Byte Magazine Volume 09 Number 08 - Modula-2

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Announcing a small imj

It'sl2"xllV4"x2iA"It weighs less than 8 pounds*And costs less than $1,300**Yet with 128K, the new Apple® lie Per-sonal Computer is a lot bigger than it looks.

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c

Because it's inherited all the talentsof the eminently talented Apple He:

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You can grow itwith a whole family ofApple II accessories and peripherals.

rovement on the Apple lie

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first full-color print-on-anything printer And the Apple He is still the mostfor under $300, it can handle anything expandable personal computer there is.

from business graphics to term papers.

The He's father, of course, is thegranddaddy of the whole personal com-puter industry, the Apple He. Which, lestwe forget, has quite a few improvementsof its own this year.

Hie He can now use our ProFile™hard disk— so it can store about 2400

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You can pay more if youreallywant to. Orless© 1^ Apple Computer, Inc. AjpleJlx fypk hgo and IMihVe are tradimtrfa oftyple Computer. Inc. OFor an authorized .typle dealer nearest yon, call (800) 538-9696. In Canada, call (800) 268-7796 or (800) 268-7637.

CONTENTS

FEATURES

Introduction 119

Framework by Rife ladrnicek. ]ohn Markoff, and Ezra Shapiro 121

A team of BYTE editors previews an integrated software package that combines familiarfeatures within a novel structure.

The 65816 Microprocessor, Part 1: Software by Steven P. Hendrix 125

This two-part series begins with a look at software considerations for an 8-/16-bitsuccessor to the 6502. ,

Garcia s Circuit Cellar: Circuit Cellar Feedback by Steve Garcia 129

Steve takes a break from hardware design to answer project-related queriesfrom readers.

Benchmarking UNIX Systems by David F. Hinnant 132

Several microcomputer UNIX implementations are compared to minicomputerversions of the operating system.

FORTH-83: Evolution Continues by C. Kevin McCabe 137

A new standard corrects some problems, but FORTH is still a language in flux.

THEME: MODULA-2

Introduction 143

History and Goals of Modula-2 by Niklaus Wirtfi 145

The creator of Pascal and Modula-2 writes on the module's coming of age.

Tutorial on Modula-2 by )urg Gutknecht 157

The concept of autonomous modules is fundamental to this structuredprogramming language.

Lilith and Modula-2 by Richard Ohran 181

The director of the Modula Research Institute offers a case studyof high-level-language processor design.

An Introduction to Modula-2 by Robert ]. Paul 195

An exploration of the differences in control structure, expressions, and generalsyntax between Modula-2 and Pascal puts the new language in perspective. .

Pascal, Ada, and Modula-2 by David Coar 215

A system programmer compares the three languages.

REVIEWS

Reviewer s Notebook 237

The Macintosh by Bruce F. Webster 238

Apple's new system, while not perfect, comes a long way toward achieving its designgoals of being nonthreatening, quickly learned, easy to use, and fun.

The IBM PCjr by Rowland Archer Jr. 254

First impressions are favorable, but a closer look reveals some problems.

The Sanyo MBC-550 by Bill Sudbrink 270

This inexpensive MS-DOS system is IBM compatible.

BYTE is published monthly with an additional issue in August and October by McGraw-Hill Inc. Founder: lames H. McGraw (1860-1948) Executive,editorial, circulation, and advertising offices: 70 Main St.. Peterborough, NH 034 58. phone (603) 924-9281, Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:30 AM — 4:30PM. Friday 8:30 AM — 1:00 PM. Eastern Time. Address subscriptions to BYTE Subscriptions. POB 590, Martinsville. N| 08836 Postmaster: send addresschanges, USPS Form 3 579. undeiiverable copies, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions. POB 596, Martinsville, N) 08836 Second-class postagepaid at Peterborough. NH 03458 and additional mailing offices. USPS Publication No. 528890 (ISSN 0360-52801 Postage paid at Winnipeg. ManitobaRegistration number 9321 Subscriptions are $21 for one year. S38 for two years, and S55 for three years in the USA and its possessions. In Canadaand Mexico, S23 for one year, $42 for two years. S61 for three years $69 for one year air delivery to Europe 17,100 yen for one year surface deliveryto lapan. $37 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon request Single copy price is $3.50 in the USA and itspossessions, $4,25 in Canada and Mexico. $4 50 in Europe, and $5 elsewhere Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remitted in United States fundsdrawn on a U.S. bank Please allow six to eight weeks for delivery of first issue. Printed in the United States of America.

BYTE • AUGUST 1984

COVER PAINTING BY ROBERT TINNEY

VOLUME 9. NUMBER 8. 1984

Four Logos for the IBM PC by Mark Bridger 287

Several new Logo packages offer turtle graphics of varying qualityon the IBM Personal Computer.

The Juki 6100 Printer by G. Michael Vose 305

luki Industries' fully formed character printer isn't fast, but it's inexpensive.

Review Feedback 308

Readers respond to previous reviews.

KERNEL

Introduction 311

Computing at Chaos Manor: Between Conventions by }erry Pournelle 313

In a hectic schedule, lerry finds time for a Mac attack and more colorfulcommentary on the computing scene.

Chaos Manor Mail 334

lerry s readers write, and he replies.

BYTE Japan: Pasocom Pagodas by William M. Raike 339

Our man in Tokyo comments on a software shortage, the Sharp MZ-5500.the Fujitsu FM-11. and more.

BYTE West Coast: Macintosh's Other Designers

by ]ofin Markoff and Ezra Shapiro 347

Three original designers discuss the earliest days.

BYTE U.K.: Microprocessor Design by Dick Pountain 361

BYTE's British correspondent looks at the Transputer and its special language. Occam.

Editorial: What Makes Personal Computers Special? 6

M1CROBYTES 9

Letters 14

Fixes and Updates 33

Whats New 44, 431

Ask BYTE 54

Clubs and Newsletters 67

Book Reviews 73

Event Queue 94

Books Received 424

Technical Forum 428

Unclassified Ads 477

BYTE's Ongoing Monitor Box. BOMB Results 478

Reader Service 479

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

Copyright © 1984 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 ICCQ to photocopy any articleherein 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 CongressSt. Salem. MA 01970 Specify ISSN 0360-5280/83. SI 50 Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permissionof McGraw-Hill Inc 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 EnglandSubscription questions or problems should be addressed to: BYTE Subscriber Service. POB 328. Hancock. NH 03449

SECTION ART BY IVAN POWELL

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 3

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editor in chief

Philip Lemmonsmanaging editor

Gene Smarteconsulting editors

Steve Garcia

Jerry Pournelle

senior technical editors

Richard Malloy, Revieies

G. Michael Vose. Features

Gregg Williams

technical editors

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WEST COAST EDITORS

Ezra Shapiro. Bureau Chief, San FranciscoIohn Markofe Senior Technical Editor. Palo AltoDonna Osgood. Associate Editor. San Franciscomanaging editor. user newsGeorge Bonduser news editorsAnthony I. Lockwood. Wnat's UewMark Welch. Mkwbutes

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Dennis Allison, at large

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Rik Iadrnicek. CAD. graphics, spreadsheets

Mark Klein, communications

Alan Miller, languages and engineering

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Robert Sterne, computers and law

Bruce Webster, software

Richard Willis, at large

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Editorial and Business Office: 70 Main Street. Peterborough. New Hampshire 03458. (603) 924-928IWest Coast Offices: McGraw-Hill. 425 Battery St. San Francisco. CA 94MI. |4I5| 362-4600

McGraw-Hill, lOOO Elwell Court. Palo Alto. CA 94303, |4l5| 964-0624■r f ,j| Officers of McGraw-Hill Publications Company: President: Iohn G. Wrede. Executive Vice Presidents: Paul P. McPherson, Operations: Walterf'.llffl D Serwatka. Finance & Services. Senior Vice President-Editorial: Ralph R. Schulz. Senior Vice President Publishers: Harry L. Brown. DavidI'M | , Mi urath. lames R. Pierce. Gene W. Simpson Iohn I Slater Vice President Publishers Chariton H Calhoun III. Richard H Larsen. Iohn W■ ■NIB patten. Vice Presidents: Kemp Anderson, Business Systems Development: She! F. Asen. Manufacturing: John A. Bunyan, Electronic InformationServices: George R Elsinger. Circulation. Michael K. Hehir. Controller: Eric B. Herr. Planning and Development: H. Iohn Sweger. Jr. Marketing. VirginiaL Williamson. Business Development.

