.CMD. NEWUSER.CMD is a program accessible only by the system manager (who must log in as SYSTEM with a unique password to use this program). It allows addition of new users to the PASSWD file; entry of an initial password for each user; default drive selection for each defined user upon logging in; accessible user areas; and default selection for printers, terminals, etc. The system manager can lock a user into a particular user area (or areas) or even into a particular 8- or 16-bit program. A user profile in the PASSWD file can thus be configured so that a person, upon logging in, is automatically shunted into WordStar, for example, and upon exiting from the program is logged off the MP/M system. Gifford uses this feature on a system in its offices with modem access. A customer may log in with the name MESSAG (no password is needed), and the message program is automatically executed, letting the customer leave communications for any of the Gifford staff.

The PASSWORD utility lets a user change his password at any time. Even the system manager does not have knowledge of individual passwords. In fact, since they are encrypted, there is no way to retrieve them. If a user forgets his password, the system manager can delete the entry in the PASSWD file and a new one can be added.

My major complaint with the security features of MP/M 8-16 is that there is no time-out function to automatically log out a user if there is no console activity for a certain time period. This makes it possible to hog system resources by logging in early in the morning and never logging out, even when not using the system. Also, since modems are typically used as consoles on MP/M 8-16 systems, a serious security flaw exists if a legal user is disconnected prematurely or neglects to type LOGOUT to exit the system before terminating the call. If an

unauthorized party were then to call the system, he would be logged in under the legal user's PASSWD profile and could cause trouble. In addition, it would be convenient if the manager could force a user off the system.

System Utilities

Once you are logged on to the system, you can execute several files (such as LOGIN.SUB and LDG1N.CMD). All of the well-known MP/M-86 utilities are available, and since they are well documented in the Digital Research literature, I will not go into them in any detail. Gifford has added considerable functionality, however, in the form of new utilities. A prime example is the ability to run 8-bit software. With rare exceptions—some programs that perform direct BIOS (basic input/output system) calls—you can use the 8085 on the CompuPro dual-processor board to full advantage. Suppose I type WS FU.BAR at the system prompt. The OS looks for WS.CMD; if it finds it, the OS executes the command line normally. If it doesn't find it, the OS searches for WS.COM; and if WS.COM is located, the OS parses the command line again (transparently to the user) to SW WS FU.BAR and executes this new command line. SW.CMD is a Gifford utility that sets up the 8085 with a 64K-byte block of contiguous RAM and simulates a CP/M 2.2 environment, complete with 62K-byte transient program area, the actual memory available to a CP/M 2.2 program. Since it lets you preserve your investment in 8-bit software while converting to 16-bit programs at a measured pace, this is clearly one of the outstanding features of MP/M 8-16. And, since the 8085 is directly executing the machine code at 6 MHz, there is no degradation of operation as might be observed with an 8080 emulator running on a 16-bit microprocessor. Gifford supplies a number of utilities to make the OS easier to use: TOD displays system time and date (using the hardware-clock chip on the CompuPro System Support board);

(continued)

306 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

AT A GLANCE

Name

Gifford MP/M 8-16

Manufacturer

Gifford Computer Systems 2446 Verna Court San Leandro, CA 94577 (415) 895-0798

Processors

8-bit 8085, 6 MHz; 16-/8-bit 8088, 8 MHz

Memory

64K minimum to 1 megabyte maximum

Storage

Standard configuration includes two 8-inch doublesided double-density floppydisk drives (1.2 megabytes each); 5'A-inch floppy-disk drives and 5- to 74-megabyte hard-disk drives are optional

Expansion

System enclosure is a CompuPro desktop unit with 20 IEEE-696/S-100 slots

Bundled Software

CP/M 2.2, CP/M-86, Concurrent CP/M, dBASE II (8-bit version), SuperCalc-86

Optional Equipment

Hard disks: 5-megabyte, $1660; 21-megabyte, $2660; 37-megabyte, $3860; MDrive/H RAM disk with 512K, $995; CompuPro 8086 CPU board, $495

Price

Single-user system with two 8-inch floppy-disk drives and 64K RAM, $5330; eight-user system with two 8-inch floppydisk drives, 1-megabyte RAM, 74-megabyte hard disk (two 37-megabyte drives), and additional user interface boards and equipment, $19,925

MEMORY SIZE (K BYTES)

0 200 400 GOO

DISK STORAGE (K BYTES) 0 500 1000 1500

^^=

=

II

BUNDLED SOFTWARE PACKAGES 0 2 I 6

PRICE ($ 1000) 0 i

&

1

1

w<

GIFFORD MP/M 8-16

| IBM PC

APPLE n E

The Memory Size graph shows the standard and optional memory that's available for the computers under comparison. The graph of Disk Storage capacity shows the highest capacity for typical disk drives for each system. The Bundled Software Packages graph shows the number of software packages included with each standard system. The Price graph shows the list prices for a minimum, single-user Gif

ford MP/M 8-16 and also for the fully configured, eight-user system. This Gifford system is compared to systems with two floppy-disk drives, a monochrome monitor, graphics and color-display capability, a printer port and a serial port, 256K bytes of memory (64K bytes for 8-bit systems), the standard operating systems, and a BASIC interpreter for each system.

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 307

■T 1*T^ •i; i . . ililpl

»ivL-7« Hi ^ Hi Hi

. * , . f , ■ '. , ■-. , '.' • i i :,!;.: Uji i ■-■ i ill!: U|

II: SI! SU

: • !■■ ;.;■=■ i ; ; ; j ; \\i

uTflTT "nrr ™s~

CPU

aaaa/ns

mil

Gifford Computer Systems' MP/M 8-16 computer uses the CompuPro Dual Processor 8085/8088 board to run both CP/M-80 and CP/M-86.

DISK ACCESS IN BASIC (SEC) 250

200

150

100

50

BASIC PERFORMANCE (SEC) 250

150

100

WRITE SYSTEM UTILITIES (SEC)

CALCULATIONS

SPREADSHEET (SEC) 25

40K FORMAT/DISK COPY 40K FILE COPY

| GIFFORD MP/M 8-16

The graph for Disk Access in BASIC shows how long it takes to write a 64K-byte sequential test file to a blank floppy disk and how long it takes to read this file (For the program listings, see the June BYTE, page 327, and the October BYTE, page 33.) The BASIC Performance graph shows how long it takes to run one iteration of the Sieve of Eratosthenes prime-number benchmark. In the same graph, the Calculations results show how long it takes to do 10,000 multiplica

tion and division operations using single-precision numbers. The System Utilities graph shows how long it takes to format and copy a disk (adjusted time for 40K bytes of disk data). The Spreadsheet graph shows how long the computers take to load and recalculate a 25- by 25-cell spreadsheet, where each cell equals 1.001 times the cell to its left. The Apple and the IBM used Multiplan; the Gifford system used SuperCalc-86.

308 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

MP/M 8-16

DOWN deactivates multiuser operation, aborting any tasks in process (and optionally executing DOWN. SUB); HISTORY is an optional file that maintains a complete chronological record of all commands submitted to the system; MOTD is a "message of the day" that is displayed upon logging in; SCHED schedules any command, program, or SUBMIT file to occur at a user-specified time; SETMEM defines the maximum memory block allocated to a 16-bit process; TIME is a program that can benchmark the duration of another program (and was used to record the BYTE benchmarks in this article; see table 1).

Several utilities are targeted toward the particular multiuser environment and deserve special mention. There is a sophisticated MAIL system modeled after the UNIX mail system, and WRITE allows real-time communication between users.

An exhaustive HELP facility provides on-line documentation of virtually all features of MP/M 8-16. HELP is fully documented, enabling a user to generate his own files and provide similar documentation for his own programs or processes.

Applications Software

The MP/M 8-16 system used in this review was bundled with an 8-bit version of dBASE II and a 16-bit version of SuperCalc. Apparently the CP/M-86 version of dBASE II is a poor performer, so this probably explains Gifford's furnishing this version. I also purchased a couple of software packages including WordStar and Spellguard (both 8-bit versions). Gifford is one of the few dealers that charges list price for such software. The company does deliver the MP/M 8-16 system with all purchased software (including applications and OS utilities) preinstalled on the hard disk, which saves the user considerable time and effort. Getting the computer running is essentially a plug-and-go operation. One last product worthy of note is Modem 8-16, Gifford's proprietary communications utility. Modem 8-16 is one of the few communications programs that will run on an MP/M

8-16 system. It has a flexible and versatile user interface, supports script files, handles auto-dialing modems, unattended operation, and file transfer in conjunction with SCHED, and more. Modem 8-16 is one of the nicest communications programs I have seen. Its one serious deficiency is the absence of any error-checking protocol for file transfer. Modem 8-16 does transfer files with XON/XOFF handshaking, but it does not include

the Christensen (XMODEM) or CIS (CompuServe Information Service) protocols. I have indications that the company will soon add error-checking file-transfer protocols to a new version of Modem 8-16.

Documentation and Support

In recent months, Gifford has made significant strides in improving its documentation of MP/M 8-16. In the

(continued)

Table 1: benchmark results for the Gifford MP/M 8-16 System. The BASIC

benchmarks were determined using an 8-bit version

of Microsoft BASIC 5.2.

SuperCalc-86 version 1.0 was used in the spreadsheet benchmarks.

Benchmark

System and Time

BASIC

Sequential write

—to single-sided single-density floppy disk

MP/M 8-16, 28 seconds

CP/M-80, 27 seconds

—to hard disk

MP/M 8-16, 14 seconds

CP/M-80, 12 seconds

Sequential read

—from single-sided single-density floppy disk

MP/M 8-16, 26 seconds

CP/M-80, 25 seconds

—from hard disk

MP/M 8-16, 14 seconds

CP/M-80, 10 seconds

Sieve of Eratosthenes

MP/M 8-16, 112 seconds

CP/M-80, 99 seconds

Calculate with single-precision numbers

MP/M 8-16, 50 seconds

CP/M-80, 45 seconds

System Utilities

Format and disk copy (including copy verification)

—single-sided single-density (243K bytes)

MP/M 8-16, 38 seconds

—double-sided double-density floppy disk

(1.2 megabytes)

MP/M 8-16, 23 seconds

Copy file (40K-byte, using PIP)

—hard disk to single-sided single-density floppy

disk

MP/M 8-16, 23 seconds

—hard disk to double-sided double-density

floppy disk

MP/M 8-16, 13 seconds

—hard disk to hard disk

MP/M 8-16, 11 seconds

—single-sided single-density to single-sided

single-density floppy disk

MP/M 8-16, 37 seconds

Spreadsheet

Load spreadsheet

—from single-sided single-density floppy disk

MP/M 8-16, 8 seconds

CP/M-86, 10 seconds

—from hard disk

MP/M 8-16, 4 seconds

CP/M-86, 6 seconds

Recalculate

MP/M 8-16, 3 seconds

CP/M-86, 3 seconds

JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 309

MP/M 8-16

past, it could have been argued that someone with a "hacker" mentality should install and maintain the system; the documentation consisted of the not-uncomplicated Digital Research MP/M-86 manuals (not to be confused with the brain-damaged 2.2 manuals—the MP/M-86 manuals are far superior) and a thin 8-16 imple

mentation manual containing much information that can only be described as extremely terse. Luckily, this deficiency has been addressed, and the new Gifford manual is a tremendous improvement. The MP/M 8-16 users manual is bound in an attractive "IBM PC-style" loose-leaf binder, consisting of hundreds of

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pages of clearly written and indexed documentation. Special attention is given to system set-up, descriptions of every available command, system software maintenance, security measures, and hardware troubleshooting. The manual is supplemented by a bimonthly newsletter that announces new products, updates, patches, user contributions, etc.

Gifford appears to take its role of providing customer support quite seriously and offers several types of support, including the newsletter, an on-line message system, and a dedicated telephone-support staff. I have used the latter service several times; the support offered by the Gifford staff is unparalleled in the industry. The people are knowledgeable and involved in the software-development effort at Gifford.

Since all boards sold by Gifford are CompuPro CSC grade, they carry an unconditional two-year replacement warranty. I recently experienced a failure of an M-Drive/H board, contacted Gifford, and had a replacement board the following day. I am not aware of the service policy on hardware more than two years old or not from CompuPro.

Criticisms

This review is complimentary. I should admit that frankly I find little on which to fault Gifford, and I am not inclined to review a product unless I feel strongly enough about it to use it heavily over an extended time period. To be fair, however, there are some areas needing improvement.

The most serious problem I have with MP/M 8-16 is its treatment of modem ports and its lack of autologout. Another problem area is the use of the M-Drive/H as drive A;. Although the basic speed advantage is there, it seems that several utilities, particularly those dealing with user accounts and passwords, do not deal effectively with a volatile A: drive. There are ways to get around this shortcoming, but they are circuitous and are not documented.

Another shortcoming is that the so

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MP/M 8-16

phistication of the OS has extracted a dear cost in terms of system RAM requirements. It is safe to say that there is no such thing as too much RAM on an MP/M 8-16 system. The 384K-byte three-user system widely advertised by Gifford indeed supports three users in many cases, but another 128K bytes of memory would make life much more pleasant. This is really more of an observation than a criticism. Gifford freely admits this requirement. In fact, the company encourages prospective purchasers to consider more RAM in their planned systems and warns that the budgetconscious may run into difficulty. Each 8-bit process running under the OS requires a 64K-byte block of contiguous RAM, while it is possible that a 16-bit process could require more or less than this. Making matters worse, Gifford charges virtually list price across the board for the hardware it offers, so bargain hunters need not apply. The axiom "you get what you pay for" certainly is relevant here, and the cost of superior software development and support staff offered by Gifford accounts for the premium pricing.

A multiuser OS running on a pair of microprocessors is not a panacea for data-processing ills. Although it is theoretically possible to run an MP/M 8-16 system with a dozen users, it's probably more realistic to use four to six consoles simultaneously. This depends upon the type of work being performed; running WordStar, for example, is much less taxing on system resources than SuperCalc is. Gifford seems to view the "horsepower" issue in a practical light and will be able to advise a prospective purchaser if an MP/M 8-16 system will satisfy his needs (as long as Gifford can get a clear idea of the proposed application).

Recent Developments

With the latest release of MP/M 8-16 (version 2.1G). Gifford has added a significant enhancement it calls "virtual terminals." Modeled after the virtual-console concept of Concurrent CP/M, virtual terminals provide each user with true multitasking operation.

In contrast to plain MP/M-86, where a detached process pauses when any console I/O (input/output) is required, virtual terminals let terminal output be buffered to a temporary file. You switch screens with a user-defined "escape" sequence and thus can conveniently toggle among up to four virtual terminals per physical terminal. Gifford's implementation of this feature depends on hardware in the display terminal to support an additional page of display memory for each virtual screen so that you do not lose your bearings when switched among virtual terminals. In other words, if there is no console output while a given virtual terminal is in the background mode, no screen updating will take place when this terminal is called back into the foreground. This contrasts with Concurrent CP/M, which enables RAM-resident screen buffering for each virtual console and automatic screen redraw whenever a console is brought into the foreground. Gifford apparently decided that the software and space overhead required to support a lot of terminal hardware for implementation of virtual consoles as envisioned by Digital Research for Concurrent CP/M is prohibitive. That argument certainly has merit, and addition of hardware to support the background screen displays has the benefit of no additional processor overhead as required by the Digital Research approach. I have, in fact, implemented the Gifford virtual-terminal scheme on hardware both with and without alternate display memory; I have found the latter is usable, though inconvenient at times. Programs such as WordStar, which do not have a command to repaint the screen, are certainly inconvenient if you want to switch between several virtual screens.

What do you pay in terms of systems resources for the virtual-terminal feature? Memory, more memory, and still more memory. Not only does the MPM.SYS file grow by approximately 64 K bytes (its typical size now on the order of 160K bytes), but each additional task initiated by a user naturally requires an independent, unused

segment of RAM. For example, if I run an 8-bit WordStar on VT1, it requires a contiguous 64K-byte block (as does any 8-bit process); and if I am assembling a 16-bit program on VT2 using ASM86, it also requires RAM, just as though another user were running it. It should be clear how quickly my 448K bytes of memory becomes insufficient for several users, all of whom want to run several processes concurrently. Suddenly, 1 megabyte of addressable memory space for the 8088 processor does not sound infinite after all.

The addition of virtual-terminal operation to MP/M 8-16 represents the zenith of development of this OS. Gifford's virtual-terminal scheme was inspired by Concurrent CP/M (now apparently called Concurrent DOS) from Digital Research. Gifford is already running its own version of Concurrent CP/M 8-16 in house and will be releasing it by the time you read this. The user interface will be virtually indistinguishable from MP/M 8-16, but Gifford has promised significantly improved hard-disk speed.

Gifford is also quite proud of its implementation of DR Net, a local-area network based on Datapoint's ARCNET hardware and released along with Concurrent CP/M. DR Net supports the networking of CompuPro and IBM PC hardware running under Concurrent DOS. Each user may have access to any peripheral or system resource on the network. Gifford is busily modifying its utilities to operate across the network.

Summary

Although the use of an S-100-based system may seem anachronistic compared to some of the newer desktop and portable computers, the Gifford system offers several important advantages. The CompuPro hardware is rock-solid and reliable. The MP/M 8-16 operating system lets you access a tremendous base of both 8- and 16-bit software. Because it is tailored to a particular user environment and comes complete with all equipment and software, Gifford's MP/M 8-16 is a very attractive system. ■

312 BYTE • JANUARY J985

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SOFTWARE REVIEW

Lotus's Symphony

Real and

rational

over 1-2-3

by Dick Pountain

After Lotus 1-2-3 was released, Lotus Development Corporation was faced with the problem that every hit-maker faces: What next? The comaClVanCeS Panv responded with Symphony, another large multipurpose spreadsheet program (see the Preview "Symphony: A FullOrchestra Version of Lotus 1-2-3," by Rik ladmicek, July 1984 BYTE, page 121).

When I first used 1-2-3,1 had a feeling that Lotus had raised the stakes in the personal computer software market. It wasn't so much a matter of performance because, although the program works very well, you can find competitors in each of 1-2-3's application areas that perform equally well. It was the design, ergonomics, documentation, and packaging that made 1-2-3 a superior product. Lotus 1-2-3 was a polished product in an industry that had needed a good dose of professionalism.

Symphony is based on the same spreadsheet data metaphor as 1-2-3, and this spreadsheet is also located entirely in main memory. Despite last year's rumors, it doesn't have any form of virtual memory management (i.e., swapping to and from disk to make the memory look bigger).

When you first boot Symphony up, the displayed spreadsheet looks similar to 1-2-3's, and an experienced 1-2-3 user could start entering data immediately. However, significant differences in the commandmenu structure soon become apparent. When you use Lotus 1-2-3 you press the slash key to access one master command menu, but Symphony has two menus. You access these with the IBM function keys F9 (called "Services" on the supplied plastic overlay) and F10 ("Menu").

The F10 key brings you to a menu that roughly corresponds to the 1-2-3 master menu (Lotus also lets you access this menu by pressing the slash key). However, the Symphony/1-2-3 menu options don't correspond: some of 1-2-3's options are now in Symphony's Services menu and some submenus are in different places. This

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means that only a few of the 1-2-3 keyboard macros will run unaltered on Symphony, and many will run with undesired results (e.g., /ws will give you "Worksheet Status" in 1-2-3 and "Width Set" in Symphony).

Symphony menus work even better than 1-2-3's. They're well designed and can easily cope with the extra function load by presenting different context-specific main menus for each environment. The program's services, on the other hand, remain the same as 1-2-3's throughout, including such basics as file saving and retrieval. Overall, Symphony provides a good balance between command consistency and context sensitivity.

Symphony's on-line help facility (the Fl key) is just as good as 1-2-3's so you won't have to spend much time poring over the manuals. However, because Symphony is so large, the help facility can't fit on the same disk as the rest of the program. You have to replace the program boot disk with a Help and Tutorial Disk (in drive A) if you want on-line help on a floppy-disk-based system. I could do without this disk swapping, but Symphony handles it gracefully and gives you all the right prompts at the right times. On an IBM PC XT (or other machines with larger floppy disks) disk swapping won't be a problem.

Windows

Lotus 1-2-3 has a limited form of "windowing": it splits the spreadsheet into independently scrolling areas. In Symphony, the windowing capacity has been enhanced enormously. You can create different types of windows that can be moved around freely on the screen, shrunk or expanded, and overlapped. Symphony has five types of windows that correspond to the five separate application areas of the program: the spreadsheet window is called Sheet, the word-processor window is Doc, the database-manager window is Form, the graphics window is Graph, and the telecommu

{continued\

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 317

REVIEW: SYMPHONY

nications window is called Comm.

It's important to understand how Symphony windows differ from the "desktop" style of windows used by the Lisa, Macintosh, Visi On, etc. Symphony's windows present different ways of viewing the same data. The spreadsheet, organized in cells, is always the base program. You can change the type of window at will. For example, you can enter a document into a Doc window (which looks like a word-processor screen with a format line), move it to a Sheet window (the text appears in a column of the spreadsheet), and then transfer it to a Comm window and send it to a remote computer with your auto-dial modem.

On the Lisa, the different windows let you accomplish different tasks, which are performed by different programs on different data files. To exchange data between the different windows (hence, different files) you have to cut and paste.

Symphony also can let you look into different jobs (perhaps a financial model and a report), but those jobs would have to be in different areas of the same spreadsheet in memory. This makes the program less complex than the Lisa's desktop environment, but it is not necessarily inferior.

An IBM PC with a Symphony program runs faster than the Lisa or Mac loaded with a similar application. Because all the data is in RAM (random-access read/write memory) Symphony is never disk-bound and the program's response time is very fast. This is particularly true when you have to copy and move data; the spreadsheet operations are much faster than cutting and pasting.

The main drawback to Symphony's type of windows is that, by sharing the spreadsheet between different jobs. Symphony places some of the onus on you to make sure that the jobs don't interfere with each other. For instance, inserting and deleting columns or rows globally can interfere with something at the other end of the sheet.

Symphony doesn't use a mouse to manipulate windows. Instead it relies

on the function and cursor-control keys (in established Lotus style). The commands are exceptionally well thought out and I doubt that using a mouse would be any faster. For example, you can flip between windows by hitting a single key; if you hit the Alt key and the first key again, the current window will "zoom" to full screen size. If you use the End key in conjunction with the other cursor and page keys you will be able to move quickly around even the largest sheets or documents.

Symphony helps you isolate different data areas on the sheet. For example, in the database and wordprocessing environments it won't accept data that would overwrite occupied cells. In addition, you can restrict the cursor's movement within a window to a specified range by recording its boundaries on a settings sheet.

Every part of Symphony has its own settings sheet. These appear as control panels when you choose "Settings" from the menu. These sheets can be given unique names and saved on disk independently of the main worksheet. Document settings sheets store document formats; Form settings sheets store the structure of databases; Window settings sheets store the name and properties of a window, etc.

Experienced Symphony users will have a complete set of such sheets so that each application will boot up exactly the way they want it. For novices, settings sheets can be somewhat overwhelming; it's probably best to set your screen parameters manually from the keyboard. The settings sheets are good news for the "valueadded" vendors. Together with the extended macro language, which I will discuss later, they make it easy to write custom applications in Symphony.

Doc

The text-editing facilities in 1-2-3 are so rudimentary that Lotus, showing commendable restraint, never claimed that it had word-processing capabilities. However, the word

processing facility in Symphony should be adequate for any lowvolume user. It does not have features that professional and technical authors may demand (for example, it lacks footnote management and conditional page breaks), and tech nosnobs may lament the absence of screen-displayed attributes such as boldface and italic. And it doesn't have a spelling checker. On the other hand, it's simple and pleasant to use, which cannot be said for some of the state-of-the-art programs I've seen.

To enter text, you create a Doc window or change the type of an existing window to Doc. The row and column numbers disappear and are replaced by a format line showing margins and tab stops. Then type as you would with any other word processor. The editor can insert text and overtype. It has automatic word wrap and automatic justification (left, right, or center) that you can disable if you want.

Printing is largely "what you see is what you get" and there is no separate formatting pass. Double and triple spacing aren't shown on the screen (except as flags). Boldface and other type attributes must be set with embedded codes. However, you can put all the IBM alternative characters onto the screen with the Compose key. Automatic page breaks are not visible, but if you press a Where key the program will tell you your page and line location on the printed document. Manually inserted page-break characters are visible.

The Search and Replace functions are excellent; they allow you to manually replace or skip some specific instances of the target test and then say "go ahead and do all the rest—a feature that is missing from many well-known word-processing packages. The Search function is casesensitive, and paragraphs are automatically rejustified after text is replaced.

Symphony lets you invoke special lines in the text that override the margin, tab, and indent settings of the master format line at the top of the screen so that you control the page's

318 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

REVIEW: SYMPHONY

appearance. These special format lines can be given names, stored, and recalled when you need them. You can also invoke a GOTO command to bring up a named format line. Because this system is wholly visual, it is easier to understand its workings than abstract environments or "style sheets," but it is complicated by things such as nested numbered subparagraphs. Headers, footers, automatic page numbering, and date stamping are all supported.

Holding all the text in RAM is not a problem for the hardware for which Symphony is intended. 1 managed to get a 32,000-word document into an IBM PC with 512K bytes of RAM, and it took less than a second to go from beginning to end. Try that with virtual memory!

Symphony has all the facilities of a spreadsheet, database, and programming language available when you are word processing. With Symphony, it's possible to write formulas or macro programs to do mail-merge and other document manipulation.

Form

The Symphony database is the program's largest single improvement over 1-2-3. In 1-2-3, Lotus uses the columns of the spreadsheet for fields, which make the data structure tangible. Unfortunately, this involves the user at too low a level, defining input and output cell ranges.

In Symphony, this feature has been replaced with the Form window. To set up a database in Symphony, type the names of the fields you want into consecutive spreadsheet cells. Then create a Form window. When you hit the GENERATE command, you'll be asked to choose the default field type and length (from a menu), and then to point to the range of cells containing the field names. The new window becomes a data-entry form. Data can be entered immediately and all your interaction with the database (including searches and sorts) can be performed with this form if you want.

Browsing through the records, inserting and deleting records, and

[continued)

AT A GLANCE

Name

Symphony

Manufacturer

Lotus Development Corporation 161 First St. Cambridge, MA 02142 (617) 492-7171

Price

$695

Size

Program takes about 300K bytes of memory and Lotus recommends at least 320K bytes

Features

Variable, overlapping windows; data can be viewed as text, spreadsheet, or structured records; integral report generator; programming macro language; add-on applications; drivers for displays, printers, and modems

WORD PROCESSING

SPREADSHEET

~M.

RECALCULATE

Documentation

Two manuals, an Introduction booklet, a Quick Reference Guide, and a Glossary; disk-based Help and Tutorial Disk program

Comments

Easy to use and learn; fast response in most operations; individual functions (spreadsheet excepted) are not as powerful as best of standalone competitors; could serve well as sole computing resource if your data volume is low

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A comparison of Symphony with standalone packages specifically designed for word processing, spreadsheeting, and database management shows that Symphony performs well in all categories. Its

very fast times compared to dBASE II in the Record Access test should be read with the knowledge that Symphony's records are indexed, while dBASE II's are not.

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 319

REVIEW: SYMPHONY

editing field contents can all be accomplished by the appropriate IBM control and cursor keys.

To perform a search and select operation, choose "Criteria" from the Form menu and then fill in the fields you want to match. Any of Symphony's ©FUNCTIONS can be used in a criterion, as well as the ? and * wild-card characters. When you return from the menu, the database will appear to contain only those records that match the criteria. To get back to the whole database, choose IGNORE CRITERIA. Performing a sort operation on up to three keys is just as easy. Many Form windows can look at a single database, so some users could be given access to restricted subsets of the data (Symphony also provides locking with passwords). Novice users should find these facilities sufficient for all database operations. More experienced users can switch to a Sheet window to view the raw data.

Symphony has even more special ranges than 1-2-3, and it creates them automatically and transparently when you type GENERATE. They can all be manually tweaked to fine-tune the database. Most important is the Definition Range, which performs the task of mapping the entry form onto the records in the database. This range has several empty columns for the formulas that do input validation (both type and range checking), computed fields, and input transformations. It also holds the default values for nonentered fields. Since Symphony has powerful string (as well as numeric) arithmetic, the Definition Range lets you set up sophisticated databases. The most serious limitation I found of the Definition Range was that computed fields can only use values from their own record, not from prior or succeeding records. For example, you can't accumulate running totals. You'd have to use spreadsheet functions (e.g., @SUM) on a column instead.

The fact that all data has to be in RAM is more of a limitation for a database than it is for the word processor. Even so, a 512K-byte machine will hold 1700 records of 100 bytes

which will do for a price list, mailing list, or even stock control for a small business. Symphony's powerful range of statistical functions can be applied to databases, which should prove useful to analysts of all persuasions from the laboratory to Wall Street.

Graph

Symphony's graphing function is somewhat better than 1-2-3's. The most obvious difference between the two programs is that Symphony's graphs appear in Graph windows and are automatically scaled to fit. When you resize a window, the graph is redrawn at lightning speed before your eyes.

I was rather disappointed that I could not have color-graph windows on the same screen as text on my system, which includes the IBM Color Graphics Adapter and an IBM color monitor. The best I could manage was either monochrome graphs and text or a color display where 1 had to toggle between text and graphics mode. That pretty picture in the BYTE Preview (July 1984, page 121) must have been taken from a system using the Plantronics Colorplus Card; according to the Lotus Install notes that's the only way it could have been created.

In general, I found color management to be a weak point of Symphony. I'm thoroughly addicted to black type on a pale blue background (Lisa style) and I use WordStar set up this way. Symphony has a Henry Ford background color scheme (any color as long as it's black), and the foreground can only be changed for graphs. The reason is a combination of the inherent weakness of IBM's color graphics and the company's desire to cater to as many look-alikes and option boards as possible.

COMM

We Brits still live in the Stone Age as far as telecommunications go. I have a 300-bps (bits per second) coupler (and only a handful of bulletin boards to talk to), while auto-dial modems are about as common as domestic nuclear reactors.

With this proviso, the communications facility in Symphony looks fine to me. Creating a Comm window gives you a main menu. The main menu lets you alter all the communication parameters while you are on line, or load a settings sheet in which you've recorded all the parameters (including telephone numbers and log-on procedures) for a particular source. Symphony will dial numbers for you, perhaps from a database of stored numbers or from a macro program. It lets you prefix the number, if necessary, to get an outside line through a switchboard.

Text can be captured on the worksheet and then looked at via Sheet, Doc, or Form windows. Or you can send any of these types of data to a remote site, with highly flexible formatting options (such as data conversion from foreign character sets). If you're busy when a call comes in, you can switch to a Comm window to receive it without disrupting your work. You can have Symphony answer the phone, unattended if necessary. File transmission under the widely used Ward Christensen XMODEM protocol is built in, but no mainframe protocols are supported. These may be available later as applications. I could only use Symphony in a basic terminal-emulation role, calling a few local bulletin boards. It worked fine, capturing neatly formatted text when required.

Macros and Command Language

Lotus 1-2-3 has a simple form of programmability: it uses "keyboard macros," which are named collections of keystrokes (represented either as single-letter menu choices or names of special keys in braces) that are executed automatically when you invoke their name. In Symphony this facility has been enhanced to the point where it becomes a full programming language.

You can still use keyboard macros but now there is an automated way to produce them. Press the Learn function key to set Symphony in Learn

{continued)

320 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 321

RS232C IBM PC Compatible Paper Tape Transmitter/Model 612 Stops and starts on character at all speeds uses manual control or X-on, X-off 90-260 volt, 50-60 Hz power. 50-9600 baud, up to 150 char/sec synchronous or asynchronous; gated internal or external clock, RS 232C current loop or parallel output, reads 5-8 level tape, 7-11 frames per character, even or odd parity. Desk top or rack mount. Addmaster Corporation, 415 Junipero Serra Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776, (213) 285-1121 Telex 674770 Addmaster SGAB

Inquiry 8

Apple Macintosh

IBM, XT, Hard disks

Eagle, Compaq, Columbia

NCR, Olivetti, Leading Edge

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up to 16/TermSyst.

Printers/Plotters

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REVIEW: SYMPHONY

mode, so that it captures and records all the keys you press. Step through a sequence of operations in Learn mode and the commands will appear in the range you've allocated to the macro.

The command language consists of an assortment of extra commands that can't be invoked from the keyboard; the most important are the control structures (which 1-2-3 lacks). BRANCH permits looping and branching, IF <test> causes conditional branching, and FOR produces a counted loop. Named subroutines are allowed and you can pass any number of parameters to them. There are also commands for error trapping (ONERROR), controlling user-defined menus, controlling a communications link (including auto-dial links), and interaction with the keyboard.

Programming in Symphonese takes a bit of getting used to. I like to think of it as the assembly language of a huge and weird chip with 53,000 registers whose contents are visible on the screen.

Because of the evaluation rules of the spreadsheet there are lots of things you can't do (like compute cell addresses for indexed addressing) but you'll usually find a ©FUNCTION that will get you out of trouble.

Purely as a demonstration, I managed to get the Sieve of Eratosthenes to run (albeit slowly) and listing I shows you that it's readable code. Holding variables in named, singlecell ranges, instead of absolute cell addresses, makes the program read better, but more important, this makes the program relocatable. The @NOW function reads the system clock; Symphony has a comprehensive set of functions for dealing with real-time dates and intervals.

Applications

Symphony can be expanded with command extensions (called Applications) supplied as disk files. These are "attached" or "detached" through the services menu, and they add new options to Symphony's menus. The only Application that comes with the program is one that lets you exit to the disk operating system and run various housekeeping programs before returning to Symphony. It works if you remember to copy COMMAND.COM onto your Help disk.

Performance

and Other Matters

I ran the BYTE benchmarks (see the "At a Glance" page) and the results

[continued)

Inquiry 268

Listing 1: The Sieve oj Eratosthenes in Symphonese. Note that the time shown is for only one iteration.

fill array 1 iteration

{LET start.@NOW} 1899 count {LET count.O} 8191 i {LETA1.1} 24570 k {MENUJCA1 . . A1-A1 . . A8191- 16381 prime {FOR i,0,8190,1,do-sieve} 30910.93 start {LET finish,©NOW} 30910.95 finish

do-sieve

{IF ©INDEX (flags,0,i)} {kill-multiples}

kill-multiples loop

{LET prime,i + i + 3)

{LET k,i + prime}

{IF +k>8190}{LET count,count +1} {RETURN}

{PUT flags.O.k.O}

{LET k,k +prime}

{BRANCH loop}

Execution time: 38 minutes 32 seconds

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Inquiry 96 for Dealers. Inquiry 97 for End-Users.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 323

PC EXPANSIONS

Qume142A $199

TeacFD55B $149

Tandon TM100-2 $1 79

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Amdek AmdiskV $119

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Internal 10MB HDsystems: WS1 ... $899

WS2 $1079

Quadboard (64 K) $259

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Quadcolor I $199

AST SixPakPlus (64K) $259

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MegaPlus(64K) $269

I/O Plus $129

AST-3780 $659

PCnet - starter kit $809

MonoGraphPlus-S $389

HERCULES graphics board $349

HAYES Modems: 300 $209

Smartmodem 1 200 $489

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Set of 9 chips (64 K) $ 32

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REVIEW: SYMPHONY

Inquiry I96

compare well with other market-leading packages.

My most serious criticism of Symphony concerns memory management. Symphony requires 320K bytes of RAM to run and showed 218,240 bytes of free workspace on my 512Kbyte system. This allows a maximum 2 5 5- by 211-cell spreadsheet (53,805 cells), which is large enough for most users. However, like 1-2-3, Symphony uses a fairly naive memory-allocation scheme, so for example, if you add a single number to the extreme bottom right cell (IV8192) of an otherwise empty sheet, it will respond with a "memory full" error.

This is irritating, but there is a more serious problem with garbage collection. When I ran the Sieve program, it created a column of 8190 flags, which uses a lot of free memory. When 1 erased this column, Symphony didn't take back this space. Storing worksheets on magnetic media when they contain huge amounts of "phantom" data can eat up disk space by filling it full of blanks.

To optimize disk use I had to selectively store the program code (using XTRACT), then reload it and store the whole sheet (with all free space now reclaimed). This means that you have to think seriously about memory use if you are using far-flung corners of the sheet, and you will probably have to move some things around.

In a sophisticated program such as this 1 would have liked to see fully automatic memory optimization and garbage collection using sparse matrix methods.

Documentation

The only complaint you could have about Symphony's documentation is that there's too much of it. As was the case with 1-2-3, the manuals are beautifully produced, fully indexed, clearly written, and comprehensive. There are two huge main manuals (Hoiv-To Manual and Reference Manual), a Glossary, a Quick Reference Guide, and an Introduction booklet that has installation guidance. 1 found the volume of information overwhelming, and the frequent cross-references between the

two main books were disconcerting. The on-line help is so good that previous 1-2-3 users will not have to use the documentation often. And I must say that I feel slightly churlish for complaining about too much documentation in an industry where too little information is a far more common problem than too much. Symphony does a lot of things, hence it needs a lot of documentation.

Conclusions

It would have been easy for Lotus to foul up after a winner like 1-2-3. The company didn't. Symphony provides real and rational advances over 1-2-3 and manages to improve on the already excellent ergonomics of that program. The upgrade from 1-2-3 is a good value for the money if you need the extra functions.

I've heard some muttering that Symphony is too complicated. This is not true. The problem is that the program does so much that a user is tempted to try too much too fast. Sensibly approached, every part of Symphony is as easy as 1-2-3. The tutorial program is good; it gets you using all the parts in a simple ways quickly. The beauty of Symphony's design is that all the more advanced features are optional, and you can work up to them as you gain confidence.

For a certain class of user, particularly business managers and executives, Symphony really might be the only program they need to buy. To get the most out of it though, they'll need about 512K bytes of RAM and, preferably, a hard disk.

The various kinds of data-view can be combined with the new command language in so many ways that it's fruitless to speculate about what you could possibly "do" with Symphony. Merely thinking about the communications facility combined with a realtime clock and macro programs gives me a score of exciting ideas.

I can't shake off the feeling that Symphony deserves a more powerful host than the IBM PC. Many of the criticisms I've made reflect as much on the limitations of that machine as on the program. ■

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 325

CITIZENS

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Stop by one of our dealers today and watch

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© 1984 Cinzen America Corporauon. Citizen is a trademark of Citizen Amcnca Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of Internationa] Business Machines Corporation Epson is a registered trademark of Epson Corporation.

Inquiry 55

IANUARY

BYTE 327

Give IBM a piece of your mind

I 1984 Comedian's Convention

- Location

- Jokes about teenage children

- Travel arrangements?

- Invitations, coffee and donuts

- New jokes about spouses

- Get budget approval

- Workshop: where to buy apparel wl -- Jokes about new television prograi,

Inspiration is fleeting so just let your thoughts flow. The flexible format makes it easy to rearrange them later into headings and a basic outline.

1984 Comedian's Convention l Location

- Wonderama Resort Spa 5? Carwash I Travel Arrangements I Arrange air charter through travel t Lotsa Luck Travel Service, Las Veg - Ida Mistit, agent I Agenda I Day 1 I Workshops I new jokes about - your spouse -your neighbor

Use as many headings and as much text as you need to develop the outline fully. ThinkTank's processing power can move whole sections of text with a single keystroke—something no word processor can do.

1984 Comedian's Convention I Location

- Wonderama Resort Spa & Carwash I Travel Arrangements

- Arrange air charter through travel agent I Agenda

-Dayl -Day 2 I Budget

- Submit proposal by August 15 I Publicity

- Invitations I Room Reservations

- 85 rooms, double occupancy

When you want to scope the Big Picture, a simple command drops out everything but the main headings. Subheads and detailed text are stored for recall later.

328 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Go ahead.

Put your two cents worth onto ThinkTank™ And watch it grow into a million-dollar idea.

Because ThinkTank is the first software designed to process ideas. Available on the IBM PC and IBM compatible machines.

ThinkTank's flexible outline format lets you clearly see your idea from all angles. So you can sharpen up an inspired thought, weed out a weak one, set priorities, weigh alternatives.

It's like a spreadsheet for ideas.

While all this structuring helps your brainchild take shape, it won't inhibit the natural flow of creative juices. Because entering an idea onto ThinkTank is as easy as scribbling it on a cocktail napkin. All you need is simple English.

Just let your thoughts flow—from "pie in the sky" concepts to the "nuts and bolts" details. And build more professional proposals, marketing plans, legal briefs, case reports, engineering specifications, research notes, action items, hot lists and to-do lists.

Call 1-800556-1234 Ext. 213 (in Calif., 1-800-4412345 Ext. 213) for the store nearest you. And see what's really on your mind.

"ThinkTank" atui "T/je First Idea Processor" are trademarks of Living Videotext, inc. © Copyright 1984, Living Videotext, Inc., 2432 Charleston Road, Mountain View, CA94043, (415)964-6300

Inquiry 205

The First Idea Processor.

SOFTWARE REVIEW

A print

processor

with true

proportional

spacing

by Alan R. Miller

Alan R. Millet is a professor at

New Mexico Institute oj Mining and

Technology [Socorro. NM 87801)

where he has taught materials

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engineering, and programming

methods since 1967. He holds a

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and lie was written six books

about computer languages

and operating systems.

MagicPrint

The difference in print quality between professionally typeset documents and documents produced by most personal computer word processors and standard printers is vast, but three new programs from Computer EdiType Systems are helping to bridge that gap. The first, MagicPrint, which sells for S195, allows you to print documents with true proportional spacing by using microjustification. MagicBind ($2 50) does all that MagicPrint can do, plus boilerplate insertions and mailmerging. And Magiclndex ($295) has all of MagicBind's capabilities with additional features for creating indexes and tables of contents. Available for any computer running CP/M, CP/M-86, or MS-DOS, these programs can work with WordStar and most other word processors.

Note that none of these programs are word processors. Word processing consists of two separate steps—editing and printing. You create and alter text with an editor program. Then the resulting document is printed out with the word processor or with a separate print-processing program.

You may have to format the text before it is printed. For example, you may want the right margin to be justified or the text to be double-spaced. The document can be formatted either when it is created or when it is printed.

The WordStar word processor formats the document as you compose it. What you see on the video screen is approximately what you get when the document is printed. This feature is especially convenient if you want to see how the result will look or where the pages begin and end. With other word processors, such as PeachText, you use an editor program to create the document and a separate print-processor program to format and print it. With this latter method, the document is composed in a free form, unrelated to the finished appearance. Then the document is re-formed during the printing step. MagicPrint is a print processor that does more than print formatting. But before

considering MagicPrint, let's look at several ways that text can be printed.

Printing Alternatives

Typewriters and some computer printers print each letter with a constant spacing or pitch. Ten letters per inch is common, although 12 pitch is also used. With this system, letters from each row line up vertically with those in adjacent rows (see figure 1). Justification of the right margin is obtained by adding extra spaces between words, but the blank spaces are prominent.

Daisy-wheel printers can position characters to the nearest 1/128 of an inch. As a result, the pitch can be set at any desired value. Taking advantage of this capability, WordStar introduced the concept of microjustification, another method for spacing characters during printing. With this technique, right justification is obtained by adding spaces between letters as well as between words. Letters in adjacent lines do not line up vertically. The distance between letters can change from line to line, but for any one line the pitch is constant. This method is sometimes incorrectly called proportional spacing. Microjustification (see figure 2) is an improvement over fixed pitch because the gaps between words are smaller. However, an even better output is possible if each letter is assigned its own size.

If you look carefully at the text on this page, you can see that letters have different widths; some letters, such as M and W, are wide, and others, such as i and j, are narrow. Unfortunately, word-processing programs are generally designed to print at a fixed pitch. Consequently, the characters on standard print wheels have a nearly constant width; that is, the character set has been distorted. The M and W are unnaturally skinny and the letter i is wide. Fortunately, it is possible to obtain print wheels with proportionally spaced characters, where the characters M and W are wide and i and j

[continued)

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 329

REVIEW: MAGICPRINT

are narrow. These wheels have the symbol PS on them to indicate that the letters have proportional spacing. Such a print wheel should not be used for constant-pitch printing because the wide letters will overlap.

MagicPrint is designed to use a PS print wheel to produce true proportional spacing during printing. Each letter is assigned its own width with a print table. Although a document is prepared with a text editor in the usual way. the result is printed out using MagicPrint.

MagicPrint can be programmed for a standard 10-pitch print wheel. However, the results are not a great improvement over microjustification (see figure 3). The problem is that each character of the standard print wheel has about the same width. To fully use the capabilities of MagicPrint, you can program a PS for every letter so that each character is assigned its natural width. The results are now much improved (see figure 4) and are comparable to typeset text.

Installation

MagicPrint must be configured before it is used for the first time. First, you

must choose between one of two separate versions of MagicPrint. One version is compatible with the WordStar embedded commands. The other is for editors such as Electric Pencil, PeachText, Mince, P/Mate, Select, and Word Master.

The installation program alters MagicPrint for your brand of printer and its method of handshaking. Indicating the type of printer is straightforward; just choose the appropriate number from a list given on the screen. Selecting the method of handshaking is more complicated.

A printer can receive data from a computer faster than it can be printed. The printer places the data into its buffer until it can be used. However, if the buffer becomes full, the printer must signal the computer to stop sending data, either by software or by hardware. One method of software handshaking is known as XON/XOFF, completed by sending the common Control-Q Control-S pair. Another method, called ETX/ACK, uses Control-C Control-F

An alternate approach uses hardware handshaking. When the buffer is full, the printer changes the voltage

on a wire running to the computer, which signals the computer to stop sending information. Pin 20 on the RS-232C serial port is frequently used for this signal. Unfortunately, the computer may be looking for the signal on pin 6 (e.g., the IBM PC), while the printer may be sending it on pin 11 or pin 19. Thus, when you run the installation program, specifying the handshaking method is important.

Character Width Table

MagicPrint performs proportional spacing by referencing a built-in table of character widths. Initially, this table is configured for the Diablo Bold PS print wheel. If you have a different print wheel, you may want to alter the character table to match. If you have several different wheels, using a separate version of MagicPrint for each wheel may be best. The character table, located near the beginning of the program, can be changed with a debugger program.

To customize MagicPrint, I printed every character for each of my three print wheels (standard 10 pitch, proportional spacing, and script). Then placing a plastic print-shop typeset

The first sentence is the same for all figures. This figure is an example of text printed with a fixed pitch for Figure 1. Each letter is separated from the next by the same amount and is the same from one line to the next.

The first sentence is the same for all figures. This figure is an example of text printed with microjustification for Figure 2. The distance from letter to letter is constant for each line but varies from one line to the next.

Figure I: An example of fixed-pitch printing.

Figure 2: Microjustified printing.

The

firs t

sentence is

the

same

for

all fig

ures.

This fi

gure is an

exan

pie of

text

printed

with

pro

portional

spacing

for

Figure 3.

Each

letter

has

its

own

width

but

the

characters

are

all

about

the

width

The first sentence is the

same

for all figures. This figure

is an

example of text printed

with

proportional spacing for F

igure

4. Each letter has its

own

width, and the characters

have

their natural widths.

Figure 3: Proportionally spaced printing with fixed-width letters. Figure 4: Proportional spacing with natural-width letters.

330 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

REVIEW: MAG1CPRINT

ting overlay on the printouts, I determined the width for every character. The values for the characters for each print wheel were entered into separate versions of MagicPrint using the system debugger.

If you are using the CP/M version (as I did with the North Star Horizon), load MagicPrint into memory with DOT or SID. Dump memory starting at location 200 hexadecimal. You will see the lowercase letters, the uppercase letters, and then the special characters in the ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) representation on the right side of the screen. The width of each character is given immediately following the corresponding character. You can change the widths with the S command. You can also change the default-line length and character density at this time; the locations are 113 and 114 hexadecimal. Then return to CP/M and save the new version.

Dot Commands

Formatting commands are given to MagicPrint by one of two methodsdot commands or embedded commands. The dot commands begin with two dots starting at the beginning of a line. Several commands can be combined on a single line, but no regular text can appear on this line. The single-dot commands of WordStar are ignored by MagicPrint, and conversely, the double-dot commands of MagicPrint are ignored by WordStar.

The first line of a document typically contains dot commands for turning on the page-numbering function and for setting the line length and the character density. A heading to be printed at the top of each page can be placed next. This section can have its own formatting commands as distinct from the main part of the text; for instance, justification of the right margin can be turned off and the character density can be changed.

A heading to be centered by MagicPrint is not actually centered in the original text but is begun at the left margin. A dot command in the previous line directs MagicPrint to center

the text during printing. The result is a considerable improvement over WordStar, which centers only to the nearest character. By contrast, MagicPrint centers each line precisely.

A flush-right command justifies a partial line with the right margin. This feature can be used to place a date on the right side of a letter. Twocolumn output is obtained by printing a narrow left column, rolling the platen backward with the B command, and offsetting the margin with the M command. Then the right column is printed. You can also use this method to make columns of data line up. Unfortunately, with proportional printing, each line has its own spacing and so columns will not line up normally. This is an inherent limitation of the proportional-printing method rather than of MagicPrint.

Embedded Commands

Unlike dot commands, which are placed on separate lines, the embedded commands appear directly in the text. For the WordStar version, all the WordStar embedded commands are used. These commands include underline, boldface, doublestrike, backspace, subscript, and superscript. By contrast, the standard version of MagicPrint uses a two-character sequence, the first being a left bracket.

Other WordStar-compatible commands are the non-break space and the soft hyphen. The non-break space is used in the middle of a character string (such as a date) to ensure that it will not be split over two lines. You can place a soft hyphen, a Controlunderline sequence, in the middle of a long word. As with WordStar, MagicPrint looks for a soft hyphen to break a long word at the end of a line, but the soft hyphen is ignored if it is not needed.

Embedded commands peculiar to MagicPrint are the pitch change and footnote. Normally the pitch of an entire document is selected on the first line with a dot command. However, the pitch of any single letter or group of letters can be set by an embedded pitch command. A ligature, such as as,

[continued]

AT A GLANCE

Name

MagicPrint

Manufacturer

Computer EdiType Systems 509 Cathedral Parkway New York, NY 10025

Versions Available

Standard version for CP/M, CP/M-86, PCDOS, or MS-DOS WordStar version

Format

5W or 8-inch floppy disk

Minimum Hardware

Daisy-wheel printer 48K bytes of RAM

Documentation

50-page manual

Price

MagicPrint MagicBind Magiclndex

$195 $250 $295

Audience

Anyone who uses a daisy-wheel printer

IANUARY

IYTE 331

This ad

is for all those

who ever wonder

why your

company runs

a United Way

campaign.

When it comes right down to it, you're probably the best reason your company has for getting involved with the United Way.

You see, they know almost all of the money given to the United Way goes back out into the community to help people.

So if you, or the people you work with, should ever need any of our services, like day care, family counseling or health care, we'll be right there to help. In fact, there are tens of thousands of United Way-supported programs and services in cities and towns across the country. That means help is nearby wherever you are.

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ll A Public Service ol This Magazine & The Adverlismg Council

REVIEW: MAG1CPR1NT

MagicPrint will move the footnote from the text and put it at the bottom of the page.

can be produced by this means.

The embedded command for footnotes is a useful feature that lets you first place a footnote directly in the text at the point of reference as you are creating the document. Then MagicPrint will move the footnote from the text and put it at the bottom of the page. The footnote text can be separately formatted, like the heading, so that you can shorten the line length or tighten the character pitch, for example. One drawback is that the footnotes are not automatically numbered.

File Merging and Indexing

Text such as boilerplate material and resumes may be frequently needed in reports. However, it is not necessary to actually incorporate this material into each report. With the MagicBind program, you need only indicate at the proper point of the main document that an auxiliary file is to be inserted during printing. The MagicBind program can also perform all of the MagicPrint tasks. (Like MagicPrint, both a standard version and a WordStar version are available.) And of course MagicBind prints with proportional spacing.

MagicBind can also print a set of personalized form letters, each addressed to a different person. Furthermore, each letter is individually formatted so that extra spaces do not appear after short names.

Magiclndex, the third program from Computer EdiType Systems, includes all the features of MagicBind. In addition, it can generate an alphabetical index of selected words in a document with their corresponding page

numbers. Magiclndex can also create a table of contents.

Single words or groups of words in your text can be selected for indexing by surrounding them with one of several special symbols. These selected index words are regular words in the text and not separate entries that have to be specially typed in.

You can opt for any of several categories of index entry. Generally, the selected words will appear both in the printed text and in the index. However, the selected words need not necessarily be taken from the printed text, and they will only appear in the index. It is also possible to change the case between the printed version and the index version. Special provisions are made for marking "see also" entries. Of course, text marked for indexing appears strange when viewed on the video screen because of the special indexing symbols.

Problems and Counters

MagicPrint can produce a betterlooking printout than WordStar. However, what you see on the screen when creating a file with WordStar is not what you get when the file is printed with MagicPrint. Headings are not centered, page breaks are wrong, and text is not justified. Nevertheless, you can give MagicPrint a keyboard command to display your file on the video screen. Page breaks are then correctly shown but the text is not justified.

MagicPrint is initially configured for the Diablo Bold PS print wheel. However, changing the built-in table to match your particular print wheel is relatively easy if you are a systems programmer but can be difficult for others.

Praiseworthy

MagicPrint is ideal for producing finished documents that require a typeset appearance. As an example, editors of a newsletter could use a word processor and a letter-quality printer to produce camera-ready material. If the look of your printed material is important, then MagicPrint is a superb product. ■

332 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 285

ft ©EfflGDflMSffl]

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The 1200A is fully Hayes compatible. You'll be able to use most of the Apple II communications programs available.

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Inquiry 168

IBM PCjr

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336 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 290

HARDWARE REVIEW

The Hewlett-Packard Think]et Printer

A compact,

portable, and

innovative

by Mark Haas

The Thinklet printer is a lightweight ink-jet printer that comes in three "flavors": the HP 2225A, with an HPIB (Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus) IEEE-488 interface; the battery-powered HP 2225B. with an HP1L (Hewlett-Packard Interpnnter face Loop) interface; and the HP 2225C, with a Centronics-compatible interface for use with most non-Hewlett-Packard computers such as the IBM Personal Computer (PC) and Apple computers. The printers are identical in all other respects including the price of $495. Each printer is about 11 inches wide by V/i inches high by 8 inches deep and weighs about 6/2 pounds. The unit I tested, the HP 2225B, sat nicely on top of the 9114A disk drive I had already connected to the HP 110 portable computer. The Think)et features most of the things you'd expect in a printer, including several print pitches, bold and underlining, short line-seeking logic to position the print head, graphics, and reasonable speed. 1 was also impressed by the ease of setup and use.

Setting It Up

Before 1 could use the Thinkjet printer, I had to connect it to the HPIL, which is HewlettPackard's proprietary scheme for connecting computers and peripherals. Connecting any device to the HPIL is child's play because it's virtually impossible to connect the cables incorrectly. In some situations, however, you have to place a device in a certain position in the loop. This is the case when using the Thinklet in a loop with both the HP 110 portable and the HP 150 desktop computers (using the Portable-Desktop Link): you must position the HP 150 before the Thinklet printer and after the HP 9114A portable disk drive. The owner's guide that comes with the Portable-Desktop Link provides more details.

Regardless of which interface you have, the next step is to insert the print-head cartridge, which comes in a metal container not unlike those used for salad dressing on the

Mark Haas (2600 Tenth St..

Berkley. CA 94710) is the

technical director for

OsbornelMcGraw-Hill

airlines. You remove the thin foil top by peeling it back to reveal the cartridge and a small piece of blotting paper called an absorber. First, you insert the absorber in a small metal clip at the left end of the carriage. The absorber catches the initial spurt of ink the printer makes when first turned on. You then drop the cartridge into the print-head carriage and close the retaining latch by lifting upward. The manual says the latch will snap shut. Mine did not snap, though it was closed firmly. If anything, it seemed to snap when opening the latch.

The cartridge itself is quite amazing. Cylindrical in shape and just over an inch long, the clear plastic cartridge houses a plastic sack containing the ink supply and a solidstate device that squirts the drops of ink. Actually, it's an array of squirters stacked 12 high. Electrical paths lead from each squirter down the front of the cartridge to small contact points. When the cartridge is installed, these contacts connect with matching contacts on the carriage assembly. Changing the cartridge, therefore, not only replenishes the ink supply but also replaces the entire print-head mechanism—for only $7.95. Each cartridge is good for about 500 pages of text and has an expiration date.

Choosing the proper paper is very important. Since the printer is actually projecting droplets of ink onto the paper, the ink will bleed on a paper that is too absorbent— roughly equivalent to writing with a fountain pen on tissue paper. So be sure to buy paper suited for an ink-jet printer. The paper supplied by Hewlett-Packard has only one good side, and therefore you must be careful how you load the paper.

I found the paper loading to be very easy. The left pin wheel (tractor) is fixed so only the right side needs to be adjusted. You insert the paper from the back, under the paper separator, place it behind the pin wheels, and bring it around to the front. There is no platen. After you adjust the right pin wheel and close the paper bail, you're

[continued]

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 337

AT A GLANCE

Name

Hewlett-Packard ThinkJet printer

Manufacturer

Hewlett-Packard Company 1081 Embarcadero Rd. Palo Alto, CA 94304 800-367-4772

Type

Dot matrix, ink jet

Size

Approximately 11 inches wide by 31/2 inches high by 8 inches deep

Equipment Needed

Computer with HewlettPackard Interface Loop port, Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (IEEE-488) interface, or Centronics-compatible interface

Features

Quiet operation, batterypowered portable (2225B only), 4 pitches, bold, underline, raster graphics

Documentation

78-page owner's manual

Price

Printer: $495 (all models), replacement cartridge: $7.95

Warranty

90-day limited

PRINT SPEED (CHARACTERS/SEC)

PRINT SPEED (CHARACTERS/SEC)

'WiMM/,

\

wsmmmm

0 20 40 GO 80

EMPHASIZED MODE

40 60 80

DRAFT MODE

LIST PRICE ($ 100)

ffffH

|:../ ') EPSON RX-80

GEMINI-10X

8 10

This is the Hewlett-Packard 2225B Thinkjet Printer.

This is the Epson RX-80. This is the Epson

This is the Star Gemini-10X This is the St

These graphs compare the ThinkJet 2225B printer took to print 50 lines of 60 As (see "The

printer with the Epson RX-80 and Gemini-10X Art of Benchmarking Printers," by Sergio Mello

in print speed (emphasized and draft modes), Grand in the February 1984 BYTE, page 193).

list price, and print quality. The print speeds The prices shown are list prices and include

were determined by timing how long each tractor-feed mechanisms.

338 BYTE- IANUARY

REVIEW: THINKJET

The Thinkjet

printer accepts both single sheets and fanfold paper.

done. The Thinkjet will accept both single sheets and fanfold paper.

Since the Thinkjet 222 5B is battery powered, you don't have to plug it in before turning it on, which you do by hitting a rocker switch on the back of the printer. You can perform the builtin self-test by holding down the linefeed button and turning the printer on. When you release the button, a programmed set of printed examples will appear, including the full character set, graphics, different pitches, etc. A full page is printed, though you can terminate the test at any time by turning the printer off.

1 had never used an ink-jet printer before, and I was impressed at how quiet the Thinkjet was. All I heard was the gentle whir of the motor moving the print head back and forth. There's none of the high-frequency noise usually associated with print-head pins hitting paper.

Printer Features

Though the Thinkjet printer doesn't perform as many functions as some of the more powerful (and expensive) printers, it can be quite flexible. Through software commands you can control pitch, print attributes, page length, text length, and graphics.

The Thinkjet can print in four pitches: normal (12 characters per inch |cpi|), expanded (6 cpi), compressed (21.3 cpi), and a combination of expanded and compressed (10.7 cpi). Given the maximum line length the Thinklet can print, each pitch has its maximum number of characters per line: normal, 80: expanded, 40: compressed, 142: expanded-compressed, 71. The Thinkjet cannot print normal characters at 10 cpi (as called for in BYTE's benchmark tests), so the

speed benchmark was performed at 12 cpi.

Thinkjet can print each of the four pitches in bold, underlined, or both, all in one pass of the print head. An example of all the possible combinations is shown in figure 1. You can set the line spacing (either 6 or 8 lines per inch), the page length (up to 2 55 lines), and the number of lines of text on each page. The last two are related, however, and changing the page length alone automatically adjusts the text length to 1 inch less than the page length. A full line of text still leaves a 1-inch margin on both the left

and right sides of the paper, and there is no way to override this. The display functions mode is useful for debugging, and it prints control and escape sequences rather than executing them.

If you intend to use the Thinklet printer with commercial software packages that have graphics output such as Lotus 1-2-3, be aware that Thinklet interprets graphics data that it receives from the computer differently from other popular printers such as Epson's. Unless you are up to writing your own graphics drivers, you

{continued)

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Figure 1: Print sample from the Thinklet printer showing normal, compressed, expanded, and expanded-compressed pitches in combination with bold and underlining.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 339

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Inquiry 79

REVIEW: THINKJET

The Think]et is very easy to use, so not much is required for documentation.

should make sure that the software has a driver for the Thinkjet.

Documentation

The Thinkjet printer is very easy to use, so not much is required for documentation. The manual includes sections on: initial setup, with appropriate warnings about things like not eating the ink; how to use each printer function and a table containing decimal equivalents of the command sequences that makes BASIC programming a snap; an explanation of the graphics function, including a simple example; a short maintenance and troubleshooting guide; and appendixes on using the printer with the HP 41, HP 71, HP 75, and HP series 80 computers. The manual also discusses how to connect the Thinkjet printer through an HPIL/HPIB (IEEE-488) interface converter.

BYTE Benchmarks

As I explained previously, 1 did the BYTE printer benchmarks for the Thinkjet printer in the 12-cpi (normal) mode. Note that the Thinkjet's print head moves at a constant linear velocity, even for bold and underlining. Since the linear velocity is fixed, the number of characters per second (cps) is really dependent on the pitch of the characters. The Thinkjet prints a line of 40 characters in expanded mode, for example, in the same time as it prints a line of 142 characters in compressed mode, though the latter has a cps rate over VA times greater than the expanded mode.

The Thinkjet printer that I tested printed fifty 60-character lines (3000 characters, normal pitch) in 32.96 seconds, or 90.02 characters per second.

Hewlett-Packard is claiming a print

speed of 150 cps at 12 cpi, but they are measuring only burst speed and are not including the time it takes for the print head to accelerate and decelerate at the beginning and end of each line, as well as the time to advance the paper one line. To confirm this I printed fifty 50-character lines (2 500 characters) at the normal pitch, 12 cpi. This took only 29.7 seconds, which means that the additional 500 characters of the first test took an additional 3.26 seconds (32.96-29.7), for a burst speed of 153.37 cps at normal pitch.

Conclusions

1 used the Thinkjet with a prerelease version of WordStar for the HP 110 portable computer. All functions are supported except for microjustification and variable line height, as would be expected. I printed subscripts and superscripts using the printer's halfline feed function, as no reverse line feeds can be done. But the Thinkjet's ability to print bold and underlining (or both together) in one pass does speed up printing documents containing these attributes. Most dot-matrix impact printers print bold and underlining by overprinting, sometimes several times, and this cuts throughput dramatically in documents containing many of these attributes.

Although Hewlett-Packard provides remedies for unclogging clogged print heads, I had no such trouble while testing the printer, even after it was left sitting unused for two weeks. Changing the cartridges couldn't be easier, and HP even provides you with a new print head.

The 2225B battery-powered Thinkjet printer makes a nice addition to Hewlett-Packard's portable line. The other two Thinkjet models compare favorably to others in their price range. They are quiet, compact, lightweight, and provide enough features to make them useful for most applications. Together with the HP 110 portable computer and the HP 9114A disk drive, the Thinkjet printer completes the loop, so to speak, on a powerful portable computing system. ■

2 Megabytes

THE LARGEST CAPACITY DISK EMULATOR YOU HAVE EVER SEEN.

You know about disk emulators. They're fast semiconductor disk drives. Very fast. But until now, the most disk storage you could get on a single board was 1Mbyte. (That was from us, too.) Now we have news that'll really blow your socks off.. 2 Megabytes on a single board. Available NGfW: That's not a pie-in-the-sky promise.

That's enough storage for dozens of large programs and hundreds of kilobytes of data files. Enough for almost anything you want to do with a disk drive. But that's not all. With SemiSpool, our CP/M print spooler, you can implement a print buffer hundreds of kilobytes long in seconds. All in software. At no extra cost.

Another thing about disk emulators. Unless they're from SemiDisk Systems, they're probably afraid of the dark: Lose power or turn the computer off, and your valuable data goes to that big backup disk in the sky. But our Battery Backup Units keep SemiDisk data flying high while your computer is off, and up to 10 hours during a complete blackout.

So remeijm emiDisk Systems has been building

dedicatedjM >mputer disk emulators longer than anyone. And larger. And faster. And at a much lower cost. And that's not a lot of hot air.

AT A PRICE YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D SEE

512K

1Mbyte

2Mbyte

SemiDisk I, S-100

1995

$1795

SemiDisk II, S-100

11295

12095

12549

ibmpc,xt3t

1945

$1795

12499

QX-10.QX-16

$799

$2499

TRS-8011,12,16

1995

$1795

$2499

Battery Backup Unit

1150

SEMIDISK

SemiDisk Systems, Inc.

P.O. Box GG, Beaverton, Oregon 97075

503-642-3100

Inquiry 314

Call 503 646-5510 for CBBS/NW, 503-775-4838 for CBBS/PCS, and 503 649-8327 for CBBS/Aloha. all SemiDisk equipped computer bulletin boards (300/1200 baud). SemiDisk. SemiSpool trademarks of SemiDisk Systems. CP/M trademark of Digital Research

w/ was very impressed

with its overall performance

and capabilities... excellent interactive

and data quality assurance capabilities

... relatively easy to master..."

6/7/ Jacobson BYTE, October 1984

DATAEA5E is the most complete information management system available. While literally hundreds of systems claim to offer simple solutions to complex business information needs, rave reviews from our clients, application developers and the media confirm DATAEA5E as the only product which delivers on this promise.

"DATAEASE received the highest "Overall Evaluation' rating of the five fully relational programs tested by Software Digest in its report on 20 IBM PC database and file management programs appearing in the March 1984 issue of The Ratings Newsletter."

The Ratings newsletter

Software Digest, 1984

Well over 10,000 business clients worldwide — large and small — say DATAEA5E's power and ease-of-use greatly increases pro

ductivity. In fact in September of 1984, MI5, Inc. (a leading supplier of software to corporate America) sold more DATAEA5E programs than any other database management systems — ahead of dBA5EIIIR, Symphony™, framework™ and Rbase™ 4000!

"DATABASE is a true winner— on technical merit alone, DATAEA5E would put dBASEII out of business."

Business Computer Systems

April 1984

DATAEA5E is the ideal combination of power and ease-of-use. With or without programming skills, you can harness the full power of your micro to create forms and custom menus; sort, group and calculate statistical information; update and link files; access

BYTE Review Comparison

Chart

DATAEA5E

Condor

dBASE II

Menu driven

Yes

ho

Mo

Built-in programming language

Mo

Mo

Yes

Command/Batch file processing

Yes

Yes

Yes(l)

Custom screen generator

Yes

Yes

Yes

Password protection

Yes

Mo

Mo

Prevents duplicate entries

Yes

Mo

Mo

Data field masking

Yes

Mo

Yes(l)

Lookup file capabilities

Yes

Mo

Yes(l)

Maximum capacities

Files open concurrently

Mo limit

1

2

Data-entry forms per file

no limit

1

1

Records per file

65,535

65,534

65,535

Fields per record

255

127

32

Characters per record

8000

1024

1000

Characters per field

255

127

254

Active index keys

255

1

7

Quick report generator

Yes

Yes

Yes

Complex report writer

Yes

Yes

Mo

Color capabilities

Yes

Mo

(2)

Uses IBM PC function keys

Yes

Mo

Mo

Program file disk space needed

590IS(3)

270K

96K

Random-access memory required

192K

128K

128K

List price

$595

$650

$495

Available formats

Most 16-bit

Most

Most

Format tested

PC-D05

PC-D05

PC-D05

Version tested

2.10

2.11

2.40

MOTE5: (1) Requires programming. one disk.

(2) Very limited capabilities, requires programming.

(3) Program files may be located

on more than

forms to generate standard or custom reports; interchange data with mainframes and popular programs . . . and much more.

"It's the best thing since peanut butter!'

Nicholas D. Lentner, Purchasing Agent State University of hew York

Finding DATAEA5E. Demonstrating and supporting database management systems is a difficult task. That's why we've made DATAEA5E only available through highly competent retailers such as participating ComputerLand stores. Contact us directly regarding our Dealer or Corporate Programs. Or for information on The 50fTEA5E™ Tamily of Products (DATAEA5E™, WORDEA5E™, GRAPHEA5E™ and D05EA5E™).

Inquiry 323

DATAEA5E BYT1/85 Demonstration Diskette

Check one: □ IBM PC □ WANG □ DEC □ Tl

□ Check attached for $10. Send information package with demonstration.

□ 5end information only, flame:

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Company:

Sfrppr

Cify

State:

Zip:

Software Solutions, Inc., 305 Bic Drive

Milford, CT 06460 • 203-877-9268 • Telex: 703972

For information call:

800-243-5123

Canada logiquest. Inc., Montreal; 514-397-9631

Scandanavia South Africa

West Soft A/5, Alesund, Morway; (47) 71-41141 Dataflex,Craighill; 11724-6353

United Kingdom Sapphire 5ystems, Essex; 01-544-0582

West Germany Martrt fit Technlh, Munich; 089-4613-0

1984 Software Solutions, Inc

interact with a Genius

135W POWER SUPPIY

Hard Disk ready

+ 12Vat4.5Amax

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Same dimension and plug

compatible with IBM PC/XT

power supply

HARD DISK ASSEMBLY

10 Mb formatted Fixed Disk 5 Mb formatted Removable Cartridge Unlimited storage Bootable from fixed disk

SUPER MOTHERBOARD

Single layer double sided

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Same dimension as IBM

motherboard

Up to 256K Ram on-board

8 I/O slots

PERSYST B.O.B. BOARD

Super hl-res display adapter on text and graphics 10 x 16 character cell in monochrome and color Programmable and software selectable character sets

MULTIFUNCTION CARD

0-384K memory expansion plus 256K on board to give maximum addressable memory.

^|

The Ultimate in IBM PC/XT compatibles.

The Super XT Plus by Super Computer is a better alternative than the standard PC/XT configuration. The 256Kb of dynamic RAM with parity can be upgraded to 640Kb. Eight I/O slots give you the maximum in tailored expandability. A 16 Bit 8088 Microprocessor with an 8087

coprocessor option gives you the speed to tackle the heavy jobs. Two half-height 360K Floppy Disk Drives are matched with a half-height 5 Mb Removable Hard Disk and a 10 Mb fixed Hard Disk. A Multfunction card is included with Serial and Parallel ports, Clock Calendar. Game port, and memory expansion to

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DEALER AND OEM INQUIRES INVITED

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/

• «•

HARDWARE REVIEW

The TI Omni 800/Model 855 Printer

ROM-based

of fonts

Like most computer users, I often find myself needing printouts of varying quality. Program listings can have a

coarse, dot-matrix look, as long as they are

provide a produced quickly. The letters I send, how; ever, need a more polished look. The so

Vanety called enhanced mode on my dot-matrix printer is better than the normal draft mode but lacks the quality print associated with more expensive dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers. But most of these cannot produce BY MARK HAAS the graphics I use. Do I need two printers? The Texas Instruments Omni 800'Model 85 5 printer is an interesting alternative for those of us in this situation. In addition to providing quick drafts, graphics, and highquality characters, the 85 5's unique system of selectable font modules (ROM |read-only memory| cartridges] gives you an easy, flexible way of choosing different type styles. This printer also comes with serial and parallel interfaces that can be connected to most computers. All this, including the tractor-feed mechanism, comes in a compact unit for $995, little more than many dot-matrix printers.

Setting It Up

The printer I tested arrived in its factory carton and required me to set it up. This process includes unpacking the printer, installing the ribbon and tractor-drive assembly, setting the tractor width and position, loading the paper and font modules, adjusting the print head, and connecting the cable to the computer.

Unpacking the printer is straightforward, just a matter of checking that everything was in the carton. Installing the ribbon was remarkably easy—I didn't even get ink on my fingers. This involved a trick, however: I used the eraser end of a pencil to roll the ribbon into the ribbon guide in front of the print head. The manual provides another

equally valid method and warns of the

Marti Haas 12600 TchI/i SI.. , c , . . . , , , ,

Berkley. CA 94710) ,s the dangers of a hot print head when chang

tectmical director for mg ribbons after using the printer. The

OsbomeiMcGmw-HHl. tractor-drive assembly installs easily, too.

Loading the paper was an interesting diversion. In my enthusiasm to get started, I loaded it without looking at the manual. Since the tractors sit behind the platen and feed the paper into it, I passed the paper through them, closed the tractor covers, and turned the platen until the paper passed under it, around and up the front. This worked perfectly.

In preparing this article, however, I decided to follow the instructions in the manual: "Insert the paper |from behind the platen and| turn the paper advance knob to move the paper around the platen . . . until the paper can be laid over the tractordrive pins. Close the tractor covers." Following these instructions will surely lead you to disaster, because the paper coming out from in front of the platen will be pushed back into the platen by the movement of the tractors. Even the diagram in the manual showing the paper path with dotted lines will cause improper loading. It would lead you to believe that the tractors pull the paper out from the platen, which they don't. Could it be that this diagram and the instructions were "lifted" from another TI printer manual? The bottom line is don't follow the manual to load the paper. It's wrong.

|Editor's note: Texas \nstruments has acknowledged the problem with early editions of the manual and states that it began shipping corrected versions with the printer after March l.|

You plug the font modules into the front of the printer in much the same way that a game cartridge plugs into its console. The 85 5 comes with one font module, Gothic ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) 96, and room for three font modules. Each module contains a small green LED (light-emitting diode) that lights when that module is selected. You can select modules by software or from the control panel that is atop the printer.

It is possible to configure the cabling from the printer to the computer for either serial

{continued)

IANUARY 1985 • BYTE 345

REVIEW: Tl MODEL 855

The 855 can

operate in two command modes.

or parallel operation. The unit 1 tested was connected for parallel operation. The pinout is the standard Centronics type, and the manual has complete details on the interfacing. In fact, the cable sent to me from BYTE was not in the correct configuration. I followed the diagram and charts in the manual to reconfigure the cable, and it then worked perfectly.

Features

Turning on the printer causes it to light up like a Christmas tree, as all 12 LEDs on the control panel and each font module light up as part of the self-test feature. After about five seconds, the print head positions itself at the beginning of the line, and the printer assumes the default state. The default state means the printer is in the draft

mode (six lines per inch), the lowestnumbered (leftmost) font module is selected, and the printer is in either the word-processing or data-processing mode, as determined by an internal switch setting (more on this below). The font selected determines the character spacing (10 or 12 characters per inch).

Holding the Module Select switch down and then turning on the power causes the printer to produce a barber-pole pattern of characters across the paper. This helps you set the print head and test the different fonts, character and line spacings, and draft and quality modes.

The 85 5 can operate in one of two command modes: word processing and data processing. In the word-processing mode, the printer accepts most of the commands used with daisy-wheel printers such as the Qume Sprint 9/11 and the Diablo 630. This is useful for printing text with subscripts and superscripts, proportional spacing, and automatic justification. Most word processors have printer drivers for this type of printer.

FINANCIAL FORECAST

CORPORATE CONSOLIDATION

SI

M D

H

WordStar users in particular can more easily access features since WordStar does not support dot-matrix printers well. Now you can let WordStar think you have a Diablo 630.

The data-processing mode is useful with a program like Lotus 1-2-3, where you want to print both spreadsheets and graphics. The graphics commands for the 855's 60 and 120 dotper-inch bit-mapped images are identical to those for an Epson FX-80. Lotus 1-2-3 was able to produce single- double- and triple-density graphics using its FX-80 printer driver, but the printer did not support the quad-density (240 dot-per-inch) graphics mode. I tested this feature using Lotus 1-2-3 to print the graph of some data. The result is shown in figure 1.

You are able to set the 855 in either the word-processing or data-processing mode by setting a switch near the print head when the unit is first turned on. Subsequently, either mode can be selected by a software command from the computer.

[continued]

Figure I: A triple-density graph produced by lotus 1-2-3 and printed

by the Model 855 printer [from The Osborne/McGraw-Hill Guide to Usin^

Lotus 1-2-3).

Table 1: A comparison of the print speed of the Texas \nstruments Omni 800lModel 855 printer with tested speeds of other popular printers. For the dot-matrix, printers, the test consisted of printing 50 lines containing 80 As. The daisy-wheel printers were tested using Shannon text. All tests were done at 10 cpi.

Claimed

Actual

Model 855

Draft mode

150

115.9

Quality mode

35

29.9

Epson FX-80

Draft mode

160

95.5

Emphasized mode

60.3

Star Gemini-10X

Draft mode

120

63.6

Emphasized mode

41.6

Diablo 630

31.8

38.2

Juki 6100

18

18.0

346 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Here's The Sawy-est True Dual Trace 10 MHz Digital Storage Scope You Ever Saw .. At The Saving-est Price. Only $595.

Logic Scope

UPPER TRACE

True Dual Trace • 10 MHz Real Time Bandwidth • 3 Input Channels • I/O Port

Digital Waveform Storage • Boolean Waveform Operations • Audio Functions

8.0 (L) x 4.5 (D) x 1.75 (H) Inches • 1.25 Pounds • 9 Volt Battery/AC Operation

Consider the LogicScope 136

■ The LogicScope 136 is the next logical step in test instrumentation for you. It combines many of the features and capabilities of sophisticated logic analyzers and oscilloscopes . . . and it fits in your hand. Never before has so much technology been available in so small an instrument, at such a low price.

■ The pocket-sized LogicScope 136 is made possible by a patented breakthrough in display technology. The conventional CRT has been replaced by a unique array of 400 LED's that permits simultaneous display of two digital waveforms.

■ The 136 can be used for viewing single shot events, or repetitive waveforms. It can be operated in real time mode, or in memory mode which permits acquisition and storage of up to 50-100 bit waveforms. These can be recalled, logically compared (AND, OR, EXCLUSIVE OR) to other input waveforms, or output to an external device via an I/O port. This I/O port will also accept future add-on 136 Modules.

■ Its very low cost, convenience and ease-of-use make the LogicScope the ideal instrument, for designing, troubleshooting or repairing digital systems. Made in U.S.A.

Inquiry 277

Consider its Engineering & Field Service Applications:

■ On microprocessor-based systems, check the timing relationship of various parameters relative to the system clock and other key events. Its storage capability allows visual and logical comparison of non-repetitive waveforms to known reference signals. Output in the start-up of the digital device can be compared to reference signals to determine the operating state of the device. Questionable waveforms can be stored for analysis.

■ Its light weight and small size make the LogicScope convenient to take on every service call. The 136 provides much more information for trouble shooting a digital system or peripheral than a logic probe or digital counter without having to lug an oscilloscope or logic analyzer along.

Contact us for the name of your local distributor

poccel ecO-noLOG?, inc.

7320 Parkway Drive, Hanover, MD 21076 U.S.A. 301-796-3300 TELEX 908207 Division of Renaissance Technology Corp.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 347

REVIEW: TI MODEL 855

The 855 performs admirably in regard to print quality.

Within each command mode, you choose either quality mode, a near letter-quality mode with 32- by 18-dot characters, or draft mode, with 9 by

9 dot-matrix characters.

A useful feature is the ability to configure certain parameters from the control panel atop the printer. These include the selection of the font module, character spacing, line spacing, draft or quality mode, setting the top of form, setting the form length, and performing linefeeds and formfeeds without having to go off line. This makes it possible to prepare and print several drafts of a letter, for ex

This is the dra.f t rnode ,, ABCDEFGHIJKLMN0PQRSTUVWXYZi234567890abcde

This is the quality mode.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcde

This is compressed node. ABCDEFGHUKLHNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcdefghi jklmnopqrstuvwxyz

1 O c f=> i _ expanded pr~ l n't

12 cp i . expanded p>r~ i nt moc

Now let's try the printer jumping jacks e NUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDNUNDN

This is the internal character set at 12 cpi ABCDEFGH IJKLMNOPQRSTUVW X Y Z1234567890a h c d e f g h i j k 1 Ri

This is the Gothic character set at 10 cp ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcde

This is the Gothic character set at 12 cpi, draft ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abedefghi j k1m

This is the Courier character set at 10 c ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcde

This is the Courier character- set at 12 cpi, draf ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcdefghijklm

This is the Orator character set at 10 cp ABCDEFGHIJKlMN0PQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890abcde

Figure 2: Samples of the various print modes and fonts available with the Model 855 printer.

ample, and then print the final copy using the quality mode without having to concern yourself with embedded printer commands or changing printer drivers. A simple push of a button does it. And you can just as easily change the font. too.

Using the Printer

I've used the printer for about two weeks and am pleased with it. I put the 855 through several tests, and it performed well on most of them. I tested the print speed in various modes, the forms handling, and overall operation. The "At a Glance" page reports the results.

The burst-speed rating in the draft mode is 150 characters per second (cps), bidirectional, at 10 characters per inch (cpi). When printing purely textual data, the speed is closer to 116 cps (see table 1). This was tested using Sergio Mello-Grand's benchmark test #6 (from "The Art of Benchmarking Printers," February 1984 BYTE, page 193), which involves printing 50 lines of 80 characters.

I performed a similar test using the quality mode. The TI specification for this mode is 3 5 cps, bidirectional, at 12 cpi. The test results showed the actual print speed closer to 30 cps for both 10 and 12 cpi, a result closer to the published specification. This occurs because, in the quality mode, the print head makes two passes over the same line, printing in the same direction to ensure better registration. Thus, the specification already includes time for head acceleration and deceleration and the time it takes the head to come back to the start of the line for the second pass.

In my mind, the tale of the tape of any printer is its print quality. (Samples appear on the "At a Glance" page.) The 855 performs admirably. As can be seen in figure 2. the quality of the draft-mode print for each character font is excellent. Characters are even, dot formation is very good, and the fonts are legible with true descenders. The quality-mode print approaches daisy-wheel print, although close inspection reveals visi

(conlinucd)

348 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

AT A GLANCE

Name

Texas Instruments Omni 800/ Model 855 Printer

Manufacturer

Texas Instruments Inc. Data Systems Group POB 402430 Dallas, TX 75240 (800) 527-3500

Physical Dimensions

17 by 13 by 5 inches, 15 pounds

Features

Interchangeable font modules; 116 cps in draft mode; 30 cps in quality mode; 7 by 9 or 9 by 9 dots per character in draft mode; 24 by 18 or 32 by 18 dots per character in quality mode; mosaic graphics', Epson-compatible raster graphics in 60 and 120 dot-per-inch densities; also capable of producing 72 and 144 dot-per-inch densities; friction paper feed; parallel and serial interfaces; 256-character buffer

Options

Adjustable-width tractor-drive assembly, paper stacking tray, roll-paper holder, 4Kbyte buffer, additional font modules

Documentation

Operator's Manual and Technical Reference Manual

Price

$935, friction-feed model $995, with tractor feed

The Texas Instruments Omni 800/Model 855 printer provides both near letter-quality and draft-quality printing, with a variety of type styles available in removable font modules.

PRINT SPEED (CHARACTERS/SEC)

0 20 40 60

LIST PRICE ($100) 0 2 4

H

'W%M%^^M,

| MODEL 855 | | EPSON RX-80

GEMINI-10X

This is the Texas Instruments Omni SOO/Wod This is the Epson RX-80. This is the Epson

This is the Star Gemini-lOX This is the St

The Texas Instruments Omni 800/Model 855 printer is compared with the Epson RX-80 and the Gemini-10X (all in draft mode). The pitch for all printers is 10 characters per inch. The print speeds in draft mode were determined by tim

ing how long it took the printers to print 50 lines of 80 As each (see 'The Art of Benchmarking Printers" by Sergio Mello-Grand, in the February 1984 BYTE, page 193). The prices shown are list prices, including tractor-feed mechanism.

IANUARY I985 -BYTE 349

REVIEW: Tl MODEL 855

My greatest

criticism of the 855 is with the tractor setup.

ble dots and slight irregularities.

Controlling the 85 5 through software is straightforward. From BASIC, it is necessary only to send the proper codes to the printer using the LPRINT and CHR$ commands. 1 used a short BASIC program to generate figure 3, the mosaic graphics characters contained in the 855 (and the ASCII characters to produce them), and to perform the print-speed tests. Using PeachText to control the printer was just as easy, especially with PeachText's ability to send any code out the

printer port with the OUT command. The test in figure 2 was generated using PeachText, which was configured to operate a Diablo 630 printer and worked perfectly with the 85 5 in the word-processing mode.

My greatest criticism of the 855 is with its paper-feed mechanism, specifically, the tractor setup. Unlike many printers 1 have used, the tractors on the 855 are used to push paper into the printer. Most printers use the tractors to pull paper from the printer or have two sets of tractors to maintain an even tension on the paper. The consequence of using the tractors to feed paper into the printer is that it tends to jam. 1 found that any slight impedance to the paper exiting the 855 during a formfeed will cause the paper being fed into the printer by the tractors to pile up behind the platen. The only thing pulling the paper through the printer is the pressure of

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Figure 3:

The mosaic

graphics

characters

available

with the Model 855

printer.

the paper-guide rollers on the platen; the friction rollers are disengaged by the installation of the tractors.

Besides the problem with paper jamming, I found this system susceptible to paper skewing. This became evident when performing the printer "jumping jacks" shown in figure 2. The printer is required to alternately perform two half-linefeeds followed by two reverse half-linefeeds. Ideally, all the Us, Ns, and Ds should align horizontally and in most cases they do. But should the paper exiting the printer encounter any impedance, the characters tend to skew, or droop, in their horizontal alignment. This is also a problem when graphing. In extreme cases, it can cause one pass of the two-pass quality-mode print to be offset significantly from the other. Tl even recommends not performing more than one reverse linefeed. 1 found no problem when using friction feed, as the friction rollers keep a secure grip on the paper.

| Editor's note: One advantage of having the tractor mechanism on the input side of the roller—and, in fact, the reason for putting it there, according to Tl—is that it minimizes waste of paper and forms. Paper tear-off occurs about an inch away from the last printed line on a page, as opposed to printers with the tractor on the output side of the roller, which sometimes require throwing away an entire page or form upon removal of the completed document]

Another small annoyance 1 encountered was due to the lack of any indicator showing what command mode you are in: word processing or data processing. More than once 1 tried to use the printer with PeachText, set up for a Diablo 630, after using the printer in the data-processing mode with Lotus 1-2-3. After a few pages of printout, strange things would start happening since PeachText expected the printer to be in the word-processing mode, acting like a Diablo 630. I hadn't remembered to reset the switch near the print head to change modes, and there was no external indicator to warn me. Since you can control so many things from the 855's control panel, why not include changing command modes, too?

350 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

REVIEW: TI MODEL 855

Printer operation was not particularly noisy for an office environment, but those using the unit at home may find the whine of the print-head pins a bit much, especially in the graphics mode when all pins are firing. The clamor from this kind of graphing penetrated a closed bedroom door, traveled the length of my house, and was clearly perceptible over the World War II battle on the television. It should be noted, however, that this was no noisier than other dot-matrix impact printers I have used. TI claims the printer has a noise level of 62 decibels with the tractor.