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Justtellus what vouneed.

68000-based systemsto fit your

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Right from the pages of ourcatalog, we can deliver 68000-basedsupermicro systems to match virtu-ally any application.

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Built on the IEEE-696 (S-100)bus, Cromemco systems offer up to21 board slots. And a family of 35boards — CPU, memory and special-ized I/O—to fill the slots any wayyou choose.

At the heart of each system is our68000/Z-80 dual processor. Backed byas much as 16 Mb of error-correctingRAM. Full multi-tasking capability.I/O to handle up to 16 terminals.

And thaf s just the beginning.

You can select single or dualfloppies, 5Y4" or 8." A 50 Mb 5tf"Winchester hard disk. And a nine-track tape drive.

We can accommodate yourtaste for the exotic, too. With boardslike our SMD interface that sup-ports up to 1200 Mb of disk storage.A fast floating-point processor. Acolor graphics interface. A TV cameradigitizer. An IEEE-488 bus interface.Communications. And more.

Then, if you're designing a dis-tributed processing system, you'llwant to take a look at our C-10 per-sonal computer. The Z-80-based C-10can serve our 68000-based systems

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CROMIX can execute both68000- and Z-80-based programs. Soright along with your 68000 -basedpackages, your system will accommo-date a wide selection of CP/M® soft-ware written for the Z-80.

And our high-level languagesupport is second to none. From a68000 Macro Assembler. To 68000FORTRAN 77, PASCAL, GSA-certi-fied high-level COBOL, C and BASIC.

You see, when we say, "Just tellus what you need" we're not kidding.

You won't find another family of68000-based microcomputers thatcan fit your needs as exactly as ours.

So if you're in the business ofproviding specialized computing solu-tions, you really should be doingbusiness with Cromemco.

For a copy of our SystemsCatalog, contact: Cromemco, Inc.,280 Bernardo Avenue, P.O. Box 7400,Mountain View, CA 94039.(415)964-7400.

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'Cromemco and CROMIX are registered trademarks of Cromemco,Inc. "UNIX is a trademark of Bell Laboratories. *CP/M is a registeredtrademark of Digital Research. ©1983, Cromemco, Inc.

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■miBE

I

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EDITORIAL

What Makes PersonalComputers Special?

People sometimes ask me why there'sso much fuss about personal com-puters. Now that there are millions ofthem in the hands of ordinary people,personal computers are, in a sense,commonplace. Even enthusiasts mayforget that personal computers are veryspecial indeed. We would enjoy themeven if they lacked practical applicationsand never overcame the digital indif-ference so often characterized as un-friendliness. To put personal computersin perspective, we should comparethem with such earlier cultural water-sheds as the printing press, the in-dustrial Revolution, and the automobile.Because it made the production ofbooks far more efficient, the printingpress made it possible for more peopleto learn more than ever before. Butwhile the printing press gave creativework a wider audience and eliminatedthe drudgery of scribes, Gutenberg's

technology did not directly enhance thecreativity of the people who wrotebooks.

The Industrial Revolution made theproduction of goods far more efficientthan ever before. The efficiencies ofmass production made possible the ac-cumulation of great wealth. Unfor-tunately, mass production also broughtabout cultural impoverishment of manyworkers. The assembly line deprivedworkers of the creativity that belongedto craftsmen—the stamp of individuali-ty that went with good handwork. TheEncyclopaedia Britannka puts it this way:".. .the discipline of the factory (adiscipline often imposed by strangers),the remorseless monotony of many ofthe tasks, and the physical hazard anddiscomfort of some of the new pro-cesses took a heavy toll." Few woulddeny that the Industrial Revolution was,on balance, a good thing. But it did ex-act a great human price.

The automobile changed society forall time by broadening the experience

of millions of people. The ability totravel quickly and widely enabled peo-ple to see more of the world and tojudge it for themselves. The auto-mobile's influence resembled that of theprinting press; while widespread bookpublishing extended knowledge, themass production of automobiles ex-tended experience. With broadened ex-perience came wider choice in placeand type of work. But the automobiledid not directly enhance creativity;furthermore, the automobile was pro-duced by the dehumanizing assembly-line methods introduced by the In-dustrial Revolution.

The personal computer disseminatesknowledge, as the printing press did; in-creases productivity, as the IndustrialRevolution did; and broadens ex-perience, as the automobile did. Inmany applications, personal computersalso reduce drudgery such as needlessretyping and recalculation.

What sets personal computers apart,however, is their ability to enhance thecreativity of the individual. They havejustly been called "mind appliances"and "thought amplifiers." They can helpus manipulate information and ideaswith remarkable freedom. Rather thanforcing us all to work alike under thesupervision of strangers, personal com-puters will let us develop our ownunique ways of working. Rather than re-quiring personal sacrifices to achievegreater social goals, personal com-puters will contribute to the achieve-ment of social goals by enriching thelives of individual persons. Programslike Bill Budge's Pinball Construction Set,Bill Atkinson's MacPaint, and WarrenRobinett's Rocky's Boots offer glimpsesof things to come.

Will personal computers make us allgeniuses or saints? No. But they willhelp us make the most of ourselves.That is ample reason for regarding per-sonal computers as far more than justanother major consumer item.

—Phil Lemmons, Editor in Chief

BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

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That'll fool the "lurkers;' those CB"see it alls" who get their kicksby watching. Or you can always usethe private talk mode for guaranteedone-to-one conversation.

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MICROBYTES

Staff-written highlights of late developments in the microcomputer industry

AT&T Unveils Microcomputer

AT&T Information Systems introduced its long-expected IBM-compatible microcomputer inlate June. The AT&T PC 6300, made by Olivetti, includes an 8-MHz 8086 processor, 640 by400 color graphics, 128K bytes of RAM, serial and parallel ports, two 360K-byte floppy-diskdrives, a clock/calendar, MS-DOS 2.11, and seven additional expansion slots for $2810. A10-megabyte hard-disk version is $4985. AT&T also announced that its 3B2 and 3B5 seriesof UNIX computers would be available through retail channels and introduced many pro-grams that run on the machines under UNIX System V. The AT&T PC does not use UNIX.AT&T also announced dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers.

AT&T also introduced the Information Systems Network, a local-area network designed tolink from 200 to 1920 computers. ISN uses standard twisted-pair wiring and transfers infor-mation at a speed of 8.64 megabits per second, using a proprietary "perfect scheduling"system. It costs from $400 to $500 per node. AT&T said it will announce a smaller networklater this year.