Conclusions

Until the introduction of the TI 85 5 printer, one usually had to choose between buying a printer that produced fast drafts and graphics or one that produced high-quality print. If both were needed, it meant buying two printers or a very expensive one. TI now offers an alternative. The TI 855 printer provides

• high-speed, draft-quality printing

• moderate-speed, near letter-quality printing

• compatibility with Epson FX-80 graphics commands

• compatibility with daisy-wheel printers

• selectable, interchangeable font modules

• convenient control-panel operation

• mosaic and raster graphics

• parallel and serial interfaces

• 2 56-character buffer, expandable to 4K bytes

In the near future, TI intends to offer additional options, including downloadable character fonts and a character editor to produce them, the ability to produce double-height characters, a character set fully compatible with the TI Professional Computer's, and more. All this is possible due to the plug-in font modules the printer accepts.

If you want a printer to dance all day with WordStar and still be able to graph your 1-2-3 data, take a look at the TI 855. ■

OK-WRITER

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inquiry 298

AFFORDABLE M-68000 COMPUTER SYSTEM

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UPS shipping & handling 9 4.00

COD orders add 9 3.00

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California residents add 6.5% tax

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Sytemi

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Inquiry 123

CONVERSES COMPUTER

Created al MIT in 1966. ELIZA has become Ihe world's most celebrated artificial intelligence demonstration program ELIZA is a non-directive psychotherapist who analyzes each statement as you type it in and then responds with her own comment or question—and her remarks are otten amazingly appropriate'

Designed to run on a large mainframe. ELIZA has never before been available to personal computer users except in greatly slripped down versions lacking the sophistication which made Ihe original program so fascinating

Now. our new microcomputer version possessing the FULL power and range ol expression ol the original is being oflered at the introductory price ol only J25 And it you want to find out how she does it lor teach her to do more), we will include the complete SOURCE PROGRAM lor only S20 additional

Order your copy ol ELIZA today and you'll never again wonder how to respond when you hear someone say. "Okay, lei's see what Ihis computer ot yours can actually do1"

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TEAC55B (360 K) $132

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Inquiry 81

\ferbatim

flexible disks

Call Free (800) 235-4137 for

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Inquiry 268

Sure itfs insured?

SAFEWARE Insurance provides full

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Inquiry 30

Inquiry 310

Gilford's

Multiuser Concurrent DOSi

The net that works!

Gifford has the network solution. It's simple, fast, secure, complete, and it works. Multiuser Concurrent DOS is based on Digital Research's Concurrent DOS, the only major microcomputer operating system specifically designed for networking.

Users can share disks and printers transparently, and can also take advantage of true mul tiuser features like file and record lockout. And Gifford has added a bundle of features that makes Multiuser Concurrent DOS easy to install and use. It lets you get right to work.

Our net is ARCNET7

Multiuser Concurrent DOS utilizes Datapoint's ARCNET, the most popular network hardware in the industry. It's reliable, economical, and fast you can add users without overloading the network.

You can network up to 255 single and multiuser systems. You can connect single or multiuser Gifford or CompuPro" systems as well as IBM PC-XTs* Dual processor Gifford and CompuPro systems can run thousands of 8 or 16 bit CP/M or MP/M applications. PC-XTs can run 16 bit CP/M and MP/M programs as well as most popular MS-DOS applications, such as Lotus 1-2-3.™

Gifford adds to your net worth.

Our enhancements of Concurrent DOS make it possible to get more and better work done in less time. Networkwide features include electronic mail, event calendar, inter-terminal communication, user time accounting and usage report ^^00 generation, telecommunications, user expandable HELP facility

reminder messages, message of the day, automatic startup and shutdown procedures, and easily prepared files for initializing terminals, printers, and network nodes.

Gifford's Virtual Terminals™ increase productivity

by offering fullscreen concurrency; you can run up to four

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physical terminal.

The safety net.

Multiple users can mean multiple security problems. Gifford's security enhancements include

login account names and encrypted passwords to control access to the system. Users can be further restricted to specified ^^^^terminals,

user areas, programs, or nodes on the 'network. You're also safe from excessive down time, since the modular network architecture gives you immunity from single point failure.

Gifford nets a big one: Simplicity.

If you've gone through the ordeal of typing as many as seven commands just to get on and off a network,

Gifford has your number. A single, menudriven network command handles all your network options. Everything you need is right in front of you. The net effect is simplicity —and sanity.

If you'd like to see how Gifford's *» Multiuser Concurrent DOS can

solve your networking problems, or ' if you'd like to know about Gifford's selection of multiuser systems and software options, call (415) 895-0798. Or write us at the address below. We'll send you a free networking brochure and give you the name of ) the nearest dealer.

Multiuser Concurrent DOS is a trademark of Gifford

Computer Systems. Concurrent DOS is a trademark of Digital Research, Inc. ARCNET is a trademark ofDatapoint

Corporation. IBM PC-XT is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. CompuPro is a registered trademark of CompuPro Corporation. Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corp. Virtual Terminals is a trademark of Gifford Computer Systems.

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THE MULTIUSER COMPANY

I

352 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 148

REVIEW FEEDBACK

MultiMate 3.20

The article "Word Processing Revisited" by Janet Cameron in BYTE's Guide to the IBM Personal Computers (page 165) seriously misrepresents the MultiMate 3.20 Word Processor. We think the reviewer paid our product much too short a "revisit," but that does not excuse or explain the many errors.

The review was obviously done in haste by a writer who was much more familiar with other products mentioned. In addition, this special edition seems to have been more interested in "colorful" writing than clarity or accuracy. That's not what readers expect from BYTE.

First 1 must correct Multimate's phone number. It is (203) 522-2116.

The article is billed as a "new product" review but is actually a review of a product we replaced in March 1984 with MultiMate version 3.22. (See "Leading Edge and MultiMate" by C J Puotinen, November 1984, page 287.) The overlap of BYTE's publication schedule and our publication schedule was truly unfortunate, but the writer made little attempt to find out if the next version changed the things she criticized. The next release of MultiMate for the IBM will be version 3.3, with proportional-spacing capability, ability to merge data from ASCII files at print time, and other enhancements.

Even the article's simplest descriptions of our package are inaccurate. For instance, the reviewer claimed that an alphabetical list of features was lacking. It is in the manual, on the template, and available from our on-screen help facility. Editing is discussed at length before merge printing. There is a clear reminder to adjust your contrast controls so you can see on-screen highlighting. We don't know why the review said these things are missing from the manual.

Futhermore, the article is contradictory. The "At a Glance" box contradicts parts of the article on reference materials; the spelling corrector is described favorably at the beginning of the article and unfavorably elsewhere. It is a spelling corrector, not just a spell-check program, and it uses an 80,000-word Merriam-Webster dictionary and an algorithm that recognizes

phonetic errors. A British version of the speller is also available.

BYTE's benchmark tests usually are important. This benchmark comparison is not explained at all and could lead readers to the false conclusion that it takes a terribly long time for MultiMate to get around inside a document.

A benchmark test of scrolling through a document with the down arrow is misleading in a review of a Wang-like, pageoriented program. Why not have a test of going to a specific page number? Most programs can't do it, while our GoTo key (Fl) lets you jump to page 2 5 as quickly as to page 2. You rarely scroll between pages, since MultiMate takes time to open and close each page on disk when you scroll past a page break. When you save a document, there is only one page left to save. That's why MultiMate was the fastest program for saving a file, which the review barely mentioned.

Next, a few words about features and updates. Version 3.20 was a transitional edition of MultiMate. IBM MultiMate version 3.20 users were given free upgrades to the next version—at great cost to this company. The free update mentioned in the article was for that version only, but our update policies are still generous.

Finally, we should mention that the review concerned MultiMate for the IBM PC while there are different versions of MultiMate for the Corona, Texas Instruments Professional, Tandy Model 2000, Toshiba, and other machines. Some features and policies vary under our OEM (original equipment manufacturer) contracts for these versions.

Bob Stepno

Multimate International

East Hartford, CT

All the software programs 1 review for various computer magazines receive the same unbiased treatment. I have no vested interest in any word-processing program and am still seeking the perfect word processor; therefore I have no reason to rate one above or below the others. The experiences I have when I exclusively use a program over a period of several weeks are the results I pass along to the reader. And the results 1 get are

exactly the results 1 report.

Additionally. 1 use input from all the 100 or more members of the specialinterest word-processing user group of which I am a director. And of all the people with whom 1 spoke about MultiMate, only one had a kind word to say about the program.

A few points: the review was prepared after a three-month review of the five programs. I studied and used the MultiMate program exclusively for a period of several weeks. When reviewing any software program, 1 assume the position of an authorized user. This is the best way I know of to discover what other "authorized users" will experience when they call 800 numbers for technical support. I asked the Multimate technical-support person and directly quoted her answer regarding whether the next version would correct the errors noted.

Finally, regarding the table on features and performance on page 181: I asked Multimate's personnel each question, verbatim, from BYTE's desired matrix, recorded their responses on tape, and quoted them verbatim.

Janet Cameron Cambridge, MA

I was delighted by lanet Cameron's criticism of MultiMate. 1 recently wrote several chapters of a book using this monster. I could never understand why it led such a charmed life in the magazines. Anybody who had ever repaginated a lengthy document after using the world's most cumbersome spelling checker would share my bewilderment as they watched their text crumble into garbage before their eyes. Sure I had a backup, but 1 never dared repaginate again. You have probably experienced the scattered format-line effect. 1 once found 42 format lines in 16 pages of text. The people from Multimate thought it had something to do with the automatic page break, which they suggested I disable.

I have finally settled on a program that suits me better than any of the alternatives. I call this "choice by elimination" and it would not have been necessary if the magazines had been more forthcom

(contmued)

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 353

PC

SOFTWARE

SALE!

WE'LL MATCH PRICES ON MOST PRODUCTS

LOTUS 1-2-3/

SYMPHONY

$295/$415

dBASE II/III

$265/$365

WORDSTAR 2000

$245

LOOK AT THESE

SPECIAL PRICES!

AST Products

CALL

Crosstalk

$ 99

dBase II/III

$265/$365

EasyWriter II System

$185

Hayes 1200/12O0B

$475/$395

IUS Accounting

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Lotus 1-2-3/Symphony

$295/$415

MicroPro Products

CALL

Microsoft Products

CALL

Multimate

$255

Norton Utilities

$ 59

PFS: File/Graph/Write

$ 83

PFS: Report

$ 74

ProKey

$ 87

Quadram Products

CALL

RBase 4000

$265

SuperCalc 2/3

$145/$195

Volkswriter Deluxe

$175

Wordstar 2000/2000 Plus

$245/$295

Wordstar Prof. Package/Plus

$245/$345

All Other Products/Diskettes

CALL

To order:

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D Purchase orders accepted.

□ Call for shipping charges. riMfe D Prices subject to change. tWW:

REVIEW FEEDBACK

ing about these products. The worst thing about my editor is its name: it's called The Idea Processor. |To be reviewed in an upcoming issue\.

I hope you will continue to write about word processing. Janet Cameron's frankness may persuade others to speak more critically about these products that so many of us are becoming so dependent upon.

R. C. Packer Santa Barbara, CA

Lilith Personal Computer

1 read with interest the review of the Lilith machine ("The Lilith Personal Computer" by Paul A. Sand, September 1984. page 300). 1 can agree with most of the author's statements. However, I've got to contradict one of his opinions about the Lara editor. The author states that, to define the font of a piece of text, one has to type its name (Times Roman) each time. This is not true. Quite the reverse is true. We have made every effort to avoid the need (although not the possibility) of indirect specification of looks in Lara, be it via keyboard or via a collection of menu entries (as in the Mac).

It is a basic principle of Lara that any looks and even combinations of looks can be copied simply by pointing with the mouse to any location on the display (within the same document or another) where the desired looks are available. This method applies to characters (font, size, offset, underlining, etc.) as well as to paragraphs (formatting mode, margins, etc.).

As a straightforward application of this concept, we mention the use of a sample document from where the looks can be copied into the currently edited text. A sample document typically contains a collection of sample characters in different styles, sample titles, and sample, carefully formatted paragraphs. Once having introduced a look in the current text, it can clearly be taken from there.

I. GUTKNECHT

Institut fur In forma tik

ETH—Zentrum, Zurich,

Switzerland

Sage II

In reviewing the Sage 11 computer in "The Sage II and Sage IV Computers" by Allen Munro (July 1984, page 23 5), the author says that personal computer users who are satisfied with a 64K Z80 system are "letting their current systems set the limits

of their imaginations."

Using a powerful 8-MHz 68000 microprocessor and the UCSD p-System, Mr, Munro's Sage runs the Sieve of Eratosthenes benchmark program, compiled from Pascal, in 74.8 seconds. Wow!

I am the owner of one of those pokey 64K Z80 systems. My Z80 runs at a snaillike 2.5 MHz. Using my $49.95 Pascal compiler it takes my system just about half the time (35 seconds) to run the same program.

John D. Fox Nyack. NY

Sanyo MBC-550

I have just finished reading "The Sanyo MBC-550" by Bill Sudbrink (August 1984, page 270) and was delighted to see that this machine is finally being recognized for its great value and performance. We wrote the Sanyo 550 Series Personal Computer Handbook which was published in February 1984 and addresses all the documentation issues found to be deficient by these authors. We followed this up with the first newsletter on Sanyos called "The Sanyo Source" to provide follow-up information that fills in the void from Sanyo.

We feel that our services are a valuable addition to the computer.

Fred Zurofsky

Computer User Services

230 Anderson St.

Hackensack, NJ 07601

I found the review of the Sanyo MBC-550 in the August 1984 issue both interesting and informative, but I would like to make a few comments.

Sanyo BASIC can access up to four disk drives. For example, to save a program to drive B the correct syntax is, SAVE"B:filename". Note that there must not be a space between the colon and filename. The syntax for LOAD is the same.

To invoke the FILES command in order to view a directory on a disk on a drive other than drive A, the correct syntax is FILES'B:. Closing quotes are not necessary.

The use of CalcStar to compare spreadsheet handling is grossly unfair. On any machine CalcStar runs slower than Multiplan and has not been optimized to take advantage of 16-bit processors.

At least two companies in the U.S.A. are selling versions of MS-DOS for the Sanyo that can format, read, and write single/ double-sided, 40/80-track drives. I am currently running two double-sided double

[continued]

354 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

GO FOR THE BEST

■ ■ ■ ■

Display

THE LEADING EDGE PERSONAL COMPUTER

Hi-res monochrome display standard

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Expandable to 640K No additional boards

Expandable to 640K Must add two boards

Disk Drives

2-360KB Drives Standard

One Drive Standard Additional Drive-$425.

Battery Backed Clock/Calendar Standard

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Ports

Both Parallel and Serial Standard Serial—$100.

Expansion Slots

7 slots Standard of which 4 remain open after expansion to 640K

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IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

Inquiry 200

JANUARY 1985

SYTE 355

$99-50

PC Switcl

Push Button PC Switch lets you connect one computer to two printers, or modems, eliminate forms loading/unloading by keeping two dot matrix printers stocked, or pair one dot matrix printer with a slower Daisy Wheel printer for finished letters. Comes with I input panel connector, 2 output connectors on 6' ribbon cables. Specify either:

Serial: RS-232/D-25, 20 leads switched. Parallel: Centronics 36 pin/20 leads switched.

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Inquiry 155

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Inquiry 52

fc* LIONHEART

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Inquiry 204

REVIEW FEEDBACK

density, 80-track drives giving 730K and 112 files under DS DOS-80 from Michtron of Pontiac, Michigan.

Tom Drake

Ickenham, Middlesex

England

1 recently purchased a Sanyo MBC-1000 using the CP/M 2.0 operating system. I am addressing this letter to you because I need your help. 1 haven't been able to get any answers to my questions from Sanyo in New Jersey, and Fresno doesn't have any service or sales office for Sanyo computer products.

Today's question was brought on by the inability of the SBASIC interpreter to handle a variable filename. I must resort to using an assembly-language subroutine to perform that function. What I need to solve the dilemma is the address and a description of how the interpreter operates on the BASIC statement: OPEN #1,"0" "FILENAME". I wanted to use FL$ in place of "FILENAME". However, I found that to be impossible on this interpreter. Fl$ doesn't work either. I know that it can be done in assembly. But to write my routine, I need something that describes that process. I am not an inexperienced programmer. If I could just be led in the right direction, I can accomplish my goal.

Robert S. Hunter Fresno, CA

INFOSCOPE

On the basis of George Bond's very good review of Infoscope, the database manager marketed by Microstuf Inc. (lune 1984, page 367), I decided to purchase a copy. This program has lots of features that make it fun to play with, but for my purposes it is essentially useless. Why? Because it does not accept real numbers in any form other than as character strings, dollar equivalents, or stock prices. For example, 10.381 cannot be entered as anything but a character string. This means that you cannot obtain sums, averages, or true numeric sorts on this type of data. If 10.381 and 3.506 are sorted as leftjustified character strings (which is the only way they can be entered into Infoscope), you get the wrong order. You also cannot safely use "greater than," etc., in selecting records. It is necessary to pad the smaller numbers with preceding zeros (e.g., 03.506) to get everything to work out properly. If you decide to limit yourself to two decimal places in order to get a true numeric field, you are forced to live with the dollar sign, even on printouts.

If you are trying to convert data from dBASE II, Infoscope appears to assume that anything with other than two decimal places is character data and that anything with exactly two decimals is "money" data. What a pain.

All in all, this seems to me to be a rather severe problem with Infoscope. I certainly wouldn't have purchased the product if I had known. Perhaps your other readers would appreciate knowing this.

Bruce LaZerte

Baysville, Ontario

Canada

Morrow MD-Il

I read with interest the letter from Jim Icenhower (Review Feedback, September 1984, page 356) concerning his experiences with the Morrow MD-11.

After a long search for a computer system that would be both dependable and inexpensive, I purchased a Morrow MD-11 for a pharmaceutical application in one of my drugstores. For about seven months we have been using it about 10 hours a day. It is used for most every function connected with running a retail pharmacy and we have had only one very minor problem that was power-supply related. Shortly after this problem, we installed an uninterruptible power supply for power and more line filtration. As of this date we have not had any additional trouble with this MD-11.1 know of three others that are working in other pharmacies in this area and have not heard of any additional trouble. Each uses a very fine program that was written by a local pharmacist who now specializes in computer programs for pharmacies.

The reason I bought the MD-11 system was the price and the software that was included. I invested a total of $7000 in both hardware and software (including the pharmacy program). The starting price of similar systems would be about $14,000.

I feel the MD-11 is a great value—and when I need to computerize my other store it will probably be with a Morrow MD-11.

R. A. Mitchell Sumas, WA

REVIEW FEEDBACK is a new column of readers' letters. We welcome responses that support or challenge BYTE reviews. Send letters to Review Feedback. BYTE Publications, POB 372. Hancock, NH 03449. Name and address must be on all letters.

Announcing 4 New Collector Edition

BYTE COVERS

The 4 Byte covers shown below are the newest additions to the Collector Edition Byte Cover scries. Each full color print is 11" x 14", including a I1 •';" border, and is part of an edition strictly limited to 1,000 prims. Each print is a faithful reproduction of the original Byte painting, printed on museum quality acid free paper, and is personally inspected, signed and numbered by the arlist, Roberl Tinney. A Certificate of Authenticity accompanies each print.

Collector Edition Prints are carefully packaged Hat to avoid bending, and are shipped first class within one week of receipt of order. The price of each print is $30. All 4 prints are available for only $100.

Other Collector Edition Byte Covers are also available from Roberl Tinncy Graphics. For a color brochure, or to order one or more of the prints shown, please check the appropriate box in the coupon below.

#25 Computers and the Handicapped $30

#26 Graduation Memories $30

Please send me the following Prints ($30). All 4 only $100.

QTY. TITLE & PRINT NO.

postage & handling $3.00 (Overseas $8.00)

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TOGETHER, STOPPING

YOU

358 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

RUN-TIME VERSION AVAILABLE

THERE'S NO

KnowledgeMan™ and You. The possibilities are endless.

To succeed in business, you need a partner that's fast, flexible, intelligent and easy to work with. A partner that can help turn your big ideas into well-conceived reality. One that gives you the support you need to make critical decisions confidently.

No partner can give you more of what you need than KnowledgeMan, the knowledge management software from MDBS.

A powerful partner.

KnowledgeMan helps you manage more knowledge, in more ways, than ordinary software. It can help you make better decisions on just about everything from production scheduling to financial planning to market

forecasting. KnowledgeMan and its optional components offer data management, spreadsheet analysis, statistical analysis, text processing, forms management, business graphics, programming and more.

The key to KnowledgeMan's versatility is its exclusive synergistic integration, allowing you to accomplish your computing needs within one program. Unlike other software, there's no need to exit one function before entering another. The result: different kinds of processing can be intermingled. Quickly and easily.

A partner that speaks your language.

For all of its power and sophistication, KnowledgeMan is remarkably simple to understand. Even a beginner can start putting KnowledgeMan to work in minutes. With a single query, you can obtain related data from unlimited multiple tables. You can even teach KnowledgeMan to understand your own jargon.

A partner that helps you along.

The on-line HELP facility allows you to draw on 6800 lines of helpful information organized into 380 screens. If you have a problem or question, KnowledgeMan allows you to access the pertinent HELP screen immediately. Each screen is carefully designed to provide a quick reference guide to KnowledgeMan commands.

A partner that gives you room to grow.

Ordinary software packages can be frustratingly easy to outgrow. Not KnowledgeMan. Each KnowledgeMan component has more power than you'll probably ever need—far more than conventional integrated programs. With KnowledgeMan, you don't sacrifice capability, capacity or convenience. So with KnowledgeMan, you spend your time solving problems—not trying to overcome software limitations.

A partner that protects your interests.

KnowledgeMan offers sophisticated security features. Unauthorized access to data is next to impossible, thanks to password checking, thousands of access code combinations and data encryption.

So your secrets are safe with KnowledgeMan.

A partner you can build on.

To add yet another dimension to KnowledgeMan's capabilities, you can get fully-integrated options like K-Graph, an extensive business graphics facility that

lets you plot information in a variety of colorful graphs, charts and diagrams. For text processing, the K-Text option lets you incorporate data into written documents quickly and easily. Or, create highly-polished, full-color customized forms with K-Paint, our forms painting option. To short-cut the keyboard, put the K-Mouse option to work.

A partner you should get to know better.

To see KnowledgeMan in action, visit your dealer. Or contact Micro Data Base Systems, Inc., P.O. Box 248, Lafayette, IN 47902, (317) 463-2581,Telex: 209147ISE UR. It may be the beginning of a long, successful partnership.

Current version is 1.07 as of 9/10/84. KnowledgeMan, K-Graph. K-Paint, K-Text, and K-Mouse are trademarks of Micro Data Base Systems, Inc. MDBS is a registered trademark of Micro Data Base Systems. Inc.

KNOWLEDGE "

mon

The Knowledge Management Software from MDBS

Operating Systems: PCDOS. MSDOS, CP/M-86. Minimum RAM required: I92K. K-Graph: PCDOS only. Inquiry 227

IANUARY 1985

iYTE 359

When you UUralinli

your two most important tools...

amazing things

You create a telecommunications workstation. A synergized phone and computer business tool more powerful than its component parts.

UltraLink™ is more than a "modem," but it lias modem features activated by simply lifting the receiver.

That easy. That fast.

An UltraLink business day.

For instance, while editing any kind of file, a question may arise for an expert 2000 miles away.

Without "saving" the file, you pick up the phone, converting your PC to telecommunications mode. Select the expert's number from the on-screen directory and it's instantly dialed with a single keystroke, including access codes.

Using a standard phone line you speak AND send the applications screen, intact, to the expert's PC for joint review.

Upon conclusion, the application is returned as it originally appeared.

No files were opened. No software was juggled. Only two keystrokes were involved. Business communication just took a giant step forward.

Other UltraLink features:

• 300/1200 baud modem.

• Automatic "unattended" send/receive modem functions.

• UltraLink remains invisible to your PC with its own power supply and on-board RAM memory.

• Maintains up to a 100 name directory.

• One installation of software covers all features while power supply is maintained.

UltraLink is the easiest, most powerful telecommunications tool available. See it in action at your local ModTech dealer.

Call Modlech for a dealer in your area. 800-223-6250. In CA: 800-521-6790

Modern 'technologies International. Inc. 656 Bair Island Road. Suite 302 Redwood Cily. CA 94063

Trademarks: UltraLink developed by and a trademark of Advanced 'lelecompntcr Systems Inc. Mod'lech—Modem Technologies International

Kernel

THINGS MOVE PRETTY FAST at Chaos Manor, and this month Jerry Pournelle discusses time's consequences: a growing list of obligations and new product arrivals, must fit into the same 24-hour day -^ . :

In London. BYTE U.K. columnist Dick Pountain looks', at the Amstrad CPC 464. a "home" computer that shows> promise for business purposes, tod.' /"'^ ..'7\

From Tokyo. Bill Raike reports on Increasing chipc(en£'* sities, some new products, and software skulfduggeryv.' alive and well in Taiwan.' . ■' • '*''.•

The BYTE West Coast gang visits the Mac at college/ \v and also takes a look at mice and laser disks., ..: .;^,-^ .

Also this month Sieve Ciarcia answers readers' lett§>^!j5 about his Circuit Cellar projects in Circuit Cellar Fee#'' •back, and Michael Ecker discusses ''counting'-W.ifrte.f$J<*;;; enumerating'' in Mathematical Recreations. ;•<*' ,

Computing at Chaos Manor: The Fast Lane

bu \erru Pourn^le . *, '& JJ63

Chaos Manor Mail conducted bylent) Pournelle .. -.'...-> v.:)39;3:;v.;.'

BYTE U.K.: The Amstrad CPC 464 ,

by \>uk Vtmnlu'm .'■.:. .... . ,'". .. . .'. . 401 .

Circuit Cellar Feedbacknmdi'ite'd by $gve Cuirau ... 4t3

BYTE West Coast Light Touches .

by \o\nn Markijl and Phillip Rolwswiv. ._ ■*. .;...'.'' ;" .415

Mathematical Recreations;

The Fundamental Counting Principle

by Mnhuel W l.ifar . . \ 425

BYTE Iapan: The New and the Old

by William M Raike ..." . . : 429

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ft ■i?

S.M

tii in'" ' mi w«whh.«ami

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REMEX

51/4" 40 TRACK DOUBLE SIDED/DENSITY 2/o-HEIGHT FLOPPY DRIVES

Tested up to 2mS Track-to-Track Access

EACH 2-9 10+

S59. $49 EACH $45 EACH

BRAND NEW - IN FACTORY CARTONS!

BMRMX523 (Sh. wt. 4 lbs. each)

Single & Dual Va-Height Floppy Drive Cabinets

BMJMR123 Single-Drive Cabinet (5 lbs.) $65.00 BMJMR223 Dual-Drive Cabinet (7 lbs.) $99.00

5Mbyte

Hard Disk Drive SHUGART 604

ST506 Compatible - In Factory Cartons 60 DAY WARRANTY!

EACH 2-9 10+

$199 $189u $175*

BMSHU604 (Sh. wt. 9 lbs.)

Single & Dual 51/4" Hard Disk Drive Cabinets

BMIIIHB5001 Single Drive Cabinet (16 lbs.) $239.00 BMJMRHDC52 Dual Drive Cabinet (20 lbs.) $299.00

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

MORROW DESIGNS

0»KTtpllOn

Pan r>

MicioDeciSKKi^SMliyiehiatlisk&tttniiniBMPDflMDSMDS SI999Q0 BasicBa.SupeiCalcPetsorul-PeatLand 3MMDSMD11S0FTS 35000 Pilot soltware tor MD5 above

IBM PC" w/dual Vi height tioppies & 256K HAM 8MIBMCPD256TEA S179900

IDM PC™ COMPATIBLE ADD-ONs

III Hard Disks with Controllers

10MB internal

10MB External

15MB Internal

15MB External

SOUS internal

30MB External

10MB Streaming Tape Backup

64K RAM expansion !« IBM PC"

conlams 9-4164's 1 lb

256K Dynamic SAM chips 150ns

BMIIIHDPCI10

BMIIIHDPCX10

BMIIIHDPCI15

BMIIIHDPCX15

BMHDPCI30

BMIIIHDPCX30

BMIIISTX10

BMPDBIBMMEM9

S 74900 S 895 00

S 99500 S1095 00 SI 79500 S189500 S 995 00 S 3900

BMHM50256PI5 S 40 00 8 ormcreS2995 each

IDM M" Compatible Hard Disk Drive

33M&ytehrrjdsklormaiiaQUANTUM9!bs3M01M0540F 51595 00

VIDEO CARDS

IBM cow video card 2ibs BMIBM1504910 S 25000

IBM Monochrome Card 2lbs 8MIBM1504900 S 25000

MONITORS

IBM 12' green screen 181ns BMIBM51510O1 $ 275 00

TAXAN 12' green TTL w/cable IBIbS BMTAX121 S 16900

TAXAN 12 amber TTL w/cable 1 Bins 8MTAX122 S 17900

IBM 13" color RGB 2Blbs BMIBM5153001 $ 68000

TAXAN 12 color RGB w/cable 28IDS 8MTAXRG842D S 495 00

STTJ CARDS i2 ids eacbi

Super RIO (64K) 8MSIBSRI0 S 31900

Super I/O BMSTSIO S 19900

RIO PLUS |64K) BMSTBRIOPLS S 2B900

Graph* PLUS II BMSTBGRPLS2 S 395 00

TECMAR DOARDS

the CAPTAIN- Mulh board f 256K Oynamic memory WAVE" XT Memory board GRAPHICS MASTERS' tow moler controller

RMtECCAPTAIN BMTEC256KDM BMTECWAVE BUTE CGRM SIR BMTECSTEP

lA8 TENDER* Sbrl D/A I A/D board BMTECLABTNOfl LABPAC" Software support p(.g BMTECLABPAC

EXPANSION CHASSIS tor IBM PC BsWlBMTECEXPCHS

S 259 00 S 21900 S 21900 S 49900 S 39900 S 39900 S 49500 S 74900

HERCULES CARDS

Hirjl res monochrome card BMHECGC S 339 00

Color ca'd with primer pari BMHECCQL0R S 179 0D

QUADRAM CARDS [2 lbs each)

EXPANDED QUADBOAROlO Kl

BMODRGDBRDXPO S 23900

QUADBOARO li

HMQDRODBRDIJD

S 229.00

0UADC0LOR I"

BHODR0DCLRI

S 21900

OUADCQLOR U *

BMODRODCLRII

S 44900

QUAD 512 i64K installed)

rJMQDR0D5l2+

S 25900

OUAOLINK

UMQDRQOLINK

S 539 00

Parallel card

UMQDRIPIC

S B9.00

VIDEO MONITORS

SArjvrj I2MHi 12 Amber IB IDS

BMSYQDM2212

S 7900

SANYO iBMh; 12 Green 24 ms

8MSY0DM8112CX

S 12900

SAHVQ \WHil 12 Amber 24 lbs

BMSVDDMB212CX

S 12900

TAXAN IflMH? 12 Green IS lbs

BMTAX115

S 13900

'.•./;-•. iBMHi 12 Amtw m ihs

BMTAXI16

S 13900

SAIIYCj H hGficoiw 7MH/30 IBs

BMSVODM75O0

S 37900

IA/AN 12 RGB color BMHf 'j0 lift

BM1AX210

S 31900

DISKETTES and ACCESSORIES

II MM

i ii;'/!iMi;'iji> S 34 95

ULTRA MAGNETICS

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PRINTERS

DMcrlpHoi

Pric*

S 23900 S 27900 S 42900 S 39900 S 599 00

EPSON

BMEPNRX80 BMEPNHXBOF! BMEPNRX100 BMEPNFXB0 BMEPNFXI00 BMPDBEPNLO1500SS'2-i900 BMPDBEPNLO1500PS1199O0 OKIDATA

BM0KI0ATB2AT S 34900 BM0KIDATB3AT S 58900 BM0KIDATB4AP S 89500 BM0KIDAT84AS S 97900 GM0KIDAT92AP S 46900 BM0KIDAT92AS S 61000 B-.10KIDAI9.jAP S 69900 BM0KIDAT93AS S 92500

MANNESMANN TALLY

MTIbOL 80 col 21 lbs BMTALMT160L S 575 00

MT1B0L 132 col 28 lbs BMTALMT1BDL S 79900

RX60 20lbs RX80FT 20ICS RX100 2616s FX80 20cps FX100 26cps LQ1500 Ser ml 30cps LOI500 Par int. 30cps

82A w'lractor teed 25 lbs 83A w/uacior feed 35 lbs 84A - parallel 35 lbs B4A - serial 35 lbs 92A - parallel 25 lbs 92A - serial 25 lbs 93A - parallel 35 lbs 93A - serial 35 lbs

P1340 serial 3010s

P1340 parallel SOIbs

P1351 parallel 351bs

Bidircclonl iraclor tor Pi 35T Gibs

Single bin cut sheei leeder

lor P1351 I5lbs

Gemim 10X 20 lbs

Gemini lOXtorlBM PC 20 lbs"*

Gemim 15X26 lbs

Gemini 15X!oHBM PC" 26 lbs

Serial interface lor GEMINI X series

Serial interlace with 4K butler

COEX80FT- parallel 21lbs

BMTSHP134QS S 69900

BMTSHP1340P S 69900

BMT5HP135IP S129900

BMTSHAQ4003 S 195 00

BMTSHAO50Q2 S 995 00

BMSTRGEM10X S 25900 BMSTHGEM10XPCS 32900 BMSTRGEM15X S 37900 BMSTRGEM15XPCS 44900 BMSTRSERINTX S 5900 BMSIRSERINTX4XS 11900 BMCOXS0FT S 17900

PRINTER DUFFERS

ADATI

tBCPS letter quality parallel interlace BMABTLQ20P

64K Microbutter (serial) 2lbs BMPRPM81S64 S 249.00

64K Microbutler (parallel) 2lbs BMPRPMS1P64 S 24900

MwrAurler 11+ tor Apple tseiial)2ibs SMPPPMB2PLU516S S1S9 00

Mic-DihiHer lt+ lor Apple miiaiielj Jibs 8 MPflPMB2PLUSi6 PS18900

PROMETHEUS ProModem 1200 baud aulo di.il/nns4 lbsBMPRMPMl200 S 32900 ProModem IBM-PC'- card w/sollware 8MPRMPMI200BS28aOO ProModem Apple II card w/sollware 8MPRMPM1200AS349OD

ProModem tor Maanlosfi w/caWe & software BMPRMPM1200M $39900 Alpna/num display lor PmModom BMPRMDISPLAY $ 7900

Options processor lor ProModem BMPRM0PTPR0 S 7900

G4K Memorv e»p lot options processor aMP0BPHMEXP54 S 59

MODEMS

HAYES

1200 Baud Smartmodem 4 lbs 1200 Baud lor IBM-PC" w/sottware 300 Baud Smanmodem Micromodem II lor Apple

BMOCH0400P S 47900

8MDCH1200B S 42900

BMDCH0200P S 24900

BMDCH701400 S 24900

5" Double Sided Double Density Diskettes

fS-f .60 EACH in Packs ot 25 I ' «S f .40 EACH In Boxes ol 2501

£f m20 EACH in Cartons ol 10001

..n^MsiI MIIToOO=$1ZOO «>/|:«rt»l" l» "l 30 lbsl

8" DRIVES

DISK DRIVES

SIEMENS Smnje side dWdensily Kilns BMSIEFOniOUS S 12500

2 lo 5 Drives $11000 each / 6 or more Drives 599 00 each WORLD DISK DRIVES Double lift BMWDD20D8P S 219 00

UbfrrJensny IBUs

2 to 5 Drives S19900 each / 6 m more Drives S1Q900 each

MITSUBISHI dbl side, dbl dens IBlbs BMMITM2B9463B S 375 00

TANDON ft heighl sgl side, dbl dens 9lbs BMTNDTMB4B1E S 31900

1AND0N '? height dul side dbl dens 9lbsBM1NDTM84B2ES 38900

5%" DRIVES

PANASONIC 4Qtrk 'v liBigm ablside.llta BMPANJA55I2N TEAC 48lpi 'i height, dbl side 3lbs BMTEA55Q TEAC 96l[ii V? heighl. dbl side 3lbs 8M1EA55F

TANDON 100-2 40lrk lull Height. 8MTNDTM10D2

dbl side4ibs

5V*" HARD DISK 0LIAN1UM 42Mbylc Hairt dish 9lbs BMQTMD540 TANDON 192Mbyte Htd Disk BMTNO503

MAXTOR B5Mbyie 30ms access I2llis 8MMXTXTH1B5 MAXI0R140M0yte30msaccess I2lbs BMMXTXT1140

S 16901 S 19901

S1495O0 S 895 00 S299500 S399500

S-100 CPU DOARDS

Snipping. weioM on all 5-IOD boards 2lbs each

Di^ilpflon

Port n

Met

MACR0TECH B0286 & Z80

CompuPro CPU-Z

CompuPro 8085/88 dual processor

SDS SBC-300 4MHI

SDS SBC-300 6MHz

ADVANCED DIGITAL SuperSix w/lloppy

conlroller. 128K RAM

ADVANCED DIGITAL 4MH* SBC. 5'/«"

(loppy controller 64 K RAM

ADVANCED DIGITAL 4MHz SBC 8'

lioooy controller 64 K RAM

BMMACM128&

BMGBT51060

8MGBT510B0

BMSOS3B095

BMSDS38092

S1395 00 S 26900 S 399 00 S 59900 S 699 00

BMA0CSUP612BS 699 00 BMADCSBC15 S 59500 8MADCS8C18 S 59500

5-100 RAM DOARDS

2BK

CcmpuPro RAM 16 I 64K CompuPro RAM 23 SDS ExpanOoRAM 111/696 SDS ExoandoRAM IV MACROTECH 1 Megabyte CompuPro RAM 21 i 126K

SMGBT520I6 S 24900

BMGBT520232 S 59900

BMSDS38097 5 49900

BMSDS3B089 S 82500

BMMACMAXM S219500

BMGBT52021 S49900

S-100 RAM DISK DOARDS

CompuPro M-Dnve H* 5T2K SDS RAM disk 25SK

BMGBT52C2 S 899 Oi BMSDS380B2 S 649 0!

S-100 I/O DOARDS

CompuPro inierlacer 1 CompuPro Inierlacer 4 CompuPro System Support 1 SDS i port Async serial SDS 8 pan Async senai SOSapon J-Async 4.s>rv:

9MGBT133A 3MGBT53C4C BMCBT5601C BMSDS38096 BMS0S38Q93 BMSDS3BC94

S-100 CONTROLLER DOARD5

FOR FLOPPY DISK5

CompuPro DISK1 OMA

CompuPro DISK1A DMA

SDS VersaFloppy II win CPM30'

la special implementation Dy SDSi

SDS VersaFloppy III

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BMP0BVF339T4S : " BMPP8\c.i.^'4' s

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FOR HARD DISK

CompuPro DISK3 Seagate ST5D0 sent ADVANCED DIGITAL Seagate 500 compatible

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DISK DRIVE ENCLOSURES

fl" ENCLOSURES

ParaDynamics dual desktop 35<Ds BMPDN2200D 5

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5V4" ENCLOSURES

JMR Single 5ibs

JMH Dual lull height 9ios

JMR Dual lull lit'11]m w internal data

cable 9lbs

JMR Duat hall height vert mtunl 7tus

JMR Single nard disk enclosure I6lbs

JMR Dual hard disk enclosure 20tbs

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Inquiry 282

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•

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1**1 * * 1

COMPUTING

AT CHAOS MANOR

«

The Fast Lane

Orchid's PCturbo 186

Documentation

Macrotech's M1-286

More Support Problems

STB RIO Plus Board

The Tax Shelter Eater

Excels Aris

SuperDex Revisited

AshtonTate's dBASE III

by Jerry Pournelle

lerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in

psychology and is a science-fiction

writer who also earns a comfortable

living writing about computers

present and future.

If it isn't one thing, it's another: no sooner did Larry and I get Footfall completely done—copied, edited, table of contents, quotes verified, copied again, and off to )udy-Lynne Del Rey—than the phone rang. It was ye editor Phil Lemmons with a request. They're speeding up BYTE's cycle time, getting the magazine out earlier. But in order to do that, I'll have only three weeks each for the next three columns.

The result will be more than worth it, with nearly a month cut off the lag time from when I turn in a column until you see it, but it does mean more scrambling here at Chaos Manor. Oh, well.

Orchids to You

Now that IBM has come out with the AT (advanced technology) machine, a number of IBM PC owners are worried: what will happen to their machines? Can they be upgraded?

I have two bits of good news. First, Dian Girard is doing a book (in the Pournelle Users Guide series] on upgrading your IBM PC: it ought to be out next summer. Second, we have Orchid's PCturbo 186.

Orchid Technology's PCturbo 186 board turns out to be the nicest thing that's happened to our IBM PC in months. We have version 1.1; I'm assured by Orchid's Ron Wiener that version 1.2, and possibly a later one than that, will be available by the time you read this. The new versions will be compatible with even more hardware and allow communications at higher rates. (I also expect Orchid will have redone the documentation by then: on that, much more below.)

The PCturbo 186 is a board containing an Intel 80186 chip: ours runs at 8 MHz. After you install the PCturbo board the 186 takes over, with the result that the IBM PC runs about three times as fast. The difference isn't just in computing time, either: the PCturbo allows a certain degree of concurrent operation, so that disk operations go on during computations, thus speeding up I/O (input/output). You will notice that there

are other I/O speedups, too.

The 186 is so much faster than the 8088 that the disk controller is never waiting because the processor isn't ready for the next sector. I won't explain it here, but if you know what you're doing, you can reformat your hard disk with a smaller interleave factor, speeding things up even more.

You can buy the PCturbo 186 board with as little as 128K bytes of memory on it, but it won't work until you have 2 56K bytes, and it doesn't really work well until you have more. The software allows a RAM (randomaccess read/write memory) disk (fooling your computer into thinking that part of the system's memory is a very fast disk) and disk caching, so the PCturbo works best if you completely fill it. The total capacity of the board is 640K bytes.

The PCturbo 186 can't use your IBM PC's regular memory for running programs: only the memory on the PCturbo board is available for use by the 186 chip. However, the regular 8088 in the original IBM PC is still alive and active—it handles most of the I/O for the 186—and it can access whatever memory is available to it. Control is switched back and forth between the 186 and the 8088 through software.

The PCturbo will really shine with a hard or bubble-memory disk, since it can use disk caching. This is a bit different from a RAM disk: in a cache system, the computer watches what you're doing and keeps the stuff you use most often—specifically, the most frequently used disk sectors—in a chunk of memory known as cache memory. Orchid's PCturbo does this automatically: you don't have to understand it to make use of it. The disk cache is kept in the host IBM PCs memory (not in the memory available to the 186), which is why it's best to fill up the PCturbo 186 board with new chips and keep your IBM PC filled as well.

Memory is getting cheap nowadays anyway; California Digital is advertising 4164 chips at $5.2 5 in quantity 32, $4.95 in quan

iconlinued)

IANUARY 1985

i Y T E 363

3CAA Programmers i%J\J\J depend on us

to find, compare, evaluate products and for solid value.

THE PROGRAMMER'S SHOP serves serious microcomputer programmers . . . from giant institutions to small independents. Specializing helps us provide 100s of programming products . . . technical literature . . . specialized evaluations and more to help you find and evaluate. Other services like . . . special formats . . . rush delivery . . . payment options (POs, COD, credit cards, etc.) . . . newsletters . . . and reports help you save time, money, and frustration and get solid value.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

EXSYS - Expert System building tool. Full RAM, Probability, Why, Intriguing, serious. PCDOS $200

GC LISP - "COMMON LISP", Help, tutorial, co-routines, compiled functions, thorough. PCDOS $475

TLC LISP - "LISP-machine"-like, all RAM, classes, turtle graphics, 8087 for CP/M-86, PCDOS or MSDOS $235

Expert System front-ends for PROLOG: APES ($275), ES/P ($1895)

Other solid alternatives include: IQ LISP ($155), MuLISP-86 ($250), WALTZ LISP for CPM ($159), MicroPROLOG ($275), PROLOG-86 ($125), more.

C PROGRAMMING

C SHARP Realtime Toolkit - well supported, source, thorough, portable, objects, state sys. $600

INSTANT C - Interactive development - Edit, Source Debug, run. Edit to Run - 3 Sees. MSDOS $500

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MEGAMAX C - native Macintosh has fast compile, tight code, K&R, toolkit, .OBJ, DisASM MAC $295

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CHAOS MANOR

tity 100 or more. Do recall that it takes 9 chips per bank of 64K bytes, since one is required to store the memorychecking parity bit.

Orchid's software allows caching for floppy disks, but this isn't smart since there's no way for the program to know when you have changed disks. Well, there is a way: you tell it every time you change disks. CP/M users won't find that strange. The problem is that with CP/M if you forgot to do a Control-C after changing disks, you got a BDOS (basic disk operating system) error; with Orchid's cache software, you probably lose all the files on the disk. This is nearly inevitable; after all, the most used sectors on the disk are the directory, if you change disks, the computer is still working with the (newly revised) directory for the previous disk, and when it goes to write—well, you get the idea. Best not to use cache memory with floppy disks unless you're very careful.

Another great feature of the PCturbo 186 is that you can also use part of the original IBM PCs memory as a RAM disk. This is all explained in the Orchid installation manuals.

Of course, the manuals are fairly typical; I'm sure they explain how to configure your system for a RAM disk and other such goodies. I'm equally sure that I'll never figure it out. There is a file called OPTION, but when I ran that I got a series of orders about swapping disks, ending with a flashing signal saying "TEST IS GOOD"; that message could be exorcised only by turning the machine off.

The documents have no examples and a profusion of files (TURBO.SYS, RAMDISK.SYS, TURBEXEC.BAT), mostly empty or filled with nonsense; anyway, when you're reduced to typing out disk files for clues, you know you're in trouble. There are "explanations" that seem intentionally designed to be confusing. They show you an example to be placed in a file called CONFIG.SYS, but there is no such file on the boot system disk.

Fortunately, you need not understand any of this in order to get started. There is an Install program that will get the PCturbo system run

364 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 283

CHAOS MANOR

ning; alas, the goodies like RAM disks and so forth seem reserved for those who understand Orchid's documents better than I do.

Once you do have it running, it goes well indeed. Most programs work fine with it. The one I've used most, I confess, is Cygnus's Star Fleet I game (I'm up to the rank of Commodore). This program is written in compiled BASICA and has no difficulties at all. The PCturbo 186 board really speeds things up, almost too much for some of the game messages. Because many games need precise timing loops, there's a simple way to drop out of the turbo mode and use your IBM PC in a normal manner.

Orchid provides a long list of programs that are claimed to be compatible with the turbo mode. These include Lotus 1-2-3 and Symphony; all AshtonTate software, including dBASE II; and Sorcim SuperCalc. We haven't tested all these; I have run Lotus 1-2-3, and you would not believe how fast the IBM PC with PCturbo will recalculate a spreadsheet.

When you invoke a program that cannot be run with PCturbo—BASICA is a good example—the machine reboots, or tries to. Usually it will succeed, but when I tried to bring up BASICA just now, it never finished running the start-up program; I got several messages, then nothing. Once again, the only remedy was to turn the machine off and back on.

The PCturbo board has a hardware reset button (which I've wished the IBM PC itself had) but only for itself. It doesn't reset the 8088 in the IBM PC, nor does it always work properly; once I got a message telling me to use the reset button on the PCturbo 186 board, but when I did it I was still locked out. The only certain remedy is to turn the power off and on—sigh.

I don't want things to sound worse than they are. I like this board. PCturbo runs fast. I've been using it with WordStar, which goes fine. WordStar 3.3 with the PCturbo 186 is so fast it scares me. Add Borland's Sidekick— which works fine with the PCturbo system—and I have a real temptation.

(continued)

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Inquiry 209

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

1 write a lot. What I use is a customized CompuPro Z80 system running WRITE, a text editor more or less customized by Tony Pietsch for me. It's fast, it's convenient, and I'm used to it. However, my rig does lack some frills.

First, it's an 8-bit system. So far that's no great hardship; there's still plenty of good 8-bit software. However, there's not likely to be much more. The real innovations will go to bigger and more powerful machines, for the simple reason that 8-bit systems cannot, without using kludgey tricks, address more than 64 K bytes of memory.

Second, my system doesn't have Sidekick. For those few who don't know. Sidekick is a small demon program that sits up in an IBM PC or PC clone's high memory and provides you at all times with a calendar, notebook, calculator, and other goodies; if you're using an IBM PC without Sidekick, you don't know what you're missing.

My writing system also lacks graphics. I don't have on-screen underlining, on-screen boldface, and the like. What 1 do have is a big screen, 15 inches; and because my screen is driven by memory-mapped video (I'll explain in a moment), it scrolls smooth and fast. I'll trade all the graphics for that.

Still-WordStar 3.3 with PCturbo 186 scrolls just as fast as my memory map. The blinding speed of that Orchid board takes just about all the sting out of WordStar. The display isn't as good—I still prefer a big screen and white on black, not green, letters—but that's fixable. I'm sure someone makes an oversize video monitor that will eat what the IBM PC's monochrome board puts out; which would give me a big, fast screen with graphics goodies.

Bruce Tonkin has written a pretty nice terminal-emulator program for the IBM PC; I could use that to run a number of the other machines we keep here. It's very tempting to cut down on the number of screens and keyboards I face daily. I really am tempted to change over, since it's ob

vious that most of the compatibility problems will be taken care of in new releases of PCturbo software and documents.

Finally, there's ThinkTank, the idea processor. I don't have one for WRITE (or indeed for any 8-bit system), and I hate that; writers who don't use ThinkTank are working too hard. I can use ThinkTank on the IBM PC, then pipe the files across (in our case, we use the wonderful Disk Maker I from New Generation Systems: it not only converts disk formats, but from PCDOS to CP/M); but it sure would be easier to do it all on one machine.

There are counterarguments. First, I keep hearing tales of a really splendid Concurrent PC-DOS that will run fine with big CompuPro 8/16 machines—and there are ways to speed the CompuPro up. See below.

Concurrent DOS is said to include 99 percent of PC-DOS within it, while letting you run four jobs at once. I would dearly love to be able to run PC-DOS programs, 8-bit programs, and CP/M-86 programs all at once; and even if they never get an 8/16 version of Concurrent PC-DOS, it's still good to be able to do more than one thing at a time. With true concurrency I could not only have the equivalent of Sidekick instantly available, but be using it while long jobs compile.

Tony Pietsch gets back from his European adventure—bicycling from above the Arctic Circle to Munich— this week, and once he's here I'm sure to get one of the new CompuPro IBM PC-compatible video boards. Given Concurrent PC-DOS, I'll have all the advantages of the PC and its PCturbo 186 and get to keep my custom keyboard and 8-inch disks as well.

Another reason I don't change is, alas, Magic Keyboard will not run with PCturbo 186. Magic Keyboard, you may recall, is a program that rearranges the wretched IBM PC keyboard so that the miserable " \ " key becomes a Shift and the infuriatingly placed "~" becomes a Return. (You can get " \ " and "-" by pressing the regular key plus Alt.) I won't use an IBM PC without Magic Keyboard or at least something to tame that stupid IBM

PC keyboard.

Of course, there is an alternative. The Key Tronic KB 5151 keyboard works fine with both Sidekick and the PCturbo 186, and many will prefer the looks, heft, sound, and feel of the Key Tronic keyboard to the original keyboard supplied with the IBM PC. I happen to like the tactile characteristics of the genuine IBM keyboard (once tamed with Magic Keyboard); getting used to the Key Tronic wouldn't be that hard, but it would have to be done.

It's also possible that I'll get the authors of Magic Keyboard and Orchid's PCturbo together; Magic Keyboard almost works as it is, and it shouldn't take that much modification either to it or to PCturbo to take care of things. Orchid's list of compatible software includes Prokey 3.0.

When IBM brought out the AT, it was obvious that I would never want an IBM PC XT, and indeed IBM has pretty well slaughtered the XT market. I did think seriously of ordering an AT. I probably still will, but the Orchid PCturbo 186 board has taken the hurry out of the decision.

Documents Once More

It's always a problem; we get something we like. It works, but the documents are wretched. The publisher is appalled. "We'll fix it! Really! Instantly!"

I even believe it. Now what? This column is built around reports of what we're doing here at Chaos Manor, and if what I've done is fight with a program because I can't understand the documents, then that's what I have to write about; yet I don't like to blast some publisher who really is trying to get his act together.

Oh. Well.

One remedy is obvious; all publishers should heed Pournelle's Law of Documentation: "You can't have too many examples." Take the Orchid PCturbo 186 documents. All Orchid needed to do was furnish several complete examples of systems configured in different ways. "System with two RAM-disk drives enabled, one

[continued)

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 367

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368 BYTE • IANUARY J 985

Inquiry 37

Inquiry 12

CHAOS MANOR

200K. bytes, the other 100K bytes. Put the following files on the boot disk and include the following file in AUTOEXEC.BAT." List the exact contents of every required configuration file. If there can be problems about switch settings—apparently there can be— include examples of that, too. A few extra pages.

Another thing: Never Assume Too Much. Alex tells me that CONFIG.SYS is an optional file, one that is read automatically if included. I didn't know that. Orchid assumed that I had spelunked the DOS manual enough to know such things. Why should 1? Will most IBM PC users do so? While 1 understand the counterargument: "If we assume you know nothing, we must recapitulate everything," examples can't hurt and will generally be enough.

After all, paper is cheap, and if you really understand your product, you're only talking about a couple of days' work having a naive user—someone who really doesn't understand the machine, possibly an engineer's spouse—follow the expert around and watch as the system is configured and brought up. A really naive user will ask lots of questions. "What did you just do? Why did you do that?"

Examples are sure cheaper than providing telephone support.

Orchid agrees and has fixed its documents.

Macrotech s NII-286

The other reason 1 don't convert to the IBM PC with PCturbo 186 is that I've been using Macrotech International's Z80h/80286/80287 processor board in my big CompuPro system. You talk about fast! That board is supersonic.

Way back in the dark ages, CompuPro brought out the Dual Processor 8/16 as a painless transition between 8-bit and 16-bit micro systems. The system had an 8-/8-bit 8085, which would run under CP/M 2.2, and a 16-/ 8-bit 8088, which could be run under CP/M-86. CompuPro and consultants then developed the 8/16 operating system, which let the faster 16-/8-bit 8088 handle disk operations and

much of the housekeeping, so that even 8-bit programs ran faster.

When my friend Ezekial the Z80 finally expired, 1 was strongly tempted to replace him with a System 8/16: the only problem was that the 8/16 was at that time a development system that constantly changed, and I'm sufficiently paranoid as to want something stable when it comes to writing tools. The result was two systems: Zeke 11, a CompuPro Z80, and the Golem, a CompuPro System 8/16. System 8/16s are now very reliable, and a lot of businesses use them: but mine, the Golem, remains truly experimental: he's absolutely stuffed with boards, and we often try out new boards and software on him. Zeke II, meanwhile, hasn't had the cover off for nearly two years.

A few months ago Tony installed a CompuPro 40-megabyte hard disk in the Golem. We also installed Tony's latest TMI BIOS (basic input/output system) software, including some revisions to the CP/M command processor. The machine runs with interrupt-driven I/O software and talks to the console at 19,200 bits per second (bps): the only reason we don't use a faster rate is that we've yet to find a terminal that can handle it.

In other words, my 8/16 is pretty advanced machinery.

In midsummer Tom Harincar, president of Macrotech International, came over to Chaos Manor with his new Dual Processor board. The Macrotech board uses an 8-/8-bit Z80h running at 8 MHz and the 80286 for greater-than-8-bit operations. (I don't want to get into the argument about just what the 80286 "really" is, so we'll leave it at that.) What Tom wanted to do was drop his board into the Golem.

"Well, I don't know," said 1. "That machine is just chock-full of boards, and Tony has some pretty special software running in it. . ."

"It should be a good test," Tom said. "If my board will run with your system, it ought to go with any CompuPro S-100 system."

"Sounds reasonable."

{continued)

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IANUARY 1985 • BYTE 369

CHAOS MANOR

Thus started months of experimentation. Tom had brought Frank Nichols, his design engineer, who did the actual work. The first attempt didn't work at all. Nichols wanted to make modifications in my system. 1 wouldn't let him; we were not, after all, testing his capability to modify a CompuPro system; what I wanted to

know was if an unmodified CompuPro system works with the Macrotech board.

The next attempt was closer. The board worked, but it didn't work for long. A month later, another attempt was made; this one worked for several days before it died.

Each time, though, things went

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lust before the World Science Fiction Convention over Labor Day weekend, Tom Harincar and Frank Nichols came back with two of their MI-286 Dual Processor boards. The idea was to take the lid off my CompuPro, remove the CompuPro Dual Processor's processor board, drop theirs in, and turn the system on; it should work.

It didn't, quite. Frank had to do a bit of fiddling. The fiddle, however, was to make a CompuPro-documented revision to the CompuPro System Support board (one of the chips needs to have one of the pins disabled). Once that was done, nothing else was required. My system, with CompuPro memory, CompuPro M-Drive/H, CompuPro Disk Controller and hard disk, and CompuPro I/O boards, running under Tony's unmodified software, works like a screaming bomb. I mean—it's fast. The floppy-disk operations take about 80 percent of the time they previously took. Computation using the 80287 math chip is so fast I'm going to have to invent new benchmark software; my reaction times aren't fast enough to time the system using my matrix multiplication "benchmark of sorts."

The 8-MHz Z80h is no slouch, either; all my 8-bit software runs faster, and because it makes use of the CompuPro 8/16 software, CP/M-80 programs have the same increased temporary program area (workspace) they had under the CompuPro processor.

In other words, the Macrotech MI-286 sounds too good to be true.

Bugs. Bugs. Bugs

When I first told Dr. Godbout about the Macrotech board, he said it was too good to be true. The Intel 80286 chip has a number of documented bugs; enough that Godbout sells his 80286 board as a development system.

When I put that to Macrotech's Frank Nichols, he agreed completely. There are a lot of bugs in presently delivered versions of the 286. "I de

{continued)

370 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 347

Dow it.

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Inquiry 327

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 371

CHAOS MANOR

signed around them," he said. "And not the way that IBM did with the AT, either. IBM can control the firmware and much of the software environment of the machine. I can't control what the user will do with our board, so 1 had to put logic on the board to compensate for the bugs."

Tom Harincar and Frank Nichols are proud of their MI-286 board. "It'll eat the IBM PC AT alive," Harincar says. "It's faster by a factor of four to three." He's very much looking forward to the time when the CompuPro video board will come out; that will make a CompuPro system with Macrotech MI-286 truly competitive with the PC AT.

The last time I spoke with Dr. Godbout he was still somewhat concerned about problems with the 286 and not convinced that Macrotech had done everything just right in interfacing the MI-286 board with the rest of the

components of a CompuPro system.

I have no right to an opinion based on theoretical analysis. I can testify that I've had the Macrotech MI-286 running for more than a month now. It does spelling checks, runs Logitech's Modula-2 compiler, prints (including the 1000-page manuscript of Footfall), drives WRITE and other text editors, does calculations, runs BASIC, drives databases, and runs my accounting system. I've gradually come to depend on it more and more; my big CompuPro Dual Processor is, except for word processing, the most important machine I own; and the MI-286 makes it fast. I love it.

There have been no glitches. None. No disk retries, no hiccups, nothing of that sort. Macrotech says the MI-286 will also let you add more users to your MP/M-8/16 system. I believe that, but I have no firsthand experience; I don't use MP/M. The MI-286 sure

jazzes up CP/M-8/16.

I'm going to keep using the MI-286. In fact, I'm just about to make an even more serious step: I'm going to convert Zeke II, my writing machine, to a Dual Processor using the Macrotech board. I haven't done that before in part because the CompuPro Dual Processor has an 8085 rather than a Z80, and there is some software—including Charlie Merrit's wonderful trapdoor public-key encryption system—that won't run without a Z80. Systems running under 8/16 have larger workspace and faster disk operations, but even so I've had insufficient incentive to tinker with Zeke II. That 8-MHz Z80h, plus the significantly faster floppy-disk operations, provides one.

So Why Don t You?

Macrotech advertises the MI-286 as "the 20-second revolution" because it takes about this long to change from

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372 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 33!

CHAOS MANOR

the 8085/8088 processor to it. "That's all there is to it," Macrotech says.

This is essentially true, but— There's always a but.

First, you have to be sure your CompuPro S-100 8/16 system is completely up to specs; if it's not standard—if there are wait states set in or there's been some software compromise with slightly nonstandard hardware—it may take a bit more time and considerably more knowledge to convert your system to the MI-286. That's not inevitable. It's likely to be as easy as the Macrotech advertisements say. and I've heard no complaints about Macrotech's support services. Still, be prepared.

Second, it must be an 8/16 system. Zeke II, the machine I'm writing this on, is not; he runs just fine under CP/M 2.2. but he's never been converted to any kind of 8/16 system. You must have the 8/16 software.

Third, you must have fast memory. If you are using (ahem) inexpensive dynamic memory, you must put in so many wait states that it's not worth it. All of the later CompuPro memoryall of the boards marked "816'—will work. Naturally, so will Macrotech's half-megabyte static RAM boards— but the 1-megabyte dynamic board won't work at all.

Fourth, the newest CompuPro software that can accommodate Concurrent CP/M and slave units will not work. You need an older version of the SWI.CMD program.

Fifth, I understand the real bugs in the 80286 chip show up when you have multiple users. If you're using MP/M and more than one terminal, be wary.

Given those cautions, it ought to be easy to convert to the MI-286. Thus, in theory I could simply configure Zeke II to match the Golem and use the same operating system for both.

In practice, it's much more difficult than that.

Remember earlier when I mentioned memory-mapped video? That's what Zeke II uses to communicate with me. What this means is that there's a board in there that looks like memory, but it takes what's in those

memory cells and displays it on a monitor. Thus, to change my screen image, the software merely writes something new to memory. That's about the fastest operation a computer knows how to do, so the result is great speed in updating the video display.

The "software driver" that tells Zeke II how to do that is built into the CP/M 2.2 BIOS that runs the machine; and although I have the source code to that BIOS, it has been just long enough that 1 don't want to go hacking around on my own. Tony will be back soon enough, and 1 can get help from him. I hope.

And, finally, I do have some reluctance to mess about. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is awfully good advice. "Better is the enemy of good enough" is another statement I believe with all my heart.

The upshot is that I've got a second

Macrotech MI-286 board. Tom Harincar is waiting for me to report that I'm using that board for all my writing. I mean to do it, too. Real Soon Now.

More Than You'll Ever Know. ..

On the subject of upgrading your IBM PC: Bob Brown, of an outfit called Landmark Software (1142 Pomegranate Court, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. (408) 733-4032), has a book—well, it's more than a booklet, if a bit smaller than a real book—called About Hard Disks for the IBM PC. It contains seventy-five 8'A- by 11-inch single-spaced pages of solid information. (It's available for $2 5 plus tax and $2 for shipping and handling.)

Brown promises to tell you "more than you ever wanted to know" about selecting the right hard disk for your IBM PC, and he does just that. The

(continued)

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Inquiry 91

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 373

CHAOS MANOR

book is written in English, too. Absolute beginners will find it a bit tough sledding; on the other hand, if you're a beginner, it might well pay to buy the book for your adviser. Alex now uses it as our reference work for IBM PC hard-disk problems: it explains things like the mysterious CONFIG.SYS, with its mystical "buffers ="

statement; goes through different vendors and their strong and weak points, complete with addresses and phone numbers: and talks about boot ROMs (read-only memories) and the like.

The latest edition even includes IBM PC AT test results. It doesn't cover PC clones, but you can't have everything.

Brown hasn't quite Peter Norton's

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remarkable talents for explaining the complex with clarity, but he does write real English sentences and doesn't assume all that much. I confess I haven't read the whole bookit's not light reading—but I'm very glad we have it, and both Alex and I have no difficulty recommending it.

The Support Problem Revisited

Digital Research's people continue to provide free support for their products; they just don't do it by telephone any longer. If you want telephone support, you must subscribe to their Technical Support Service. Otherwise, use mail.

This doesn't seem unreasonable.

The support problem is a sticky one, particularly for companies that publish operating systems intended for a wide variety of machines. It's just not very easy to explain BDOS calls and how to hack a BIOS; there are whole books on those subjects, and reading one of those books, or otherwise conducting basic education classes in computer programming, is a pretty expensive proposition by telephone.

In the old days when most computer users were hobbyists, it made some sense for manufacturers to provide direct support; now, alas, I think we've outgrown that. There's no help for it: dealers will have to be the intermediaries. There are just too many users for Digital Research, or CompuPro, or Cromemco, or Microsoft, to provide telephone answerers for.

Pretty soon they won't be able to provide free support by mail, either.

The problem, of course, is that some companies continue to sell direct to the consumer—and thus are dealers—and many others have their products sold through discount houses operating on such a small margin that they can't possibly provide support.

If you buy your automobile at $10 above dealer's cost, you don't really expect a lot of help from that dealer, do you? Alas, the computer business has got there as well.

Thus, while I'll continue to try to

{continued]

374 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 23

I^B

"

Make 1-2-3 Look like 1-2-3K

If you're a Lotus 1-2-3 user, you're already using the state of the art in business software, but if you're using a dot-matrix printer to produce your 1-2-3 graphics, you're living in the Stone-Age of computer graphics.

Produce outstanding 1-2-3 business graphics with the Roland DXY-880 8Pen Plotter. Why is the Roland DXY-880 better than any dot-matrix printer? For the same reason a Rolls Royce is better than a pickup truck—both will get you to the dance, but one does it with so much more style.

The Roland DXY-880 produces highquality business graphics in eight different colors on standard 8W 11" or 11" x 17" paper, and draws with a lightning quickness and accuracy that can't be matched bv anv artist. And because the DXY-880 emulates the Hewlett-Packard graphics language, it has at its disposal hundreds of business graphics and CAD/ CAM software packages. If you do a lot of group presentations, you'll like the fact you can easily produce instant overhead projection graphics just by using acelale instead of paper.

DXY-880

Actual Lotus graph drawn bv he DXY-880

iiO:i /\j

1

Otus 1-2-3 and Roland DXYare very compatible

he DXY can even work on a 9 inch shelf.

d

raw your graphics on acetate for instant projection presentation

Is limited desk-tor space a problem , The DXY-88( also stands up to run at a 6( degree angle—perfect for i bookshelf. You can ever reverse the plotting process and use the DXY-880 a: an input device b\ activating the built-in multi speed digitizer And the best part of all is that the DXY-880 does all of this for a price that is unbelievably low ($1295.00—hundreds less than its closest competitor). How is this possible? Because the DXY-880 is from Roland DG—the new kid on the computer peripherals block (who's out to make a name for itself by packing innovation, performance, and low-price into every product). Don't settle for 1-2-3 when you can have l-2-3'/2

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Roland DG

Inquiry 305

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 375

CHAOS MANOR

help, I will not automatically intervene in every problem I get letters about. In the old days 1 could act as a sort of general ombudsman, and heaven knows I tried; but there are just too many problems, and many of them are not problems 1 can do anything about.

Pournelle's law: If you don't know what you're doing, deal with those who do—even if that costs more.

For Example...

Some months ago I wanted to add color to my IBM PC. (You can't run the wonderful KoalaPad paint stuff without color.) We have several Zenith

ZVM-13 5 13-inch color monitors— about as good as you can get—so all I needed was a board for Lucy Van Pelt. We bought an STB Graphix Plus board from a discount house.

Alas.

The board wouldn't work with our monitor. When we returned it, the people we bought it from said it works fine—with an IBM color monitor. The board has both composite and RGB (red-green-blue) outputs, but it doesn't put color out the composite port.

More tests are in the works; they will, eventually, make the board work as 1 want it or give me my money

Items Discussed

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64K bytes

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CompuPro 8/16 System. . ..

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$795

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DBASE III

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Software

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$19.50

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Magic Keyboard

$32.50

Tax Shelter Eater

$150

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M1-286 Processor Board..

.$1395

UNIX Pascal Compiler

Macrotech International Corp 9551 Irondale Ave.

Source Code

$7500

AT&T

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PCturbo 186 from

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Expansion Board (128K bytes) to

Orchid Technology $1970 (640K

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back. I make no doubt I'll eventually have color, so we can hook up the KoalaPad, but so far we've used a couple of months; if I'd gone to a fullprice dealer, I expect things would be settled by now.

The Clock Quest Concluded

Last month we reported on our quest for a clock board for Mrs. Pournelle's Z-l 50 PC clone (the Zenith people want me to call it the Heath/Zenith PC150, but that's just too much to write each time). We had bought an STB RIO Plus board, and it didn't work properly.

Blake Handler, Priority One's technical-support guru, figured out what the problem was.

The IBM PC normally has either 64K bytes or 2 56K bytes of memory on the motherboard, and the RIO Plus is set to add memory above those addresses. The Z-l 50 has 320K bytes of memory on its board; consequently, if you pack memory onto the RIO Plus, you must leave the first bank blank. (1 don't know what would happen if you leave off the top bank on the Z-l 50; better to populate it fully and leave out the first bank on the RIO)

The RIO's documents have this, and only this, to say: "Note that memory map 4 requires the memory chips on the RIO Plus board to be installed starting in row #2 if all six rows of memory chips are not implemented." This accompanies a diagram and text of remarkable obscurity; it took the Priority One technicians about two weeks to figure out what was wrong.

The RIO's parallel port must be configured as LPT2. There's also a potential problem with the RIO's serial port: if your Z-l 50 already has two communications ports, then the one on the RIO Plus board must be disabled. STB sells a chip, PLSNOS, which you plug into the board to accomplish that. This is a PAL (programmable array logic) chip, and you must use it if you want to disable the RIO's serial port; that cannot be done with switches. This means that if you want an RIO Plus for your Z-l 50, or any other computer with two serial ports, you must

[continued]

376 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

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IANUARY 1985 • BYTE 379

CHAOS MANOR

order the PAL chip at the same time. In the unlikely event that your Z-150 has only one serial port—two come standard—address the RIO's serial port as COM2.

The RIO Plus has a number of nice features, including the ability to connect two game paddles—Apple game paddles would work. We like the

board, but the documents need revision. Rewriting would be better. There's no reason why STB can't explicitly state the potential problems with PC clones.

The memory-conflict problem is likely to be generic for all manufacturers: most PC-compatible boards are going to conform to the IBM PC

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memory pattern, so Z-150 owners should be wary, as should anyone else with a clone that doesn't have exactly 64K. bytes or 2 56K bytes of memory on the motherboard.

Sprinting

We've mentioned MPI printers before. We're now in a position to state that they're pretty rugged.

Last week Alex hooked up the serially configured MPI Sprinter to the Z-l 50; alas, he hooked it to the parallel port. It doesn't seem to have hurt anything. Didn't work, of course.

The printer works fine now that it has been connected to the serial port. We did have to swap pins 2 and 3 in the Sprinter's cable; we did not have to do that to get it to run on the Otrona Attache.

I've never really understood the RS-232C "standard" connectors and certainly never understood when you have to swap wires in a cable. The only real solution I know of to the problem is to get an RS-232C "breakout box," which looks like a cable with a plastic box in the middle; inside the plastic box are pins and jacks that let you reconfigure the cable. Given one of these, good documents, and plenty of time, you can generally manage to make serial connections, provided the phase of the moon isn't too unfavorable and you hold your mouth right.

Do You Really Need Shelter?

There are about a zillion tax shelters offered for sale. I'm no financial wizard, but all the investment brokers I know counsel lots of caution for those contemplating buying one of these things. The advertisements promise wealth untold and the riches of Croesus, all at the expense of the government; but the realities can be quite different.

Comes now the Tax Shelter Eater.

This is a program by attorney Schuyler Moore, member of a prestigious Los Angeles (Century City) law firm. The version 1 have runs on an IBM PC; I'm told there's also one for Apple DOS 3.3.

This program analyzes tax-shelter

380 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 336

CHAOS MANOR

The Tax Shelter Eater analyzes tax-shelter offers.

offers. It does it by asking you questions; if you can't answer those questions, you've no business buying into a tax shelter in the first place. If you got nothing from the program but the questions it asks, you'd probably be ahead.

Alas, that's about all I can say about it. I'm no investment counselor. You don't need a Pepperdine M.B.A. to understand the financial theory that comes with the program, but it wouldn't hurt, either. One of my friends who does have an M.B.A. says it looks like a pretty good program.

I mention the Tax Shelter Eater because I've seen friends get burned by odd tax-shelter investments. If they'd had this program and followed its advice, they wouldn't have. Fair warning, though: for all I know the program might cause you to miss out on a good deal, and I cannot possibly know whether it would reject all the bad ones.

Use it at your risk, not mine.

Aris

One reason I want an IBM PO compatible machine is that all the new integrated software is being written for them. 1 don't know whether Aris is the program I really want to use—there are a lot of them, and I haven't had a chance to test many— but it certainly has many of the characteristics of the "Executive Secretary" program I put on my wish list three years ago.

Aris bills itself as a "personal work processor." It integrates your spreadsheet, a word processor, printing, phone answerer, etc.. into one program. It's a desk-replacement program, though—its word processor isn't designed to compete with WordStar, and you use your own spreadsheet. Instead, they are all for "run

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CHAOS MANOR

ning your business life": taking down phone notes, writing a simple letter, balancing payments, etc.

At least, that's what a first glance showed me. There are bugs—especially in the word processor. For instance, you cannot press Return to go to a blank line below unless you are in insert mode. Mode-oriented editors have never been among my favorites anyway.

On the other hand, you can use your favorite word processor; you're not stuck with the one built into Aris.

A few random observations: Aris works much better with a hard disk and lots of memory than with a machine with two floppy disks, but that will be true of all the "executiveassistant" type programs. Alas, there is no single "bailout key" that gets you out of the current function, although Esc comes close. If there are no assignments to print out, Aris says "no matching assignments" instead of "there are no assignments."

Aris provides an interesting contrast to Sidekick. Instead of one program you can call up at any time, Aris is one program from which you can call others. Of course, that means you must use its command structure.

The appointment calendar is called a "diary," and 1 couldn't find it at first. It's pretty neat and keeps track of time, and work-assignment due dates, and the like.

The Aris documents are obviously preliminary. The manual needs to be typeset, indexed, and longer. It's a good start to a tutorial and manual, but it's nowhere near complete. Excel seems to be primarily concerned with Aris, and the program advertisements say the program was written by the company's President Krista LaBianca, so I expect there will be improvements in both software and documents.

The program comes in fairly elegant packaging. It is not copy-protected; the documents urge you to make backup copies immediately. This is a very large plus over some of the betteradvertised programs.

Aris has considerable promise, but

{continued)

•

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Inquiry 192

'IBM PC, IBM XT and IBM AT are registered trademarks of International Business Machines.

CHAOS MANOR

The 3B2/3QO has the potential to be an important microcomputer of the future.

it needs work. More when I've played with it more or have an update. Excel says it's doing new documents

now.

Well, It s a Step Up. ..

AT&T recently sent around an announcement of a new UNIX Pascal compiler to run on the AT&T 3B computer series. The compiler is said to have lots of goodies, including

separate compilation, hooks into UNIX utilities, and the ability to call programs written in C.

The price for source code is $7500 ($2000 for qualified educational institutions). This isn't cheap, but it's pretty reasonable compared to the goofy prices AT&T wanted last year for the COBOL syntax checker.

I'm less convinced than I was last January, but I still believe the AT&T 3B2/300 has the potential to be one of the most important microcomputers of the future; certainly the more languages AT&T has, the better its chance.

The Back Room

The back room at Chaos Manor is filled with computers: the Apple, an Atari, a Corvus Concept, Zorro the Z-100 with his attached wonderful Disk Maker 1 that can read and write more than 100 disk formats, and any

number of other machines. In the center of it all sits Peter Flynn and Shirley (officially known as a CompuPro 10).

One of Peter's jobs is indexing books. After his problems with my first computer book (see the October 1984 BYTE, "The Index Dilemma," page 332), we got a new version of SuperDex with faster screen I/O. The theory is that you go through a WordStar copy of your manuscript marking words and phrases with Control-P, after which SuperDex does, if not all, then much of the work.

Peter didn't use that approach. Instead, he made a paper copy using WRITE. With our HP LaserJet printer, that's a fairly quick and easy thing to do. Then he brought up WRITE on Shirley and proceeded to page through the paper copy making notes that look like

[continued)

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 385

CHAOS MANOR

The copy protection of dBASE III puts a number of bad sectors on the disk.

P>Major Heading

S>Subheading

@>57

P> another major head

@>57

P>Yet another major

S corresponding minor

@>60

and so forth. This creates the "raw index" file wanted by SuperDex; the program takes it from there and prints out quite a nice-looking index keyed to the paper copy. Now our publisher's copy editor can take the typeset page proofs and our index and finish the job.

Peter says this works better than the primary method recommended by SuperDex. For one thing, he would have to convert from a series of WRITE files into one big WordStar file; and WordStar is pretty slow even running on Shirley. (Next time he can, 1 suppose, use WordStar 3.3 on our IBM PC with the PCturbo 186; we'll see.) For another, simply scrolling through the manuscript marking pages won't give you an index entry for, say, "future of computers" on a page that never actually uses that phrase.

As Peter notes, what he's doing is a bit like the old-fashioned method of indexing with a card-file box, but using the computer to write the card entries, file them, sort them, then format and print out the index; much easier. He does wish he had a program that would give him a current list of indexed words and phrases. (Of course, he can from time to time print out the partial index already made, but it won't be on line—ha! Phrases it won't do, but The Word Plus has a program that will make an alpha

betized list of unique words; aim that at the "raw index" file.) He would also like a computerized way to handle multiple listings, as, for example, each computer to be indexed under its own company name as well as being subheads under "computer."

Indexing is still as much art as science, but computers sure make it a lot easier.

Go for It

We just received a new copy of AshtonTate's dBASE 111. 1 haven't had a chance to do more than put it into Lucy Van Pelt and determine that it does come up, and it does seem to work with PCturbo 186.

The manuals look much improved over the old dBASE II (Vulcan) manuals, and there seem to be a lot of nice features. I don't know how many of those I'll learn, because, alas, dBASE III is copy-protected. I used dBASE II for years; it wasn't copyprotected and indeed urged you to make backup copies.

The scheme of copy protection (1) puts a number of bad sectors on the disk and (2) won't let you use the program on a hard disk without the original system disk. Moreover, when we were trying to determine whether we could run dBASE III with PCturbo 186, we crashed it; I'm not sure how, but now the dBASE III master locks up the machine when we try to run it. It may be that we had a defective disk to begin with; when you deliberately put bad sectors on a disk, it's pretty hard to devise good qualityassurance procedures.

We have dBASE 111 running under the backup disk provided, but this is absurd.

The only good news is that dBASE III is copy-protected with one of those "unbreakable" systems, meaning that it took the crackers almost three weeks to break it; I'm reliably informed that a number of dealers will give you a copy of the backup program when you buy your regular copy. There are other ways to defeat the copy protection if you have a hard disk.

However, most business owners will

not want to fool with demons and unauthorized copies; it will be interesting to see how many will entrust their business records, including all their inventories and accounts, to the frailties of a floppy disk—and that is precisely what Ashton-Tate is inviting them to do. Just think, you too can be at the mercy of kittens, telephones (one good way to lunch a disk is to put it under the phone and wait for it to ring), coffee, magnetic paper-clip holders, and other such goodies. Me, I think I'll stick to my own accounting system and dBASE II.

One of the Ashton-Tate program-' mers tells me that dBASE 111 was developed in C on a VAX, so there is obviously a version that will run on a VAX. Ashton-Tate's people don't know what to do with it. One possibility is to market it, but the problem would be to provide support; they don't have that many VAX wizards. If they go this route, it will be interesting to see what they sell it for: recall the database program that sells for $500 to run under PC-DOS and $98,000 to run on an IBM mainframe.

Another thought they've had is to market the VAX version unsupported for the price of the distribution tape. If they want my opinion, that's the route they ought to go. They'll get an awful lot of students, hackers, wizards, and general VAX users accustomed to dBASE III; it won't be hard to guess what program they'll get for their own computers and recommend to their friends.

Of course, if they want my advice they'll get rid of the stupid copy protection, too. Ashton-Tate made a lot of money with dBASE II while remaining good guys; why do they want to go spoil it now?

Winding Down

There are several recommended books this month. First, The Odyssey File by Arthur C Clarke (Ballantine Books. 1984, $3.95) details his conversations, by modem, from Sri Lanka as he was setting up his system, writing books, and working with the director of 2010. Amusing, instructive, and fun.

(continued)

386 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

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Inquiry 306

CHAOS MANOR

Software for the Macintosh continues

to be more

potential than real.

The Omni Complete Catalog of Computer Software edited by Owen Davies (Collier Books, 1984, $23.99 hardcover, $13.95 paperback) is well worth your attention. The reviews are a bit uneven. With darned near 1000 programs reviewed, how could it be otherwise? They are, for the most part, very fair, and 1 found few to disagree with. Coverage is also spotty—it would have to be—but they don't just review the biggies. For example, there is a very fair treatment of WRITE, my favorite (if a bit obscure) text editor, and it includes a number of other smaller programs, including several I never heard of but have decided 1 want to look at. Recommended.

Structure and Merpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson, Gerald Sussman, and Julie Sussman (McGrawHill, $32.50) is written by the people who teach the MIT course of the same name; this is traditionally the first computer course at MIT for computer-science and electronics-engineering majors.

If you hate Pascal and love LISP, you'll like this book. If you don't know much about either Pascal or LISP, you will not get an objective treatment. The authors say: "In teaching our material we use a dialect of the programming language LISP. We never teach the language, because we don't have to. We just use it, and students pick it up in a few days."

That may happen at MIT. It hasn't happened yet for me.

The preface of the book is by Alan Perlis and contains this sentence: "The discretionary exportable functionality entrusted to the individual Lisp programmer is more than an order of magnitude greater than that to be found within Pascal enterprises."

Fortunately, the rest of the book is somewhat clearer. Structure and Merpretation is a frustrating book; 1 get the distinct impression that if I could just go through it (possibly by taking a month off to plow through without interruptions) I'd learn a lot; but so far enlightenment has eluded me.

Two games of the month are Safari and Elsinore, both for the IBM PC and sold by Workman. They're Adventuretype games (no graphics, just script) written by Dian Girard. My personal game of the month was Millionaire on the Macintosh; the Mac is very well suited to that kind of game. Incidentally, Workman reports that replacement door latches for the Tandon disk drives on the IBM PC are one of his hottest selling items.

Macintosh software continues to be more potential than real. I've even signed a bunch of papers, although I've yet to get much actual software. The 512K-byte memory expansion is now available and we've ordered ours; I suspect that when Fat Mac becomes widely available we'll finally see some of that promised flood of programs.

As usual, I'm out of time and space, but there's much to cover. Next time I'll try to get to the new Sage VI. which is now officially known as the Stride 460; Sage Computer has now become Stride Micro. Alex says the name reminds him of "the really great coffee with the really ugly label." I can't say the new name instantly appealed to me, either. I do like the new line of computers, which run at 10 MHz and sell for prices ranging from $2900 to nearly $60,000 for an all-up 448megabyte system.

David Gerrold says the micro revolution "shambles" onward. Maybe for him. Me, 1 feel like I've been run over by the Bullet Train. . . ■

Wry Pournelle welcomes readers comments and opinions. Send a selfaddressed, stamped envelope to \erry Pournelle, do BYTE Publications, POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449. Please put your address on the letter as well as on the envelope. Due to the high volume of letters, ]erry cannot guarantee a personal reply.

Photographed atGulfstream Aerospace, Savannah. GA.

Is your calculator programmed for success?

Move up to the TI-66. The easy 512 step programmable.

You're in the fast lane now, and the last thing you need is a calculator that slows you down. That's why you need the TI-66 programmable calculator

lUAiif&llaJWENI'j Tl-66PROCBAMMAWf

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from Texas Instruments. The TI-66 offers full programming power and flexibility so you can handle complex and repetitive math problems quickly, easily, and with fewer keystrokes.

Its 512 merged program steps and over 170 built-in scientific, engineering, and statistical functions make for powerful programming. And its sleek, streamlined design makes for easy use.

Its Algebraic Operating System lets you key in problems as they are written, left to right. And its 10-digit angled Liquid Crystal Display not only makes it easy on your eyes, but provides alphanumeric notation of

your program steps so you can make easy modifications as you go along. The keys are readable and large enough for your fingers. The guide book is a quick study. And at $69.95 suggested retail, the price is easy. So instead of spending extra time on routine calculations that won't get you noticed, promote yourself with the TI-66 programmable calculator. fts«

Texas^ Instruments

Creating useful products and services for you.

Copyright © 1984 Texas Instruments Incorporated.

Hewlett-Packard ^ presents the PC system piatTeisyou

,...,;...

If 111

The key word in that long, drawn-out headline is system.

A system built for PCs.

At Hewlett-Packard, it's a quality system of personal computers, plotters, a truckload of software, and Local Area Network (LAN) capability.

It's all matched and designed to work brilliantly together.

Yet the system is so flexible each part can stand alone. Or even team with an IBM PC.

So you can build just the system your staff needs.

It all starts with two of our Hewlett

Packard personal computers.

We call one the HP Touchscreen and the other (because it can do even more) the HP Touchscreen MAX.

The first comes with two doublesided disc drives that give you 256K bytes of main memory, expandable to 640K bytes.

The HP Touchscreen MAX has even more capacity, with the added power of a 14.8-M byte Winchester disc drive.

And both have DSN/Link, to let you set up a direct line of communication between them and your HP 3000 Department Computer.

As the names imply, you can actually change things on either screen just by touching the screen.

That makes the Touchscreen PCs easier to use. And a lot easier to learn.

The system also includes two printers

many people think are simply the best around.

Our Hewlett-Packard LaserJet and Thinkjet printers are both breathtakingly fast and refreshingly quiet.

The Thinkjet printer runs at a rapid 150 characters per second.

Yet because the Thinkjet paints each character with a small jet of ink (instead of smashing the paper with keys), it's as quiet as a sigh.

At 300 characters per second, our LaserJet printer is even faster.

Ten times faster than the best daisywheel printers. Yet the image is as sharp as you'll get from a printing press. Amazing.

390 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

and when you get to your hotel, change everything.

Two different plotters are also part of the HP personal computer system.

Both create full-color graphics. One with two pens, the other with six for even more detail.

If you like, the system can be knitted together through a LAN.

It lets a number of HP personal computers link up, talk to each other, share printers, and exchange information.

By the way, there can be a lot of information to exchange.That's because there are more than 500 business software titles available. For word processing, accounting, spread sheets and graphics. You'll find the big names there, too.

1-2-3™ from Lotus I"* WordStar1.*** MicroPlan™*** And the whole catalogue of software from HP.

Finally, when you travel, you can take the system with you.

Hewlett-Packard's portable personal computer turns your hotel room (or your den at home, or your customer's desk) into another part of your personal computer system.

The Portable has plenty of capacity; 272K bytes of RAM and 384K bytes of ROM. And with its built-in modem, it can link you with your office printers and plotters. Not bad for a computer that weighs just nine pounds and can fit into a briefcase.

The system is all linked up, all on the same programs, all designed to work together, and all ready to go.

And all, from Hewlett-Packard.