Morrow and Visual Add UNIX-Based Multiuser Systems

Morrow, which last month introduced an IBM PC-compatible portable computer, has nowunveiled Tricep, a 68000-based multiuser S-100 bus computer that uses the UNIX System Voperating system. Morrow's new machine includes 512K bytes of RAM, a 16-megabyte hard-disk drive, one floppy-disk drive, and a four-user capacity for a base price of $9000. Thesystem can be expanded to include up to 2 megabytes of RAM, four 34-megabyte harddisks, four floppy disks, and eight users.

Visual Technology Inc. was expected to unveil an 80286-based multiuser system that usesthe XENIX operating system. With 512K bytes of RAM, a 19-megabyte hard-disk drive, astreaming tape drive, and ports for six users (expandable to 16), the system will be pricedin the $10,000 to $15,000 range. Visual hopes to sell the system both through retail chan-nels and to other manufacturers.

Polebrook Computer Systems, Peterborough, England, says it has completed developmentof a 68000-based UNIX system that it says will retail for about $2750 with a 10-megabytehard-disk drive and 256K bytes of RAM. Polebrook is seeking a company to market thesystem both in the U.K. and the U.S.

IBM Speculation

IBM attended the June meeting of Committee SC-I56 of the Radio Technical Commission forAeronautics, which is studying potential hazards to airplanes by portable computers. Thishas fueled speculation that a battery-powered IBM portable may be in the works. SC-156will meet again September 18-19.

Epson Brings PX-8 Notebook Computer to U.S.

Epson America Inc., Torrance, CA, announced the Geneva PX-8, the notebook computer itsparent company showed at the Hannover Fair in West Germany earlier this year. The PX-8includes an 8-line by 80-character LCD, microcassette tape drive, a Z80-compatiblemicroprocessor, and the CP/M 2.2 operating system. MicroPro's ROM-based Portable Word-Star, Portable Calc, and Portable Scheduler are bundled with the PX-8, which will retail for$995. An optional battery-powered 3'/2-inch disk drive will be available for $599. Epson willalso offer a 300-bps modem, a printer, and 64K- and I28K-byte memory-expansion units.

Tektronix Announces Color Ink-jet Printer

Tektronix introduced the 4692 Color Graphics Copier, a color ink-jet printer with a resolu-tion of 154 dots per inch. The 4692 can be used with Tektronix color-display terminals orwith the 4510 Color Graphics Rasterizer, which uses an RS-232C interface to link to othercomputers. The 4692 Copier will be available in October for $5995; the 4510 Rasterizer willbe priced from $4495 to $9995, depending on memory.

{continued)AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 9

MICROBYTES

Uniform Software to Run PC-DOS Software Under UNIX

Uniform Software Systems Inc.. Santa Barbara, CA, has announced the Connector, a pro-gram that allows any MS-DOS or PC-DOS software to run under UNIX. Initially, the Connec-tor will be available for PC/IX, the UNIX version sold by IBM, but may be translated forother versions of UNIX. The program will be available in September for less than $300.

Two New Telephone-Management Systems

Natural Microsystems, Needham, MA, was expected to announce Watson, a $1000telephone-management system for the IBM PC, in late July. Watson includes a 300/1200-bpsmodem and software to digitize voice messages so the system can be used as a telephone-answering machine. Terminal emulation and calendar software are also included.

Liberty Electronics, San Francisco, CA, announced a voice/data terminal, the Freedom 212.The $1295 terminal includes an auto-dial 300/1200-bps modem and a built-in 25-linetelephone directory.

NANOBYTES

Assimilation Process, Los Gatos, CA, has announced the Mac-Daisywheel Connection. This$99 program allows Apple's Macintosh computer to print text using a standard daisy-wheelprinter; an interface cable is included. ... Leading Edge Products said it will sell a line of"Peanut" IBM PC-compatible computers beginning in late fall. . .. AST Research is develop-ing a PCnet expansion card for the IBM PCjr.. . . Teknowledge, Palo Alto, CA, has intro-duced M.l, an expert-system generator for the IBM PC, priced at $12,500. . . . Gigabit Logic,Newbury Park, CA, has begun shipping 12 logic and counter chips that use gallium arsenide(GaAs) instead of silicon. GaAs parts are much faster and more expensive than their siliconcounterparts.... Faxtel, Toronto, Ontario, is developing software that will allow the Macin-tosh to be used as a NAPLPS decoder terminal... . Solutions Inc. has developed StraightTalk, terminal software for the Macintosh, to be sold by Dow Jones for $79. Apple was ex-pected to introduce MacTerminal in July. . .. Advanced Storage Technology Inc., San Jose,CA, has announced 61- and 103-megabyte half-height 5'/4-inch hard-disk drives. In largequantities, the 103-megabyte drive sells for $1950. . . . NEC Information Systems an-nounced a 55-cps daisy-wheel printer, the 8850, for $2500, and three floppy-disk drives, in-cluding a 1.6-megabyte 5'/4-inch and two 3/2-inch models. NEC is also developing a $35006-page-per-minute thermal-transfer printer and a $700 HP-compatible four-color plot-ter. . . . Intel says it is shipping CMOS 256K-byte RAMs. Motorola will begin full productionlate this year. ... The Computer Satellite Network hopes to offer cable programming forcomputer enthusiasts by late fall. .. . Practical Peripherals, Westlake, CA, planned to unveilan encryption device at NCC. The Data Encryption System (D.E.S.) 2000, priced at less than$500, will attach to the computer's serial port. . . . Xetec Inc., Salina, KS, will begin shippinga dual 3/4-inch disk-drive system for IBM's PCjr entry model. The $800 unit includes a diskcontroller and can add a third 3 /4-inch or a 5 /4-inch drive. . . . Kamerman Labs, Beaverton,OR, is selling a 10-megabyte hard-disk subsystem for the IBM PC for $895. .. . Motorola for-mally introduced the 68020, a 32-bit version of the 68000 microprocessor. The CMOS chipincludes an on-board cache and a coprocessor interface and can run at 16 MHz.... Wanghas announced a $595 expansion card that it says makes its Wang Professional Computerfully compatible with the IBM PC... . Xerox will sell a $795 expansion card linking the IBMPC to Ethernet. ... Sony will reportedly begin private showings of a compact laser-diskread-only memory device late this summer. The drive will use the same technology asSony's audio laser disks.. . . Keyboard maker Key Tronic will manufacture a version ofDisplay Interface Corporation's HiFi Mouse, which uses sound to detect motion and direc-tion. It will sell for $65 in very large quantities... . Volition Systems, Del Mar, CA, hasadded a CP/M-68K version of its Modula-2 compiler. The $495 compiler will be availablenext month.... Telos Software Products, Santa Monica, CA, announced FileVision, a $195visual database manager for Apple's Macintosh. . . . Ricoh introduced the LP4120, a $14,000,12-page-per-minute laser printer. ... Delphax Systems, Mississauga, Ontario, introduced alaser printer designed to print up to 1.5 million copies per month. The $70,000 S 6000 canprint 60 pages per minute.

10 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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OMNI 800 is a trademark of Texas Instruments IncorporatedCopyright © 1984 Texas Instruments Incorporated. 2763-36

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LETTERS

In Praise of APL

I read G. T. Hunters article "Calculating Over-head Costs by Computer" (February, page 416)with great interest. It was well written, with agood blend of history. It would seem that prog-ress is rather slow. The article did tease thereader a bit with the statement on page 423"In APL. the procedure is even simpler... ." In-deed, that is true. It is unfortunate that Dr.Hunter did not demonstrate this. Consequent-ly, I have picked up the challenge. I am enclos-ing the APL function that generates the samenumeric data that the listed BASIC program orthe iterative-spreadsheet approach does.