Just dial 800-FOR-HPPC, toll free, to find the name of a Hewlett-Packard dealer or sales representative near you.

tSJ

HEWLETT PACKARD

*l-2-3,uand Lotus™are U.S. Trademarks of Lotus Development Corporation. **Available for the HP Portable beginning January, 1985. WordStar*'is a U.S. Registered Trademark of MicroPro International Corporation. ***MicroPlan™ is a U.S.Trademark of Chang Laboratories, Inc.

Inquiry 161

JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 391

Submarine Engineering. Tomorrow is today at NUSC

The Naval Underwater Systems Center is the Navy's principal research, development, test and evaluation center for submarine warfare and submarine weapon systems. We provide high technology vital to the Navy's tactical and strategic edge in combat systems (sonar, combat control, electromagnetics, underwater weapons and targets, Rttai jiljH"". weapon launch and handling), surface ship sonar and undersea ranges.

Engineers and scientists who join the Center's laboratories at Newport, Rhode Island and New Lon

don, Connecticut, are encouraged to take responsibility almost immediately. They design, develop and test prototypes of these systems

and work with private industry on production of the final product.

"I got responsibility right away" says Ronald Jackson, an electronic engineer. "As I showed ability, my responsibility grew. Today, I'm a project engineer." Through NUSC's liberal education policy, Ron has earned a master's since he joined Newport and is working toward a Ph.D.

Because the Center helps its scientists become expert in other fields, electronic engineer Donna Doane is concentrating on computer software. "I'm doing things people never have done before," Donna says. "I design the project, and I see it to the end—to the final product." Monica Sachs is learning something new each day. "I'm working on weapons systems engineering, a broad subject that allows you to get into several different kinds of engineering. I use my electronic engineering background to understand the other disciplines." And Peter Santiago applies his com

puter background to quality assurance. "I look for self-gratification in the job, and I get that at NUSC."

We seek graduating and experienced electronic and computer engineers with degrees from accredited colleges and universities. We also need computer scientists with degrees from colleges and universities affiliated with a school of engineering and specializing in scientific and technical applications.

We offer you challenge, freedom to be innovative and creative, and the opportunity to contribute your skills to our national defense.

And the living is good, too! Newport and New London areas are popular for their excellent beaches, fishing and sailing.

We believe we have both the challenge and the opportunity for you. For further information, contact Naval Underwater Systems Center, Personnel Staffing Division, B Newport, Rhode Island 02841 or call (401) 841-3585.

An Equal Opportunity Employer U.S. Citizenship Required

392 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

More MacLetters

Dear Jerry,

As an avid BYTE reader, I generally find the shoot-from-the-hip style of your column both informative and entertaining. Alas, your stabs at the Macintosh in the July 1984 BYTE ("Big Mac," page 312) had neither characteristic for anyone who knows that excellent machine. Your comments on the lack of Macintosh applications at the West Coast Computer Faire (July, "The Big Mac," page 376) completely miss the point. It is of course true that just two months after its introduction a machine that attempts something really new and thereby spurns compatibility with existing systems will have little written for it. But what of the ease of use of the machine, its speed and flexibility, and future software?

In fact, MacWrite is fast, powerful, and easy to learn. As a university professor, 1 have watched in dismay as secretaries suffered through WordStar on the office IBM PC. It is a real thrill to see how quickly they can pick up MacWrite and how they enjoy the restful screen, the easy formatting, and the magnificent flexibility of the Mac (try doing French in WordStar, Jerry!); the high-quality mode on the printer produces a very pleasing typescript. By July we had Multiplan up and running beautifully (the bug in the first release having long since been corrected) and were eagerly awaiting Microsoft Chart, which will combine with the Imagewriter printer to produce knockout graphics already evident in MacPaint. And all this without the expense and bother of running separate monitors and/or adapter cards for graphics, as one must for the IBM PC.

And what does BYTE have to say about all this, apart from the superb and balanced preview by Gregg Williams in the February 1984 issue? Not much. You say it takes two minutes to call MacWrite, and the July editorial by Phil Lemmons complains that it takes three selections to eject a disk. I timed my 11-year-old son, who is an eager Mac user, on these operations: 50 seconds to enter a specific MacWrite document from the time the power is first turned on: 12 seconds to eject a disk start

ing from the desktop. For many operations in word processing and spreadsheets, the mouse is much faster than cursor keys (note the large sums of money people are paying to attach a mouse to existing PCs).

Indeed, to paint the Mac a slow or inflexible machine for the average user is the reverse of the truth. Yet when a Macintosh owner writes to ask you to join him in criticizing Microsoft for its copyprotection format on Mac Multiplan ("maybe Microsoft will listen to you"), you respond by attacking the Mac! Those of us using the superb Mac version of Multiplan in an office setting can only grind our teeth in dismay and amazement when you refer to it as "an expensive toy" that is "Macuseless for business."

The Apple people did make one big mistake, for which you and many other reviewers have rightly chastised them: the original model should have had 2 56K bytes of RAM. By resisting the IBM-compatibility bandwagon, the Mac owner therefore runs a risk, but I bet it's one that pays off. I wager that soon the Mac with 512K bytes will have a large supply of superb software, while many of the IBM clones and compatibles will face declining sales and/or imminent bankruptcy. Paul Davenport Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Sigh. If Macintoshes were free, we'd have no quarrel. Indeed, I've said before that if you can get one at the heavily discounted university price, you should think about that seriously.

On the other hand, in my judgment you can get more bang for the buck with some other machine. That may not always be true, but I think it's true now.

I don't know what to say about the Microsoft copy protection of Multiplan. I don't like copy protection, and I'd think everyone south of Oshkosh would know that. Alas, I don't think Microsoft is going to change policies because of me. It's just too easy to copy-protect Mac disks.

As to doing French in WordStar, thank you, no; of course, a Mac won't help either, since French is what my parents spoke when they didn't want me to understand.

Stay well.—Jerry

Dear Jerry,

As an owner of a Macintosh, having but recently come to the world of the personal computer, I was interested in your comments in your August 1984 column (page 313).

It is difficult to understand why the Macintosh manual and the books I have read are so poorly written and so lacking in vital information. To make matters worse, the commercials for the Mac that I saw on TV during the Olympics actually dwell upon the fact that the manual is small compared with the competition. To my way of thinking, this is not an advantage to be advertised but a serious disadvantage that needs immediate correction. One would expect that Apple would be making every effort to correct the matter instead of using it as advertising copy.

For example, some of "the rest of us" are interested in how to fix a disk that has "bombed." I experienced two "bombed" disks within the first two weeks of Macintosh ownership and only a chance reading of a magazine article gave me the answer.

While the Macintosh does what I want it to do, I would still like to be provided with a detailed, correct, and thorough manual. It is irritating, when setting up simple programs in BASIC, to have to work through feature after feature by trial and error. This computer has not been well served by its documentation, and 1 appreciated your comments. Perhaps in the near future, Apple will undertake a serious reexamination of its objectives for the Macintosh and make a new manual one of its high-priority projects.

Charles S. Allyn Pauma Valley, CA

Agreed. There are a lot of "features'' about the Macintosh that seem inspired more by ideology than anything else. —Jerry

Perfect Writer

Dear Jerry,

I read with interest your problems involving indexing and other jobs using WRITE and WordStar. I think that you

(continued)

JANUARY 1985

393

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

might want to look at some of the features of Perfect Writer.

I received Perfect Writer as part of a Kaypro package a year ago and have grown to like it. For example, it has indexing already built into the basic program. As you write, you can include an index command and a reference word(s), and Perfect Writer automatically will make an alphabetized index of subjects and the pages on which they appear. Perfect Writer also will create a table of contents if you desire, with chapters, sections, subsections, and even paragraphs. Perfect Writer also can print automatically numbered footnotes on the bottom of each page or references listed at the end of the document.

Although Perfect Writer is not compatible with WordStar, it can be made compatible by judicious use of the PIP command or probably by a program such as FILTER.COM. (Of course, a program such as Footnote is superfluous to Perfect Writer users.) Perfect Writer is not the "in" program these days it seems, but it does have some interesting features.

Robert J. Schechter Los Angeles, CA

You're hardly the only one who likes Perfect Writer, which does have a number of features. I don't use it myself; and one reason it isn't the "in" program is that you have to know some of its idiosyncrasies before you're totally safe from text-losing blunders.

Thanks.—Jerry

Printers

Dear Jerry,

Concerning your quote ". . .one day we'll be able to replace both the office copier and the printer with one device" ("Electrostatic Printers," July 1984, page 328), IBM has already achieved this goal with its 6670 (Models I and II) laser printers that double as convenience copiers.

Tony Patti Arlington, VA

Yeah, IBM sure has, but to buy one you'll need scientific notation to write the price and a government subsidy to pay it. —Jerry

The Scientists Strike Back

Dear Jerry,

Ye gods and little fishes! Talk about turning a nonproblem into pandemia. APL to

do complex arithmetic—and data typing yet? What is all this talk? You are (sob!) beginning to sound like one of those (aaargh!) computer high priests. Steve Maas posed a valid point about the widespread use of complex arithmetic in science and engineering ("Scientific Computing," August 1984, page 334). For microcomputer users your suggestions had about as much practicality as proposing to do sums and differences on a slide rule. Who has. and at what price, APL for microcomputers?

If a language can handle trig and log functions, it can be used to do complex arithmetic (provided it can recognize the difference between a character and an integer). Most microcomputer BASICS have these capabilities. What you should have told Mr. Maas is to put together a set of subroutines to perform addition, subtraction, inversion, and square roots of complex numbers in BASIC and deal with his inversion of a matrix of complex numbers.

I do all this and more (e.g., complex hyperbolic functions) on a Sharp PC-1500 hand-held computer. To show the simplicity, here are the BASIC statements for multiplication of complex numbers:

REM: (S + j T) • (U + j V) "MULT": WO = (S * U) - (T * V) :

T = (S * V) + (T » U)

S = WO : RETURN

This subroutine is entered with the variables S and T containing the real and imaginary parts of the first complex number, and U and V, respectively, for the second complex number. The product is returned in S and T. WO is a temporary variable.

The remaining functions are similarly succinct and not at all difficult. APL indeed!

Forrest Gehrke Mountain Lakes, Nj

Ah, well, you see I have this mad desire to play about with APL, and the (theoretical) problem posed to me prompted me to say I'd use APL to work the problem.

Actually, like you, I'd very probably use BASIC, which I understand and have at hand.

Thanks.—Jerry

Dear Jerry.

I have been using Pascal for scientific computing for several years, and I couldn't resist writing. FORTRAN was the first language that I learned (more than 10 years ago), while I have known Pascal for only

the past four. My scientific-computing needs include numerical simulation, statistics, and the analysis of experimental data. Yet my preferred language for such work is Pascal, and I will use it when writing a new program unless I have an explicit reason not to. (One such reason is when the program must be used on several mainframes. Alas, not many mainframes have a very good implementation of Pascal: no one thinks it's suitable for scientific computing.)

I did a survey of my disk directories and found that of 420 programs, packages, and library routines, literally half of them were written in Pascal and the other half in FORTRAN. 1 now use FORTRAN for scientific computing like 1 use BASIC—only when 1 have no other choice.

On another note, I'd like to let you know of a rather horrifying experience that I recently had at several computer stores. First, 1 should let you know that my personal computing experience is with homebrew hardware and software (including operating-system and language implementations), and 1 understand the point of view of a friend of mine who once said that it was all over when they started carpeting the floors of computer shops. After all, who would ever walk around such a place with bare chips in their hands! Anyway, I wasn't looking for anything too exotic—just an ordinary RS-232C cable with a 25-pin subminiature D connector that was male on both ends. Because I needed the cable in order to connect a terminal to a modem, the cable didn't even need all 2 5 pins wired (just 1 through 8 and pin 20 would do). Sound simple? I usually get such things from one of several mail-order sources, but 1 was in a hurry.

The first three places I went to asked what kind of computer I wanted to connect to. When I told them just an ordinary terminal, they looked at me like I was from Mars. A fourth place said that they had heard of such cables, but the store manager told me—with a straight facethat it was not a standard cable and the industry was phasing it out! Start hoarding those cables now! Anyway, in a panic 1 found another shop. They said that they thought that they could help. The salesman looked around for the one guy in the shop that knows what's in the back room, and he found them in the basement. They even had two cables, which 1 wanted. The only catch was that they wanted $55 apiece for them. This was turning into a nightmare. I eventually gave up and went

(continued)

394 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 395

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

back to my mail-order sources. One of them, Inmac, which is a premium-price, premium-quality place with a superfast delivery time (about 18 hours for me), had the identical cable for about $3 5. And I found ribbon-cable versions for less than $25 from several sources.

I'm not sure what circumstances could now drag me into a typical computer shop. Those people remind me of a usedcar salesman 1 once knew.

Everett Carter

Your letter is typical: lots of people familiar with both FORTRAN and Pascal (or Modula-2) prefer the highly structured languages for number crunching.

I've had good experiences with Inmac. You can find stuff at lower prices, but I've had fast and reliable service.—jerry

Looking for a Pascal

Dear Jerry

1 am interested in buying a Pascal for my Morrow MD2, but 1 don't think JRT is good

enough, and Borland's Turbo doesn't come in the right DOS. A recent Ellis Computing ad in BYTE included the addition of Nevada Pascal to its line of products. I sent for a catalog hoping to learn more about it, but I received the same catalog that 1 had before, without the Pascal.! am left almost totally ignorant as to what Nevada Pascal is like. Since you seem to be an expert on Pascal, why don't you do a review of Nevada Pascal?

Andy Marken Columbia City, IN

Alas, the Ellis Nevada Pascal is JRT Pascal (version 3.0), or so I've been told. —Jerry

TK! Solver

Dear Jerry,

I have been reading for some time of the Japanese fifth-generation computer and of nonalgorithmic languages. 1 thought 1 would let you know that 1 have been using such a language for a couple of months.

it is called TKISoIver, and it's wonderful. It solves problems that can be modeled as algebraic equations.

About six months ago I had to design a three-port network with five unknown resistors, subject to five constraints. The equations were nonlinear, involving sums of reciprocals of the resistors. Using various mathematical tricks, 1 reduced the problem to three equations in three unknowns and then wrote a FORTRAN program to help evaluate the equations as I searched a three-dimensional space for an answer. I am a computer user, not a computer programmer, and the inevitable bugs took their toll. I finally got my answer after 40 man-hours. Was it worth it? Yes, the payback over the life of the product will cover the cost. Would 1 have spent the 40 hours if 1 had known it would take that long? No, a more expensive solution was available, and there were more important problems to solve.

Well, about two months ago, some fellows down the hall bought TKISoIver and put it to work evaluating some straightforward equations and making

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396 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 13

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

some plots. It looked interesting, and I looked through the manual. After two hours, I decided to try the three-port problem on it as a test. Four hours after I picked up the manual, I had a solution. A 10:1 improvement. Actually, more than 10:1 when you consider my years of FORTRAN experience and no experience with TKlSolver.

Now I use the TKlSolver program frequently. I have several of my favorite active filters programmed into it. I just enter the desired center frequency, Q, gain, and capacitor values, and TKlSolver calculates the required resistors.

This program is going to do to algebra what calculators have done to arithmetic. You ought to try it.

Any complaints? A few. It does not handle complex numbers. (Laplace transforms have to wait.) The control structure lacks orthogonality. Some commands are invoked by special characters, some from a menu, and some by typing things in special fields.

I really enjoy your column.

Roy McCammon Austin, TX

I've previously reviewed TKlSolver, and I agree: it can do wonders for my ability to work algebra problems. The manuals leave a bit to be desired, but if you study them hard you'll figure out how to use the program—and it certainly works. —Jerry

Tom Tcimpidis

Dear lerry,

As a follow-up on your comments in September 1984 ("The RCBS Blues." page 368). you may be interested in this message from Tom Tcimpidis's bulletin board (see figure 1).

Mervin E. Frank Santa Ana, CA

I understand that Pacific Telephone and the Los Angeles City Attorney held a meeting to which neither Tom Tcimpidis nor his attorney were invited; and after that meeting, the City Attorney changed his mind and decided to prosecute Tom because some wag had put telephone access codes on Tom's public bulletin board. Tom's bulletin board can be reached at (818) 366-1238.

Those interested can send funds for Tom's defense to Lynzie's Motherboard. POB 284, North Hollywood, CA 91603. The address of the Los Angeles City At

FROM MOG-URS BULLETIN BOARD (818)366-1238

MSG #10705 ON 08/29/84 AT 00:49:04

FROM: SYSOP (I)

TO: ALL

SUBIECT: THE MOG-UR BATTLE WITH PACTEL/POLICE MAY NOT BE OVER

YET! 8

I HAVE RECEIVED WORD THAT THE LA. CITY ATTORNEY HAS, WITHOUT ANY ADVANCE WORD NOR ANY INDICATION OF REASON, INDICATED THAT HE INTENDS TO FILE CHARGES UNDER SECTION 502 (?). CHARLES LINDNER. MY ATTORNEY. WAS NOTIFIED OF THIS TODAY AND WILL ATTEMPT TO FIND OUT WHAT IS TRANSPIRING.

I WILL KEEP EVERYONE INFORMED AS INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE. THE FIGHT MAY NOT BE OVER YET (UNFORTUNATELY)!

-TOM

END OF MSG # 10705 FROM SYSOP

ID

Figure I: Message from Tom Tcimpidis's bulletin board.

torney is Ira Reiner, Los Angeles City Attorney. Suite 2000. 200 North Main St.. Los Angeles, CA 90012.

When I talked to Pacific Telephone officials, they swore they wanted to find a reasonable settlement to the conflict of interest between the free flow of information and protecting their property rights: this seems an odd way to go about It—lerry

Encrypted Software

Dear Jerry

Be patient. Only a few more years of copy protection and software piracy remain. Soon, microprocessors will be able to run encrypted software. Each processor will come with its own encryption key. When ordering software, you give the key over the phone to the manufacturer who will send you your own special version of the program. You can make as many copies as you want or copy it to a hard disk: it doesn't matter since you can run the program on only that particular processor. Of course, if you use more than one computer (one at home, one at the office) or if several computers share a single disk, there is still a problem, but software vendors will probably have a more liberal policy for multiple copies.

While each processor will probably cost a little more, the decline in software prices

should easily make up for that. Nor should the encryption affect the speed, since the decryption can be done in parallel with the execution of previous instructions. Since the decryption key is locked inside the processor, it would be almost impossible to decrypt the program. As a programmer and a user, I'm looking forward to the day of secure (and affordable) software.

Kenny Hirsch Chapel Hill, NC

Over my dead body! Next they'll want us to have our social security number permanently stamped into any copy of a book we buy, and severe penalties for reading someone else's book. . .

The decline in software prices will be enough; we don't need schemes like this! —Jerry ■

Users Group Corner

Pittsburgh Area Computer Club c/o Engineers Society of Western PA Wm. Penn Hotel 530 West Penn Place Pittsburgh, PA 15219

Meetings on Apple. Apple CP/M, Lobo Max-80, IBM PC. and other machines. Write for meeting schedules.

IANUARY 1985

1 Y T E 397

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ASHTON-TATE HAS LISTENED TO THEIR USERS. THIS PRODUCT ADPR£SS£S EVERY ITEM ON MY WSH'UST.

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-Phillip Wood, Director of Data Processing/Search Institute

dBASE III

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Inquiry 31

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 399

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• • ••• • • .

BYTE U.K.

TAe Amstrad CPC 464

The home

computer

in the U.K.

by Dick Pountain

Dick Pountain is a technical author

and software consultant living in

London. England. He can be

contacted do BYTE, POB 372.

Hancock. NH 03449.

It's not easy for a U.K. citizen to write about home computers for an American magazine. We use the term to refer to an altogether different object on our side of the Atlantic.

In the U.S.A., an Apple II is a home computer; the IBM PC in its smaller configurations is a home computer; the Macintosh is a home computer. Home computers use floppy disks for mass storage and perform useful functions like word processing and income tax preparation as well as playing games.

In the U.K., those computers would be considered rather expensive as business computers, let alone for home use. Home computers here typically cost less than £200 (about $2 50) and use cassette tape recorders for mass storage. We have various manufacturers of our own, some unheard of in the U.S.A.—Sinclair Spectrum, Acorn Electron, Oric Atmos, Memotech, Enterprise, and Amstrad. Others, like Newbrain, Jupiter, Lynx, and Dragon, are already defunct. Even when we do have machines in common (the Commodore 64), I suspect that the vast majority of U.S. users buy the disk drive, while the majority of U.K. users have only the cassette deck.

A philosophical question that our Sunday newspapers love to debate (once a month on average) is: what are home computers for? The truthful answer (though seldom the one given) is; to play with. The vast majority of home computers are used solely for playing games or learning programming. Until disk drives become the norm rather than the exception, that will remain the case.

The fact that "home computer" has an essentially different meaning in our respective cultures is clearly demonstrated by the relative lack of success of those British models marketed in the U.S.A. (e.g., the Timex Sinclair 2068). With higher spending power and expectations than their British equivalents, U.S. buyers aren't tempted (and might even be repelled) by ultralow prices.

I'm devoting this month's column to a recent British home computer that promises to be more useful than most. My criteria for usefulness include a robust typewriter keyboard, the ability to display the standard 80-column by 24-character text screen (most go up to only 40 columns), a diskdrive option of reasonable capacity and cost, and support for a mainstream operating system such as CP/M or MS-DOS. Only then could I recommend a home computer as a dual-purpose business and pleasure purchase. The Amstrad computer comes the closest yet to filling this bill.

Amstrad CPC 464

The name Amstrad is associated with budget hi-fi in Britain. The firm, part of the giant GEC group, has beaten the Japanese at their own game and captured a lion's share of our home market for low-priced racked systems.

In June 1984, Amstrad entered the home computer market with a machine bearing the unsexy title CPC 464. It was designed wholly in Britain in conjunction with Locomotive Software, a seasoned Z80 systems house. Locomotive produced a neat operating system for trie CPC 464; it incorporates so many good ideas that I wish it had emerged four years ago when the Z80 was still hot.

The CPC 464 is based around a 4-MHz Z80A with a full 64K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write memory) and a paged ROM (read-only memory) system of fiendish ingenuity. The computer package is noteworthy for consumer-oriented features that have accrued from Amstrad's hifi experience. It's a "ready to go" system, incorporating both a video-display unit (VDU) and a cassette recorder in the basic package. Two models are available, with either a monochrome or RGB (red-greenblue) color monitor, for £200 or £300 (about $2 50 or $375), respectively. Most color monitors cost £300 here, without a computer.

[continued]

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 401

BYTE U.K.

The color monitor uses a modified Amstrad television tube and the bandwidth is barely adequate for the computer's 80-column text mode, though it gives good saturated color and a steady display. The greenscreen monochrome monitor is fine for 80-column work. A power supply, which is incor

porated into both monitors, drives the computer console, so only a single power cord is necessary for the whole system. The console is the size of an IBM keyboard unit (though deeper) and has a cassette recorder built in at the right end. This unit is not fully software-operated though; like the old PET, you must switch the Play, Record,

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and Rewind buttons by hand. The keyboard is the best I've found on a home computer and quite adequate for word processing. It has a huge Enter key, a separate numeric pad, and a compass-style cursor group; the keys are brightly color-coded.

Sound and color are strongly featured. The CPC 464 has a total of 27 colors, from which a palette of 16, 4, or 2 must be selected according to screen mode. The GI AY-3-8912 chip provides sound; it supports three voices (in stereo), with both tone and volume envelopes. The operating system allows sophisticated concurrent manipulation of sounds using queues and rendezvous. While this chip lacks the filters and ring modulators of Commodore's sound interface device (SID), you can easily exploit its capabilities through BASIC; 1 certainly can't say that about the Commodore 64.

As for the CPC 464's other silicon content, a 6845 controls the CRT (cathode-ray tube) display while an 82 55 parallel peripheral interface controls the cassette recorder and the built-in Centronics printer port. A single Ferranti custom gate array does everything else. Since the memory is in the form of a mere eight 64K-byte chips, the circuit board resembles an underpopulated suburb rather than the usual city center.

The most obvious hardware omission is a serial port; Amstrad will offer one later but only as an add-on.

BASIC

The most interesting features of the CPC 464 are Locomotive's BASIC and the operating system. The BASIC is largely standard Microsoft version 5.X with extensions for graphics, sound, multitasking, and interrupts, and a clean implementation of streamed I/O (input/output). It ran the Sieve of Eratosthenes in 1324 seconds, faster than a grown-up CP/M machine running MS-BASIC.

A SOUND command that takes seven parameters supports sound. Envelopes are declared like arrays with the ENV (volume) and ENT

{continued)

402 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 133

Inquiry 401

Inquiry 219

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BITE

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Special BYTE Guide to IBM PC's — S4.75

Circle and send requests with payments to: BYTE Back Issues P.O. Box 328 Hancock, NH 03449

Prices include postage in the US. Please add S.50per copy for Canada and Mexico; and $2.00 per copy to foreign countries (surface delivery).

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IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 403

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Inquiry 271

BYTE U.K.

(tone) keywords. You can declare any number of envelopes because only the envelope number is passed to SOUND, which means you can swap envelopes easily.

The graphics commands are unsophisticated by today's standards: only point and line drawing, with no fill or circle draw routines. Amstrad will release an extended graphics set as a ROM expansion.

The multitasking and interrupt facilities use a nice natural syntax, similar to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) BASIC real-time extensions. Four independent interval timers are provided, prioritized in the order 3, 2, 1, 0. A task is set in motion by calling its subroutine with either EVERY (repeat at stated intervals) or AFTER (delay for stated period) and a timer number. Such a subroutine then interrupts the main program at the specified times. The time units for specifying intervals are l/300th-second timer ticks, which allows some pretty fine-grained interleaving of tasks. I used listing 1 to check this function.

Listing 1 uses interrupting routines on timers 0 and 1 and, at first, prints a string of c characters interspersed with an ab combination. As y increases and the b routine takes longer, the main program gets squeezed out (the c characters gradually disappear). Then the a routine is smothered, leaving only a string of bbbbbbbbbbbb. ... If I change line 100 to give a the higher priority timer 2, then only aaaaaaaa . . . will survive this Darwinian struggle for processor time. This simple scheme of resource allocation ensures that you can't blow up the system and that something will always

run (even if it isn't what you intend), an important feature in a system aimed at beginners.

When it's important that some program be allowed to terminate unmolested, you can disable software interrupts with the Dl directive and reenable them later with El. The operating system maintains a queue for all interrupt routines, although calls that overflow the queue will be lost. The REMAIN keyword returns the current count from any of the timers and resets it to zero.

I/O is handled by streams with an associated windowing capability. There are 10 streams recognized by the system, 0 to 7 for the screen, 8 for the printer, and 9 for the cassette. They don't have to be declared, opened, or closed, and stream 0 to the screen is the default. The WINDOW command links, a stream with a screen window whose corner coordinates are optional arguments (whole screen is the default). Then PRINT and INPUT are simply redirected, by specifying the stream number, to the desired window. You can also create a high-resolution graphics window. These ideas aren't new, but the syntax feels cleaner and easier to use than previous attempts I've seen.

In short, the CPC 464's BASIC supports the available hardware to the extent that PEEK and POKE become redundant (though people will use them just the same).

Operating System

The CPC 464's operating system (OS) and architecture are neat. The OS sits in 16K-byte ROM at the bottom of memory while BASIC is in a 16K-byte ROM at the top of memory. Both

Listing I: Program to check out interrupt timing on

the CPC 464.

100 EVERY 10,0 GOSUB 1000

200 EVERY 10,1 GOSUB 2000

300 PRINT "c";:GOTO 300

1000 FOR x=1 TO 100: NEXT x:PRINT "a";:y = y+1

1100 RETURN

2000 FOR x= 1 TO y :NEXT x :PRINT "b";

2100 RETURN

BYTE U.K.

ROMs overlap the 64K bytes of RAM, the upper one overlapping screen memory. They are switched in and out in a most ingenious fashion. Locomotive Software uses five of the Z80 RESTART instructions to effectively extend the processor's instruction set, so that programs bring ROMs into the address space in a way that's transparent to the user. In particular the RST pseudo-instructions guarantee that a write operation always accesses RAM regardless of the ROM switch state. If an operating-system routine is called, the lower ROM will be switched in; the operating system switches out the upper ROM if it needs to access the screen. All operating-system routines restore the previous ROM state when they return. This scheme leaves you with a total of 43,533 bytes free for BASIC programs, which is at least 10K bytes more than on comparable machines.

Furthermore, you can place up to 252 extra 16K-byte ROMs into the upper ROM area, bank-switched via an I/O port and a unique ROM address. Expansion ROMs can be one of two types: background or foreground. BASIC is a foreground program that could be replaced by another, such as FORTH or CP/M. Whichever program is installed at ROM address 0 will take over the machine at boot-up—you don't need to physically replace the on-board ROM.

Background ROMs provide services to the current operating system, such as device drivers for new peripherals or extensions to the graphics routines. Only seven background ROMs can be installed. The operating-system kernel supports a kind of far addressing (a branch via I/O mapping to any one of 252 parallel ROMs in the upper ROM area) that lets a program call subroutines in ROM. In addition, ROM rou

tines can call subroutines in other ROMs. Resident system extensions (RSXs) behave like background ROMs but must be loaded into memory— they are similar to MS-DOS version 2 configurable device drivers. For some applications that don't justify the cost of blowing a ROM, an RSX might be more suitable.

The operating-system software is written in a highly modular fashion. Separate units (called packs) deal with the keyboard, text VDU, graphics VDU, cassette, and sound, while a kernel handles interrupts, events, and the ROM selection mechanism. All OS calls are vectored through a RAMbased jump table in proper fashion, so programs can be insulated against future firmware changes.

The Keyboard Manager pack completely defines the interface to the keyboard hardware, so that a program

(continued)

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Los Angeles, California 90045 (213) 645-1082

Smalltalk-80 Is a trademark of Xerox Corporation. MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc. PC-DOS is a trademark of IBM Corporation.

Inquiry I08

YES! Please send me a copy of METHODS for $250. Check Money Order Visa Mastercard

Card* Name_

Exp. Date_

Address

City/State/Zip. Telephone ( Signature

)

California residents add 6% sales tax. Outside U.S.A. add $15.00

IANUARY I985 -BYTE 405

The Micromint Collection

W

TERM-MITE ST

SMART TERMINAL BOARD

TERM MITE is a completely self-contained video display cuntroller.

All you need to build a Smart Video Terminal equivalent to the types advertised for S1000 or more is a Term-Mile ST circuit board, scanned or parallel keyboard, video monitor and power supply.

Uses brand new Nat'l Semi NS405 Terminal Processor.

- 24 lines by 80 characters, 25th reverse-video status.

- Upper Si lowercase. Line (block) graphics,

■ Selectable data rate, parity & display options.

- Reverse video, half intensity, double height & width, underline, blinking and/or blank character.

■ Separate sync or composite video output. Self Test.

TERM-MITE ST Video Display Terminal Board

BCC22 Assembled & Tested S284.

BCC23 Complete Kit $244.

MPX-16 MICROCOMPUTER IBM PC COMPATIBLE

As featured on the cover of BYTE Magazine. Also featured in Ctarcta S Circuit Cellar November, December 1982 & January 1983

The Computer with a Split Personality

- Use it as an IBM PC look alike that directly boots PC DOS 2.0 and accepts all expansion boards designed lor the IBM PC.

- Use it as a powerful 8088 single board computer for all your OEM applications. Just add serial terminal, disk drive and power supply. Directly boots CP/M-86.

Buy the MPX-16 in the form thai best meets your needs or budget. As a hare board, as a wave soldered board that contains all components less ICs, as an assembled and tested circuit board or as a complete system.

Directly boots PC DOS 2.0 and CP/M-86. Most IBM PC software executes with no modifications.

IBM PC bus compatible +9 expansion slots. Intel 8088 16-bit microprocessor. Optional Intel 8087 math cocprocessor. 256K bytes on board memory. Up to one megabyte of system memory. Up to 64K bytes of system R0M/EPR0M. 2 RS 232C Serial & 3 Parallel 1/0 ports. Disk controller for W or 8" drives. Sixteen levels of vectored interrupts.

MPX-16 Circuit Board Assembled

w/64K RAM $1,200.

OEM 100 quantity price 840,

MPX-16 Circuit Board Assembled

w/256K RAM 1,400.

MPX-16 Semi-Kit (wave soldered circuit

board w/all components) Less ICs 595.

Complete Kit of ICs w/25GK RAM 595.

MPX-16 Unpopulated (bare) PC Board 300.

CP/M-86 Operating System + Manuals 80.

MPX-16 Switching Power Supply 300.

MPX-16 Technical Reference Manual 50.

MPX-16 Metal Enclosure with Fan 225.

TandonTM 100-2 Double Sided/Density

Drive 300.

IBM/PC Keyboard Interface Adapter 100.

Shipping and handling additional on MPX-16 orders.

Z8COMPUTER SYSTEM

BASIC System Controller

The Z8 Basic System Controller is an updated version of our popular BCC01. The price has been reduced and features added. The entire computer is 4" by 4Vi" and includes a tiny BASIC interpreter, up to 6K bytes of RAM and EPROM, one RS-232C serial port with switchable baud rates and two parallel ports. BASIC or machine language programming is accomplished simply by connecting a CRT terminal. Programs can be transferred to 2732 EPROMswith an optional EPROM programmer for auto start applications. Additional Z8 peripheral boards include memory expansion, serial and parallel I/O, real time clock, an A/D Converter and an EPROM programmer.

- Uses Zilog 28 single chip microprocessor.

- Oata and address buses available for complete

peripheral expansion

- Can he battery operated.

- Cross assemblers for various computers. New BCC11 Assembled 8r Tested $149. Low Pric

FORTH Language Version

e new Z8 with on board 4K FORTH you can program high speed control functions in a few simple high level language commands. Perfect for data reduction, process control and high speed control applications.

BCC20 Z8F FORTH Microprocessor chip . $150. BCC21 Z8F FORTH System Controller (This board is a BCC11 with a BCC20 installed) bled & Tested 280

IBM PC is a trademark ol International Business Machines Inc. CP/M-86 is a trademark of Digital Research Inc. Z8 is a trademark of Zilog Inc.

Inquiry 234

Memory, I/O Expansion, Cassette Interface

- 8K bytes of additional RAM or EPROM.

- Three additional 8 hit parallel parts.

- Cassette interface - 300 hand K.C. Standard.

- Software real time clock.

BCC33 w/OK RAM Assembled & Tested ... $150. BCC34 w/6K RAM Assemhled 8> Tested ... $180.

Eprom Programmer

- Transfer BASIC or Assembly Language application programs from RAM to 2716 or 2732 EPROM.

- Comes with programming & utility routines on EPROM.

• Requires Z8 I/O Expansion Board for operation. BCC07 Assembled & Tested $145.

Analog to Digital Converter

- Uses Analog Devices 7581 IC, 8-channei o-ou.

- Adds process control capability to the Z8 system

- Over 1,000 conversions per channel per second.

- Monitors 8 analog signals in one of two lOv Ranges. BCC13 Assembled & Tested $140.

Serial Expansion Board

- Adds additional RS-232C and oplo-isolated 20 ma. current loop serial port to the Z8 System.

■ Runs at 75 to 19,200 baud in all protocols.

- Comes with iistings of sample serial I/O routines. BCC08 Assembled & Tested $160.

16K Memory Expansion Board

- Add up to 1SK of additional memory, RAM or EPRDM, to your Z8 System Controller in any multiple.

- Accepts 2016, 6116, 2716, or 2732 memory types.

- Four 16K cards may be installed on the Z8 System bringing the total memory to 64K.

BCC14 Assembled 8> Tested w/4K RAM . $120.

Cross Assemblers

From Micro Resources

IBM PC, APPLE. 6502 Systems 57,",

CP/M2.2 8" S75.

From Allen Ashley

TRS-80 Model 1,111, Northster 5'/." 75.

CP/M2.2 8" 150.

Five Slot Mother Board

- Expand your Z8 BASIC Sysiem with minimum effort.

- Contains five slots complete w/44 pin connectors. MB02 Assembled & Tested $69.

Triple Voltage Power Supplies

+5V 8 300 ma. +/■ 12V ©25 me.

UI'SO I Assembled & Tested $35.

UPS02 Complete Kit 27.

t5V@1 Amp.+12V9.5 Amp.-12V ©50mi.

UPS03 Assembled & Tested 60.

UPS04 Complete Kit 50.

SPEECH PRODUCTS

Lis'ner 1000 Voice

Recognition Board

Uses the new, high performance SP1000 voice recognition chip.

The LIS' NER 1000 provides voice input capability for your computer. The unit functions in the same manner as your keyboard, serving as a data entry device for application programs or the normal operation of the computer. The LIS'NER 1000 recognition system works by analyzing human speech and extracting the most important features. These impressions of words are compacted into "templates" which can be stored and later compared to someone talking to the recognition unit. The LIS' NER 1000 supports a 64 word vocabulary in speaker dependent, discrete utterance mode. The recognition accuracy is greater than 98%. Each unit comes with a professional quality headband style eleclret microphone to assure accuracy, software on diskette and a user's manual. The APPLE II LIS'NER board has provision for an SSI 263 phonetic speech synthesizer chip with textto-speech algorithm, This addition provides all tha features described for the Sweet Talker II as well as speech recognition. APPLE II LIS' NER 1000 with SP1000 recognition/synthesis components only

VR01 Assembled & Tested S189.

VR02 Complete Kit $149.

APPLE II LIS'NER 1000 with SPi000 recognition/synthesis components and SSI 263 phoneme synthesizer chip with text to speech algorithm.

VR03 Assembled and Tested S259.

VR04 Complete Kit $219.

COMMODORE 64 LIS' NER 1000 with SPI 000 recognition/synthesis components

VR10 Assembled & Tested $149.

VR11 Complete Kit $119.

Sweet Talker II Text-to-Speech Synthesizer

SWEET TALKER II, a 3rd generation speech synthesizer, is based on the SSI 263. SWEET TALKER II directly drives a speaker to provide music, sound effects and continuous speech of unlimited vocabulary at data rates as low as 50-70 hps.

- SSI 263-based Apple II compatible speech speech synthesis board

• Comes with text-to-speech algorithm on

disk (DOS 3.3) ■ Appropriate control inputs for mapping with

several buses

- On-board 1 watt amplifier with volume control

- Measures 3" x 314"

- Operates on -t 5 and +12v

ST22 SWEET TALKER II Apple II compatible speech synthesizer with text-to-speech algorithm on disk $104,

Microvox Text-to-Speech Synthesizer

Microvox is a professional voice quality text- to speech synthesizer that is easily interlaced to any computer, modem, RS-232C serial or parallel output device and provides speech of unbelievable clarity,

- Unlimited vocabulary.

- 64 programmable inflection levels.

- 6K text-to-speech algorithm.

- Full ASCII character set recognition and echo.

- RS232C and parallel input.

- 1000 Character buffer, 3000 optional.

- Adjustable baud rates (75-9600).

- Spelling output mode.

- 7 octave music and sound effects.

- On board audio amplifier & power supply. -X-On/X-Off handshaking.

MV01 Assembled with 1K buffer S349.

MV02 Complete Kit with IK buffer $269.

Add $15.00 for 3K buffer option.

Speech Synthesizer ICs

The SC-01A Speech Synthesizer is a completely selfcontained solid state device that phonetically synthesizes continuous speech of unlimited vocabulary. SC01A Quantity 1-99 $32.

100+ $24.

1000+ call

The Silicon Systems SSI 263 Speech Synthesizer Chip is a third generation speech synthesizer chip thai produces even more intelligible speech than did older devices. The SSI 263 has improved intonation, inflection and filtration. SSI 263 Quantity 1-9 S42. ea.

10-99 $34. ea.

100 $30. ea.

The Micromint is stocking thousands of SP1000 voice recognition chips. Call us for a quote.

MICRO O-CAM DIGITAL TV CAMERA

Give your computer the dimension of sight.

- Interprets, enhances and stores images.

- 256 x 128 digital image sensor.

- Plug-in boards for the IBM-PC, APPLE II or e.

- Software includes utilities for auto exposure. multi-level greyscale, screen dump and image enhancement.

- Includes interface card, 4 foot extension cable camera assembly, manual, and software on diskette.

DC01 IBM PC Assembled & Tested $299.

OC02 IBM PC Complete Kit $264.

DC03 APPLE II Assembled & Tested .... $299. DC04 APPLE II Complete Kit $264.

'omint Sonar Ranging Experimenter's Kit is an updated and higher functioning version of the Polaroid SX-70 Camera sonar ranging circuit used in the original Polaroid Ultrasonic Ranging System Designer's Kit. There are similar performance characteristics but this unit requires far less support circuitry and interface hardware.

The Tl ranging module can function between 4.5 and 6.8v. With a 5v supply, the ranging module 1/0 isTTL compatible and can be connected directly to most computers with one input and one output bit.

The Sonar Ranging Experimenter's Kit includes one SN2B827 ranging module, one Polaroid 50 KHz electrostatic transducer, and user's manual with data sheets. TI01 Sonar Ranging Experimenters Kit... $60.

300 BAUD ANSWER/ ORIGINATE MODEM KIT

Micromint's latest 300 Baud Modem Kit is crystal controlled, uses the Tl TMS99532 IC, contains just 25 parts and requires no calibration or adjustments. Use with acoustic coupler or in direct connect mode.

M004 Complete Kit as shown $60.

MD05 Transformer for Direct Connect Mode $9. AC01 Acoustic Coupler Kit $20.

MICROMINT INC. 561 Willow Avenue. Cedartiurst. NY 11516 To Order: Call Toll Free 1-800-645-3479 For Information Call: 1-516-374-6793 Call: Monday-Friday, 9-5 PM

BYTE U.K.

can alter attributes such as which keys repeat and their repeat speed. Joysticks are scanned as part of the keyboard. You can program up to 32 keys (except Escape) to produce userdefined strings or to generate any of the 255 (full 8-bit) characters. The Escape key is given special treatment; pressing it once suspends execution and a second Escape causes a breakout from the program, while any other keypress resumes execution. This global-friendly behavior should be a function of all operating systems, but usually it's left to individual applications and so is inconsistent.

The VDU is handled by two packs for text and graphics, which are coordinated by a third layer, the Screen Manager. All screen output on the CPC 464 is fully bit-mapped (maximum resolution: 640 by 200 pixels). Text and pixel graphics use the same 16K-byte buffer. The standard charac

ter matrixes are stored in ROM but the user can, as on the Commodore 64, download them into RAM and redefine them.

A special mode of character output called "transparent print" permits superimposing a character shape on the current screen contents (i.e., the cell background is transparent), so graphics can be annotated with text without making holes in the lines.

The CPC 464 supports three screen modes corresponding to 20, 40, and 80 columns, and the graphics pack is cleverly designed so that the plotting coordinates remain the same in all modes. A picture will remain the same size but will have coarser lines as the modes change. The cost of this scheme is that the screen memory map has a nasty, interleaved structure that complicates attempts to bypass the operating system and poke straight into it. On the other hand, the

OS offers four graphics write modes (replace, and, or, xor) that allow a combination of the new pixel color with the current color so you can have tricky bit-plane effects if you stay legal.

The Sound Manager is complicated; suffice it to say that it maintains a separate sound queue for each of the three channels, and these are processed concurrently. When a tune requires synchronization, you can force a rendezvous between any or all of the queues. You can also cause a channel to hold until explicitly released.

The kernel is based around an event handler that is driven by a regular timer interrupt synchronized to the VDU frame flyback. Elapsed-time measurement for the BASIC multitasking is provided by a separate counter that counts these timer interrupts and

(continued)

YEAR WARRANTY ON CARD AND DRIVE

10 Mbyte

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

*945

Suggested retail price S1095

SPECIAL SALE PRICE

Expires November 30, 1984

100% refundable within 30 days.

For IBM PC* & compatibles. 2 Years Warranty on disk drive and controller card.

• Half-height drive with controller card

• Low error rate

• Low power

• High performance and reliability

• Easy installation

20 Mbyte for «1,495.

TO ORDER SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:

Linde Technology, Inc.

8820 S. Sepulveda Blvd.,

Suite 204

Los Angeles, CA 90045

OR CALL TOLL FREE:

I (800) 227-2400 ext. 974

In California call

I (800) 772-2666 ext. 974 Visa and MasterCard accepted.

California residents add 6/:% sales tax.

For dealer Inquiry and more Information call: |213) 215-9484

'IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.

Yes, send me more Information on:

□ 10 Mbyte Disk Drive

□ 20 Mbyte Disk Drive

Linde Technology, Inc.

8820 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 204 Los Angeles, CA 90045

STATE ZIP .

Inquiry 202

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 407

wabasH

SOLD IN BOXES OF TEN ONLY

tremendous selection of software books, accessories and supplies

UP TO 50% OFF!

SOFTWARE FOR IBM PC

dBASEIII 415.00 MULTIMATE 270.00

FRAMEWORK 430.00 SYMPHONY . . . .449.00

HOME ACCT. PLUS .85.00 W.S. PRO PAC -.265.00

■ w/ULTRAFILE .189.00 ULTRAFILE 115.00

ABOVE SOFTWARE AVAILABLE IN OIKEH FORMATS. CALL FOR AVAILABILITY AND PRICE.

Minimum shipping and handling 12.00. California residents ndd 6% iltlt 1m. Print lubjicl la changi without nolle*. Wrllo lor our Moo c«t«log.

ABC data products

P. O. BOX 16720, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 92116

619-283-5488 <?S 800-854-1555

Inquiry 6

ANALOG I/O CAPABILITY

FOR

HP 150

. 16 CHANNEL A/D SINGLE ENDED . 8 CHANNEL A/D DIFFERENTIAL

• 2 CHANNEL D/A

• 12 BIT RESOLUTION

- DISPLAY 1 TO 4 CHANNELS OF DATA ON SCREEN IN REAL TIME.

- BOARD MOUNTS IN ACC. SLOT OF HP

150,

■ COMPLETE LOW COST SOFTWARE HANDLER AND EXAMPLE PROGRAMS AVAILABLE.

$995 QTY 1-5

CLINICAL MICROSYSTEMS, INC.

Box 1055 Melbourne, Florida 32936

(305) 723-5475

Inquiry 57

DUST COVERS

For Personal Computers and Small Business Systems, Peripherals, Game Units - Protective, Long-Lasting Vinyl Resists Both Dust and Liquids

- CHOICE OF COLORS

Amdek

Franklin Ace

Apple

IBM

Atari

Kaypro

BMC

Okidata

Columbia

Rana Systems

Commodore

Star Micronics

Corona

Televideo

Eagle

Texas Instruments

Epson

PLUS OTHERS

GROUP/VOLUME DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

FOR FREE BROCHURE WRITE:

ENCHANTED FOREST

P.O. Box 5261, Newport Beach, CA 92662

(118 Onyx)

Dealer Inquiries Invited

BYTE U.K.

The CPC 464 was designed to be used for serious work as well as for game playing.

then triggers an event. This avoids the heavy overhead of triggering a timer event every tick.

All the foregoing is documented in an impressive programmers technical manual that is clear, intelligent, and comprehensive (more so than those for many supposedly professional operating systems).

CP/M

As I write this column, Amstrad is a few weeks from releasing a disk drive for the CPC 464 based on the Hitachi 3-inch floppy disk, giving 180K bytes per side in "flip-over" two-sided operation. Two drives can be supported by the same interface and cable. At £199.95, the drive is cheaper than the notorious Commodore 1541.

Amstrad will supply CP/M free with the drive. A foreground ROM in the drive contains a special BIOS (basic input/output system) that actually works through the Amstrad OS ROM routines. When you boot a disk, the BDOS (basic disk operating system) and CCP (console command processor) will load into memory from disk as usual. You can also use the disk from Amstrad BASIC via a stream, and the file format will be the same as CP/M's to avoid introducing two different disk formats.

Although the CPC 464 will be the cheapest CP/M system available by a comfortable margin (just £400 or about $500 for a single-disk, monochrome system), it has limitations. CP/M was not designed to cope with the memory-mapped video of typical home computers, but for systems with a serial terminal. Because the CPC 464 has its screen buffer fixed in the

upper 16K bytes of memory, it can support only a 43.5K-byte CP/M system, which leaves a transient program area (TPA) of some 36K bytes. Some CP/M software (including standard WordStar) needs more space. However, since 48K-byte CP/M systems were quite common until recently, a lot of older packages should work.

Overview

The technical problem posed to designers of low-cost home computers is: how can you support the color graphics, complex sound capabilities, acceptable speed, and adequate working store that the market demands, by using a cheap 8-bit processor with only a 64K-byte address space? The most obvious solution is not to try, but to use a 16-bit processor. The prices of 16-bit components and the relative lack of design and programming experience for them have delayed this natural step, although the picture will change drastically if Commodore drops the launch price of the Amiga to the rumored level.

The Amstrad approach might be the best compromise I've seen so far, providing fast (for an interpreter) and usable BASIC with more than average free workspace. The ROM paging system allows virtually unlimited expansion or reconfiguration of the firmware. Its closest competitors are the Commodore 64 and the proposed machines based on Microsoft's MSX standard. The operating firmware and BASIC are better thought out than the ad hoc jumble supplied by Commodore, while MSX is likely to be slower and offer less free workspace. On the other hand, both competitors offer sprites, and MSX has more powerful graphics commands (including a graphics macro language). The Amstrad compromise allows for the possibility that the CPC 464 will be used for serious work as well as game playing, although time will tell whether the marketplace agrees.

Heeding the dismal experiences of other U.K. manufacturers, Amstrad has no plans at present to launch the CPC 464 in the U.S.A. ■

Circuit-Board-Design Without the Tedium

smARTWORK™ lets the design

engineer create and revise

printed-circuit-board artwork

on the IBM Personal Computer.

Forget tape. Forget ruling. Forget waiting for a technician, draftsman, or the CAD department to get to your project. smARTWORK™ software turns your IBM Personal Computer into a professional, high-quality drafting tool. It gives you complete control over your circuit-board artwork —from start to finish.

smARTWORK™ transforms your IBM PC into a CAD system for printeO-circuit-board artwork. Display modes include both single-layer black and white and dual-layer color.

What makes smARTWORK™ so smart is that it understands electrical connections. Conductor spacing is always correct, lines don't become too narrow, and connecting lines do not intersect other conductors. smARTWORK™ can automatically find and draw the shortest route between two conductors. Or you can specify the route.

smARTWORK™ is the only lowcost printed-circuit-board artwork editor with all these important advantages:

□ Complete interactive control over placement and routing

□ Quick correction and revision

□ Production-quality 2X artwork from pen-and-ink plotter

□ Prototype-quality 2X artwork from dot-matrix printer

□ Easy to learn and operate, yet capable of sophisticated layouts

□ Single-sided and doublesided printed-circuit boards up to 10 x 16 inches

□ Multicolor or black-andwhite display

□ 32 user selectable color combinations; coincident

points can be displayed in contrasting colors.

D Can use optional Microsoft Mouse as pointing device

Twice scale hardcopy of your artwork is produced using the Epson dot-matrix printers or the Houston Instrument DMP-41 penand-ink plotter. Quick 1X check plot is also available from Epson printers.

Dual-layer color display of a 2" by 4" section of a 10" by 16" circuit board

The Smart Buy

At $895, smARTWORK™ is an exceptional value, particularly when compared to conventional engineering workstation costs.

Call or write us for more information on smARTWORK™ We'll be glad to tell you how smARTWORK™ helps us design our own circuit boards and what it can do for your business.

Send a purchase order, or major credit card number, and smARTWORK™ can be working for you next week.

System Requirements

D IBM PC or XT with 192K RAM, 2 disk drives and DOS Version 2.0

□ IBM Color/Graphics Adapter with RGB color or b&w monitor

D Epson MX-80/MX-100 or FX-80/ FX-100 dot-matrix printer

□ Houston Instrument DMP-41 pen-and-ink plotter (optional)

□ Microsoft Mouse (optional)

A ^l ■(■, **]r-j

"smARTWORK" and "Wintek" are trademarks of Wintek Corporation.

WINTEK CORPORATION, 1801 South St., Lafayette, IN 47904-2993, Phone: (317) 742-8428, Telex: 70-9079 (WINTEK CORP UD)

Inquiry 371

IANUARY 1985

! Y T E 409

INTRODUCING

Interface Technologies' Modula-2

Software Development System

The computer press is hailing Modula-2 as "the next standard in programming languages." Modula-2 combines the strengths of Pascal with the features that made C so popular, like independent compilation and direct hardware control.

But until today, no company offered a Modula-2 system that made the development of software fast, easy and efficient. Now, though, there's a new tool at your disposal.

The fast, powerful tool for programmers

And if you leave an undefined variable or data type, the editor detects the mistake and gives you the option of on-line "help" to correct it. No other programming text editor offers you so much innovation at any price.

How to turn "wait time" into "work time"

The vast majority of programming time is spent waiting, and the biggest slowdown is most often with compilers.

The breakthrough is here: Interface Technologies' new Modula-2 Software Development System for the IBM® PC, XT, AT and compatible computers to give programmers the same quantum leap in productivity spreadsheets and word processors gave to end-users. It can reduce monotonous wait time, will dramatically increase speed, help stop thoughtless mistakes, and free you to become more creative in virtually all of your programming efforts.

It not only has a faster compiler, it also saves time by compiling while you edit.

How to speed input and eliminate 30% of errors

Thirty percent of programming mistakes are syntax errors and simple typos in the program structure. Our "syntax-directed" Modula-2 editor does away with these time-consuming headaches once and for all.

It speeds input by cutting manual typing as much as 90%, letting you enter statements i with a single keystroke. For example, if you type a capital "I" to begin a line, the editor completes the logical "IF THEN" statement automatically, so ryou can concentrate on what you Enter complete statements want to program, rather than conwith one keystroke. centrate on what you're typing.

The editor locks out errors, finishing statements and procedures in perfect accord with the standardized rules of Modula-2. It also indents and formats your text automatically, making programs easy to read and maintain, an important feature on big projects.

ANATOMY

Of A

Our compiler turns wait time to work time with a new innovation that lets you compile in the "background."

With background compilation, your program is automatically compiled into object code line by line as you work, every minute you spend writing or editing a Modula-2 program!

When you're finished editing, all that's left for the compiler is a quick mopping up job that generates optimized native code in a single pass.

How quick is "quick"?

Thanks to background compilation and the fact that the compiler itself is so fast, Interface Technologies' compiler turns 100 lines of typical Modula-2 text into optimized machine code in under five seconds.

Plus the Interface compiler produces compact code with execution speed superior to that produced by any other Modula-2 compiler on the market.

How to do two things at once

Along with the background compiler and syntaxdirected editor, which can save you hours every day and make you more productive, Interface Technologies' Software Development System gives your monitor

410 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

windows so you can refer to one file while you edit another simultaneously, saving you even more time.

Concurrent editing of two or more files is especially useful when doing programming work that's intended for separate compilation, and Interface Technologies has the only Modula-2 system on the market that provides you with this helpful benefit for developing software.

Work with multiple Hies faster, easier in windows.

How preprogrammed modules speed development

One of the advantages of Modula-2 is that it lets you build large, reliable programs quickly, by linking together many smaller "building-block" modules.

The development system's toolkit of precompiled program modules includes the standard Modula-2 library, and adds exclusive link-and-run modules for direct calls to the operating system, sound, and color

You can use it on any IBM® PC, XT, AT or compatible computer with two double-sided, doubledensity floppy drives and 320K RAM diskette.

You get a thoroughly indexed, comprehensive user's manual and free telephone support from Interface Technologies. But the most important thing you get is the future, and the programming language of the future is Modula-2, and now it's easier than ever.

For more information, or to order the Modula-2 Software Development System, call 1-800-922-9049 today. In Texas, call (713) 523-8422.

You can also order or request further in-1 formation by mail. Just fill out the coubelow and send it in. Act today and receive your system

SOOn. P*^ Operates on the new

IBM PC AT, as well as

the PC, XT, and all other

IBM-compatible computers.

graphics support. Plus you get lowcost updates from the Interface Technologies fast-growing library of new programming modules.

The Modula-2 development system s toolkit of ^ready-made modules turns big programs into smaller projects.

Increase productivity for $249

Interface Technologies' Software Development System is fast, powerful and unlimited. It works so well that it's the same tool Interface Technologies is using to write business and consumer applications in Modula-2.

For $249, you get the syntax-directed editor and compiler, linker, module library and tutorial that will have even modestly experienced programmers writing in Modula-2 in days. And you have full rights to your work; there's no license fee for programs you develop with the Interface Technologies system.

NAME

ADDRESS. CITY

. STATE.

.ZIP.

□ VISA □ MASTERCARD |m

PHONE

PLEASE CHECK ONE:

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INTERFACE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION 3336 RICHMOND, SUITE200, HOUSTON, TX 77098 Texas residents, add 6.125% Sales Tax. BT/2

INTERFACE TECHNOLOGIES

J W

B

I SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM

Inquiry 180

Tliis October, 1983 ad

pulled 2,391 sales leads.

On page 489.

This is not an exception. In the same issue on page 409, WYSE Technology's ad generated 1,792 inquiries and the Prometheus ad-way back on page 495-garnered 1,588.

Advertisers in BYTE receive an average of over 1,000 inquiries per page of advertising, an average of 1,300 for full-page or larger ads. And not just in special, front-ofthe-book positions, but all through the pages of BYTE.

BUTE

Why? Because more than 400,000 hightech computer sophisticates pay to read BYTE —cover to cover every month —for the microcomputer information they want and need. They'll send advertisers over 6 million ad inquiries this year, and over a half a million BYTE readers will buy products from ads they've seen in BYTE.

Including yours.

Talk to us-we're the people who wrote the book on microcomputer marketing. Just call Pete Huestis, Advertising Sales Manager, at (603) 924-9281.

THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

■YniM

BYTE is published monthly by W6r3N-M,hc,W+ho(ftceS a\ JO Main$tvftterbox*gh,,N.H.<W58

CIRCUIT CELLAR FEEDBACK

Conducted by Steve Garcia More I/O

Dear Steve,

I would like to embark on my first hardware project by building a home-control system constructed around a Z80-based Heathkit H-89 CP/M computer. My problem is the I/O interface. My computer has only two available I/O slots. I need more, so I want to build a board that fits into the processor socket and runs all the signal lines into a ribbon cable that connects to new I/O slots. This board will also contain the processor IC. I will have to bypass the l/O-mapping ROM in the computer to enable the new I/O slots. What do you think. Steve?

Charles M. Fingerman Toms River, Nj

My April article will address most of your questions on I/O for a home-security system. The system will use a microprocessor that sends its control signals through the power lines to various BSR modules but has closed-loop input and output lines in addition. While my unit is built around a Motorola 6800 microprocessor, the techniques and software should be applicable to your Z80 system.

You may want to consider my unit for your control applications and merely use your H-89 to remotely communicate with my home-control system. Tying up an entire Z&O-based CP/M system for home control is a bit of overkill. A small, dedicated controller is more practical.—Steve

Term-Mite and Color Television

Dear Steve,

1 want to build the Term-Mite smart terminal that you described in the January and February 1984 issues of BYTE. Can you tell me how to connect the composite video output of the Term-Mite to a color television?

Robert E. Scott Lawrenceville, CA

The composite video output of the Term-Mite is similar to the composite output of any computer and will directly

drive a video monitor. To drive a color or black-and-white television, this composite video signal must be superimposed on a radio-frequency signal so that the television can receive it. The device to do this, an RF modulator, is available at almost any computer or electronics store.

Simply connect the video output of the Term-Mite into the RF modulator, connect the modulator output to your television antenna terminals, and apply power to all units. Turn the channel selector to the channel for which the modulator is designed and adjust the fine-tuning control as required.—Steve

Simple Clock Not So Simple

Dear Steve,

In your May 1982 article you highlighted the then-new MM58167A clock chip and its companion, the MM58174A. I wired the MM58174A to my Apple II to use the chip as a simple clock. Though I did so exactly as shown in National Semiconductor's data sheet, one problem has always remained: the interrupt output refuses to work as it's supposed to. 1 followed the interrupt-setting procedure but could get no more than a single immediate pulse or a change of state. As you may know, the interrupt is supposed to be programmable for three different intervals, single or repeated. Do you have any idea what I can do to resolve the problem?

Lance Walley Carmichael, CA

A rather subtle problem exists with the MM58I74A real-time-clock chip. It is relatively slow when compared to a typical microprocessor clock cycle, with access times on the order of 1 microsecond. An interrupt pin is available to introduce wait states for the read and write cycles of the microprocessor to offset this timing difference. This is fine for an 8080 system that supports such wait states but cannot be directly implemented on your Apple II since the Ready input of the 6502 is available only during a read cycle.

One solution would be to drive the MM58174A chip through a PIA or VIA

chip such as a 6520 or 6522. One port can be used to latch the address of the desired clock registers, and the other used to write data on a subsequent cycle. —Steve

Trump Card Harmony

Dear Steve,

Will the Trump Card (May and June 1984) memory interface with other cards in the computer? Also, can I use it as RAM in addition to other RAM boards in the system?

Chip O'Neal Orlando, FL

The Trump Card memory is totally independent of the memory in the host computer and does not take up any space in the host memory map. The other memory boards in the system will operate the same as they did before the Trump Card was installed. The memory on the Trump Card can be used as an independent spooler and RAM disk for the host system when not being used to run any of the Trump Card languages. In this mode, the Trump Card memory acts like an extra 5I2K bytes of memory added to your system.— Steve

A Mistake?

Dear Steve,

1 really enjoyed your BYTE articles on the Trump Card, and I intend to implement it in-part or whole some day. I may not fully understand the circuit, but there are a couple of anomalies I want to ask about and some ideas that 1 would like to hear your reaction to.

The INH line of the Z8581 clock IC is tied to ground on the Trump Card circuit. The Z8581 data sheet indicates that this should make the ADD1 and ADD2 lines inactive.

Yet, you have logic feeding ADD2. Is something drawn wrong, or am I misinterpreting something?

The 6116 buffer is normally a 2K by 8-bit RAM, but the Trump Card appears to use only 2 56 bytes of it, since only eight of the address lines are fed from the counters. 1 suppose that's enough, but it

[continued)

COPYRIGHT © 1985 STEVEN A. CIARCIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

IANUARY 1985

iYTE 413

CIARCIA FEEDBACK

seems a waste. Would there be any advantage to adding another 74LS393 or similar (maybe single 4-bit) counter to supply the other three address lines? I realize the software on both sides would have to be changed to make use of the larger buffer size.

Your software and documentation offer sounds almost too good to be true. Is the host (IBM PC) software locked into the IBM or the 8088? The reason 1 ask is that I would really like to implement a Trump Card and use the software package you are offering, but my present system is a Heath H-8 with an 8080 processor. 1 may someday change to a Z80, but I don't expect to go to an 8088. I can't justify an 8088-based system. IBM or otherwise, since my current system does what I need as it is.

So why implement the Trump Card? I guess I've got solder in my blood and a hacker's spirit of adventure. (I also prefer programming in solder and wire.) Anyway, since I do my software hacking in C (mostly) or assembly language, I don't see any problem making the Trump Card work with my 8-bit CP/M system, assuming that the source for the host code is available (hopefully, part of your offer). As a matter of fact, I like C so much that the C compiler part of your software offer is the most important part to me. The Z80 emulator sounds interesting, though. Does it emulate any specific operating-system calls (BDOS or BIOS), or does the application software have to know that it's talking to another processor through the FIFO buffer? If 1 can plug a Trump Card into my CP/M-80 system, I won't have to even consider getting an 8088 or other 16-bit processor, will I? With TBAS1C and Z8000 C, and Pascal on the way, what more could I want?

Dwain Henderson Florida, NY

Yes, something is wrong! The four pins on the Z8581 clock chip numbered 4, 8, 9, and 10 are mislabeled but wired correctly. They should be labeled as follows:

Pin 4

INH

HI

Pin 8

CO

N/C

Pin 9

CI

N/C

Pin 10

STRT

LOW

This arrangement allows ZCLK to be stretched by one period when ADDR2 is low to account for the slower PROM memory.

Again, you are correct about the Trump Card using only the first 256 bytes of the 2K-byte 6116 buffer. A smaller static RAM

could have been used in this case, but the low cost and availability of the byte-wide 6116 outweigh any advantage of using the smaller RAM. There is no advantage in board space with the smaller RAM since the available 256-byte RAM chips are 4 bits wide, and two chips would have been required for the buffer.

You can add an additional 74LS393 and use more of the 6116. but since much of the I/O between the Z800I and the 8088 consists of short commands, this would only add an additional delay in these operations.

Your ideas about using the Trump Card with another host processor can be implemented, but the object code for LDSYS would have to be modified to accommodate your new host. Unfortunately, at the moment the source code for the LDSYS program is not part of the available software package.

The Z80 emulator supports most of the standard CP/M BIOS calls, except for calls dealing with the disk, the punch, and the reader. The calls that are supported by the emulator are listed in the software manual for the Trump Card.—Steve

Speech Chips

Dear Steve,

After reading your article "Use ADPCM for Highly intelligible Speech Synthesis" in the June 1983 BYTE, I became interested in building the circuit you described. Since I am not familiar with the ICs used, I would appreciate it if you can send me more information concerning the design of this circuit. I would also like to know if there have been any new developments in this area of waveform speech synthesis. Finally, are there possible variations on the circuit built around the Oki MSM5218?

|oe Lee New York, NY

The chips used in that article are manufactured by Oki Semiconductor, 1333 Lawrence Expressway, Suite 401, Santa Clara, CA 95051, (408) 984-4842.

Oki has several technical data sheets that give additional information and applications. Two of them are "Simultaneous Speech Analysis and Synthesis with the OKI MSM52I8" and "Speech Synthesis using the OKI MSM5205 ADPCM Speech Synthesizer Circuit."

The information in my article and the additional data from Oki should give you the background you need to build your own speech circuits. If you are unfamiliar with such circuits, build the one de

scribed in my article first. After you understand how it functions, you can adapt your own variations—Steve

Do I Have Circuits?

Dear Steve.

Your July 1984 article about the WhimsiBell contained information and circuits on a ring detector for the phone line. Do you have circuits that will detect the busy signal and dial tone?

Paul |. Roumanis Roanoke, VA

Dial tones, busy signals, ringing tones, and recorder tones are known as callprogress tones. They are easily detected by specialized integrated circuits. One company making such chips is Teltone, 10801 120th Ave. N.E.. POB 657. Kirkland, WA 98033, (800) 227-3800 ext. 1130.

Its M-980 is a CMOS call-progress tone detector that monitors dial tone, circuitsbusy, station-busy, audible ringing, and other call-routing tones in the 300640-Hz band. It operates from a single 5-V supply and uses a color-television crystal (3.58 MHz).

The M-982 gives precise detection of the four common call-progress tones and features Tri-state output. It too is powered by a single 5-V supply and uses the 3.58-MHz crystal time base.

My March project is building a TouchTone interactive messaging system. —Steve

But Will It Work in Hoboken?

Dear Steve,

Many thanks for your article about the ECM-103 modem in the March 1983 issue. Here in Switzerland our CCITT-compatible modems use 980 Hz for a I and 1270 Hz for a 0 in the originate mode and 1650 Hz for a 1 and 1850 Hz foraO in the answer mode. Can I make any modifications so that your modem will work here?

Karl Klingler Zurich, Switzerland

The Texas Instruments TMS99532 modem chip is designed to be Bell103-compatible and will not work with the CCTTT format. However, the Tl TMS99534 modem chip is designed for the CCITT format and will work fine, just replace the TMS99532 with the TMS99534 and you have a CCITT-compatible modem—Steve ■

414 BYTE" IANUARY 1985

BYTE WEST COAST

Macs, Mice,

and Laser

Disks

by John Markoff

AND

Phillip Robinson

Light Touches

BYTE Wesl Coast is prepared

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Correspondence should be addressed

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Magazine. 42 5 Battery St.. San

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Apple Computer's policy of seeding college campuses with Macintosh computers is starting to bear fruit. On a recent visit to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, we saw a number of commercial-quality programs for the Macintosh. All were developed by students and faculty, under the direction of physics professor Richard Crandall, in the college's newly established "Maclab." Crandall's direction of the Maclab has given him a key role in planning the college's computer future.

The plan is for Reed College to become a heavily computerized liberal arts campus of the future, and the Macintosh softwaredevelopment effort is just the first step in a five-year program. Ultimately the plan will supply each member of the Reed academic community with a Macintosh computer, link classrooms, dormitories, and administration buildings by means of an Ethernet-type local-area network (LAN), and provide highbandwidth access to microprocessor-based, timesharing network nodes.

According to Crandall, the people at Reed College are working with the Intel Corporation on the LAN aspect of the five-year program to develop the "ultimate Macintosh network." Their goal is to develop individual, $5000, 32-user, timesharing network nodes that can be distributed around campus. Crandall refers to the network as a "running-water network," in which faculty, students, and administrators will have "taps" into dispersed computing and storage resources. The plan calls for the network to be "iconic," depicting such remote resources as file, communication, and print servers with pictographs.

Reed College has set up a private corporation, Metaresearch Inc., to market products developed in the Maclab. Metaresearch currently offers GriffinTerminal (a terminal program for the Macintosh with Tektronix terminal-emulation capability for $89), GriffinText (a simple text editor), and the EMM-2048a Universal Microcontroller, an

Intel 8031 microprocessor-based standalone serial laboratory interface to the Macintosh.

Students and faculty at Reed have developed software and hardware that permit the Macintosh to emulate more expensive laboratory instruments. Simple demonstration projects include a light meter and thermometer written in MacPascal, the interpreted Pascal language developed for Apple by Think Technologies Inc. The light meter displays the logarithmic light intensity measured by a photosensitive cell connected to the Metaresearch EMM computer. A light-meter-type dial is drawn on the Macintosh screen using both Apple's QuickDraw and additional graphics routines. The beefed-up graphics software lets the light-meter program create a picture based on a real-value coordinate system (as opposed to the Macintosh system, which permits only integer values for coordinates). The thermometer program takes temperature data input via the EMM interface and draws a thermometer on the screen with a range of 54 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The degrees are five pixels apart on the Macintosh display.

The" EMM Universal Microcontroller can be used for a wide range of interfacesprocess control, energy management (Reed is already using a similar system for oncampus energy management), and laboratory test management. Up to 2 56 separate microcontrollers may be networked and controlled by a single terminal or computer with an RS-232C interface. The EMM has 2K bytes of on-board RAM (random-access read/write memory) for program and/or data storage. Monitor software that resides in 4K bytes of ROM (read-only memory) includes communications routines and functions such as selecting a multiplex channel, setting and reading I/O (input/output) ports, accessing the real-time clock, digital-toanalog (D/A) and analog-to-digital (A/D) con

(amtinued)

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 415

BYTE WEST COAST

Higher-resolution

mice cut down

work-surface movement while still letting

you point to

individual pixels.

version, reading the auto-ranging frequency counter, and displaying memory and registers.

The EMM hardware includes both 8-bit and 12-bit CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) multiplying D/A converters, comparators for A/D conversion, a 13-bit voltage-to-frequency converter, a realtime clock, onboard SIN (symbolic integrator), and TTL (transistortransistor logic) square-wave generators, an 8-channel analog CMOS multiplex switch, 16 bits of TTL I/O, eight diode-protected relay drivers, and optoisolated serial communication lines.

In a network, each EMM can be individually addressed and controlled (there is an onboard 8-bit network address jumper), either manually or under program control.

The GriffinTerminal communications program was originally written to provide Reed's Macintosh users with

high-speed access to the campus mainframe computers. It has full Tektronix 4012 terminal-emulation capability to let it run graphics programs on the host computers and display the output on the Macintosh. Additionally, GriffinTerminal can be set for data rates ranging up to 38,400 bps. It can save graphics screens in MacPaint format and transfer 8-bit text and graphics files between the Macintosh and host computer. GriffinTerminal lets you control the cursor location with the Macintosh mouse. The software translates mouse movement into ^-coordinates and then sends them back to the host computer.

Tailless Mice

It had to happen. When Metaphor Computer Systems, a recent addition to Silicon Valley, introduced its sleek new information-retrieval system, those who looked closely noticed that the workstation came with a tailless mouse. In fact, founders Donald Massaro and David Liddle also left off the cable for the keyboard and the auxiliary keypad. In its place, they chose an infrared technology that resembles the IBM PCjr keyboard arrangement. There are significant differences, however. The Metaphor infrared transmitter/receiver has a shorter physical range, operates on multiple frequencies, and has a wide field of view (270 degrees).

Metaphor decided to use a cordless mouse because it wanted a highly

ergonomic workstation for executives who weren't used to having computers on their desks. The Metaphor mouse is easily used by both left- and right-handed people and comes with a rechargeable nicad (nickelcadmium) battery. To conserve power, the mouse goes to sleep if you don't use it for more than one minute. It wakes up again when you move it or click one of its buttons. When the mouse isn't in use, you store it (along with the keyboard and two separate keypads) in the terminal's special recharging sockets.

Now that mice are becoming more popular, it has become apparent that their design problems are much more subtle than previously suspected. Issues include resolution, optical versus mechanical technologies, and even the appropriate number of buttons.

Metaphor turned to Logitech, a U.S./ Swiss company, for development assistance. For Daniel Borel, a Logitech vice president involved in designing the Metaphor tailless mouse, resolution has become crucial as high-resolution, bit-mapped displays proliferate. In particular, higher-resolution mice cut down work-surface movement while still letting you point to individual pixels. If you use a mouse with a resolution of 200 dots per inch (dpi), says Borel, you should be able to move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other without being forced to lift and reposition you. hand.

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According to Borel, the Apple Macintosh mouse, which has coarser resolution, gives the illusion of high resolution by employing a "software gearshift" mechanism. When the Macintosh mouse is moved quickly in any direction, the cursor moves several pixels at a time. Borel argues that this is only a partial solution. If the mouse is moved at different rates of speed, he says, it will gradually relocate itself on your desk (i.e., its 0,0 position on an imaginary work surface x.y graph will "drift"), forcing you to pick it up and replace it in its original position on your work surface.

Mice sense motion differently, depending on whether their basic design is mechanical or optical, and each type has its own advantages. Optical mice are generally said to be quieter and more reliable than their mechanical cousins as they have no moving parts. On the other hand, the

optical mice require a special reflective surface.

The Logitech mouse employs a hybrid of the two technologies. It has a specially coated metal ball for tracking its movement across the work surface. The coating is important because it makes the mouse significantly quieter and because rubber balls tend to pick up dirt. However, the mouse optically decodes the movement relayed by the ball with photo diodes and sensors inside its housing. This design makes it extremely simple for Logitech to increase the resolution of its mouse; models have been manufactured with resolution in excess of 380 dpi.

The Logitech mouse is also microprocessor controlled and therefore is quite flexible in meeting different protocols. The Motorola 6805 is used in the standard design and a CMOS part was added for Metaphor. It can be re

configured in firmware to meet either the Summa, Microsoft, or Mouse Systems requirements.

Borel argues that communications speed is an important factor in mouse design. Given the increasing popularity of high-resolution displays (the Metaphor workstation has a resolution of 896 by 960 pixels, and displays of 1024 by 1024 pixels are not all that unusual), he makes the point that you need high bandwidth between the mouse and the system in order to reproduce the mouse's movement accurately. The bit rate of the Logitech product is selectable under program control from a range of 1200 to 9600 bps.

Borel is pleased that Logitech has been successful in gaining a foothold in the growing mouse market. There were times over the past two years, he says, when he was discouraged by

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what seemed the almost universal rejection of the mouse in favor of keyboards. Another factor contributing to his discouragement was the mouse's dependence on slow-to-develop software technology. "People miscalcu

lated the complexity of interfacing the mouse." he notes.

A Laser Disk for Databases

The optical disk drive from Reference Technology won't replace Win

chesters; it can only read, not write, data. But its use of cheap, removable disks makes it ideal for "electronic publishing and information distribution'—a phrase that turns up repeatedly in Reference Technology

A Trip to the UNIX Show

September's UNIX Systems Expo/84 in Los Angeles wasn't a huge affair like COMDEX or a West Coast Computer Faire, but a lot of the big guns were there: AT&T, IBM, Honeywell. Digital Equipment Corporation, Tandy. Data General, and so on. Because the show was dedicated to UNIX, rather than personal computers, there were many firms displaying minicomputer software and hardware. However, the interest in microcomputers was obvious. XENIX was running all over the place—on IBM Personal Computers (PCsl, Tandy Model l6Bs (one with a Model 100 as a terminal), and Lisas (one with a Macintosh running MacTerminal hooked to the Lisal. IBM was showing PC/IX on ATs and XTs and was selling it for S800 (the list price is S900).

Plenty of people were showing connections between UNIX systems and DOS-type personal computer systems. AT&T, for instance, had one of their 3B2s connected to a 6300 PC. The 6300 could directly call up a DOS application that was stored on the 3B2 hard disk, which was controlled by UNIX.

Another DOS-UNIX link was shown by Computerized Office Services Inc. ICOSII. This scheme uses the UNIX machine to direct the workings of various DOS machines, leff Spencer of COSI regaled me with the vision of an office of PCs left idle at night transformed into an office where they were left on for the big guy (probably a VAXl to slave drive. The COSI software on the VAX finds a sleepy PC and barks out orders to run this or that application and report back when done.

A different approach, and the one of most immediate use to those with a single system, was exemplified by the first appearance of a product from Uniform Software Systems called The Connector. This program allows DOS to be run as a UNIX (in this case. PC/IX)

process. In turn. DOS can then run applications—all without leaving UNIX. The particular advantage of this approach (having DOS under UNIX instead of just co-resident on the disk) is that other UNIX processes can be running simultaneously with the DOS applications. I watched Lotus 1-2-3 running underneath DOS underneath UNIX-all without the XT leaving UNIX. Switching from DOS to UNIX is very simple. DOS is treated as a UNIX process so you don't have to alter any of the UNIX procedures and operations. The Connector comes on a single disk and can then be stored on the hard disk. Entering a command as simple as "dos" lets you move to DOS and "unix" lets you move back.

The Connector automatically sets the DOS date and time from UNIX. To run a DOS application you can enter DOS and then use the standard procedure to call the program. Alternatively, you can create a special link to enter the application call directly from UNIX. Files can also be exchanged between UNIX and DOS.

To run The Connector you need an IBM PC XT with at least 512K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write memory), a dual-sided floppy-disk drive, a 10-megabyte hard disk, PC/IX. PC-DOS (1.0, 1.1, 2.0, or 2.1 land whatever DOS applications you want. The program costs $299, and the PC/IX version was supposed to be available on October 15. The Venix version should see the light of day by December 15.

I was assured there would be no problem getting The Connector up on the IBM PC AT. though it hadn't actually been done by the time I saw it. The only problem, and again I was assured that it is a small problem, is that UNIX runs in the protected mode and DOS in the unprotected.

In an unrelated matter, 1 wandered into the small Sun Microsystems Inc. booth. The Sun workstation has a 42

megabyte disk. 68010 CPU (central processing unit), l-megabyte RAM. runs UNIX 4.2 with a proprietary window system, and can drive the screen with magnificent resolution. I asked, just to get the official line, what was the advantage of having this expensive microcomputer over having a terminal hooked to a VAX? A foraging software engineer who was playing with the Sun stopped, glanced dryly at me, turned back to what he was doing, and contributed a few comments about how slow a VAX can get when several engineers are crunching on it.

Finally, there seems to be an interesting relationship between UNIX and men's fashions. While I was watching the melee at the L.A. International Airport rental-car counter. I was told that there weren't any cars available because of The Magic Show. The Magic Show turned out to be a Men's Fashion Extravaganza. Larger than the UNIX show, it was also accorded more importance at the L.A. convention center. The Magic Show had shuttle buses; UNIX did not. The Magic Show got free parking at the Shrine parking lot: when I pulled into that lot, the attendant gave me a quick once-over and said. "UNIX." I agreed, and he directed me back out into the street. When I arrived at the convention center, there were Magic Show people handing out brochures for some rather interesting clothing designs. No one handed one to me. In fact. I failed to fool anyone into thinking that I was attending a fashion show. As the coup de grace. Magic Show attendees got complimentary passes to the UNIX show: UNIX show participants did not get treated in kind. Perhaps it was the miniature red dirigible tethered to the UNIX show's roof. With its three bomb-like fins and its "USE/84" slogan, it looked more like a commentary on arms talks than an invitation to a good time.

—Phil Robinson

418 B YTE • IANUARY 1985

BYTE WEST COAST

literature. It isn't inexpensive—S8900 apiece in lots of 100—but it offers direct, fast access to 1 gigabyte of cheaply stored information (a disk costs only $14 in quantity), and the drive's speed makes it a fine candidate for multiuser systems.

Reference Technology, located in Boulder, Colorado, is just beginning to explore this new market. Prior to September, only seven units had been shipped. According to Ronald Rediesel, vice president of strategic marketing, most of the company's sales will be to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers). The OEMs, in turn, will take the disk drive, add a particular set of data, some software, and a controlling computer system, and then resell the entire package.

The Reference Technology CLASIX (Computer/Laser Access Systems for Information Exchange) DataDrive holds I gigabyte per disk side. The DataDrive uses a CAV (constant angular velocity) scheme and can transfer data at 1 megabyte per second. There are 51,000 tracks per side, 2 fields per track, 11 planes per field, and 892 bytes in each plane. That yields a data-carrying capacity of 19,624 bytes per track and 15.000 tracks per inch. The average access time is 151 milliseconds, with an average seek time of 125 milliseconds. The disk rotates at 1800 rpm (revolutions per minute) and is read by a single head. It takes the drive about 20 seconds to get the disk up to speed and about 10 seconds to stop it. The significance of the tremendous access speed is apparent when searching through huge databases. The next generation of full-size DataDrives will be coming out in 1987 with better access times and greater storage density, as well as double-sided drives.

The DataDrive uses a standard, prerecorded NTSC (National Television System Committee) videodisc of aluminized acrylic (stamped by the commercial videodisc process) that comes in a plastic carrier. It can hold digital data, still-frame, or full-motion video, and analog or digitized audio.

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{continued)

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1ANUARY 1985 -BYTE 419

BYTE WEST COAST

bytes. Without excellent error detection and correction, such huge volumes of data would not be useful. Reference Technology sees OROM (optical read-only memory) augmenting rather than replacing traditional data-storage techniques. Some of OROM's most obvious markets include: library services (card catalogs, bibliographies, indexes); legal services (case and patent law); medical-information services; scientific and technical services (specifications,

abstracts, bibliographies); economics, econometric, and financial analysis (data for modeling); and government. A number of companies have already developed applications that showcase the technology.

Strategic Information Corporation, of Burlington, Massachusetts, has developed a multiuser system comprising: two DataDrives, a Micro VAX, the Strategic Information Search Software (Data Visual Management System), several terminals, and the Haystack

Companies Mentioned

Apple Computer Inc.

Metaresearch Inc.

2052 5 Mariani Ave.

1100 Southeast Woodward St.

Cupertino, CA 95014

Portland, OR 97202

(800) 538-9696

(503) 232-1712

in Canada, (800) 268-7796 or

(800) 268-7637

NCR/Micromedex Corp.

1700 Patterson Blvd.

Computerized Office Services Inc.

Dayton, OH 45479

(COSI)

(513) 445-2380, (513) 445-5000,

313 North First Street

(800) 222-1235

Ann Arbor. Ml 48103

(313) 665-8778

Reference Technology Inc.

1832 North 55th Street

Intel Corp.

Boulder, CO 80301

3065 Bowers Ave.

(303) 449-4157

Santa Clara, CA 95051

(408) 987-8080

Strategic Information Corp.

80 Blanchard Rd.

International Thomson/

Burlington, MA 01803

Carrollton Press

(617) 273-5500

1611 North Kent Street, Suite 910

Arlington, VA 22209

Sun Microsystems Inc.

(703) 525-5940

2 550 Garcia Ave.

Mountain View, CA 94043

LaserData Inc.

(415) 960-1300

1 Kendall Square

Building 200

TEKTRONIX Inc.

Cambridge, MA 02139

POB 500, Station Y3-314

(617) 494-4900

Beaverton. OR 97077

(503) 643-7768

Locitech Inc.

(800) 452-1877 or

805 Veterans Blvd.

(800) 547-1512

Redwood City, CA 94063

(415) 365-9852

Think Technologies Inc.

in Switzerland, (021) 77 4 5 45

420 Bedford St.

Lexington, MA 02173

Metaphor Computer Systems

(617) 863-5590

2 500 Garcia Ave.

Mountain View. CA 94043

Uniform Software Systems

(415) 961-3600

201 Santa Monica Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90401

(213) 395-9674

database, (Two DataDrives were necessary because the database takes up 2 gigabytes.) Haystack contains an index to government military specification data, standards, vendor catalogs, parts, and components.

From NCR/Micromedex Corporation, a multiuser system (built around a single DataDrive, an IBM Personal Computer (PC), an NCR'PC, and the NCR 6650 Micro Modus intelligent input/output controller) provides fastaccess to a hospital database on poisons, toxicology, and pharmacology. The information in the database is already available as an on-line service, but when you bring it into a microcomputer system, you don't have data communications problems or expenses. In fact, this is the sort of application that makes you see how microcomputers can save lives. For instance, by working through a menu quickly, a doctor can call up a particular poison and check effects, therapies, and special dangers—even enter the known data about the victim (sex, weight, and approximate age). The doctor can then have the computer infer related data and display a nomograph showing the risks of particular combinations of drugs.

In another demonstration, an IBM PC was hooked up to a single DataDrive and a Metheus display system. This combination delivered individual images from a National Aeronautics and Space Administration/let Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/IPL) library. NASA commissioned the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) to find a way to economically distribute the enormous data from interplanetary exploration missions.. That data, claimed to be approximately lO15 bits per year and accumulated on magnetic tapes (some stored in a paint shed because there was nowhere else to put it), can now be sent out to those who can use it. Because the data consists of 1024- by 1024-pixel images, 1000 of them fit on a single disk (each pixel requires a single byte to specify color and intensity). The system allows close inspection (and temporary manipulation) of any part of the image. The distribu

420 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

BYTE WEST COAST

tion, storage, and manipulation of images will plainly be revolutionized by such optical disk-storage systems.

An International Thomson/Carrollton Press demonstration showed the DataDrive searching through a library card catalog. Though the catalog was incomplete (covering only education and library-science classifications), the ability to search using keywords and Boolean operations was exciting. International Thomson/Carrollton Press will eventually offer the complete Library of Congress shelflist.

Reference Technology isn't the only company eyeing this market. LaserData Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is making an optical disk-drive controller that personal computer owners can use with commercially available optical disk drives (such as Hitachi and Pioneer). Actually, there are two controllers. The Trio-! 10. which has an embedded 80186, can

control up to four disk drives or players, can work with up to four hosts, and costs $2950 (without the disk player). The PC-Trio is a card for the IBM PC and compatibles. It controls a single player, works with a single host, and costs SI365 (without the disk player). The disk players cost around $1000. The name "Trio" comes from the system's ability to work with video, data, or audio information. Either Trio version holds a mere 800 megabytes per disk but both are substantially slower than the Reference Technology system (an average access time of 1 second compared with the DataDrive's 151 milliseconds).