The first step of the closed-form solution isto recognize that the set of four equations onpage 418 is a set of four equations in fourunknowns. Simple algebra will put them intostandard form. Thus, if you place a -1 on themain diagonal of the matrix of distribution fac-tors, it becomes the matrix of coefficients forthe set of linear equations. Negating the initialvalues makes them the constants for the set oflinear equations. Thus, in APL. the expressionthat produces the answer is simply:

(-INITIAL VALUES) H D1STFACTORS

Listing I (presented here) is an annotated APLfunction that will accept the initial approximatevector and the distribution matrix and producethe data in the form of table 3 (page 422). I didthis on my IBM PC using IBM's PC APL.

It is unfortunate that more of the computingcommunity is not aware of this powerful gen-eral-purpose programming language There areat least five different full implementations ofAPL on the IBM PC. I believe that APL is themost powerful general-purpose programminglanguage currently available on microcom-puters.

Raymond P. PolivkaPoughkeepsie. NY

The Sieve Benchmarkon a Heath H-89

After reading "STSC APL'PLUS and IBM PCAPL: Two APLs for the IBM PC" (March, page246), I decided to put my machine to the testand run the Sieve program in listing 2. I useda Heath H-89 with CP/M 2.23 and MicrosoftBASIC. I modified the program slightly to pro-vide indications of start and completion, andto automatically recycle the program. Running

Listing 1: An APL adaptation of a BASIC program for determining how indirectcosts are distributed among the four departments of a hypothetical company. Thisfunction accepts the initial approximate vector and the distribution matrix to producedata in the form shown in table 3 on page 422 of the February BYTE.

TBURDEN|0|TT Z-INT BURDEN DF;T:SIII AlNT: IN 1TIAL DEPT. COST EST.121 aDF: DISTRIBUTION FACTORS AS A MATRIX|3| A COLN =FROM . ROW=TO|4| aZ: MATRIX WITH|5| A 1st ROW-TOTAL EXPENSE /DEPT|6| A LAST ROW-NET EXPENSES/DEPT|7| a REST OF THE ROW ARE THE DISTRIBUTED EXPENSES|81 A OF EACH DEPT(COL) TO EACH OTHER DEPT(ROW)|9| A LAST COLN -INITIAL DEPT COST EST I.E. INT

|101 A

|l l| A PUTTING - I ON MAIN DIAGONAL OF DF

II 2| T-DF + (p-ITpDF)|>0

[131 A TOTAL EXPENSE/DEPT

11 4| Z-(-INT)BT

|I5| A GET INDIVIDUAL DISTRIBUTIONS

116| T—DFx(pDF)pZ

1171 A BUILD OUTPUT MATRIX

118| S-Z.ll |T

|I9| S-S,|I|Z-+/|1|T

|20| Z<-S,( + /Z).INT, + /INT

my version (see listing 2, presented here) I wasable to obtain results averaging 284.56 secondsper iteration of the program. Note that my pro-gram is looped 10 times to be consistent withthe benchmarks presented in BYTE.

Needless to say. I was surprised to obtain theresults I did. I have been thinking about addinga 4-MHz upgrade to my processor board (I amusing a stock 2-MHz machine). If I were to doso. my lowly 8-bit machine would out-loop eventhe mighty Big Blue and its 16-bit powerhouse.I had considered purchasing an IBM PC to han-dle my computing needs, but now I believe I'llhang on to what I've got. Thank you for theenlightening article and also for renewing myalready strong faith in the Z80. CP/M. MicrosoftBASIC, and Heath.

Peter M. HermsenBurlington, NC

QuantifyingUser Friendliness

Thank you for William J. Raduchels article "AProfessional's Perspective on User-Friendliness"(May. page 101). His equation for quantifying

[continued)

Listing 2: A modified version of theSieve of Eratosthenes program.

1 FORX = 5 TOO STEP -I

2 FOR Y= I TO 650

3 NEXTY

4 PRINT "";X (""G")

5 NEXTX

10 DEFINT A-Z

20 OPTION BASE I

30 DIM F(8I91)

35 FORQ=l TO 10

40 C=0

50 OR 1=1 TO 8191

60 F(l)=l

70 NEXT I

80 FOR [=1 TO 8191

90 IFF(I)=0THEN 170

100 P=l + I+I

110 K=I + P

120 WHILE K< =8191

130 F(K)=0

140 K=K + P

150 WEND

160 C = C+I

170 NEXT I

180 PRINT C "primes "-G

182 NEXTQ -G

185 PRINT " -G"

190 END

OK

14 BYTE" AUGUST 1984

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LETTERS

user friendliness is a noble attempt to take anadvertising slogan and make it a tool for bet-ter program design.

However. I would like to point out that in hisexample (Standard PC versus Script versus Lisa)he uses Script to imply a command that will cor-rectly do exactly what a user wants with no ad-ditional decisions by the user. Essentially, thismeans that any variation in the task performedwould require that an entirely new Script beproduced or the user would be required toresort to the underlying command structure.Neither of these would be acceptable with Mr.Raduchel's assumption that Po-1.0 (that theuser will always pick the right action). Thereforethe Script case is the theoretical maximum—that one command is all the user needs to con-sider. Mr. Raduchel's results do indicate an ap-proachable goal, though—to make frequentlyused sequences available as a single command.

The inclusion of Script (or macros) into an-other command (either Standard PC or Lisacases) seems to be logical. Before looking tooclosely, I would like to define the cases. Stan-dard PC is used to indicate a system where theuser initiates all information transfer. If the userwants to move a file but does not rememberthe name or how much room is on the disk,he or she must ask for a directory. The Lisa ap-proach implies that the system will supply theuser with the necessary information at the timeand location it is needed. Although this defini-tion is simplified, it describes the fundamentaldifference between Script and Lisa. Windowsand icons are used in a Lisa-type approachbecause of the large volume of different infor-mation displayed at the same time. In essence,windows are simply organized groups of infor-mation, displayed together and manipulated asa unit. And if a picture is worth a thousandwords, an icon must be worth a dozen or so.

But both Lisa and Script approaches can sup-port macros. Neither approach has any inherentlimitation to prevent it from taking advantageof macros. In fact, UNIX assumes that a shell(in effect, macros) will be used in an applica-tion environment. I also agree with Mr.Raduchel that the Lisa approach, if properlysupported with hardware and consistentthroughout all applications, will produce higheruser friendliness than the Standard PC ap-proach. Therefore, it would seem logical to con-clude that a shell, similar in concept to a UNIXshell and optimized for each type of applica-tion, coupled with a Lisa-like environment,would produce the most user-friendlyprograms.

). L. MahowaldOverland Park. KS

Computers and Lawyers

I am a subscriber to, and regular reader of, yourexcellent magazine. I would like to comment onRobert P. Wilkins's article "How Lawyers CanUse Microcomputers" (May, page 160).

I am a practicing attorney who is knowledge-able about office-automation issues and thecomputer marketplace. I know Mr. Wilkins'sworks well. He is an acknowledged authority

and leader in the automation area of the legalindustry.