Another form of competition comes from the audio sector. Such manufacturers as Sony and Philips, who have been selling huge numbers of compact-disk players, which use smaller optical disks as a medium for digitized

Manufacturers such as Sony and Philips are eyeing the datastorage market

audio signals, are eyeing the datastorage market. Because of the economies of scale afforded them by success in the consumer market, they can experiment with computer applications. Most schemes see the 12-cm (4.68-inch) compact disk holding 5 50 megabytes and moving that data at 1.44 megabits per second with an average access time of 0.5 second. Reference Technology intends to include a compact-disk ROM in its own line within the next eighteen months. ■

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Inquiry 10

IANUARY 1985

Dumb.

Stand-alone programs

can't be made to work as a system

no matter how hard you might try.

Stand-alone programs are fine. Unless, of course, you need them to work together. Because the sum of the parts will never equal a whole.

That's why even the highly touted WordStar,"

dBase II'" and 1-2-3,'" programs don't make sense as a business system.

They were designed to perform very specific application functions only, and therefore, make miserable workmates.

Fortunately, there's a smart solution. It's the new Smart Software System.

Smart's unique "modular integration" is the key to productivity. It means that The Smart Word Processor, The Smart Data Manager

422 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

Smart.

The fully integrated

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and The Smart Spreadsheet with Graphics not only have the uncompromising power and capacity of these leading stand-alone programs, but they also have the unprecedented capability to work brilliantly together.

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from the data manager— automatically.

Don't short change your business by attempting to squeeze the impossible out of a makeshift software system. Get Smart, and the whole office will thank you.

Smart is available for the IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, and compatibles. For information call, 800-GET-SMART. (In Kansas call, 913-383-1089).

Smart Software

from Innovative Software

Inquiry 171

I -2-3'". WordStar" and dBase II'" are registered trademarks ol Lotus Development Corporation, Micro Pro International Corporation and Ashton-Tate respectively. ' 1984 Innovative Software. Inc.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 423

A COMPUTER PROGRAM

DELIVERED VIA SATELLITE!

The Computer Chronicles, a halfhour weekly television series brings you an in-depth look af the latest developments in the computer world.

Correspondent Stewart Cheifet and Gary Kildall, creator of CP/M provide interviews with industry leaders plus news and information from Silicon Valley and around the world.

The Computer Chronicles, every week on a public television station near you.

(Check local listings for time and channel.)

CI IXC POPULAR

Produced by KCSM. San Mateo, CA and WITF, Harrishurg, PA with funding from McGraw-Hill's Ex 11 and COMPUTING I

M

424 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Counting

without

enumerating

by Michael W. Ecker

MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS

The Fundamental Counting Principle

Dr. Michael W. Ecker {do BYTE,

POB 372. Hancock. NH 03449)

is cm associate professor in the

Department of Mathematics and

Computer Science at the University

oj Scranton. Pennsylvania.

You are at a racetrack trying to pick the triple for a race featuring 10 horses. That is. to win you must predict which horses will come in first, second, and third place, with the specific order significant. How many possible triples do you have to choose from?

You wish to choose a fraternity name following the practice of using three Greek letters (e.g., Alpha Beta Alpha), where repetition of letters, as in the example, is allowed. The Greek alphabet has 24 letters. How many possibilities are there?

You want to count the number of divisors of 750. How can you do this without actually finding all the divisors first?

What is the smallest army that can be arranged in rows and columns of consistent sizes in exactly 16 different ways? (To illustrate, an "army" of 14 people could be arranged in four configurations: 1 x 14, 2 x 7, 7 x 2. and 14 x 1.)

These four ostensibly different problems can be handled without recourse to enumeration (meaning lengthy listing of all possibilities). The branch of mathematics dedicated to counting without enumerating is called combinatorics. The most basic theorem of combinatorics, known as the fundamental counting principle, can be stated this way: if a first thing can be done in m ways and a second thing in n ways, then the number of ways in which you could do both things (first one of the m followed by one of the n) is m times n, or mn.

As an example, suppose you wish to travel from A to B and then from B to C, as in figure 1 (without retracing any path or going in the wrong direction). Since you can go two ways from A to B and three ways from B to C, you have 2x3=6 ways to go from A to C. As a check by direct enumeration, suppose you call the A to B paths u and v, and the B to C paths w, x. and y. Then the possible paths from A to C are the six paths u-w. u-x, u-y. v-w, v-x. and v-y.

The fundamental counting principle is easily proven in general, but 1 think the

enumeration of the possible paths in our example should be convincing (table 1). Note that since you are essentially counting with rows and columns, with all possibilities considered exactly once, the reason why you multiply is clear. This process extends to more than two things being done, as the solutions to the fraternity name question will show.

Since you have 24 choices for the first letter, 24 for the second, and 24 for the third, 24 x 24 x 24 = 13,824 names are possible. If instead the requirements insisted on no repetition of letters, you would have 24 choices for the first letter, 23 for the second (because 1 of the 24 choices can no longer be used), and 22 for the third, thus 24 x 23 x 22 = 12,144 possibilities. The number of names with at least two letters repeated is 13,824 - 12,144 = 1680 names.

Applied to the horse race, where order matters, you could play 10x9x8 = 720 possible triples. You can now understand why the racetrack can afford to give such luxurious odds. Similarly, you could apply this principle to counting possible numbers of license plates, ways to line up people, etc. In any case, you can appreciate that the numbers in question begin to get large.

Factorials

Combinatorics makes extensive use of factorials. Recall that the factorial of a positive integer n is written "ft!" and read as "n factorial." The product is found by multiplying n by n- 1 by n-2 ... and so on down to I. For instance, 5! = 5x4x3x2x1 = 120. Before continuing, you may want to write a BASIC program to compute factorials of small positive integers. You might be able to produce a more useful one than mine, which simply implements the definition and quickly gets into accuracy and precision questions for larger values (listing 1). For technical reasons, 0! is defined to be 1, much as a zeroth power (of a nonzero number) is defined to be 1. (The primary

[continued]

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 425

MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS

The number of possible orderings or arrangements of n distinct objects is n factorial

reason for 0! equaling 1 is so that the formula for combinations Qn.k)— arrangements where order is not significant—will be valid even if k = 0 or n.)

The connection of factorials to the fundamental counting principle is that the number of possible orderings or arrangements of n distinct objects is n!. Thus, four people can line up in 4! = 24 orders; the 10 horses in the race can finish (assuming all finish) in 10! = 3,628,800 different orders.

Armies and Prisoners

Let's now see what consequences can be derived from all this. Consider the question of how many divisors a given integer has. You probably know that a prime number is a positive integer greater than 1 whose only divisors are 1 and itself. To say that more elegantly, a prime is a natural number that

w

u

"—■—-JL

A^

v _

•^B^^

.^Ty Z

c

Figure I: The two- by three-pathway map.

Table 1

: The possible paths through figure

W X

without backtracking y

u

V

u-w

u-x

u-y

V- w

v-x

v-y

Listing 1: A program to generate factorials through 33!

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110 FOR l = 0TO32 STEP 2

120 PRINT I;"! = ";FACTORIAL(I);TAB(40);I + 1;"! = ";FACTORIAL(l +1)

130 NEXT

140 END

REM ROUTINE TO COMPUTE FACTORIALS TO 33!, THE LARGEST FACTORIAL THAT MICROSOFT BASIC CAN HANDLE IN THIS WAY. CLS

DEFDBL F DIM FACTORIAL(33) FACTORIAL(0) = 1 'DEFINE 0! TO BE 1.

REM COMPUTE FACTORIALS FOR 1 = 1 TO 33

FACTORIAL(I) = I • FACTORIAL^ - 1) NEXT

REM PRINT RESULTS

has precisely two divisors. Now take 750. You could enumerate all its divisors, but you don't want to. Instead, think about the following idea. The number 750 is uniquely expressible, apart from order, as 2 x 3 x 5 x5x5or2x3x53 when delineated as a product of prime numbers.

For a number to be a divisor of 7 50, it cannot contain any prime that 750 doesn't contain, nor to a higher power. In other words, a typical divisor of 750 has to look like 2 to the power 0 or I; times 3 to the power 0 or 1; times 5 to the power 0. 1, 2, or 3. Since two choices for the first power are possible, two for the second, and four for the third, there are 2x2x4=16 divisors. In general, if you have prime factorization p to the a. times a to the b. etc., then the number of divisors is [a + 1) times {b + 1) times etc., coming from a + I choices for power on p. then b + 1 for power on a. and so on. The reason you have power + 1 choices for each prime's power is that 0 as a power is an extra choice. You might try writing your own program to calculate the number of divisors of any number. Then compare your version to mine (listing 2).

Factoring and the army problem have a strong similarity since a single configuration of an army corresponds precisely to one means of factoring into two factors, with order mattering. Specifically, a factoring into; x k corresponds to a divisor;'. On the other hand, k x ; corresponds to the other paired divisor k. All this is to say that each configuration corresponds precisely to a choice for the first factor, that is. the first divisor. Hence, the number of configurations equals the number of divisors. As such, since you know the number 750 has 16 divisors, the solution to the army problem is at most 750. Modifying the previous program to finish this should not be too difficult, although it can be done without a computer as well. (For the same problem applied to 64 divisors with a purely mathematical solution, see my article "Some Recreational Applications of Elementary Number Theory," The Pentagon, Spring 1982.

426 BYTE- IANUARY

MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS

Still another use of this result from the fundamental counting principle is the following alternate explanation of the jailer problem (Mathematical Recreations. November 1984 BYTE, page 42 5). In that problem, the prisoners in cells that are open at the end of a certain process to determine a partial amnesty—based on locking and unlocking cell doors—were set free. It turned out that release required, as a necessary and sufficient condition, that the cell number have an odd number of divisors. I showed this condition to be equivalent to the cell number being a perfect square. I will now show a different reason why a number with an odd number of divisors is necessarily a perfect square (and conversely).

If the cell number N is factored as

N = p,a> Pi"' . . . p/i

then the number of divisors it has is (ai + 1) [a-i + I) . . . [Oj + 1). In order for an integer to be odd, all its factors must be odd, and conversely. Hence, all of <x\ + l,«j + 1, etc.. are odd. But then all of at. a2. • • ■ fy are even. Write fli = 2b,, a2 = 2b2, etc. By virtue of the identity

N = p,°. p2°> • • ■ P/ Pjlb, = (p,b, pA .

N is forced to be a perfect square.

i ' Pi

pA)2

Lagniappe

With all the attention mathematicians pay to perfect squares, it might come as a bit of a surprise that there is a formula for producing nonsquares, only nonsquares, in order and without repetition. I will skip discussion or proof of the formula and just give you the program (listing 3).

The key is the formula for the 6th nonsquare given in line 30. The result is stored as A. Since the program has an infinite loop, hit your computer's Break key or equivalent when you've seen enough. 1 have avoided arrays so as not to limit how high you go.

Combinations

I've digressed a bit from the original topic, so let's get back to counting.

[continued]

Listing 2: A program to count the number of divisors of a number without enumerating the choices.

10 20

30 40 50 60

70 60 90 100

PROGRAM TO FACTOR A NUMBER INTO PRODUCTS OF PRIMES

CLS

DEFINT A-Z

INPUT "Enter largest number to be factored";NUMBER

IF NUMBER<2 THEN PRINT "NUMBER MUST BE LARGER THAN 1 ":GOTO 80 REM FIRST, FIND THE NECESSARY PRIMES. FLAG.ARRAY WILL FLAG NONPRIME (COMPOSITE) NUMBERS, PRIME ARRAY WILL HOLD PRIMES WHEN FOUND. SOME BASICS REQUIRE SHORTER VARIABLE NAMES. REM SIEVE ALGORITHM PROVIDED BY WILLIAM F. DOSSETT OF AUSTIN. TX. 120 DIM FLAG.ARRAY(NUMBER),PRIME(NUMBER)

130 COMPOSITE = -1 'NONPRIME FLAG.ARRAY ELE

MENT WILL BE GIVEN TRUTH-VALUE T 'SUBSCRIPT OF LARGEST NONEMPTY ENTRY IN PRIME ARRAY

'DECLARE 2 PRIME AND LIMIT PRIME SEARCH TO ODD NUMBERS 160 REM AVOID UNNECESSARY DUPLICATION IN SEARCH. FIRST NONPRIME ODD NUMBER IS 9 (3 SQUARED), FIRST COMPOSITE ODD NUMBER NOT DIVISIBLE BY 3 IS 25 (5 SQUARED), ETC. 170 FOR K = 3 TO SQR(NUMBER) STEP 2

110

140 INDEX=1

150 PRIME(INDEX) = 2

180 190

IF FLAG.ARRAY(K) THEN 220

FOR l = K-K TO NUMBER STEP K + K

'SKIP TO NEXT PRIME 'FLAG THE ODD NUMBERS IT DIVIDES

200 FLAG.ARRAY(I) = COMPOSITE

210 NEXT

220 NEXT

230 INPUT "Do you want a listing of the primes found (y/n)";PRIMEPRINT$

240 IF PRIMEPRINT$ = "y" THEN PRIMEPRINT$ = "Y"

250 REM COPY ALL PRIMES FOUND TO PRIME ARRAY, PRINT

PRIMES IF SO REQUESTED IN 230. 260 FOR I = 3 TO NUMBER STEP 2

270 IF NOT FLAG.ARRAY(I) THEN INDEX = INDEX + 1 :PRIME(INDEX) = I:

IF PRIMEPRINT$ = "Y" THEN

PRINT PRIME(INDEX):

280 NEXT

290 PRINT:PRINT

300 PRIME(INDEX+1) =

NUMBER+1

310 MAXNUMBER = NUMBER

320 DIVISORS =1

330 SUBSCRIPTS

'MARK END OF PRIME ARRAY IN CASE NUMBER IS PRIME 'SAVE VALUE OF LARGEST NUMBER GUARANTEED FACTORABLE WITH CURRENT PRIMES LIST 'INITIALIZE NUMBER OF DIVISORS COUNTER 'ACTIVE ELEMENT OF PRIME ARRAY

340 PRIME = PRIME(SUBSCRIPT)

350 REM PRINT UNIQUE FACTORING OF NUMBER

360 PRINT NUMBER:" CAN BE UNIQUELY FACTORED AS:"

IANUARY I985

IYTE 427

MATHEMATICAL RECREATIONS

370 REM IF YOUR BASIC DOES NOT SUPPORT 'WHILE...WEND',

CHANGE LINE 380 TO: IF PRIME>NUMBER THEN 480. 380 WHILE PRIME< = NUMBER

390 REM WHAT POWER OF THE ACTIVE PRIME IS A FACTOR OF THE

NUMBER?

NOTE THAT, ALTHOUGH ALL VARIABLES HAVE BEEN DECLARED INTEGER, NUMBER/PRIME NEED NOT HAVE AN INTEGER VALUE. 400 IF NUMBER/PRIME = INT(NUMBER/PRIME) THEN

EXPONENT-EXPONENT* 1: NUMBER = NUMBER/PRIME:GOTO 400 REM PRINT THE RUNNING RESULTS, INCREMENT DIVISORS IF EXPONENT>0 THEN PRINT "("; PRIME;"TO THE";EXPONENT;")";: DIVISORS = DIVISORS"(EXPONENT+1) REM RESET POWER COUNTER, LOOP EXPONENT=0 SUBSCRIPT-SUBSCRIPT+1:PRIME = PRIME(SUBSCRIPT)

410 420

430

440

450

460 WEND

470 REM IF YOUR BASIC DOES NOT SUPPORT 'WHILE...WEND',

CHANGE LINE 460 TO: GOTO 380 480 PRINT:PRINT "NUMBER OF DIVISORS = ";DIVISORS 490 PRINTPRINT 500 REM IF MORE NUMBERS ARE TO BE FACTORED, DETERMINE

WHETHER THE CURRENT PRIMES LIST IS ADEQUATE. IF

SO, USE IT. IF NOT, ERASE ARRAYS TO AVOID PROGRAM

CRASH AND RECALCULATE PRIMES. 510 INPUT "Do you want to factor another number (y/n)"; CHOICES 520 IF CHOICESo"y" AND CHOICE$< >"Y" THEN 560 530 CLS

540 INPUT "Enter the new number to be factored";NUMBER 550 IF NUMBER< =MAXNUMBER THEN 320 ELSE

ERASE FLAG.ARRAY,PRIME:GOTO 120 560 END

Listing 3: A program to generate nonsquare numbers.

10 REM ROUTINE TO GENERATE NONSQUARE NATURAL NUMBERS PROGRAM CREATES AN INFINITE LOOP. HIT THE BREAK KEY TO TERMINATE. 20 CLS

30 COUNTER = 1

40 NONSQUARE = INT (COUNTER+ SQR(COUNTER) +.5) 50 PRINT "Nonsquare number"; COUNTER;" is";NONSQUARE

60 COUNTER=COUNTER+1

70 GOTO 40

Suppose you have a situation in which you have choices where the order doesn't matter. To dramatize the distinction, consider the following two questions:

I. From 10 people, a president, vicepresident, and secretary are to be chosen. How many slates of candidates are possible?

2. From 10 people, a clean-up committee of 3 people is to be formed. How many such committees are possible?

The distinction is this: In the first situation, order is significant. A. B, C is not the same as B. C. A since it is of interest not just which three people are chosen but which holds which

A number with an odd number

of divisors

is necessarily

a perfect square.

office. In the second case, order is not relevant. From these considerations, you discover that the fundamental counting principle applies to the first situation but not to the second. The number of possible slates for candidates is 10 x 9 x 8 = 720.

The solution to question 1 can assist you in handling question 2. For each clean-up committee {A, B, C) chosen, there are 3! = 6 possible slates, namely A, B, C: A, C, B: B. A, C: B, C, A: C, A, B: and C. B, A. In other words, there are six (3!) times as many slates as clean-up committees, or the number of clean-up committees is one-sixth the number of slates; in this case, 720/6 = 120. More generally, let Qn.k) represent the number of ways to choose k different things from n without regard for the order of choice. If order mattered, you would have n x («- 1) x («-2) x ... x [n-k+ I) possibilities. But because each choice of k things has been counted k\ times, this answer is k\ times too large. If you now divide by k\, you will have a representation for Qn.k)- However, you customarily multiply top and bottom by (n-k)\ to tidy up the numerator so that it contains only a factorial. Then Qn.k) = n\l{k\[n-k)\).

As a quick example, how many choices do you have if you wish to pick 3 distinct flavors from a choice of 31 flavors? Since the order of choice is irrelevant, there are C(3I,3) = 3I!/(3!28!) choices. In practice, you would not compute 31! first, but rather would simplify first—31 x 30 x 29/6 = 4495.

After the foregoing, you should find it easy to write a program to calculate combinations. ■

428 B YTE • JANUARY 1985

Denser Chips

NEC PC-8401A

Casio LCS-2400

Fujitsu FM-11BS

Piracy

by William M. Raike

William M. Raike. who holds a

Ph.D. in applied mathematics from

Northwestern University, has taught

operations research and computer

science in Austin. Texas, and

Monterey. California. He holds a

patent on a voice scrambler and was

formerly an officer of Qryplext

Corporation in the United States. \n

1980, he went to \apan looking for

6AK-bit RAMs. He has been there

ever since as a technical translator

and a software developer.

BYTE JAPAN

The New and the Old

I have just spent the last two weeks exploring the quirks and idiosyncrasies of my new Fujitsu FM-11BS. my first 16-bit machine, and 1 happily admit that I'm delighted with it. I'll say more about it later in this column. Meanwhile, there's news about integrated circuits (ICs), a report from my own source about a new hand-held computer from NEC, an announcement of a new printer from Casio, and some comments about the burgeoning market in pirated software in Taiwan.

Mitsubishi s Tiny Transistors

It seems as if every week there's an announcement of some "revolutionary breakthrough" in IC technology that makes the previous week's revolutionary breakthrough seem old. My candidate for this week's mind-blowing achievement award is Mitsubishi Electric. They have just announced the development of what they call "submicron-wafer processing technology." which can produce the types of thin wafer-like plates from which the next generation of extremely large-scale memory chips will be manufactured. Mitsubishi produced sample wafers that contain transistors small enough to build 4-megabit (half-million character] dynamic RAM (random-access read/write memory) chips.

The newest generation of memory chips is the 256K-bit chip; the impact of these ICs, which can hold over 32K bytes each, is just starting to be felt by designers who can now put 246K bytes of memory in the same circuit-board area that previously held only 64K bytes. In order to cram enough microscopic transistors into the space of a single chip to hold that volume of data, the photographically produced lines on the chip can be only a few microns wide. (A micron is one-millionth of a meter.) For a 4-megabit RAM chip, the lines need to be almost an order of magnitude slimmer. Mitsubishi succeeded in making transistors with lines only 0.4 micron wide. For comparison, the wavelength of violet light is only about 0.45 micron.

It's too soon to predict who will be first into the marketplace with a 4-megabit RAM (or a 1-megabit RAM, for that matter), but this development means that technology that would have been considered esoteric even for research labs only a few years ago is coming closer to the production line.

New NEC Hand-held Computer

Last month's BYTE lapan talked about the new hand-held computers from Epson and the 68000-based, APL-oriented machine that Ampere Corporation will be introducing soon. This month we bring you a peek at the recently released NEC portable, the PC-8401A. (See What's New, December 1984 BYTE, page 39.) It is a substantial upgrade of the handy little PC-8201 and is clearly intended to compete with the machines already being marketed in the U.S. by Hewlett-Packard, Epson, and others.

The PC-8401A will be based on NEC's CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) version of the Z80 processor: the operating system will be a version of CP/M in ROM (read-only memory). The machine will have a liquid-crystal display (LCD) with 16 lines of 80 characters each (128 by 480 dots) and will include both a Centronics-type printer interface and an RS-232C interface as standard equipment. It will be supplied with 64K bytes of RAM, plus at least 96K bytes of ROM to hold the standard software supplied with the computer, which will include portable WordStar, spreadsheet and filing programs, and a telecommunications program.

The telecommunications program will support the built-in 300-bps (bits per second) auto-dial modem, including a feature that will select telephone numbers from a telephone-directory file and will be able to upload and download files either with or without the popular XMODEM protocol. You'll be able to store frequently used logon procedures in files and to check the names of all current files at any time using

{continued)

IANUARY 1985

1YTE 429

BYTE JAPAN

The PC-8401A

sounds like

a powerful,

usable machine, if not as dramatic as some others.

an on-the-fly directory command.

Two CP/M modes will be available: 32K-byte mode and 64K-byte mode. In 32K mode, half of the built-in 64K RAM will be used as a RAM disk for rapid-access file storage. In 64K mode, the transient program area available for application programs will be a full 60K bytes, but in that case either an optional 320K-byte microfloppy disk unit or a 32K-byte RAM cartridge will have to be connected in order to provide external file storage. Other options said to be available will include 32K-byte ROM cartridges for user programs, a 1200-bps modem, and an expansion unit containing a standard CRT (cathode-ray tube) interface and a floppy-disk interface. Another option that sounds interesting is a ROM cartridge with a built-in spelling-checker dictionary.

All in all. the PC-8401A sounds like a powerful, usable machine, even if it's not as dramatic as some of the other current (and prospective) offerings.

New Casio Printer

In a future column, I'll survey some of the printers available here in Japan for use with personal and office-type computers ("pasocom" and "ofcon"). Meanwhile, the latest high-tech entry is the new LCS-2400, just announced by Casio; first shipments are expected in the second quarter of 1985. It's billed as a desktop machine, even though it weighs over 70 pounds. It uses the same printing method used in electrostatic copying machines. There's no moving print head at all;

instead, the characters are transferred to the photoconductive surface through a liquid-crystal shutter, which should produce very clear characters. The LCS-2400 can print nine standardsize pages per minute, with a resolution of 240 dots per inch.

The lapanese price will be equivalent to about $1650.

Happiness is a New Computer

I had a number of reasons for looking for a new computer, besides the slow screen functions on my NEC PC-8801. I finally settled on the Fujitsu FM-11BS. It uses separate microprocessors as display and keyboard handlers to reduce the load on the main processor, which is an 8088 type that runs at 8 MHz.

First, I wanted to be able to run and evaluate contemporary 16-bit software. The FM-11 can run either Digital Research's CP/M-86 or Microsoft's MSDOS operating system, although the machine is supplied with Fujitsu's version of Kanji CP/M-86, which supports a large Japanese-language character set. It's also supplied with a fairly elaborate dialect of BASIC, plus a lapanese-Ianguage word processor called JWORD. The last few weeks have been so busy, though, that I haven't even had time to take the IWORD disk out of its envelope. I also have a Z80 card on order, so I'll be able to run a considerable amount of my existing 8-bit software.

Another reason for selecting the Fujitsu machine was that I'm completely sold on RAM disks. The FM-11 is supplied with 2 56K bytes of RAM and is expandable to 1 megabyte (MB); I've ordered an additional 2 56K-byte memory board (for about $300). With jumpers on that board to accommodate 2 56K-bit RAM chips, I should have my megabyte in less than a month. I can use up to 512K bytes of the available memory as a RAM disk under Fujitsu's version of Kanji CP/M-86. WordStar works with blinding speed when it is located in the RAM disk along with its overlay and message files. When the new memory board arrives, I'll be able to load all

the C compiler, linker, and library files into a 512K-byte RAM disk and really sizzle.

Finally, I had gotten tired of disk swapping. With my old 320K-byte drives, I had a text editor on one disk, the compiler, assembler, and debugger on another, and source library and archives on a third. In addition to the time it took to switch disks and/or copy files, there was always the problem of remembering just what files were in which drive at any given time. That's the kind of thing computers are supposed to keep track of. The FM-11 has dual 1-MB 5'/4-inch disk drives (with the same track and sector format as 8-inch floppy disks); the large capacity saves me considerable time during the edit-compile-debug cycle. And it's delightful to be able to simply assume that everything I'm currently working on is in drive A (or in drive M, which is the RAM disk). The next logical step is Fujitsu's 10- or 20-MB hard disk, but at the moment that looks postponable.

Software conversion has been fairly hassle-free. It was simple to download my C-language source files directly, with the machines side by side, through the RS-232C ports. I'm running Digital Research's C compiler, and converting my Software Toolworks C/80 source programs for use on the Fujitsu required only modest effort. In a few cases the conversion turned out to be a pain in the neck, due largely to Digital Research's baroque approach to documentation and software "features." For instance, as far as 1 can tell, CP/M-86 retains such quirks from CP/M-80 as converting the command line to uppercase letters but no longer copies the full command-line tail (containing options, parameters, etc.) into a buffer for use by application programs. That made it tricky to convert the command-line batch submission utility I presented in the November 1984 BYTE Japan (page 401), which does its own parsing of the command line. I finally settled on the kludge of picking up the entire command line out of the CCP's (console command processor) own buffer.

430 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

BYTE JAPAN

I'm as anxious to try out new software as the next person, but not at the price of encouraging piracy.

Another problem arose when I tried to convert the CD1R do-it-yourself directory program presented in the August 1984 column (page 3391. Digital Research's C compiler has a "feature" that automatically treats asterisks or question marks in the command line as CP/M wild-card file specifications and expands them on the spot before passing them to the main C routine via the argc and argv parameters. The expansion apparently cannot be disabled, and evidently it never occurred to Digital Research that there might be cases where it would be undesirable. Still worse, if there are no files that match the wildcard specification, the run-time module prints a gratuitous "No Match" message to that effect on the console, whether you want it or not.

StiH another feature is that there are 27 different compiler options that you can specify on the command line, but

there's no way to change the default values of the options (such as locations of standard files, the levels of message and error output you want, etc.). My C/80 compiler, which costs about one-fifth the price, comes with a configuration program that lets you change the compiler's default options.

Piracy

A friend of mine returned recently from a week-long business trip to Taipei. I hadn't been there in nearly three years and was anxious to learn whether the people were still as kind, the food as delicious, and the city as busy as I remembered. The answer to all three questions was "yes," but an active new industry seems to have emerged: software piracy. Years ago, Taipei was notorious as a source of unauthorized (pirated) copies of books, especially English-language technical and reference books. Bowing to international pressure, the government gradually made it more difficult for the pirates to operate, and in recent years the production of pirated books has been reduced to a bare trickle. But with the worldwide microcomputer explosion, a whole new fertile field has presented itself, and the enterprising citizens in Taipei have been copying floppy disks even faster than they used to run their printing presses.

Literally dozens of computer shops have sprung up near Pateh Road and all offer lists of hundreds of wellknown U.S.-produced software pack

ages, usually in either IBM PC or Apple disk formats, for $10 to $12 each. Now it may simply be my suspicious nature, but I doubt that those shops could buy legitimate copies of Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE II. or WordStar and make a profit by selling them for $10.

I'm as anxious to try out new software as the next person but not at the price of encouraging piracy. The U.S. Customs Service, quite properly, takes a very dim view of trying to bring bootleg software back into the United States, but total control is impossible, and the potential market outside the U.S. is very large. If carried to extremes, software piracy will only make it unprofitable, and therefore impossible, for high-quality software to be produced and marketed.

Copy protection is not the answer; lerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor column has given plenty of reasons why that approach is both unreasonable and impractical. In the end, the solution to software piracy is probably the same solution that works for any kind of piracy: apply enough pressure to discourage the countries that harbor pirates from giving them the shelter they need.

Next Month

In the Feburary BYTE Japan I'll report on some interesting optical disks and laser printers I saw at the 1984 Data Show in Harumi. I'll also discuss the Toshiba MS-X computer and some other tidbits. ■

Available from stock

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Inquiry 47

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 431

Call Oryx and order by phone .. .without a single hang-up!

IBM/PC SOFTWARE

Alpha Software

Data BaseMgr II $179

Arrays, Inc

Home Acer. + $ 95

Home Acct. w/ TaxAdvntg $139

Central Point

Copy II PC $34

CompuView

Vedit $130

Vedit + 179

VPrint 65

Connecticut Software

Printer Boss

w/ Letter Boss $ 79

Above w/Side Kick... 119

Creative Software

Creative Filer $ 39

Creative Calc 39

Creative Writer 39

Creative Bundle Box (Filer, Calc, Writer).... 109

Digital Research Call

Dow Jones

Market Analyzer $229

Market Manager 189

Spreadsheet Link 179

Ecosoft, Inc

Microstat $259

Electronic Arts

Get Organized $159

Enertronics

Energraphics $259

w/ Plotter Option 299

Fastware Thor (the thought organizer.... $245

Financier, Inc

Financier II $119

Fox & Geller

Grafox $189

RGraph (for

R-base4000) $175

FYI

Superfile $149

FYI 3000 287

Sort Facility 99

Harvard Software

Project Manager $249

Hayes

Please Call

Lifetree

Volkswriter Deluxe $179

Volkswriter Scientific. 359

Living Videotext

Think Tank (256K) $139

MDBS

Knowledge Man $299

Menlo Corp.

In Search $299

Micropro

Wordstar ProPak

(WS, CS, MM,SI) $299

Wordstar 199

Professional

Options Pak $129

ProPak Plus (WS,

CS, MM, SI, TM) $399

TeleMerge 109

Microrim

R-base4000 $279

R-base Clout 169

R-Writer 119

Prog Interface 259

Microsoft

Flight Simulator II $ 39

Project 1.01 199

C Comp 309

Basic Comp 249

Word 1.15 229

MuMath/MuSimp 199

(All Microsoft products provided in MS DOS.)

Morgan Computing

Prof Basic $799

Trace 86 99

Pathfinder 59

Multimate Call

Northwest Analytical

Statpak $365

Peter Norton Computing

Norton Utilities $ 55

Peachtree

PeachText 5000 $249

Series 8 Accounting Modules $389

Samna Corp.

Samna Word + $229

Samna Word II 369

Samna Word III 439

Satellite Software

Word Perfect w/Sp... $255 Software Arts

Spotlight $109

Software Publishing

PFS: File, Graph

Write ea $ 89

PFS: Plan 89

PFS: Report 79

PFS: Access, Proof 69

Sorcim

Supercalclll $249

Star Software Systems

Acct'g Partner $229

Acct'g Partner II 659

Supersoft

C Compiler-8086.... $350

Wang Software

Grammatik $ 60

Proofreader 42

Warner Software

Desk Organizer $219

Westminster Software

Pertmaster Call

.. .and many more!

APPLE SOFTWARE

Alpha Software

Apple-IBM

Connection $169

Typefaces 69

Arrays, Inc

Home Acct $ 59

FCM 79

BPI Call

Broderbund

Bank Street Writer ....$ 45 Bank Street Speller.... 45 Others Call

Cdex

All Trng Prog's ea $ 49

Central Point

Copy II + $ 34

Digital Research Call

Dow Jones

Market Analyzer $229

Market Manager 189

Spreadsheet Link 179

Eduware Call

Living Videotext

Think Tank $ 99

Micropro Pro Pak (WS,

SS, MM, SI) $349

Microsoft Call

Peachtree

Back to Basics $149

PeachPak

Series 40 or 80 $239

Penguin Software... Call

Sierra

Frogger $ 25

Software Publishing

PFS: File, Graph, Report ea $ 79

Spinnaker Call

Xerox Education

Sticky Bear Series..ea $ 35

dBASE II CORNER

Anderson-Bell

Abstat $289

Ash ton-Tate

dBase II Call

dBase III Call

Framework Call

Friday Call

Fox & Geller

dGraph $169

Quick Code 169

dUtil 58

Human Soft

DBPIus $ 90

Sensible Designs

dProgrammer $199

CP/M SOFTWARE

All prices below are for

8" standard.

ATI

All Trng Prog's ea $ 52

CompuView

V-Edit 8080 $130

V-EditCP/M86 130

Digital Research

Pascal MT+w/SPP... $389

DR Assembler & Tools 149

CP/M 2.2 125

C Basic 115

PL/1-80 375

Personal Basic 120

CP/M Gold Card Call

Access or

Display Mgr. $299

C Lang/compiler 260

All 8" - 86 Version

of Above Call

Infocom

Deadline $ 49

Starcross 39

Suspended 39

Zork, I, II, III ea 39

Micro Pro

WordStar $250

InfoStar 265

Pro-Pak (WS,

MM, SI, SS) $359

All Others Call

Microsoft Call

Microstuf

Crosstalk $109

Northwest Analytical

Statpak $365

Oasis

Word Plus $120

Punctuation & Style.... 99 Supersoft

Disk Doctor $ 74

Scratchpad Plus 129

MACINTOSH CORNER

SOFTWARE ATI

MacCoach $ 60

Dow Jones

Straightalk 59

Human Edge

Sales Edge $195

MgmtEdge 195

Intermatrix MacPhone $159

Living Videotext

Think Tank $119

Main St. Software

Main St. Filer $225

Microsoft

MacBasic V 1.01....$ 99

MacChart 85

MacWord 139

MacFile 139

Monogram

Dollars & Sense $139

Software Publishing

PFS: File.Report. ea $ 89

T/Maker

Click Art $ 39

Teloi Software

Filevision $109

Games

Hayden, Infocom Penguin, Mirage Concepts, Sierra, and more Call

HARDWARE

Davong

Disk Drives Call

Kensington Microware

Swivel $ 29

Surge Supressor 45

Modem $399

Memorex

3H" Diskettes. $ 49

Tecmar

Disk Drives Call

432 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

APPLE/

FRANKLIN

BOARDS

ALS

CP/MCord $269

Smarterm II 119

Z-Engine 139

CCS 7711 Asynch Serial $ 99

Microsoft

16K Ramcard $ 69

Softcard 249

Softcard + 449

Prem Softcard (HE) 335

Microtek

Printer l/F $ 75

Dumpling-16K 169

Dumpling-GX 89

Mountain

A-D/D-A Call

Music System $349

Orange Micro

Grappler + w/ buffer. $175

Prometheus

Versacard $159

Video-7, Inc.

V-Color RGB cards.... Call Videx

Videoterm VT-602 $249

Ultrarerm 249

IBM/PC

AST Research

Six Pak + 64K

(exp384K, S/P, Clk)..$279 MegaPlus 64K, (Cl/Cal,

S Port, 512K cap

w/Megapak) $279

Extra ports available

for Megaplus and

I/O Plus II (Game,

PorS) $ 40

Megapak 256K upgrade for Megaplus. Call I/O Plus II Cl/Cal

and S Port $139

Maynard Electronics

Floppy Drive Cntrlr.... $139

w/Par Port 169

w/SerPort 179

Sandstar Call

Orange Micro

Mr. Chips Call

Orchid Technology

the 'Orchid Blossom" (To 384K, Clk w/ alarm, S&P ports, ram disk, disk caching, upgradeable to PCNet) Call

Quadram

Quadboard 64K, (exp 384K, Clk/Cal, S&P

Ports, Software) $269

Microfazer Stack Printer -P/P8K(exp512K)....$139

-S/P 8K (exp 64K) 149

-S/S 8K (exp 64K) 149

Quadlink 64K Memory (allows Apple SW to

run on IBM/PC) $469

Other Products Call

Tecmar Products Call

Xedex/Microlog

Baby Blue $325

Baby Blue II 525

DISPLAY CARDS

Amdek

MAI Card $399

Fredericks/Plantronics Colorplus... Call

Hercules

Graphics Board $349

Color Board 199

MA Systems

PC Peacock

Color Board $249

Paradise

Display Card (clr/monochrome). $379 Modular/Display.... 359

Quadram

Quadcolor I $199

Quadcolorll 389

Tecmar

Graphic Master $479

MONITORS

Amdek

300A Amber $149

310A 199

300 Or 299

500 Or RGB 449

600ClrHR 549

700 Or Ultra HR 629

710 Or Non Glare.... 649

NEC

JB1201-12" Green $169

JB1260-12" Green.... 119 JC1216RGB 429

Panasonic

CT160 10"comp Call

PGS

HX12RGBCIr $489

MAX 12 189

SRI2 (690x480 Res)... 639 DoublerCard 175

Quadram

Quadchrome $489

Sanyo

8112 12" HR Green....$195

Taxan

440 $679

USI 1200A 12" HRAm $139

Zenith

135(RGBorcomp)....$499 136 669

MODEMS

Hayes

Smartmodem 300 $195

Smartmodem 1200.... 489 Smartmodem 1200B... 399

Prometheus

Promodem $399

Quadram

Quadmodem $529

US Robotics

Auto-Dial 300/1200... $459

S-100 Modem 349

Password 525

Zoom Telephonies

Networker w/o SW... $109

DISK DRIVES

Mountain, Inc.

FileSafe Combo Disk/Tape Pack for the IBM PC or XT

Model 01-4000-04:

35MB HD w/27MB

tape backup Model 01-4000-06:

35MB HD w/60MB

tape backup.

For more info Call

Tall Grass

For Wisconsin customers Call

Tandon TM-100-2 $199

PRINTERS

C. Itoh Electronics, Inc.

Prowriter

8510 AP (Par) $349

8510 PC-II (Ser)

(w/3K Buffer) $499

1515P 599

Starwriter

F10-40P (40cps) $999

A10-20S (20cps) 529

Diablo

630 ECS Call

Juki Industries

6100 $449

NEC Call

Okidata 82-93 Call

Printek, Inc.

920 S/P $2050

Quadram

Quadjet Call

Star Micronics Call

TeletexT1014 $399

Transtar

T-130 P&S $659

T-315P - Dot Matrix.. 489

T-120P&S 475

.. .and much more.

CDC 1800

.$209

Corona

Corvus Hd

Call

. Call

DISKETTES

Datamac

Trustor 10H (for Macintosh, lie, PC).

Davong Hd

Maynard HD

. Call

Call

. Call

3M5" DS, DD Box ...$ 35

CDC $ 32

Maxell 5" DS,

DDMD2 Box $ 32

Verbatim

5" DS, DD, Box $ 32

Ultra Magnetics 5"

DS, DD, (box/10) S 32

(3 Boxes Diskettes Min.)

PLOTTERS

Enter

P100 Sweet P $545

Sweet P Six Shooter... Call Houston Instruments Call

Panasonic

VP6801P Plotter $1375

MISC.

Alpha-Delta "MACC" Surge Protector $ 69

Computer Accessories

Power Director Call

Electronic Protection Devices

Lemon/EC I $ 45

Lime/EC II 65

Orange/EC III 105

Hauppage

87 Chip $159

Other Products Call

Kensington

Masterpiece Call

Keytronic

KB 5150 $169

KB 5151 175

KB 5151 Dvorak 175

Street Electronics Call

TG Call

Versa Computing

VersaWriter $239

A variety of complete PC compatible systems are available at Oryx. For assistance in determining your needs use our technical line* We will be happy to provide full support.

POLICY:

► Wisconsin residents add 5% for sales tax.

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Inquiry 378 for Hardware. Inquiry 3 79 for Software. Inquiry 380 for January Specials.

ORYX SYSTEMS, INC.

CRAFTSMEN OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY

1 800 826-1589

wggSjjS 1 800 472-3535

425 First Street • PO. Box 1961

Wausau, Wisconsin 54401

INT'L TELEX: 260181 ORYX SYS WAU

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 433

Not for sale in any bookstore! Not available at any price!

The bold new booklet that has thousands of Americans writing to Pueblo, Colorado.

With all the color and excitement of the last catalog, the Consumer Information Center of the U.S. Government unveils the paperback version of the newest Consumer Information Catalog.

At last, here s the newest edition of the free catalog that lists over 200 helpful Federal publications, more than half of them free.

Publications with inside information on home repairs. Money management. Nutrition. And more.

Information that could help you to a better way of life.

So don't delay! Act today! Send no money to get your free copy. Just write: CONSUMER INFORMATION CENTER, DEPT.E PUEBLO, COLORADO 81009

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HUNTINGTON'S DISEASE ASSOCIATION Call this number: 212-966-4320

79-12

THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISHER

YEAR END SPECIAL ON I.B.M. RC.

Enhance your I.B.M. For Less

Complete CPU Board with 64KB Memory, Serial Port, Parallel Port. Runs DOS, CPM/86 and more $399

Assembled complete: Chassis with Cover, Fan, Power Supply, Filter, AC Outlet, Power Cord, Speaker $399

Power Supply 135 Watts . $189 Floppy Drive Controller . $ 99 Monochrome Card .... $129 Color Graphics Card ... $149

RAM Chips kit 64K $ 39

I.B.M. Compatible

Keyboard $ 99

P.C. DOS 2.1 $ 60

A.S.T. Multifunction board Call

Epson FX-100 Call

TEAC 55B $149

Tandon TM 100-2 $179

P.G.S. HX-12 $469

am

PERSONAL COMPUTER

Special of the Month!

IBM PC'COMPLETE LINE

256K RAM, 360KB Disk Drive, FDC, Video Monitor & Adaptor 10MB Hard Disk Sub-System $2795

Hard Disk for IBM PC Complete SubSystem Internal 10MB H, Winchester Drive $775

IBM PC 256K, Floppy Controller, 2 Disk Drives 320 KB Each, Monochrome Card Monochrome Monitor $1895

Scientific Research Corp.

17895 Skypark Circle/Suite E • Irvine, C A 92714

714/261-9137

IBM PC Is a registered trademark of IBM Corp.

CPM/86 Is a registered trademark of Digital Research. Inc.

MS DOS Is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

TEAC Is a registered trademark of TEAC Corp.

Taxan Is a trademark of Taxan Corp.

All transactions subject to COD. Cashier Check or Prepaid

Prices and Availability subject to change without notice.

434 BYTE* JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 390

BOOKS RECEIVED

Advanced BASIC and Beyond for the IBM PC. Larry Joel Goldstein. Bowie. MD: Robert |. Brady Co., 1984; 368 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-89303-324-3. $19.95.

The American Pascal Standard, Henry Ledgard, ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1984; 112 pages, 21.5 by 27.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-387-91248-7. S16.95.

Apple Graphics Activities Handbook, Harold I. Bailey and I. Edward Kerlin. Bowie. MD: Robert J. Brady Co., 1984: 432 pages, 17.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-89303-308-1. $16.95.

The Apple He Personal Computer for Beginners, Seamus Dunn and Valerie Morgan. Englewood Cliffs, N|: PrenticeHall, 1984: 272 pages, 15 by 22.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-13038969-2. S14.95.

The Apple Writer II Handbook for the He. Kate Lee Johnson. Somerville. MA: Curtin & London, 1984; 108 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm. softcover, ISBN 0939764-82-X, $19.50.

The Art of Computer Management, Jim McNitt. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1984; 272 pages, 14.8 by 22 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-671-46471-X, $15.95.

Artificial Intelligence Tools, Techniques, and Applications, Tim O'Shea and Marc Eisenstadt, eds. New York: Harper & Row, 1984: 512 pages, 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-06-041894-X. $22.95.

Atari User's Guide, Mark Ellis. Robert Ellis, and Larry Joel Goldstein. Bowie. MD: Brady Communications Co.. 1984; 286 pages. 17.8 by 2 3.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-89303-323-5, $15,95.

BASIC Exercises for the IBM PCir. lean-Pierre Lamoitier. Berkeley, CA: Sybex, 1984; 270 pages. 17.5 by 22.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-89588-218-3, $15.95.

BASIC Program Conversions. the editors of Computer Skill Builders. Tucson. AZ: HP Books, 1984; 240 pages, 21,8 by 27.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-89586297-2, $12.95.

Big Decisions for Small Business. Linda Strosberg. New York: Harper & Row. 1984; 148 pages, 18.8 by 23.3 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-06-046485-2, $15,95.

Blast Off with BASIC Games for Your VIC-20. David D. Busch. Bowie, MD: Robert I. Brady Co.. 1984: 192 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-89303-334-0, $12.95.

C, A Reference Manual, Samuel P. Harbison and Guy L, Steele Jr. Englewood Cliffs, N|: Prentice-Hall, 1984: 368 pages, 18.3 by 24 cm. hardcover, ISBN 0-13-110016-5, $24.95,

The Campus and the Microcomputer Revolution, J. Victor Baldridge, Janine Woodward Roberts, and Terri A. Weiner. New York: American Council on Education and Macmillan Publishing. 1984; 192 pages. 16 by 24 cm, hardcover. ISBN 0-02901370-4. $19.95.

The Coleco Adam Entertainer, Brian Sawyer. Berkeley. CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill. 1984; 190 pages, 20.5 by 27.5 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-88134-134-7. $12.95.

Commodore 64 BASIC Programming and Applications, Larry Joel Goldstein and Fred

Mosher. Bowie, MD: Robert J. Brady Co., 1984; 320 pages, 17.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-89303-381-2. $15.95.

Commodore 64 Subroutine Cookbook, David D. Busch. Bowie, MD: Robert J. Brady Co., 1984: 208 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-89303383-9, $12 95.

Computer, David L. Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1984; 208 pages, 18.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 08306-1741-8. $11.50.

The Computer Data and Database Source Book, Matthew Lesko. New York: Avon Books. 1984: 944 pages. 15.5 by 22.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-38086942-X. $14.95.

A Computer Dictionary for Kids and Other Beginners, David Fay Smith. New York: Bailantine Books. 1984: 112 pages, 20 by 2 5.3 cm. softcover, ISBN 345-31693-2, $9.95.

Computer fundamentals, Barbara Kurshan and Nancy Healy Reston, VA: Reston Publishing. 1984; 222 pages. 21.5 by 28 cm. spiral-bound. ISBN 0-83 59-0939-5. $16.95.

Computer Hunting, Susan B. Perricone and Charles R. Schneider. New York: Harper & Row, 1984; 2 56 pages, 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-06046575-1, $16,95.

Computer Mathematics, D. I, Cooke and H. E. Bez. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984; 408 pages, 16 by 23.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN 0-52125341-1, $49.50.

The Computer Tutor: IBM Personal Computer Edition, Gary

THIS IS A LIST of books recently received at BYTE Publications. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, its purpose is to acquaint BYTE readers with recently published titles in computer science and related fields. We regret that we cannot review or comment on all the books we receive: instead, this list is meant to be a monthly acknowledgment of these books and the publishers who sent them.

W. Orwig and William S. Hodges. Boston, MA: Little. Brown and Co.. 1984; 242 pages. 21.5 by 28 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-316-66503-7. $15.95.

Computers in Crisis, lerome T. Murray and Marilyn J. Murray. Princeton, N|: Petrocelli Books, 1984: 360 pages, 18.3 by 26 cm. hardcover, ISBN 0-8943 3223-6, $32,95.

Computers: The Non-Technological (Human) Factors, lohn L. Burch. ed. Lawrence, KS: The Report Store, 1984: 106 pages. 17.3 by 21.3 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-916313-00-X. $34.50.

ComputerSpace: Home Design Strategies that Work for Computers, lames Wagenvoord. New York: Perigee Books. 1984: 128 pages. 18.8 by 23 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-399-51020-6. $14.95.

Computing for Profits, Allan H. Schmidt and Ira Alterman. New York: Macmillan Publishing 1984; 320 pages, 14 by 21 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-02-008760-8. $10.95.

Contemporary Business Letters with Apple Writer II for the He. Jane E. Robbins and Kate Lee Johnson. Somerville, MA: Curtin & London. 1984; 240 pages, 21.3 by 27.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-93076480-3. $19.50.

Coping: Survival in a Computerized Society. Robert S. Cheney and lean E. Cheney. Princeton, NJ: Petrocelli Books, 1984: 230 pages, 15.5 by 23.3 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-89433232-5. $19.95.

Creating Courseware. Ruth K. Landa. New York: Harper & Row. 1984; 318 pages. 20.5 by 27 cm. spiral-bound. ISBN 0-06043837-1. $20.95.

Digital Communications Programming on the IBM PC. W.

[continued)

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BOOKS RECEIVED

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David Schwaderer. New York: lohn Wiley & Sons. 1984; 3 52

pages, 17 by 2 5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-471-89016-2, $47.90. Includes floppy disk.

Easy Interfacing Proiects for the VIC-20. lim Downey. Don

Rindsberg. and William Isherwood. Englewood Cliffs. N|: Prentice-Hall, 1984; 176 pages. 17.5 by 23.3 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-13-223421-1. S10.95.

Electronic Life. Michael Crichton. New York; Ballantine Books. 1983; 276 pages, 10.5 by 17.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-34 531739-4, S3.95.

50 Simple, Ready-to-Run VIC-20 Programs, Barbara Fulgham. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books. 1984; 176 pages. 18.8 by 2 3.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 08306-1754-X, $6.95.

Getting Into Computers, Kurt

Hanks. Chatsworth, CA: Datamost. 1984; 128 pages, 20.8 by 27.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 088190-395-7, $12.95.

Graphics Made Easy for the IBM PC and XT. Gabriel Cuellar. Reston. VA: Reston Publishing, 1984; 464 pages. 17.8 by 23.3 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-83 592569-2, $18.95.

Handbook of Applesoft BASIC for the Apple II and He. Roy Earl Myers and David I. Schneider. Bowie, MD: Brady Communications Co., 1984; 336 pages, 17,5 by 23,3 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-89303-504-1, $16.95.

Handbook of BASIC for the Commodore 64, Frederick E. Mosher and David I. Schneider. Bowie. MD: Robert |. Brady Co., 1984; 368 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-89303505-X. SI4.95.

Handbook of Computer Applications for the Small or Medium-Sized Business. Howard Falk. Radnor. PA: Chilton Book Co.. 1983; 350 pages. 18.3 by 23 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-80197393-7, $19.95.

Harnessing Information Technologies, Carolyn |. Mullins and Thomas W. West. Englewood Cliffs. N|: Prentice-Hall. 1984; 256 pages. 17.3 by 23.3 cm.

softcover. ISBN 0-13-383829-3. $10.95.

Household Budgeting and Accounting on Your Home Computer. Fred N. Grayson. New York: Perigee Books, 1984: 96 pages, 20.5 by 27.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-399-50986-0. $5.95.

The IBM PC and its Applications. Laurence Press. New York: lohn Wiley & Sons. 1984: 366 pages. 17 by 2 5.3 cm, software, ISBN 0-471-88440-5, $14.95.

The IBM PCir User's Guide, Michael Bane. New York: Macmillan Publishing. 1984: 126 pages, 13.5 by 21 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-02-008810-8. $5.95.

THE IBM PC/XT Graphics Book. lohn Fowler. Englewood Cliffs, N|: Prentice-Hall, 1984; 366 pages, 17.8 by 23.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-13-448416-9. $29.95. Includes floppy disk.

The Illustrated MS-DOSWordStar Handbook, Russell A. Stultz. Englewood Cliffs, N|: Prentice-Hall. 1984; 288 pages, 15.3 by 22.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-13-451089-5. $14.95.

Learn to Type on Your Home Computer. Fred N. Grayson. New York: Perigee Books. 1984; 96 pages. 20.5 by 27.3 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-399-50991-7. $5.95.

Learning Tl 99/4A Home Computer Assembly Language Procramming, Ira McComic. Piano, TX: Wordware Publishing. 1984; 344 pages. 19 by 23.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-13-527862-7. $16.95.

Learning with Apple Logo. Daniel Watt. New York: McGrawHill. 1984: 336 pages. 20.5 by 27.8 cm, spiral-bound. ISBN 007-068571-1. $19.95.

Let's Learn BASIC A Kids' Introduction to BASIC Programming on IBM Personal Computers, Ben Shneiderman. Boston. MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1984; 208 pages. 19 by 23.3 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-31678726-4, $8.95,

Let's Learn BASIC. A Kids' Introduction to BASIC Program

436 BYTE- 1ANUARY

Inquiry 21

BOOKS RECEIVED

MING ON THE COMMODORE 64.

Ben Shneiderman. Boston. MA:

Little. Brown and Co.. 1984: 208 pages. 19 by 23.3 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-316-7872 5-6. S8.95.

Logic and Machines: Decision Problems and Complexity, E. Borger. G. Hasenjaeger. and D. Rodding, eds. Lecture Notes in Computer Science #171. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1984: 464 pages, 16.5 by 24 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-387-13331-3. S20.

Lotus 1-2-3 Simplified, David Bolocan. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books. 1984: 192 pages. 18.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-8306-1748-X. $10.2 5.

Microcomputing in Sport and Physical Education, David A. Brodie and )ohn |. Thornhill. New York: Sterling Publishing Co.. 1983: 160 pages. 19.8 by 2 5.3 cm. hardcover, ISBN 086019-106-0. SI6.95.

Microprocessors: Hardware and Applications. Andrew Veronis. Reston, VA: Reston Publishing. 1984: 944 pages. 18.5 by 24.3 cm. hardcover. ISBN 0-8359-4382-8. $34.95.

Micros. Minis and Mainframes. D. Michael Werner and Thomas W. Warmer. Radnor. PA. Chilton Book Co.. 1984: 420 pages, 18.5 by 22.8 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-8019-7303-1. $19.95.

Mr. Babbace's Secret, Ole Immanuel Franksen. Birkerod. Denmark: Strandbergs Forlag. 1984: 320 pages. 17.8 by 22 cm. hardcover. ISBN 87-872-0086-4. $30.

Modern Intellectual Property. Michael A. Epstein. Clinton. N|: Harcourt Brace lovanovich, 1984: 650 pages, 19 by 25.3 cm. 5-punch binder. ISBN 0-15-004367-8. S75.

101 Programming Surprises & Tricks for Your Apple II/IIe Computer. David L. Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books, 1984: 208 pages. 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-83061721-3. $11.50.

101 Programming Surprises & Tricks for Your Atari Computer. David L. Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books. 1984: 208 pages. 18.5 by 23.5

cm. softcover. ISBN 0-83061731-0. $11.50.

101 Programming Surprises & Tricks for Your IBM PC Computer, David L. Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books. 1984: 208 pages. 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-83061711-6. $11.50.

101 Programming Surprises & Tricks for Your TRS-80 Computer. David L. Heiserman. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: Tab Books. 1984: 208 pages. 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-83061741-8, $11.50.

Online Guide for the Commodore Computers. Mike Cane. New York: New American Library, 1984: 400 pages. 15.3 by 22.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0451-82084-3. $9.95.

The Osborne/McGraw-Hill MSDOS User's Guide. Paul Hoffman and Tamara Nicoloff. Berkeley. CA: Osborne/McGrawHill. 1984: 218 pages. 18.8 by 2 3.3 cm, softcover. ISBN 088134-131-2. $1795.

PC Graphics. Dick Conklin. New York: lohn Wiley & Sons, 1983: 192 pages, 17 by 2 5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-471-89207-6. $15.95.

Perfect Writer Made Perfectly Clear. Elyse Sommer. Radnor. PA: Chilton Book Co.. 1984: 190 pages. 18.5 by 22.8 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-8019-7427-5, $12,95.

Personal Computers for the Successful Small Business, Donald Hockney. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.. 1984: 208 pages. 16.3 by 24 cm. hardcover. ISBN 0-02-551870-4. $19.95.

Personal Money Management with Your Micro. Wendy L. Milner. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Tab Books, 1984: 240 pages, 18,5 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-8306-1709-4. $13.50.

Pocket Computing Power!. Henry Mullish and Richard Kestenbaum. New York: Harper & Row, 1984: 192 pages, 15,5 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-06044659-5. $12.95.

[continued)

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Inquiry 348

JANUARY 1985 'BYTE 437

Could you pass

this Red Cross

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SWIM:

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A Public Service of This Magazine & The Advertising Council wv*.

BOOKS RECEIVED

The Power Of: Appleworks. Robert E. Williams. Portland. OR: Management Information Source. 1984: 2 38 pages, 21 by 27.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0943518-16-4. $19.95.

Programming the IBM PC & XT. Clarence B. Germain. Bowie, MD: Robert I. Brady Co.. 1984: 346 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-89303-783-4, $19.95.

THE Reston Directory of Online Databases. lay M. Shafritz and Louise Alexander. Reston. VA: Reston Publishing. 1984: 2 54 pages, 21.5 by 28 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-83 59-6666-6. S17.95.

Selecting the Right Data Base Software for the IBM PC, Kathleen McHugh and Veronica Corchado. Berkeley. CA: Sybex. 1984: 128 pages. 15.3 by 22.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-89588174-8. $6.95.

Selecting the Right Spreadsheet Software for the IBM PC. Kathleen McHugh and Veronica Corchado. Berkeley. CA: Sybex. 1984: 142 pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-89588-178-0. $6.95.

Selecting the Right Word Processing Software for the IBM PC. Kathleen McHugh and Veronica Corchado. Berkeley. CA: Sybex, 1984: 114 pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-89588-177-2. $6.95.

Shapes and Sounds for the Atari. Herb Moore. New York:

lohn Wiley & Sons, 1984: 132 pages, 13.8 by 21.5 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-471-88547-9. $45. Includes two floppy disks.

Simplified BASIC Programming for Microcomputers, Gerald A. Silver and Myrna Silver. New York: Harper & Row, 1984: 320 pages, 18.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-06-046162-4, $15.95.

Small Business Programs for the Commodore 64. S. Roberts. Holzkirchen. West Germany: Ing. W. Hofacker GmbH, 1984; 136 pages. 13 by 21 cm. softcover. ISBN 3-88963-186-X. $9.95.

Small Business Programs for the IBM PC. F. Ende. Holzkirchen. West Germany: Ing. W. Hofacker GmbH. 1984; 120 pages, 13 by 21 cm. softcover. ISBN 3-88963-052-9, $12.95.

Smart BASIC for the Adam. Bill Searle and Donna lones. Bowie, MD: Robert 1. Brady Co.. 1984: 384 pages, 17.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN 0-89303846-6. $11.95.

The Software Catalog. Spring 1984 ed. New York: Elsevier Science Publishing Co.. 1984; 1412 pages. 21.3 by 27.8 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-444-00914-0. $75.

The State-of-the-Art Robot Catalog, Phil Berger. New York: Dodd. Mead & Co.. 1984; 160 pages. 19 by 23.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-396-08361-7. $12.95.

TRS-80 Models III & 4. Larry Joel Goldstein. Bowie, MD: Brady Communications Co.. 1984: 320 pages. 17.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover. ISBN 0-89303903-9. $15.95.

UNIX on the IBM PC. William B. Twitty. Englewood Cliffs. Nl. Prentice-Hall, 1984: 224 pages, 15 by 22.3 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-13-939075-8. $14.95.

The UNIX System Encyclopedia. Los Altos, CA: Yates Ventures, 1984; 448 pages, 21.3 by 27.3 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-917195-00-0, $34,95.

Using & Programming the Macintosh. Frederick Holtz. Blue Ridge Summit. PA: tab Books. 1984: 254 pages. 18.5 by 23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-8306-1840-6. $12.50.

Using Microsoft Compiled BASIC, Murray L. Lesser. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985; 288 pages. 15 by 22.8 cm. softcover. ISBN 0-07-037302-7. $16.95.

Using the IBM PCir. Kenniston W. Lord Jr. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984; 384 pages. 15.3 by 22.8 cm. softcover, ISBN 0-442-2 5964-6, $16.50. ■

438 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 49

a message to our subscribers

From time to time we make the BYTE subscriber list available to other companies who wish to send our subscribers material about their products. We take great care to screen these companies, choosing only those who are reputable, and whose products, services, or information we feel would be of interest to you. Direct mail is an efficient medium for presenting the latest personal computer goods and services to our subscribers.

Many BYTE subscribers appreciate this controlled use of our mailing list, and look forward to finding information of interest to them in the mail. Used are our subscribers' names and addresses only (no other information we may have is ever given).

While we believe the distribution of this information is of benefit to our subscribers, we firmly respect the wishes of any subscriber who does not want to receive such promotional literature. Should you wish to restrict the use of your name, simply send your request to the following address.

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IANUARY I985

I Y T E 439

WHAT'S NEW

EW SYSTEMS

Sanyo Introduces MBC 775

Sanyo's MBC 775 is an IBM PC-compatible portable color computer. It features the 8088 processor and provides for the 8087 chip. Its 2 56K-byte RAM is expandable to 640K bytes. Also standard are two 5/4-inch 360K-byte floppydisk drives and a built-in 9-inch color monitor.

The MBC 775's detachable keyboard has 84 keys, including a numeric keypad and special-function keys. Two expansion slots will accept IBM PC-compatible add-on boards, and a Centronics parallel port lets the operator connect the color computer to most printers.

The Sanyo's screen accommodates 80 by 2 5 characters in regular mode and 40 by 2 5 characters in double-sized mode. The machine has 16-color

graphics capabilities with 640- by 200-pixel resolution in color mode. In black-andwhite mode, resolution is 320 by 200 pixels. Bundled software for the

MBC 775 includes EasyWriter 2, EasyMailer, EasyPlanner, and EasyFiler. Its operating system is MSDOS 2.11. and it also features GW-BASIC

Among several available options are an RS-232C serial board, an expansion RAM board, a Sanyo monochrome monitor CRT 30/CRT 36, the Sanyo color monitor CRT 70. and the Sanyo PR 5000 and PR 5500 letterquality printers.

The MBC 775 retails for $2 599. Contact Sanyo Business Systems Corp., 51 Joseph St.. POB 387, Moonachie, N| 07074-1098. (201) 440-9300. Inquiry 513.

Ergo-Intelligent Personal Computers

Ericsson Information Systems has introduced a series of IBM PCcompatible personal computers that offers ergonomic features. For example, the operator can mount the system console vertically beneath a desk, and a special cooling fan reduces the noise level.

The Ergo-Intelligent series comes with a 12-inch monochrome or color Ergo-Screen monitor. The non-glare monochrome display has amber characters and 640by 400-pixel resolution. The color monitor has a maximum resolution of 320 by 200. The monitors can display text and graphics simultaneously: they use a modified typeface to improve clarity. An Ergo-Arm display stand lets you control the monitor's height and angle.

The Ergo-Touch keyboard uses 84 enlarged alphanumeric keys in the IBM PC XT layout. It has 10 function keys and indicator lights for

the Num Lock and Caps Lock keys. The numeric keypad has its own Enter key.

The Ergo-Intelligent computer uses the 8088 processor, has 2 56K bytes of RAM, and provides for use of the 8087 math coprocessor. It features two 360K-byte floppy-disk drives or one floppy drive and a 10-megabyte hard-disk drive. Other hardware features

include five IBM buscompatible expansion slots, one RS-232C serial port, and one Centronics parallel port.

Prices depend on configuration. The basic model, designated the 85I2-2 54S. comes with a dual disk drive. 2 56K bytes of RAM, monochrome monitor, graphics board, Ergo-Arm, floor stand, extended cable, keyboard,

and DOS. It costs $3295; with a color monitor it's $3769. A system with a single floppy-disk drive and a 10-megabyte hard-disk drive sells for $5230; that system with a color monitor is $5695. Contact Ericsson Information Systems. Greenwich Office Park I, POB 2 522, Greenwich, CT 068362522, (203) 661-1666. Inquiry 514.

Multiuser UNIX Workstation

Heurikon Corporation has introduced the Minibox, a multiuser UNIX System III or V workstation that uses the 68000/68010 processor. It features a builtin C compiler, six Multibus card slots, single or dual 514-inch floppy-disk drives. 30- to 280-megabyte Winchester hard-disk storage, and an interactive streaming-tape drive.

The Minibox is based on the Heurikon HK68 microcomputer, providing 8- or

10-MHz processor performance, quad-channel DMA. 64K bytes of EPROM. 5I2K bytes to 1 megabyte of RAM. two iSBX expansion connectors, MMU (addresses 16 megabytes of RAM], four serial I/O ports (expandable to 12), three 16-bit counter timers, and two parallel I/O ports.

Two forward drive bays hold one or two 5'/4-inch floppy-disk drives or a 5'!4-inch floppy drive and an interactive streaming-tape

drive. Two rear drive bays hold one or two 514-inch Winchester hard-disk drives. Prices vary depending on configuration. A standard system with 512K bytes of RAM on a single card and a 30-megabyte hard-disk drive sells for $14,675; the same system with a 65-megabyte hard-disk drive is $15,37 5. Contact Heurikon Corp., 3201 Latham Dr., Madison. Wl 53713. (800) 356-9602; in Wisconsin, (608) 271-8700. Inquiry 515.

440 BYTE- JANUARY 1985

WHAT'S NEW

E W S Y S T E

The S-100+ Outboard Bus

S-I00+ from IMS International combines a high-speed, outboard, networking bus with the standard S-100 bus. The bidirectional outboard bus lets data transfer occur on a priority basis using bytewide high-speed transfer components.

S-100+ eliminates bus contention problems. Simultaneous data transfer can be made from the master processor to the storage device and to the network slaves. A two-wire

cable, daisy-chained from the master to the slaves, allows equal access to the bus through priority interrupts.

This design uses the following new circuit boards: a 16-bit 80186 8-MHz master board with one or two 512K-byte RAM boards. 80186 slave boards with 256K bytes of on-board RAM. and 8-bit Z80B 6-MHz master/slave boards with I28K bytes of on-board bank-switchable RAM.

The operating system for

the S-100 + , TurboDOS I.40 + . contains a PC-DOS/ MS-DOS 1.1 emulator and allows a DMA transfer of data at up to 1 megabyte per second. All S-I00 + boards are designed for both asynchronous and synchronous communications, and 3270 and 3780 communications software has been integrated into all models.

A basic S-100+ system, the 5000SX. has the potential for up to nine users and features

TurboDOS. a Z80B file server, two serial ports, a paddleboard. a DMA floppydisk drive controller, 128K bytes of RAM, four MPU 8-bit boards, one quaddensity floppy-disk drive, and a 20-megabyte Winchester hard-disk drive. The 5000SX sells for S8195. For further information, contact IMS International, Division of L/F Technologies, 2800 Lockheed Way. Carson City, NV 89701, (702) 883-7611. Inquiry 516.

PERIPHERALS

Doctoring Disk Drives

The Model 803 Alignment Scope uses liquid-crystal graphicsdisplay technology to combine the features of an oscilloscope with a digital readout. It presents diskdrive alignment information on a solid-state display.

A wall-mount transformer powers the Model 803. which uses an 8085 microprocessor. The device works with all sizes of floppy disks and is self-calibrating.

The Model 803 has only six push buttons. It measures and displays all parameters necessary for alignment of a floppy-disk drive, including index pulse parameters, radial alignment (cat's-eye pattern), azimuth bursts, track average amplitude, index to burst time, and track 0 adjustment. The scope presents all measurements both pictorially and digitally.

The Model 803 Alignment Scope is SI 195. For more information, contact Ava Instrumentation Inc.. 8010 Highway 9. Ben Lomond. CA 95005. (408) 336-2281. Inquiry 517.

IBM PC AT Disk Drives for the PC and XT

A hardware and software package puts 1.2-megabyte IBM PC AT-compatible disk drives in the IBM PC and XT. The AT-compatible disks cut down on storage problems, eliminate disk swapping and disk-full errors, and let you back up a hard disk to only a few floppy disks.

The AT disk-drive package includes a Teac 1.2-megabyte half-height drive; a

Teac 360K-byte half-height drive; a disk controller that supports up to four drives; a mounting bracket: and software to format, read, and write to 1.2-megabyte drives.

The basic two-drive package sells for $499. Contact Tall Tree Systems, Suite 124, 1032 Elwell Court, Palo Alto, CA 94303. (415) 964-1980. Inquiry 518.

Power Strip Series

The Voltector Series 10 conditioned power strip protects computer equipment from power surges and high-frequency AC-line noise. Each receptacle is RFisolated from the others and from the power line.

This power strip eliminates the need to plug pieces of equipment into separate outlets or to install a separate circuit for your computer. The unit is a solid-state, multistage, bidirectional, cooperative transient-voltage suppressor and high-frequency EMI/RF1 noise filter. All models are circuit-breaker protected. They include a pilot light, master on/off switch, and 6-foot, heavy-duty, threeconductor line cord. They are rated 15 amps. 12 5 volts. 60 Hz. and 1875 watts continuous duty.

Four-outlet models cost $146.40, six-outlet models are $152.90, and eight-outlet models are $159.40. Contact Pilgrim Electric Co.. 29 Cain Dr.. Plainview. NY 11803. (516) 420-8989. Inquiry 519.

[continued)

IANUARY 1985

IYTE 441

WHAT'S NEW

PERIPHERALS

Penman Robot Plotter

Penman is several peripherals in one: a three-color plotter, a highresolution printer, a desktop turtle, a precision robot with collision detection, and a mouse. Penman connects to computers with an RS-232C interface. It has no controls: it automatically adjusts to its host computer.

The unit comprises two parts linked by a ribbon cable: the control box containing the electronics and a 5-inch-square robot that moves around on paper to produce graphics. Three built-in pen holders let the operator change pen color or thickness at any time, even in mid-line. Penman

can draw perfect circles or straight lines in any direction.

To use Penman, you place any size of paper on a flat, horizontal surface. When the robot is set on the paper, it uses optical sensors to find the bottom left corner, which it uses as a point of reference. The robot also senses when the cable is twisted around it and automatically rotates to free itself.

The Penman robot moves at speeds up to 50 mm per second and achieves its accuracy by servo control of the drive motors. An 8-bit single-chip microcomputer performs the necessary calculations 1500 times per second to ensure precision.

Penman costs $395. Contact American Micro Products Inc., 705 North Bowser, Richardson, TX 75081, (214) 238-1815. Inquiry 520.

High-Speed Daisy Wheel

Primages' daisy-wheel printing system comprises the Primage 90 bidirectional printer and a choice of Pagemate sheetfeeder options. The Primage 90 performs at 90 cps and prints proportional, 10, 12, and 15 pitch. It also offers horizontal spacing in increments of M20 of an inch and vertical spacing at %6 of an inch.

The Primage 90's design innovations incorporate 10 patents for stepper-motor controller technology, use of a Teflon-coated lead screw to carry the daisy wheel, and sheet feeders with short, straight paper paths to avoid skewing.

Other featured technology includes "print in flight" (the printer does not have to

start and stop the print head for each letter), a refined hammer assembly, and enhanced electronics. The results are increased speed, reduced wear, improved registration, and less noise than previous printers.

The Pagemate sheet feeders come in one-, twoor three-bin models. Paper bins hold 150 to 200 sheets of 8'/2- by 11-inch paper loaded horizontally or vertically: another bin holds 30 envelopes. The sheet feeders are motor-driven (not friction-driven), with one motor to choose sheet A or B and a second motor to drive the envelope and eject the paper.

The Primage 90 printer is also available with a snap-on

tractor feeder, and the operator can install or remove both the sheet feeder and the tractor feeder in seconds to permit printing on computer forms as well as on individual sheets.

The Primage printing system features RS-232C and Centronics interfaces. The Primage 90 printer with the Pagemate 1 single-sheet feeder sells for $1895: with the Pagemate II two-sheet feeder it costs $2095: and with the Pagemate III twosheet plus envelope feeder the price of the printer is $2295.

For further information, contact Primages Inc., 620 lohnson Ave.. Bohemia, NY 11716. (516) 567-8200. Inquiry 521.

Letter Quality with Dot-Matrix Versatility

Micro Peripherals' SX printer is a low-cost, letter-quality dot-matrix printer. It prints at 300 cps in draft mode. 71 cps in near letter-quality mode, and 52 cps in letter-quality mode. This printer also provides correspondencequality documents.

The SX uses a 23- by 18-dot matrix to produce letter-quality print. In that mode, the printer can generate fonts with dot elements that overlap horizontally, vertically, and diagonally within the matrix.

In its IBM PC-compatible mode, it responds to IBM PC command sequences and prints the expanded character set. You use the Softswitch Keypad to switch from IBM to MPI operating mode and back. The SideWinder mode prints wide-column spreadsheets lengthwise on the paper. The SX prints the data at 12 cpi using a special font for sideways printing. (This feature requires MPI's 64 Kbyte buffer.) In Repeat mode, the printer receives the entire document and prints it up to 99 times.

The 18-key Softswitch Keypad lets you change the printer parameters without using software commands or changing DIP-switch settings. Accessible features include character densities, margins, form length, print quality, and modes.

The SX has 8 standard fonts and can access StyleWriter, a library of more than 40 additional fonts. A travel cover ($501 converts the SX to a portable printer. The SX is $795. Contact Micro Peripherals Inc.. 4426 South Century Dr., Salt Lake City, UT 84123, (800) 8218848: in Utah, (801)263-3081. Inquiry 522.

442 BYTE- IANUARY 1985

WHAT'S NEW

IBM PC Preview!

A monochrome display adapter for the IBM PC. PC XT. and PC AT is now available from AST Research. Preview! offers bitmapped graphics compatible with popular business software packages.

The board occupies a single full chassis slot and has an IBM PC-compatible parallel-printer port. Preview! includes AST's SuperDrive RAM-disk simulator and SuperSpool print-spooler utilities to speed graphics file manipulation and graphics image printing.

AST has priced the Preview! board at $399. Contact AST Research Inc.,

2121 Alton Ave.. Irvine. CA 92714, (714) 863-1333. Inquiry 523.

Expanding the IBM PC AT

STB Systems recently released a memoryexpansion board, Grande Byte, and a multifunction board, Rio Grande, for the IBM PC AT. Each l28K-byte board occupies one expansion slot.

Grande Byte gives AT users the additional memory necessary for multitasking programs or multiuser systems. The board provides extra memory for RAM disks and for handling large amounts of data. Paritychecked memory from 128K bytes to 2 megabytes is

user-expandable with 64Kor 2 56K-byte memory chips. The board features split memory addressing that fills the AT's system memory to 640K bytes and continues memory expansion at 1 megabyte.

Rio Grande includes I/O expansion as well as memory expansion. Memory is user-expandable from 128K bytes to 1.5 megabytes with 64K- or 2 56K-byte chips. This board also uses split memory addressing. Rio Grande offers two IBMcompatible serial ports (one

standard and one optional) for attaching a modem, serial printer, plotter, mouse, or other asynchronous communication devices. Its parallel port is a standard feature for connecting printers to the AT. An optional game port provides for graphics and recreation.

The Grande Byte is available for $395, and the Rio Grande sells for $495. Contact STB Systems Inc., Suite 12 5, 601 North Glenville. Richardson. TX 75081. (214) 234-8750. Inquiry 524.

Electrohome Introduces NAPLPS Decoder

A peripheral card for onboard decoding of NAPLPS information is available from Electrohome Electronics. The IBM PCcompatible Quickpel is a single-board decoder with multitasking capabilities including telesoftware.

Quickpel conforms to the Service Reference Model (SRM) in its use of macros, a dynamically redefinable character set, full color mapping, logical pel. and unpro

tected fields. Features that exceed SRM requirements include complete text scaling, splines, automatic clipping on screen boundaries, 6K-byte dynamic memory that can be shared between macros, textures, and object memory management.

Display resolution is 2 56 by 200 pixels and the status line is 2 56 by 10 pixels. Quickpel provides a choice of 16 simultaneous colors

from its 512-color palette. The board plugs into a single IBM PC slot and drives a color monitor directly or a standard TV through an optional RF modulator.

The manufacturer expects Quickpel to sell for approximately $750. Contact Electrohome Electronics Ltd.. 809 Wellington St. N, Kitchener, Ontario N2G 4)6. Canada, (519) 744-7111. Inquiry 525.

68000 Support for the IBM PC XT or AT

Language Resources offers an upgrade product. PC-68K. that supports 68000 family software development on the IBM PC XT or AT. The PC-68K comprises an IBM PC-compatible plug-in board, software on disks, and documentation.

The board, which acts as a 68000 execution vehicle, contains a 68000 processor, 2 56K bytes of high-speed RAM. and a memory-management subsystem. The disks contain the development tools: a 68000 macro assembler, a linker and locator, and a symbolic debugger. The symbolic debugger is for assemblylanguage and high-level language modules.

Optional Pascal and C compilers provide separate translation of C Pascal, and MASM (meta assembler) modules. A host communication utility transfers binary and text files between the PC XT or AT equipped with PC-68K and an IBM VMCMS, DEC or VAX/VMS system running Language Resources' XDS-68 crosssoftware. Then you can download programs developed on the large system to the XT. With the emulator communication utility, you can connect several 68000 emulators to a PC XT or AT for integration.

The standard PC-68K system costs $2995. The high-level language compilers are $895 each. The host and emulator communication utilities cost $495 each. Contact Language Resources Inc., 4885 Riverbend Rd.. Boulder, CO 80301, (303) 449-8087. Inquiry 526.

(continued)

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 443

WHAT'S NEW

IOFTWARE • APPLE

A-One, A-Two

Anyone with a basic knowledge of music notation can use the Musical Music Partwriting System (MPS) to create, edit, transpose, store, and print fullsize sheet music This program, which runs on an Apple 11+ or lie with two disk drives, a monitor, and a Super Serial Card, is designed to eliminate the tedious task of copying and transposing parts by hand. You don't have to learn any special commands or programming languages nor do you have to be able to play an instrument. MPS can create sheet music in any key or time signature, with proper beaming of notes, ties, triplets, and rests.

The Music Screenwriter, the system's intelligent editor, lets you input and

delete music in the same way you input and delete characters with a word processor. The program monitors your typing and corrects any obvious errors. If you like, the computer will sound the notes as you type them. Any music you write

can be stored on the program disk; later, you can print it out in original form or transpose it to a different key. An average sheet of music takes about 10 minutes to print; the system uses Houston Instrument's DMP-29, DMP-40, or PC

digital plotters.

The price of SI495 gets you the software, key caps. plotter cable, and the $695 PC 695 plotter. Contact Newgo Inc., POB 430. Stephens City. VA 2265 5. (703) 869-1600. Inquiry 527.

Relational Database Manager

MacLion is a relational database-management system for the Macintosh. Because MacLion is a true relational system, there is no limit to the number, range, or variety of data that may appear on the screen. Many relations can be combined to suit the user's need.

The program facilitates the handling of files and relations with two features: a

report writer and a screen generator. The user can define a report or screen by clicking fields into position with the Mac's mouse, thus getting a preview of the screen or report. The screen generator has multifile capabilities for both inputting data into and drawing data from the database.

Features implementing the Mac's desktop metaphor

have been incorporated in the language of MacLion. Applications developed under MacLion can use the Mac's mouse, pull-down menus, dialogue boxes, and programmable buttons.

MacLion costs $379. Contact Computer Software Design, 1911 Wright Circle. Anaheim, CA 92806, (714) 634-9012. Inquiry 528.

Integrated Mac Pack

TimeBase, a business tool for the Macintosh, makes use of an overlapping windowed environment to provide five applications on a single disk: time management, information management, centralization, forms and letters, and a feature called TMP (tracking, maintaining, and planning). Virtually all commands and

functions are generated with the mouse; the only time you need the keyboard is for data entry.

For those situations not requiring a stand-alone database, the program provides a fixed-field, limited database known as the File Cabinet, capable of storing up to 100 records. The File Cabinet has complete search

and print capabilities.

Business forms and letters created with the package can be transferred to MacPaint for editing and customizing. TMP, the heart of this interactive system, lets you track multiple schedules, information flow, accounts payable and receivable, and equipment maintenance. The program can

also handle records, billing cycles, and timely mailings. TimeBase is available for both the 128K- and the 512K-byte Macintosh and will run on the Lisa under MacWorks. The suggested retail price is $149.95. Contact SoftDesign, POB 161377. Miami, FL 33116, (305) 253-5521. Inquiry 529.

Business Software for lie, He

The Business Accountant is a double-entry business accounting system that includes programs for general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, inventory, and payroll. These programs can be used together or separately and are designed for small and medium-sized businesses. General Ledger lets you define the way a chart of ac

counts is set up and the manner by which data should be consolidated. Out-of-balance journal entries are not permitted. Accounts Payable can produce checks automatically; Accounts Receivable lets you review a customer's credit status at any time. Inventory Control tracks all inventory parts and produces reports for order recommendations.

The Business Accountant's Payroll system handles hourly, salaried, and commissioned employees on a weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly basis. The system also produces W-2 and W-3 forms and 940 and 941 reports and can handle up to 14 types of deductions. The System Manager is necessary to integrate any of the modules

and includes a mailing-label system that can access the other modules for names and addresses.

The System Manager is $95. The Payroll package costs $34 5. The other modules are $295 each. Contact Manzanita Software Systems, Suite 200-A, One Sierra Gate Plaza, Roseville, CA 95678, (916) 781-3880. Inquiry 530.

444 BYTE- IANUARY

WHAT'S NEW

FTWARE • IBM P

Database with Analysis

Designed to aid managers, researchers, and planners in the collection and interpretation of data, Reflex is a database software package that combines information management with analysis features. Information can be grouped and summarized in ways that reveal interrelationships, trends, and deviations.

Data can be organized in lists and tables, selectively

extracted and displayed in

charts and graphs, and summarized or combined using built-in financial, statistical, and mathematical functions. You can shift quickly between formats, or "views," and move from a detailed look at a particular record to a summation of information from many records.

Reflex has pull-down menus, screen windows, and help screens that can be accessed with one keystroke. It

can hold up to 64,000 records on disk and more than 7000 records in its working database. Because the entire program and the data being worked on are stored in RAM, the system does not have to continually load and reload portions of the program from disk.

Reflex can accept information from several popular business packages, including dBASE II, Lotus 1-2-3, and D1F, as well as ASCII text

files downloaded from mainframes and minicomputers or transferred from other microcomputers.

The package runs on the IBM PC and compatibles and requires 384K bytes of RAM and graphics capability. The suggested retail price is $495. For more information, contact Analytica Corp.. 3155 Kearney St., Fremont. CA 94538, (415) 490-3643. Inquiry 531.

APL Programming Package

UNIX-Compatible Tool Kit

Pocket APL, an APL programming package for the IBM PC, PCjr, and compatibles, is designed to save development time by enabling users to execute multiple tasks in a single line. According to the vendor, the product lets you develop applications 4 to 10 times faster than with languages like BASIC or FORTRAN.

Features include full-screen capabilities, an on-line help facility, English-like keywords, report formatting, and error trapping. Additionally, Pocket APL can serve as an on-line calculator for number crunching and analysis. The package also provides an APL soft

character set for computers with a graphics board or color monitor; for machines with monochrome monitors there's a set of keywords.

STSC's Pocket APL has many of the capabilities of the company's APL*Plus. Purchasers of Pocket APL can upgrade to APL*Plus.

The program, which comes on one disk, operates with a minimum of 128K bytes of memory and either PC-DOS or MS-DOS. The system includes a textbook, reference guide, and keyword reference card. Contact STSC Inc., 2115 East lefferson St.. Rockville, MD 20852. (800) 592-0050; in Maryland, (301) 984-5123. Inquiry 532.

Lantech Systems has released a software developer's tool kit that's designed to enable an IBM PC to be used as a workstation in mainframe, minicomputer, and microcomputer environments. Retailing for $399, the Tool Kit contains a terminal emulator, windowing capability, and a choice of text editors (the Bell Editor, vi Editor, ed Editor, or an EMACS-like editor called Epsilon).

The Tool Kit also includes uNETix, a UNIX-compatible multitasking operating system developed by Lantech.

Developers can use the editor to write applications off line from the larger sys

tem, which frees up processor cycles. Once the code has been generated, it can either be uploaded to the larger computer for compilation or it can be compiled on the PC.

The Tool Kit can be operated in stand-alone mode or in conjunction with a host system.

The Lattice C-Compiler is offered as an option. With the compiler, the user can develop applications in a local mode, which eliminates the need for a UNIX host machine.

For more information, contact Lantech Systems Inc.. 963 5 Wendell Rd„ Dallas, TX 75243, (214) 340-4932. Inquiry 533.

Text-Composition System

ScenicWriter/HP is a textcomposition system that enables the IBM PC and PC XT to operate with HewlettPackard's LaserJet printer. ScenicWriter uses all of the laser printer's font cartridges, built-in fonts, and symbols. Graphics such as frames, screens, and simulated cursors can be placed anywhere on a page. Output from the printer is

said to be camera-ready for publication.

With ScenicWriter, you can number chapter headings, sections, footnotes, and illustrations in order as each document is printed. The full-screen editor features nested editing, global search and replace, block copying, and a macro system. Any sequence of formatting commands can be collected into

a macro command.

ScenicWriter sets text on the page in single- or multiple-column format. Dimensions can be specified to fit a page design. The package includes a 40,000-word spelling checker that accepts unlimited additions.

ScenicWriter is also available for PC-compatibles, Stride Micro computers, and versions are slated for the Tl

Professional and the DEC LSI/PDP series. The program is also available for other laser printers, phototypesetters, and daisy-wheel printers. The Laserlet version costs $995. Contact Scenic Computer Systems Corp., 14852 Northeast 31st Circle, Redmond, WA 98052, (206) 885-5500. Inquiry 534.

[continued)

IANUARY 1985

1YTE 445

WHAT'S NEW

. >■>!■■•■: [-;::[-:.m"'-

SOFTWARE • CP/M/MS DOS

Files Protected

Once a file is protected by For Your Eyes Only, Grebar claims, no one will be able to access it without the correct password. The program protects files created by any software running under MS-DOS. including dBASE II and dBASE 111, VisiCalc, WordStar. Framework, RBase, and Lotus 1-2-3 files.

Grebar's data-encryption algorithm alters every byte

of a file; the company says no utility can bypass this security measure. The algorithm employs a 560-bit encrypting code. According to Grebar, it would take a thousand Cray-1 supercomputers more than 4 billion years to generate all possible code combinations.

For Your Eyes Only can protect files on floppy or hard disks. You can reencrypt a file up to 99 times

with one run of the program and protect more than 100 files with the same password in a single operation.

Protected files are automatically hidden and do not appear in a normal directory listing. Only you know where they are stored.

You must enter an access code before an encrypted program will run. and illegal attempts to use the program or break into a file are

recorded in a log that's accessible only to authorized users.

Minimum requirements are an IBM PC or Compaq with 192K bytes of RAM. one single-sided disk drive, and DOS 2.0 or later. For Your Eyes Only costs SI 50 (U.S.I. For more information, contact Grebar, 2926-266 Graham Ave,, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4B5. Canada. Inquiry 535.

FORTH Interpreter

A FORTH interpreter optimized for MS-DOS and IBM PC machines, HS/ FORTH includes utility files to read, write, and load standard MS-DOS files, standard screens, and screens mapped onto random-access files. Other utilities are segment management, graphics, string functions, a program editor, and 8087 floatingpoint arithmetic.