However, we differ philosophically in a keyarea. In his first paragraph, Mr. Wilkins statesthat lawyers do not need to know terms suchas RAM, bps, ". . .and other foreign, often un-nessary technical terms. All lawyers need toknow is how computers can improve the effi-ciency of a legal practice."

To the contrary, the road to efficient andproper use of computers in law offices muststart with lawyers and staff members having agood understanding of the new buzzwords.How else can a lawyer feel confident when walk-ing into a computer store? You must know if 64Kbytes of memory is enough, what disk drivesare for, whether a hard disk is necessary, whatprograms are for and what they do, etc. Thereis no substitute for this basic education.

Lawyers are intimidated by this new world andknowledge of these words will get things go-ing. Mr. Wilkins discussed database-managmentsystems for lawyers, including dBASE II, I amtold dBASE II is complex and requires a greatdeal of expertise to use. How can a lawyer usethis product without knowing terms such as bits,bytes, etc.? Even using search techniques ondatabases is easier if you understand what adatabase is, how it is compiled and stored, andwhat the rationale is for the search methods.

Electronic mail also has its tricks and prob-lems. The American Bar Association has got-ten off to a slow start with its electronic mailnetwork. I believe the reason is that lawyers areintimidated because they don't understand thisnew technology. Further, to use electronic mail,you'd better know what a modem is and howto use it.

It wouldn't be a bad idea for lawyers to sub-scribe to BYTE for its technical tutorials andeducational materials. Lawyers must knowsomething of computer technology and termi-nology.

There is another reason lawyers must learnabout this new technology. Our clients are in-volved with computers at every level. How arewe to serve our clients if we do not understandwhat they do or what they are telling us? Howcan we discuss a source-code escrow if we don'tknow what source code is, why it's important,and how it differs from object code?

Mr, Wilkins and I do agree 100 percent onone issue. Computers are indeed the mostsignificant change in the way the law is prac-ticed since the invention of the telephone andthe typewriter.

Paul BernsteinChicago, IL

Computers and Doctors

I found George Zucconi's article "A Computerin the Doctor's Waiting Room" (May, page 108)very interesting. Programs such as his are usefulfor providing patients with information that theymight otherwise not "bother the doctor with."However, it cannot be overemphasized thatsuch a computer program is not a substitutefor consultation with a physician. In particular,

{continued)

16 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

''We sell IBC computersbecause it's the bestway to attain a low cost, highperformance multi-user system.'

Roger Scaggs

President, APS Systems, Inc.

Dallas, Texas

"APS is the nation's leading supplier ofmedical office management systems, servingover 1,000 practices in 30 states.

Most of our customers require more than asingle-user desk top system. They need agood, fast multi-user computer without aminicomputer price tag.

We looked at many of the so-called low-cost"Supermicros" running UNIX™ but decided tocontinue selling IBC-OASIS™ computers. UNIXrequires a lot of horsepower to run well, andthe low cost UNIX systems did not have theperformance to do our customers job to oursatisfaction.

APS sells high performance systems based onthe OASIS multi-user operating system. OASISprovides all the features that you find on agood minicomputer multi-user operatingsystem. OASIS is user friendly and performs verywell on low cost multi-user systems.

At APS, we have selected IBC for ourcustomers, because they provide a computerthat allows us to efficiently run up to 16 userswith our OASIS software.

Circle I 49 for Dealer inquiries. Circle I 50 for End-User inquiries.

Do you want a multi-user system which hashundreds of applications already available?Do you want to sell user friendly, low cost, multi-user computers that outperform the low endUNIX systems? Then I suggest you contact IBCimmediately."

IBC/Integrated Business Computers is the

leader in multi-user technology. To find outmore about the company, its products andsupport, please call or write:

OUTSIDE THE USA

WITHIN THE USA

IBC/

Integrated Business Computers

21621 Nordhoff StreetChatsworth, CA 91311(818) 882-9007 Telex No: 215349

IRC/ DISTRIBUTION

1140 36th Street, Suite 212Ogden, Utah 84403(801)621-2294

UNIX is a trademark of Bell LaboratoriesOASIS is a trademark of Phase One Systems

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 17

There's abetter way topack more muscle^in your micro/ >)>

\UJJj

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Program Comments

I enjoyed the article "Using Comments to AidProgram Maintenance' by Richard A. Thomas(May, page 415), and I think that an article thatattempts to demonstrate some good (and bad)commenting techniques would also be useful.I have found that the usual reason for bad com-ments is that the programmer doesn't knowhow to do it any better. My company has de-veloped fairly rigid standards regarding codeand documentation, and we avoid some of theproblems stated in the article by stressing thatyou can't move on to a new project if no oneelse can maintain your old one.

We consider the most useful comments to bethe program and subroutine headers. Our pro-gram headers contain the name of the program,the system it belongs to, the name of the pro-grammer, a complete revision history, and abrief description of the program's function. Oursubroutine header contains the name of thesubroutine, a description of the subroutine'sfunction, and the input and output parameterdetails. These headers seem to be the biggesthelp to a maintenance programmer and we in-sist that they be kept up to date at all times.D. P. KerkhoffOrlando, FL

Dear Thieves

Judging by the letters and articles in microcom-puter publications, the controversy over soft-ware piracy seems to have died down recent-ly. However, from my own experience I feel thatit is as much a problem as ever and is merelyreaching the level of general acceptance. Lestit arrive at that point and doom us forever tothe curse of sophisticated and costly protec-tion schemes. I submit the following:

An open letter to software pirates:

I am constantly amazed at a practice soprevalent among microcomputer owners thata person who does not participate in it is almostconsidered a freak. I refer of course to the prac-tice commonly referred to as software piracy.I prefer, however, to call it by its correct name-software THEFT I am not referring only to thosewho copy software for profit or undergrounddistribution, but to anyone who copies copy-righted software they did not purchase. The lawis clear on this point. You have the legal rightto copy software you have purchased for yourown use. Any other copying, even if you give,not sell, the copies to friends, school, usersgroups, or anyone else, is illegal In spite of this,I know people who would not think of violatingthe 55-miles-per-hour speed limit but freely andfrequently copy copyrighted software from

(continued)

BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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Circle 5 on inquiry card.

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Quality extends to documentation, too. SixPakPlus is one ofthe easiest hardware/software packages to install and operate.

And, with our new audio cassette, you don't even have to crackour manual to learn how to take full advantage of SixPakPlus'features and functions.

Meet the standard for multifunction enhancement boardsin person. Get a SixPakPlus from a dealer near you. SixPakPlusis a member of the complete AST family of multifunction boards,Micro-to-Mainframe com-munications, LAN andgraphics products.

Contact:AST Research Inc.2121 Alton AvenueIrvine, CA 92714Phone:(714)863-1333TWX; 75369gAS,TR ,U R

'IBM PC and XT are registered trademarksof International Business Machines.

\

RcscnncH inc.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 19

' ;;^#'

<

WANTED

SOMETHING TORELIEVE THIS MESS!

If you've ever found yourself searching for a calculator, notepad or appointment book

when you've got a computer right in front of you, then you know

the absurd situation we're illustrating.

Sure, there are clumsy Utile programs youcan boot up to accomplish one or the other ofthese tasks... but that's generally meant firststepping out of the software you're working with.

What's always been needed is one powerfulpiece of software, occupying only a few K, thatwould be tucked away in an unused part of RAM nomatter what program you're running.

Whether you were running dBasell, Lotus 1-2-3,WordStar or even Turbo Pascal© ... it would always

be ready for lightning-fast use. You could just hit a

button and open a window for a notepad, another for

a calculator. Hit the button, again, and your work

would be saved to disk and you'd be right back in

your original software!