The assembler, which implements the complete 8088/8086 instruction set, can create new code primitives or complete standalone program files.

Users unfamiliar with assembly language can take advantage of an Auto-Opt utility to generate optimized machine code from FORTH source code. The assembler also supports 8087 and 80186 microprocessors.

According to the company, HS/FORTH can run the Sieve of Eratosthenes benchmark in 47 seconds. With AutoOpt, the benchmark reportedly takes 9 seconds.

HS/FORTH requires 64K bytes, one disk drive, and PC-DOS or MS-DOS. The price is $2 50. Contact Harvard Softworks, POB 2579, Springfield, OH 45501, (513) 390-2087. Inquiry 536.

Disk Recovers Lost Data

A set of disk media utilities, U.T. Disk can restore deleted files on floppy disks and internal and external hard-disk subsystems. The product supports 64 DOS volumes. Clusters of an erased file assigned to another file can be restored unless the user has physically written over every byte of

the original data.

In addition to restoring lost data. U.T. Disk provides diagnostic checking, sector editing, raw sector data searching, and file and subdirectory editing. Its Custom Volume Configuration feature lets a programmer change certain fixed attributes of a DOS volume,

MS-DOS Information Management

With RMI Profiler, an information-management system, you can "draw" input formats and report structures on the screen using standard keyboard entries. RMI Profiler accepts up to 80 fields and 2000 characters per record.

It requires at least 128K bytes of memory. The price is $795 (Canadian). Contact Reality Microsystems Inc.. Suite 203. 103 Lakeshore Rd., St. Catharines, Ontario L2N 2T6, Canada, (416) 935-3032, Inquiry 538.

WHERE DO NEW PRODUCT ITEMS COME FROM? The new products listed in this section of BYTE are culled from the thousands of press releases, letters, and telephone calls we receive each month from manufacturers, distributors, designers, and readers. The basic criteria for selection for publication are: (a) does a product match our readers' interests? and (b) is it new or is it simply a reintroduction of an old item? Because of the volume of submissions we must sort through every month, the items we publish are based on vendors' statements and are not individually verified. If you want your product to be considered for publication (at no charge), send full information about it, including its price and an address and telephone number where a reader can get further information, to New Products Editor, BYTE, POB 372, Hancock, NH 03449.

including the number of root entries or reserved sectors.

U.T. Disk is written in C and is menu-driven. It sells for $99. Contact Great Lakes Computer Peripherals Inc.. Suite 24 5. 2200 West Higgins Rd.. Hoffman Estates. IL 60195, (312) 884-7272. Inquiry 537.

Free-Form Retrieval

You can retrieve all sentences or paragraphs relating to a specific topic, no matter how many files the topic is in. with a program called Electra-Find. The package, which runs on CP/M computers, is designed for writers, researchers, and anyone who uses a word processor to save information in text format.

After you've retrieved material, it's saved in a new file along with the name of the file the text was taken from. According to the developer, nearly any type of file can be searched, including database, word-processing, and binary files.

Electra-Find costs $50. Contact O'Neill Software. POB 26111. San Francisco. CA 94126, (415) 398-2255. Inquiry 539.

446 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

■jkVfticro ^nproducts

*

?j&#

' ^ d- ^

New year Specials

New Hayes SmartModem Compatible!

Finally a price breakthrough on a Hayes compatible, external 300/1200 • Runs the popular Hayes baud modem. This low price is without '"\M communications software

'driver software, but if you need it add $25.00 ---£■* .ji--"'"^- ^' Wf * F(^ aPProveci 'or direcl ^J"11 connection7

Call for a 26 page catalog of our special deals, mm Hbtt^ • Manual & power supply included for this

Look in this spot every month for Hoi, New items ■ one low price.

sure to catch your interest. ^^m^m^m MOD-8100-00 $229.00

tfffiXfi

d"_^r^^oPyrKEY-1051-00Select]ic $129.00

IBM PC-XT SELECTRIC KEYBOARDS

volume purchase of these excellent Selectric type keyboards will bring the features you have been wanting down to a price you can't resist. So many features you'll love it!! • Single key reset

• Separate numeric keypad j ,.,,,, ,..,.,... Itl ,.,

• Separate "Arrow" keypad Dimple marked "5", F, & J keys

KEY-1050-00 Standard .

89.00*

IBM STYLE MOTHERBOARDS

Two IBM-style Motherboards to choose from, 5-slot and 8-slot. Both expandable to 256K. 5-slot has two serial slots and one parallel.

BOA-6000-00 5-Slot

$395.00

BOA-6058-00 8-Slot .

S395.00

ADD-ON POWER SUPPLY

Power Supply with Fan and Power

Filter. Uses 140 watts, runs Hard

DiskS Tape Back-Up.

IBM Replacement type for Hard Disk.

New High Velocity Fan!

New Low Price!

POW-1040-00 $129.00

POWER BACK-UP

Protect your Data with Datashield9 in case of a Power failure. Datashield® is a battery operated, self-contained Power Generator which instantly supplies even uninterrupted AC Power to a Microprocessor In the event of a Power Drop or Outage. In addition provides Surge Protection, which filters and eliminates voltage spikes (surges) above 140 VAC,

PC-200 200 watts POW-2000-00 $329.00

PC-300 300 watts POW-2050-00 $495,00

Do it Yourself!

We think of this System as a "Do it Yourself" System. Start by choosing 5 or S Slots. Some of the standard Features: • 64K RAM expandable to256K • 4 DMA Channels • Runs MS-DOS™ and CP/M-86™ (software not included) • Multi-function Keyboard & Cable • Hard Disk Ready Power Supply • Serial Ports • Parallel Ports •And MORE! SYS-8000-00 Only $525.00*

*1245*$1245* $1245*

Complete VDf* v%«

System! APUbyXOR

10MegH.D.

Add-On H.D. & Tape

IBM type Case only

5 Slot CAB-3060-00 $65.00*

8Slot CAB-3075-00 $65.00*

This is OUR Junior!

Use this "Driveless "workstation for low-cost Networking. Features: • 4-slol IBM™ compatible Motherboard ■ 128K Standard Memory • 8088,8087 Math Co-processor • Optional Floppy Drive with Controllers.

SYS-8100-00 $475.00*

Full System w/Keyboard, Mono Monitor, Video Display Card, 128KRAM SYS-8725-00 $895.00*

NEW

IBM "AT"

1.2M Floppy In Stock - For

yourXPC!

Can Read 3.0 or 2.1

DOS Formats!

*OEM

Qty 11 +

Complete System!

$189500*

20 Meg Color

Compete System! $237500*

40 Meg w/Tape

Complete System!

$284500*

10 Meg $1295* 20 Meg $1495* 40 Meg $1995*

10 Megabyte Irwin on the top, your choice of Hard Disk on the bottom. Super appearance! Requires one slot in your PC for SASI interface and an extension connector on the floppy card. Everything else is supplied by us.

65 Meg $2895* 105 Meg $3695* 140 Meg $4595*

Software

• BASICX

• WORDX COMX

Add-On Hard Disk

Two ways to go. The Internal system is cheaper because il does not need a P/S & Chassis. The same P/S & Chassis can be used for a 10 Meg Tape Back-up on your XTI

10 Megabyte «795lnt/»995ext

20 Megabyte '1095lnt/»1295exl

40 Megabyte »1595lnt/«1795ext

65 Megabyte •2495

105 Megabyte •3295

140 Megabyte •4195

Standard Features:

• Full-Si2e. Feather-Touch. Capacitance Keyboard with 10 Function Keys and Calcutator-Type Numeric Keypad •

• Comes Standard with Parallel and Serial I/O • 2-Slimline 5%" DS/DD 48 TPI360K Drives •

• 8 IBM compatible expan. slots • Operating System Software Rebate • DOS BIOS on EPROM •

• 256K parity checked RAM on Motherboard' 8088 16-bit CPU • 4 DMA S 3 Timer channels •

• Up to 32K of EPROM (lull 8K supplied) • Supports PC-DOS - MS-DOS ■ CP/M-86 •

• Power Supply is Hard-Disk-Ready, no • High resolution 12" Monitor with Green

need to add-on additional power Screen -18 MHz bandwidth

Add-On 10 Meg Tape

If your IBM-XT needs a little help in the Back-up category, you won't be able to beat this price! Cables, software and everything! internal... $395.00* SUB-8300-00 $495.00*

Not enough room here - Call for Catalog

January Dealer Honors

u.s.

Telecom

• •

• •

U.S. Telecom's latest product, PhonaMastar, allows school administrators to store voice-mall messages, such as absence notifications to parents, in the same computer they use for other word/data processing, thus eliminating the need for separate, expensive, tape recorder-type dialing devices. PhonaMastar will deliver the stored, natural-sounding voice messages at programmed times, collects responses if desired, and print call progress reports. PhonaMaater can also be used as voice-bulletin board for parents to call for info on various school events and/or as an answering service for staff and faculty.

"J.J." Kelley says "We have overSOXPC-XT Hard Disks Installed and working perfectly to date. We would like to take this opportunity to recommend to other Vertical Integrators the hardware and services of Micro Products." *611 W. 26th Street *Joplin, Missouri *417/781-7000*

SUPER 12 PAK MULTIFUNCTION

This one is loaded! Two (2) IBM™ compatible Joystick Ports, Real-Time Chronograph / Calendar with Battery Back-up, Paratel Port, RS232-C Serial Port, * 64K to 384Kof Parity-checked Memory, PrintSpool and RAM Disk Software. Supplied with OK of Memory BOA-8680-00 $179.00

' Additional 64K Memory Chips ICC-7801-00-(9) $ 35.00

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

Micro Products is ready to serve your needs in several countries. Each Office has Sales Literature, Local Pricing, Inventory and Technical Service available to support your needs. There are no problems with U.S. Export Forms.

HEAD OFFICE Darryl R. Oraan

f 5392 Assembly Lane. Unit A Huntington Beach, CA 92649 Phone: 711/898-0840 Telex 887841 XORDATAHTBH ZURICH OFFICE Cynthia Clark Eidmahstrasse 36 CH 8032 Zurich Switzerland Phone:1-69 3633 Telex: 816058 HKIN

AUSTRALIAN OFFICE

8 Irwin Street, Bellevue W.Australia 6056 Phone: 274-3701

TAIPEI OFFICE Tony Llo

2F, 126, Roosevelt Rd., Sec. 3, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. Phone: 396-9900/396-9910 Telex: 21140 SIGMALTD MARACAIBO OFFICE Jim Stevana

Av. 3FEsq. Calle 81

Centra Com. Maelga - Local #5 Maracaibo, Venezuela 4001-A Phone:061-913328 Telex: 62344 PEMIN CANADIAN OFFICE

- - PENDING -

PROM LASER

This is the One! Our PROM Burner allows reading, storing-to-disk, recalling, and

m-ajHaHajraBBHW. burning. Hi-speed alogrithmes bums 2764

I in 45 seconds! Also handles 2716,2732,

i 27128, 27256. Features: Zero insertion

force sockets; On-board Voltage Generator;

No Interference with normal computer

operations.

BOA-8640-00 $199.00

MISCELLANEOUS $ $ $ $ SAVERS

30011200 Baud Modem w/PC Talk III Communicab'ons Software

BOA-B725-00 $289.00

AdOOn Memory, RAM Disk a Print Spoder BOA-8650-00 $149.00

Color Graphics Card, 320 x 200 Res. Color, 640 x 200 Monochrome

BOA-8400-00 $245.00

Monochrome Graphics Card, (1 -2-3 compaf We| 720h x 348v

BOA-8500-00 $155.00

Clock Calendar Board, Parallel Port, fts in "short slot" w/battery Back-up

BOA-8700-00 $75.00

XOR-500 Printer, Dot Matrix, 80 col., IBM Graphics compatible

PRI-5575-00 $495.00

Monochrome Monitor, 18MHz bandwidth, composite input Green Screen

MON-1000-00 Green $ 99.50

MON-1010-00 Amber $114.50

Floppy Controller, Controls up to four drives, 5%" 46/96 TPI

BOA-6100-00 $95.00

Hard Disk Controller, standard ST-506 interface for DOS f. 112.0 BOA-B050-00,..,... $245.00

Micro Products

Huntington Beach, CA 92649

714/898-0840

California Digital

fueroa Street # Carson, California 90248

Shuspit

'159

The Shugart 801R has long been the standard by which all other eight inch disk drives have been judged. The 801R has historically been used by thousands of quality conscious equipment manufacturers because of their extremely high degree of reliability.

These units are current production, rack mountable LSI technology. The drives are identical to drives currently sold by distributors at S600.

California Digital has aquired these NEW units as a result of a change of marketing strategy of the A.M. Jaquard Corporalion. This is the best value that has ever been offered on any Shugart eight inch disk drive. SHU-801R

UME DT8

w

These Qume DT8/842 disk drives are NEW double sided units acquired from the excess inventory of a major computer manufacturer.

Five Inch Winchester Hard Disk Drives

One Two

FUJITSU M2235AS 27 Meg. 999 959

RODINE RO-208 53 Meg. 1589 1493

MAXTOR XT1065 65 Meg. 1995 1965

SHUGART 712 1 3 Meg.' 2 Ht 795 765

SHUGART 604 6.7 Meg. 159 149

TANDON 502 10 Meg. 419 395

TANDON 503 19 Meg. 795 775

Upon request, all drives are supplied with power connectors and manual

MEMORY

4164 SSSSSf 150ns

DYNAMIC MEMOR

4lli> IS0ns.16K

■111G200IIB.IGK

4161 150H5.64K 1 rlretresl

41256 1 SOns. 2561

■i:>:>t! lor IBM/AT

uPH409(tynjimit. i;ontn-iter

21L07 200ns. IK italic 21U?450ns. IK sialic 2112450ns. 2K sialic ?t l-J 300ns. 1Kx4 J044TMS 450ns. 4K . 1 5?57 300ns. 4Kx 1 6116 P4 200ns. 2K 18 6116 P3 150ns. 2K x 8

2700 450ns. IK x 8 ^71(,l!,0ris.2Kx8 2716THS450HS Tm2732 450ns. 4K I 8 2764 350ns. BK X 8

ICM-4116: )

1.75

1.65

ntfl ICM-41641 O

3.95

3.40

3.25

ICM-41256150

18.95

17.50

14.75

ICM-4128150

18.05

17.50

14.7S

or ICT-8409

moo

3!U10

in.mi

STATIC MEMORY

ICM-21L02200

1.49

1.29

1.15

ICM-21L02450

1.29

1.15

.99

ICM-2112450

2.99

2.85

2.75

ICM-2114300

1.95

1.85

1.75

ICM-4044450

3.49

3.25

2.99

ICM-5257300

2.50

2.25

1.99

1CM-6116200

3.95

3.B5

3.70

1CM-6116150

4.S5

4.35

4.15

EPROMS

4.9S

4.75

4.55

4.50

4.25

3.97

gc 1CE-2716TMS

7.95

7.65

ICE-2732

4.50

3.75

ICE-2764

5.95

5.75

6.25

15.25

Your Choice

TCAP558 55F

I EiAW48TPI 96TPI

Five Inch Single Sided Drives

One Two Ten

SHUGART SA400L full height 189 179 175 TANDON TM100-1 full height 99 95 79

Five Inch Double Sided Drives

TEAC FD55B half height TEAC FD55F 96 TPI, half ht. REMEX RFD480 % ht. IBM/PC CONTROL DATA 9409 PC CONTROL DATA 9428 V? ht. SHUGART SA455 Half Height PANASONIC JA551 /2N (455) SHUGART SA465 Va Ht. 96TPI TANDON 100-2 full height TANDON 101-4 96TPI full ht. MITSUBISHI 4851 half height MITSUBISHI 4853 96/TPIV? Ht. 169 MITSUBISHI 4854 8" elec QUME 142 half height

REMEX

DOUBLE 44# SIDED £1

Eight Inch Single

SHUGART 801R SIEMENS FDD 100-8 TANDON 848E-1 Half Height

139

135

129

139

135

129

39

39

35

169

159

155

119

115

109

139

135

129

139

135

129

239

229

219

169

165

169

329

319

305

159

149

145

169

159

155

395

385

375

219

205

199

I Drives 159 159 154 129 125 119 369 359 349

Eight Inch Double Sided Drives

SHUGART SA851R QUME 842 "QUME TRACK 8" TANDON 848E-2 Half Height REMEX RFD-4000 MITSUBISHI M2894-63 MITSUBISHI M2896-63 Vi Ht.

495 485 475 319 319 313 459 447 435 219 219 209 447 439 433 459 449 409

FREE

Plastic library case supplied

with all diskettes purchased from

California Digital.

DISKETTES mSO

FIVE INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

SCOTCH

VERBATIM

MEMOREX

MAXELL

DYSAN

Each box

16.50

MM M- 744.(1) — — — _ MMM-744M0 22.95 MMM-744M6 "" "**w

VRB-525/01 __ _-. VF1B-525/10 22.95

VRB-525/16 fc»"**w

MflX-34111

MnX-3403

MRX-3485

MXL-M01 _0 n_

MXL-MM1I10 22-95

MXL.MH1/16

10 Boxes 100 Boxes

19.95

DYS-104/1D -_ —_ DYS-107/1D 32i20

14.95 21.75 21.75 18.75 21.75 31.00

DYS-104H0 DYS-107MD DYS-105MD

FIVE INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

19.95

13.50 20.75 20.75 17.85 20.75 29.75

CAL DIGITAL^

SCOTCH VERBATIM MEMOREX MAXELL

MXL-MD2/96

MAXELL / HD Ki

MMM745/0 9Q QK MMM-745/10 ^*»"^«*

MMM-7.15.I5

Villi -550i 01 OQ Q1^

VRB-550/10 ^^"^**

VRB-550/16

MRX3491

MRX-3493

MRX-3495

MXL-MD2

MXL-MD2M0

MXL-MD2M6

27.95 27.95

18.75 27.95 27.95 26.75

17.85 24.75 23.75 24.25

25.95124.25 CALL

gvliislls 42.50140.50135.50

DYS-204/2D

",A 49.95 47.95 45.75

DYSAN DYSAN/96

EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED SINGLE DENSITY

SCOTCH MMM-7J0 0

MEMOREX MRX-3062

VERBATIM win! .1.1 -'10011 DYSAN iivs .t/.io. 1

28.50|27.50 27.7526.60

31.50 J29.50 35.7532.75

23.80 22.25 25.60 29.75

EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

SCOTCH MMM74i/o 33.95

MEMOREX mrx 3090 31.95

VERBATIM vrb -34/8ooa 35.25

DYSAN DVS3740/1D 40.75

MAXELL MxiFDi 45.50

31.75 27.75 33.25 38.75 39.75

29.15 26.15 28.75 32.25 35.15

EIGHT INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

SCOTCH MMM743/0 45.95

MEMOREX mrx3102 37.95

VERBATIM vrb 34 4001 41.75

DYSAN DYS-3740/2D 54.65

MAXELL mxlfd2 52.50

43.25 36.75 37.50 49.75 48.75

37.50 31.50 32.25 40.50 40.45

ENCLOSURES

California Digital m arm lac! ui es an asortment of slock and custom disk drive enclosures, n the volume is justified we will custom design an endosuie lor your application The following stock disk drive enclosures are available All include power supplies the 8 enclosures are supplied with exhaust fans

• Horizontal mounl dual 8" lull height drives. S279.00

• Vertical mount dual full height 8' drives. 299.00

• Horizontal mount one tull heighi or two half height 8". 239.00

• Horizontal one lull heighi or two hall height 5w. 89.00

VISA

\NUARV I985

Shipping: First five pounds $3.00, each additional pound $.50. : Foreign orders: 10% shipping, excess will be refunded. California residents add 6Vz% sales tax. • COD's discouraged. Open accounts extended to state supported educational institutions and companies with a strong "Dun & Bradstreet" rating.

■

California Digit

17700 Figueroa Street # Carson, California 902

TRIAL OFFER

NEC RGB*.

color fyS¥

MONITOR

The NEC JC-M01D is a 13 medium/high resolution RGB monitor suitable for use with the Sanyo MBC-550/555 or the IBM/PC. The monitor features a resolution ol 400 dots by 240 lines. Colors available are Red. Green, Blue. Yellow, Cyan. Magenta. Black and While These monitors are currently being used in applications lar more critical than microcomputers

The NEC monitor carries ttie Ltton-Monroe label and was originally scheduled lor use in their Office of the Future" equipment. A change in Monroe s marketing strategy has made these units excess inventory which were sold to California Digital. We are offering these prime new RGB montors at a fraction of their original cost. Sanyo compatible NEC-1401 /S, IBM/P/C Computer compatible NEC-1401/PC

MONITORS

•mm: i.-a •••.ic ■:. i

;.;■•:!■- jfi

A't;;-:c". 50

a ilmzvt

i;lc iv.':. r;i.-.C Jill.

■hor 12 .10/80 column swil ior 12 '!0'80coliimriswilc 18 MM/ composil video

COLOR NECJCUOlDMetJ'um/Higri 13 RGB

BMC .MJL' i') l IJ ■loll.' cofTipor.ii video with sound

RI.1C J19tt,1 I'l.Btf.-rsiqneillo: uv will. Ilirj IBMcompu'

NECJC1203DM RGB color moiulor

NFX.JCl.^'ia.hrrompostl

2orntli/VMi:t:inGt'ifi r.'.irii|]fi;;il(>:;uHiil)iL-IOr IBM PC

Amclfk Color I 13 ccmpositvsdeo

Ani(i':r Color I h Hf iB h.-resolution

AmoekColot lit* \: R.~.B. -nedtomresotumon

Prinr. 'ton HX <2 RG3 IBM/PC conpat-We

BMC-12A

Eil/C-l.-EN

AI.XJ0OO

AMK-300A

AMKv.'OA

ZTH-122

ZTH-Z123

i-ii.(MF-n:-oi

rji.C.iBi:-'60

HON BVV9

NECl-Ol.X

BMC-919I

BMC-9191M

NEC-1203

NECJCI215

ZTH-Z135

AMK-100 Ar.iK-:.'0i;

AM K-300 PRN-HX12

i -,{< nil n'l no 59 00

25-i m

238 95 379 00

b'J'JQU 339 00 <t 75 00 299 00 419 95 .15'.' K

8 95

PRINTERS

MATRIX PRINTERS

Sr.-G-i

I OX t20char.SK STH-G1CX

1SX lOOchar 'Sflc 15 p.iper STR-G15X

Star GeminiDelta 10. iGOChar/sec str-dio

Siar Cook O0FT friction 4 tractor VST-C80FT

"ioshtb.1 P1351 192dia//S€C letter quality TOS-I351

Osiiias.iti.7A M'nai « parallel "■.-' pnper OKI-82A

C'i'i.il.1 0?A par.illi-i interface l60ctiar<sec OKI-92A

CKitlaln83A& parallel 15' paper OKI-83A

QkidataMA* parallel 15 paper OKI-84A

EpscnFU-8010 l20Char/sec f"S-RX£0

Epson FXtlO. ir.i IGOchar .'sec with graphlra* E:tJS-FXB0

Epson (-X 100 1f' 160chai 'sec witriqrnptilrax EfS-FXlOO

EDSOn LO1500 IS co respondentsquality EF'S-lQlSOO

Epsor^ JX80 COlOf pricier EPS-JXM

A|-ii(l.-><%01l>i ■ [!ispfiCClwilM(jfaphtCS ADX-9501B

An.ioiM 9620B :'i '0 char/sec pa' I * serial AOX-9620B

PfOWHtet 8510 parallel 9W paper PRO-8510P

P'nv.'iilc'll par.il1>.-: 15' papnr. graphics PRO-2P

Dataproducts Lt-OJO-3. t;ar-i) punier 500 LPM DPS-B6C0 Pr.nt.-crn. P (fhjhiqh wxl prmlr'r 100 lines per minute PTX-P300

F- nlronw PriDO ultra »-(;ti speed 600 lines per minute PTX-PGCO

WORD PROCESSING PRINTERS

NEC77I0 55L.ur ^ecoe.i] serial interlace

NEC/730 !i5 char/sec. par I interface.

NEC3550 popui.v pr.nif.-r desuinorifor the IBM;PC

NEC2050 dosirjncrj lor IBM-PC ?r> criar'scc pari

Silver Reed EXP50.1, 1 -1 r.ti.ir see par I interlace

Silver Reed EXP550 |7Char/sec pari interface

Di.iaio 630-10 char.-sec serial

Di.iC't)6i'iJ. pri-.ipor:ior.alspac:n.j 'i

Jut-.'fit00 18 char .'sec SPECIAL

Brotlef HRl A serial interface

Sla-vnter F10 serial. -10 char'sec

NEC-7710 NEC 77'.0 Ni:C-3;>50 NEC-2050 SRD-EXP500 SRD-EXP550 DBL-630 n tab 20cps DBL-520 JUK-6100 BTHHRlS PRO-FlOS

259 0 365 0i 390 f ■

579 i'n 1029 0: 1129 00

359 (jf.

699 00 698500 3'.'05 or 5795 00

1795 00 1795 00 I 599 00 995 00

-lii'J 00 059 0(1

I 76f> 00 775 00 429 00 695 no

1125 00

Com

TERMINALS

Freedom 100, split screen, detatchable keyboard LIB-FIOO 495.00

Qume 102 green phosphor terminal OUM-102 539.00

Ampex Dialogue I25green screen. APXD125G 67500

Arnpes Dialouge 175 amber screen, two page, tunc keys APX-D175A 719.00

Wyse 50 14" green phosphor WYS-50 595.00

Wyse 300. Eight color display, split screen WYS-300 1159 00

Zonilh 29 terminal. VT52 compatible detatch ble keyboard ZTH-Z29 765 00

Televideo 910 Plus, block mode TVI-910P 575.00

Telovidoo 925, detachable keyboard. 22 function keys TVI-925 759.00

Tetevideo 950, graphic char .split screen. 22 tunc TVi-950 950.00

Televideo970. 14' green. 132column. European TVI-970 1095 00

1200 BAUD

MODEM

The Team 212A offers all the features of the Hayes Smart Modem 1200 for a fraction of the price. Now is your opportunity to purchase a 1200 baud modem at the price of a 300 baud modem. California Digital is so confident of your complete satisfaction that we will allow the return the Team 212A and apply the full credit towards the purchase of any other 1200 baud modem. TEM-SM1200

MODEMS

The CTS212AH Mortem is 300-1200

Auto Answer/Auto Oat. Hayes Com'

patJbfe Mycroti Labs Companion communication-; sc

535 00 additional

CTS212AH 1200 baud, autodial Signalman Mark 12 1200 baud. Hayes compatible Signalman Mark I. owed connect witn terminal cable Hayes Smart Modem 1200 baud, auto answer, auto tSa

l-layos i<'0ri['l,:f i;-,r.-..inlhr-IBM PC. t2O0baud

I l.iyer. Sm.:rir:iOi|. n :}0<j Ljaudority autoanswer, autc

Hayes Micrcmoclem II 103 Apple direct connect

Hayes Chronograph lime & dale

Promethe-js 1200 super !esture5

Prometheus 120CB nternal PC

Team 1200 Hayes Compatible

1.(5 Rotjrj::;:;l'i2Ain:; i2C0saud auloaiai-answer

US Rorjotics Password 300 1200baud

Penni300 1200 industrialqual'ty

Universal Data 103LP line power answer S uriqn-dte

Umversal Data 202 1200 baud, hall duple- only

Univers3lDataZl2LP full 1200 baud duplex imepowt

Novation J Cat (iirecl connect, auto answer

CTS-212AH SGL-MK12 SGL-MK1 MYS-2I2AD

HYS-1200S

HYS-103AD

HYS-MM2

HYS-CHR232

PRM-P1200

PRM-P1200B

TEM-SM1200 ;

USR-212A

USR-PW212

PEN-I2AD

UDS-103LP

UDS-202LP

UDS-212LP

NOV-JCAT

PC with Controller a

*1099

ABC*219

SIX PAK PLUS

ASTSixPackPlus zero memory

ASTSixPackPlus 384K fully populated board

ASTMegaPlusll AST MegaPak Quadboard STB RIO Plus STB Super I/O

64K to 512K with MegaPak 256K piggyback / MegaPlus 64K with six functions 64K with PC accelerator serial/par'l/game port

S219.00 399.00 265.00 265.00 249.00 279.00 184.99

AST Monograph Plus

monochrome/graphic

449.79

Hercules Graphic

two year warranty

339.89

Hercules Color Card

new from Hercules

189.89

PC Peacock Color

mono. RGB, graphics expandable, high res.

229.00

Quad Color I

209.75

STB Graphics Plus

with software

379.67

4164 Memory Chips 64K Set (9 chips) 8087 Coprocessor

150 or 200 ns with instructions arithmetic chip

3.95 34.95 119.00

OLYMPIA

Computer Printer and_Jypewriter

'339

The Olympia Corporation has just released Iwo new lypwrilers with built in Centronics printer interface These word processing printer are ihe ideal answer to your personal correspondence needs. The Compact 2 pictured above prints ai 14 characters per second and is priced at S459 OLY-C2 The Orbit XP prints at 10 characters per second and is priced at only S339 OLY-XP1. Both machines are equiped with 2 K.'byte printer buffers.

Shusiart

.604 WINCHESTER

m

These 6.7 Megabyte drives are new units recently released by the Shugart division of Xerox. The Shugart 604 is fully 506 industry compatible. Each drive is tested before shipment and is supplied with a 90 day warranty. SHU-604

DOUBLE SIDED

REMEX DISK DRIVES

The Remex drive is suitable for IBM/PC and all other applications requiring double sided Tandon 100-2 compatibility. The units are % the height of a standard disk drive and will allow three Remexs to tit in the space of two standard height drives. All drives are new lactory packed units. RMX-480

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE

(800)421-5041

TECHNICAL & CALIFORNIA

(213)217-0500

\NiJARY 1985 • B VTE 449

Inquiry 92

CCT4

SYSTEM SERIES

The latest CCT implementation of the new generation Intel 16-Bit Processor technology. This means extreme speed, unequaled power, and the ultimate in reliability, and of course, the innovators at CCT behind it.

This series in the CCT line exploits the speed and power of the Intel 80286 and Zilog Z-80H (8MHz), on the 286Z CPU board. This combination, along with CompuPro DMA controllers and I/O boards, yields a dramatic improvement in system throughput speeds, from basic CP/M operation, up to large powerful multi-user/multi-tasking machines. The CCT-4 represents the most advanced hardware presently available in a microcomputer to run the thousands of CP/M type software programs on the market, and with CONCURRENT DOS 8-16 and the CompuPro PC Graphics board (when available), all software written for the IBM PC machines. This series is for the serious business/scientific user.

CCT-4A

CCT-4B

CCT-4C

State-of-the-art power in it's basic form. Consists of CCT-286Z CPU board and CCT-M256 (256K), along with CompuPro: Enclosure 2 Desk (21 slot MF), Disk 1 A, System Support 1, Interfacer 4, the CCT-2.4 floppy drive system, and CP/M 80 and CP/M 86, and with Surgefree SF-200 surge suppressor system $5,995.00

Single-user/hard disk power. As the 4A, except priced without the CCT-2.4, to add in your choice of CCT hard/floppy

combination drive subsystem, at the published pricing $4,895.00

(Example: CCT-4B Mainframe with CCT-10/1 = $7,244.00) plus cost of selecteddrivesubsystem

Multi-user/hard disk power. As the 4B, with the CCT-M512 (512K static RAM board) instead of M256; Interfacer 3 instead of Interfacer 4; Surgefree SF-400 instead of SF-200, plus MP/M 8-16 operating system. (6 user system) $6,695.00 (Example: CCT-4C Mainframe with CCT-40/1 = $10,044.00) plus cost °'selected drive subsystem

^ CCT BONUS ON 4C: FREE CONCURRENT DOS UPDATE!

^Ys^ The above systems include all necessary cabling, assembly, testing, minimum 20 hour burn-in, & ^ and the CCT unconditional 12 month direct warranty.

CCT-M512 CCT introduces it's 512K static RAM board. IEEE Standard 12MHz. 512K in one slot! Introductory Price: $2,249 CCT-M256 256K version of M512 upgradeable to full 512K. Perfect 256K RAM board for any CompuPro system .... $1,149

CUSTOM COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY / BOX 4160 / SED0NA, ARIZONA 86340

TOLL FREE ORDERING: 800-222-8686 / For technical support / service: 602-282-6299

Teamwork is making a come in America.

Cooperation on the production line helped America win World War II. We're in another kind of battle today—a fight for economic survival in an increasingly competitive world market. Cooperation in the workplace is helping us meet this challenge too.

In plants and offices throughout the country, management is asking employees for their ideas on how to increase productivity and improve the

work environment. And workers and their unions are responding with a wealth of practical suggestions and a renewed spirit of cooperation.

For information about how others are working better by working together, contact:

Cooperative Labor-Management Programs

U.S. Department of Labor

Washington, D.C. 20216

202—523-6098

US. Department of Labor

450 BYTE • IANUARY I985

CCT

CUSTOM COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

TOLL-FREE

ORDERING:

800-222-8686

FOR TECHNICAL SUPPORT/ 1 CCT PLAZA — P.O. BOX 4160 — SEDONA, ARIZONA 86340

SERVICE / IN ARIZONA' Purchase your Hardware and Software directly from an OEM / Systems Integrator. Take advantage of our buying power! We stock a

full line of Board Level Components, Software and Peripherals. Call for your needs. We'll give you the Lowest Prices, and the Technical 602-282-6299 Support and Know-How we are quickly becoming well-known for. Satisfied Customers Nationwide. The Nation's Custom Systems House

for Business, Education and Science. Call for a system quote. CCT implements tomorrow's technology today!

FOREMOST QUALITY • ADVANCED SUPPORT • REASONABLE COST •

ii

CCT

©

CompuPro

80286 NOW!

□ CCT-286Z is our model designation for the MI-286 dual processor board fromMacrotech. It features the super high speed combination of Z-80H and 80286, with provision for the 80287 math chip. Directly replaces 8085/88 and 8086 CPUs running CP/M, MP/M Concurrent DOS, and MS-DOS, at throughput increases of 3X to 5X! SPECIAL PRICE-$1099 80287 Option - Installed - $395

SEE THE CCT-4 SERIES

USING THIS BOARD

DETAILED ON THE FACING PAGE

• 8" CP/M SOFTWARE SPECIALS •

dBASE II - Latest Version 2.4 $349

Supercalc 86 .. . $99DSupercalc 2 ... $259

Wordstar $279nPro-Pak $379

DRICBASIC Compiler 80 . . $389086 .. $449 DRI Pascal Compiler 80 . . $279086 .. $449 DRIGSX-86 $79[ lAssemblerTools/RMAC $179 Microsoft BASIC ... $299UCompiler . $339 Supersoft FORTRAN IV. $339QCComp. $399

• TOP SELLING PERIPHERALS •

Wyse Terminals -DROPPED

LIBERTY TERMINALS • Superior Reliability •

100-12" GREEN-25X 80 $399

110-14"GREEN-80/132Column .... $499 200-14" GREEN-80/132 Super Deluxe. $569 220-14" GREEN-DEC Compatible .... $699 CCT RECOMMENDSAMBER Screen Options $20

OKIDATA PRINTERS - Top Quality

82 - 80 Col. . . $329 83 -132 Col... $619 92-80 Col... $429 93 -132 Col... $659 84 -132 Col/200cps-Top of the Line . $799 For Serial Interfaces-Add $100

DIABLO — Letter Quality Series Model 620 $969 Model 630 . $1799

INDUSTRIAL GRADE SUPERIOR QUALITY

CCT DISK DRIVE SYSTEMS

S-100 HARD DISK SUBSYSTEMS

ROLLS ROYCES OF THE INDUSTRY

Professionally engineered ST-506 type systems for the business market S-100 Computer user. Includes industry top quality drives, CompuPro Disk 3 DMA controller, all cabling, A&T, formatted, burned-in. Provisions for up to two hard disks in each system. We include operating system update. CP/M 80, CP/M 86, CP/M 8-16, MP/M 8-16, CP/M 68K. (/1 Systems are CCT innovated hard/floppy combinations, with Mitsubishi DSDD 8" drive.) 12 month warranty.

CCT-10(11 + MEG) $1799

CCT-20 (22 + MEG) ....

CCT-40 (36 + MEG)

CCT-60(58 + MEG)(New) CCT-90(87 + MEG)(New) CCT-125 (123 + MEG) (New)

$2319 $2799 $3999 $5209 $6399

CCT-10/1 $2349

CCT-20/1 $2869

CCT-40/1 $3349

CCT-60/1 $4549

CCT-90/1 $5759

CCT-125/1 $6949

Drive capacities shown are after formatting! We are working on tape cartridge back-up units.

CCT-2.4 • Dual 8" DSDD FL0PPY SYSTEMS CCT.5 . m» DSDrj

Mitusbishi 2.4 Megabyte in Extra Heavy horizontal enclosure, IBM Compatible Tandon 320K. Extra Heavy Cabinet removeable filter air system, all cabling, A&T, Burned in. The accommodatestwo drives, hardorfloppy. All cabling, A&T, fastest system available: $1229 Burned-in. Perfect for our MS-DOS Package .... $399

* SUPER PRICES * COMPUPRO COMPONENTS * IN STOCK *

CCT-2-$6799 • CCT-3-$6699 • Disk 1A w/CP/M - $619 • CPU 8086/87 - $819 • M-Drive/H - $1099

CPU 8085/88 - $349 • CPU 8086-$559/10Mhz-$599 • CPU 68K - $519/10Mhz - $639

CPU-Z - $249 • Disk 1A-$519 • Disk 3-$499 • RAM23/64K-$309/128K-$599 • RAM 21 (128K) - $749

• RAM 16 CLOSE-OUT SPECIAL-$249 •

RAM 22 (256K) - $1179 • Interfaced-$499 • Interfacer 4 - $349 • System Support 1 - $329

Enclosure 2 Desk-$649/Rack-$699 • CP/M80(CCTHMX)-$125 • CP/M 86 (CCTTMX) - $175

CP/M 8-16 (CCTTMX) - $199 • MP/M 8-16 (CCTSX) - $499 • CP/M 68K(CCTCX)-$279

16 Bit Upgrade Kit: CP/M 86, RAM 16, System Support 1, Cable $709 □ CP/M 8-16 - Kit - $733

Operating System Updates/Remakes - $30 FREE CONCURRENT DOS 8-16 UPGRADE (WHEN AVAILABLE) WITH PURCHASE OF MP/M 8-16 <

CCT-1 - ENTRY LEVEL S-100 BUSINESS SYSTEM

• Enclosure 2-Desk-20 Slot Mainframe ■ CPU 8085/88 - 6Mhz 8085/8Mhz 8088 •

• Disk 1A - DMA Floppy Disk Controller ■ •RAM 16 -64K Static RAM - 12Mhz •

• Interfacer 4 - 3 Serial/2 Parallel I/O •

• CCT-2.4-Dual 8" Mitsubishi DSDD Drive System - 2.4 Megabytes •

• CP/M 80-2.2 HMX - CCT Modified •

• All Cabling, Complete CCT Assembly, Testing, and Minimum 20 Hour Burn-in •

SPECIAL PRICE

$3,559

RUNS ALL STANDARD 8" CP/M SOFTWARE - INCLUDES OUR EXCLUSIVE 12 MONTH DIRECT WARRANTY

Prices & availability subject to change. All products new, and carry full manufacturer's warranties. Call for catalog. Free technical help to anyone. All products we sell are CCT individually tested and set up for your system - Plug-In & Go! Arizona residents add sales tax CCT'" Trademark—Custom Computer Technology; MS-DOS® Trademark—Microsoft; IBM1-' Trademark — International Business Machines; CompuPro™1 Trademark — W.J. Godbout; CP/M™ MP/M" Trademarks — Digital Research

Inquiry 93

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 451

Inquiry 337

jjfci

SuniTRDNiCS OQ.,liyO.

1-800-421-5775 (Order Only) (213) 644-1140 (CA. Order & Inf.) STORE HOURS :

12621 Crenshaw Blvd., Hawthorne, CA 90250 sT Fri 'olZ.TAll

NEW BRANCH STORE IN ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA : 17552 BEACH BLVD., #C, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA 92642 (714) 842-1948

==™~= Products

FEATURES:

,-Intel 8088 CPU

•x Intel 8087 Math Co-Processor (Option)

.'Expandable on-board to 256K

^128K RAM w/Parity

^8 IBM Compatible Expansion Slots

^4 Channel DMA 8237

^8 Channel Interrupt 8259

•^Mother Board dimension same as IBM PC

□ Mother Board W/128K RAM $399.00

□ Computer Cabinet $69.00

G 83 Key full-funtion Keyboard $99.00

Q 100 WATT Power Supply $110.00

□ 135 WATT Power Supply $145.00

□ Monochrome Graphic Card

w/Printer Port $210.00

i ] Color Graphic Card $149.00

[ J FDD Controller Card $99.00

u Parallel Printer Card $59.00

□ ASYNC & RS232 Port $75.00

[ ) 320KB DS/DD Slimline Disk Drive $139.00

D IBM Parallel Cable 10' $19.95

D IBM Prototype Board (SUN-208) . . . $9.50

□ MICROLOG Z-80B Co-Processor,

Multi-funtion (Run CP/M80 Software,

Require 64K RAM) $499.00

II Apparat EPROM Blaster $129.00

[J IBM Up-Grade Kit (4164). . . S35.00/per kit

^cippkz

Compatible Products

SUN Z80 Card (w/o software) $55.00

SUN 80 Column Card (w/Soft switch) $85.00

Power Supply (5 Amp) $59.95

Cooling Fan $42.00

Parallel Printer Card $39.00

Floppy Disk Controller $47.00

EPROM Programmer (2716, 2732, 2764)

$75.00

APPARAT PROM Blaster $119.00

Apple Prototype Board (SUN-722) .... $5.95 Above items are not compatible with Apple lie

S 100 Products

64K Static Memory Board (6116)

w/o RAM A&T $155.00

64K Static Memory Board (6116)

w/RAM A&T $295.00

Uses 6116 CMOS RAMS, V» Amp Max, w/64K @6MHz Extended Addressing, Bank Select 4-16K Blocks, 2716 EPROM can replace any 6116RAM, 8 Bit IEEE 696. UFDC-1 5V4 and 8 Floppy Disk Controller

(BIOS available) A&T $225.00

Clock/Calendar A&T $115.00

Prototype Board (SUN-721) $9.95

Mother Board/Card Cages

(6, 8 & 12 Slots) are available CALL

General Products

SAM WOO HIGH RESOLUTION MONITOR

Features:

^22 MHz Bandwidth

^Composite Video

^ Anti-glare Screen

^Passes FCC & UL Approved

1^1000 Lines or 132 Charactors Across

• Impedance: high or 75 Ohm

12" AMBER or GREEN $99.00

12" Green TTL Monitor

(For IBM, 20 MHz) $135.00

• 10MB Hard Disk Drive (Internal)

w/ControllerforlBMPC $749.00

• S-100 12 Slot Motherboard A&T . $55.00

Bare Board $23.00

• IBM Prototype Board (SUN-208) . . . $9.50

• RAM 4164 (150ns) $3.95

TTL IC, ROM, RAM & CPU CHIPS, CONNECTORS & IC SOCKETS ARE AVAILABLE.

TERMS: VISA, MASTER Card. C.O.D. (Cash or Certified Check Required), Check (Allow 2-3 WKS lor Clearing) Shipping 8. H/C $3.00 tor 3 Lbs plus 50' tor each add LB. Calif. residents add Calit. Sales Tax. $10.00 Minimum Order IBM & Apple are registered trade marks of IBM & Apple

FC 135-40 Features:

FORTRON CORPORATION Power Supply Professional

3797 YALP WAY, FREMONT, CA 94538 ORDER TOLL FREE [800] 821-9771

INFORMATION S. CALIF. RES. [415] 490-8171

•Full Replacement to your regular IBM® PC 65 W. Power Supply

•4 Disk Drives Connectors

•Building "ROTRON" or equal High Performance Cooling Fan

•Schematics available

•One year Warranty

•+5V/15A. +12V/4.2-8.5A (peak)

+ 12V/1A. -5V/1A. (max. outputs)

140 W.(max) Power Switcher

#FC 135-40.

IDEAL FOR: •Upgrade IBM® PC •OEM Manufacturer •Do it yourself an IBM® PCXT Compatible

Please do not confuse this high quality product with the cheap imported units sold by others because of same outlooking

only

175.0>L

[Assembled & Fully Tested in USA]

Dealers/OEMs are Invited

For "Build Your Own Computer" and OEM's Convenience, we also carry:

FC 427 Keyboard

•For IBM® PC or its compatible

products •High Performance IflQ OO

•High ,Ua

Reliability

FC 630A-2 Cabinet

•IBM identical

•Use FORTRON FC 135-40 power

supply •7 & 8 slots rear 99.°°

panels, good for

0.75" or 1" apart

slot

connectors.

HSC 130-40 130 Watt Power Switcher

•For DTC megaboard & Faraday CPU board & other PCXT Compatibles

•Backside Power Switch

•Use Cabinet FC-630

169.

FC-630 Cabinet

•On-off switch to be on back side •Use FORTRON HSC-130-40 power

supply •Good for Faraday QQ OO

•6400 or DTC aa"

mega-board

452 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 134 for Dealers. Inquiry 135 for End-Users.

COMPUTER DISCOUNT PRODUC

Stocking HUGE Inventories of APPLE & IBM Products SINCE* GUARANTEED Fair Pricing Is Our Policy *

FREE SHIPPING!!

'That's Right-WE PAY To Ship YOUR Purchase

See Details Below

i!

idex

PRE-BOOTS Apple WMer Apple Wrier for UHralerm Visicalc

fecalc Willi Memory Expans-on Visicalc for Ultraterm

Uitraterm 244.99

Enhancer II

.M.

Function Strip

Hardsw;tch

14.99

McromodemChip

23.99

PSiO

39.99

Sollswitch

66.99

Ullraplan

54,99

Videolermw/Soflswitch

31.99 14.99 24.99 169.99

25.99 129.99 219.99

ACCESSORIES & PERIPHERAL^

MONITORS Amdek300A-Ap Air<Jek310A-IBM

Princeton HX-12 RGB-IBM Princeton Ma*-12 Amber-IBM Quadram Quadchrome RGB-IBI Ta<an420BGB-Ap'lBM Taian 12" Amber-IBM Taxan 12" Amber 20mhz-Ap

159.99 179.99 459.99 1S9.99 529.99 439.99 169.99 139.99

Other Monitors & Printers - $CALL

PRINTERS C-ITOH 8510

Epson FX80

Okidata92Pw/Pluc'nP!ay-IBM DRIVES: 16 Height-Ap

Micro SciA-2-Ap

Teac WHeighi-IBM RIBBONS: Brother

MXSFX80

MXSFX100

OKI82,83,92.93SGemini

379.99 429.99 SCAU 189.99 209.99 179.99 SCAU.

4.99 |

7.9:

2.9

UH MicroPro

COMMUNICATIONS

ADVENTURE & GAMES

QU7\DrV\M|

FOR APPLE & IBM

star

Mailmerge

Spellslar

Wordstar

WorrJSlarPro

ProOplionsPack

V CONNECT!

CHARTSTAR - NEW

Business Gra-v 'ackage

For IB' }

DISKETTE'

i

RAGE

Dysan57."SS/DD

Dysan5'/."DS'0D

Ma«ell5«"SS/0D

Maxell 5'A'DSr'DD

Memore*3,':"SSDD

Memore<5'/r"SS'DD

Memorex5'/."DS'DD

Fl.p 'n File w/Locklray Holds 25-V;

Flip 'n File w/Locklray Holds 50-5'A'

Library Case (Assorted Colors]

Media Male Holds 50-5'/.' Disl

Media Male Holds 30-3'/. Disl

Prmler Stand-! arge (Plex.g!..; Pr nter Stand-Small (Plenf ■

29.99 38.99 24.99 34.99 41.99 19.99 26.99

JO0

379.99 369.99 229.99 329.99 399.99 169.99 259.99

HARD

Sr&iiS

ALS Z-Ergme (Replaces ZCaidl

159.99 1

•'■■i;

DAN PAYMAR Lowe: f.asi I F--V1-6

25.99 I

An

Lower Case 2, Rev ■'

19.99 I

Ap

JOYSTICK Kraft or tg

39.99 1

•■■:.

MICROSOFT Sotica' r

229.99 1

.'.;

Ram Card

74.99 I

Ap

ORANGE MICRO Grannie:

114.99 1

A]

Bufferboard

119.99 1

Ap

Buffered Grappler

179.99 1

Ap

TITAN Accelerator fie

449.99 I

■■'■

Neplune64K

199.99 I

.-!

Saturn 64K Ram

279.99 |

:-v

AST I/O Flus

SCAU I

m

Mega Pius

289.99 1

BM

Six Pack Plus

279.99 I

IBM

JOYSTICK Kraft or TG

44.99 l

IBM

PLANTRONICSCoKn Plus Board

375.99 1

IBM

TITAN 64K Board

499.99 I

ApTBM KRAFT Paddles

31.99 1

AprlBM TG Paddles

27.99 1

KENSINGTON

System Saver-AP 65.00

PC Saver-IBM 29.99

I ASCII EXPRESS-Ap

I CROSSTALK-IBM

I HAYES MODEMS: 300 Baud Smartmodem

1200 Baud Smalmodem

1200B-IBM

Micromodemlle I S0FTERM2-Ap | NOVATION MODEMS JCal

103 Smart Cat

103/212AuloCal

Cat

Applecall!300Baud

Applecat Upgrade to 1200 Baud

Expansion Module

109.99 139.99 209.99 479.99

149.99 109.99 169.99 399.99 135.99 249.99 309.99 29.99

TELMERGE-/S/W 119.99

New Telecommunications

" ' Program From MicroPro

EDUCATIONAL

BASIC SKILLS

Ap

DLM School Versions Available

SCAU

Ap

Alien Addition/Alligator Mix

ea22.99

Ap

Demolition Division/Dragon Mix

ea22.99

Ap

Minus Mission'Mulliplication

ea22.99

Ap

Spelling Wiz/Verb Viper

ea31.99

Ap

Word InvasionAVord Radar

ea31.99

Ap

LEARNING COMPANY Juggles Rainbow

21.99

Ap

Gertrudes Puzzle'Secret

ea29.99

Ap

Magic Spell/Bumble Plot

M2S.99

Ap

Number Stumper

26.99

Ap

Rocky s Boots

34.99

Ap

PEACHTREE Algebra l-lll

ea31.99

Ap

Counting Bee

23.99

Ap

Decimals/Fractions 3.0

ea33.99

IBM

LEARNING COMPANY Addition Magician

26.99

IBM

Magic Spells

27.99

IBM

PEACHTREE Algebra!

34.99

Ap/IBM

SPINNAKER Alphabet Zco

21.99

Ap.'IBM

Delia Drawing

32.99

Ap'IBM

Facemaker/Fraclion Fever

ea23.99

Ap/IBM

Hey Diddle- Kmdercorrp

6a21.99

Ap/IBM

Snooper Troops l-ll

ea29.99

Ap/IBM

Story Machine

23.99

Ap/IBM

LEARNING COMPANY Reader Rabbil

26.99

Ap/IBM

MopIownHolel'Parade

ea26.99

ApTBM

Word Spinner

26.99

ADVANCED SKILLS

MASTERTYPE 31.99

MICROSOFT Typing Tutor II 19.99

PEACHTREEPSATorSAT ea33.99

I IBM CAI Masters ea31.99

| IBM Subjects ea16.99

BM MASTERTYPE 34.99

Muppet Learning Keys - NEW 59.99

IBM IBM IBM

IBM

Ap/IBM Ap/IBM ApTBM Ap-IBM Ap IBM

BRODERBUNDGumbalf 21.99 I

amplifier. Drol ea24.9

MICROLAB Crises Mounlain/Dino Eggs ea27.9i

ODESTA Chess 45.99 I

SIERRA ON-LINE Frogger 21.99 1

SIR TECH Knight of Diamonds 27.99 I

Legacy of Llylgamyn 31.99 I

Wizardry 37.99 I

Wizipnnt 19.991

SUBLOGIC Flighl Simulator II 37.99 I

ULTIMA III 39.99 I

BRODERBUNDSerpenline 26.99 I

MICROSOFT Flight Simulalor II 39.99 I

SIERRA ON-LINE Crossfire 26.99 I

SIR-TECH Wizardry 44.99 I

BRODERBUNDLdderunner 24.991

Apple Panic 22.99 1

MICROLAB Miner 20-49er 27.99 I

SIERRA ON-LINE Ultima II 36.99 I

SUBLOGIC Night Mission Pinball 32.99 |

FOR IBM

TRILLIUM & WINDHAM CLASSICS

NEW Text Adventure Games

by Famous Authors

-$CALL

APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE

FOR THE HOME

Ap BRODERBUNO Bank Slreel Writer 44.99

Ap Bank Slreel Speller 49.99

Ap CONTINENTAL Tax Advantage 39.99

Ap Home Accountant 44.99

Ap Home Accountant (Mac) 75.99

Ap SIERRAON-UNEHomeword 45.99

Ap MONOGRAM Dollars S Sense 59.99

IBM BRODERBUNO Bank Street Wriler 59.99

IBM CONTINENTAL Home Accountant 84.99

IBM Tax Advanlage 49.99

IBM MONOGRAM Dollars 8Sense 109.99

FOR THE BUSINESS

Ap BPI(GL.AP.AR.PAY) ea275.99

Ap CONTINENTAL FCM-Firsl Class Mail 59.99

Ap KENSINGTON Format II 109.99

Ap PFS Report 79.99

Ap File, Graph, Write ea89.99

Ap SENSIBLE SPELLER 79.99

Ap SIERRA ON-LINE Screenwriter II 81.99

IBM ASHTONTATEdBASEII 299.99

IBM dBASEIIf 474.99

IBM Encyclopedia 59.99

IBM FrameWork 474.99

IBM Friday 184.99

IBM CONTINENTAL FCM-Firsl Class Mail 71.99

IBM Ullrafile 119.99

IBM LIFETREEVolkswriler Deluxe 219.99

IBM LOTUS Symphony 499.99

IBM MULTIMATE 379.99

IBM PFS Report 89.99

IBM File. Graph, Write ea99.99

MICRO COOKBOOK For Applet IBM «j qq Includes Recipes 0 I ■*/*/

Microfazer (Afl Configurations)

Quad5!2+64K I QuadboardlorllNoK |Quadboardlorll64K | Quadcolorl I Quadcolorl Upgrade

149.99 229.99 219.99 269.99 205.99

MEMORY CHIPS

Top Quality for

Best Performance $CALL

inFocom

FOR APPLE & IBM

CUTTHROATS Underwater Treasure Hunt' -AS W DEADLINE Deleclive Case and YOU'RE IT ENCHANTER Beginning-Magician Mission INFIDEL Enter The Losl Pyramid PLANFJFALL Investigate a Wild New World SEASTALKER Junior Level Rescue Mission SORCERER Mystic Clues 8 Magic Encounters STARCROSS Sci-FiAdvenlure,2188AD SUSPENDED 3 Levels and Custom Options WITNESS Classic Murder Mystery ZORKl Ail-Time Mosl Popular ZORKII-III Advanced Levels

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Suspect 34.99

27.99 34.99 27.99 31.99 27.99 27.99 31.99 34.99 34.99 27.99 27.99 31.99

27.99

UTILITIES & ENHANCEMENTS

BEAGLE Apple Mechanic Beagle Bag

Beagle BasioDouble Take

Dos Bos/Silicon Salad

Fat Cat

GPLE

Pronto DoS'Frame Up/Utility City EASTSIDE Wildcard II FINGERPRINT Epson Enhancement KOALA Touch Pad

MOCKINGBOARD - Speech Chips SCALL THUNDERCLOCK KOALA Speed Key

Speed Key System

Touch Pad

Touch Pad PC|r NORTON UTILITIES SIDEWAYS CENTRAL POINT Copy 11+/PC

GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

BEAGLETypelaces

Graphics - NEW

Alpha Plot

Triple Dump - NEW

Flex Text BRODERBUMD Print Shop PENGUIN Complete Graphics System

Graphics Magician

eat9.99 I ea23.99 I ea17.99 26.99 32.99 1 ea19.99 111.99 44.99 I 85.99 I 109.99 I 99.99 I 79.99 159.99 95.89 I 85.99 I 55.99 I 44.99 I 25.99 I

15.99 I 44.991 25.99 I 31.991

19.99 I 39.99 I 44.99 1 37.99 I

MAIL AND PHONE ORDERS

Inquiries Welcome! (408) 985-0490

MAIL, PHONE, WILL-CALL SERVICE FROM 8AM (PST)

COMPUTER DISCOUNT PRODUCTS

860 So. Winchester Bl., San Jose, CA 95128

- CALL (408) 985-0400

Retail Showrooms In California San Jose • San Mateo • San Francisco

• No Charge For Credit Cards

• Prices Subject To Change

• Software Sales Are Final

'Most Items Shipped Via 2-Day Service - NO CHARGE Printers A Monitors Shipped Standard Service- NO CHARGE

■^■-l^M AMERICAN] iflMfe

/JANUARY. ,985 • BYTE 453

Inquiry 59

mEGfl-BVTES FDR (TlkCRD-BUDGETS

eHpsnd your system...shrink your cost.

Why pay more for top quality products when our prices are consistently among the lowest anywhere? We invite you to compare prices, then call us.

SUQ. RETAIL

SALE PRICE

LEADING EDGE COMPUTERS*

256K, 2 Floppy Drives, Mono Display $1995 $1598

256K, 2 Floppy Drives, Color Display 2495 1798

256K. 1 Floppy & 10 Meg Hard Drive, Mono Display. . .2995 2298

256K, 1 Floppy & 10 Meg Hard Drive, Color Display. . .3495 2598

* All Leading Edge Computers come with MS-DOS 2.11, L.E. Word Processing, GW BASIC, plus more!!!

GREAT LAKES (PEGASUS) Hard Disk Subsystems prTce

10 MEGABYTE Internal $1049.00

10 MEGABYTE External 1195,00

23 MEGABYTE External 1869.00

40 MEGABYTE External 2449.00

65 MEGABYTE External Call

140 MEGABYTE External Call

TAPE DRIVE 23 Megabyte Internal 950.00

TAPE DRIVE 23 Megabyte Standalone Call

EPSON PRINTERS

FX-80

$419.00

FX-100

619.00

LQ-1500

1135.00

PRINCETON GRAPHIC MONITORS

HX-12 Call

MAX-12

Call

SR-12

Call

IBM PC-AT ENHANCED

1.2 MEG FLOPPY & 20 MEG HARD DISK Only $4,750.00

SHARP PC-5000X

Portable Computer with On-Board Printer

Only $1,695.00

DYSAN DISKETTES (10 per box)

104/1D 5y4" SS DD $27.98

104/2D 5'/4" DS DD 29.98

3740/1D 8" SS DD 35.98

3740/2 8" DS SD 35.98

3740/2D 8" DS DD 39.98

HAYES MODEMS

1200B (IBM PC) $399.50

1200 (RS232) 489.50

ORDERS ONL Y 800-858-4810 IN CALIF. 800-821-6662

COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS

2858S.ROBERTSONBLVD., LOS ANGELES,CA 90034

INFORM A TION 12 J 31 559-0596

Phone orders accepted on Visa and Mastercard only. California residents add 6.5% sales tax. No C.O.D. Actual shipping and handling charge added to all orders. Prepaid orders as follows: Money orders or cashier's check-merchandise shipped upon receipt. Personal checks must clear before shipping. 20% restocking fee.

Prices and availability subject to change. $100 minimum order.

SW40W

HIGH REL

SW70W

SWITCHING POWER SUPPLIES * low cost

SW80W

SW138

SW15Q

S3&S4

R1 & R1A

ITEM

FOR

+ 5V

±16V WxDxHin.

TERMINALS

PRICE

SW40W TERM. & 2 ALPS DRIVES 2.5A - 2/2.5A pk.

SW70W APPLE III, IBM PC-I, II 7A .3A 2.5/3.5A pk.

SW80W PC WITH SOFT DRIVES 8A .3A 3/4A pk.

SW138 IBM PC-XT HARD DRIVE 15A 1.0A 4/5A pk.

SW150 PC WITH HARD DRIVES 12A .3A 4/5A pk.

2.5A

.3A .3A .3A 1.0A .5A

6.3 x 3.9 x 1.9 9.6 x 4 x 2.4

7.4 X 4.5 X 2.3

9.5 x 5.6 x 4.6 10.4 x 5 x 2.5

MOLEX5051

MOLEX 126-P1

MOLEX 2139

MOLEX, AMP.

TERM. BLOCK

$54.95

64.95

74.95

119.95

129.95

SPECS. OF ABOVE SWITCHERS: 117/220 VAC SELECTABLE, INPUT 90-132 VAC/180-275 VAC, EFFIC. 75% TYPICAL, LINE REGUL. 0.3%, LOAD REGUL 1% ON +5V, 5% ON OTHER VOLTAGES, 6.2 OVP SETTING ON + 5V, OVERLOAD & SHORT CIRCUIT PROTECT, LOW OUTPUT RIPPLE & NOISE, 1% MAX, 50,000 HRS MTBF RELIABILITY, UL, FCC & VDE SAFETY & NOISE STANDARDS.

FOR S-100, 10 SLOTS 5A 1A *

FOR S-100, 6 SLOTS 4A 1A * -

2 FLOPPY DRIVES 3A .5A * -

APPLE II PC 3A .5A 3/4A pk. - .5A

COMPATIBLE TO COMMODORE C64 (OR C + 4) POWER SUPPLY; +5V/1.7A, 9 VAC/1A & 117 VAC IN, POTTED & U/L. + 24V CAN BE CHANGED TO +12V BY FACTORY, PLEASE SPECIFY WHEN YOU ORDER. THE ABOVE 5 LINEAR P/S ARE WITH 3% LOAD REGUL., OVP ON +5V, FUSED: INPUT & OUTPUTS.

S3 S4

R1

RlA c64

5/7A pk. 4/5A pk. 3/4A pk.

12A 8A

3A 2.5A

10 x6 x 5 8.4 x 5 X 4.8 8 x 4 x 3.4 8 x 4 x 3.4

SOLDER POST SOLDER POST SOLDER POST SOLDER POST

C64

$105.95 89.95 44.95 46.95 19.95

POWER TRANSFORMERS: (with mounting bracket) ON SALE

ITEM PRIMARY SECOND. #1 SECOND. #2 SECOND. #3 W x D x H in.

PRICE

T1

T2

T3

T4

T4-1

T5

110/120 VAC 110/120 VAC 110/120 VAC 110/120 VAC 110/120 VAC 110/120 VAC

2x8 VAC/7A 2x8 VAC/12A

2x8 VAC/6A 16 VAC, CT, 4A 16 VAC, CT, 4A 16 VAC, CT, 3A

28 VAC, CT, 2-5A 28 VAC, CT, 3A 28 VAC, CT, 2A 28 VAC, CT, 1.5A 28 VAC, CT, 1.5A 28 VAC, CT, 2A

28 VAC, CT, 3A 28 VAC, CT, 3A 48 VAC, CT, 2A

33/4 x 3% X 31/e 3% x 4% x 3Ve 3% x 4% x 3Va 3% x 3% x 3Vs 3% x 35/a x 3Va 3 x 3 x 2'/2

$15.95 21.95 23.95 17.95 14.95 11.95

MAILING ADDRESS P.O BOX 4296 TORRANCE, CA 90510

IEI.F.X I8XMB

SUNNY INTERNATIONAL

IN BUSINESS SINCE 1975

(213) 328-2425 MON-FRI 8:30-5:30

SHIPPING:

FOR EA. POWER SUPPLY: $6.00 IN CALIF; $8.00 IN OTHER STATES; $18.00 IN CANADA. FOR EA. TRANSFORMER: $6.00 IN ALL STATES; $12.00 IN CANADA. CALIF. RESIDENTS ADD 6.5% SALES TAX.

SHIPPING ADDRESS: 22129V2 S. VERMONT AVE TORRANCE, CA 90502

454 B YTE • JANUARY I985

Inquiry 406

SOMEBODY

Has To Have The Lowest Prices!

MONITORS

AMDEK 300

AMDEK 300A

AMDEK 310A

AMDEK COLOR I . AMDEK COLOR II.

PGS HX-12

PGSMAX-12

PGSSR-12

$135.00

$149.00

$165.00

BEST PRICE BEST PRICE

$475.00

$195.00

$625.00

IBM MONOCHROME DISPLAY $260.00

IBM COLOR DISPLAY $590.00

QUADCHROME C. DISPLAY— $590.00

PRINTERS

EPSON FX80

EPSON FX100

EPSON RX80

EPSON RX80 FT.

OKIDATA82A

OKIDATA83A

OKIDATA92P

OKIDATA93P

OKIDATA84P

OKIDATA2410P . OKIDATA2350P . TOSHIBA P1351_ TOSHIBA 1340

NEC SPINWRITER 3550

NEC SPINWRITER 7730

NEC PINWRITER 80 COL. _ NEC PINWRITER 136 COL.

QUAD INK JET PRINT

CITOH 40CPS

CITOH 55CPS

GEMINI 10X

GEMINI 15X

_ $489.00

_ $689.00

_ $295.00

_ $349.00

_ $299.00

_ $569.00

_ $399.00

_ $649.00

_ $799.00

$1999.00

$1849.00

$1399.00

_ $825.00

$1650.00

$1750.00

_ $720.00

_ $960.00

_ $799.00

BROTHER HR-25

BROTHER HR-35

SILVER REED500PSILVER REED550P. SILVER REED 770P_ ACCESSORIES ON PRINTERS AVAILABLE.

BEST PRICE BEST PRICE

$290.00

$390.00

$719.00

$925.00

$465.00

$570.00

$995.00

NEC & OKIDATA

IBM PC, 256k, 320k

Disk Drive, (Toshiba Half or

Tandon Full-High), Persyst

Color Card, Amdek 300

Monitor, Dos 2.1

PLUS!-A 10MB HARD

DISK SUB SYSTEM

All For Only:

$2699.00

(We configure and test the system lor you al no extra cost)

DRIVES

TANDON TM-100-2.

SLIMLINE DRIVES:

TOSHIBA

HITACHI

PANASONIC. TEAC 55B

$199.00

$165.00 $165.00 $165.00 $165.00

MULTIFUNCTION BOARDS

AST 1/0+1 SER & 1 PAR

AST SIX PACK 64K, 1 SER, 1 PAR

ASTMEGA+64K, 1 SER. AST COMBO

$179.00

.$269.00 $269.00 $269.00 $269.00

QUADBOARD 64K

(EXPANDABLE TO 256K) QUADBOARD 64K, 1s, 1p, GAME PORT

(EXPANDABLE TO 384K). IBM COLOR GRAPHIC ADAPTER

IBM MONO/PRINTER ADAPTER

PERSYST COLOR ADAPTER

PERSYST MONO/PRINTER ADAPTER

$299.00

$225.00

$230.00

$199.00

$215.00 $349.00

HERCULES GRAPHIC

PLANTRONICS

COLOR PLUS BEST PRICE

PARADISE MULTIFUNCTION

CARD , BEST PRICE

ORCHID BLOSSOM BEST PRICE

64K RAM UPGRADE KIT $50.00

PEACOCK COLOR CARD W/PP

$215.00

STB RIO PLUS64K

STB SUPER RIO 64K _ STB PIGGYBACK FOR SUPER RIO

STB GRAPHIX PLUS II

BEST PRICE BEST PRICE

BEST PRICE

$375.00

MODEMS

HAYES

SMART MODEM 1200

HAYES

SMART MODEM 300

HAYES 1200B PLUG IN MODEM CARD_ QUBIE PC 212A/1200 INTERNAI

QUBIE 212E/1200 EXTERNAI

$469.00 $209.00 $429.00 $275.00 $299.00

HARD DISKS

10MB HARD DISK SUB SYSTEM

INCLUDES:

SOFTWARE. CONTROLLER. CABLES, ETC

INTERNAI $850.00

$1025.00

EXTERNAI

TALLGRASS TECHNOLOGY

12MB W/TAPE BACKUP $2750.00

20MB W/TAPE BACKUP $3199.00

35MB W/TAPE BACKUP $4350.00

INTERFACE IBM $125.00

POWER BACK-UP SYSTEM $479.00

GENERAL

MAXELL

DISKETTES MD2

CONTROL

DATA DISKETTES

MICROSOFT MOUSE

MOUSE W/WORD

KEYTRONIC KEYBOARD KB5151_ PARALLEL CABLES_ IBM PC DOS 2.1

. $35.00/box

. $30.00/box

$130.00

$339.00

$199.00

BEST PRICE BEST PRICE

We also carry

CORONA, APPLE lie,

APPLE lie,

MACINTOSH,

TECHMAR.

Many other products available, Please call for Low, Low Prices!

COMPUTER PRODUCTS;

(714)838-7530

2640 Walnut Avenue, Unit K, Tustin, California 92680

Prices & availability subject to change without notice - IBM is a registered trademark of IBM Corp.

Inquiry 237 for Dealers. Inquiry 238 for End-Users.

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 455

9 YEARS IN COMPUTER MAIL ORDER

GSL COMPUTER TOLL FREE 1-800-545-2633

All prices for MC, VISA, AMEX or Pre-pay customers only. Call for P.O. Prices.

Terms:

We accept MC, Visa, American Express (3% handling charge), Wire transfer, and Purchase Orders from qualified firms. All returns without RMA are subject to 20% restocking charge. Utah residents pay 5.75% sales tax. Call for freight charges. Prices subject to change and are in U.S. Currency only. MINIMUM ORDER J15.00

UPS Red Label 1 day deliery UPS Surface Min. 3 to 10 day delivery

UPS Blue Label 3 day delivery

IBM HARD DISK SYSTEMS

IBM SYSTEMS

IBM PC-1 Includes 64K, RAM, 1 ea.360KFD, KB $1449

IBM PC-2 64K RAM, 2 ea 360KFD.KB $1599

IBM PC-22 256K RAM, 2 ea 360KFD, KB $1699

MEMORY BOARDS

AST 6 Pak • w/64K (Expands to 384K) has Par,

Serial. Clk, RAM Disk. Spooler $259

AST 6 Pak • W/384K Plus all

above features $449

P.C. WARE "256K RAM" w/0 RAM $119

P.C WARE "256K RAM" W/64K RAM $159

"Ouadboard 384" w/64K (Expands to 384K)

has Par. Serial. Clk. RAM Disk.

Spooler. Game Port $269

"Ouadboard 384" W/384K and all

above leatures $459

MONITORS

IBM Color Display $569

IBM Monochrome Monitor $249

QUIMAXPX-tV Hi-Res RGBS Green (In One) ... $469 (Better than Princeton)

NEW — QUIMAX MONITORS

Hi-Res, 14" Screen Tilt & Swivel

DM14A (Amber) $159

DM14G (Green) $149

PX-IV (4) - Hi-Res RGB w/Switch to convert to green for Word Processing

w/Tilt & Swivel Base $469

(Better than Princeton)

PRINTERS

Daisywriler 2000-48K Buffer. 20 to

40 CPS Ltr Quality $999

Diablo 620 API (25CPS) $749

Diablo 630 API (40CPS) $1549

Diablo 630 ECS/IBM or API $1649

Epson FX-80O60CPS- 10"

Graphtrax/Tractor) $399

Epson FX-100 (160 CPS - 15"

Graphtrax/Tractor) LQ $649

Juki 6100 (18 CPS - Diablo Compatible

Daisywheel) $419

Juki 6300 (40 CPS - 16" - 3K Butter

Upgrade to 15K) $799

Okidata 82a (120CPS -10") $319

Okidata 83a (120CPS - 15') $569

Okidata 92a (160CPS - 10") $399

Okidata 93a (160CPS - 15") $649

Panasonic 1091 (120 CPS - Logic

Seeking Head - Runs Faster than

FX-80-Par Port - Double Strike

Switch - with Tractor $299

Toshiba P-1351

(192CPS/120CPS Ltr) $1299

IBM PC-3 256K RAM, 2 ea 360K FD, IBM Mono Display, IBM Mono Card, KB $2129

IBM PC-33 256K RAM, 2 ea 360K FD, Color Bd. Monitor, KB $2049

IBM PC-4 256K RAM, 2 ea 360K FD, Everex Graphics Edge, Quimax PX4, KB $2549

MEMORY UPGRADES

IBM UP-GRADE FOR PC

INCLUDES 9 EA. 4164-200NS

FOR EXPANSION ON ALL PRODUCTS

WITH PARITY

$32.00 PER SET

$29.95 5 OR MORE

IBM MEMORY UPGRADE FOR AT

9 EA 4128-200 NS(128K)

$229.00

COMPAQ MEMORY (256K) UPGRADE

9 ea 256K CHIP (200NS)

$229.00

DISK DRIVES

CDC 9409 DS/DD 360K 199 190 180

MITM-4853 1/2HGT 169 159 140

SHUGART SA455L DS/DD 360K

5"1/2HGT 155 145 140

TANDON TM100-1A SS/DD 160K

5" Full Size 150 140 130

TANDON TM100-2A DS/DD 360K

5" Full Size 155 145 140

TANDON TM-101-4 Quad 720K

5" Full Size 280 270 260

TEAC FD55B DS/DD 360K

1/2H 135 129 119

TEAC FD55F Quad 720K

1/2 H 169 159 149

INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTATION

10, 15, 22 and 30 MG Hard Disk Subsystems

Plug in controller and have instant Mass Storage'

• 3 times laster than XT • Boot trom hard disk

• Fully PC or XT compatible

External

$889

$1089

$1529

$1889

TAPE STREAMER

• 10 MG Streamer Tape back-up • Back-up in 8 min.

InlernalStream 112 HGT $899

External Stream (w/Power Supply

and case) (112 HGT) $995

10.38 MG Tape Cartridge $29

Size

Internal

10MB

$749

15 MB

$989

22 MB

S1349

33 MB

$1769

IBM XT 12BK RAM. 10 MB

Hard Disk. S Keybd $3495

PC-10 256K RAM. 10MG H.D.. 1 ea

360K FD and Keybd $2569

PC-10/2 256K RAM. 10MG HD. 2 ea 112 Hgl

360K FD and Keybd $2769

PC-10/2M256KRAM. 10 MG HD. 2 ea 360K FD.

Quimax DM14A, IBM Monocard, Keybd ... $3149

IBM-AT SYSTEMS

3 TIMES SPEED OF XT

IBM-AT (Base Model) includes 256K RAM.

1.2 MB F.D.. Clk/Cal, 8 Slots.

Keylock, KB $3900

IBM-AT (Enhanced) includes 512K RAM.

1.2 MB FD, 20 MB Fixed Drive.

Ser/Par Port, 8 Slots, Keylock. KB $5700

AT ADD-ON DRIVES

20MG Hard Disk $1295

30MG Hard Disk $1695

1.2 MG FD. w/Rails $329

360K FD. w/Rails $229

MODEMS

Anchor Mark XII - External-Direct ConnectHayes Commands Includes Serial CableAuto Answer & Dial $239

Hayes 1200 - External-Direct Connect $479

Hayes 1200B - Internal (or IBM with Software $399

Pro-Modem 1200 - External-Direct Connectw/Clock - Hayes Commands Auto Answer and Dial $329

VIDEO CARDS

Mono Cards

IBM Monochrome Card $229

Hercules Graphics Card $329

Color Cards

IBM Color Card $219

STB Graphics Plus - Composite. Mono

50% Faster Scroll. Lite Pen Inttce.

Flicker Free, Par Port

Runs all Software $349

Everex - "The Graphics Edge" $399

(80X25 or 132X44) Runs Mono and Color

Simultaneously - (640X200V) 16 Color Par Port

IBM MISCELLANEOUS

IBM Memory Upgrade Kit (64K)

. $32

P.C. Ware Serial Board

. $79

P.C. Ware Par Board

. $75

P.C. Ware Clock/Calendar

. $59

Math Co-Processor - 8087

$149

IBM DOS 2 1

. $57 $60

IBM DOS 3.0

PRINTER SWITCHER

Allows you to switch from letter quality to Dot Matrix by flip of switch SCN-2/Two Position Centronics Par

to Centronics Par $99

SCN-4/Four Position Cen Par

to Cen Par $139

SRS-2/Two Position Serial to Serial $89

SRS-4/Four Position Serial to Serial $129

Customer Service (801) 972-2739

Sales (Utah) (801) 972-2717 Sales (Outside Utah) (800) 545-2633

r7?rv

The Great Salt Lake

Computer Company, Inc.

SEND FOR NEW CATALOG

Retail and Mail Orders

1780 West 2300 South

Salt Lake City, Utah 84119

Prices subject to change without notice.

Now, the lowest

prices ever on

3M Scotch0

7 DISKETTES

$153

■ QTY. 20

5'/4"SSDD

$906

_ QTY. 20 5 w DSD0 glm QTY. 20

5'/.-SSDD-96TPI -» $2.29 ea. iV DSDD-96TPI -» $2.85 ea.

SOFT SECTOR ONLYI MINIMUM ORDER: 20 DISKETTES

These are factory-fresh 3M diskettes packed in boxes of 10 with

Tyvek sleeves, reinforced hubs, identification labels and write

protect tabs. -- __

3.5' MICRO-DISKETTES-SS-135 TPI -» $2.89 ea.

LIFETIME WARRANTY ON ALL 3M SCOTCH DISKETTES!

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK Authorized Distributor

Information Processing

WORLD! Produc"

BASF

QUALIMETRIC DISKETTES!

$141

| Qty 20

5W SSDD

.$159

DSDD | Qty. 20

PACKED IN PLASTIC LIBRARY CASES!

BASF QUALIMETRIC DISKETTES have a LIFETIME WARRANTY and are packed in PLASTIC LIBRARY CASES with Tyvek sleeves, reinforced hubs, user identification labels and writeprotect tabs. SOFT SECTOR ONLY! MINIMUM ORDER: 20 DISKETTES BASF 3.5" MICRO-FLOPPIES BASF 5WHIGH DENSITY

FOR IBM PC-AT SSDD-135 TPI ^S3.02ea. DSDD-HD -^$4.72ea.

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DI^K Authorized Reseller

H'W" Information Processing " QACC

WORLD!Meda

Incredible value!

Nashua

Diskettes

LIFETIME WARRANTY!

0 |UU 5V< SSDD 3115

I Qty. 50 5y4» DSDD I Qty. 50

These are poly-bagged diskettes packaged with Tyvek sleeves, reinforced hubs, user identilication labels and write-protect tabs.

NASHUA Corporation is a half-billion dollar corporation and a recognized leader in magnetic media.

SOFT SECTOR ONLY! Sold in multiples of 50 only!

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK WORLD!

NASHUA Authorized Distributor MAGNETIC MEDIA

Save 20% to 60% Or More

On all your OFFICE & COMPUTER SUPPLIES!

Now, you can enjoy DISK WORLD! savings on more than 21,000 office and computer supply products! You name it, we got it...at tremendous savings.

Everything from Scotch" Tape to Post-It Notes" to paper clips and rubber bands...and thousands of computer products as well

Our catalog is huge...more than 700 pages, listing more than 21,000 items.

We have to charge for it: $10.00 to be exact.

But we include a $50.00 worth of discount coupons that you can use on future orders.

Now, it's DISK WORLD! for every office or computer supply need...and always at tremendous savings!

This offer supercedes all prior catalog offers. Not responsible for typographical errors.

for orders only: information*

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK WORLD!

Ordering & Shipping Instructions

Shipping: 5%' & 3.5' DISKETTES—Add $3.00 per each 100 or fewer diskettes. Other Items: Add shipping charges as shown in addition to other shipping charges. Payment: VISA and MASTERCARD accepted. COD Orders: Add additional $3.00 Special Handling charge. APO, FPO, AK, HI & PR Orders: Include shipping charges as shown and additional 2% of total order amount to cover PAL and insurance. Taxes: ll'nois residents only, add 8% sales tax.

Prices subject to change without notice. This ad supercedes all other ads.

Not responsible for typographical errors. minimum total order: $35.00

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time

Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK WORLD!

ATHANA

DISKETTES The great unknown!

QQC soo $-|09

WW °* 50 5 W DSDD -I QtV50

You've used these diskettes hundreds of times...as copy-protected originals on some of the most popular software packages. They're packed in poly-bags of 25 with Tyvek sleeves, reinforced hubs, user identification labels and write-protect tabs.

LIFETIME WARRANTY!

SOFT SECTOR ONLY! Sold in multiples

of 50 only.

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES)

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK ATHANA

Authorized Distributor MAGNETIC

WORLD!

DISKETTE STORAGE CASES

AMARAY MEDIA-MATE 50: A REVOLUTION ^k IN DISKETTE STORAGE

^BL . Every once in a while, someone takes the

KJI^y simple and makes it elegant! This unit holds

■k • 50 5V<" diskettes, has grooves lor easy

^^ *^Jr stacking, inside nipples to keep diskettes

from slipping and several other features. We

like it! CHI 0£ +$2.00

\J) lU.aJ ea. Shpng.

DISKETTE 70 STORAGE: STILL A GREAT BUY.

g^Br Dust-free storage (or 70 5'/<" diskettes. ■51 Six dividers included. An excellent value.

E-■•- 111 tK+-$a0°

—T»^fc V DISK l-Ar : <:

kDISK CADDIES * ' """ Shpng' The original flip-up holder for 10 5'/<" 'diskettes. Beige or grey only.C-1 CC

+ 20« Shpng.

for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK WORLD!

PRINTER RIBBONS:

at

extraordinary prices!

Brand new ribbons, manufactured to Original Eguipment Manufacturer's specifications, in housings. (Not re-inked or spools only.)

LIFETIME WARRANTYI

Epson MX-70/80 .. $3.58 ea. + 25C Shpng.

Epson MX-100 ... $4.95 ea. + 25C Shpng.

Okidata Micro83.. $1.48 ea. + 251 Shpng.

Okidata Micro84.. $3.66 ea. + 25<t Shpng. for orders only: information &

1-800-621-6827 inquiries:

(In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788) 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time, Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

The value leader in I Ulwl\ Computer supplies II ,.,__._. And accessories. I U/l J ft I [J I

PAPER: Save 50% or more!

We buy paper by the TRUCKL0AD from the two biggest mills in the country.

Therefore, we charge a lot less than you've been paying!

For the complete DISK WORLD paper catalogs and price lists, call 1-312-944-2788 or write us. (Please do not use the "800" line for paper catalog requests, unless you are also placing an order.

Don't spend more than you have to for topquality computer printer paper. Call DISK WORLD! today.

INFORMATION & INQUIRIES: 1-312-944-2788

HOURS: 8AM-5PM Central Time

Monday-Friday

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE

ON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

DISK WORLD!, Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago, lllinos 60611

DISK WORLD!

Where paper Coats leaal

Inquiry 113

JANUARY 1985

1YTE 457

GUARANTEED LC's. SHIPPED IMMEDIATELY

The Computer Parts Merchant is a leading nationwide supplier of wholesale LC's. We have just about every I.C. made in stock today. Plus, we offer these special services:

Guaranteed parts—every part guaranteed for 60 days—and pretested before shipment.

Guaranteed fast—same day— shipping.

Guaranteed low prices.

Guaranteed satisfaction or purchase price cheerfully refunded.

How to order.

Call toll free. We accept Visa,

Visit our retail store:

The Computer Parts Merchant, Inc. 17777 Main Street, Suite D Irvine, CA 92714

Terms: minimum order $10. For shipping and handling, include $2.50 UPS Ground, or $3.50 for UPS Air. California residents must include 6% sales tax. All prices are subject to change without notice. We are not responsible for typographical errors. All merchandise subject to prior sale.

Mastercard or American Express.

Search service. If

we don't have

Or we can ship UPS C.O.D.

ft

n

kHi

H

the I.C. you

need in

stock, we can

National 800-235-4900

■

LJ

'll

ft

find it for you. (There is a $25

min

California 800-2384900

%J

■ 1

'I

imum charge for

I.C

.'sfo

und

Local Orange County (714) 474-1033.

The Computer Parts Merchant, Lie.

through a search.)

A few samples from our million part inventory:

A few samples from our million

74SXX

LINEAR DEVICES

STATIC

CMOS

part inventory:

74S00 74S02

S .45 49

74S151 74S153

S97 .97

LM301 LM307

S 47 57

NE570 LM709

S3 95 59

RAMS

4001 4002

S 35 35

74C00 74C02

S 49

47

74S04

.49

74S157

.97

LM309H

1.95

LM723

.59

2101

51 S3

4008

95

74C04

.47

74S08

49

74S161

1 87

LM312

1.75

LM741

49

2114

1 50

4010

.57

74C08

47

74LSXX

74S10 74S11

.45 .49

74S169 74S174

3.99 .99

LM318 LM324

1 49 79

LM747 LM748

69 59

2147 TMS4044

4 95 4 59

4011 4012

.37 .37

74C10 74C20

.47 49

74LS00 S 38

74LS83 S .87

74LS170

S149

74S20

.49

74S181

4.39

LM350

4 95

LM1458

.59

TMM2016

ur, 1C1 ic

4 59

4020

.87

74C30

49

74LS02 38

74LS86 .46

74LS191

.99

74S22

45

74S194

1 99

LM380

.69

LM2900

.85

HMbMD Tftylo<imc

4 75

4021

.95

74C73

87

74LS04 40

74LS91 .75

74LS221

130

74S30

.35

74S197

1 79

LM393

129

LM3900

79

I1vlb401fa

6.95

4022

87

74C74

79

74LS03 40

74LS93 66

74LS240

1 60

74S32

59

74S240

2.20

NE555

57

MC4024

3 95

HM6264

39 95

4030

.57

74C86

.59

74LS10 40

74LS107 46

74LS241

1 30

74S37

89

74S241

2.40

NE556

77

MC4044

4 50

Others on

shelf

4034

1 95

74C90

1 19

74LS11 40 74LS12 36

74LS109 .46 74LS112 .50 74LS122 .53

74LS242 74LS243 74LS244

1.30 1.30 1 49

74S38

99

74S244

2 20

4040 4041 4050

74S74 74S86

89 .95

74S251 74S253

95 95

Call for others

.97

97 47

74C93 74C151 74C157

1.75 2 25

74LS14 76

175

74LS20 38

74LS124 2.90

74LS245

1 49

74S112

1 19

74S257

.95

74XY

4069

.35

74C161

179

74LS21 38

74LS132 .91

74LS251

.75

74S113

1 19

74S260

.79

4071

.35

74C173

79

74LS30 .38

74LS137 99

74LS257

.75

74S124

299

74S273

2 45

7400

S .35

7451

S .39

74160

89

4082

.35

74C174

1.19

74LS32 50

74LS138 87

74LS258

.75

74S132

1 59

74S287

2.29

7401

35

7473

54

74161

89

4093

.67

74C192

1.49

74LS37 40

74LS147 275

74LS266

.79

74S138

.97

74S373

3 39

7402

.39

7474

.69

74163

89

4502

.95

74C193

1.49

74LS38 40

74LS151 .66

74LS273

1.69

74S139

97

74S374

3 39

7404

.39

7489

3.40

74164

99

4512

97

74C373

2 45

74LS40 38

74LS153 .69

74LS373

1 49

74S140

77

74S570

3 50

7406

89

749B

47

74166

1 50

4522

1.25

74C374

2.45

74LS42 66

74LS157 .65

74LS374

1 49

Call (or others

7407

.89

7492

69

74174

99

4532

1 95

74C906

.95

74LS51 36

74LS158 65 74LS161 75

74LS377 74LS640

1 49 3 49

7408

7410

.41

.35

74107 74109

39

59

74181 74191

2 39

1 15

4556

4585

99 .99

74C912 74C921

8.95

74LS54 38

1595

74LS63 150

74LS166 1.95

74LS669

1 99

DYN

7411

.39

74123

.69

74193

99

r. f*sll

74LS74 55

74LS169 175

74LS670

299

TMS4027

S 1.99

4116

S1 49

7420 7421

.35 49

74125 74132

.69 .59

74194 74221

99 1 35

y iorw«ii.