While we're at it, it should also have a perpetual

calendar linked to a datebook. And even an autodialer,

with a built-in phonebook.

Is this piece of software possible? At a price you can

afford ... now?

SomethiiglllQOty new in applications

software from Borland,

the folks who make

Turbo Pascal©

JUST A KEYSTROKE AWAY.

NO MATTER WHAT SOFTWAREYOU'RE RUNNING!

• A CALCULATOR

• A NOTEPAD

• AN APPOINTMENT CALENDAR

• AN AUTO DIALER

• AN ASCII TABLE

• AND MUCH MOREALL AT ONCE ... OR ONEAT A TIME.

ANYWHERE ON THE SCREEN YOU UKE.ANOTHER KEYSTROKE, AND YOU'RERIGHTWHERE YOU LEFT OFFIN YOUR ORIGINAL PROGRAM!(you never really left!)

SIDEKICK

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NOW

. Whether you're working in dBase 11, Lotus 1-2-3, WordStaror whatever... You'll have your SIDEKICK®, too!

j

Need to make a phone call? Whether the number is in an existing database,your own Sidekick phone directory, or you've just typed it on the screen ...put the cursor next to the number, hit the keystroke, and Sidekick dialsfor you!*

There's lots more, too. You can move the Sidekick windows anywhere on thescreen you like. And you can have as many on screen at a time as you need.We designed it because we needed it If you've ever been writing a reportand needed to do a quick calculation, or jot down a note, then you

Understand Why. *Onlywi& Hayes SrMrliiKKk™ and ampMibte.

Something brand new. Crafted in Assembly language as carefullyas Borland's famous Turbo Pascal®, so that It's lightning fast and ascompact as only Borland knows how to make it! With a notepad thathas a full-screen editor that saves your notes to disk. You can even swapinformation back and forth between your applications softwareand your Sidekick.

pose you're working with a spreadsheet, and you suddenly have animportant idea, just hit the button, a window opens, you write the note andhit the button again. You're right back where you left off in the spreadsheet.

TOD CAN ORDER HOUR COPY OF SIDEKICK© TODAY!

For Visa and MasterCard orders call Toll Free 1-800-227-2400 ext 953 in California 1-800-772-2666 ext 953

(lines open 24 hours, 7 days a week) Dealer and Distributor Inquiries Welcome 408-438-8400 ■«•»--

SIDEKICK0 $49.95

(plus 15.00 shipping and handling• Shipped UPS)

Check □ Money Order □

VISA D MasterCard D

Card*

Expiration Date

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

■NAME '.. " ■ '

ADDRESS

CITY/STATE/ZIP .TELEPHONE __

BORIPHD

INTERNATIONAL

|

California residents add 6% sales tax. Outside USA add $15.00. (It outside ofUSA. payment must be by bank draft payable in the U.S. and in U.S. dollars.) Sorry,no C.O.D. or Purchase Orders. s D15

Borland Internationa!4113 Scotts Valley DriveScotts Valley, California 9506&TELEX: 172373

Circle 40 on inquiry card.

dBase II is a trademark of AshtonTate, WordStar is a trademark of MicroPro, Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corporation.

Circle 34 on inquiry card.

affordable & reliable.

NETWORKING

Networking begins with your finecomputer. Where it goes is unlimitedwhen you interface your peripheraldevices with a 4, 8 or 18 port BayTechSerial Port Expander. With BayTech'sunits you can mix-and-match othercomputers and/or peripheral devicesof different configurations without theneed to reconfigure. Port configura-tion of the peripheral device portsmay be changed by the user withBayTech's menu-driven software.

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LETTERS

A few companies make a good,expensive Serial Port Expander.One company makes an excellent,affordable line of them - BayTech.

• Model 524F $ 329.

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others or to give to others.

I have heard and read more rationalizationsfor this practice than I could possibly list. Theyare just that—rationalizations of those who mustmake excuses for their actions. One of the mostcommon 1 hear is "software is overpriced." lbthat I say. if you absolutely cannot live withouta piece of software then, whatever its price, itis worth it to you to pay it. Otherwise, don't buyit, don't copy it, and don't use it. If it truly isoverpriced and people do not buy it or use it,the price will come down or it will disappearfrom the market. We should encourage and sup-port such software publishers as A.P.P.L.E.,Penguin. Beagle Bros., and others who havechosen to reduce their costs and their pricesby not copy-protecting their software. Thesepublishers sell top-quality software for reason-able prices. I encourage you to buy and usetheir products, but please do not rip them offby stealing their software.

For those of you whose only ethical standardis "it's OK if 1 don't get caught," I don't expectto make much of an impression on you. Youare right about one thing; if you don't sell boot-legged software you probably won't get caught.But 1 am writing this to those of you who holdto some form of ethics or morality that says itis wrong to steal, whether or not you might getcaught. Consider what you are doing when youaccept or give copies of copyrighted software;consider the example you are setting for yourchildren and friends. You are stealing, regardlessof your rationalizations to the contrary.

lust because software piracy does not receivethe press attention it once did does not meanthat it is no longer a problem. In reality, it isbigger than ever as more and more people buycomputers. I don't expect that this letter willmake much of a difference in the overall prob-lem, but if a few who may be unwittingly copy-ing software accept the reality of what they aredoing and refuse to continue the practice, thenit is worth it.

William G. WrightOceanside, CA

Reconfiguring PerfectWriter Commands

Recently, 1 bought a Kaypro 2 computer to useprimarily for word processing. After lookingthrough the manuals, 1 decided to use the Con-fig program provided to program the numberkeys to replace many of the Control-X com-mands in Perfect Writer. 1 thought it would benice to replace three- or four-keystroke com-mands with one-keystroke commands. 1 quicklyfound two problems. First, the documentationis terrible. No instructions are given to explainhow to use the Config program with Control orEscape sequences. Second, once I found thenecessary information in the Perfect Writermanual (which is also terrible), it turned out thatthe hexadecimal codes for these commands areall three characters long, which will not workwith the Config program.

I finally worked out a way of doing everythingI wanted. Perhaps it is not the easiest way but

it does work, and I thought many of yourreaders who own Kaypro 2 s would be inter-ested. The process follows:

1. Copy the following files onto a blank for-matted disk from the Perfect Writer Installa-tion disk: PWBIND.COM, FUNCTS.TXT,PWSYM. Copy the following files onto thesame disk from the Perfect Writer Edit disk:PW.COM. PW.SWP. PW.HLP.

2. Edit the-FUNCTSTXT file by typing PWFUNCTSTXT at the A> prompt. Then, pickout any 14-line section of FUNCTS.TXT thatconsists of all unknown commands andwhose hexadecimal codes are two charac-ters long. Numbers 161-174 are ideal sincethe corresponding hexadecimal codes are

Al, A2. A3 AD. Find in the Perfect

Writer manual the printout of FUNCTS.TXTand the commands you want. Then replacejust the items in the third and fourth col-umns of each line (161-174) with the com-mands you want. When done, save theedited version with Control-X, Control-S.then exit with Control-X. Control-C

3. Call up PWBIND.COM by simply typing"PWB1ND" at the A prompt. PWBIND willdo the rest.

4. Next, copy PW.COM. PW.SWP. andPW.HLP back to the Perfect Writer Edit disk.The commands corresponding to the linesyou edited will now work. (If you use PerfectSpeller, it will be necessary to copy theseto the Perfect Speller disk, too.)