Partial Lisl

MM5280 TMS4060

1.95 195

2118

4164

495 5.95

7427

7430

.45

35

74147 74151

1 75 79

74273 74366

1.95

99

MEMORY EPR0M

s

5, 8,12 AND 15 VOLT VOLTAGE REGULATORS

UP0411 MK4108

1.95 TMS4416 1.95 41256 Call for more

9.95 Call

7432 7438 7442

.35

■19 .59

74153 74154 74157

.79

1 25

79

74367 74393

99 1 35

2708 2716 2732

S3.95 3.95 4.95

2764 27128

S6 95 34 95

Call for Prices

Otners or

shelf

More available.

458 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 78

I 74LS00 I 74LS01 I 74LS02 ■ 74LS03 74LS04 74LS05 74LS08 74LS09 74LS10 74LS11 74LS12 74LS13 74LS14 74LS15 74LS20 74LS21 74LS22 74LS26 74LS27 74LS28 74LS40 74LS42 74LS48 74LS51 74LS54 74LS55 74LS73 74LS74 74LS75 74LS76 74LS78 74LS83A 74LS85 74LS86 74LS90 74LS92 74LS93 74LS95 74LS96 74LS107 74LS109 74LS113 74LS114 74LS122 74LS123 74LS124 74LS125 74LS126 74LS132 74LS133 74LS136 74LS138 74LS139 74LS145 74LS148 74LS151 74LS153 74LS154 74LS155 74LS156 74LS157 74LS158 74LS160 74LS161 74LS162 74LS163 74LS164 74LS165

74LS00

25 30

.25

30

.75 35 75

75 35

75 75

95 75 75

95 95

75 95

74LS166

150

74LS168

1.35

74LS169

1.35

74LS170

1.35

74LS173

1.35

74LS174

.85

74LS175

.90

74LS181

250

74LS190

" 45

74LS191

1.45

74LS192

145

74LS193

1.45

74LS194

145

74LS195

1.45

74LS196

1.35

74LS197

1.35

74LS221

1.35

74LS240

1 85

74LS242

185

74LS243

1.85

74LS244

2.25

74LS245

3.95

74LS247

165

74LS248

165

74LS249

1 65

74LS251

175

74LS253

1.75

74LS258

1.50

74LS259

2 95

74LS260

1 15

74LS261

3.75

74LS266

1.35

74LS273

1.75

74LS275

195

74LS279

75

74LS283

75

74LS290

75

74LS293

1 25

74LS295

1.65

74LS298

165

74LS323

2.95

74LS324

1.15

74LS347

1.55

74LS348

145

74LS352

1 65

74LS353

1 95

74LS363

1 95

74LS365

1 25

74LS366

1 25

74LS367

95

74LS368

95

74LS373

1.95

74LS374

1 95

74LS375

95

74LS377

95

74LS378

1 55

74LS379

1 55

74LS381

1 95

74LS385

1 95

74LS386

1 25

74LS390

2 55

74LS393

1 55

74LS395

1 55

74LS424

1 95

74LS640

195

74LS668

2 75

74LS645

1 95

74LS670

1 50

74LS690

1 50

74S00

74S00

74S02

74S03

74S04

74S05

74S08

74S09

74S10

74S11

74S15

74S20

74S22

74S30

74S32

74S38

74S40

74S51

74S64

74S65

74S74

74S86

74S112

74S113

74S114

74S124 3 65

74S133

74S134

74S135

74S136

74S138

745139 l 25

745140 l 25 74S151 74S153 74S157 74S158 1 95

745160 I 95

745161 1 95 74S163 295

745174 2 25

745175 225 74S188 3 55 74S194 74S195

30

30

.35

65

95

95

95

.95 95

.95 95 95 95 95 95 1.25

1 25 1.65

2 25 1 25

1 25 1 95 1 95

2 55 2 55

74S196 2 55

74S225

7 75

74S240

2 95

74S241

2 95

74S242

295

74S243

2 95

74S251

2.25

74S253

2 25

74S257

1 95

74S258

1 95

74S260

1.25

74S280

2 95

74S263

3 95

74S287

3 95

74S288

395

74S289

4 95

74S373

395

74S374

3 95

74S387

3.95

74S471

495

74S472

7 95

74S473

7 95

74S474

9 95

74S475

995

GENERAL PURPOSE BOARDS BLANK BOARD — HOLES ON 100" GRID, No ETCHED CIRCUIT EXCEPT CONTACT FINGER

No Contacts

Size

Contact Centers Price

P44I-1 22/44 4 5"x6" .156" 9 95 P 442-1 22/44 4.5" x 9" .156" 10.95 P 721-1 36/72 4.5" x 6" .100" 9.95 P 722-1 36/72 4.5" x 9" .100" 10 95

D- SUBMINIATURE CONNECTORS

Description

Solder Cup

Right Angle PC Mounting | Hood

Pin

Socket

Pin

Socket

Grey

Black

Part No.

DXXP

DXXS

RDXXP

RDXXS

DXXCGY

DXXC

Contacts 9 15 25 37

2.05 2.05 250 4.75

2.65 3.60 325 7 10

390 3.70 450 9.40

3.20 5.40 4.80 10.95

1.55 1.55 1 55 2.95

1 25

50

600

9 25

3.50

MODEMS

IBM PC SMARTMODEM 1200B. Plug-in 449.00

SMARTCOM II COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE 99 00

SMARTMODEM 300. AUTO ANS/DIAL. 300 BAUD. RS232 199 00

SMARTMODEM 1200, AUTO ANS/DIAL, 1200 BAUD. RS232 475.00

SMARTMODEL lie. 300 BAUD. AUTO ANS/DIAL. Plug-in 249.00

SMARTCOM I COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE 79 00

RESISTORS

V. WATT 5% CARBON FILM FROM 1 OHM TO 10M OHM

50 pes 99

100 pes 1.89

1000 pes 9.50

5000 pes 42.50

YiWATT

50 pes

100 pes

1000 pes

5000 pes

5%

CARBON FILM

1 25

2.35

11.50

52.50

.02 ea .019 ea .010 ea .009 ea

.025 ea .024 ea 012 ea .011 ea

Apple ll/lle

Compatible

Disk Drive

$139.°°

CONTROLLER

CARD $44.95

JOYSTICK FOR APPLE II $1995

Joy Stick for IBM P/C

$22:

8087

MATHEMATICS CO-PROCESSOR

$189.'

FOR APPLE II & lie

16K RAM CARD

Compatible with DOS 3 3 CP M Visicalc. PASCAL 1 YR WARRANTY

$39.!

Speedy EPROM

Programmer

for Apple II

S149.00

Programming 2716, 2732.

2732A, 2764, 27128.

2516, 2532, 2564

in 30 seconds, software

control programming.

no additional

hardware required.

New Multichannel Hobby Microwave Antenna System Freq. Range: 2.1 - 2.7 GHz

Includes:

1. Wide Band Probe With Down Converter

2. 20" White Painted Dish

3. 60' and 3' Coax Cable Set

4. Steel Case 5 - 20 DCV Tuneable Power Supply

5. Mounting Accessories and Instructions

ALL FOR $97.95

IC SOCKETS

WW - WIRE WRAP

8 PIN WW 14 PIN WW 16 PIN WW 18 PIN WW 20 PIN WW 22 PIN WW 24 PIN WW 28 PIN WW 40 PIN WW

55

65

65

89

1 00

1 15

1 19

1 45

1 89

6 PIN LP 8 PIN LP 14 PIN LP 16 PIN LP 18 PIN LP 20 PIN LP 22 PIN LP 24 PIN LP 28 PIN LP 40 PIN LP 64 PIN LP

LP = LOW PROFILF

.10 .12 14 .16 18 28 28 30 40 48 .1 10

100

45

.55

55

79

90

1 05

1 09

1 35

1 69

.09

16 26 24 26 32 38

U/V EPROM ERASER

General Industries

$37.50

SUPER COOLING FANS For APPLE

WITH SURG $37.5

Build Your IBM™ PC/XT Compatible

at

Competitive

Prices

$1,379

DEALER AND OEM ARE INVITED

Completed

Unassembled System Hardware Only

MULTIFUNCTION BOARD

• 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port real time clock, 64k RAM up

to 256k RAM 219.00

Floppy disk drive controller board 119.00

Hard disk controller board/DTC 5150BX 299.00

Color graphic board 199.00

Monochrome + color + graphic board 299.00

Panasonics disk drive, 320k, half height 129.00

Hard disk drive 10 MB/Shugart SA712 549.00

100W power supply with fan 129.00

Case 109.00

Manual 25.00

Keyboard 119.00

High resolution color RGB monitor/Taxan 399.00

High resolution green monitor/Taxan 119.00

Monitor stand 19.95

Hayes 1200B modem 399.00

Hayes 1200 modem 475.00

Tandon TM100-2A 160.00

64k Memory Expansion Kit 45.00

50 5% Diskett Store 19.95

MOTHER BOARD:

• 8088 CPU with socket for co-processor 8087

• 8088 is supported by 8259A interrupt controller and 8237 DMA controller

• 2 (two) 28 pin sockets for ROM

• 8 (eight) expansion slots

• No RAM on board (RAM is on multifunction board)

Bare Board 69.00

Ready Board : 179.00

(With IC sockets, resistors, capacitors, connectors, crystals, transistors soldered)

Tested Board (w/o ROM) 299.00

IC kit 120.00

IBM is the trademark of International Business Machines. Prices subject to change without notice.

TERMS: For shipping include $2.50 for UPS Ground or $3.50 for UPS Blue Label Air.

Items over 2 lbs. require additional shipping charges $10.00 minimum order.

COD Additional $2.00 Fee.

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Apple is a trademark of

Apple Computer.

Price is subject to change without notice

1-(800) 821-3628

LZS Hand well

4962 EL CAMINO REAL • LOS ALTOS. CA 94022 • (4151 962-9265

corp

I TELEFAX (415) 962-8249

TXL 171947 HANDWELL LTOS I

Inquiry 157

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 459

DATA ACQUISITION

and control for ANY computer

The Model 8232 communicates via RS-232, and has 8 analog Inputs (0-5 VDC; 8 bits), 8 digital Inputs and outputs, and a 2000 point buffer. Suitable for field data logging or lab use, the 8232 costs only $540. Direct bus-connect unit for TRS80/111 & 4 Is $295. Detailed manual, $6. Phone our applications engineer or write:

+ a STARBUCK + +

K W DATA COMPANY X «

225 Crescent St., Wallham, MA 02154 ■ (617) 899-6629

EPROM

PROGRAMMER

APPROTEK 1000

$249.95

COMPLETE WITH PERSONALITY MODULE ll 7 AC POWER-RS232 -6 BAUD RATES HANDSHAKE TO HOST ALLOWS READ, WRITE. VERIFY & COPY omes complete with CPM 8 BASIC Driver ogram Listings lor most small micros

Full 1 Year Warranty

Programs the fc devices. 2 7xx s 25xx series, 6E Specify Persona Additional Perse

owing. 5 Volt 24 or 28 pin

ties through 27256,

'66 plus others

ly Module desired with order

lality Modules only $ 1 5,00 [

Inquiry 330

TO ORDER: CALL OR WRITE

APROPOS TECHNOLOGY

1071-A AVENIDA ACASO Add

CAMARILLO. CA 930 I 0 $4.00 Shipping-USA (BOS) 482-3604 VISA or MC Add 3%

Inquiry 28

Dysan

^CORPORATION

Solve your dWc problem*, buy1100% •urface tested Dyun rlakrttw AD order* shipped from stock, within 24 noma. Call toll FREE (800) 235-4137 for price* and Information VWa and Master Cud accepted.

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (InCal. call (805)543-1037

Inquiry 268

Real-Time Multitasking Executive

m ROMable (< 3K) a No royalties

■ Source code included a Language interlaces

■ Low interrupt overhead

■ Inter-task messages Options:

• C, Pascal, PL/M, Fortran Interfaces

• CP/M-80 BDOS interface

• IBM PC DOS interface

• Extended memory (> 64K) •Configuration Builder

Utility •Resource Manager •Buffer Manager

• Integer Math Library

• Real-Time C Library

AMX (for 8080) $800 U.S.

(for 6809) $950 U.S.

(for 8086) $950 U.S. Manual only $ 75 U.S. (specify processor)

AMX. AMXB6, Real-Time C areTM ol

KADAK Products Lid zaOisTMofZNooCorp. CP/M-30 isTM ol Digital Research Corp IBM. PC DOS areTM ol IBM Corp.

KADAK Products Ltd.

j| 206-1847 W. Broadway ■mmc Vancouver, B.C., Canada ■■ V6J1Y5

Telephone: (604) 734-2796

Telex: 04-55670

NEW!

-J0

KEYBOARD PROTECTOR

Remains in place during keyboard use. Prevents damage from liquid spills, dust, ashes, etc. Fits like a second skin, excellent feel. Homerow and numeric locators. Available for: IBM-PC, Apple He, Radio Shack Model 100, Commodore 64. Send $29.95, check or M.O., Visa & MC include exp. date. Specify computer type. Dealer inquires invited. Free brochure available.

MERRITT Computer Products, Inc. 2925 LBJ, *180 / Dallas, Texas 75234 (214)942-1142

PRINTER RIBBONS

PRICE PER RIBBON

ANADEX 9500 10.50

APPLE DMP 5.25

PER DOZEN 109.80 52.20 52.20 48.00 69.00 23.40 78.00 92.40 180.00 58.80 78.00 92.40 180.00 69.00 96.00 52.20 23.40 57.00 87.00 58.80 57.00 105.00 87.00 66.00 Call

Catalog r

C. ITOH PROWRITER

EPSON MX-FX 70/80

EPSON MX-FX 100

GEMINI 10-10X-15-15X

5.25

5.00

6.75

2.50

IBM HARMONICA W

6.75

IBM HARMONICA W ....

7.95

IBM 4-COLOR

15.75

IDS MICROPRISM-480

. 5.75

IDS PAPER TIGER 460/560 IDS PRISM

6.75 7.95

IDS 4-C0L0R

15.75

NEC-3500 M/S Non Flip

NEC-3500 NYLON

NEC PC-8023A

6.25

9.00

5.25

OKI DATA 80/82/83/92

OKIDATA-84

2.50 5.00

RADIO SHACK DMP-2100 RADIO SHACK LP VI & VIII SILVER REED EX 550 S/S SILVER REED EX 550 NYLON TOSHIBA-1350

7.50 .... 5.75

5.00 .... 9.00

7.50

XEROX 610/620 M/S 5.95

Add $3.00 Ship. & Hand. — To Order

Toll Free 1-800-742-1122

In Ml (313) 569-3218 or Write for our (

DWIGHT COMPANY, INC

15565 Northland Drive - West Towe

Southfield, Michigan 48075-6496

Inquiry 191

Inquiry 224

Inquiry 121

PROMPT DELIVERY!!! |

S SAME DAY SHIPPING (USUALLY)

IC

1 8087-3 Co-Processors $124.97

DYNAMIC RAM

256K 256Kx1 150 ns

$14.99

64K 64Kxi 120 ns

3.77

64K 64Kx1 150 ns

2.79

64K 64Kx1 200 ns

3.07

EPROM

27256 32Kx8 300 ns

$36.25

27128 16Kx8 250 ns

13.57

27C64 8Kx8 200 ns

12.47

2764 8Kx8 250 ns

6.50

2732A 4Kx8 250 ns

6.37

2716 2Kx8 450 ns

3.31

STATIC RAM

6264P-15 8Kx8 150 ns

$19.57

i6116P-3 2Kx8150 ns

4.37

■ ■>«.■ >-, »v;.a.-..a av aa.^aiili

MasterCard/VISA or UPS CASH COD

Factory New, Prime Parts juPoo

MICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED

24.000 South Peoria Ave. /01ft\ 9fi7-dQfi1 BEGGS. OK 74421 <3101*0/ 430 I

Prices shown above are for December 3,1984

alt tor cumjrt poens & votums clscount. Prices subjea lo change. Please oxped high* ' pntjea on some parts due to supply S demand and our changing coats Shipping 8 M extra Cash «SCOuM pnCM shown Small outers rece-vsd by & I'M CST can jsua , ensd 10 ,v by "* "**• momtng. rta Federal Expreu Standard Ate in te.751

SPECIAL DISKETTE OFFER

Verbatim Datalife Disks have 6 datashielding improvements for greater disk durability and longer data life. PLUSI if you call, write, or utilize reader service in response to this ad—we'll send you our full-range catalog of computer supplies with Special Offers good for further savings on verbatim diskettes and many other quality products.

Call or write for our discount catalog.

LYBEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS

1250-e Rankin Dr., Troy, Ml 48083 Phone: (313) 589-3440

DATALIFE • THE NAME IS THE PROMISE THE WAHHANTY IS THE PROOF

6809

Single Board Computer

HKbHb

iiVrial pbrtt, 4|p4raSelWrW \ ^ RAM, EPROM, teal-time'clock; wdtchddg V \ timer, 44-pin 4.5" * 6.5" PCB EXPANSION MODULES: RAM, EPROM, CMOS RAM/battery, analog I/O, serial I/O. parallel I/O, counter/timer, IEEE-488, EPROM programme!, (loppy disks, cassette, breadboard, keyboard/display.

I~ WintekCorp.

1601 South Street

Inquiry 236

Inquiry 2I0

Inquiry 372

A Happy & Prosperous New Year From Computer Connection

For The Best Prices & Service Call (800) 732-0304

PRINTERS

OKIDATA

ML82A, 10" Para. &Ser $ 299

ML83A, 15" Para. & Ser 535

ML92P, 160cps 389

ML92 IBM Graphics Comp 399

ML92S, 160cps 499

ML92 Apple Mac. 2K Graphics 499

ML93P, 160cps 599

ML93 IBM Graphics Comp 629

ML93S, 160cps 769

ML84P,200cps 679

ML84S,200cps 779

RITEMAN

Rileman Plus 120 cps wfTractor... .$ 257

Rileman Blue Plus 140cps IBM 342

Rileman I1160 cps, 8K mem. w/Trac . 369 Rileman 15,160cps, 15"carr 549

QUME

Lelterpro20PProp.Spc. EnhPrnt . .$ 567

SprinI 1140+, 2K, 40 cps,

132COI.width 1299

STAR MICRONICS

Gemini 10X, 10", 120 cps $ 249

Gemini 15X, 15", 120cps 359

Delta 10.10", 160cps 365

EPSON

RX80,120cps $ 259

RX80FT, Friction & Tractor 289

FX80,10"160cps 445

RX100,15" Carriage 499

FX100,160cps 599

LQ1500 1095

C. ITOH

Prowriter8510AP. 120cps $ 319

Prowriter 8510 BC2,120 cps 429

Prowriter8510SP, 180cps 425

Prowriter 111550 P, 15" 120 cps 527

Prownterll1550BCD, 15"120cps .. 557

StarwriterF10-40PU,40cps 949

Starwriter A10,18cps 479

PrintmasterF10-55PU,55cps 1069

BROTHER

HR25 $ 669

DYNAX

DX15ByBrother,SameasHR15 ...$ 379

JUKI

6100, LQ. 18 cps w/proportional spc.S 399

TOSHIBA

P1351 Dot Matrix, 192 cps, letter quality 100cps, does graphics. 3 in 1 printer $1279 P1340 same as above but 10" cam.. 737

PANASONIC

1091 w/Tractor, 120cps, 1yr.war. ..$ 299

SOFTWARE

LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORP.

Lotus 1-2-3 $ 295

Symphony 437

ASHTON TATE

DBasell $ 329

DBase III 419

MICROPRO INTERNATIONAL

ProPak(WS/MM/SS/Starlndex) $ 399

Option Pak (M/M, C/S. S/l) 199

MICROSOFT

Soltcard(CP/M) $ 239

Microsoft Word 315

Premium Softcard (or HE 319

Softcardfor ll&ll + 229

PRINTER ACCESSORIES

ORANGE MICRO

Grappler + $ 115

Buffered Grappler + , 16K exp. 64K . 165 Mr. Chips tor PC & XT, Par. Ser. Clock &

Cal.,64K Realworld l/F, BSR line l/F . 389 TOSHIBA

Bi-Directional Tractor $ 149

Font Disk for Down loading P1351 .. 48 MICROTEK

DumplingGX(sameasGrappler +} $ 75

DumplingGXw/16Kbuffer 149

DumplingGXw/32Kbufler 165

Additional Buffering 16K 16

FOURTH DIMENSION

Par. Card & Cable for Apple $ 45

OKIDATA

Plug and Play for IBM $ 35

Okigraph I for 82A 43

Okigraph I for 83A 43

Tractor for 82A& 92 49

CABLES

IBM PCto Parallel Printer $ 18

SerialCable 18

DISPLAY MONITORS

NEC

JB 1201,SOcol., 20MHz $ 129

JB1205(A)12"Amber,20MHz 135

JC1215ColorCompositw/audio... 245 JC1216RGB,Hi-Res/IBM640x300 . . 365

AMDEK

V300 $ 135

V300A 139

V310AlorlBMPC 169

Color I+ , Composite 13" 279

Color II +, Hi-Res. 13"/IBM 389

Color300 249

Color600 449

Color710 595

TAXAN

IBM Green Monochrome #121 $ 139

IBM Amber Monochrome #122 145

RGBIBMw/Cable#420 419

RGB Super Hi-Res. #415 393

RGB/Comp. Med. Res. #210 259

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

HX-12forusewithlBMPC $ 455

Max12Amber!orlBM 179

SR12SuperHi-Res 595

NEW YEAR SPECIALS!!

TOSHIBA P1351 S127S

PARADISE

Modular Graphics

Card

S279

MICRO SCI

A.5C Drive for lie

w/Cable

S199

IBM PC

w/1 Drive & 64K S1325

PRINCTON HX12 S455

RANA SYSTEMS Elite I S199

HAYES1200B S379

ANCHOR

Mark XII Hayes Comp.

S229

C. ITOH F-IO 55 $969

IBM PC

IBM

IBM Mono Card w/Printer Port

IBM Mono Monitor

IBMDos2.1

IBMDos3.0

IBMTechRef. forPC

235 265 59 75 85

29

PARADISE

Modular GraphicsCard $

ModuleA

Module B

PC PEACOCK

Color Graphics Card w/Par. Printer Compat. w/AII IBM Software, 2 yr. war. I

AST RESEARCH

Six Pak + W/64K !

MegaPlusll

ACCESSORIES

64K MEMORY UPGRADE

64K(9chips) 150 ns, 1 yr. war

QUADRAM

Quad Color 1 Board $ 199

VUTEK

Vutek - CPS Board, RGB & Composite w/Par. & Ser. Ports. 2 Yr. War $ 239

STB

Graphics + II $ 359

TECHMAR

Graphics Master $ 459

PERSYST BOARD

Bob Hi-Res Display Adp $ 459

KEYTRONICS

KB5151 $ 185

279 85

195

Port. 219

249 265

APPLE & FRANKLIN ACCESSORIES

ACCESSORIES

System Saver S 69

Fan for Apple II &IIE w/surge 37

APPLE

Super Serial Card $ 139

MICROMAX

Viewmax 128K extended 80 col..card

forApplellE $ 129

80col.cardforApplell&ll+ 139

ft**

PERSONAL SYSTEMS

APPLE

Apple HE Starter System incl: Apple HE, Tilt Monitor, 1 Drive w/contoller, 80 col.

card Call

Apple lie Lightweight Portable 999

IBM

IBMPCBarew/cont.&keyboard .. .$1150

IBM PC64K.1 Drive 1325

IBM PC64K.2 Drives 1499

IBM PC,2Drivesw/256K 1599

IBM XT, 128K, 10Meg.,360KDr 3495

IBM AT Base Call

IBMATEntioneed Call

Call About All "AT" Systems

KAYPRO

Kayproll $1279

Kaypro4 1745

KayprolO 2395

SANYO

MBC 550-2 w/1 320K Drive & sftwr. . . $ 895 MBC 555-2 w/2 320K Drives &

more software 1075

Serial Port for Sanyo 75

TAVA

TAVA PC1 Par. & 1 Ser. Ports, 128K, 2-320K

Drives, ColorCardS Monitor $1499

TAVA XT same as above including 10 meg. Hard Disk Drive $2495

COMPAQ

256K, w/2-320K Drives $2150

DISK DRIVES

TANDON

TM100-2forlBMPC $ 145

TM65-2, Vl Height, 320K 189

ALPHA OMEGA

10 Meg HD for IBM & Comp. w/Cont. Card 13 Month Warranty $ 875

TEAC

55B Double Sided 360K . . . .$ 135 2 lor 255 Quad Density 189

PANASONIC

1/2 Height, 360K $ 139

Drives For Apple & Franklin RANA SYSTEMS

Elite I $ 199

Elite II 339

Elite III 399

Controller add 85

MICRO SCI

A-2 $179

A.5C for lie w/cable 199

A.5 !4 height for ME 209

Controller Add 70

MODEMS

ANCHOR

MarkXM $ 229

HAYES MICRO

300 Baud Smart Modem $ 205

1200 Baud Smart Modem 459

1200 B for IBM PC 379

Micro Modem HE 259

Chronograph 189

GIVE US A CHANCE TO BEAT THE

COMPETITION'S ADVERTISED PRICE.

IF YOU SEE IT ADVERTISED FOR LESS. CALL

COMPUTER CONNECTION FIRST FOR LOWEST QUOTE!

MAIL ORDER:

12841 S. Hawthorne Blvd., No. 585 Hawthorne, California 90250

NO SURCHARGE FOR CREDIT CARDS

We accept VISA, MasterCard, COD [vu/deposit], Certified Checks or Wire Transfers. Minimum Shipping Charge $4.00. Soitie items subject to back order. California Res. add 6Va% Sales Tax. Prices subject to change without notice.

ORDER LINE [800) 732-0304

[Outside California)

[813] 514-9D19

(Inside California!

Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. to B p.m. Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

[213] 514-9019 Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Inquiry 72

JANUARY I985 'BYTE 461

Erases Most Eproms in 3 Minutes ^

Solid State 2-8 Min.

Timer Version $54.95

For all 24 or 28 Pin Devices

90-DAY WARRANTEE

WILLING CO.

DEALER INQUIRIES

WELCOME

SHIPPING & HANDLING

$2.50

AZ RESIDENTS

ADD 6* TAX

4401 S. JUNIPER • TEMPE. A2 85282 • (602) 838-1277

MEMOREX

FLEXIBLE DISCS

WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD!! Call Free (800)235^1137

for prices and information. Dealer inquiries invited and CO.D.'s accepted.

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd. San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. InCal. call (800)592-5935 or (805)543-1037

WRITE

For creative and report writing. Includes many features missing from WordStar, such as alphabetized directory listings, fast scrolling, and trial printing to the screen. Write is $239.

Software Essentials

This package contains a word processor, printer program, database programs, and more for $124. For all MS-DOS and IBM PC compatibles.

Workman & Associates

112 Marion Avenue Pasadena, CA 91106

(818) 796-4401

Please request our new catalog.

Inquiry 368

Inquiry 268

Inquiry 373

Quelo"

680)90

Assembler

New 5 0 Release

Firsl Commercial Release January, 1983

The QueloTM portable 68000 assembler conforms lo the Motorola resident assembler, publication M68KMASM{D4].

Quelo™ 68000 Assembler Package Features:

Input file concatenation, include function, macros, global parameter substitution from command line, listing date-time Stamp, up lo 31 character symbols, conditional assembly, structured programming directives, instruction optimization, 68010 instructions, relocation and linking, complex expression linking (all oporalors), DB-DW>DL directives for Z80 byte order data generation, object library utility, software configuration tracking, conditional linking, options lor assembler and linker lo write complete symbol table to a fits, detailed symbol table listings, assembler symbol cross-reference, linker global symbol cross-reference, object library symbol crosS'reterence, superb linker load map, various HEX load formats produced by linker, error messages in English, extensive lypeset manual with index, readily transported to any system with a C compiler and "UNIX like" system interlace.

S7S0 Limited lime only.

Quelo™

2464 33rd Ave. W„ Suite W173

Seattle. WA 98119

Phone (206) 285-2528

telex fTWX) 9103338171

Patrick Adams

COD. Visa. MasterCard,

! TM Bell Labs MS-DOS TM

IN STOCK

MODEMS

I DAY

SHIP

# Hayes Compatible + it Free Communications Software ie

HAYKS 1200 *$4-f9

US ROBOTICS Password

300/1200 Aulo A/D w/cables, spkr *$;I14

ANCHOR AUTOMATION SIGNALMAN

Mark I 300 Baud $ 69

Mark X 1100 Baud Auto A/D *$119

Mark XII 1200/300 Auto A/D *$239

QUBIE'

Internal 3(10/1200 Auto A/D #$289

External 300/1200 Auto A/D #S289

DIRECT CONNECT DEVICES

P.O. Box 13256, San Luis Obispo. CA 93406

CALL FOR r^^fc mhbh c*LL TO FREE flB , ORDER:

CATAI.OC '^^^ I^^M) (8(|5| 543.6308

Dealer Inquiries Invited

Electronic

Circuit

Analysis

• New release

• Transient, AC, DC analysis

• Full nonlinear

• Over 200 nodes

• Full editing

• Macro circuits

• Worst case, Monte-Carlo

• Temperature effects

• Frequency dependent parts

• Time dependent parts

For MS-DOS. 128k minimum. $395.00

Tatum Labs P.O. Box 698 Sandy Hook, CT 06482 (203) 426-2184

Inquiry 294

Inquiry 109

inquiry 346

DISK

BOOT

HARD "5cu*lTy

pATA ^ FiXTends

boot hassles,

stops data

thieves—

DATAMAC, DAVONG,

GREAT LAKES, IOMEGA,

XEBEC, ZOBEX, others.

No-Slot Installation for

IBM PC, COMPAQ, COLUMBIA

$70 - $95 + tax/shpg

GOLDEN BOW

SYSTEMS

Box 3039

San Diego

CA 92103

619/298-9349

VT100 $150/

'plus your IBM PC or compatible

Use your IBM PC as a DEC VT100 with

ZSTEMpc-VT1 00 smart terminal emulator

132 columns by windowing —

no additional hardware

Double High/Double Wide Characters

Complete VT100 line graphics

Smooth scrolling

Full keyboard softkeys / MACROS

Bidirectional (lie transfers —

including XMODEM

Speeds to 38.4KB. High throughput.

ZSTEM Communications Division

KEA SYSTEMS LTD.

#412 - 2150 W. Broadway

Vancouver, B.C.

CANADA V6K 4L9

(604) 732-7411

*

4r

vJr spri

f For the NEC PC 8201;

' SIDECAR/$349.

32K Memory Cartridge, expandable to 128K

32KROM SPREADSHEET/$88.

For the NEC PC 8201, TRS SO Model 100 and the Olivetti M10;

8K MEMORY MODULE/

$49.95 each

• Simple Installation instructions Included.

• 30 day satisfaction guarantee or your money back.

• 1 year warranty.

• Prompt shipment via UPS.

Shipping: from stock. Free UPS surface 2 day air-add $4.00Continental USA, add $7.00 Canada. Payment: Visa, M/C, American Express. Checks held 14 days. COD add $5.00. Tax: 6% (California only).

fiScOMPUTING

2068 Ventura Blvd. Camarillo, CA 93010

(800) 732-5012

Inside California (805) 987-4788

Inquiry 151

Inquiry 375

Inquiry 289

IADWSCED COMPUTER

PRODUCTS,

SINCE 1976

1985

MAIL ORDER PRICING ONLY

$5,000,000 SALE CELEBRATION SAVE NOW AT NEW LOW PRICES! 9th Year Anniversary SALE!

ro?s;

EBZ13ia2SiEIB233lZBSg3

ALS CP'M 3 0 PLUS CARD SALE 5199.00 COEX 16K RAM CARD . SALE 39 95

COEX PAH PRINTER CARO w/CABLE 49 95 COEX BO COL EXT 64K CARD SALE 99 95

IS PKASO 170 (ll.lle) KENNSINGTON SYSTEM SAVER KENMSINGTON PC SAVER KRAFT JOYSTICK MCT SPEED DEMON MICROSOFT 2-60 SOFTCARO GRAPPLER PLUS

139 95

69 95 39 95 36 95 249 95 247 95 119 95

BUFFEREO GRAPPLER J

GRAPPLER SUPER SERIAL SALE ! VIDEO 7 RGB lie ItO APPLE lie SERIAL CABLE APPLE Me KEYBOARD , . APPLE U/llB POWER SUPPLY. APPLE ll/lle DISK CONTROLLER APPLE ll/llo COOLING FAN SYSTEM STREET ECHO II SPEECH SYSTEM TITAN ACCELERATOR It CARD WIZARD 80 COLUMN CARO SALE

40 95 99 95 449 95 99 00

FARADAY IBM PC®

Compatible CPU Board win*. US DOS

$349.95

MOST MAJOR LINES IN STOCK CALL TOLL FREE

IBM PC HARDWARE

AST COMBOPLUS" 84K SIGMA ' MAXIMIZER" 64K

SIGMA DISK CONTROLLER

169 95

HARD OSK CONTROLLER

249 95

10 Mb INTERNAL HARD DISK

. 795 00

10 Mb EXTERNAL HARD OISK

895 00

15 Mb INTERNAL HARD DISK

995 00

IS Mb EXTERNAL HARD DISK

1005 00

JO WATT BOOSTER SUPPLY

149 95

130 WAIT IBM SUPPLY

174 95

>C COMPATIBLE KEYBOARD

99 00

8M PC CHASSIS

129 95

'LANTRONICS "COLORPLUS"

389 95

10 Mb INT TAPE STREAMER

. . 1150.00

'ERSYST MONO CARD

. 199.00

'ARADISE MONO/COLOR

HERCULES MONO CARD

. .369 00

BROTHER HR15P/S |13cps) SALE BROTHER HR-25P/S (23cdo) SALE BROTHER HR-3SP7S (36cim) NEWI BROTHER M2024 |24ptfl) COEX BOF/T iSOcps) SALE

EPSON RX-60/80FT (lOOcpst SAVE EPSON MxaOFT |80cps) EPSON FXBO lieOcps) EPSON FX-100 neocpaj

MACINTOSH Of He SERIAL I/O

OKIDATA 02P (160c«)

0K1DATA 93P(160cps)

OKIDATA 84P (200cpsl

OKIDATA 2350P (350COSI

TOSHIBA P1351 (24pln|

STAR GEMINI 10X(12OcpB)

STAR GEMINI 10XPC

STAR GEMINI 15X

STAR GEMINI 16XPC

SPECIAL STAR STX-80 THERMAL

NEC B027A PORTABLE PRINTER

PANASONIC 1091 SALE

SAVE SAVE

SAVE

SALE

J399 00 699 00 979.00

1299 00

149 00

150 00 150 00 150 00 150.00 11500 399 95 629 95 799 00

1695 00 1295 00 269 00 32800 379 00 449 00 129 00 399 00 359 00

AMDEK 300G (GREEN) $139 QS

AMDEK 300A [AMBER) 148 95

AMDEK 310A (ISM AMBER) 169 95

CALL FOR COLOR 1 ft NEW MODELS

PGS HX-12 {IBM COLOR| 469 95

PGS SR-:2 (HI-RES) 649 05

PGS MAX-12 (IBM GREEN) 196.95

PGS DOUBLER BOARD 227 00

TAXAN 420 (HIRES IBM) 399.00

ZENITH 122A/123G 89 95

ZENITH ZVMI3W135 Call

SANYO 6500 (MED-RES) 279 00

SANYO 7500 (HIRES! 379 00 SANYO (LOOKALIKEl 12'' AMBER SALE 74 95

BIZCOMP PC INTELLIMODEM- (INT) J349 95

HAYES SMARTMODEM 1200 (EXT) 499.95

HAYES SMARTMODEM 1200B (INT) 429 95

HAYES SMARTMODEM 300 (EXT) 228 96

M1CROMO0EM APPLE l!o 249.95

PROMETHEUS 1200M IMACINTOSH) 469 95

PROMETHEUS 1200(PC6XT) 359.95

NOVATION ACCESS 1 -2-3 389 95

CAT COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM 419.95 APPLE COMP LOW COST MODEM (300)49 95

ITCfflTIFrai

56AGATE ST506 5Mb SI

CMI lOMt

CMI 15ME

CMI 22MC

RODIME 10Mb

ROOIME 15Mb

CALL FOR QUOTE ON HIGHER CAPACITY HARD DRIVES!

SUPER SAVER

HARD

DISK

$199.00

5Mb

Baaaana

TEAC 55B S149 95

MITSUBISHI 465i 149 95

SHUGART455 159 95

TANDON TM1CO-2 169.95

■ '-DISK DRIVES

SHUGART601R J269 95

SIEMENS FODiOOfl 12995

SIEMENS FDO20O-S DS/DD 195 00

MITS M2B34 439 95

MITS M28J6 V.H1 439 95

TANDON S48E WHi. 369 95

QUME 242 Mr HI. 389 95

8»" CASE POWER SUPPLY S69 95

SW'OUAl^HI w/POWER SUPPLY 79 95

8" DUAL CASE wfPOWER SUPPLY 279 85 8" THINUNE DUAL w/POWER SUPPLY 19995

&%" HARD DISK *7POW£R SUPPLY 199 95

51'.' •/> HIGH HARD DISK 189 85

APPLE Ml* COMPATIBLE S174 95

APPLE II71I* COMPATIBLE V, HIGH 104 95

MICROSCI APPLE He DRIVE 219 95

APPLE II ic APPLE lie ADAPTOR 19 95

NOTICFTODEALEHS

58 00/199 CO

545 00

31900 39 00 900 21 CO

.21 CO 36 00 28 00

39.00

KEYTRONIC 5150/51

MOUSE SYSTEMS MOUSE W/SW

QUADBOARD W/64K

TECMAR GRAPHICS MASTER

TECMAR CAPTAIN 64K

CURTIS PC PEDESTAL

PGS W QUADCHHOME ADAPTOR

TILT and SWIVEL STAND

SYSTEM STAND.

EXTENSION CABLE IBM MONO

KEYBOARD EXTENSION CABLE

SURGE SURPRESSORS

DIAMOND (LEMON)

EMERALD (LIME) ... ... . 49.00

SAPPHIRE (PEACHI ... 5900

RUBY (ORANGE) 69 00

wmmESEBBsmt

64K STATIC RAMCARO 5199.95

PLUS MAJOR OEM PURCHASE

WHILE SUPPLY LASTS

ALL NEW. SOME W/O DOCUMENTATION

• TUART BOARD SALE 99 95

• FRONT PANEL BO (IMSAI) SALE 79 95

• 8080 MPU BOARD SALE 49 95

• 8' FLOPPY CONTROLLER (Mo/row) 149 05

• S-100 EXTENDER CARD 24 95

E3E3H3Sa

ItuF DISC BYPASS CAPACITOR 100*5.50

I u- DISC BYPASS CAPACITOR 100/6 50

)1uF MONOLITHIC CAPACITOR 100/11 25

I uF MONOLITHIC CAPACITOR 100/14 25

PN2222A

PN2369A

PN818

2N22I8A

2N2219A

2N2907 2N3055 2N3565 2N3638 2N3772

71%

.00

W

00

3/

00

.45

.46

•15

.25

4/

00

.00

.69

2N3904 2N3900 TIP29A TIP30A TJP31A TIP32A 1N4I48 IN751

11*1 CO 11/1 00 2/1 00 2/1 00 2/125 2/1.25 25/1 CO 5/1 CO 12/1 CO 10/1 00

l.m.lH.HW.IiH

MCT-2

MCT-6

MCT-66

MCA-255

4N26

4N27

4N28

4N33 4N35 4N37

4N38

EJEga

Mini Size Groen

n-m*i;umflig

S3 95 13.25

44 Pin WW 72 Pin ST 72 Pin WW

6 50 6 10

i.Mii=nn;imn=i4

1-24

$3 10 3

2 40

MIq H/W S 99 55 95 J

5 25 MIQ H/W S 99

S8 95 *

6 00

Mig H/W S '

DB25S (FemaleDB25P (Malo)

Hood J1 25 DE37S IFamnlel OE37P [Malo)

Hood J1 75 D050S (Famale) OD50P (Male)

Hood S3 25 (OTHER STYLES IN CATALOG) CENTRONICS IOC 36 Pin Malo IDC 36 Pin Female Solder 36 Pin Mole Solder 36 Pin Fomale

(CALL TOLL FREE FOR IDC'l)

—in line

SOLOERTA1L 1-flO

8 Pin ST/LP S 13

14PinST/LP 15

16 Pin ST/LP 17

18 Pin ST/LP .20

20 Pin ST/LP 2B

22 Pin 5TA.P 29

24 Pin ST/LP 29

28 Pm ST/LP 39

36 Pin ST/LP 45

40 Pm ST/LP 48

64 Pin ST/LP 3 95

WIREWRAP (OOLD)

8 Pin WW/3L S 4 Pin WW/3L 6 Ptn WW/3L

05

ISP

20 Pin WW/3L 99

22 Pm WW/3L 1.19

24 Pin WW/3L 1 25

28 Pin WW/3L 1 49

40 Pin WW/3L 1 89

TEXTOOL/ZIF ZERO INSERTION

Pm S6 75 24 Pin $7 85 28 Pin :

(We Stock All Type* of Socketi)

6502 S4 50 I 6504 S6 75 6502A 6 90 8507 9 75

6502B 9.50 I 6520 4.25

6522 S6 75 8532 9.50

6551 1150

8035

S 5 75

8214

S 3 75

8259

S 6 75

8039

5 75

6216

1 95

8271

60 95

SOMA

2 85

6224

220

6275

2605

B085A

490

6226

1 95

6279

8.75

B0C85/I

9 85

8226

3 40

8262

6 25

6086

24 50

6237

14 75

8283

8 25

8087

69 B5

8237-5

16 95

8284

5 50

cC-ifi

29 50

6238

4 25

6266

845

SOBS

66 95

8243

3 95

6287

645

8155

6 75

8250

10 50

8288

14 95

8156

6 75

6251

4 25

8269

44 95

6185

26 95

8251A

6 95

8292

12 95

6202

23 05

8253

675

6741

27 95

8203

37 85

6255

4 25

6'48

24 50

8205

3 25

8255A

6 95

6749

24 50

:■.:<■ j

1 95

8257

5 75

B755A

34 95

■>1H:i*M:.d.NH'H;I--l

UP0765S24 95 1771 15 95 1791 24 75 1 793 26 50 1795 26 50

2793 2795 2797

6843 S32 96

8272 2495

1691 11 95

2143 1295

9216 12 95

E3EJSffiE2E3

6845

S14 74

66B45

17 95

8847

11 50

46505

14 75

68047

24 50

8275 7220 5027 5037

TMS9918 S39 50

8350 39 95

6545 21 50

8002 19.95

cngBemaa

1602B S3 95 I 2350 5 8 95 I IM6403 1013A 395 6250 1050 TMS5S01 1015A 6 75 I IM6402 7 76 I 2651

1702 (1 270B (450nS) 2758 (5V) 2718 (450nS) 2716(350nS) 2516 (5V| TMS2716 TMS2532 2732 (450nS) 2732 (250nS) 2732 l200nS)

S 390 365 5.50 3.75 5.50 550 750 5.80

2732A 4 |450nSI 2732A [250nSI 2732*-2 (200nS) 2764 (450nS| 2764 (250nS) 2784 (200nS| TMS2564 (450nS) MCM88764 (450nS| MCM68768 (350nS) 27126-3 (300nSI 27128 (250nS|

6 50 S.95 12 50 650

750 17 50 12.95 34 95

EHjama

2101 |450nS) 21L02 (450nS) 2102-1 (450nSl 21L02-2 (250nS|

2111 |450nS)

2112 (450nS)

2114 (450nS) 1 45

2114L-4 (450n) 1 69 i 2114L-3|300n) l 79 I 2114L-2 I200nj 1 89 I 2t47 [55nS) 4044-4 (450nS) 4044-3 (300nSI 4044-2 l200nSj UPD410(100nS) 5101 (CMOS)

MK4I16 $4 95

TMM2016-2 !200nS|4 10 TMM2016-1E |15Dn]4.95 TMM2016-1 jlOOnSlB 10 HM8116P-4(200nS)4 75 HM6116P-3 (150nS)495 HM6116P-2 (120nSl885 HM6116LP-4(LP| 5 90 HMB116LP-3(LP] 6 75 HM6116LP-2(LP| 9.95 Z6132 |300nS] 32 95 HM6264P-I5(150)32 95 HM6264LP-I5 (LP) 36 95 74S189 (35nS) 1 85

93415 |50nS) 3 95

93425 l50nSl 3 95

I.M;MtlU:M,',M

4027 |250nSI S1 29

103 (300nSJ 78

l6N-2[150nSI 1 60 8/1385 l6N-3(200nSl 165 6/12 50 I6N-4 (250nS) 1 45 8/10 50 64N-150 (150n)5.95 9/44 95 64N-20O (200n)4 95 9/39 50 l84N-t20(120nS) 6 49

TMS4184 |150nS) 7 95

TMS4416 (lSOnS) S9 75 41256-150 tl&Onj 29 96 41256-200 (200n) 24 95 TMS4050 (300n5l 1 65 TMS4060 |300nSI 1 85 MM5280 (300nS) 1 85 UP0411 (300nS| 1 85 MM5298 (250nS) 1 85

COEX 80F/T PRINTER

$149

• 9*7 Dol Main*. eOcps.'Bi directional Pr in lino

• 2K ButleroO Memory

• 80. 96 132 Columns, Graphics and Bloc* PrinlmQ

• SeJeciabia Car Prtcn Line Spacing and Feed

COEX interlace CajQ 10 Apple S49.9S

SUPER SAVER

IBM PC

Camp DS/DD Olsti Drive

$12495

HI-TECH SPECIALS

TMS99532NL

300 BAUD MCDEM IC

s149

^EBSSSSMBSSM

ADC08O0 $14 95 ADC0804 3 45 DACD806 1 90 ADC0809 4 45

ADC0817

S9 75

DAC0600

4 75

DAC0B08

2 85

OAC1020

7 95

DAC1022

585

140BL6 $1 95

1408L8 2 65

DAClOO 7 95

DAC08 7 95

Corporate Buyers ... Call For Volume Quotes!

:«ffVo£

!?*U

0 VRs)

2.95

LM301N

LM304H

LM305H

LM306H

LM307N

LM308CN

LM310CN

LM311CN

LM3I2H

LM318CN

LM316K

LM318N

LM320 Is

LM324N

LM33SN

LM340 (see VRs)

LM348N .95

LM356CN 65

LM35S 1.75

LM360N

LM370N

LM373N

LM376N

LM377N

LM380CN

LM380N

LM381N

LM382N

LM363N

LM384N

LM386N

LM3S7N

LM369N

LM392N

LM723N

LM723H

NE531

NE555

NE556

NE558

NE561

NE564

LM565

LM568

LM567

N0570

NE571

1.29

2.85 .35

NE590

S2.45

NE592

2 70

LM709N

.55

LM703H

1.90

LM710

.68

LM711

.75

LM7IS

3.95

LM723N

.55

LM723H

.75

LM733

.98

LM739

1.85

LM741CN

.33

LM741H

.40

LM741N

.20

LM747

.65

LM743

.55

LM1014

1.15

LM1303

1 90

LM13I0

1.45

MCI 330

1.65

MC1349

1.85

MC1350

1 15

MCI 358

1 65

MC1372

6.75

LM1414

1.55

LM1558H

2.99

LM180O

235

LM1812

8.10

LM1830

340

LM1B71

545

LM1872

5.45

LM1877

3.20

LM1889

1 90

LM1896

1 70

ULN2001

1 95

ULN2003

1 49

XR22C*

3 75

XR2207

2.90

XR22C8

2.40

XR2211

3.75

LM2877P

2.00

LM28r8P

2.25

LM29O0

63

LM2901

.99

LM2907

2 45

LM2917

285

LM3900

.55

LM3905

1.15

LM3908

98

LM3914

LM3915

LM3916

MC4024

MC4044

RC4131

RC4136

RC4151

CA3023

CA303S

CA3046

CA3059

CA3060

CA3065

CA3080

CA3081

CA3062

CA3083

CA3086

CA3089

CA3096

CA3130

CA3140

CA3146

CAS160

LM 13080

LM13600

LM 13700

LF347

LF351

LF3S3

LF355

LF36B

LF357

TL071CP

TL072CP

TL074CN

TL081CP

TL084CN

TL4B4

TL496

TL497

MC3423

MC3453

MC3456

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■wtwimmiiMOBia

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8. 12, 15. 24V .00

78L05, 12, 15V 65

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78MG/79MG . . 1 49

78H05KC. . 780SK Also

12, 15, 24V 7B0ST Also

DISKETTES

$1.19ea/1000

"IBM PC®"

DS/DD

Hub Rings $"| ,35ea/250 Tyvac Cover tf . __ Major Mfgr. $ I .5&ea/25

5V4" DISKETTES Box 10

VERBATIM 52501 SS/DD S19.95

VERBATIM 550-01 DS/DD 29.95

MAXELL MO-1 SS/DO 19.95

MAXELL MD-2 DS/DD 29,95

DVSAN 104/10 SS/DD 26.95

DVSAN 104/2D DS/DD 33.95

GENERIC SS/SS 15.95

GENERIC DS/DD 17 95 3W DISKETTES (MAC, etc] S'.i" HEAD CLEANING KIT

6" HEAD CLEANING KIT 11.95

DVMEC IBM PC DIAGNOSTIC 29.95

APPLE II DIAGNOSTIC DISK 29.95

MACINTOSH DISKETTE HOLDER 16.95

5'/." DISKETTE HOLDER (50) 16.95

64K UPGRADE <sei oi si$39.95

256K RAMS <256Kxd $24.95

IBM PARALLEL (SWoldeO) $29.95

IBM SERIAL (Shielded! 24.95

KEYBOARD EXTENSION 9.95

RS232 GENDER CHANGER WaJe-Malo 14,95

RS232 GENDER CHANGER Famale-FemaJe 14.95

NULL MODEM ADAPTOR 14.95

SPECIALS OF THE MONTH

FARADAY 6400/64K MS-DOS

Motherboard

S349.95

PERFECT AB Switch (Parallel)

69.95

TELEDATA Modem for VIC20/64

49.95

APPLE lie Keyboard

49.95

IBM PC Compatible Keyboard

99.95

SANYO 555 MS-DOS Computer

799.00

DEC "'Rainbow 100A" $24S W]

1699,00

DEC "Rainbow 100 + " (5475 iiat)

3499.00

5Mb Winchester Upgrade DEC

775.00

NEC8201 Portable Computer

449.00

ZENITH Z151 100% PC

Compatible Computer

1995.00

SANYO (Silver Reed 500)

LQ Printer .

299.00

"DEADLINE'" Atari Software (49.95

us.] 9.95

VISICALC He Advanced

- 149.95

800-854-8230

MM

910-595-1565

Mail Order: P.O. Box 17329 Irvine, CA 92713

Detail: 1310B E. Edinger, Santa Ana, CA 92705

(714) 558-8813

542 W. Trimble, San Jose, CA 95131

(408) 946-7010

4000$

4001

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74S260S1 19 74S280 1 95 743287- 1 95 74S268* I 95

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74SO0 S.35

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35

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74S86 55 74SH2 55

74S05

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74S09

38

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35

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2 40

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1.48

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1 99

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1 88

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1.99

74S244

1 98

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1.18

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1.19

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TERMS: We ,ir«>! VISA MC MCJ Cashiers and Pfwinjl CMOct Sdiooi ami Company rt) s Wc tin :u>\ chaige youi cird umil »t s'»n> I'itmhi.iI rjieck;. risiiriii! i!ri«!i'.: [I'n'.i: ,inil ,i(-.lil wnl n Ho Suohi/fli Added on VISA or MC PJU s ovn S'M n^-.n- ;u\ ilcposil win order Add 3°* siiippiiiq jnO handtng lor UPS Wt oiler unieflay shipment Prices subiecl lo chanrji' witirnul iiohtff We rescivc ihe iighl ID subMilult? mmuUcliHt'i Wi- .Hi' '"'I i'■•-.;>ori-..t>'c Ir.i ryinjijMpnical errors Retail Sale Prices May Vary

Inquiry 9

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466 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

Inquiry 186

LOW COST UNIVERSAL E < E > PROM PROGRAMMER

4 -- l Vr-'te

i SUPPORTS: fBPROMS) 251H THRU 6*1, U716 THRU 512, Z7C16 THRU I2H. 68732 THRU 66 (REPROMS) 52B13 THRU 33, 2H16A THRU 64A (MICROS) 8741 THRU 49H

i NO PERSONALITY MODULES, ONBOARD POWER SUPPLY RS232C INTERFACE. XON-XOFF, RTS, CTS, DTR

i ACCEPTS KEYBOARD ENTRY WITH LINE EDITING ACCEPTS ASCII, INTEL, AND MOTOROLA FORMATS

I USER FRIENDLY MONITOR FOR I/O DEBUGGING

I FAST PROGRAMMING SUPPORTED: 27M UNDER 3 MIN. LOW/HIGH BYTE PROGRAMMING FOR 16 BIT DATA PATH BYTE. RLOCK, OR CHIP ERASE (EEPROMS ONLY) LIST IN INTEL OR MOTOROLA HEX FORMAT VERIFY PROGRAM AND VERIFY BLANK COMMANDS

1409-01; 4K FIRMWARE. PCR, XFORMER, DOC

1409-02: 1409-01 ♦ FULL SET OF PARTS

1409-03: ASSEMBLED AND TESTED UNIT

1409-11: HK FIRMWARE, PCB. XFORMER, DOC

140912: 1409 U * FULL SET OF PARTS

1409-13: ASSEMBLED AND TESTED UNIT

! COMMUNICATION DRIVERS FOR MOST PC"S

R&tC MICROSYSTEMS

H322 MOJAVE DR, SAR JOSE, CA 95120 Tel.(408)997-7686. TWX 4995363

$90.00

S200.00 $300.00 S125.00 J250.00 $350.00 $35.00

Interpreter/ Compiler

• dBASE II" source compatible

• Runs 3-20 times faster than dBASE II

• Up to 48 fields per record

• Full type-ahead capabilities

• Provides compact object code and program security

• Twice as many memory variables as dBASE II

• Sophisticated online manual and HELP facility

MS-DOS S395 AOS/VS $995

DBASE H 1 ■ m&mtaO trademark M Ajrton-HMa

FOX SOFTWARE INC.

13330 Bishop Road. P.O. Box 269

Bowling Green. OH 43402 / 419-354-3981

nidiuni

Advises,

Forecasts,

Simulates,

Tutors,

Decides,

Evaluates,

Solves,

Reports.

Lets you Design, create and run problem solving expert systems on the IBM-PC or DEC Rainbow. No programming, uses English language knowledge base.

$95.

4980 S-A1A, Melbourne Bch. FL 32951

305/729-9046

CREDIT CARD ORDERS ACCEPTED

Inquiry 137

Inquiry 201

SgBBSBgafTTS

TELEVIDEO TPC-1 PORTABLE COMPUTER

LIST PRICE

3*fcS9fcss:

OUR PRICE

S995.00

50% SAVINGS WHILE THEY LAST

FEATURES:

* 64K Ram

* Dual 51/4M Floppy Disk Drive (368.6K per drive)

* 9" Amber Graphic Monitor

* Low Profile Keyboard w/10 function keys

* TeleWrite, TeleCalc, TeleChart CP/M

EX5EU,

OFFICE EQUIPMENT BROKERS

ZISkLEXANOERSTREET ROCHESTER. NEW YORK 14807

(716)325-5530 visa

Serial 4 ■ ''"''' " ^ Parallel

Convert What You Have To What You Want!

* RS232 Serial * Centronics Parallel

* 8 Baud Rates * Handshake Signals

* Latched Outputs * Compact 37, x 4% x 1£

No longer wilt your peripheral choices be limited by lha type ot port you have available! Our new High Performence 700 Series Converters provide the missing link. Based on the latest In CMOS technology, these units features full baud rate selection to 19,2K, with handshake signals to maximize transfer efficiency. Detailed documentation allows simplified Installation, Order the Model 770 (SeriPar) or Model 775 (Par/Ser, Today!

onlyS89.9S

^nnoclor Opllon (10,00

CA Rasidoms B% tax

UPS Shipping 13 00

JjoErih

2734-C Johnson Dr Post Office Box 3717

Ventura, California 93006

CALL (805) 658-7466 or 658-7467 p For FAST Delivery 2

INTRODUCING fmm

THE CYPHER" "L

lit

A COMPLETE 68000 & Z 80

SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER SYSTEM

WITH ULTRA-HIGH-RES GRAPHICS!!

Bit*" ■ ■ ■\Bm

2«&

IMORr tINT P2jn a IBKTD6JK MONITOR EtttOM

MnN«;;i ■iiriTfORZuo aphOGfmmij»li mini)'iai[ CiCNcruron

• HWJSC^U-W

ANOCP-UM* •2j*fCwS' E"r"'BON BUS "° BN HE*WB

ar»u crm (hd k*hd otic imierface Jtuo-m unD (Vulable sooni

Htm BUBO (DC

■HP

MOTOROLA III INTEL

*£% ^.,",r^,',\^,Z^r"'^T"' MOTEL COMPUTERS LIMITED

n™a»uiiiii:irac»«Mii wiimurNon* TORONTO. ONTARIO, CANADA M3N UO

Inquiry 132

Inquiry 127

Inquiry 245

PAL, EPROM

rJ;n1;,i m mU;W

& UV ERASERS from $49.95

LOGICAL DEVICES INC.

'k/Ae^ie- Reliability and

SEE OUR AD ON PAGE 32

G00OGQQ

ORDER TOLL FREE

1-800-EE1-PROM

(1-800-331-7766)

maxell disks

LIFETIME WARRANTY

Think you're getting the best price on Maxell Diskettes? You're right . . . BUT ONLY IF . . . You're buying from NORTH HILLS CORP. We will beat any nationally advertised price* or give you a 15 disk library case FREE!

Call us last—TOLL FREE—for our best shot every time.

1-800-328-3472 Formatted and hard sectored disks in stock.

Dealer inquiries invited. COD's and charge cards accepted. All orders shipped Irom stock within 24 hours. Why wait 10 days to be shipped?

Ai<

Ni

North Hills Corporation

3564 Rolhnq View Dr.

White Bear Lake. MN 55110

MN Call Collect 1 612 770 0485

mi' mARYmflC INDUSTRIES INC.

800-231-3680

Radio Shack TRS-80's' Epson Printers

People you Trust to give you the very best!

22511 Katy Fwy„ Katy (Houston) Texas 77450 (713) 392-0747 Telex 774132

Inquiry 207

Inquiry 261

Inquiry 2I8

74LS00

6500

T

COMPUTER PRODUCTS, Inc. ORDER TOLL FREE

(800) 538-8800

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS)

(800) 848-8008

[MasterCard!

STATIC RAMS

2101

5101

2102-1

Z102L-4

2I02L-2

2111

2112

2114

2114-25

21141-4

21141-3

21141-2

2125

2147

TM84044-4

TM84044-3

TMS4044-2

MK4IIB

TMM2016-200

TMM2016-I50

TMM20I6-IO0

HM6II6-4

HMB116-3

HM6II6-2

IIM6II6LP-4

HM61I6LP-3

HM6I16LP-2

2-6132

HM6264P-I5

HM62641P-15

DM62641P-I2

255 i

256 I 1024 x 1024 1 1024 i

256 I 256 i 1024 1 1024 1 1024 I 1024 > 1024 I 1024 I 4096 1 4096 1 4096 1 4096 1 1024i 2046 1 2046i 2048i 2046l 2046l 2046l 2048l 2046t 2048 1 4098 1 8192 I 6192 I 6192 1

4 1450ns]

4 |450m| Icmoil

I |450u|

1 (-450ns) (LP)

1 (250ns) [LP]

4 |450l»|

4 |450ni)

4 |450ll|

4 (250m)

4 |450u| (LP)

4 (300m) CLP]

4 |200l»| (LP)

1

1 [55ns)

I (450ns)

I 1300m)

I |200lll|

8 (250ns]

8 (200ns|

8 (150ns)

8 [100ns]

6 (ZOOni) Icnioil

6 (150m) icmoil

8 [120ns] [trnos]

8 [200ns] (emu)

8 (150nj||cmos)|LP|

8 |120m| (cmosKLP)

8 [300ns] IQltill

8 (1 SOns) icmoil

8 (150ns) (crnoil

8 1120ns] Icmoil

1.90 3.90 .68 .96 1.45 2.46 2.96 .99 1.10 1.20 1.30 1.40 2.49 4.90 3.45 3.95 4.45 9.90 4.10 4.90 610 4.70 4.90 8.90 5.90 b.90 9.95 33.95 32.95 36.95 46.95

i.P ■ (ow Power Vial = Omsl-Stitlc

DYNAMIC RAMS

TMS4027

0P04II

MM5280

MK4I08

MM5298

4116-200

4116-150

2118

4184-250

4164-200

4164-160

41256

41256

1702

2708

2756

2716

2716-1

TMS2516

TMS2716

TNS2532

2732

2732-250

2732-200

2784

2764-250

2764-200

TMS2564

2732*

MC66766

27128

4096 I I 4096 l 1 4096 I 1 8192 1 1 6192 1 1 16364 1 1 16384 i 1 16384 l 1 65536 i 1 65536 I 1 65536 i I

(250m|

(300m|

|300m|

1200ns)

(250oi)

|200oi]

|l50ni|

(150ns|[5»)

|250m|

[200ns] |5l|

(150ns) |Sv]

|200ll)

(150m)

5V = Single S Veil Supply

EPROMS

256l 8 (loll

1024 i 8 |450u)

1024 I 8 (45001)

2046 I 8 (450ni|

2048 I 8 [350ns]

204B I 8 [450oi]

2046 I 6 (450ns)

4096 i 8 (450ns)

4096 l 8 (450ns)

4096 i 6 (250ns)

4096 1 8 1200ns)

8192 i 8 [450ns]

8192 I 8 (250ns)

8192 I I |200m|

8192 I 8 [450ns] |350ll|

8192 I 8 (450ns) 16364 I 6 (250ns) Si = Single 5 Voll

(Bel

|5»l 15.] 15)1

16.1

(5.) 16.1 16*1 (5.1 [8«l N 15.)

|5l| 124 pin)

[5.]

Supply

1.95 1.95 1.95 1.90 1.80 .79 1.20 4.90 2.99 3.33 3.99 29.95 39.96

4.45 2.49 5.90 2.95 5.90 5.45 6.95 5.90 4.45 8.90 10.95 6.45 7.46 16.45 12.95 4.48 29.95 24.95

74LS00 74L80I 74L802 74LI03 74LS04 74LS05 74L806 74L809 74LS10 .24 74L8I1 .34 74LS12 .34 741813 .44 74LSI4 .51 74LSI5 .34 74LS20 .24 74(821 .28 74LS22 .24 74L82I .28 74L827 .28 741328 .34 74L830 .24

741832 .23

741833 .54 741837 .34 74LS38 .34 741840 74L842 741347 74LS48 74L849 74L85I 74L854 74L856 74LS63 1.20 741373 .38 74LS74 74L875 74L876 74L878 74L8B3 74L8B5 741888 74L8B0 74L891 741892 74LS93 74L895 74L896 74L8I07 74L8I09 .38 74(5112 .38 7418113 .38 74LSI14 .36 74(8122 .44 7418123 .78 74L8124 2.85

7418126 7418126 7418132 74L8133 7418136 7418137 74L8I38 74LSI39 74LSI46 74L8I47 74L814B 74L8151 74LSI53 7413154 74L8155 74L8I5B 74L8157 7418156 74L8160 74L8161 74L8162 74L8I63 74L8I64 74L8165 74L8166 74LS166 74L8169 7418170 74L8I73 74L8I74 7418176 74L8IB1 74L8IB9 74L8I90 7415191 74L8I92 74L8I93 7418194 74LS195 74LS196 74LS197 7418221 74L3240 7418241 74LS242 7418243 74L8244 74LS245 74L8247 74LS248 7418249 74L825I 74L8253 7418257 74L825B 7418259

.48 74LS280

.40 74L826B

.58 74L8273 1.45

.58 74L8275 3

.38 74(8279

.91 74L8280

.54 7413233

.54 7418290

1.16 74L8293

2.46 74LS295

1.30 74L8298

.64 74LS299 1.70

.54 74LS323 3.45

1.86 7415324

.68 7418352

.88 7418353

.84 74L8363 1.30

.58 74L8364 1.90

.63 7418365

.64 7418366 74L33B7

.46 1.96 .33

.88 .88 .98 .88

1.70 1.25 lil

.48 .48 .44

.64 7418368 .44

.88 74L3373 1.35

.94 74L3374 1.36 1.90 74L8377 1.35 1.70 74LS37B 1.13 1.70 74L337S 1.45 74L8385

.66 7418386

.54 74L83I0

.54 7415393 1.15 2.10 7418395 1.16 8.90 7413399 1.45

.68 74L8424 2.90

1.30

1.85 .44

1.15

.88 74L3447

.78 74(5490

.78 74L8824

.88 74L8640 2.15

.63 74L3646 2.16

.78 74L5668

.73 74L8669

.83 74L8670

.94 74(3674

.93 74(5682

.93 7418663

.93 74L8384

1.25 74(8685

1.46 74L368B

.74 74(8689

.96 74L3783 23.95

.98 81L896 1.45

.68 81L896 1.45

.68 81(897 1.45

.53 S1L8BB 1.45

.53 25L5252I 2.75

2.70 26L82569 4.20

.36 1.90

3.96

1.65 1.85 1.46 9.60 3.15 3.16 3.16 3.15 2.35 3.15

CRT CONTROLLERS

6B45 11.95

7220 38.95

CRT 5027 18.95

CRT 5037 28.95

TMS991B* 36.95

HO46506ip 11.95

DISC CONTROLLERS

1771 1791 1793 1795 1797 2791 2793 2795

14.95 2797 54.95

21.95 6B43 33.95

25.95 6272 18.95

21.95 UP0765 16.95

21.95 MBB876 23.95

49.95 M 68677 25.95

49.95 1691 6.95

54.95 2143 6.95

1984

- THE IC MASTER

Your ticket to fast and easy IC selections

* I

MCI**

A^

$*,

1

MHZ

2 MHZ

6502 .

4.90

6502*

6 90

6504 .

6.90

6522*

9 90

6505 .

6.90

6532*

10 95

6507 .

9.90

6545*

26 95

6520 .

4.30

6551*

1095

6522 ..

6.90

6532 .

9.90

3 Ml

6545 .

21.50

6502B

. 8.95

655I

.... 10.85

6800

66000..

45.95

6860 ..

6 95

6800 ..

2.75

6662 ..

1095

6802 ..

7.90

6875 ..

690

6606 ..

12.90

6880 ..

2.20

6809E..

13.95

6683 ..

2195

6809 ..

10.95

66047..

23 95

68I0 ..

2.90

66466..

1895

6820 ..

4.30

662I ..

2.75

1

MH7

6826 ..

13.95

68600 .

.9.95

6640 ..

11.95

68B02..

2125

6843 ..

33.95

68B09E

26 9S

6844 ..

24.95

68809..

28 95

6845 ..

11.95

68610..

690

6847 ..

10.95

66621..

6.90

6850 ..

320

66845..

IB98

6852 ..

4.95

68B50..

5 90

MICROPROCESSORS

8000

6031 8035

.. 5.75 .. 5.90

6039 5.75

IN8-8060 16.95

INS-8073 45.95

B0B0 3.90

B0B5 4.75

8085A-2 10.95

BOBS 23.96

8087 159.95

8086 25.95

8069 69.95

6155 6.90

8155-2 7.90

6156 6.90

8185 28.95

BIB5-2 38.95

8741 19.95

6746 35.95

8755 23.65

8200

6202 23.95

6203 30.95

6205 3.45

8212 1.75

8214 3.80

8216 1.70

8224 2.20

8226 1.75

6228 3.45

6237 IB.95

8237-5 . . . 20.95

8238 4.45

8243 3.95

8250 9.95

8251 4.45

6253 6.90

8253-5 7.90

8255 4.45

8255-5 5.20

8257 7.90

6257-5 6.90

8259 6.65

6259-5 7.45

6271 75.00

6272 38.95

8274 29.95

8275 28.95

8279 6.90

8279-5 9.00

8282 6.45

6263 6.45

8264 4.95

8286 6.45

8267 6.45

8288 24.00

6289 13.95

6292 16.95

Z-80

2.5 MHZ

Z80-CP0 2.95

Z80-CTC 2.95

Z80-0»HT 6.95

280-OM* 11.95

Z80-PI0 2.95

Z80-SI0/0 10.95

ZBO-SI0/I 10.95

ZB0-SI0/2 10.95

ZB0-SI0/9 10.95

6.0 MHZ

zeoe-cpu e.95

Z806-CTC 6.95

zaoB-pio 6.95

Z806-DART .... 12.95

4.0 MHZ

Z80/4-CPU 3.95

Z80A-CTC 3.95

Z80»-0»RT 8.95

Z80*-0M* .... 8.95

Z80A-PIO 3.95

ZBOA-SIO/0 .... 11.95 ZB0A-SIO/1 .... 11.95 28OA-SI0/2 .... 11.95 2B0A-SI0/9 .... 11.95

ZILOG

Z6I32 Z8671

33.95 3B.95

MEMORY ^ EXPANSION KIT

$89.

95

4164 200ns 9 for $29.97

Low Cost EPROLV - PROGRAMMER

The "Shooter" $395."

• 32Kb!t«i.pcredabl0to128Kmemor

• Bullt-I •: <:n\4> RS-232 Port

• Progmrt i, verify 2718 thru 27254

• Intelligent, .'.tit programming

• Up/dov.r.lrnci Hex, Binary, ASCII etc

• Serial RS-232 Interface compatlbh

UV ERASERS

QUV-T8/1 $49.95

ECONOMY Model

r-DSSI

§M>3nHnBBssssssBSBSs*

e Eraea EPROMS In 20 mlnutei

• Plastic ^enclosure

QUV-T8/2T $97.5t

INDUSTRIAL Model

• Tray Action, e UV Indicator

e 60-' ite t.d)u«table timer

• Stee1 ure e Safety twltcl e Era >OMS In 20 minutes

Qin

$68.9!

Timer)

LUV-i $149.91:

PRODUCTION Model

QUV-T8/2 $124.9?

FAST Industrial Model

ST-8 $195.0(

8-Tray Storage Cabinet

GAN'' PROGRAMMER $995.°

GAP

e High I .-put

e Reliable, user-friendly

• Intelligent algorithm

e Program and verify 2716 thru 2725

e Stand alone (RS-232 option $18!

OTHER PRODUCTS

$489.

PROMPRO-8 $689.'

64K Verslo e Powerful EPROM/Mlcro devaloi

ment programmer e Keypad Imulatlon e 256Kmumorybufferoptlonavallab

PROMPRO-7

• 32K non-expandable unit

e Built-in 8748, 8740 programmlr

PALPHO-2 $1895.

Stand-alone RS-232 Unit e Programs 20 and 24 series PAI

PALPRO-1 $995.

Programs 20-pln PALs

LOGICAL DEVICE?, INC.

GGBOQQI!

468 BYTE- IANUARY 198

inquiry 116

DIP SWITCHES

*r 1 1

\ % I \ | \ ■, \

4 POSITION 79

5 POSITION 85

6 POSITION 85

7 POSITION .89

8 POSITION B9

RIBBON CABLE

SINGLE COLOR

COLOR CODED

CONTACTS

V

10'

1'

10"

10

.41

4.30

.78

7.20

16

SO

4.70

.95

8.70

20

.60

5.60

I.IS

10.90

25

.70

6.S0

1.22

II.58

26

.70

6.50

1.27

11.SB

34

.93

8.50

1.55

14.40

40

1.27

11.50

1.82

16.70

50

1.28 12.00

2.40 21.90

IC SOCKETS

(1 to 99)

BpliST 12

UpliST 14

16 |li ST 18

IBpliST It

20 pin ST 21

22 pin ST 29

24 pin ST 29

28 pin ST 39

40 pll ST 48

ST = Soldertall

8 pip WW 59

14 pll WW 69

ISplpWW 99

19 pll WW 99

20 pit WW 1.04

22 pll WW 1.34

24 pll WW 1.44

29 pll WW 1.64

49 pll WW 1.94

WW = Wlrewrap

ZIF SOCKETS

. :r£E*«Kmm

14 pin ZIF 5.45

16 pin ZIF 5.45

24 pin ZIF 7.45

28 pin ZIF 9.45

40 pin ZIF 10.45

ZIF = TEXTOOL (Zero Insertion Force)

VOLTAGE REGULATORS

7905T 74

78M05C 34

7808T 74

7012T 74

7B15T 74

7824T 74

7605K... 78I2K... 7915K... 7924K... 78105... 78L12... 78LI5...

79H05K 9.90

78HI2K 9.99

1.34 1.34

1.34 1.34 .68 .68 .68

7905T

94

7999T

64

7912T

84

7915T

94

7924T

94

7905K

.... 1.44

79IZK

.... 1.44

79I6K

.... 1.44

7924K

.... 1.44

79L95

79

79LI2

78

79LI5

76

LM323K 4.90

UA7B540 1.90

C,T = TO-220 K=TO-3 L=TO-92

DIP CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION

NO. of CONTACTS

ORDER BY 8 14 16 18 20 22 24 28

40

HIGH RELIABILITY

TOOLED ST

HRTaST .94 .94 .94 1.59 1.79 1.79 1.89 2.39

289

IC SOCKETS

COMPONENT

CARRIERS (DIP HEADERS)

ICClI .80 .70 .90 .95 1.15 1.15 1.25 1.40

ZOO

RIBBON CABLE DIP PLUGS (IDC)

lOPn - 1.35 1.55 — - - 2.40

4.05

ORDER EXAMPLE

A 14-pln High Rel. ST socket would be HRT 14 ST

D-SUBMINIATURE

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

NO. of CONTACTS

9

15

25

37

50

SOLDER

MALE

DPxxP

1.98

2.59

2.40

4.70

5.96

CUP

FEMALE

DBxxS

2.56

3.53

3.15

7.01

9.14

RT. ANGLE

MALE

DBxxPR

1.55

2.10

2.90

4.73

—

PC.SOLDER

FEMALE

DBxxSR

2.08

2.93

4.32

6.09

—

IDC

MALE

IDPxxP

3.27

4.60

6.13

9.12

—

RIBBON CABLE FEMALE

IDBxxS

3.59

5.03

6.74

9.98

—

HOODS

BLACK

HOOD-B

—

—

1.15

—

—

GREY

HOOD

1.50

1.50

1.15

2.85

3.40

ORDER EXAMPLE: A 5-pln Male Solder Cup would be MALE DP 25 P

IDC CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION ORDER BY

10

NC 20

. of C( 26

5NTAC 34

TS 40

50

SOLDER HEADER IDHxxS

.77

1.19

1.58

2.10

2.48

3.14

RT. AN8LE SOLDER HEADER IDHxxSR

.80

1.25

1.66

2.21

2.62

3.29

WW HEADER IDHxxW

1.76

2.88

3.74

4.40

5.18

6.53

RT. ANGLE WW HEADER IDHxxWR

1.95

3.18

4.12

4.35

4.70

7.20

RIBBON HEADER SOCKET IDSxx

1.05

1.76

2.33

3.05

3.63

4.55

RIBBON HEADER IDMxx

—

5.40

6.15

6.90

7.40

8.40

RIBBON EDGE CARO IDExx

2.15

2.26

2.55

3.15

3.70

4.64

ORDER EXAMPLE: A 20-pin WW Header would be IDH 20 W.

CRYSTALS

1.0000 MHz .

.... 3.89

9.9009 MHz...

.. 2.99

1.9432 MHz .

.... 3.99

10.0000 MHz...

.. 2.69

2.0000 MHz .

.... 2.99

10.7339 MHz. ..

.. 2.69

2.0972 MHz .

.... 2.99

12.0000 MHz...

.. 2.99

2.4579 MHz .

.... 2.99

14.3192 MHz...

.. 2.99

3.2769 MHz .

.... 2.69

16.0900 MHz...

.. 2.99

3.5795 MHz .

.... 2.69

19.9000 MHz...

.. 2.99

4.0000 MHz 4.1943 MHz 4.9160 MHz 5.0000 MHz

2.99

.... 2.99

2.99

.... 2.69

17.4300 MHz.. 19.9990 MHz... 19.4320 MHz...

.. 2.99 .. 2.99 .. 2.69

5.0688 MHz

.... 2.69

19.6699 MHz.

.. 2.99

5.1850 MHz .

.... 2.69

29.9099 MHz...

.. 2.99

5.2429 MHz .

.... 2.69

22.1194 MHz...

.. 2.69

5.7143 MHz.

.... 2.69

32.9900 MHz...

.. 2.69

6.0000 MHz .

.... 2.99

30.9900 MHz...

.. 2.69

6.1440 MHz .

.... 2.69

49.0000 MHz...

.. 2.69

6.4000 MHz .

.... 2.99

49.4359 MHz...

.. 2.69

6.5536 MHz .

.... 2.99

49.9900 MHz ..

.. 2.99

32.763 KHz

1.99

CRYSTAL CLOCK OSCILLATORS

PART NO.

I.ODO

1.943

2.000

4.000

8.0DO 10.000 16.000 18.432 19.660 20.000 32.000

FREQUENCY

1.0000 MHz 1.8432 MHz 2.0000 MHz 4.0000 MHz 8.0000 MHz 10.0000 MHz 16.0000 MHz 18.4320 MHz 19.6608 MHz 20.0000 MHz 32.0000 MHz

EDGECARD CONECTORS

S-100 ST... 3.85 8-100WW... 4.85 72-plnST... 6.85 72-plnWW... 7.85

50-pln ST... 4.85 44-pln ST... 2.85 44-plnWW... 4.85

RESISTORS

V* WATT 5% CARBON FILM

ALL STANDARD VALUES FROM1 OHM-10MEGOHM

50PCS 1.25

100 PCS 2.00

1,000 PCS 15.00

LED

\

LAMPS

1-99 100+

Jumbe RED .09 .08

Jumbo GREEN .16 .14

Jumbo YELLOW .16 .14

INTERFACE CHIPS

8T26 . 68T28 . 8T95 . ST 9 6 . BT97 .

I.54 BT9B 99

I.94 DM9131 2.90

.99 DP9394 2.24

.99 D89935 1.94

.99 988936 99

- TRANSISTORS

2N9I8... MPS9I9.. 2N2I92.. 2N22I9.. 2N22I9A.. 2N22I9.. 2N22I9A. 2H2222 PN2222.. MFS2399. 2N2484.. 2N29D5.. 2N2997.. PN2907... 2N306S.. 3055T 213393... .2N3414...

.49 2N3593..

.24 2N359S..

.74 PN3565..

.49 MP83939.

.49 MPS3649.

.49 PN3943..

..49 PN3644..

.24 MP83704.

.09 MP83799.

.24 2K3772 ...

.24 2N3993..

.49 2 N 3904.

.24 2N3908..

1.20 2N4I22..

.78 2N4123..

.68 2N4249..

.29 2N4304..

.24 2N4401..

.39 2N4492.

.39 2N4493.

.24 2N4967.

.24 PN49I6.

..24 2N5086.

.24 PN5129.

.24 PN5139.

..14 2N5209.

.14 2N6029.

1.90 2N6D43.

24 2N6045.

.09 MPS-A95

.09 MPS-A06

.24 MP8-A55

.24

.24

.99

.24

.24

.24

.24

.24

.34

1.70

1.70

.24

.24

..24

.24 TIP29 64

U TIP3I .... .74

.74 TIP32 79

.24

SAFT Power Products:

STANDBY POWER - SUPPLIES

Protect your computer and its precious data from black-outs or brownouts. Turns on if the power goes off at the wall outlet!

SPS0200VA/M7V $499.00

SPS0400VA/117V $699.00

SURGE - SUPPRESSOR

;o

!•

IP SB

■

STOPS lightening bolts or other high energy line surges from damaging your computer's sensitive components.

SURGE SUPPRESSOR $149.00

-EMI/RFIFILTER

■VP

Eliminates line noise caused by office equipment, printers, flourescent lights, switches, etc.

INTERFERENCE FILTER $49.95

LINE -CONDITIONER

Isolation transformer is harmonic compensating to hold line voltage steady, regulated; also suppresses pulses and line noise.

LINE CONDITIONER $395.00

ORDER TOLL FREE

(800) 538-8800

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS)

(800) 848-8008

(MasterCard!

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 469

INNOVATORS IN MICRO COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

VIEWMAX-80 149.95

80-Column card for Apple II series

• Video Soft Switch

• Inverse Video

• VIOEX's Vldeoterm compatible

VIEWMAX-80e 119.95

80'Column extended video card for Apple lie

• 64K RAM, expandable to 128K

• Double High-resolution circuit

• Compatible with Pascal & CP/M

59.95

PRINTMAX

Parallel printer card, Apple 11 series

• Centronics compatible

• Variable print widths

• Up to 5000 characters/second

Z-MAX-80

89

oo

Z-80 card for CP/M on Apple II series

• Softcard and Z-Card compatible

• Full Interrupt and DMA operation

GRAPHMAX 99.95

Dual High-Res graphics printer card for Apple II series

• Grappler+ compatible

• Color and Zoom magnification

• Inverse graphics

• 90-degrees Rotation

• Pascal and CP/M compatible

MULTIVIEW 80/160 249.°°

80-160 columns with any monitor!

• Screens: 80x24, 80x32, 80x48, 96x24,132x24,132x30,160x24

• On-screen BOLD and Underline

• Reverse scrolling

• Easy-to-read Wide-angle mode

• Apple li and lie compatible

• Prompt lines

• Upper & lowercase letters

APPLE & IBM ACCESSORIES

80 Column Apple II+ ... 149.95 80 Column Apple IIE ... 119.95

Z80 Apple 11+ 89.00

Z80 Apple HE 89.00

16KCard 39.95

Cooling Fan 38.95

Power Supply 74.95

Joystick 29.95

RF Modulator 13.95

Disk Drive 169.95

Controller Card 59.95

Paddles 7.95

COOLING FAN

38.95

III

IP 0

APPLE COMPATIBLE

POWER SUPPLY

74.95

• Powers Apple type systems

• +5V @ 5A +12V @3A -5V @ .5A -12V @ .5A

• includes instructions

16K RAM Card-Apple 11+

• 2-Year Warranty

Assembled & Tested .

39.95

APPLE COMPATIBLE

DISK DRIVE

• Shugart mechanism, made in USA

• Directly replaces Apple Disk II

• Fully compatible with Apple Controller or other Apple compatible controllers.

• One Year Warranty

FULL or 1/2-Height

APPLE or IBM JOYSTICK 95

$29

Compatible for either: APPLE II and APPLE lie

OR

IBM-PC, JR., & IBM-XT

MULTIFUNCTION CARD

• 64K to 384K RAM • Clock Calendar

• Pinllii Port • Software includid

• Sarlsl Port • 1-Yiir Warranty

$249.95

MEMORY CARD

:'^&3§ilyj

.Mill

• Expandable to 512K

• Fully compatible with IBM software

• Fully compatible w/IBM diagnostic utilities

• Serial Port Available

• I -Year Warranty

$199.95

—VUTEK

Color • Parallel • Serial Card

I

• Full bit-mapped Color Graphics

• Printar Port (LFT1. LPT2. LFT3)

• Serial Port (Coml, Com2)

• IBM PC, XT and Portable compatible

• Full soltwire compatibility

• Compatible with lotus 1-2-3, Multi-Plan and Flight Simulator

• Full 2-Year Warranty Parts and Labor

$249.95 DISK DRIVES

TandonTMIOO-2 DS/DO 199.00

TaacFD-SSB DS/DD 159.00

MEMORY EXPANSION KIT

4164 200ns 9 for $29.97

DISKETTES

5V4"

ATHANA

SS/SD 15.90

SS/DD 16.90

DS/DD 22.90

SOFT SECTOH with HUB RING

BULK 5W'DISKETTES

(NO LABEL)

SS/DD ...10for 14.90 100 up 139.00

(Lifetime Warranty)

The Flip Sort PLUS"*

The new Flip Sort PLUS1" adds new dimensions to storage. Its smoked acrylic elegance holds over 100 diskettes with all the features you expect from the Flip Sort Family- $18.95

The FLIP SORT™

The new Rip Sort™ has all the fine qualities of the original with some added benefits: a new design and 50% greater capacity. Holds 75 diskettes and the price is now lower than ever— «j-| o 95

(800) (800)

538-8800 848-8008

DoKa

470 BYTE • JANUARY I985

VT102

CONNECT YOUR PC TO YOUR DEC SYSTEM

PC100 turns your IBM PC/XT into a VT100/52 terminal. PC102 adds VT102 printer and file transfer support. PC102-132 supports true 132 columns. Guaranteed compatibility with all VT100/52 applications incuding: EDT, WORD II, ALL-IN-ONE, DEC-CALC AND UNIX. PRICED FROM S89.

• 110 through 9600 baud operations

• Complete keyboard and screen emulation

• Optional 4010 graphics support

GENERAL MICROSYSTEMS

6440 Flying Cloud Dr.. Suite 205

Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344

(612)944-0593

CALL FOR FREE INFORMATION PACKA6E.

FlexyDisks® 51/4"

Specify soft, 10 or 16 sector

Minimum Order 20

Single side double density

1.35e

1.55e

Double side double density

Hart tacton In Library box only add .15. Certified Check ■ Money Order - Personal Check. Allow up to 2 weeks for personal checks to clear. Add $3.00 per 100 or part to each order for U.P.S. shipping charges. NJ Residents add 6% sales tax.

^Xt:-t-l4NGB, /NC.

178 Route 206 South, P.O. Box 993

Department C

Somerville, N.J. 08876 • (201) 874-5050

WGiv<

Monitor Mover Gives Back the Desk

1 Models to fit most CRT's

> Rotates 360° on base

> Adjustable height

• Support tray swivels and tilts

' Holds up to 50 lbs

' Clamp, screw and wall mountings

Lirffeklllllll

P.O. Box 8056

Grand Rapids, Ml 49508

(616)241-4040

Inquiry 144

Inquiry 99

Inquiry 203

BLUE BOOK

Prices shown for thousands of computers, software, and peripherals.

Each listing includes suggested list, avg. retail, wholesale, and used prices for all the geographical regions of the United States.

Send $12.95 + $.50 postage to:

NCDA

National Computer Dealers Association

5420 Hwy. 6 North Houston, Texas 77084

INVENTORY CLEARANCE! IMMEDIATE DELIVERY!

General DataComm Dial Modems

103J-L

300 bps,

full duplex. $99.00

113A 300 bps, full duplex. Reliable LSI

design- $149.00

212A 1200 bps full duplex synch or asynch. 300 bps synch. 5 299.00 We also have quantities of 4800 and 9600 bps modems.

Call Toll Free 1-800-842-3672 General DataComm

Middlebury, CT 06762-1299

Add $5.00 shipping and handling Conn. res. add sales tax.

CROSS

SOFTWARE

for the NS32000

INCLUDES:

* Cross Assembler * * Cross Linker *

* Debugger *

* N.S. ISE Support *

* Librarian *

* Pascal Cross Compiler *

* C Cross Compiler *

U.S. prices start at $500

SOLUTIONWARE

1283 Mt. View-Alvi»o Rd.

Suite B

Sunnyvale, Calit 94089

408/748-7818 * TLX 4994364

Inquiry 409

Inquiry 143

Inquiry 324

O

Z

E

Q. <

0Q o

<!

°!

UJK

2

i

Ul

COMPUTER SWITCH

PI-SWITCH lets you safely share your computer among multiple SERIAL or PARALLEL printers, modems, terminals, etc., all with just a flick of the wristl

• Serial switch has female RS 232 connocto's with gold plated pins. Uses lines 1-7 fe 20 or can easily be reset by user.

• Parallel swiich has female Centronics connectors.

• All models have an attractive aluminum case.

• 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

• One year Warranty.

• Send for FREE leaflet that describes its many uses

PI 02S Serial - Shares 121 devices ....

..$59:95

PI-05-S Serial- Shares (5) devices ... .

P1-02-P Parallel - Shares (21 devices

109,95

94.95

CA06-P Parallel Cable 5'

25.00

TERMS: VISA, MC. Check. MO or COD. Add $2.00 each for ground or $4.00 each for 2nd Day Air shipping. Dm1«tb and Custom Switch Orders Invrtad-PlBasa Call

7301 NW 41 ST. MIAMI. FL 33166 (305) 592-6092

EPSON

Printers

Lowest prices anywhere!

Order by phone. Major credit

cards accepted or C.O.D.

We ship U.P.S.

Sf Video Dynamics Inc.

in Illinois 1-312-593-2304 out of state 1-800-233-3472

""""Heath Users

Double Your 5!/," disk storage capacity without adding a drive.

Get twice as much from your H88 or H89 microcomputer. Our FDC-880H floppy disk controller, in conjunction with your F>%" drives, for example, expands memory capacity from 256 bytes to 512 bytes per sector.

And it handles single and doublesided, single and double-density, 8" and 5'/j" drives — simultaneously.

Or

C.D.R. Systems Inc.

Controlled Data Recording Systems Inc. 7210 Clairmont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92111

(6191 560-1272

Inquiry 309

Inquiry 364

Inquiry 408

The Source FOR IBM SYSTEMS

IBM SYSTEM NO, ONLY $1650

• 256K of Memory

V* One 360K Disk Drive * Hi-Res Monitor * Pipeline Color Graphics Card

IBM

SYSTEM NO, 2*

ONLY $2050

* 256K of Memory

* Two 320K Disk Drives

* Hi-Res Monitor • Pipeline Color Graphics Card

* AST SixPac + w/64K

IBM SYSTEM NO, 3 ONLY $2295

* 256K of Memory * IBM Monochrome Monitor IBM Monochrome Adaptor w/Par. Port * Epson RX80 Printer w/6 ft. Cable

IBM

SYSTEM NO. 4* ^ ONLY $3095

* 256K of Memory * One 360K Drive • 10 Meg. Hard Disk v * AST Six Pac W/64K

V* 1200 Baud Modem * Hi-Res Monitor • Pipeline Color Graphics Card • Epson RX80Printer w/Cable

* All systems come with: 90 day warranty; Burned in and tested for 24 hours; Fully Assembled

* 9-4164 * 200 ns

(Not made by Micron)

$27.95 a set

The Source!

* 300 Baud • Internal — IBM Compatible List $199 Our Close Out Price

$59

MEMORY UPGRADE FOR PC AT

$169 a set

• RX80FT

* 100 cps

* Friction & Tractor Feed

^^mmmlilSi computers

• We Accept MC, Visa, Wire Transfers, Certified Checks

• COD's Available

• No Surcharge for Credit Cards

• Shipping Minimum $5.00

• Purchase Orders Accepted

• This Ad Supersedes all Others

Inquiry 276 Prices Subject to Change

$279

The Source!

VISA

We Specialize in IBM & Compatible Products

Call (800) 841-0905 For All Your PC Needs

IBM & COMPATIBLE COMPUTERS

IBM

PCw/64K, 1 Drive $1349

PCw/256K,2Drives 1549

PCXT,256K10MesDisk 3395

COMPAQ

Compaq, 256K, 2 Drive $2250

SANYO

MBC 550,1-Drive, software $ 699

MBC555,2-Drives,160Kea 999

MBC 550-1,1 -Drive, 320K 799

MBC 555-2,2-Drives,320Kea 1099

Optional Serial Port 79

Optional Drive w/Software 189

TAVA

2-Drives, 128K, 2 Ser. 1 Par. Port, Color Graphics Card & Hi-Res. Green Monitor $1595

INTERFACE CARDS FOR IBM AND COMPATIBLES

AST RESEARCH

SixPac + 64K Par. & Ser. Software . $ 249

Mesa + 64Kexp. to 512K Ser. Port 259

MesaPack 256K option for Mega . . 269

l/o + Ser. & Optional Par. Game . . 149

Additional Ports 49

QUADRAM

Color I $ 209

Color II 229

Quadlink 499

Quad Board 64K w/Game Port . . . 279 Quad Board II 269

HERCULES

Color Graphics Card $ 189

Monochrome Graphics 329

PLANTRONICS

Color + $ 379

IBM

IBM COMPATIBLE

Dos2.1

. $ 49

DISK DRIVES

Dos3.0

Monochrome Monitor or Adapto

59 ' 229

s TANDON

FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS

TM-65-2, Vi Height (360K) S

179

Maynard

.$ 169

TM-100-2(320K) $

149

Maynard w/Ser. Port

. 229

TEAC

Maynard w/Par. Port

229

FD55B, % Height (320K) $

129

Sigma Controller

159

Pipeline Controller

129

MATSUSHITA

Same as Panasonic, V* Ht.360K ... $

129

DUST COVER

SHUGART

Covers Monitor, Mainframe &

SAU55, PC Compat. (320K) $

125

Keyboard

. $. 29

CDC

MORE ACCESSORIES

9409,(320K) $

189

Koala Graphics Tablet

$ 85

8087 Co-Processor

149

MONITORS

Kraft Joystick

39

•

Par. Printer Cable

24

AMDEK

USI

300G, 12" Green $

300A, 12" Amber

129

139

. $ 299

Modular Card .

325

310A, 12" Amber Monochrome . .

165

W(~lHl I If A

89 229

Color I + Color Composite

299

Module B

Color II + RGBw/Cable

409 ,

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

PIPELINE

PGSHX12 $ 469

Color Graphics Card

$ 169

PGSMAX12

189

PGSSR12

640

VUTEK

Color Card w/Par. & Ser. Ports . . .

$ 249

MODEMS

HAYES MICRO INC.

SmartModem300 $ 205

Smart Modem 1200 489

1200BforPC 399

ANCHOR

Mark VI300 Baud, Internal $ 59

Mark XI11200 Baud 239

PROMETHEUS

ProCom1200 $ 339

RIXON

PC212A, 1200 Baud Stand Alone. .$ 399

U.S. ROBTICS

Password, 1200 Baud $319

PRINTERS

OKIDATA

ML92A(160cps)

.S 359

ML93A(160cps)

589

}Z & 93 Plus & Play

49

STAR MICRONICS

Gemini 10X, 120 cps

.$ 259

Gemini15X,120cps,15"car. . .

389

JUKI

6100,18cpsltr. qual

$ 399

Tractor Feed

129

EPSON

RX80 . .

.$ 269

RX80FT

. 279

RX80 . .

439

FX100 .

DISKETTES

. 659

PIPELINE

Dbl./Dbl. Reinforced Hub 1 year

warranty $ 18

Flip File Holds 70(smk. plexiglass) . 16

TAXAN

420(PGS Compatible) . . 425 RGB& Green

PC PEACOCK

Color board w/Par

Your IBM Connection!

Inquiry 276

!*A'*

ORDER DESK: (213)320-6822 (800) 841-0905 (OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA)

a I a "^ ^b

H^flBeH ■ ,\ ■ ITjjjjI i K B E-B ■ -!

MAIL ORDER & WAREHOUSE:

20317 Western Avenue Torrance, CA 90501

&»T" *gfc \2j&&**^*> ^c*

so°

&

*»***>

«^>^

*& ^<&

9o»

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(*•

■^

«*

******

0<*

^\a

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COMPUTERS

SANYO

MBC550 — Includes 1 28K Memory, 5% Disk Drive, Parallel Printer Port. CPU has RGB Color and Monochrome Composit Video. Software includes: Sanyo BASIC, Wordstar, Calcstar and Easy writer. Call fop Price

MBC555

Call for Price

Sanyo Monitors, Serial Cards, Upgrades Avail, from Sav-On Call for Prices

COMPAQ

COMPAQ PLUS 2 Drives [1 Floppy S.

1 10 Meg] S.256K $3740

DESK TOP Model 1 Call

DESK TOP Model 2 For

DESK TOP Model 3 Pricing

CALL FOR PRICING ON APPLE, KAYPRO,

TAVA,°ZENITH. EPSON, NEC, COLUMBIA

AND OTHER CPU's.

WE CAN GET YOU THE LOWEST

PRICE AROUND,

PRINTER INTERFACE and PERIPHERALS

PRINTER CABLES

ALL MAKES [6 foot long] S2C

FOURTH OEMINSION

PAR CARD & CABLE for Apple . . S4f

ORANGE MICRO

GRAPPLER + S115

.GRAPPLER + w/16K 175

OKIDATA

SERIAL INTERFACE

MICRO TEK

DUMPLING GX $8!

DUMPLING GX [Exp to 64K] 14!

BAM 16 Cal

GO

x&

*fi>

PRINTERS

STAR MICRONICS

GEMINI 10X [120cps]

OKIDATA

82A [120cps par. S. ser.]

92P (1 BOcps]

84P [200cps]

I

EPSON

RX80FT [120cps, Fnc/Tractor] FX80 [1 BOcps]

JUKI

B100 (1Bcps S. let. quality] ,',

BROTHER

DYNAX

MONITORS

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

HX12 [High Res, IBM Compatible] $459

SR12 Call

MAX12 185

AMDEK

300G 12" Green $186

300A 12" Amber 135

31OA 12" Amber [Monochrome] . . .180

COLOR I + [Color Composite] 299

COLOR II + [RGB w/Cable] 409

ZENITH

ZVM122 1 2" Amber $99

ZVM123 12" Green

LEADING EDGE

GORILLA 12" Green $89

GORILLA 12" Amber 99

TAXAN

Call, We Have

The Lowest

Priced Taxan

Monitors In Town

MODEMS

HAYES

300

1 200 External, PC Compatible 1 200B Internal, PC Compatible MICRO MODEM lie

NOVATION

ACCESS 123

J-CAT

APPLE CAT

ANCHOR

MARK VII [300 Baud). .

MARK XII [1200 Baud]

MARK VI

The Sav-On Sy terns

THE PROFESSIONAL SYSTEM

APPLE

2 Drives, BO Col Card, Apple Monitor Very Nicely Priced -» _ g Q f

At A Very Very Low 9 Ic9«

PORTABLE COMPUTER

DATA GENERAL

Small Enough to Fit In A Brief Case PC Compatible ^% ..

Low Priced U3II

COMPAQ

2 Drives with 256K

$2195.00

APPLE ADD-ONS

JOY STICK SELECT PORT PADDLES

MICROMAX

VIEWMAX BO

VIEWMAX 80e . . . .

KENSINGTON

SYSTEM SAVER . MORE AVAILABLE. .

Call For Lowest

WE ARE THE NEW SOURCE FOR LOW PRICED COMPUTERS

IBM PRODUCTS

IBM COMPUTERS 1 up

IBM PC 64K with 1 Drive S1330

IBM PC 25BK with 2 Drives 1575

IBM PC XT 128K w/1 Drive S. 10Mb 3299

IBM PC AT Call

IBM PORTABLE [Any Configuration]. Call For

DRIVE CONTROLLER CARDS

IBM Original [Controls 4 drives] . . $139 MAYNARD [Any Configuration] ... Call IBM Copy [120 Day Warranty] 119

COMPATIBLE DRIVES FOR PC

CDC [IBM Compatible] $159

I'ANDON Full Hight 320K 159

MPI A2 [IBM Compatible] 119

HARD DISKS TALLGRASS

20Mbyte w/20Mb Back-up Call

35Mbyte w/45Mb Backup Call

70Mbyte w/60Mb Back-up Call

MAYNARD, ALPHA OMEGA, GENIE CALL FOR PRICING

New Years Specials

MONOCHROME SYSTEM

IBM PC

w/2 Drives, 25BK Memory Mono Monitor S. Mono Card w/Par Port

$1995.00

COLOR SYSTEM

IBM PC

iK, Color Card, HX12

$1995.00 IBM PC

J5BK. 1 Floppy S 10 Meg Hard Disk

$2195.00

SEE US AT THE MONTERY COMPUTER SHOW AND SALE

Jan. 12 [11-6] & Jan. 13 [10-5]

! OR SUPER AFTER CHRiSTMAS SPECIALS

Conference Center-, Montery, Calif

5 up

10 up

S1315

S1300

1550

1525

Call

Call

Call

Call

Low

Price

L.D.C.

LOTUS 123

SYMPHONY

TEAC 1 up 5 up 10 up

TEAC 55B [Hi High Drive for PC] . . 9135 S130 S125

INTEL

INTEL 80B7-3 Math Coprocessor $129 S125 S120

MEMORY (NEC, Tl, Others] 100 uplOOO up2000 up

RAM CHIPS [All are 200nS or faster] $3.00 $2.75 $2.50

Low Low Priced

AST

SIX PAC PLUS [1 Ser/1 Par Port,

Clock w/0 memory] $219

SIX PAC PLUS [1 Ser/1 Par Port.

Clock S. B4K exp. to 384K] 259

SIX PAC PLUS [ 1 Ser/1 Par Port,

Clock S. 3B4K Memory] 399

I/O PLUS [1 Ser S, 1 Clock] 129

I/O PLUS [1 Ser/ 1 Par S. Clock] 165

MEGA PLUS [64K] 259

MEGA PAC [256K] 249

OTHER A5T BOARDS AND

ADDITIONAL PORTS AVAILABLE

CALL FOR PRICES

QUADRAM

COLOR 1 $209

COLOR 2 Call

QUADBOARDS Call

HERCULES

MONOCHROME [Hi Res COLOR CARD

i Cai PS3.39 199

TECHMAR

GRAPHICS MASTER [Runs Mono S, Color, High Res in Both Models , $469

STB

GRAPHICS [PLUS] HSupporte Both Color and Mono Display. You II gel. 50% faster flicker-free scrolling over IBM's color graphics board. Call for more information . . $349

PC PEACOCK

COLOR BOARD with Parallel Port 9218

PLANTRONICS

COLOR PLU

OTHER BOARDS AVAILABLE CALL FOR LOWEST PRICES!

KEYTRONICS

5151 Keyboard w/Sep Num Pad Call 5150 Keyboard Call

MEMORY UPGRADES

4164 [9 Chips] $37

100% IBM PRODUCTS

IBM CARDS

MONO CARD w/Parallel Port] . , .5219 COLOR CARD .*". 189

IBM MONITORS

MONOCHROME MONITOR . . . 229

COLOR MONITOR Call

DOS 2.1 $58

DOS 3.0 Call

PRINTER PAR PORT 75

IBM to PRINTER CABLE [6 foul) ' $18

FINANCING AVAILABLE

with Approved Credit

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SALES 800-528-3138

TM ESTABLISHED 1977

CompuPro

®

SYSTEM 816/A SINGLE USER $4,199

SYSTEM 816/B TWO-USER $4,899

SYSTEM 816/C MULTIUSER $6,299

FOR 40Mb H.D. OPTION ADD $1,900

TO HAVE 2ND 8" FLPY W/ H.D. $500

5V«" H.D. SUBSYSTEMS

W/ CTRL. BD. CABLES, CAB.. FAN. P/S. ETC.

30-45 mSEC AVG. ACCESS

BY

S=sssss F0R CoinpuPro

W/ CP/M 80 & CP/M86 DRIVERS 40Mb 4BmSEC ACCESS TIME $1,949

65Mb 30mSEC ACCESS TIME $2,695

105Mb 30mSEC access time $3,695

140Mb 30mSEC ACCESS TIME $4,395

SEE ALLOY FOR TAPE BACK-UP

SYSTEM 816/10 H40 40Mb H.D. $5,695

CPU 286 A&T W/ 287 MATH CHIP $1,513

CPU Z 6MHz A&T $229

CPU 8085/88 A&T $349

HUDSON 8087 PIGGY BACK FOR 8085/88 $446 CPU 8086 10MHz A&T $569

CPU 68K 10MHz CSC $600

RAM 22 256K STATIC 8&16 A&T RAM 23 ■ 128K M DRIVE,'H 512K RAM-DISK INTERFACER 1 - 2 SERIAL PORTS INTERFACER 3-8 SERIAL A&T INTERFACER 4-3 SERIAL/2 PARALLEL SYSTEM SUPPORT 1 A&T DISK 1A 5'/4" & 8" FLPY CTRL DISK 2 A&T 8" H.D. CNTRL SET

»1,075

$595 $895 $189 $489 $319 $319 $489 $559

$2,695

FUJITSU 2302B 20Mb ADD-ON H.D. DISK 3 A&T S'/i" H.D. CNTRL.

W. CP/M 80&86 $559

KONAN

SMC-200 DUAL DRV. SMD |/F CTRL BD. $500 DGC-100 CTRL BD/5%" H.D., ST-506 VT $325

MORROW

CALL

81.999

PIVOT 9 LBS DUAL DRVS. MSDOS, MODEM & MORE

MD3 SYSTEM W/ TERMINAL

& EPSON RX80FT PRT.

MDP-3 PORT. SAME AS MD3 EXCEPT WITH 5X7" SCREEN

& EPSON RX80FT PRT. si.329

MD5-E W/ 1 FLPY & 6Mb H.D. $1,826

MD11 SYSTEM w/nMbH.D., 128K,

1DSDD DRV., TERMINAL. CP/M 3.0. ALL MD3 SOFTWARE EPSON FX80 160 CPS DOT MATRIX OR BROTHER

HR-15 13 cps daisy PRINTER $2,995

$398

PROMBLASTER 2 W/EXTEND MODULE PROGRAMS 27256 EPROMS @ 45 SEC.

KLUGE CARD KIT INCLUDES ALL STARTUP HARDWARE $129

OCTAFLOPPY W/CP/M OBJECT & SOURCE $379

Cromemco

FFP FAST FLOATING POINT $2,369

MCU MEMORY CONTROL/FOR 512MSU $419

512MSU ERROR CORRECTING MEMORY $2,119

.68000 CROMIX MULTI USER/TASK DOS $506

lEIectraloaicsl

TECHNICAL 602-991-7870 TELEX 165025 FTCC SEC PHX

:power solutions:^

QUASI DISK 612K RAM-DISK W/ON-BD. DRV. STATUS LED'S WRITE PROTECT. DMA E-Z INSTALL W/SAMPLE CP/M BIOS $795

512K PIGGY-BACK EXPANSION $696

BATTERY BACK-UP W/PWR. SUPPLY $169

MFIO ALL-IN-ONE I/O BD. IEEE S 100/696 8 ASYNCH. SERIAL. 2 PARA., BAUD RATE GEN., CLOCK-CAL/BATT.. PROG PRIORITY INTERRUPT W/8 LEVEL CTRL PERSONALITY BDS & CBLS OPTIONAL $469

SERIAL OPTION BO FOR MFIO CENTRONICS PARA OPTION FOR MFIO

$25 $39

DUPLEX 81 6 8MHz 80186 AND Z80H.2 SERIAL, 16Mb MMU. 5 & 8 FLPY. DMA CTRL, WITH CONCURRENT CP/M86 SINGLE-USER $1,400

W/ CONCURRENT CP/M86

MULTI-USER $1,675

SYNTECH

DATA.

SYSTEMS

SBC8/16 DUAL CPU EXECUTES Z80 & 8088 CODE, 6V4" & 8" FLPY CTRL, 2S, 8 VECTORED & REAL TIME INTERRUPTS $689

EXPANDORAM V 266K $652

•# ADVANCED DIGITAL

CORPORATION,

PC-SLAVE/16-256K 8MHz

2 SERIAL PORTS - TURN YOUR PC INTO A HIGH SPEED MULTI-USER

MACHINE W/ TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY $760

SUPER SIX 128-6MHZ $739

SUPER SLAVE 128-6MHz $625

SUPER 186/256K MSTR/SLAVE-4 USERS $1,295

CP/M 3.0 $300

TURBODOS VER. 1.4 8 BIT MULTI-USER $450

HDC 1001-5 6V<" H.D. CONTROLLER $435

_/

(/^

^=)lntercontinental /Micro Systems

CPZ 48006 6MHz MASTER 256KMB MEMORY BOARD CPS B4D 64K RAM SLAVE 6MH* CPSB6A 128K RAM SLAVE 6MHz MUTDE 280 MULTI TURBODOS

mmPRACTICAL mPEMPHERALS

MICROBUFFER EPSON ■CARDS"

MBS-16K SERIAL

MBS 32K SERIAL

MBS 64K PARALLEL

MEM 32K EXPANSION MODULE

$739 $709 $389 $529 $556

$117

$163

$196

$68

MICROBUFFER IN-LINE STAND ALONES":

MBIS SERIAL 64K $244

MBIP PARALLEL 64K $244

MEM 64 EXPANSION MODULE $118

APPLE II. II*. HE MICROBUFFER II* 16K $181

PROCLOCK/APPLE II, II*. ME $108 SERlALL/APPLE II. II+, HE W/ RS232

COMMUNICATIONS & GRAPHICS $119

Graphicard w/ on-bd s.w. for 36 prt $66

Litton

m

JEFFERSON' ELECTRIC

TRUE SINE WAVE. 100% BATTERY OPER. W/NO SWITCH-OVER, BYPASS STATIC SWITCH 750 WATTS @ 15 MIN.#370-811-100 $1,875 3 OMIN. W/AUXILIARY BATTERY $435

STAND-BY POWER W/ YUASA BATTERY EXCELLENT FOR SWITCHING P/S PC'S

SB-400-LVC 1 HR+ @ 400 WATTS $395

SB-1000 1/2HR+ @ 1000 WATTS $695 BC-425-FC 425 WATTS, 4 OUTLETS,

10 MINUTES $469 BC-1000-FC 1000 WATTS, 4 OUTLETS,

16 MINUTES $1,949

ISOBAR SUPPRESSOR & NOISE FILTERS:

IBAR 2-6 2 OUTLETS & 6 FT. CORD $40

IBAR 4-6 4 OUTLETS & 6 FT. CORD $55

IBAR 8-16 8 OUTLETS & 15 FT. CORD $65

software:

SOFTWARE IS NOT RETURNABLE

bds "c" compiler-8 bit $99

comp. inn. c86 c compiler $299

compuview vedit-86 = $166 ms-dos= $120 sorcim super calc-3 ibm-pc $246

DataFlex multiuser

file & record locking dbms

avail. for most o/s formats call

new word word processor

wordstar compatible but

easier w, merge print in

single or multi-user cp/m 80

or 86 & ms-dos formats $169

lattice c (cp/m86 & ms/pc-dos) $298

CP/M86 8" $346

C FOOD SMORGASBORD OF ROUTINES $99

HALO (1 LANGUAGE) GRAPHICS

SUB ROUTINES FOR PC-DOS ONLY $99

PUNK PC/86 LINKAGE EDITOR

FOR OVERLAY SCHEMES $275

PANEL PC/86/80 CUSTOMIZED

TERMINAL DISPLAYS $239

m DIGITAL RESEARCH

"C" LANGUAGE COMPILER 86

$229

CP/M PLUS (3.0) ACCESS MNGR. DISPLAY MNGR. SPEED PROG. PKG. C BASIC COMPILER PASCAL MT* PL/1 W/ UTILITIES ASMBLR * TOOLS

IFI-UKE!

$246

80 = $195 86 = $260

80 - $260 86 = $325

80 = $130 86 = $163

80 - $325 86 - $390

80 $225 86 = $390

80 = $359 86 = $488

80 - $130 86 = $130

FLUKE 77

DVO METER jug

0 3% DC ACCURACY

PERSONAL SPEECH SYSTEM

$286

COGiltronix switch boxes

FOR NETWORKING MULTIPLE PRT.'S, MODEMS

TERMINALS &/OR SYSTEMS BY MANUAL

OR AUTO WITH SOFTWARE CONTROL CALL

S-100 DIV./696 CORP.

14455 NORTH 79TH ST.

SCOTTSOALE, AZ 85260

FULL DEALER SUPPORT VISIT OUR SHOWROOM

OF S-100 PRODUCTS

Pro Modem 1200 from...

&MRBOME1T.HEIIS

HAYES COMMAND COMPATIBLE WITH HELP MENU WITH MACPAC

$325

(JU

U.S. POBOTICS

PASSWORD 1200 AUTO ANS./DIAL $295

AUTO DIAL 212A (HAYES COMPAT.) S39S

IBM PERSONAL MODEM W/ TELPAC 8289 IBM PERSONAL MODEL W/ 64 K,

PRT PORT. CLOCK. TELPAC S.W. »469

IBM PERSONAL MODEM W/ 2B6K. ETC «769

TELPAC MSDOS/ CPM 80 S79

ITERMINALS:

LIBERTY TERMINALS

W/OPTIONAL 14" SCREEN $20

W/OPTIONAL AMBER SCREEN «40

LIBERTY FREEDOM 110 «475

LIBERTY FREEDOM 200 $539 LIBERTY FREEDOM 210 GRAPHICS, 14"

SCREEN. TEKTRONIX 4010/4014

COMPAT.. 665X290 RES. WITH

FREEDOM 200 SPECS $995 LIBERTY FREEDOM 220 DEC VT52.

100 8. 220 COMPATIBLE $619 LIBERTY FREEDOM 240 DEC GRAPHICS

SAME AS FREEDOM 210 EXCEPT

HAS FREEDOM 220 SPECS. $1,075

QUME QVT102G $419

WYSE-50 14" 132 COLUMN $519

MrtMITHRg

AMDEK 300 GREEN MONITOR $129

AMDEK 300A AMBER MONITOR $145

AMDEK 310 IBM AMBER $159

PRINCETON GRAPHICS HX-12 $469

TAXAN RGB VISION 420 $469

USI 12" HI-RES AMBER $89

ZENITH ZVM 122A AMBER NON-GLARE $85

ZENITH ZVM 123A GREEN NON-GLARE $85

ZENITH CV-1952 19" rgb/comp. $375

PRINTERS

BROTHER DAISYWHEEL

HR-15 SER. OR PAR. 13 CPS HR-25 SER. OR PAR 23 CPS HR 35 SER. OR PAR. 36 CPS

BROTHER DOT MATRIX

2024L 24 PIN HEAD, GRAPHICS, 80 CPS L.Q & 160 CPS DRAFT

DAISYWRITER 2000 40 cps daisy

CUT SHEET FEEDER EPSON ALL MODELS Si ACCESSORIES OKIDATA ALL MODELS & ACCESSORIES

TALLY MT160L 160 cps sor-p TEXAS INST. TI855 w/tractor

$375 $649 $849

$925 $795 $495 CALL CALL $660 $798

ZINDUSTRIAL QUALITYZ rARIMFTC

DUAL VjHI HORIZ. 5V«" FLPY SINGLE STD. HI HORIZ. 5V4" FLPY 5V." H.D. CABINET W/ PS. 81 FAN DUAL 8" Vi HI FLPY HORIZONTAL OR SINGLE STD. 8" FLPY

INTEGRAND

800 DB2F W/ NECESSARY OPTIONS 800 DW SAME AS ABOVE W/ PROVISION FOR 8" H.D. . 1100D W/ OAK SIDE PANELS

S75

$59

$226

$215

$576 $446

:disk drives:

WE SERVICE FLOPPY DRIVES 5V4" OR 8" + PARTS + SHIP. $50

Iandon 1002 bv.-dsdd $159

Qume

1 YEAR WARRANTY

142 DSDD 5V.'"'/i HI 242 DSDD 8 "Vi HI 842 DSDD 8" STD HI

$149 $359

A

MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS

4851 '/i HT5V." 48TPI 4853 V4HT SV." 96TPI M2894 STD 8" DSDD M2896 V, HI 8" DSDD

$169

• 179

• 399 $399

SANYO

6V4"'/2HI FLPY. DIRECT DRV. 1 YR. WARR.$119

CALL FOR LOW, LOW PRICES ON SUBSYSTEMS

»M0V

IDXCS-100TTAPE BACK-UP FOR

S-100 BUS COMPUTERS W/HARD DISK 17.6Mb on 555' CARTRIDGE TAPE INCLD'S ALL SOFTWARE, CTRL. BD.. CABINET. DRIVE, AND CABLES $1,949

IDS-412 SCSI/SASI 17.6Mb

CARTRIDGE TAPE BACK-UP

EXCELLENT FOR COMPUPRO 816/10 $1,949 PCQICTAPE IBM PC BACK-UP

TO 60Mb IN 10 MIN OR LESS $1,995

ufliiih Amcodyne

ARAPAHOE 71 10 25Mb FIXED &

REMOVABLE 8" H.D W35 mSEC. AVG. ACC. FULL CDC LARK COMPATIBLE $3,996

OPTIONAL P/S $285

25Mb 8" DYSAN CARTRIDGE $140

ST506 5V* INCH BARE HARD DRIVES

SA712 Vi HT. 10Mb

$498

RQDIME

RO203 20Mb RO204 27Mb RO203E 40Mb RO204E 53Mb

ounmum

$739

$888

$1,250

$1,396

$1,475

$1,996 $2,996

Q540 42.66Mb 45m SEC ACCESS

Mqp^or

XT 1066 66.99Mb 30m SEC ACCESS

XT 1 106 105.27Mb 30m SEC ACCESS

XT-1140 143.66Mb 30m SEC ACCESS $3,749

MICROPnLIS

MP1302 26.9Mb 30MS AVG. ACCESS $1,426 MP1303 43.2Mb 30MS AVG. ACCESS $1,826 MP1304 51.9Mb 30MS AVG. ACCESS $1,939

®

64K RAM 4164-150 NS 9 CHIPS/SET

HARD DISK SYBSYSTEMS: 10Mb "PC-INSIDER"

21Mb "PC-OUTSIDER" 33.3Mb "PC-OUTSIDER

44Mb "PC-OUTSIDER" 56Mb "PC-OUTSIDER" 90Mb "PC-OUTSIDER" 120Mb "PC-OUTSIDER"

$27

$719

$1,375 $1,776 $1,995 $2,695 $3,695 $4,495

RIO PLUS: RS232 S. P I/O. G, CLK/

CAL. 64K St PC ACCEL. STB RIO+64 $267

GRAPHIX PLUS II: RGB It MONOCHROME

PRINTER It LT. PEN PORTS $326

SUPER RIO: RAM 10 MULTI-FUNC. W/

64K (UPGRD TO 768K), 2S, 1P (IBM

COMPAT.) 1G. CLK/ CAL. STB SRIO 64 S275

STB PB 64 PIGGYBK (EXPAND. TO 612K) S165 MEMORY EXPAN. BD: 64K (EXPAND

TO 384K)STB 1 64 $1g5

IBM-AT COMPATIBLE BDS:

RIO GRANDE 128K TO 1 6Mb, S6.P

PORT.. OPT. SERIAL Si GAME PORT $367

GRANDE BYTE 128K expandable TO 2Mb FOR IBM-AT $257

TEGH4RJ

IBM-AT/MAESTRO W/O RAM TO 2.1Mb

S & P PORT. TREASURE CHEST,

PRINTER Si MEM DISK SOFTWARE CAPTAIN 64K. IS, IP. CLK/CAL WAVE 'XT' MEMORY BD 64K DYNAMIC MEMORY 256K GRAPHICS MASTER - HIGH RES. COL.

(640X400), MONO (720X700). RGB.

NTSC COMPOSITE St IBM MONO.

MON., 128K, LT. PEN INTERFACE GRAPHICS TENDER MONOCHROME

St PARALLEL PRINTER jr CAPTAIN 128K PC. 1 YR BATT. LIFE jr WAVE 128K jr CADET 64K ADD ON PIGGYBACK BD

for jr CAPTAIN/WAVE jr 2ND MATE PARA. PRT. PORT St CLOCK/

CAL. W/ BATT. BACK-UP

Mac Drive

73010 6MbREMOVABLE H.D. 73020 2X EMbREMOVABLE H.D. 73200 10Mb FIXED H.D. 73210 10Mb FIXED W/ 6Mb REMOVABLE CARTRIDGE

$2,429

YtNiTM I data

I systems

MICROSOFT WORD W/MAIL LIST & MULTI PLAN INCLUDED W/ALL ZENITH CPU'S UNTIL JAN. 85. Z-150 PC THE MOST COMPATIBLE PC $2,095 Z-1 50 PC (W 10.6Mb H.D.) $2,888

Z-160 PC PORTABLE S2.249

STANDARD-NET

FOR IBM St Z150 PC'S INCLD'f CABLE.

BD. SOFTWARE & INSTALL GUIDE S599

j^B^^^M UNIVERSAL 64K BUFFER

^F ^T jf "IN" S OR P

* * ^^ "OUT" S OR P $209

PRICES ARE CASH PREPAID & MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. SHIPPING, INS.. HANDLING EXTRA

Inquiry 507 for Dealers.

Inquiry ^08 for End Users.

SUBJECT TO AVAILABLE QUANTITIES HRS: 8:30AM - 5:00PM M-F

HOW TO

Call for an IBM PC system custom enhanced to meet all your business needs.

Printers:

EPSON JX-80 (160cps, 10", 8 colors) BEST PRICE

EPSON FX-80 (160cps, 10") $425

EPSON FX-100 (160cps. 15") $625

EPSON RX-80 dOOcps, 10") $245

EPSON RX-80F/T (100cps. 10" w/platten) $295

EPSON RX-80F/T PLUS (100cps.10" w/platten, near LQ). CALL

EPSON RX-100 dOOcps. 15" while they last) $425

EPSON LQ-1500 (LQ dot matrix w/ par, interface) CALL

OKIDATA ML92 (160cps. 10") NEW-BEST PRICE

OKIDATA ML93 (160cps, 15") NEW-BEST PRICE

OKIDATA ML84 (200cps, 15") $795

OKIDATA PACEMARK 2410 (350cps, 15) $1995

GEMINI 10X(120cps. 10") ' $275

GEMINI 15X (120cps, 15") $395

DATAPRODUCTS 8010 (180cps. dot matrix. 10") CALL

DATAPRODUCTS 8020 (180cps, dot matrix, 15") CALL

DATAPRODUCTS 8050 (200cps, dot matrix, 15") CALL

DATAPRODUCTS 8070 (400CDS. dot matrix. 15". LQ),. CALL

TOSHIBA P1340 (LQ dot matrix, 10") $745

TOSHIBA P1351 (LQ dot matrix, 15") $1295

TI-855 (LQ dot matrix w/font cart) PRICE REDUCTION

DIABLO 630API (40cps LQ) $1595

DIABLO 630ECS (192 chars on wheel) $1995

NEC 2050 (Durable, low cost LQ) BEST PRICE

NEC 3550 33cps LQ) NEW LOW PRICE

NEC 7730 (55cps LQ) NEW LOW PRICE

NEC 8850 (Fast LQ from the people setting standards). CALL

C.ITOH A10 (New letter quality) CALL

C.ITOH STARWRITER (40cps LQ) $1025

C.ITOH PRINTMASTER (55cps LQ) $1325

QUME LETTER PRO 20 (New. nice) CALL

QUME SPRINT 1140 (40cps LQ) CALL

QUME SPRINT 1155 (55cps LQ) CALL

BROTHER HR-15 (13cps LQ, 10") $395

BROTHER HR-25 (23cps LQ. 15") $675

BROTHER HR-35 (32cps LQ. 15") $895

COMREX, DYNAX PRINTERS CALL

CALL FOR ADD-ON TRACTORS & CIST FEEDER SHEETS

Miscellaneous:

ORCHID PC TURBO (80186 coprocessor-runs at 8MHz) CALL

INTEL 8087 (High speed math coprocessor) $169

KEYTRONIC 5151 KEYBOARD (Sep. cursor keys) $199 MOUSE SYSTEMS (Optical mouse, runs LOTUS) ... $139 MICROSOFT SERIAL OR BUS MOUSE (wsoftware)..$139

ISOBAR SURGE PROTECTORS (4 & 8 plug) S49/S69

POWER BACK-UP (200 & 425 watts) S269/S499

MICROFAZER (8-128K print buffer) from $139

BRET SALTER'S new debug board w software CALL

Verbatim Diskettes:

SS/DD Box $24- Case $199

DS/DD Box $29-Case $249

Disk Drives For Less: TANDON TM 100-2 $179

HALF HEIGHTS ea $149

Hard Disk Drives:

PEACHTREE PERIPHERALS 10MB internal & external . CALL

EVEREX10MB internal CALL

MAYNARD10MB internal CALL

MAYNARD 30MB internal $2195

MITSUBISHI (10MB & 25MB w/tape) CALL

SYSGEN 10MB HARD DISK (w/tape back up) $2395

SYSGEN 20MB HARD DISK (w/tape back up) $2895

SYSGEN IMAGE 10 minute XT tape back up $795

CALL FOR TECMAR, DAVONG. AND TALLGRASS PRICES

Multifunction Boards:

EXPANDED QUADBOARD

(64K-384K,S.P.G.C/C.bracket) $269/459

AST 6-PAK (64-384K.S.P.C/C,opt G) $269/459

AST MEGAPLUS (64-512K1 .S.C/C.opt S.P.G.K)... from $269

AST I/O PLUS (S.C/C.opt S.RG) from $139

ORCHID BLOSSOM (54-384K S.RC/C. opt PC Nel)from$249

TECMAR CAPTAIN (64-384K,S,P.C/C) from $259

BABY BLUE II (64-256K.Z80B.2S.RC/C) from $429

PERSYST Time Spectrum (64-384K.S.P.C/C, 2 yr. wrry) $279 PROFIT RAM ELITE & PLUS (64-512K.2S or S&RC'C). CALL MAYNARD SANDSTAR MODULAR BOARDS CALL

Modems:

HAYES 300 baud external $209

HAYES 1200 (300 or 1200 baud ext) $469

HAYES 12008 (300 or 1200 baud mt w'soft) $399

HAYES Compatibles CALL

SIGNALMAN MARK 12 (1200 baud at 300 price) $259

VENTEL HALF CARD BEST PRICE

Display Cards:

EVEREX GRAPHIC EDGE

(Simultaneous color & mono, w'ports) $399

TSENG UllraPAK

(132 mono. S, P. C/C, opt RAM. FDC. color) $439

PARADISE MODULAR GRAPHICS CARD (Color/graphics in

mono with modular ports options!) from $339

PERSYST BoB (finally clear text on a color monitor)... CALL

STB GRAPHIX PLUS II (Mono, color, par) $369

PROFIT MULTIGRAPH (Mono, color, opt par) $369

TECMAR GRAPHICS MASTER (640x400 + mono) $489 QUAD COLOR I (Upgrades to hi/res w/Quadcolorll).... $199

HERCULES COLOR CARD (New from old faithful) $189

AST MonoGraphPlus

(LOTUS mono, senal, parallel, clock) $399

PLANTRONICS Colorplus (Hi/res w/color magic) $379

IBM PCS

WE OFFER THE BEST:

• PRICE • SERVICE • STOCK • SUPPORT

CALL FOR A QUOTE

HARD DISKS

INTERNAL/LOW POWER EXTERNAL/MASS STORAGE ARCHIVE TAPE BACK-UP REMOVABLE MEDIA

478 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 284

BUDGET HERO

Call for an IBM PC system custom enhanced to meet all your business needs.

NEW IBM PRICES!!

IBM PC W256K. 2 360K drives, controller, Monochrome Printer aoapter. Amdek 310A $2195

IBM PC w 256K. 2 360K drives, con trailer. Color/Graphics adapter. HX-12 color monitor S2495

IBM PC W/256K. 2 K? ht. 360K drives.

controller 10MB hard disk w/auto boot $2795

(These systems are brand new. fully tested and burned in. fully warranteed for 90 days AND ARE ALWAYS IN STOCK!)

Monitors:

AMDEK COLOR 710(No glare, no flicker ultra hi/res) .. $579

AMDEK COLOR 700 (New ultra hi/res RGB) $495

AMDEK COLOR 600 (New hi/res RGB w/audio) $429

AMDEK 300 A and G (Amber or green) $149/S139

AMDEK COLOR 500. 400. 300 (New hi/res RGB) CALL

AMDEK 310A (Amber, dark non-glare tube) $169

PGS SR-12 (690x480 non-interlaced) $599

PGS HX-12 (690x480 interlaced) $479

PGS MAX-12 (720x350 mono) $189

WYSE 50,75,100 TERMINALSfProgram fund keys) CALL TAXAN, NEC, ZENITH MONITORS CALL

Software:

SYMPHONY (New Irom LOTUS! BEST PRICE-CALL

FRAMEWORK (New from ASHTON-TATE) BEST PRICE MULTIMATE (Emulates WANG dedicated WP) $279

SAMNA WORD III ( Ultra-WANG') $295

WORDSTAR PRO-PAK (WS'CS MM.SI/Tutor) $279

MICROSOFT WORD w/MOUSE (4th generation WP). $289

VOLKSWRITER DELUXE w/Textmerge $179

BANK STREET WRITER $59

EASYWRITER II SYSTEM (-wnter.-speller.-mailer)... CALL SUPERCALC 3 (Better graphs than LOTUS) .. BEST PRICE PFS Write. File and Graph ... each S99.Report .... $79

OPEN ACCESS (Proven Integrated Package) CALL

dBASE II & III (From Ashton-Tate) S299/S375

KNOWLEDGEMAN (Version 1 06) $299

RBASE 4000&6000(Use w. CLOUT REPORT WRITER)CALL

POWER BASE (Relational, hierarchical) $279

CIP (New and fantastic!) CALL

DAYFLO (Enhance with REPORTFLO) CALL

OZ (from Fox & Geller) CALL

NUTSHELL by Leading Edge CALL

LIFEBOAT LATTICE C COMPILER (w/8087 support). $289

LIFEBOAT LATTICE C-FOOD SMORGASBORG CALL

MICROSOFT C.BASIC.FORTRAN.PASCAL.COBOL... CALL

BORLAND TURBO PASCAL & TOOLBOX CALL

DIGITAL RESEARCH (All products) CALL

DOW JONES (All products) CALL

IUS A/R, A/P, G/L $299

OPEN SYSTEMS ACCOUNTING MODULES... BEST PRICE STATE OF THE ART (&L.A,RA'P.INVPR) . . BEST PRICE

BPI GENERAL ACCOUNTING AND MODULES CALL

DOLLARS AND SENSE by Monogram $119

MANAGING YOUR MONEY by Tobias/Meca $129

HARVARD PROJECT MANAGER BEST PRICE

TAX PREPARATION PACKAGES CALL FOR PRICE

DECISION RESOURCES CHART MASTER $259

BPS BUSINESS GRAPHICS $259

Z-SOFT PC PAINTBRUSH w/FRIEZE GRAPHICS $99

PROKEY VERSION 3.0 by Rosesoft $95

SET-FX for your EPSON $45

NORTON UTILITIES $59

COPY II PC by CENTRAL POINT $35

COPYWRITE by Quaid (Copies all IBM software) $45

COMPUSERVE STARTER KIT $35

SIDEWAYS by FUNK SOFTWARE $49

CROSSTALK XVI by MICROSOFT $109

HAYES SMART COM II $95

TRACE 86 by Morgan (Assembly language debug).. CALL FLIGHT SIMULATOR $39

Chips (Always in stock):

64K RAM CHIP MEMORY UPGRADE (set of 9)

full 90 day warranty

WE ARE CHIP BROKERS. ASK FOR QUANTITY PRICES

$39

PROGRESSIVE

MICRO

DISTRIBUTORS

FOR ORDERS ONLY

1-800-446-7995

for further information and technical support

1-404-446-7995

HOURS: 9AM to 9PM EST (Sat/Sun-12PM to 5PM EST)

7000 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Norcross, Georgia 30071

All prices are subject to change.

IBM is a registered trademark ol International Business Machines.

NO SURCHARGE FOR MCA/ISA

NETWORKS

FOR YOUR

IBM PC

SHARE FILES SHARE DEVICES

CALL FOR DETAILS

COMMUNICATE

WITH YOUR CORPORATE

MAINFRAME

• DOWNLOAD DATA

• TERMINAL EMULATION

WE CARRY THE BEST

CHIPS

64K-256K 8087*80287

MEMORY UPGRADES

QUANTITY DISCOUNTS

SOUTH'S LARGEST SUPPLY

Inquiry 284

JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 479

Computer Components unlimited we Publish Our LOWEST Possible PRICE

No Hidden costs!!

NEW REDUCED PRICES

Okidata 92P

• 160 CpS

• Correspondence Quality

• FREE Plug n Play

$359

64K Memory Upgrade

• 9-4164 • 200ns

• Not Micron's • 1 yr. war.

$27.95 a set

Teac 55B Disk Drive

• Half Height, 320K

• IBM compat. • 1 yr. war.

$124

IBM PC System

• PC W/256K Memory

• Two, 320K Disk Drives

• video Graphics Card & Hi-Res Amber Monitor

• Dos 3.0 & Operation Guide

• complete, Ready to Go

$1799

A$tSixpac +

• 64K exp. to 384K

• Par. &ser. Ports

• With Clock & software

$208

Tandon TM100-2

• The IBM Drive • 320K DPI. Side/Dbl. Density

$139

Apple lie

• With Monitor & Stand

^*7s7*7

5 vv Diskettes

• Sgl. Side/Dbl. Density • Fully Apple Compatible

• With Reinforced Hub

• 1 year warranty

• Not Bulk Packed

$14 per box

100 for

$130

ecu

YOUR LARGEST

DISK DRIVE

SUPPLIER

Apple compatible Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10 Micro Sci

A-2,35Track S175 S169 S159

controller 65 60 50

Rana Systems

Elitel S210 S205 S200

Elite tl. Dbl. Head 335 330 325

Elite ill, Quad Density 395 445 435

Controllercontrols4Drives.... 75 70 70

Half Height

FDS25AFullyApplecom S140 S130 S120

Sigma Technology

FUll HT Apple 5160 S150 $140

Customer Service Hours:

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

John Aurentz

(213)618-0487

51/4" Disk Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10

Teac

FD55A.160K S160 S150 5140

FD55B.360K 124 124 124

FD55F, Quad Density 159 150 140

All Teac's are Half Heights

Tandon

TM100-1,160K S150 S140 S130

TM100-2,360K 139 137 135

TM101-4, Quad Density 280 270 260

TM55-2.360KV2 Height 195 190 185

MPI

B-52.360K PC Compatible $100 S 95 S 90

Shugart

SA400,160K $190 $180 $170

SA455,360K1/2 Height ...: 150 140 130

SA465, Quad Den. V: Height 230 220 210

Mitsubishi

4851, Vi Height 5159 S149 $139

4853, Quad Den.1/! Height 169 159 140

Control Data Corp.

CDC9409.360K $190 $180 $170

Mail Order Hours:

7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sat.

(800)847-1718 (213)618-0477

(Outside California) (inside California)

8" Disk Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10 Siemens

FDD-100-8 $129 $120 S111

FDD-200-8 180 170 160

Shugart

801R,Sgl./Dbl $160 $150 $140

851R, Dbl./Dbl 480 470 460

Tandon

TM848-1E,Sgl./Dbl.'/!Ht S240 $230 $220

TM848-2E, Dbl./Dbl. ViHt 370 360 350

Mitsubishi

M2894-63,Dbl./Dbl $400 S390 $380

M2896-63,Dbl./Dbl.1/2Ht 400 390 380

5%" & 8" Power Supply & Cabinets

OUANTITY

1 2 10

PC Products 5%"

Single Cabinetw/pwr S 70 $ 60 $ 50

Dual Thinline Cab w/pwr 80 70 60

Dual cabinet & Power 80 70 60

All have 6 month warranty

PC Products 8"

sgl.cabinetw/pwr&fan $220 S210 S200

Dualw/pwrfor2thlnlines 230 220 210

Dualw/pwr&fan 270 260 250

Retail Hours:

10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Sat.

Apple is a Trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

480 BYTE • IANUARY I985

IBM is a Trademark of International Business Machines.

Inquiry 61

CALL (800) 847-1718 WE STOCK WHAT WE SELL!!

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

Apple

MEcpu S 690

Macintosh 1895

ncPortable 899

Compaq

Portable (PC Compatible! 2, 360K Drives

256KofMemory S2150

Call for all new Compaq's

Kaypro

Kavrpoll Call

Kaypro4 1644

Kaypro4 + 88 2095

KayprolO 2295

Kaypro NX 1389

IBM

PC 64K.NO Drives $1149

PC64K.1 Drive 1324

PC64K, 2 Drives 1489

XTW/10Meg,256K 3495

Additional Memory 64K 29

AT Standard Config 3595

ATw/20meg 5295

Sanyo

MBC550-2 S 799

MBC555-2 1089

Optional Serial Port 69

Optional 360K Drive 159

Tava

PC Compatible w/Monitor $1540

Ast Research

Six Pack + S 249

Mega + 265

Hercules

ColorCard S 185

CraphicsCard 329

Hard Disk

lOMeg.Externalw/pwr $1195

IBM

Monochrome Adapter $ 229

ColorCard 239

Paradise Systems

Multi-displayCard S 329

NewModularcard 345

ModuleA 88

Module B 240

Plantronics

PC + w/software S 389

Quadram

QuadColorCard $ 199

64K upgrade

64K of Memory $27.95

STB

Graphics Plus II $ 369

PC Products

PCPeacock $ 215

Ports

Parallel $ 79

Serial 79

ecu

ColorCraphicsCard $ 179

APPLE ADD ON S

ALS

ZEngine $ 119

CPM3.0Card 249

Astar

rf Modulator $ 15

Fanw/Surge 34

ecu

16K Mem. Card lyr war $ 49

Hayes

Joystick S 44

Kraft

Joystick S 44

Macro joystick $ 29

Micro Max

Viewmax80.80col.card $ 139

Viewmax80E(FforiiE)64K 129

Micro soft

16KCard $ 69

Premium SoftCard HE 369

Multiplan 189

softcard(Z80) 239

Micro Tek

Serial Interface $ 89

TC

Joystick $ 39

Select-A-Port 31

Paddles 34

Amdek — New Monitors

Color300w/speaker $ 249

Color600RGB 469

Color 700 RGB (720X480) 589

Color 500 compos, or RGB (560 X 240) 399

Amdek

300G, Green Composite $ 129

300A,AmberComposite 138

310A, Monochrome Amber 168

Taxan

l2"AmberorGreenComposite... .$ 99

425 "New" RGB Colors Green 499

Princton Graphics

PGS MAX12, Monochrome (800X 350) $ 165

PCS HX12, RGB (690X240) 449

PGSSR-12, (690X480) 649

Sean Doubler 199

IBM

MonochromeDisplay $ 239

ColorDisplay 589

zenith

ZVMl2l,Amber40/80col.switch ..$ 94

ZVM122, Green 40/80col. switch ... 94

Unlimited

A California Corporation

maaam Hayes

Micro Modem HE $ 229

300SmartModem 199

i200SmartModem 458

1200B 374

2400 Baud "New" Call

Anchor Automation

Mark VI, 300 Baud internal $ 99

Mark VII300 Baud External 458

MarkXll,l200Baud 228

Prometheus

Promodem 1200 External S 329

RETAIL STORE:

11976 Aviation Blvd. inglewood, CA 90304

MAIL ORDER:

P.O. BOX 1936 Hawthorne, CA 90250

no Surcharge for credit Cards

All Prices Reflect a cash,

Pre-paid Discount

This Ad Supersedes All others

PRINTERS

Epson

RX-80d20cps) All New

RX-80FT version

RX-100 +

FX-80 + Save

FX-100+ At Least

LQ1500 S150

We are an Authorized Dealer

Okidata

OKI82A.120CPS $ 295

OKI92,160cpsw/correspondence . 359 OKI93,l5"car.w/correspondence. 589

OKI84.200CPS 669

FREE Plug 'n Play Roms w/92, 93 & 84

JUKI

6100,18 cpsLtr. Quality S 394

6300, 40 cps "New" w/3K Buffer LetterQuality 875

Brother Dist. by Dynax

HR15.12CPS $ 375

HR25.25CPS 659

HR35,36cps 949

Panasonic

109l,l20cpsw/tractor $ 289

5% DISKETTES

ecu

Sgl/Dbl reinforced hub. $16 I00fori40

Dbl/Dbl reinforced hub . 19 I00forl70

Not Bulk Packed

Dysan

Sgl/Dbl $33 100for300

Dbl/Dbl 39 100for370

Fuji

Sgl/Dbl $19 100for180

Dbl/Dbl 25 100for230

verbatim

Sgl/Dbl $26 100fOr240

Dbl/Dbl 36 100for340

8" DISKETTES

Dysan

Sgl/sgl $34 I00for320

Dbl/Dbl 53 100for480

Verbatim

Sgl/sgl $30 I00for280

Dbl/Dbl 40 100for360

Fourth Dimension

card&cabie $ 49

Microtek

DumplingGX(GrapplerCompatible) $ 89

Dumpling GXexpto64K 149

DumplingGXl6Kw/i6Kexpto64K . 169 foreachadditional 16K 15

Okidata Options

Tractorfor82&92 $ 59

Serial Interface 99

Orange Micro

Grappler + S 109

Grappler + W/16K 179

Star or Epson

Epson Serial Interface S 119

Star Serial Interface 59

Sales Desk

(800) 847-1718 (213) 618-0477

Outside California inside California

Customer service & Technical

(213)618-0487

All merchandise new. We accept MC, visa, wire Transfer, COD Call, certified Check, P.O.s from qualified firms, APO accepted. Shipping; Minimum S4.50 first s pounds. Tax: California Res. Only add 6V;% sales tax. All returns subject to 15% restocking charge. Advertised prices for Mail Order only. Retail prices slightly higher.

Prices Subject to Change.

JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 48!

8051/52 DEVELOPMENT BOARD

8051-Based Single-Board Computer with

Monitor/Debugger

■4 28-pin byte-wide sockets; monitor will program EEPROMS. ■Perfect tor System Development and Educational Applications

5335

^Binary Technology

TH7

j P O. BOX A-59 • HANOVER, NH 03755 • 603/643-2881

urn ni i ii

Don't Ihlnk of UHIFORTH as Just anoltter

programming language'

Its an integrated programming environment.

Oncsvw wtar thja fORTH-79 stattrrj lanoutrjfr. you raw hove Id tout All oparsting jyitem functlorw - (lie ammjnh. dinclorie, terminal 1/0 - ore available Iron U» keyboard E«ch jyjtem Inclute a full-scran editor, assembler, interpreter, compiler and debugger. U» UNIfOfiTH as a calculator or oso conlrolllng program AM our optlonol telocommumcetions, graphics, dele Base menegetnent oral word processing mMulB.andUMIFOBTH will outperform otter FOftlH sysums MrtJs downl

UNIFORTH \%i solid, proven product Our users inclurU many of the Fortune S0O companies, as well as hunareoa of software OBvelooers, engineering laboratories, universities end Individuals UWFOftlti is strangest in pracescanlrcl, eulamel Ion end Interactive environments, but ties been used fore rLm-llms PASCAL compiler, e scientific word processr, leacMng graphics el s community college, end designing games

Mauser's Manuel Is notonh/ complete end thorough. It's also understandable It guides you inrajgn learning FORTH to writing end debugging your rirsi program the Programmer's Manual gives you Insight Into ihe inner workings of FORTH. programming conventions, end helpful utilities Both manuals ere indexed end contain examples and working proy oms

Why take a chance? Order the best and you won't be disappointed!

UHIFORTH isevDilotlB (or mosl personal computers end DEC mmiecmpulBrs Our prices ere comcelillve. with many systems selling for under SI00 Call or write (or our free 20-page catalog

UNIFIED SOFTWARE SVSTEMS

P O Box 2M4. New Carrollton. MD 20784

(301)552-9590

SHAMMER

Attention:

-SOFTWARE DEVEL0PERS

We are interested in receiving your completed package and business plan. Hammer Computer Systems, Inc. is in the software publishing business. Please send inquiries and complete portfolio to: Thomas A. Horvath, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Hammer Computer Systems, Inc., 700 Larkspur Landing Circle/Suite 285, Larkspur, CA 94939 415/461-7633.

Inquiry 40

Inquiry 355

Inquiry 156

I.B.M. Compatible

PROM 8200 (FAST

Case $100.00

UNIVERSAL TYPE

KeyBoard $149.00

EPROM & PROM

Motherboard without

PROGRAMMER) Call

BIOS $280.00

EPROM: 2716, 2732,

Power Supply 130

2732A, 2764, 27228,

Watt $150.00

27256, 2526, 2532, 2564

Multi Function Card

Prom: ANY KIND

$170.00

Color Graphic Board

Apple Compatible

$185.00

/C Tester Card

Floppy Disk Control

$125.00

Card $160.00

Z-80 Card $40.00

CP-80 Printer

80 Column Card $50.00

$169.00

Disk Drive $149.00

(APPLE OR I.B.M.)

14 inch Monitor $89.00

ALL PHONES

CALL NOW (312) 280-7610

DIST.

WANTED

CUSTOM PRODUCTS

HOFFMAN INT'L

600 N McClurg CT. STE. 309A

Chicago,

llinois 60611

C Preprocessor

If you have ever found yourself wishing that C had a more sophisticated preprocessor, you will appreciate this stand-alone preprocessor from Hyperon Software.

□ Supports Harbison & Steele Preprocessor

□ Preprocessor Variables & Expressions

□ # While & #Do Loops

□ Full Macros

□ One Pass

□ C Source & Documentation Provided

Designed for portability. Presently PCDOS diskettes are available; please inquire about other formats.

PriCe: $39.95 (California residents add 6%)

Hyperon Software

PO Box 3349 Costa Mesa CA 92628

OF YOtlR IBM PERSONAL COMPUT6R

PC-XTRA

« DIRECT EXT5N8I0N OF

IBM PC BUS f NO SOFTWARE CHANGES

• NO HARDWARE MODIFICATION

• STYLING CONSISTENT WITH IB

AtSdAIHno** special options thai you've been wanting without worrying about tilling your' plug-in and back panel space

DEALER INQi

S549 °°" F.O.B. SANTA ANA _

•SAUPOflMA RESIDENTS ADD 6* SALES TAX

P C HORIZONS, INC.

1701 E. Edlrtger, S». A6, Santa Ana, CA 92680 (714) 953-5396

Inquiry 162

Inquiry 267

IBMPC/VT100

EM100

for IBM PC, XT, AT

APRICOT and VICTOR 9000

VT102 emulation, English setup menu, 110-9600 BAUD, ASCII file transfer, Modem 7 binary transfer, 132 columns, soft keys, and more! Optional Tektronix 4010 emulation.

Multicopy discounts

•Hi j Diversified Computer jm ■ Systems, Inc.

■ ' 100 Arapahoe, Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 447-9251 Dealer inquiries invited.

SUPER "K" BIG BOARD

"It's So Fast It Screams"

*

Z80H BOMhz Processor

*

Z80A I/O Processor

*

12 RS 232c Serial Ports

*

2 Parallel Ports

*

360K Bytes RAM

•

Hard Disk Controller

*

Floppy Disk Controller

(Up to 4 Drives/Contrlr)

*

DMA

*

Cached Directory

*

Seven (7) Users

*

Modified Superfast M/PM

Bios

*

15" x 15 1/2"

*

Assembled & Tested

52,495.00

KASCO Systems

11926 Warfield

San Antonio, Cx 78216

Telephone 512-342-5755

3M Diskettes Lifetime Warranty

Think you're getting the best price on 3M Diskettes?

You're right . . . BUT ONLY IF . . . You're buying from NORTH HILLS CORP. We will beat any nationally advertised price* or give you a 15 disk library case FREE!

Call us last—TOLL FREE—for our best shot every time.

1-800-328-3472 Formatted and hard sectored disks in stock.

Dealer inquiries invited. COD's and charge cards accepted. All orders shipped Irom stock within 24 hours. Why wait 10 days to be shipped?

AM M

North Hills Corporation

3564 Rolling View Dr While Bear Lake. MN 55110 MN Call Collect 1 612 770 0485 'verifiable; same product, same quantities

Inquiry 115

Inquiry 193

Inquiry 260

AMERICA'S NO. 1

=^== J Systems =§:==:§T§: Specialists

WE CUSTOMIZE IBM PC SYSTEMS

IBM PC $1699

256K, two disk drives 360K each, Drive Controller and Keyboard

IBMPCw/lOMB

$2399

256K, one floppy Drive, Keyboard 10 MB Hard Disk with Controller BOOTS FROM HARD DISK

ALL SYSTEMS ARE CONFIGURED AND TESTED AT NO EXTRA CHARGE

IBMPCw/30MB

256K, one floppy Drive, Keyboard *• * nn

30 MB Hard Disk with Controller > J4VV and Booster Power Supply BOOTS FROM HARD DISK

• PRICE WAR • callus LAST

PRINTERS

__--^_. RX-80 $259 FX-80 $429

EPSON RX-80FT . $299 FX-100 $629

LQ-1500 Parallel ...$1,149 Serial $1199

LQ-1500 Tractor $50 Cutsheet feeder $399

OKIDATA

INCLUDES PLUG&PLAY

92P. 93P. 84P.

$399 §619 $749

JUKI Ltr Quality, 18 CPS, 13" wide $399

6100 Tractor $129

TOSHIBA 1351 $1299

Tractor $169 Cut Sheet Feeder $799

DYNAXDX-15 $369

Keyboard . $149 Tractor .. $99 Sheet Feeder .. $199

BROTHER HR-25 .. $619 HR-35 Tractor $119 Cut Sheet Feeder

$899 $199

HARD DRIVES

TALL GRASS TECHNOLOGY

20 MB w/20 MB Backup $2,599

35 MBw/45 MB Backup $3,999

70 MB w/60 MB Backup $5,999

Controller Card $140 Cartridge $40

WITH YOUR BEST QUOTES

NETWORKING

QUBIE10MB

$888

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

PC Net PLUS Starter Kit , $899

PC netBlossom, PC turbo, PC netPlusRam CALL

EVEREX 1OMB

.$888

MAYNARD10MB/30MB

10MB/WS-1 $888 10MB/WS-2 $1,029

30MB/WS1A $1999 30MB/WS-2A $2,099

WS-1 Gemini $1049 WS-2 Gemini $1149

"The Gemini" includes 10MB Hard Disk & Half Ht. Floppy

IRMALINE

CALL FOR YOUR BEST PRICES

MULTI-DISPLAY CARDS

■*»■»«•»«« Mono OR Color $199

PERSYST BOB Color CALL

_ __ MonoGraph Plus w/clock & PP $369

AST Serial Port Option $30

EVEREX Graphics Edge

CALL

QUME SPRINT iuo $1299

With IBM Interface Module 1155 $1499

..$799 $1499 $1899

NEC SPINWRITER

2050

3550

8550

NEC PINWRITER

P2 $699

P3

MONITORS

MAX-12 Amber-Monochrome $179

-»—.-. HX-12-Hi-Res Color $449

PGS SR-12-Suoer Hi-Res Color $649

Scan Doubter CALL

FLOPPY DRIVES

TE.r HALF I EAC HEIGHT 55B-DSDD

PC PEACOCK

$219

$129

CDC Full Ht.-DSDD.

.$199

TANDON 100-2

Full Ht. DSDD

* SUPER SPECIALS •

$149

TECMAR Graphics Master

CALL

■ ■■■■««■■■■ wr> Mono Graphics $329

HERCULES Color Graphics $199

NEW STB raphix|

' Plus

$349

VUTEK Color with Parallels Serial $249

64KRAM

ips

$36

TAX AN 440 Color - Super Hi Res $599

122A(M)...$169 121G(M)...$159 116A(C) .. $149

300A (Composite) $159 300G $139

AMDEK 310A (Mono) $179

HAYES

SMARTMODEM

1200 Standalone. $469 1200B w/Soffware $389

8087 CHIP

$159

JUKI 6100

$399

MAYNARDlOMB/WS-2 ..$1,029

PARADISE Multi-display Card $299

"7 Modular Card CALL

MULTI-FUNCTION CARDS

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

Blossom 64K (to 384K) $249

PC net/upgrades CALL

NEWQU ADBO ARD (,o \m $219

AST SIX PAK with 64K (to 384K) $249

MODEMS

MICROCOM ERA 2

PC Internal 1200 Baud w/software, 4 Yr. Warranty

IBM PC Keyboard (original) ..CALL

$359

HAYES 1200 Standalone ..$469

SMARTMODEM 1200B w/software. $389

QUBIE Standalone . .. $329 Internal . . .$299

POPCOIVt Internal or Standalone .... CALL

PROMETHEUS

PR0M0DEM 1200 Standalone $399

P.O. & FOREIGN DEALERS Call, write or telex for details

COMPU

OKIDATA

INCLUDES PLUG&PLAY

92P. 93P. 84P.

$399 $619 $749

nn^vui-n HR-25 (23CPS

BROTHER HR-35 36CPS

$619 $899

KEYTRONIC

Deluxe Keyboard KB5151

$179

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

Blossom 64-K (to 384K) $249

Turbo 186 CALL

m

j^T

AMERICAN EXPRESS

NO SURCHARGE ON COD, VGA or MC

AST MEGA PLUS with 64K (to 512K) $249

8087 CHIP $159

CABLE Parallel $20 Serial $25

Keyboard Extension, 6 ft $10

PLATINUM DISKETTES

Box of 10

$32

VERBATIM Batalife DSDD

Box of 10 $29

COMPUTER POWER P2 Si09

ACCESSORIES DIRECTOR P12 $149

STANDBY 200 watts $279

POWER SUPPLY 300 watts $379

Surge Protection, up to 30 minutes Standby Power

WILL CALL

Please call first for workorder number.

805-498-6635

3541 OLD CONEJO ROAD, SUITE 102, THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91320

TELEX 888522

Ad #192

Inquiry 66

IANUARY 1985 • B YTE 483

IDEAL FOR OEM MANUFACTURERS, UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH LABS ETC.

■ ■

THE ULTIMATE PC COMPATIBLE ENCLOSURE

IDEAL FOR MEGA-BOARD™ XT OR ANY IBM-PC PC-XT COMPATIBLE BOARDS

OEM AND DEALER ►QUANTITY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

EASY ACCESS!!

FLIP-TOP-CASE* OPENS FOR EASY ACCESS TO INSIDE!!

Bus Expansion Slot

Allows External Access To PC Bus

Blank Label Inset For Your Company Or University Name Here

EXCLUSIVE FLIP-TOP-CASE™

Overcomes Problems With PC Case

A

^-MOUNTS STANDARD POWER SUPPLY

Mounts Standard Half or Full Height

Floppy Disk or Hard Disk Drives

__^^^

mmwm

ONLY

$99?5

ADVANCED KEYBOARD

COMPLETE

Full PC Compatibility

FEATURES: • Horizontal Return Key • Caps Lock and Num. Lock Indicators

Enter Key for Numeric Keypad

ONLY

($14995

Fully Assembled and Tested with One Year Limited Warranty

DISPLAY

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

CORPORATION

a<™ onnii,,^ wAi 1 i-%/ i-.^»r^ TERMS: We accept cash, checks, money 4100 SPRINb VALLEY ROAD orders, or purchase orders from qualified SUITE 400 firms and institutions. Prices and availability

DALLAS TX 75234 subject to change without notice. Shipping

and handling charges via UPS ground 50e/lb.

UPS air $1.00/lb. Minimum charge S3.00

"IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines

484 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

©1984 Display Telecommunications Corporation

Inquiry 114

CHOICE OF MAJOR OEM MANUFACTURERS, UNIVERSITIES,

RESEARCH LABS ETC A THOROUGHLY FIELD PROVEN DESIGN. i-«ek» t w. H|QH V0LUME PRODUCTION ENGINEERED.

• FULL IBM PC-XT* COMPATIBILITY!

• FULL MEGA-BYTE RAM CAPACITY ON MOTHERBOARD!

THOUSANDS

SOLD WORLD WIDE!

DEALERS AND OEM MANUFACTURERS QUANTITY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

Standard Keyboard Interface

(Full PC compatible)

Eight Compatible I/O Interface Connectors

(Full PC compatible) (compatible with all IBM-PC* plug-in cards)

Special J1 Interface

(Allows horizontal mounting of compatible expansion cards for easy bus expansion and custom configuring) (Board has 62 pin gold plated compatible connector)

Extended ROM Capability

(Runs all compatible PC ROMS) (Jumper programmable to accommodate all popular 8K, 16K, 32K and 64K ROM chips and NEW EE ROMS! VPP power pin available for EP ROM burning!) (External VPP voltage required)

Hardware Reset

(Overcomes reset flaw in PC)

Power Connector

(Full IBM* pinout compatible)

8088 Processor

(Same as PC)

8087 Numeric Processor

(Same as PC)

Peripheral Support Circuits

(Same as PC)

Configuration Switches

(Same as PC)

Speaker/Audio Port

(Same as PC)

Wire Wrap Area

To facilitate special custom applications!

Full Mega-Byte Ram Capacity! On board!

(With parity)

□ 256K Bytes using 64K chips

□ 1 Mega Bytes using 256K chips

Evaluation Board Kit!

(Blank board with full assembly instructions and parts list.)

Includes highest quality PC board with gold plating, silk screen, solder mask

Board Size io.5 inch x 13.5 inch

□ MEGA-BOARD'" — XT

D BARE BOARD KIT $ 99.95

□ ASSEMBLED AND TESTED

SOCKETKIT $199.95

(LESS IC'S) (FULLY SOCKETED)

□ ASSEMBLED AND TESTED —

COMPLETE $499.95

(INCLUDES USERS MANUAL AND MEGA-BIOS ROM)

□ USERS MANUAL WITH THEORY OF

OPERATION, SCHEMATICS, BLOCK

DIAGRAM, APPLICATION

NOTES $ 19.95

□ MEGA-BIOS'" ROM (2764) FULLY XT

COMPATIBLE, MS-DOS,

PC DOS $ 29.95

□ HARD TO GET PARTS CALL

FREE! Displaytel™

Exclusive.

Our Commitment to

Microcomputer

Education!

FREE Intel 8088 Data Book with each Mega-Board™ Order!

ORDER NOW!!! Fast, friendly service

CALL 214-991-1644

EURO CARD

Immediate shipment! Most instock items shipped same or next day!

10 Day money back guarantee if not completely satisfied!

DISPLAY

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

CORPORATION

4100 SPRING VALLEY ROAD SUITE 400 DALLAS, TX 75234 (214)991-1644

TERMS: We accept cash, checks, money orders, or purchase orders from qualified firms and institutions. Prices and availability subject to change without notice Shipping and handling charges via UPS ground 50c/lb. UPS air $1.00/lb. Minimum charge $3.00

"IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines Inquiry II4

©1984 Display Telecommunications Corporation

IANUARY 1985 -BYTE 485

SL-MICRO

STATISTICAL LANGUAGE for MICROCOMPUTERS

features FREQUENCIES FULL LABELING

CROSSTABS TRANSFORMATIONS PEARSON CORR ' DATA EDITOR REGRESSION CONDESCRIPTIVE • ANOVA * BREAKDOWN

Only $250. Manual $15

Available for IBM PC, CP/M,

MS-DOS or CP'M-86.

QSC BOX 23056

LANSING, Ml 48909

PHONE (517) 641-4428

STD BUS 64K SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER/CONTROLLER

I

It l7 I i 1 i

i!

FEATURES

•8085A CPU

•Interfaces lo CP/M

•64K Dynamic RAM

Computers for

•4K Monitor EPROM

Program Development

with Disassembler

•Automatic Baud Rate

•256 Byle Static RAM

•5 Interrupts

'Parallel & Serial I/O

•14 Bit Prog Counter/

-2 8/Bii Prog Ports

Timer

•I 6/Bil Prog Port

•Memex Line for

-RS232 Serial Port

Memory Expansion to

•6.144 MHz

Crystal

100K

STOCK. $295 Assembled & Tested,

Single Quantity Visa, M.C., Amex & COD.

Add $5.00 S& H.

STD Mother Card & Card Cage. STD Dual Channel

Serial Card/Protocol Converter & other Product Lines.

Custom Designs & Development

Our Specialty.

SYNALTA SYSTEMS

31-14 Broadway Astoria, NY 11106

718/728-6700

3M

diskettes

51/4"

Specify soft, 10 or 16 sector

Minimum Order 20

Single sided double density

1.49e

1.99e

Double sided double density

Certified Check - Money Order - Personal Check. Allow up to 2 weeks tor personal checks to clear. Add $3.00 per 100 or part lo each order tor U.P.S. shipping charges. NJ Residents add 6% sales tax.

^xtr-H^fNse inc. 178 Route 206 South, P.O. Box 993 Department C Somerville, N.J. 08876 • (201) 874-5050

Inquiry 295

Inquiry 340

Inquiry 98

GILTR0NIX SWITCHES ARE THE BEST CHOICE.

. and here are 10 good reasons why:

IBM PC

APPLE

1. Serial (RS232, or Parallel (Centronics)

2. Prompt Deliveries

3. Nationally Advertised Products

4. Broad Product Line

5. Over 30,000 Umls Sold to Date

6. Sales and

n^n

Technical Suppor!

7- FCC. Approved Units

8. Manual and Automatic Uriils

9. Highest duality PC Board Swilch Technology

10. Buy Direct From Giltionix. or From Any Authorized Distributoi

Manual Units—2 to 6 Ports Automatic Units—3 to 15 Ports

Centronix gSft&1

£Vl (415) 433-1300

ORDER HOT-LINE: 1-800-531-1300 (Outside of California)

Inquiry 149

So You Love Your Work Keep It Fun

Let our fast stand alone

Cobol Cross Reference

take the drudgery out of programming!

Your IBM PC W/128K. DOS 2.0. one disk drive and

our Program;

Will

Will Will

cross reference and/or print Source

Code

flag duplicate data names and invalid

references.

allow more than 1400 data names and

11,000 references

process all versions of Cobol

be "personalized" with your name on

the report heading.

Invest $2500 in your future

Send check or money order to: Meta System Inc. of Alaska 2806 Iris Drive Anchorage, Alaska 99503 Phone 907-243-8619

BUILD YOUR IDEAS

with tutsim:

Design a real system model by simulation! TUTSIM allows you th power to model, conduct experiments, eval uate strategies and much more. TUTSIM models:

■ Control and Servo Systems

■ Robotics

■ Fluid Dynamics

■ Batch Chemical Processes

■ Biological Processes

■ Thermodynamics

Write or call for more information. For the IBM PC's and other micros. Short form $29.95

^IPIpIl8<sdl 8

200California Ave.. #2U Palo Alio. CA 'M.tOh !-»I *j( 325-4800

Inquiry 407

Inquiry 388

UNLIMITED

PERIPHERALS

Disk TVays

Amafay Media Mate 5

Ring King Data Defender w/Lock

SI2 16

Joysticks

Hayes Mach II Hayes Mach ill Hayes Paddles Wico Boss

Wico Original Bat Handle

33

41 30 11 17

Ribbons

Prownter/lmagewnter

Okidata 82/Gemim IOx/ISx

MX/FX 80

"JO" Colors Available' Add 30%

5 2 5

RAM 64K

150 nano sec—set of 9

35

Accessories

Hayes Smartmodem I200 Asia/ RF Modulator (Apple/IBM| Astar Fan w/surge protection

440 25 29

Brooks Surge Stopper VCN 4-6

J25

SOFTWARE TOOII

25201 La Paz. Laguna Hills. CA 92653

MASTERCARD/VISA ACCEPTED

|CALIF) 1-800-982-58OO

(OUTSIDE CALIF| 1-800-633-4787

*IBM® Compatible f, 'I =":

UPC

r-ii ir

E-PROMS — Call1 Lowesl Prices Anywhere

*4164-150/200 399

2764-250 5"

6116-LP3 499

256K 2650

TTL & HCT Parts - now avail Call

8087-3-6 8900

*TM-100-2 16995

*Teac Half-Heights 16495

*MPI DSDD 13995

Excess Inventories Wanted Add $3.95 shipping |p all orders • Prices subject to change • PO.'s on approval • C.O.D. OK • All new. no surplus, no seconds. QUANTITY DISCOUNTS. 4920 Cypress St.. Ste. 100, Tampa. FL 33607

In FL and for info, call 813-875-0299 FOR ORDERS ONLY, 800-237-8910

S TELEX 330690

FREE SOFTWARE

RENT THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!

User Group Software isn't copyrighted, so no fees to pay! 1000's of CP/M and IBM software programs in .COM and source code to copy yourself! Games, business, utilities! All FREE!

CP/M USERS GROUP LIBRARY

Volumes 1-92, 46 disks rental-$45

SIG/M USERS GROUP LIBRARY

Volumes 1-90, 46 disks rental-$45

Volumes 91-172, 40 disks rental-$45

SPECIAL! Rent all SIG/M volumes for $85

MOST FORMATS AVAILABLE! SPECIFY.

IBM PC-SIG (PC-DOS) LIBRARY

Volumes 1-135, 5 V disks S135

Public Domain User Group Catalog Disk $5 pp.

(CP/M only) (payment in advance, please)

Rental is tor 7 days after receipt, 3 days grace to

return. Use credit card, no disk deposit.

Shipping, handling & insurance — $ 7.50 per library.

(619) 941-0925 information,

(619) 727-1015 anytime order machine

Have your credit card ready!

Public Domain Software Center

1533 Avohill Dr. ■"■J" Vista, CA 92083 mm

AM EX

Inquiry 358

Inquiry 273

Inquiry 250

JOR MICRODEVICES

'K* IKIMI'W 3>1J MH*

OF OVER 100 ITEMS

"ZZ^eganwntmg another

jetter of thanks to all the guys aJDR for coming through aga/n.

One of the parts I had ordered

wouldn't fit on the particular

PC board I was building, so I returned it.J received a

nonstock replacement which M the bill exactly within a week no charge. That's what I call

customer support!

AsaJDR customer for several years now, rve seen the growth

you've gone through...! only ask that as you grow, you don t entirely lose the concern over tne individual customer, as many lie companies do. You have my tZt support and recommendation;

keep it up. Brett D'Ambrosio Cornell University Ithaca N.Y.

Dear Sir,

fast< but ita)Not 0f1'V was 1 ab,e ^

^ived 'E Parf- *« 0f T°lal n°~ c°nditlon ,°n,U<»e and , e Part* ' fr°™ C n-'" be u^ ''Perfect

Aga/n, Th°?' parts

Mark pUS* You,

Everyone tlerogr e**Bplj£ made ^rf y0U ^oeB^1

' ^b*®8* „oUrs, Very ^uX|te*art jaWes^

AND CONTINUES TO OFFER SERVICE WORTHY OF COMMENT

EffSJDR Microdevices

■ ■ 1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128 800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA) • (408) 995-5430 FAX (408) 275-8415 • Telex 171-110

Copyright 1984 JDR Microdevlcei

Inquiry 38!

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 487

ai64MK2Do!!r9/39.95

41256 "VST 29.95

STATIC RAMS

, 2101 | 5101 2102-1 2102L-4

2102L-2

2125

2111

2111L

2112 I 2114 | 2114-25

2114L-4

2114L-3

2114L-2

2114L-15

TC5514

2141

2147

2148

TMS4044-4

TMS4044-3 > TMS4044-2 | TMS40L44-2

UPD410

MK4118 | TMM2016-200

TMM2016-150

TMM2016-100

HM6116-4

HM6116-3

HM6116-2

HM6116LP-4

HM6116LP-3

HM6116LP-2

TC5516

TMS4016

2-6132

HM6264P-15

HM6264LP-15

HM6264LP-12

LP=Low powe

256x4 256x4 1024x4 1024x1 1024x1 1024x1 256x4 256x4 256x4 1024x4 1024x4 1024x4 1024x4 1024x4 1024x4 1024x4 4096x1 4096x1 1024x4 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 1024x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 4096x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8

[450ns) (450ns)(cmos) (450ns) [450ns)(LP) (250ns)(LP) (45ns) (450ns) (450ns)(LP) (450ns) (450ns) (250ns) (450ns)(LP) (300ns)(LP) (200ns)(LP) (150ns)(LP) (650ns)(cmos) (200ns) (55ns) (70ns) (450ns) (300ns| (200ns) (200ns)(LP) (100ns) (250ns) (200ns) (150ns) (100ns) (200ns)(cmos) (150ns)(cmos) (120ns)(cniO5) (200ns)(cmos)(LP) (150ns)(cmos)(LP) (120ns)(cmos)(LP) (250ns)(cmos) (200ns) (300ns)(QstaI) (150ns)(cmos) (150ns)(cmos)(LP) (120ns)(cmos)(LP) Qstnt-Quasi-St,

1.95 3.95 .89

99

DYNAMIC RAMS

TMS4027 1 2107

MM5280

TMS4050

UPD411

TMS4060

MK4108

MM5298

4116-300

4116-250

4116-200

4116-150

4116-120

2118

MK4332

4164-200 . 4164-150 | 4164-120

MCM6665

TMS4164-20

TMS4164-15

4164-REFRESH 65536*

TMS4416-20 16384x4

TMS4416-15 16384x4

41256-200 262144x1

41256-150 262144x1

ncgle 5 Volt Supply

4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 4096x1 8192x1 8192x1 16384x1 16384x1 16384x1 16384x1 16384x1 16384x1 32768x1 65536x1 65536x1 65536x1 65536x1 65536x1 65536x1

(250ns) (200ns) (300ns) (300ns) (300ns) (300ns) (200ns) (250ns) (300ns) (250ns) (200ns) (150ns) (120ns) (150ns)(5v) (200ns) (200ns)(5v) (150ns)(5v) (120ns)(5v) (200ns)(5v) (200ns)(5V) (150ns)(5v) (150ns)(5V)(RE (200ns)(5V) (150ns)(5v) (200ns)(5v) (150ns)(5v) REFRESH = Pi

1.45

2.95

2.49

2.95

2.99

8/9.95

8 10.95

8 12.95

8 13.45

8/13.95

8. 19.95

4.95

2.95

4.95

4.95

3.49

3.99

4.49

4.95

3.95

9.95

■1.15

4.95

6.15

4.75

4.95

6.95

4.95

5.95

8.95

9.95

6.95

34.95

24.95

27.95

29.95

a tic

1.99 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.95

EPROMS

1702

2708

2758

2716-6

2716

2716-1

TMS2516

TMS2716

TMS2532

2732

2732A-4

2732A-35

2732A

2732A-2

2764

2764-250

2764-200

TMS2564

MCM68764

MCM68766

27128-45

27128-30

27128

5V=Single

256x8 1024x8 1024x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 2048x8 4096x8 4096x8 4096x8 4096x8 4096x8 4096x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8 8192x8 16384x8 16384x8 16384x8 5 Volt Supply

(1us) (450ns) (450ns)|5V) (650ns) (450ns)(5V) (350ns)(5V) (450ns)(5V) (450ns) (450ns)(5V| (450ns)(5V) (450ns)(5V)(21V PGM) (350ns)(5V)(21VPGM) (250ns)(5V)(21V PGM) (200ns)(5V)(21V PGM) (450ns)(5V) (250ns)(5V) (200ns)(5V) (450ns)(5V) (450ns)(5V)(24 pin) (350ns)(5V)(24 pin) (450ns)(5V) (300ns)(5V) (250ns)(5V) 21V PGM^ Program at 21

4.50 3.95 5.95 2.95 3.95 4.95 4.95 7.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 6.95 10.95 5.95 6.95 11.95 10.9,5 24.95 42.95 16.95 18.95 19.95 Volts

CRYSTALS

.49

.49

8 6.95

8 6.95

8 8.95

8 10.95

8 12.95

4.95

9.95

9/39.95

9/44.95

8.95

6.95

6.95

7.95

FRESH) 8.95

8.95

9.95

29.95

31.95

1 Refresh

• •••HIGH TECH**** NEC /JPD7220 $39.95

GRAPHICS DISPLAY CONTROLLER

* FOUR MEGABIT BIT-MAPPED DISPLAY MEMORY

* DRAWS LINES, ARCS. CIRCLES & RECTANGLES AT 1.2 MILLION PIXELS PER SECOND

* ZOOM, PAN, WINDOWING, AND LIGHT PEN CAPABILITIES

* DMA TRANSFER WITH 8257 OR 8237

* UP TO 1024 x 1024 PIXEL GRAPHICS OR 256 x 100 CHARACTERS

• •••SPOTLIGHT****

ORDER TOLL FREE

800-538-5000 800-662-6279

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS)

Z-80 2.5 MHz

Z80CPU 2.49

Z80CTC 2.95

Z80-DART 7.95

Z80-DMA 8.95

Z80-PIO 2.95

Z80SIO/0 995

Z80-SIO/1 9.95

Z80-SIO/2 9.95

Z80-S1O/9 9.95

4.0 MHz

Z80ACPU 2.95

Z80A-CTC 3.95

Z80A-DART 8.95

Z80A-DMA 9.95

Z80A-PIO 3.95

Z80A-SIO (1 10.95

Z80A-SIO/1 10.95

Z80A.SIO/2 10.95

Z80A-SIO/9 10.95

6.0 MHz

Z80B CPU 8.95

Z80B-CTC 9.95

Z80B-PIO 9.95

Z80B-DART 19.95

Z80B-SIO/0 29.95

Z80B-SIO/2 29.95

ZILOG

Z6132 34.

LZ8671 39

6500 1.0 MHz

6502

4.95

65C02(CMOS) 12.95

6504

6.95

6505

8.95

6507

9.95

6520

2.95

6522

5.49

6532

9.95

6545

9.95

6551

9.95

2.0 MHz

6502A

5.95

6520A

5.95

6522A

9.95

6532A

11.95

6545A

12.95

6551A

11.95

3.0 MHz

6502B

8.95

UARTS

AY5-1013 AY3-1015 PT1472 TR1602 2350 2651 IM6402 IM6403 UPO7201 . INS8520

3.95 6.95 9.95 3.95 9.95 8.95 7.95 8.95 19.95 10.95 ,

6800

68000-8

39.95

6800

2.95

6802

7.95

6803

19.95

6808

13.90

6809E

8.95

6809

8.95

6810

2.95

6820

4.35

6821

2.95

6828

14.95

6840

12.95

6843

34.95

6844

25.95

6845

12.95

6847

11.95

6850

3.25

6852

5.75

6860

7.95

6875

6.95

6880

2.25

6883

22.95

68047

24.95

68488

19.95

6800

MHz

68B00

10.95

I 68B02

11.95

68B09E

11.95

68B09

11.95

68B10

5.95

68B21

5.95

68B40

19.95

68B45

19.95

68B50

5.95

I 68B00

2 MHz

8000

8200

8031 8035 8039 INS-8060 INS-8073 8080 8085 8085A-2 8086 8087 8088 8089 8155 8155-2 8156 8185 8185-2 8741 8748 8749 .8755

29.95 5.95 5.95 17.95 49.95 3.95 4.95 11.95 24.95 175.00 19.95 69.95 6.95 7.95 6.95 29.95 39.95 29.95 24.95 39.95 24.95

MISC.