5. Next, put the new PW Edit disk into driveB, and the CP/M disk into drive A. Then,at the A> prompt, type CONFIG. Choosenumber 4 from the menu (change thenumber pad) and then number 2 to actual-ly change them. Then enter the new hexa-decimal codes into the chart (if you used161-174 then the next hexadecimal codeswill be Al-AD) in accord with your wishes(a hand-drawn chart comes in handy). Thenpress Esc twice, then answer Y when askedif you want to keep the changes made.

6. Finally, put the reconfigured Edit disk indrive A, and then push the reset button.After this, the number pad will be recon-figured the way you want it.

Although there are a number of steps in-volved here, this procedure is not difficult. Itis unfortunate that both Kaypro and PerfectSoftware chose to make this all sound so dif-ficult in their manuals. However, once it is done,life with Perfect Writer is much nicer.

I find it convenient to have a STAT file on thesame disk as my word-processing software. Thisis no problem on WordStar because there isplenty of room left on the disk.. However, onthe Perfect Writer disk there is all of 1K byte left.The PW.HLP file is exactly the same length asSTAT.COM, though, and. since I never use theon-screen help feature, I erased it from the Editdisk (I did save it on the PW LESSONS disk) andcopied STAT.COM to Perfect Writer. This allowsme to know the remaining space on a disk with-out changing to the CP/M disk.

Barry D. SmithCarbondale. 1L

22 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 35 on inquiry card.

LETTERS

A Call for QX-10 Support

I am the owner of an Epson QX-10 with anMX-80 FT as well a Comrex CR-11. I purchasedthis primarily for business use and am happywith it except for one thing. There is virtuallyno one putting out any educational softwareto use under the CP/M-80 operating system. Irealize that the QX-10 is relatively new but CP/Misn't. Why don't the good educational-programwriters who work for Atari and Apple under-stand that CP/M system users have children whocould benefit from such software?

And what about all those ingenious add-onboard builders? Why hasn't someone made onethat will run Apple and IBM PC programs onthe QX-10?

David M. BoydTampa, FL

SUPERMICROS

I would like to suggest that technology has ad-vanced enough to warrant a shift of focus for"the small systems journal."

Many of the articles in BYTE seem to bepitched to the level of systems with a 6502.8088, or 8086 central processing unit. But thereare a number of "small systems'' on the marketusing 68000s and calling themselves super-micros. 1 have been following the product an-nouncements of Cadmus, Pixel, Callan, andWicat for a while, hoping that I might win thestate lottery so I could buy one. Actually, givenanother year or two, 1 might be able to afforda supermicro without the lottery. But now myinterest has been aroused by the appearanceof 32-bit "supermicros."

DEC has announced its Microvax. and nowAT&T is about to market its 3B2/300. Both ofthese are true 32-bit machines and yet they arebeing promoted as small systems, i.e.. not quiteminicomputers. At this point, all 1 know is thatI would like to own one of these machines, with-out knowing what they could offer me. One ofthe things I'm looking for is the capability ofdoing graphics more on the level of computer-aided design than pie charts, but AT&T tells methat the 3B2 doesn't support graphics as yet.

So now I want to suggest that BYTE extendits coverage of slightly more sophisticatedmachines. Before you object that none of yourreaders can afford these machines unless theyhave a healthy business going, let me mentionthat I am an individual without such a businesswho will probably buy a 68000-based systemrunning UNIX, and who is very interested inreading about and learning more on the genera-tion of 32-bit microcomputers.

|ay Steinbrunn, Ph.D.South Hadley, MA

Request for Help

I recently bought a Radio Shack Model 4 andnow I need help with some conversions frommy old Model I.

First 1 would like to know if anyone knowswhat patches must be applied to Microsoft'smuMATH for the Model I to make it run on aModel 4 (either in Model III or Model 4 mode).

I would also like to know where I can buy adisk-controller board so that an 8-inch disk drivefrom my old Model 1 will run on the Model 4.I want to use the 8-inch drive with three 5!4-inchdrives under DOSPLUS 3.5. DOSPLUS IV. NEW-DOS/80 (Model III mode), Montezuma MICROCP/M version 2.2. and Radio Shack CP/M ver-sion 3.0.

James R. PrimmParis. MO

A Subscriber Complains

I look forward to the delivery of my BYTE eachmonth because I enjoy it and it is a method ofkeeping up with my peers who also subscribeto BYTE. My complaint is in regard to my per-ceived view of your mailing practices. My lastname is Zehnder and 1 work with a gentlemanwhose last name is Anderson who is also aBYTE subscriber. We live within 30 miles of eachother. I have noticed that over the last severalmonths he has received his issue of BYTE fourto five days earlier than I.

At this point 1 would like to note two featuresof BYTE magazine: it is of broad interest andsubstantial content, i.e., it has a large physicalstructure (my wife still thinks it's a catalog); andit has a large subscription base because it isa leading reference magazine in the computerfield (everybody gets it). These two features leadme to believe that McGraw-Hill has trouble mail-ing all of one month's issues on the same day.

My conclusion is that McGraw-Hill makes theirmonthly mailing over a period of about oneweek with the output sequenced alphabetically.

I feel that you are discriminating against thosewhose last name begins with a letter toward theend of the alphabet.

If BYTE is an influential information source,which I believe it is, then 1 think that the prac-tice of mailing alphabetically means that thosewhose names begin with the letters "A." "B," orC" rise in corporate structures faster in rela-tion to their current information sources. I don'thave the resources to perform a meaningfulstudy to substantiate these assumptions, but theresults of such a study would be interesting.

If BYTE is discriminatory in its mailing prac-tices and if it is influential, then it is leading peo-ple whose names begin with something otherthan "A," "B," or "C" to take one of two actions:they can do nothing but also not rise in the cor-porate structure due to their lack of timely in-formation: or they can inform BYTE that their

mailing name" is Aardvark or Aaron or the like.The second solution is only temporary because,as more people discover the problem and usethis solution, an "alphabetic war" will break out.This will cause much havoc as subscribers raceto change their names and move up on theBYTE mailing list.

Let me address a possible solution to thisproblem. I assume that BYTE has a computer-Icon tinned)

affordable & reliable.

PORT

CONTENTION

Add more users to your multi-usercomputer without expensive hard-ware or software modifications. ABayTech Port Contention unit willmaximize utilization of available ports,thereby minimizing idle, valuablesystem time. With 6-to-3. 8-to-4 and12-to-6 port models available. PortContention problems can be solvedfrom micro to mainframe computers.

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The graphic above illustrates a typicalBayTech Model 5218B Port Contentionapplication. By adding a single 5218B unit,a 6-port multi-user computer gains sixadditional users, thereby doubling access-ibility to the computer.

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 23

LETTERS

ized mailing list (it would be ludicrous toassume otherwise! and that the BYTE andMcGraw-Hill staffs are computer literate (don'tthey read their own magazine?). Thus these staffmembers must be capable programmers whoare only guilty of not completing the project.It should only take a small change in thealgorithm to solve the problem. One solutionmight be to move the starting position by one-twelfth of the total subscription base eachmonth. In this way each subscriber would get

their issue on the first day once each year. Thiswould at least even out the information gap.Although, as a point of justice, you might con-sider sending BYTE out in reverse alphabeticorder for a period of time to correct past in-equity (and let me get mine first).

I hope that you take prompt action to avert

a major "alphabetic war" and the subsequent

loss of personal integrity by your subscribers.