UPD7201 TMS99531 TMS99532 ULN2003 3242 3341 MC3470 MC3480 11C90 95H90 2513-001 up .2513-002 low

19.95 9.95

29.95 2.49 7.95 4.95 4.95 9.00

13.95 7.95 9.95 9.95 J

24.95

39.95

3.50

1.80

3.85

1.75

2.25

1.80

3.49

13.95

15.95

4.49

4.45

10.95

3.95

4.49

6.95

7.95

4.49

5.25

7.95

8.95

6.90

7.50

79.95

19.95

39.95

29.95

6.95

7.95

6.50

6.50

5.50

6.50

6.50

14.95

49.95

14.95 .

32.768 KHz 1.0 MHz 1.8432 2.0

2.097152 2.4576 3.2768 3.579545 4.0 4.032 5.0

5.0688 5.185 5.7143

1.95 3.95 3.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95 2.95

6.144

2.95

6.5536

2.95

8.0

2.95

10.0

2.95

10.738635

2.95

14.31818

2.95

15.0

2.95

16.0

2.95

17.430

2.95

18.0

2.95

18.432

2.95

20.0

2.95

22.1184

2.95

24.0

2.95

32.0

2.95

GENERATORS

BIT RATE

MC14411

11.95

BR1941

11.95

4702

12.95

COM5016

16.95

COM8116

10.95

MM5307

10.95

FUNCTION

MC4024

3.95

LM566

1.49

XR2206

3.75

8038

3.95

CRT

CONTROLLERS

6845

12.95

68B45

19.95

6847

11.95

68047

24.95

HD46505SP

15.95

MCI 372

6.95

8275

29.95

7220

39.95

CRT5027

19.95

CRT5037

34.95

TMS9918A

39.95

DP8350

49.95

DISK

CONTROLLERS

1771

15.95

1791

23.95

1793

23.95

1795

23.95

1797

23.95

2791

39.95

2793

39.95

2795

39.95

2797

39.95

6843

34.95

8272

19.95

UPD765

19.95

MB8876

29.95

MB8877

34.95

1691

7.95

2143

7.95

KEYBOARD CHIPS

[ AY5-2376 11.95

AY5-360OSTD 11.95

I AY5-3600PRO 11.95 .

CLOCK CIRCUTS

MM5314 MM5369 MM5369-EST MM5375 MM58167 MM58174 . MSM5832

4.95 1.95 1.95 4.95 8.95 11.95 3.95 ,

CRYSTAL

OSCILLATORS

1.0MHz

7.95

8.0

7.95

1.8432

7.95

10.0

795

2.0

7.95

12.0

7.95

2.4576

7.95

15.0

795

2.5

7.95

16.0

7.95

4.0

7.95

18.432

7.95

5.0688

7.95

20.0

7.95

6.0

7.95

24.0

7.95

6.144

7.95

^

k

2

11

I

)

74LS00

74LS00

.24

74LS189

895

74LS01

.25

74LS190

.89

74LS02

.25

74LS191

89

74LS03

25

74LS192

.79

74LS04

.24

74LS193

.79

74LS05

74LS08

74LS09

74LSI0

74LS11

74LS12

74LS13

74LS14

74LS15

74LS20

74LS21

74LS22

74LS26

74LS27

74LS28

74LS30

74LS32

74LS33

74LS37

74LS38

74LS40

74LS42

74LS47

74LS48

74LS49

74LS51

74LS54

74LS55

74LS63

74LS73

74LS74

74LS75

74LS76

74LS78

74LS83

74LS85

74LS86

74LS90

74LS91

74LS92

74LS93

74LS95

74LS96

74LS107

74LS109

74LS112

74LS113

74LS114

74LS122

74LS123

74LS124

74LS125

74LS126

74LS132

74LS133

74LS136

74LS137

74LS138

74LS139

74LS145

74LS147

74LS148

74LS151

74LS153

74LS154

74LS155

74LS156

74LS157

74LS158

74LS160

74LS161

74LS162

74LS163

74LS164

74LS165

74LS166

74LS168

74LS169

74LS170

74LS173

74LS174

74LSI75

74LS181

1.20 2.49

1.35

.69 .65

1.95 1.75 1.75 1.49 .69 .55

74LS194 74LS195 74LS196 74LS197 74LS221 74LS240 74LS241 74LS242 74LS243

74LS244 1.29

74LS245 1.49 74LS247 74LS248 74LS249 74LS251 74LS253 74LS257 74LS258

74LS259 2.75

74LS260 .59

74LS261 2.25

74LS266 .55

74LS273 1.49

74LS275 3.35

74LS279 .49

74LS280 1.98 74LS283 74LS290 74LS293 74LS295 74LS298

74LS299 1.75

74LS322 5.95

74LS323 3.50

74LS324 1.75

74LS348 2.50

74LS352 1.29

74LS353 1.29

74LS363 1.35

74LS364 1.95 74LS365 74LS366 74LS367 74LS368

74LS373 1.39

74LS374 1.39

74LS375 .95

74LS377 1.39

74LS378 1.18

74LS379 1.35

74LS385 3.90

74LS386 .45

74LS390 1.19

74LS393 1.19

74LS395 1.19

74LS396 1.89

74LS399 1.49

74LS424 3.95

74LS447 .95

74LS490 1.95

74LS540 1.95

74LS541 1.95

74LS624 3.99

74LS640 2.20

74LS645 2.20

74LS668 1.69

74LS669 1.89

74LS670 1.49 74LS674 14.95

74LS682 3.20

74LS683 3.20

74LS684 3.20

74LS685 3.20

74LS688 2.40

74LS689 3.20

81LS95 1.49

81LS96 1.49 25LS2518 4.13 25LS2521 2.80 25LS2538 3.74 25LS2569 2.80

26LS31 2.19

26LS32 2.19

.69

.99 .99

.93 .99

.59

.69 .89 .89 .99

.89

.49 .49

.45

EKJDR Microdevices

■ ■ 1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128 800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA) • (408) 995-5430 FAX (408) 275-8415 • Telex 171-110

RETAIL STORE - 1256 S. BASCOM AVENUE HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 TU-TH, 9-9 SAT, 10-3

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING

TERMS: Minimum order S10.00. For shipping and handling include S2.50 lor UPS Ground and S3.50 (or UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. and foreign orders may require additional shipping charges - please contact our sales department lor the amount. CA. residents must include 6% sales tax, Bay Area and LA residents include 6Vj%. All merchandise is warranted tor 90 days unless otherwise stated Prices are subject to change without notice. We are not responsible lor typographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and to substitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale.

488 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

inquiry 382

HM6264P-15

8KX8 STATIC 150ns

24.95 SSI263Syns&, 39.95

74S00

CMOS

74S00

74S02

74S03

74S04

74S05

74S08

74S09

74S10

74S11

74S15

74S20

74S22

74S30

74S32

74S37

74S38

74S40

74S51

74S64

74S65

74S74

74S85

74S86

74S112

74S113

74S114

74S124

74S132

74S133

74S134

7400 7401 7402 7403 7404 7405 7406 7407 7408 7409 7410 7411 7412 7413 7414 7416 7417 7420 7421 7422 7423 7425 7426 7427 7428 7430 7432 7433 7437 7438 7439 7440 7442 7443 7444 7445 7446 7447 7448 7450 7451 7453 7454 7460 7470 7472 7473 7474 7475 7476 7480 7481 „7482

1.99

50

2.75 1.24

.30 .35 .49 .25

74S135 74S138 74S139 74S140 74S151 74S153 74S157 74S158 74S161 74S162 74S163 74S168 74S169 74S174 74S175 74S180 74S181 74S182 74S185 74S188 74S189 74S194 74S195 74S196 74S197 74S201 74S225 74S226 74S240 74S241

1.95 1.95 1 95 3.95 3.95 .95 .95

11.95 3.95 2.95

16.95 1.95 G.95 1.49 1 49 1.49 1.49 6.95 7.95 3.99 2.20 2.20

7400

7483

7485

7486

7489

7490

7491

7492

7493

7494

7495

7496

7497

74100

74105

74107

74109

74110

74111

74116

74120

74121

74122

74123

74125

74126

74128

74132

74136

74141

74142

74143

74144

74145

74147

74148

74150

74151

74152

74153

74154

74155

74156

74157

74159

74160

74161

74162

74163

74164

74165

74166

74167

74170

.55 .70

2.75

1.75

1.14

.30

.45

.45

.55

1.55

1.20

2.95

4.95

2.95

.60

1.75

1.20

1.35

.55

.65

.55

1.25

1.00

2.96 1.65

TRANSISTORS

2N918

.50

2N3772

IWPS918

.25

2N3903

2N2102

.75

2N3904

2N2218

.50

2N3906

2N2218A

.50

2N4122

2N2219

.50

2N4123

2N2219A

.50

2N4249

2N2222

.25

2N4304

PN2222

.10

2N4401

MPS2369

.25

2N4402

2N2484

.25

2N4403

2N2905

.50

2N4857

2N2907

.25

PN4916

PN2907

.13

2N5086

2N3055

.79

PN5129

3055T

.69

PN5139

2N3393

.30

2N5209

2N3414

.25

2N6028

2N3563

.40

2N6043

2N3565

.40

2N6045

PN3565

.25

MPS-A05

MPS3638

.25

MPS-A06

MPS3640

.25

MPS-A13

PN3643

.25

MPSA55

PN3644

.25

MPU-131

MPS3704

.15

TIP29

MPS3706

.15

T1P31

TIP32

1.85 .25

.25

.25 .25 1.00 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .35 1.75 1.75 .25 .25 .40 .25 .99 .65

74S244 74S251 74S253 74S257 74S258 74S260 74S273 74S274 74S275 74S280 74S283 74S287 74S288 74S289 74S299 74S301 74S373 74S374 74S381 74S387 74S399 74S412 74S470 74S471 74S472 74S474 74S570 74S571 74S573 87S181 87S185

74172 74173 74174 74175 74176 74177 74178 74179 74180 74181 74182 74184 74185 74189 74190 74191 74192 74193 74194 74195 74196 74197 74198 74199 74221 74246 74247 74248 74249 74251 74259 74265 74273 74276 74278 74279 74283 74284 74285 74290 74293 74298 74351 74365 74366 74367 74368 74376 74390 74393 74425 74426 74490

.95

.79 2.45 19.95 19.95 1.95 3.29 1.90 1.90 6.98 7.35 6.95 2.45 2.45 7.95 1.95 2.95 2.98 6.95 4.95 4.95 4.95 2.95 2.95 9.95 16.25 16.95

5.95 .75

.75 2.25

.75 2.00 2.00 2.99 1.15 1.15

.79

.79

.79

.75 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.35 1.25 1.85 1.95

.75 2.25 1.35 1.95 1.25 3.11

.75 2.00 3.75 3.75

.85 2.25

.65

.65 .65 2.20 1.75 1.35 3.15 .85 2.55

4000

4001

4002

4006

4007

4008

4009

4010

4011

4012

4013

4014

4015

4016

4017

4018

4019

4020

4021

4022

4023

4024

4025

4026

4027

4028

4029

4030

4034

4035

4040

4041

4042

4043

4044

4046

4047

4048

4049

4050

4051

4052

4053

4060

4066

4068

4069

4070

4071

4072

4073

4075

4076

4077

4078

4081

4082

4085

4086

4093

4094

4098

4099

14409

14410

14411

14412

14419

14433

4502

4503

4507

4508

4510

4511

4512

4514

4515

4516

4518

4519

4520

4521

4522

4526

4527

4528

4529

4531

.95 .49

2.99

2.49

1.95

12.95

12.95

11.95

12.95

7.95

14.95

.95

65

1.25

1.95

1.25

1.79

1.55

.89

.39

.79

4.99

1.25

1.25

1.95

1.19

2.95

.95

4532

4538

4539

4541

4543

4553

4555

4556

4558

4560

4569

4581

4582

4584

4585

45151

4702

4724

74C00

74C02

74C04

74C08

74C10

74C14

74C20

74C30

74C32

74C42

74C48

74C73

74C74

74C76

74C83

74C85

74C86

74C89

74C90

74C93

74C95

74C150

74C151

74C154

74C157

74C160

74C161

74C162

74C163

74C164

74C165

74C173

74C174

74C175

74C192

74C193

74C195

74C200

74C221

74C244

74C373

74C374

74C901

74C902

74C903

74C905

74C906

74C907

74C908

74C909

74C910

74C911

74C912

74C914

74C915

74C918

74C920

74C921

74C922

74C923

74C925

74C926

74C927

74C928

74C929

74C930

80C95

80C96

80C97

80C98

1.95

1.95

1.95

2.64

1.19

5.79

.95

.95

2.45

4.25

3.49

1.95

1.95

.75

.75

12.95

12.95

1.50

1.29

1.99

1.95 1.95

.39 4.50 1.19 1.75

.99 5.75 2.25 3.25 1.75 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.19 1.39 2.00

.79 1.19 1.19 1.49 1.49 1.39 5.75 1.75 2.25 2.45 2.45

.39

.85

.85 10.95

.95 1.00 2.00 2.75 9.95 8.95 8.95 1.95 1.19 2.75 17.95 15.95 4.49 4.95 5.95 795 7.95 7.95 19.95 4.95

85

95

HIGH SPEED CMOS

A n«iw family of high speed CMOS logic featuring the speed of low power Schortky {8ns typical gate propagation delay), combined with the advantages of CMOS; very low power consumption, superior noise immunity. and improved output drive.

VOLTAGE REGULATORS

TO-220 CASE PACKAGE

74HC: Op( lor new. all-C 74HC00 74HC02 74HC04 74HC08 74HC10 74HC11 74HC14 74HC20 74HC27 74HC30 74HC32 74HC51 74HC74 74HC75 74HC85 74HC86 74HC93 74HC125 74HC132 74HC138 74HC139

74HC00

ate at CMOS logic levels and are ideal MOS designs.

.75

.35 1.35

.69

1.19 1.19 1.19 .99

.99

74HC175 74HC193 74HC194 74HC195 74HC238 74HC240 74HC241 74HC242 74HC243 74HC244 74HC245 74HC251 74HC257 74HC259 74HC273 74HC299 74HC367 74HC373 74HC374 74HC393 74HC4017

.99 1.25 1.04 1.09 1.35 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89 1.89

1.39 1.89 4.99 .99 2.29 2.29 1.39 1.99

QSPECTRONICS CORPORATION

EPROM ERASERS

Capacity Intensity

Chip (uW/Cm2)

9 8,000

9 8,000

12 9.600

30 9.600

25 17,000

42 17.000

S83.00 $119.00 S175.00 S255.00 $34900 $595.00 .

IC SOCKETS

8 PIN ST .13 .11 14 PIN ST .15 .12 16 PIN ST .17 .13 18 PIN ST .20 .18 20 PIN ST .29 .27 22 PIN ST .30 .27 24 PIN ST .30 .27 28 PIN ST .40 .32 40 PIN ST .49 .39

64 PIN ST 4.25CALL

ST=SOLDERTAIl.

8 PIN 14 PIN 16 PIN 18 PIN 20 PIN 22 PIN 24 PIN 28 PIN 40 PIN

.69

.58

WW

WW

WW

WW

WW 1.09

WW 1.39 1.28

WW 1.49 1.35

WW 1.69 1.49

WW 1.99 1.80

INTERFACE

DATAAQC

8T26

1.59

ADC0800

15.55

8T28

1.98

ADC0804

3.49

8T95

.89

ADC0809

4.49

8T96

.89

ADC0816

14.95

8T97

.89

ADC0817

9.95

8T98

.89

ADC0831

8.95

DM8131

2.95

DAC0800

4.49

DP8304

2.29

DAC0806

1.95

DS8833

2.25

DAC0808

2.95

DS8835

1.99

DAC1020

8.25

DS8836

.99

DAC1021

7.95

DS8837

1.65

DAC1022

5.95

DS8838

1.30

MC1408L6

1.95

MC1408L8

2.95

INTERSII

ICL7106

9.95

EXAR

ICL7107

12.95

XR2206

3.75

ICL7660

2.95

XR2207

3.75

ICL8038

3.95

XR2208

3.75

ICM7207A

5.59

XR2211

5.25

ICM7208

15.95

XR2240

3.25

9U

9304

JO

.95

9316

1.00

9328

1.49

9334

2.50

9368

3.95

9401

9.95

9601

.75

9602

1.50

9637

2.95

96S02

1.95 j

SOUND CHIPS

76477 3.95

76488 5.95

76489 8.95 SSI 263 39.95 AV3-8910 12.95 AY3-8912 12.95 MC3340 1.49 SP1000 39.00 j

OPTO-ISOLATORS

4N26 4N27 4N28 4N33 4N35 4N37 MCT-2 . MCT-6

.69 1.75 1.25 1.25 1.00 1.50

MCA-7

MCA-225

IL-1

1LA-30

ILQ-74

H11C5

TIL-111

TIL-113

4.25 1.75 1.25 1.25 2.75 1.25 1.00 1.75

WW^WIREWRAP

7805T 7808T 7812T 7815T 7824T

7905T .85

7908T .85

7912T .85

7915T .85

7924T .85

TO-3 CASE PACKAGE

7805K 1.39

7812K 1.39

7815K 1.39

7824K 1.39

7905K 1.49

7912K 1.49

7915K 1.49

7924K 1.49

TO-92CASE PACKAGE

78L05 78L12 78L15

79L05 79L12 79L15

OTHER VOLTAGE REGS

78M05C Svolt ';nmp TO-220

LM323K 5vo1t 3amp TO-3

LM338K Adj. 5amp TO-3

78H05K 5volt 5amp TO-3

78H12K 12volt5amp TO-3

78P05K 5voli lOamp TO-3 . UA78S40 FAIRCHILD DIP

.35 4.95 3.95 9.95 9.95 14.95 1.95

74HC151 74HC153

.89 .89

74HC4020 74HC4024

1.39 1.59

74HC154

2.49

74HC4O40

1.39

74HC157

.89

74HC4049

.89

74HC161

1.15

74HC4050

.89

74HC164

1.25

74HC4060

1.29

74HC166

2.95

74HC4511

2.39

74HC174

.99

74HC4538

2.29

74HCT00

74HCT: Direct,

l replacements for LS TTLand

can be inlerro

ixed with 74LS in the same circuit.

74HCT00

.69

74HCT175

1.09

74HCT02

.69

74HCT193

1.39

74HCT04

.69

74HCT194

1.19

74HCT08

.69

74HCT195

1.29

74HCT10

.69

74HCT238

1.49

74HCT11

69

74HCT240

2.19

74HCT14

.89

74HCT241

2.19

74HCT20

.69

74HCT242

2.19

74HCT27

.69

74HCT243

2 19

74HCT30

.69

74HCT244

2 19

74HCT32

.79

74HCT245

2.19

74HCT51

.69

74HCT251

1.09

74HCT74

.85

74HCT257

.99

74HCT75

.95

74HCT259

1.59

74HCT85

1.49

74HCT273

2.09

74HCT86

.79

74HCT299

5.25

74HCT93

1.29

74HCT367

1.09

74HCT125

1.29

74HCT373

2.49

74HCT132

1.29

74HCT374

2.49

74HCT138

1.15

74HCT393

1.59

74HCT139

1.15

74HCT4017

2.19

74HCT151

1.05

74HCT4020

1.59

74HCT153

1.05

74HCT4024

1.79

74HCT154

2.99

74HCT4040

1.59

74HCT157

.99

74HCT4049

.99

74HCT161

1.29

74HCT4050

.99

74HCT164

1.39

74HCT4060

1.49

74HCT166

3.05

74HCT4511

2.69

74HCT174

1.09

74HCT4538

2.59

LM301

LM301H

LM307

LM308

LM308H

LM309H

LM309K

LM310

LM311

LM311H

LM312H

LM317K

LM317T

LM318

LM318H

LM319H

LM319

LINEAR

LM567

.45

.69

1.15

1.95 1.25 1.75 .64 .89 1.75 3.95 1.19 1.49 1.59 1.90 1.25

LM320 see7900

LM322 1.65

LM323K 4.95

LM324 .59

LM329

LM331

LM334

LM335

LM336

LM337T

LM337K

LM338K

LM339 .99

LM340 see7800

LM348 .99

LM350K

LM350T

LM358

3.95 1.19 1.40 1.75

1.95

3.95 3.95

LM359 LM376 LM377 LM378 LM379 LM380 LM380N-8 1.10

4.95 4.60 .69 1.79 3.75 1.95 2.50 4. CO

LM381

LM382

LM383

LM384

LM386

LM387

LM389

LM390

LM392

LM393

LM394H

LM399H

NE531

NE555

NE556

NE558

NE564

LM565

LM566

1.60 1.60 1.95 1.95

.89 1.40 1.35 1.95 69 1.29 4.60 5.00 2.95

.34

.65 1.50 2.95

.99 1.49

NE570

NE571

NE590

NE592

LM709

LM710

LM711

LM723

LM723H

LM733

LM741

LM741N-14

LM741H

LM747

LM748

LM1014

LM1303

LM1310

MC1330

MC1349

MC1350

MC1358

MC1372

LM1414

LM1458

LM1488

LM1489

LM1496

LM1558H

LM1800

LM1812

LM1830

LM1871

LM1872

LM1877

LM1889

LM1896

ULN2003

XR2206

LM2877

LM2878

LM2900

LM2901

MPO2907

LM2917

LM3900

LM3905

LM3909

LM3911

LM3914

LM3915

LM3916

MC4024

MC4044

RC4136

RC4151

LM4250

LM4500

RC4558

LM13600

LM13700

3.95 2.95 2.50

.40 .69

.59 1.19 1.95 1.49 1.69 1.89 1.19 1.69 6.95 1.59 .59 .69 .69 .85 3.10 2.37 8.25 3.50 5.49 5.49 3.52 1.95 1.75 1.29 3.75 2.05 2.25 .85 1.00 1.95 2.95 .59 1.25 .98 2.25 3.95 3.95 3.95 3.95 4.50 1.25 3.95 1.75 3.25

H=TO 5 CAN. K=TO 3, T=TO 220

RCA

CA3023 CA3039 CA3046 CA3059 CA3060 CA3065 CA3080 CA3081 CA3082

I TL494 TL496 TL497 75107 75108 75110 75150 75154 75188 75189

TL066 ] TL071

TL072

TL074 | TL081

TL082 I TL083 L TL084

2.75 1.29 1.25 2.90 2.90 1.75 1.10 1.65 1.65

CA3083 CA3086 CA3089 CA3096 CA3130 CA3140 CA3146 CA3160 CA3183

1.55 .80 2.99 3.49 1.30 1.15 1.85 1.19 .99

4.20 1.65 3.25 1.49 1.49 1.95 1.95 1.95 1.25 1.25

Tl

75365 75450 75451 75452 75453 75454 75491 75492 75493 75494

Bl FET

1.19 2.19 .79 1.19 1.19 2.19

LF347 LF351 LF353 LF355 LF356 LF357 LF411 LF412

2.19 .60 1.00 1.10 1.10 1.40 1.29 1.99

Copyright 1984 JDR MIc

Inquiry 383

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 489

i;

RS232 FEMALE SOLDER CUP

RS232 MALE SOLDER CUP

BARGAIN HUNTERS CORNER

2 LEVEL WIRE WRAP SOCKETS

THESE SOCKETS HAVE 50" LEADS. JUST A LITTLE

SHORTER THAN THAN THE STANDARD 3 LEVEL WIRE

WRAP SOCKETS WITH .67" LEADS.

1-99

100-UP

8 PIN WW-2

.40

.35

14 PIN WW-2

.45

.39

16 PIN WW-2

.45

.39

20 PIN WW-2

.75

.59

22 PIN WW-2

.50

.39

24 PIN WW-2

.89

.75

28 PIN WW-2

.89

.75

40 PIN WW-2

.99

.89

RF MODULATOR

(ASTECUM1082)

QUANTITIES LIMITED

• PRESETTOCHANNEL3

• USE TO BUILD TVCOMPUTER INTERFACE

• -5 VOLT OPE RATION

$6.95

AUDIO GROUND

SPECIALS END 1/31/85

HARD TO FIND "SIMAPABLE" HEADERS

Can easily be snapped apart to make any size header, all with .1" centers 1x36 STRAIGHT LEAD .99

2x40 STRAIGHT LEAD 2.49

2x40 RIGHT ANGLE 2.99

SHORTING BLOCKS

DIP SWITCHES

4 POSITION .85

I 5 POSITION .90

| 6 POSITION .90

7 POSITION .95

I 8 POSITION .95

I 10 POSITION 1.29

EDGECARD CONNECTORS

S-100 ST

S 100

3.95

S-100WW

S-100

4.95

72 PIN ST

6.95

72 PIN WW

7.95

62 PIN ST

IBM PC

4.95

50 PIN ST

APPLE

4.95

44 PIN ST

2.95

44 PIN WW

4.95

d

SPACED AT .1" CENTERS

IDEAL FOR DISK DRIVES

OR ANY.1" HEADER

36 PIN CENTRONICS

5/1.00,

IDCEN36 IDCEN36 , CEN36

RIBBON CABLE MALE RIBBON CABLE FEMALE SOLDER CUP MALE

DIP CONNECTORS

8.95 8.95 7.95

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

CONTACTS

B

14

Ifi

18

20

22

24

28

10

HIGH RELIABILITY TOOLED ST IC SOCKETS

AUGATxxST

.99

.99

.99

1.69

1.89

1.89

1.99

2.49

2.99

HIGH RELIABILITY TOOLED WW IC SOCKETS

AUGATxxWW

1.30

1.80

2.10

2.40

2.50

2.90

3.15

3.70

5.40

COMPONENT CARRIES (DIP HEADERS)

ICCxk

.49

.59

.69

99

.99

.99

.99

1.09

1.49

RIBBON CABLE DIP PLUGS (IDC)

IDPxx

.95

.95

1.75

2.95

EMI FILTER

MAJOR MANUFACTURER

LOW COST

FITS LC-HP BELOW

$4.95 LINE CORDS

LC-2 2 CONDUCTOR 6 ft .39

LC-3 3 CONDUCTOR 6 ft .99

LC-HP 3 CONDUCTOR WITH STANDARD

FEMALE SOCKET 6 ft 1.49

LC-CIR CIGARETTE LIGHTER

PLUG WITH 6 ft COILED CORD 2.95

MUFFIN FANS

4.68" SQUARE SQUARE

14.95 14.95

CAPACITORS

RESISTORS

% WATT 5% CARBON FILM

ALL STANDARD VALUES

FROM 1 OHM TO 10 MEG OHM

50 PIECES SAME VALUE .025

100 PIECES SAME VALUE

1000 PIECES SAME VALUE .015

BYPASS CAPS

.01 iA DISC

10C

/ 56.00

.01 fA MONOLITHIC

100/

S 12.00

.1,/f DISC

10C

/SB.00

.1 ,A MONOLITHIC

100/

SI 5.00

1N751

1N759

1N4148

1N4001

1N4004

1N5402

KBP02

KBP04

MDA801

i MDA980-1 MDA980-2

1 VM48

DIODES

5.1 VOLT ZENER 12.0 VOLT ZENER (1N9141SWITCHING 50PIV IA 400PIV RECTIFIER 200PIV 3A 200PIV 1.5A BRIDGE 400PIV 1.5A BRIDGE 50PIV 12A BRIDGE 50PIV 12A BRIDGE 100PIV 12A BRIDGE DIP-BRIDGE

25/1.00 12/1.00 10/1.00

TO-220 TO-220 TO-3

TO-220 TO-3

HEAT SINKS

SCREW ON CLIP ON SCREW ON

INSULATOR INSULATOR

10/1.00 10/1.00

FOR ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS SEE IDC CONNECTORS BELOW

SWITCHES

SPDT MINI-TOGGLE ON-ON 1.25

DPDT MINI-TOGGLE ON-ON 1.50

DPDT MINI-TOGGLE 0N-OFF-ON 1.75

SPST MINI-PUSHBUTTON N.O. .39

SPST MINI-PUSHBUTTON N.C. .39

, BCD OUT 10 POSITION 6 PIN DIP 1.95

1.0/jf 6.8

10pf 22

100 220

TANTALUM

15V .40

15V .70

15V .80

15V 1.35

35V .40

.47jyl 1.0 2.2 4.7

10

50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V

DISC

.05 560

.05 680

.05 820

.05 .001/il

.05 .0015

.05 .0022

.05 .005

.05 .01

.05 .02

.05 .05

.05 .1

35V .50

35V .45

50V GOV 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 50V 12V

MONOLITHIC

.01*if 50V .14 Api\ 50V

.047y( 50V .15 .47,jf

18

50V .25

ELECTROLYTIC

Vf

2.2

I 4.7 10

47

100

220

470

2200

.15

25V

35V

50V

50V

35V .18

16V

35V

25V

16V

.18 .20 .30 .60

COMPUTER GRADE

l44,000/j( 30V 3.95

4.7

10

10

22

47

100

100

220

330

550

1000

2200

6000

AXIAL 50V

16V 1GV 50V 16V 50V 15V 35V 25V 16V 16V 16V 16V 16V

.42 .60

LED DISPLAYS

CC .43"

HP5082-7760 MAN-72 MAN-74 FND-537|359) FND-500|503) FND-507(510) . TIL-31 1 4x7 HEX W LOGIC .270 "

1.29 .99

.375" 1.25

DIFFUSED LEDS

1 99 .10

JUMBO RED T1V.

JUMBO GREEN T1V, .18

JUMBO YELLOW T1V« .18

MOUNTING HDW T1W .10

MINI RED T1 .10

MINI GREEN T1 .18

MINI YELLOW T1 .18

RECT RED 2x5mm .25

RECT GREEN 2x5mm .30

RECT YELLOW 2x5mm .30

loo-ur

.09

D-SUBMINIATURE

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

CONTACTS

9

15

25

37

50

SOLDER CUP

MALE

DBxxP

1.19

1.59

1.90

2.85

4.25

FEMALE

DBxxS

1.50

1.85

2.25

3.90

5.25

RIGHT ANGLE PC SOLDER

MALE

DBxxPR

1.65

2.20

3.00

1 83

FEMALE

DBxxSR

2.18

3.03

3.00

6.19

WIRE WRAP

MALE

DBxxPWW

1.69

2.56

3.89

5.60

...

FEMALE

DBxxSWW

2.76

4.27

6.84

9.95

IDC RIBBON CABLE

MALE

IDBxxP

2.95

3.90

4.75

6.95

FEMALE

IDBxxS

3.25

4.29

5.25

7.95

HOODS

BLACK

HOOb-B

.99

GREY

HOOD

.89

.99

.99

1.09

1.19

MOUNTING HARDWARE-$1.00

FOR ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS SEE IDC CONNECTORS BELOW

IDC CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

CONTACTS

10

20

26

34

40

50

SOLDER HEADER

IDHxxS

.82

1.29

1.68

2.20

2.58

3.24

RIGHT ANGLE SOLDER HEADER

IDHxxSR

.85

1.35

1.76

2.31

2.72

3.39

WW HEADER

IDHxxW

1.86

2.98

3.84

4.50

5.28

6.63

RIGHT ANGLE WW HEADER

IDHxxWR

2.05

3.28

4.22

4.45

4.80

7.36

RIB-IN HEADER SOCKET

IDSxx

.79

.99

1.39

1.59

i 9S

2.55

RIBdON HEADER

IDMxx

5.50

625

? 66

750

8.50

RIBBON EDGE HARD

IDExx

jj.75

2.25

265

2.75

3.80

3.95

TEXTOOLZERO INSERTION FORCE SOCKETS AND RECEPTACLES

SCREWDRIVER CLAMP ECONOZIF

LEVER CLAMP ZIF SOCKET

WW RECEPTACLES ZIF RECEPTACLE

TYPE

CONTACTS

14

16

24

28

40

ECONOZIF

4.95

6.75

7.75

9.95

ZIF SOCKET

4.95

4.95

5.95

6.95

9.95

ZIF RECEPTACLE

8 25

8.75

MB J

ORDERING INSTUCIIONS: INSERT THE NUMBER OF CONTACTS IN THE POSITION MARKED "XX" OF THE ■ORDER BY" PART NUMBER LISTED. EXAMPLE: A W PIN RIGHT ANGLE HOLDER STYLE WOULD BE IDH10SR

RIBBON CABLE

CONTACTS

SINGLE COLOR

COLOR CODED

1'

10'

1'

10'

10

.18

1.60

83

7.30

16

28

2.50

1.00

8 80

20

.36

3.20

1.25

11.00

25

.45

4.00

1.32

1 1.60

26

.46

4.10

1.32

11.60

34

.61

5.40

1.65

14.50

40

72

6 40

1.92

16.80

50

.89

7.50

2.50

22.00

tihjDR Microdevices

■ ■ 1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128 800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA) • (408) 995-5430 FAX (408) 275-8415 • Telex 171-110

It

RETAIL STORE - 1256 S. BASCOM AVENUE HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 TU-TH, 9-9 SAT, 10-3

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING

TERMS: Minimum order S10.00. For shipping and handling include S2.50 lor UPS Ground and S3.50 for UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. and foreign orders may require additional shipping charges - please contact our sales department lor the amount. CA. residents must include 6% sales tax, Bay Area and LA residents include 6Vj%. All merchandise is warranted for 90 days unless otherwise slated. Prices are subject to change without notice. We are not responsible tor typographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and to substitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale.

I Copyright 1984 JDR Mlcrode*

490 BYTE • JANUARY I985

Inquiry 384

IBM PC PROTOTYPE CARD

WITH DECODING CIRCUITRY

$29.95

WIRE WRAP PROTOTYPE CARDS

FR-4 EPOXY GLASS LAMINATE WITH GOLD-PLATED EDGE-CARD FINGERS

DISK DRIVES

TANDOIM

TM 100-1 5 TIM 100-2 5

MPI-B52 5

FD-55B FD-55F •

BMPR2 |B(V,

BOTH CARDS HAVE SILK SCREENED LEGENDS

AND INCLUDES MOUNTING BRACKET

IBM-PR1 WITH -5V AND GROUND PLANE . . . . S27.95

IBM-PR2 AS ABOVE WITH DECODING CIRCUITRY S29.95

S-100

P100-1 BARE - NO FOIt PADS S15.15

P100-2 HORIZONTALBUS S21.80

P100-3 VERTICAL BUS S21.80

P100-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS PER HOLE S22.75

APPLE

P500-1 BARE - NO FOIL PADS S15.15

P500-3 HORIZONTAL BUS S22.75

PG00-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS PER HOLE S21.80

7060-45 FOR APPLE lie AUX SLOT S30.00

GENERAL PURPOSE

22/44 PIN EDGE-CARD (.156" SPACING)

P441-1 BARE - NO FOIL PADS 4.5" x 6.0" $9.45

P441-3 VERTICAL BUS 4.5" x6.0" $13.95

P441-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS 4.5" x 6.0" $14.20

P442-1 BARE - NO FOIL PADS 4.5" x 9.0" .... $10.40

P442-3 VERTICAL BUS 4.5" x 9.0" $14.20

P442-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS 4.5" x 9.0" $13.50

36/72 PIN EDGE-CARD {.1" SPACING)

P721-1 BARE - NO FOIL PADS 4.5" x 6.0" $9.45

P721-3 VERTICAL BUS 4.5" x 6.0" $13.25

P721-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS 4.5" x 6.0" S14-20

P722-1 BARE - NO FOIL PADS 4.5" x 9.0" .... $10.40

P722-3 VERTICAL BUS 4.5" x 9.0" S14.20

P722-4 SINGLE FOIL PADS 4.5" x 9.0" $15.15

BARE GLASS BOARDS EXTENDER

NO EDGE-CARD FINGERS OR FOIL CARDS

P25x45 2.5" x 4.5" $2.40 IBM $45.00

P45x65 4.5" x 6.5" S4.70 APPLE $45.00

P45x85 4.5" x 8.5" S6.20 MULTIBUS $86.00

P45x170 4.5" x 17.0" $11.36 . P85x170 8.5" x 17.0" S18.95

(FOR IBM)SS DD $199.00

(FOR IBM) DS DD $199.95

MP I

(FOR IBM} DS DD

TEAC

HEIGHT DS. DD HEIGHT DS QUAD

SHUGART

SA400L BV (40 TRACK) SS DD SA 460 5"A" (80 TRACK) DS QUAD

8" DISK DRIVES

FD100-8 BY SIEMENS. SHUGART 801 EQUIV.

SS DD 10 5129.95 ea. $149.95 FD200-8 BY SIEMENS. SHUGART 851 EQUIV.

DS DD 10 $185.00ea. $$195.00

JFORMAT-2 549.95

SUPPORT FOR QUAD DENSITY DRIVES FROM TALL TREE SYSTEMS

$139.95

$139.95 $200.00

$199.95 $199.95

TANDON TM100-2

PLEASE INCLUDE SUFFICENT AMOUNT FOR SHIPPING ON ABOVE ITEMS

DISK DRIVE CABINETS

CABINET #1 $29.95

* Fits one full height 5'/•"disk drive

* Color matches Apple

CABINET #2 S79.00

* Fits one full height 5%"disk drive

* Complete with power supply, switch, line cord, fuse and standard power connector

* Please specify Grey or Tan

CABINET #3 $89.95

* Fits two half height b W'disli drives

' Complete with power supply, switch, line cord, fuse and standard power connectors

8" DISK DRIVE CABINETS ALSO AVAILABLE-PLEASE CALL

PLEASE INCLUDE SUFFICIENT AMOUNT FOR SHIPPING ON ABOVE ITEMS

SWITCHING POWER SUPPLIES

PS-IBM $175.00

• FOR IBM PC-XT COMPATIBLE

• 130 WATTS

• '5V @ 15A, -12V @4.2A -5V@.5A, -12V @ ,5A

• ONE YEAR WARRANTY

PSA

$49.95

USE TO POWER APPLE TYPE

SYSTEMS

+ 5V@4A, '12V(h)2.5A

-5V(ffi.5A, -12V@.5A

APPLE POWER CONNECTOR

PS-3

$39.95

AS USED IN APPLE III »5V@4A, + 12V @2.5A -5V @ .25A, -12V @ .30A, 15.5" x4.5" x2", .884 LBS.

PS-TDK

$59.95

WIRE WRAP WIRE

PRECUT AND STRIPPED

TRANSFORMERS FRAME STYLE

Note: 1 inc

h of insulation is stripped on

each end. A 3.5" wi

re has only 1.

5" of insu

lation.

LENGTH

QUANTITY

(INCHES)

100

500

1000

2.5

1.60

4.70

8.20

3

1.60

4.70

8.20

3.5

1.65

5.00

8.90

4

1.75

5.40

9.60

4.5

1.80

5.75

10.30

S

1.85

6.10

11.00

5.6

1.90

6.50

11.75

6

2.00

6.85

12.50

6.5

2.30

7.80

14.30

7

2.40

8.20

15.05

7.5

2.50

8.55

15. B5

B

2.60

8.95

16.60

8.5

2.65

9.30

17.40

g

2.70

9.80

18.15

9.5

2.80

10.00

18.95

10

2.90

10.50

19.70

12.6V AC

2 AMP

4.95

12.6V AC CT

2 AMP

5.95

12.6V AC CT

4 AMP

7.95

12.6V AC CT

8 AMP

10.95

25.2V AC CT

2 AMP

7.95

PLUG CASE STYLE

12V AC

250ma

3.95

12V AC

500ma

4.95

12V AC

1 AMP

5.95

12V AC

2 AMP

6.95

DC ADAPTER

6, 9, 12V DC SELECTABLE WITH . UNIVERAL ADAPTER 8.95

.5V@5A. '12V <5>2A •12VS12.8A, -12V(ffl.30A 6.2" x7.4" x 1.7", 1.6 LBS.

MICROCOMPUTER

HARDWARE

HANDBOOK

FROM ELCOMP $14.95

Over 800 pages of manufacturer's data sheets on the most commonly used IC's - TTL-74, 74LS 8. 74F

• CMOS

• Voltage regulators

■ Memory- RAM, ROM, EPROM

• CPU'S - 6800, 6500, Z80, 8080. 8085 & 8086/8

• MPU Support & Interface, 6800, 6500, Z80. 8200, etc.

OK INDUSTRIES

EX-1 IC EXTRACTION TOOL

• ONE PIECE METAL CONSTRUCTION

• EASILY EXTRACTS 8-24 PIN DEVICES . LOW COST $2.19

EX-2 IC EXTRACTION TOOL

• EXTRACTS 24-40 PIN DEVICES

• HEAVY DUTY METAL CONSTRUCTION - GROUND LUGS FOR MOS EXTRACTIONS

• EASY ONE HAND OPERATION $12.74

X

IC INSERTION TOOLS

INS-1416 MOS-1416 MOS-2428 MOS-40

for 14-16 pin IC's for 14-16 pin IC's for 24-28 pin IC's for 40 pin IC's

S5.15 S10.92 $10.92 $12.43

MOS series insertion tools have metal constuction and include grounding lug for CMOS applications.

BW-630 WIRE WRAP GUN

• BATTERY POWERED-USES 2 NI-CAD C CELLS(NOT INCLUDED)

• POSITIVE INDEXING

* ANTI-OVERWRAP DEVICE $41.55

WSU-30 WIRE WRAP TOOLS

* WRAPS, STRIPS, AND UNWRAPS

■ WSU-30M WRAPS AN EXTRA TURN OF INSULATION

WSU-30 S8.84/WSU-30M $10.14

y

INS-1416 INS-2428

WIRE WRAP TERMINALS

wwr-i

SLOTTED

25/S7.06

WWT-2

SINGLE SIDED

25/S4.25

WWT-3

IC SOCKET

25/S7.06

WWT-4

DOUBLE SIDED

25/2.80

INS-1

INSERTION TOOL

$3.64

PRECUT ASSORTMENT IN ASSORTED COLORS $27.50

100ea:5.5", 6", 6.5", 7" 250ea: 2.5", 4.5", 5" 500ea: .3", 3.5", 4"

SPOOLS

100 feet S4.30 250 feet S7.25

500 feet $13.25 1000 feet S21.95 Please specify color: Blue, Black, Yellow or Red

GE NICKEL-CADIUM

RECHARGABLE BATTERIES

NI-CAD CHARGER PACKAGE

]

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ftjjklfe?^

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ORDER TOLL FREE

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS)

20 MHz DUALTRACE OSCILLOSCOPE

FROM RAMSEY ELECTRONICS

WIRE DISPENSER

i WITH 50' ROLL OF WIRE

. BUILT IN PLUNGER CUTS WIRE

. BUILT IN STRIPPER STRIPES 1"

• REFILLABLE

WD-30 $6.50 WD-30TRI $9.50

Specify Blue, white. With 50' of each: Yellow or Red Red. Blue and White

SOCKET-WRAP 1.0.™

■ SLIPS OVER WIRE WRAP PINS

• IDENTIFIES PIN NUMBERS ON WRAP SIDE OF BOARD

• CAN WRITE ON PLASTIC: SUCH AS IC #

WSU-30 30M

KJ^

!£Ti

PARTfl

PCK. OF

PRICE

IDWRAP08

10

1.95

IDWRAP14

10

1.95

1DWRAP16

10

1.95

IDWRAP18

5

1.95

IDWRAP20

5

1.95

IDWRAP22

5

1.95

IDWRAP24

5

1.95

IDWRAP28

5

1.95

IDWRAP40

5

1.95

PLEASE ORDER BY NUMBER OF PACKAGES (PCK. OF)

L

AAA CELLS

QTY. 2

S11.71

AA CELLS

QTY. 2

$11.71

C CELLS

QTY. 2

S13.21

O CELLS

QTY. 2

$13.21

9 VOLT

QTY. 1

S13.21

BATTERIES ONLY

AAA CELLS

PKG. 2

S6.07 pr.

A A CELLS

PKG. 1

$3.03 ea.

C CELLS

PKG. 1

S3.78 ea.

DCELLS

PKG. 1

S3.78 ea.

9 VOLT

PKG. 1

$7.57 ea.

UNSURPASSED QUALITY AT AN UNBEATABLE PRICE

> BAND WIDTH- DC: DC TO 20MHz (-3db)

AC: 10Hz TO 20MHz <-3db)

■ SWEEP TIME- 2/jSECTO .5 SEC/DIV ON 20 RANGES

• VERT./HORZ. DEFLECTION: 5mV TO 20V/DIV ON 20 RANGES

- COMPLETE MANUAL AND HIGH QUALITY HOOK-ON PROBES INCLUDED

• INPUT IMPEDANCE: 1 MEG OHM

- TV VIDEO SYNC FILTER

■ X, Y AND Z AXIS OPERATION . 110/220 VOLT 50/60Hz OPERATION . COMPONENT TESTER

• LP CONSUMPTION—19 WATTS

- BUILT IN CALIBRATOR

■ AUTOMATIC OR TRIGGERED TIMEBASE

$399.95

WITH PROBES

FULL ONE YEAR WARRANTY

<|

MULTIMETER PEN

AUTO RANGING, POLARITY & DECIMAL!

• LARGE 3V& DIGIT DISPLAY

• DATA HOLD SWITCH FREEZES READING

• FAST, AUDIBLE CONTINUITY TEST

• LOW BATTERY INDICATOR

• OVERLOAD PROTECTION {7m7\

• ONLY 1W x 61/4" x W Wm\

- DC VOLTS .1 mV-500V UjKl

• AC VOLTS 1mV-500V

- .1 OHM-20 MEG OHMS

> WEIGHS ONLY 2.3 OUNCES

• LOW PARTS COUNT-CUSTOM 80 PIN LSI INSURES RELIABILITY

• INCLUDES MANUAL, BATTERIES, SOFT CASE, 2 PROBE TIPS, AND ALLIGATOR CLIP

ONLY $49.95

I Copyright 19B4 JDR Mlci

Inquiry 385

JANUARY 1985 -BYTE 491

TEAG-FD55B;;;LK 139.95

MPI-B52DSF»tcHT 139.95

EPROM PROGRAMMER

FOR APPLE COMPUTERS

RP525 $79.95

• LOW COST

. DUPLICATE OR BURN ANY STANDARD 2700 SERIES EPROM

» MENU DRIVEN SOFTWARE INCLUDED MO ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE REQUIRED

• AUTOMATIC SELECTION FOR 2716,2732, 2732A, 2764 & 27128

• LED INDICATORS FOR ACTIVITY

• HIGH SPEEDWRITE ALGORITHM - NO EXTERNAL POWER SUPPLY

MAXIMIZE YOUR IBM PC OR XTI

MAXIMUM FLEXIBILITY-AII ol (he most asked for support leatures on one card plus SOFTDISK and SPOOL soltware to increase your PC's productivity!

MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE PER DOLLAR-Compare lea tures with the best selling multifunction card and save!

MAXIMUM RELIABILITY-The MAXIMIZER features the highest quality 4-LAYER board construction, sockets lor all RAM. and ts backed by a fulll

ONE YEAR WARRANTY

=FSIGMA DESIGNS, INC.

COMPARE!

MAXIMIZER

AST 6-PACK +

Maximum Memory

384K/512K'

384 K

RS-232 Serial

2'

1

Parallel Port

t

1

Clock Calendar

YES

YES

Game Adaptor

Optional

Optional

wilhoplional 128KMAXISTACK second serial oort optional

$25995

(64K)

OPTIONS:

2nd Serial Port 4195 I

Game Adaptor 29.95

128K Maxistaclt 159.95 Additional 64K Ram 3995 I

APPLE ACCESSORIES

BAL-525 $139.95

* Vi HEIGHT-ALPS MECHANISM + 100% APPLE COMPATIBLE

* FULL 1 YEAR WARRANTY

BAL-500 $169.95

* TEAC MECHANISM- DIRECT DRIVE

* 100% APPLE COMPATIBLE-35 TRACK

* 40 TRACK WHEN USED WITH OPTIONAL CONTROLLER

m

MITAC AD-1 $179.95

* FULL HEIGHT SHUGART MECHANISM

* DIRECT REPLACEMENT FOR APPLE DISK II

JDR 16K

RAM CARD

$39.95

BARE PC CARD AND INSTUCTIONS $9.95

* 2 YEAR WARRANTY

* EXPAND YOUR 48K APPLE TO 64K

* USE IN PLACE OF APPLE LANGUAGE CARD

OTHER ACCESSORIES

BMC BX-80 $249.00

CONTROLLER CARD $49.95

VIEWMAX-80 $159.95

VIEWMAX-80e $129.95

GRAPHMAX $129.95

THUNDERCLOCK $129.95

KRAFT JOYSTICK $39.95

POWER SUPPLY $49.95

ZVM-123 GREEN MON $105.00

DISKETTE FILE $8.95

IF PURCHASED

WITH SO DISKETTES

OR MORE

$9.95 IF PURCHASED ALONE

BY DEALING DIRECT WITH THE

FACTORY, WE CAN MAKE THIS

UNBEATABLE OFFER

* ATTRACTIVE, SMOKED ACRYLIC CASE WITH SIX INDEXED DIVIDERS

* RUGGED, HIGH QUALITY CONSTRUCTION

* HOLDS 70 BVt" DISKETTES, WITH ROOM TO SPARE

"NASHUA DISKETTES

5W SOFT SECTOR

DOUBLE SIDED, DOUBLE DENSITY

WITH HUB RINGS

BULK PACKAGED IN FACTORY SEALED BAGS OF 50. INCLUDES DISKETTE SLEEVES AND WRITE PROTECT TABS. IDEAL FOR SCHOOLS, CLUBS, AND USERS GROUPS. THIS IS A SPECIAL PURCHASE. QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED. 5 YEAR WARRANTY.

$1.39ea.

QTY250

$1.49ea.

QTYIOO

$1.59ea

Q1Y50

•NASHUA DISKETTES WERE JUDGED TO HAVE THE HIGHEST

POLISH AND RECORDED AMPLITUDE OF ANY DISKETTES TESTED.

(SEE -COMPARING FLOPPY DISKS", BYTE9/S4)

DISK DRIVES FOR YOUR IBM

TEAC FD55B V2HEIGHT

MPI 52B (same as Tandon)

TANDON TM 100-2

BMC AU9191U COLOR MON $279.00 M. 31 J3.33 Oljb.SO 3133.»S>

WANT TO ADD AN INTERNAL

HARD DISK

DRIVE TO YOUR

IBM PC?

....BUT DISCOVER THAT YOUR POWER

SUPPLY CAN'T HANDLE THE LOAD?

JDR HAS CAREFULLY SELECTED THE HIGHEST QUALITY FULLY IBM COMPATIBLE POWER SUPPLY AVAILABLE.

COMPARE

THESE FEATURES

* XT COMPATIBLE

* 1YEAR WARRANTY

* HIGH QUALITY CONSTRUCTION

* PLUG COMPATIBLE CONNECTORS

* FITS INTO EXSISTING MOUNTING HOLES

* SOLID 130 WATT OUTPUT +5V@15A +12V@4.2A -5V@.5A -12V@.5A

$175.00 VERBATIM

DATALIFE DISKETTES

SS/DD SOFT SS/DD 10 SECTOR DS/DD SOFT

$29.95 S29.95 S34.95

■ip JDR Microdevices

■ ■ 1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128 800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA) • (408) 995-5430 FAX (408) 275-8415 • Telex 171-110

.».. I ur.

Copyright 1984 JDR Microdevices

RETAIL STORE - 1256 S. BASCOM AVENUE HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 TU-TH, 9-9 SAT, 10-3

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING

TERMS: Minimum order $10.00. For shipping and handling include $2.50 for UPS Ground and S3.50 for UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. and foreign orders may require additional shipping charges - please contact our sales department for the amount. CA. residents must include 6% sales tax, Bay Area and LA residents include 6V*%. All merchandise is warranted for 90 days unless otherwise slated. Prices are subject to change without notice. We are not responsible for typographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and to substitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale.

APPLE IS A TRADEMARK OF APPLE COMPUTER CO.

492 BYTE • JANUARY 1985

Inquiry 386

UNCLASSIFIED ADS

BYTE is concerned about software piracy. Unclassified ads proposing exchanges of software must specify that the software was written by the individual or is in the public domain. BYTE reserves the right to reject any unclassified ad that does not meet this criterion.

DONATE: Your used computer equipment to a nonprofit organization for tax benefits. 1 will place your equipment with appropriate parties and oversee the documentation and physical transfer for free. Richard Hanson, POB 23438, Pleasant Hill. CA 94523. (415] 932-8856 or (415) 939-1246 modem.

WANTED: Tax-deductible donations of business and educational computer hardware to nonprofit education center for rural American Indians. Materials will be used for computer literacy computer-assisted instruction, job training, and center administration. Roundhouse Council, American Indian Education Center, do Michael Guttman. 975 East Ave.. Suite 150, Chico, CA 95926, (916) 895-9131.

WANTED: Nonprofit college seeks tax-deductible donations of computers, printers, and terminals. Certified receipts available. Colorado Baptist College. 11111 East Mississippi Ave.. Aurora. CO 80012, (303) 363-0937.

NEEDED: 2 56K IBM PC or compatible, terminal, monitor, disk drive, printer, related hardware. Taxdeductible donation for CAI by beginning sociology students. Shipping reimbursed. Dr. Douglas L. White. Computers in the Sociology Classroom Project. 307 Reuther Bldg.. Henry Ford Community College, Dearborn. Ml 48128.

WANTED: The Poetry Resource Center of Michigan, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization serving the literary community of Michigan, needs donations of IBM or plug-compatible equipment for word processing, record keeping, and office management. Yonah Karp. PRC, 621 South Washington Ave. Royal Oak. Ml 48067. (313) 399-3163/865-8513.

WANTED: Nondenominational Christian church seeks donation of microcomputer and peripherals for use in Christian school and church administration. Will pay shipping and give receipt. Glen Gardeski. 233 Lansing St.. Utica, NY 13501. (315) 724-0219.

WANTED: Graduate student in exhibit on history of calculating devices needs anything in hardware representative of early computer generations, paper tape, punch cards, slide rules, pictures, etc. Project unfunded, but willing to pay shipping and discuss small payment for some items. Donated items will be credited. Roger Wallace. 2360 Grandview Terrace. Manhattan. KS 66502.

WANTED: Graduate with knowledge of COBOL, FORTRAN. BASIC, etc. and programming experience in system and application software seeks correspondents. Worked on file management utilities, text editor, spooler, report utility. Developed in C BASIC (order/invoice/sales/inventory/payroll systems). Stellus Pereira. Jeffrin Cottage. Opp LIT. Main Gate. Powai. Bombay 400 076. India.

NEEDED: Inexpensive, used, or unwanted material relating to Z80 and 68000 programming. I've built a homebrew that needs an assembler and improved operating system. Any public-domain subroutines or algorithms printed on paper only would be appreciated. Michael Sanders. #228183. Wynne 12T Huntsville. TX 77349.

NEEDED: Seminary graduate turned software engineer (cowrote Tandy's ALDS). beginning CHARIS Christian videotex service, seeks equipment (exchanged for free advertising) and technical expertise in starting this ministry to churches. For free brochure, send SASE. Christian Helps and Resources Information Service. Attn: Larry West. POB 7963 5. Saginaw, TX 76179-0635.

FOR SALE: Ohio Scientific Inc. hardware. Get on our mailing list. Walt Thomas. RD #1, Box 135, Linden, PA 17744. (717) 398-1893.

WANTED: Electronics engineering student needs contributions of electronics/computer books, magazines, training kits, or equipment. Donation of Apple peripherals, especially a disk drive, most welcome, lames Y. Kwan. Room 307. Third Floor. 1109 Severino Reyes St., Santa Cruz. Manila. 2805, Philippines.

WANTED: BYTE 1975-1982. Softalk No. 1 through September 1982. Nibble No. I-Vol. 2, No. 8 and Vol. 4. No. 7. Junichiro Kida. 1566-220. Nara-cho, Midoriku, Yokohama 227, lapan.

FOR SALE: Micropolis SS/DD 514-inch disk drive. Model 1021-2: SI 50. Micropolis S-100-bus diskcontroller board. Model 107: $160. Includes manuals. |. Tyler, Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology. School of Mathematical Sciences and Computer Studies, St. Andrew St., Aberdeen. Scotland AB1 1HG. U.K., 0224 633611 ext, 462.

FOR SALE: Vector Graphics 5002 two-user system with 2x64K RAM monitors. 600K 5K-lnch floppyand 5-megabyte hard-disk drives, Hayes Smartmodem 100, 3-port serial interface, and Tl 810 printer. Original cost $12,000+: best offer. Rick Smith, 9801 Vieux Carre #16, Louisville. KY 40223, (502) 244-1748.

FOR SALE: Osborne I. two SS/SD floppy-disk drives: $650. Bob Phalen, 21 Ozone Ave. #21, Venice. CA 90291. (213) 450-9111 ext. 2718.

FOR SALE: Commodore 64 Executive portable. Builtin disk drive and color monitor, modem, joystick, and KoalaPad: $950. P. D. Bailey. 203 Willow Way, Vicksburg. MS 39180. (601) 634-2824.

FOR SALE: Paper Tiger 440 printer plus parallel interface card. Includes all information, cables, and ribbons, excellent condition: $300 or best offer. Dr. R. E. Crowder. 460 North Terrace Dr.. Wichita, KS 67208, (316| 684-5184.

WANTED: Epson QX-10 system, Hayes 300/1200-bps modem, and stand-alone hard disks for our users group's RBBS systems. Fellow QXers are welcome to send SASE for a sample newsletter. EUG. Box 1076. Lemont. PA 16851, (814) 237-5511.

FOR SALE: Eagle monochrome monitor and color card in mint condition; fully compatible with IBM monochrome monitor and color card. List price over $600: asking $400. Kenneth Tarn, 68 East Broadway. New York. NY 10002. (212) 226-6248 after 6 p.m.

FOR SALE: Brand new Tandon TM848-IE and -2E OEM 8-inch drive service manual in factory binder: $2 5 plus postage or best offer. Bill Weinel. 139 Pineland Circle. Raleigh, NC 27606. (919) 851-1270.

FOR SALE: HP 82905B dot-matrix printer (Opt 248). the HPIL version for use with HP 41. HP 75.-or HP 7IB. New $795; will sell for $3 50. lohn Gilby. Site 11. Compartment 175. RR #3. Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P 6G5. Canada.

FOR SALE: Apple dot-matrix printer used for only four months, excellent condition: $280 negotiable, loe Genduso. College Station. Lafayette College. POB 4391. Easton, PA 18042.

FOR SALE: First 16 issues of BYTE. Send SASE and reasonable offer. Henry Shaw, POB 275, Cape May Point, Nl 08212,

FOR SALE: Public-domain interactive structured Z80 assembly-language compiler and screen editor. Steve Allen. 5016 48th SW, Seattle. WA 98136.

FOR SALE: Tandon TM-100-2 double-sided. 514-inch drive, never used: $190. Fred Orkin. 630 South Bowman Ave., Merion Station. PA 19066, (215) 448-7960.

WANTED: Altair S-100 case with motherboard and power supply—just the box. Looks are unimportant. Gerald Henrici. II Varick St. #5M. New York, NY 10013, (212) 966-0410 days, (212) 966-4499 evenings.

FOR SALE: Kilobaud No. 1-53, except No. 48. All in good condition: $100 plus shipping or best offer. Thomas Auiicino. 2014 59th St.. Brooklyn, NY 11204.

FOR SALE: OSI C8PDF 48K static RAM with video board to interface with TV. Has tone generator with color/graphics capabilities, and includes modem and RF interface: $2200 or best offer. I will pay shipping. M. Chew. POB 32372. Pensacola. FL 32514.

FOR TRADE: PCI401 programs I developed for ham radio, navigation, electronics, statistics, and memos. Exchange on noncommercial basis. Goetz Kluge, Meisenweg 16, 8011 Vaterstetten, West Germany.

FOR SALE: New S-100 12-slot motherboard, power supply, and cabinet by XOR, two 8-inch Siemens FDD 100-8 floppy-disk drives: $5 50. Amber monitor (Zenith ZVM-122): $85. Ken Skelps, 39 Holly Ave.. Shalimar. FL 32579. (904) 651-5826.

FOR SALE: A Bell Data 2400-bps type modem with serial inputs, power input, 2400/1200/300 switchable

data rates, originate, answer, auto-answer, full/halfduplex, synchronous or asynchronous. Worth $3200; sell for $1200. Lyle Jackson. 1120 Pine Hill Rd., McLean. VA 22101. (703) 356-5215.

WANTED: Single-sheet feeder for NEC 5 530 printer. Gregory Graver, 3558 Mandeville Canyon Rd„ Los Angeles, CA 90049.

FOR SALE: S-100 computer system. 1MSAI 8080 computer. 20-slot motherboard, 64K RAM. four SIO ports, disk controller, front panel card, cabinet, power supply, two ICOM disk drives, Hazeltine Espirit I terminal, and documentation: $1500 or best offer. R. L. Dalzeli, c/44th Signal BN. APO NY 09175, (Federal Republic of Germany) 6151-68315,

WANTED: Technical information for Tl 99/4A. interfacing information, schematics, etc. Also, used HP 4!cv calculator. Joseph Walker, Rt. 3, Box 287, Ruston. LA 71270.

WANTED: Users/owners/operators, I'm starting an international bulletin-board system listing; if interested, please send description of your BBS and phone number. Moore & Co.. 301 Nottingham Dr., Brick Town, N] 08724.

FOR SALE: Brand new green DEC Rainbow 100 monitor: $275. Joyce Goodrich, 315 East 68th St.. New York, NY 10021, (212) 879-9771.

WANTED: High school student needs IBM PCcompatible equipment: disk drives, disk controller, video controller, monitor, keyboard, power supply, and case. Donations or discounts welcome; I will pay postage. Daniel Miller. 6349 County Rd. 11 A. Garrett. IN 46738, (219) 357-3710.

WANTED: College student seeks donation of hardware and software documentation for the HP 3000. Also, a terminal for timesharing on the HP 3000. I will pay shipping. Christopher M. Heim, 6431 Valley Hi Dr.. Sacramento. CA 95823, (916) 456-3661.

WANTED: Telecomputer for telemarketing. Unit is a dedicated microprocessor with two tape decks. Automatically dials every tenth number in a tele phone exchange and dials numbers preprogrammed into memory. Capable 50 calls per hour. Give manufacturer's name, when bought, condition, and your price. Art Rein, 32 New York Ave., Freeport. NY 11520. (516) 379-6421.

WANTED: High school student needs donated com puters and peripherals to pursue career in programming or electronics. Apples. TRS-80s. Zeniths, S-100, or CP/M preferred. Will pay postage. Scott Lawler, 1700 Tampico Court, Petaluma, CA 94952.

FOR SALE: Tandon CDC 514-inch SS/DD disk drives Limited quantity of used B: drives in excellent condition: $75. Larry Furman, 81 Holly Ave., Staten Island, NY 10308. (718) 317-6803.

FOR SALE: DEC PRO-350. 512K. P/OS, DCL, and LA50 printer: $4 500 or best offer. Mike Saltz. 606 El Redondo, Redondo Beach, CA 90277, (213) 379-0891.

FOR SALE: BYTE July 1976-Iune 1981. Book Best of BYTE*\. Kilobaud September 1977-September 1981 (except October 1977. lanuary, February, and May 1978). Dr. Do&fe Journal February 1977-January 198 Mark Tait, 5395 Burford St.. San Diego. CA 9211

UNCLASSIFIED POLICY: Headers who have computer equipment to buy. sell, or trade or who are requesting or giving advice may send a notice to BYTE for inclusion in the Unclassified Ads section. To be considered for publication, an advertisement must be noncommercial and nonprofit [individuals or bona fide computer clubs), typed double-spaced, contain 60 words or less, and include name and address. This is a free service: notices are printed as space permits. Your confirmation of placement is appearance in an issue of BYTE as we engage in no correspondence. Please allow at least four months for your ad to appear. Send your notices to BYTE. Unclassified Ads. POB 372. Hancock. NH 03449.

JANUARY 1985 • BYTE 493

BOMB

BYTE's Ongoing Monitor Box

ARTICLE# PAGE ARTICLE AUTHOR(S)

1 98 Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar:

Understanding Linear Power Supplies . . . .Ciarcia

2 113 The Visual Mind and the Macintosh Benzon

3 135 A Glimpse into Future Television Nadan

4 155 Microsoft Macintosh BASIC Version 2.0 .. .Williams

5 167 The Apple Story, Part 2:

More History and the Apple III Williams,

Moore

6 183 Uninterruptible Power Supplies Rynone

7 197 An Introduction to Fiber Optics,

Part 2: Connections and Networks Shuford

8 211 Algorithms for a Variable-Precision

Calculator Nilson

9 223 Audio-Frequency Analyzer Banes

10 255 Font Design for Personal Workstations . . . .Bigelow

11 275 Expert Systems—Myth or Reality? DAmbrosio

12 290 The HP 110 Portable Computer Haas

13 305 Gifford's MP/M 8-16 Strom

14 317 Lotus's Symphony Pountain

15 329 MagicPrint Miller

16 337 The Hewlett-Packard Thinkjet Printer Haas

17 345 The Tl Omni 800/Model 855 Printer Haas

18 363 Computing at Chaos Manor:

The Fast Lane Pournelle

19 401 BYTE U.K.: The Amstrad CPC 464 Pountain

20 415 BYTE West Coast: Light Touches Markoff,

Robinson

21 429 BYTE Japan: The New and the Old Raike

PC AT Preview Wins

The product description of "The IBM PC AT," compiled by BYTE staff members Rich Malloy, G. Michael Vose, Tom Clune, and George Bond, is the winning article in the October BYTE. Steve Ciarcia's "An Ultrasonic Ranging System" wins second-place mention. Computing at Chaos Manor encountered only "Minor Problems" this month and wins Jerry Pournelle third place. "Database Types" by Rich Krajewski is fourth. And fifth in the winning lineup is "Generating and Testing Pseudorandom Numbers" written by Charles A. Whitney. Mr. Whitney is also the winner of the firstplace award of $100, for his was the first non-staff-written article that placed in the top five. Therefore, the winner of the second-place award of $50 is actually sixth in the lineup: Edward A. Rothchild. author of "Optical Memory: Data Storage by Laser." Congratulations, gentlemen.

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF:

J. Peter Huestis, Advertising Sales Manager, 70 Main Street, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281

NEW ENGLAND

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ME. NH. VT, MA, Rl

NC. SC. GA. FL. AL. TN

UT, CO, WY, OK, TX. AR. MS. LA

Hi. WA. OR. ID. MT. NORTHERN CA.

Paul McPherson \r. 16171 262-1160

Maggie M. Dorvee (404) 252-0626

Dennis Riley (214) 4 58-2400

NV (except LAS VEGAS). W. CANADA

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

David lern (41 5) 362-4600

575 Boylston Street

4170 Ashford-Dunwoody Road

Prestonwood Tower—Suite 907

McGraw-Hill Publications

Boston. MA 02116

Suite 420

5151 Beltline

425 Battery Street

Atlanta, GA 30319

Dallas. TX 75240

San Francisco. CA 94 111

ATLANTIC

NY. NYC. CT

MIDWEST

SOUTH PACIFIC

Bill McAfee (415) 964-0624

Dick McCurk (2121 512-3588

IL, MO. KS. IA. ND. SD. MN, Wl. NB

SOUTHERN CA. AZ. NM. LAS VEGAS

McGraw-Hill Publications

Leah Goldman (212) 512-2096

Bob Denmead (3121 751-3740

lack Anderson 1714) 557-6292

1000 Elwell Court-Suite 225

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

Palo Alto. CA 94303

1221 Avenue of the Americas—

Blair Building

3001 Red Hill Ave.

39th Floor

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Building #1—Suite 222

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Chicago. IL 60611

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AND RETAIL ACCOUNTS

Tom Harvey 1805) 964-8577

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3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407

Daniel Ferro (215) 496-3833

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Los Angeles. CA 90010

Post Card Mailings

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

National

Three Parkway

4000 Town Center-Suite 770

Bradley Browne (603) 924-6166

Philadelphia, PA 19102

Southfield. Ml 48075

BYTE Publications 70 Main Street Peterborough. NH 03458

International Advertising Sales Representatives:

Mr. Hans Csokor

Mrs. Maria Sarmiento

Mr. Arthur Scheffer

Seavex Ltd.

Publimedia

Pedro Teixelra 8, Off. 320

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

503 Wilson House

Reisnerstrasse 61

Iberia Mart 1

34 Dover St.

19-27 Wyndham St.

A-103 7 Vienna, Austria

Madrid 4, Spain

London WIX 3RA

Central. Hong Kong

45 52 891

England 01 493 1451

Tel: 5-260149

Mrs. Gurit Gepner

Telex: 60904 SEVEX HX

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Mr. Andrew Kamig

Mr. Savio Pesavento

PO Box 2156

Andrew Kamig & Associates'

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Hiro Morita

Bat Yam. 59121 Israel

Finnbodavagen

Via Flavio Baracchini 1

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

866 561 321 39

S-I3I 31 Nacka. Sweden

20123 Milan. Italy

Overseas Corp.

46-8-44 0005

86 90 656

Room 1528

Mr. Fritz Krusebecker

Kasumigaseki Bldg.

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Mr. lean Christian Acis

Seavex Ltd.

3-2-5 Kasumigaseki,

Liebigstrasse 19

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

400 Orchard Road. #10-01

Chiyoda-Ku

D-6000 Frankfurt/Main 1

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Singapore 0923

Tokyo 100. lapan

West Germany

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Republic of Singapore

581 9811

72 01 81

France

Tel: 734-9790

720 33 42

Telex: RS35539 SEAVEX

494 BYTE • IANUARY 1985

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

1 1st PLACE SYSTEMS 240

2 800 SOFTWARE 134

3 A ST. RESEARCH 19

4 A.S.T. RESEARCH 19

5 AB COMPUTERS 254

6 ABC DATA PRODUCTS 408

7 ACL INC 158

8 ADDMASTER CORP. 322

9 ADV. COMP. PROD 463

10 ADV. COMPUTER SYS 421

11 ADV. SYS. CONCEPTS 92

12 ADVANCED MEMORIES 369

13 ALF PRODUCTS. INC 396

14 ALL ELECTRONICS CORP. 67

15 ALLOY COMP. PROD 152,153

16 AMARAY CORP. 175

17 AMBER SYSTEMS 46. 47

18 AMBER SYSTEMS 277

20 AMPERE INC 283

21 AMPRO COMPUTERS INC 436

23 ANCHOR AUTOMATION 374

24 ANTEX DATA SYS 237

• APPLE COMPUTER INC Cll. 1

388 APPLIED I 486

25 APPLIED COMPUTER PROD. ... 208

26 APPLIED COMPUTER PROD. ... 209

27 APPLIED SOFTWARE TECH 93

28 APROPOS TECHNOLOGY 460

29 ARCTEC SYSTEMS 18

30 ARTIFICIAL INTL. RESEARCH . 351

31 ARTISOFT 76

32 ARTISOFT 76

33 ASHTONTATE 398, 399

34 AVERY LABEL 130

35 AVERY LABEL 130

36 AVIS RENT-A-CAR SYSTEMS ... 395

37 AVOCET 368

38 B&B ELECTRONICS 388

• B&C MICROSYSTEMS 467

400 BASF SYSTEMS 281

39 BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC 23

40 BINARY TECHNOLOGY 482

41 BLAISE COMPUTING INC 262

• BORLAND INTL 28, 29

42 BORLAND INTL 41

43 BOTTOM LINE. THE 141

• BYTE PUBL. INC 412

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 403

• BYTE SUBSCRIBER NOTICE. .. .439

• BYTE SUBSCRIBER SERVICE. . .268

• BYTE SUBSCRIBER SERVICE ... 439

44 BYTEK COMP. SYS. CORP. 178

• C WARE/DESMET C 173

• C-SYSTEMS 340

47 C.S.D. INC 431

• CALIF DIGITAL 448, 449

• CALIF. MICRO COMP 340

50 CANDELARIA WORKS 324

51 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP. .219 408 CDR 471

52 CHIPSOFT. INC 356

53 CHORUS DATA SYSTEMS 154

54 CHRISLIN IND INC 222

55 CITIZEN AMERICA 326, 327

56 CIVIL COMPUTING CORP. 404

57 CLINICAL MICROSYSTEMS INC. 408

58 CMA MICRO COMP. DIV. 94

401 COGITATE 403

59 COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYS. . 454

60 COMMUNICATION CABLE CO. . 382

61 COMP COMPNTS. UNLTD. 480, 481

• COMPAQ COMPUTER CORR264, 265

62 COMPETITIVE EDGE 86

64 COMPUCART 202

66 COMPUMAIL 483

67 COMPUPRO 191

68 COMPUSERVE 11

69 COMPUTER AFFAIRS INC 382

70 COMPUTER BROKERAGE SERV. . 50

71 COMPUTER CHANNEL 220

• COMPUTER CHRONICLES 16

• COMPUTER CHRONICLES 424

72 COMPUTER CONNECTION INC. . 461

73 COMPUTER DISCOUNT PROD. . 453

Inquiry No.

Page No.

74 COMPUTER EDITYPE SYS 246

75 COMPUTER EXPO INC 322

76 COMPUTER MAIL ORDER . 132, 133

77 COMPUTER NOVELTY CORP. . . 382

78 COMPUTER PARTS MERCHANT . 458

79 COMPUTER SWAP SHOP 340

• COMPUTER WAREHOUSE 157

80 COMPUTERBANC 60

81 COMPUTERLANE 351

82 COMPUTERS AND MORE 181

83 COMPUTERS FOR LESS 74

84 CONROY-LAPOINTE 228, 229

85 CONROY-LAPOINTE 228, 229

86 CONROY-LAPOINTE 228, 229

88 CORVUS SYS INC 299

89 COSMOS 316

90 CROMEMCO 5

91 CUESTA SYSTEMS 373

92 CUSTOM COMP TECH 450

93 CUSTOM COMP. TECH 451

94 CYMA CORPORATION 205

95 CYMA CORPORATION 205

96 DATA ELECTRONICS INC 323

97 DATA ELECTRONICS INC 323

99 DATA EXCHANGE 471

98 DATA EXCHANGE 486

376 DATA GENERAL CORP. 20, 21

101 DATA SPEC 76

102 DATA SPEC 76

103 DATA TRANSLATION INC 84

104 DATASOUTH COMP. CORP. ... 210

105 DIGI DATA CORP. 38

106 DIGITAL ELECT. SYS 242

107 DIGITAL PRODUCTS INC 171

• DIGITAL RESEARCH COMP 78

108 DIGITALK 405

109 DIRECT-CONNECT DEVICES ... 462

110 DISCOUNT COMPUTER 148

• DISCOUNT COMPUTER CENTERS 179

87 DISK JOCKEY 388

111 DISKETTE CONNECTION 437

112 DISKS PLUS , 404

113 DISKWORLD INC 457

114 DISPLAY TELECOMMNCTNS484, 485

115 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS. . 482

116 DOKAY COMP. FfcOD. INC.. 468, 469

117 DOKAY COMP. PROD INC 470

118 DOW IONES SOFTWARE 200

119 DOW IONES SOFTWARE 201

120 DOW IONES SOFTWARE 259

121 DWIGHT CO.. INC 460

122 DYSAN CORP 71

• ECONOMY SOFTWARE 354

123 EDUCATIONAL MICROCOMP. . . 351

• ELLIS COMPUTING INC 77

' EMPIRICAL RESEARCH GROUP . 217

• ENCHANTED FOREST 408

126 ENFIN RESOURCES. INC 170

128 ERICSSON COMPUTER CO . 56. 57

130 EXPOTEK 260

131 EXPRESS BUSINESS SOFTWARE 203

132 EXSEL INC 467

133 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING .... 402

134 FORTRON. INC 452

135 FORTRON, INC 452

136 FOX & GELLER INC 216

137 FOX SOFTWARE INC 467

138 FRIENDLY COMPUTER 90

139 FUI1TSU AMERICA 248

140 FUIITSU AMERICA 249

141 GENERAL DATACOMM . 284. 285

143 GENERAL DATACOMM 471

144 GENERAL MICROSYSTEMS .... 471

Inquiry No.

Page No.

145 GENERAL TECHNOLOGY 245

146 GENESIS MICROSYSTEMS 119

147 GENICOM 79

148 G1FFORDCOMRSYS/ZITELCORR352

149 GILTRONIX, INC 486

150 GOLD HILL COMPUTERS 112

151 GOLDEN BOW SYSTEMS 462

152 GREAT SALT LAKE COMP. .... 456

153 CTEK INC 70

154 H&E COMPUTRONICS 215

155 HADAX ELECTRONICS 356

387 HALLOCK SYS 180

156 HAMMER COMPUTER SYSTEMS 482

157 HANDWELL CORP. 459

158 HARMONY VIDEO & COMP. .... 74

159 HARMONY VIDEO & COMP. .. .436

160 HERCULES COMPUTER TECH. . . 25

161 HEWLETT-PACKARD 390, 391

389 HEWLETT-PACKARD 35

162 HOFFMAN INTL 482

163 HOOLEON COMPANY 189

164 HOUSTON INSTR/BAUSCH&LOMB271

• HYPERON SOFTWARE 482

165 IBM - |ISG) SERVICES 304

166 IBM CORP. 109, 110, 111

168 IBM CORP. 334, 335

410 ILLUMINATED TECH 16

• INDEPENDENT BUSINESS SYS.. 266

169 INFOCOM 36, 37

170 INMAC 171

171 INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE. .422, 423

172 INOVION CORP. 160

173 INTEGRAND 417

174 INTELLIGENT DATA SYS. INC.... 53

175 INTERACTIVE STRUCTURES .... 26

177 INTERACTIVE STRUCTURES .... 66

176 INTERACTIVE STRUCTURES .... 85

178 INTERFACE. INC 145

179 INTERFACE. INC 145

180 INTERFACE TECH. CORP.. .410, 411

181 INTERTEC DATA SYS 15

182 IOMEGA 193

403 ITT INFORMATION SYSTEMS . . 163

404 ITT INFORMATION SYSTEMS . . 163

185 IADE COMP. PROD 464, 465

186 IADE COMP. PROD 466

187 IAMECO ELECTRONICS . . 252, 253

381 IDR MICRODEVICES INC 487

382 |DR MICRODEVICES INC 488

383 IDR MICRODEVICES INC 489

384 IDR MICRODEVICES INC 490

385 IDR MICRODEVICES INC 491

386 IDR MICRODEVICES INC 492

191 KADAK PRODUCTS 460

192 KAMERMAN LABS 383

193 KASCO SYSTEMS 482

194 KENSINGTON MICROWARE 58

195 KEYWORD OFFICE TECH 257

22 KIMTRON 288

196 LA PLATA RESEARCH 324

197 LABORATORY MICROSYS 18

198 LATTICE, INC 162

199 LEADING EDGE PROD 49

200 LEADING EDGE PROD 355

201 LEVEL 5 RESEARCH 467

202 LINDE TECHNOLOGY INC 407

203 LINTEK INC 471

204 LIONHEART PRESS 356

205 LIVING VIDEOTEX 328

206 LOGICAL DEVICES 32

207 LOGICAL DEVICES 467

208 LOGITECH INC 269

209 LOMAS DATA PRODUCTS 366

TO GET FURTHER information on the products advertised in BYTE, either pick up your touch-tone telephone and use AIMS or fill out the reader service card. Either way full instructions are provided following this reader service index which is provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no liability for errors or omissions. 'Correspond directly with company.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

210 LYBEN COMP. SYS 460

211 LYCO COMPUTER 387

• MACMILLAN BOOK CLUBS 272, 273

214 MAGNUM PC 270

215 MANX SOFTWARE SYS 54

216 MANX SOFTWARE SYS 55

217 MARK WILLIAMS CO 75

218 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 467

219 MASTERBYTE COMP. OF N.Y. . . 403

220 MAXELL DATA PRODUCTS 51

221 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 64

• MCGRAW-HILL CES 321

405 MEGATEL 268

224 MERRITT COMP. PRODUCTS 460 407 META SYSTEM INC 486

225 MFI ENTERPRISES INC 235

226 MICRO AGE COMP. STORES INC. 251

228 MICRO DATA BASE SYS 243

227 MICRO DATA BASE SYS . . 358, 359

229 MICRO DESIGN INTL 207

230 MICRO MART. INC 72. 73

231 MICRO PRODUCTS, INC 447

232 MICRO TASK 86

233 MICROCOMPUTER ACCESSORIES313

234 MICROMINT INC 406

235 MICROPRO INTL 12. 13

236 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD.... 460

• MICRORIM INC 121

237 M1CROSHOP 455

238 MICROSHOP 455

• MICROSOFT CORP. 225

• MICROSOFT CORP. 302, 303

239 MICROTIME 4

240 MICROWAY 147

49 MICTRO 439

241 MIDWEST MICRO-PERIPHERALS. 108

242 MIMIC SYSTEMS INC 231

• MINORITY INDUSTRIES 34

243 MITCHELL MANAGEMENT SYS. 236

• MODTECH INTERNATIONAL ... 360

244 MODULA SYS. CORP. 30

245 MOTEL COMPUTERS LTD 467

246 MOUNTAIN VIEW PRESS 261

247 MTI SYSTEMS CORP. 52

248 MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 24

249 N.B.S 67

250 NATL. PUBLIC DOMAIN SFTW. . 486

251 NATIONAL COMPUTER GRAPHIC166

252 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 161

• NAVAL UNDERWATER SYS CTR 392 409 NCDA 471

254 NEC HOME ELECTR. USA 129

255 NEC INFORMATION SYS CM

256 NETWORX INC 263

257 NEW STAR SOFTWARE 94

258 NIBBLE NOTCH COMP. PROD. ... 91

259 NICOLET PARATRONICS 52

261 NORTH HILLS CORP. 467

260 NORTH HILLS CORP. 482

• NR] SCHOOLS ELECTR. DIV 385

262 OPEN SYSTEMS/UCCEL 17

263 ORCHID TECHNOLOGY 233

265 ORION INSTRUMENTS 416

378 ORYX SYSTEMS 432,433

379 ORYX SYSTEMS 432,433

380 ORYX SYSTEMS 432, 433

267 PC. HORIZONS 482

268 PACIFIC EXCHANGES

322, 351, 460, 462

269 PANASONIC 213

270 PANASONIC SENIOR PARTNER. 131

271 PARAGON COURSEWARE 404

272 PC NETWORK 164. 165

273 PC PIPELINE 486

274 PE SYSTEMS 92

402 PERKIN-ELMER 239

275 PERITEK CORP. 149

377 PERSOFT INC 82

276 PIPELINE COMPUTER .... 472, 473

277 POCKET TECHNOLOGY 347

• POLAROID CORP. 88

279 POLAROID CORP. 89

280 PRIME FINANCIAL ANALYSIS. .258

281 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYS . . 80, 81

IANUARY 1985 'BYTE 495

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

282 PRIORITY ONE 362

283 PROGRAMMERS SHOP 364

284 PROGRESSIVE MICRO DISTR.478. 479

285 PROMETHEUS PRODUCTS 333

286 PROMETHEUS PRODUCTS 199

287 PROTECTO ENTERPR 194, 195

289 PURPLE COMPUTING 462

290 QIC RESEARCH 336

291 QUARK INCORPORATED 127

292 QUBIE DISTRIBUTING 159

293 QUBIE DISTRIBUTING 247

294 QUELO 462

295 QUESTIONAIRE SERVICE CO.. . 486 • RACAL-VADIC 378, 379

296 RADIO SHACK CIV

297 RAIMA CORP 162

298 RAINBOW TECH INC 351

299 RCA 69

301 RELAX TECHNOLOGY 221

302 RICKERDATA 189

303 ROGERS LABS 30

304 ROGERS LABS 30

305 ROLAND CORP. 375

306 S. C DIGITAL 388

307 S-100 DIV. 696 CORP. .... 476, 477

308 S-100 DIV. 696 CORP. .... 476, 477

309 SAB-LINK. INC 471

310 SAFEWARE 351

311 SATELLITE SOFTWARE 7

Inquiry No.

Page No.

312 SAV-ON COMPUTERS 474. 475

390 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH 434

• SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 95

313 SEEQUA COMR CORP. 8

314 SEMIDISK SYSTEMS 341

315 SHAPE MAGNETRONICS 310

316 SHARP ELECTRONICS 123

317 SHEPHERD MARKETING 382

• SILICON SPECIALTIES 384

• SILVER FOX 267

318 SLICER COMPUTERS 174

• SOFTCRAFT 381

• SOFTLINE CORP. 87

322 SOFTWARE SERVICES 382

323 SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INC.342, 343

324 SOLUTIONWARE CORP. 471

325 SOURCE TELECOMP. CORP. 117

327 SPEAR SECURITIES 371

328 SPECTRUM SOFTWARE 115

329 STANDARD MICROSYS. CORP.. . 143

330 STARBUCK DATA CO 460

331 STRAWBERRY TREE COMP. 372

332 STRIDE MICRO 150

333 STRIDE MICRO 151

336 SUMMIT SOFTWARE TECHN. INC.380 406 SUNNY INTL 454

337 SUNTRONICS CO. INC 452

338 SUPER COMPUTER INC 344

339 SUPERSOFT 274

Inquiry No.

Page No.

342 343

344 345 346 347 411 348 349

350 127

351 352 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363

SYNALTA SYSTEMS 486

SYSGEN INC 241

SYSTAT INC 125

SYSTEMS MANAGMNT. ASSOC. . 139

SYSTEMS STRATEGIES 90

TALLGRASS TECH 62, 63

TAPE WORLD 382

TATUM LABS 462

TDI SYSTEMS. INC 370

TEKTRONIX INC 377

TELEBYTE TECHNOLOGY INC. . 437 TELETEK ENTERPRISES. INC. ... 43

TELEVIDEO SYSTEMS 325

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 389

THREE M COMPANY 314, 315

TIGERTRONICS 467

TINNEY. ROBERT GRAPHICS. ..357

TOSHIBA AMERICA INC 279

TRANSTECTOR SYSTEMS INC. . 297

U.S. ROBOTICS 176. 177

UNIFIED SOFTWARE SYS 482

UNISOURCE 61

UNIVERSAL DATA SYS 45

UNLIMITED PERIPHERALS 486

UNLIMITED PROCESSING INC. .400

VAULT CORP 169

VEN-TEL INC 311

VIA WEST 282

VICTORY ENT. TECHNOLOGY ... 68

Inquiry No.

Page No.

364 VIDEO DYNAMICS INC 471

365 VIDEX 27

• VLM COMPUTER ELECTR 324

366 VOTRAX. INC 196

367 WADSWORTH PROF. SFTW 182

368 WALLING COMPANY 462

• WAREHOUSE DATA PRODUCTS 365

369 WESTERN AUTOMATION LABS. 130

370 WESTERN VIDEO 419

371 WINTEK CORP 409

372 WINTEK CORP. 460

373 WORKMAN 6 ASSOCIATES. .. .462

374 Z-SOFT 31

375 ZSTEM COMMUNICATIONS DIV.462

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NO OTHER LETTER-QUALITY PRINTER CAN TOUCH OUR NEW SPINWRITER FOR SPEED AND EASEOF-USE.

Introducing the Spinwriter 8850.

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THE 8850 JOINS THE

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Inquiry 255

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