Don Zehnder

Tacoma, WA

Winchester powerfor your PC

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Dealer Inquiries Invited

DiskSystems is a copyrisht of Interface Inc. IBM is a registered trademark of IBM

Corporation. Prices are suggested retail and are subject to change without notice.

In fact, our subscriber copies are mailed byZIP Code rather than alphabetically. Our cir-culation department is taking steps to speedup delivery. We hope that these steps bringyour BYTE to you earlier.

More on the Mac

I feel that 1 must defend Gregg Williams's Prod-uct Preview of the Apple Macintosh (May Let-ters, pages 14-20). I was an Apple hater"before the company came out with this mar-velous machine (I still don't like the Me). If apreviewer is justifiably excited about a new pro-duct, he should convey that excitement to thereaders.

I can see why some people are thrilled aboutthis radical new machine. If you have any ideaof how ingenious the design of the Macintoshis. you probably are jumping for joy. It's abouttime a company comes out with a new machinerather than another clone.

I also would like to address the problem ofthe 128K-byte memory limitation. This is similarto the power race in home-stereo equipmentseveral years ago. Everyone was trying to buildthe most powerful amplifier in the world (300watts and above). Now the only place to findsuch behemoths is at flea markets. Can anyonerecall that the Apple II and the Radio ShackModel 111 ran every piece of software imagin-able with only 48K-byf.es? With memory limitscurrently approaching 1 megabyte, sloppy pro-grammers will continue to eat up all the mem-ory they have until. . . (where will it end)?

Look hard at this machine and compare thehardware and software and you'll see how dif-ferent the Mac is. Look at the potential it hascompared with all the CP/M and IBM clones andyou'll share the excitement too!

Wayne DanielLafayette. LA

I'm college educated, worked as a nuclear engi-neer for several years in the Navy, taught highschool for two years, and am employed by amajor national corporation working with com-puter simulations. I've been working with com-puters since 1970 and even have designedseveral micros (1 even have an 8008). Daily 1work with state-of-the-art mainframes, minis, andmicros, yet according to Gerald Evenden (MayLetters, page 20) 1 am one of BYTE's "less-sophisticated readers" because this letter wasdrafted and typed on a Macintosh. The worstpart is that 1 probably could have used thismachine for years without ever realizing whatMr. Evenden was so quick to point out. I feelso ashamed!

Jonathan L. PolandBerkeley, MO

In the bewildering personal computermarketplace, buyers often look to dependable,accurate, and honest magazines like BYTE forinformation. Many times they are misled by "ex-perts" who recommend or condemn machinesafter only superficially examining them.I'm writing in regard to a letter by George

(continued)

24 BYTE-

AUGUST 1984 Circle 162 for Dealer inquiries. Circle 163 for End-User inquiries.

DAIA ACQUISITION SOFTWARETHAT SPANS TWO WORLDS

Now one IBM PC can direct highspeed acquisition of analog signals, andsimultaneously read and control instru-ments on the IEEE-488 bus. Connectyour analog signals to the Keithley DASSeries 500 Measurement and ControlSystem; connect IEEE-488 instrumentsto our new Plus500 Instrument ControlSystem. The same software environ-ment controls both interfaces at thesame time.

■ Soft500andnewPlus500software make measurement andcontrol accessible.Soft500 and Plus500 software areenhancements of BASIC, the languageof personal computing. As easy to use asBASIC itself, Soft500 and Plus500 add

Circle 172 on inquiry card.

powerful data acquisition and controlcapabilities to a higher level language.

■ You can trust the data.

SoftSOO's foreground/backgroundscheduling carefully times multipletasks to ensure that successive readingsfrom the same channel maintain pre-cisely the same sampling interval. Andthere's still time for simultaneous dataanalysis.

■ The Series 500 is fully modular.

Seventeen modules form an extensiveand growing family that supports ana-log input, analog output, digital I/O,current loop output, pulse counting,and AC/DC relay control. And now thePlus500 Instrument Control Systemallows simultaneous access to the IEEE-488 bus as well.

■ Quality manufacturing,quality service.

The Series 500 is built like an instru-ment. It has the highest accuracy, thelowest noise, and the best thermal sta-bility of any personal computer baseddata acquisition workstation. That's whyit comes with a one-year warranty and afree product support hotline.

■ For more information

Call us toll free at 1-800-552-1115. InMassachusetts, call 617-423-7780. We'dlike to tell you more about the Series500 measurement and control family.

349 Congress StreetBoston, Massachusetts 02210

keithley!

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 25

/ -

FOR YOURBOTTOM LINE.

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TIM IV $269Versaforrn . $249

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LETTERS

Snoga (May Letters, page 14). It was dishearten-ing to see someone try to compare a PCjr toa Macintosh. I was glad Gregg Williams pointedout that a Mac is much more of a PC than aPCjr, but 1 feel he should have gotten the pointacross more clearly. BYTE must maintain itsrespectability as a magazine by answering toughquestions with tough answers. Mr. Williams'sreply answered the letter writer but left meuneasy and hungry for more.

I'm surprised that Mr. Snoga said that the Macisn't much more powerful than a PCjr becauseit lacks slots. Slots originally cameJnto existenceso hardware could be added to expand amachine, in those days it was necessary formicrocomputers to share the microprocessorwith the peripherals through the use of slots.Microprocessors were too expensive to in-dividually implement on each and every periph-eral. Today, single-chip micros cost about S8apiece; they are inexpensive enough to put in-to modems, printers, plotters, etc. It is no longernecessary to have a direct processor bus con-nection for each peripheral because it is alsono longer necessary to share the processor.

One of the best ways for the computer andit's intelligent peripherals to communicate is bymeans of the high-speed serial ports Macintoshuses. They transfer data at 1 megabit per sec-ond, unlike the slow RS-232C. With this arrange-ment you don't have to concern yourself withwhether certain cards or peripherals are com-patible with each other. Also, you can daisy-linkthe peripherals attached to the serial ports,meaning you can have more than one deviceon each serial port. You will not have to scrapyour system. Mac is truly expandable.

As Mr. Williams pointed out, the only kindsof peripherals you can't add on are copro-cessors and the like. If you really want to addthis type of hardware to your machine, and ifthere is a very good reason for it. third-partyvendors will probably pick up your problemand figure out a way around it. Besides, thespeech/sound synthesizer, clock/calendar, diskcontroller, monitor/display circuitry, mouse inter-face/drivers, and serial ports are all built in.These are exactly the things you would fill upmost expansion slots with anyway. Peopledescribe the IBM PC as having only five slots.But because almost everything is built in on theMacintosh, and because peripherals can bedaisy-linked, it is unfair to say that the Mac hasonly two ports and is unexpandable.

I must admit that at first glance the PCjr andthe Mac appear to be similar. Yet upon closerexamination, it becomes obvious that a Macin-tosh is at least equal to the PC, if not better.IBM officially has no option for a second drivefor the PCjr; only third-party vendors supplysuch. The Mac has a second drive from Apple.The Mac does not have a maximum memoryof 128K bytes. The memory-upgrade mother-board (to 512K bytes using 256K-bit chips) willsoon be available. The PCjr has minimal hard-ware expandability—it doesn't have high-speedserial ports to add peripherals as the Mac does,and it doesn't have true, open slots. You mightsay the Mac is upwardly compatible with theLisa 2, but I like to view it simply as compati-

(continued)

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LETTERS

ble. The Lisa 2 is still slower than a Macintosh.It makes up for this by being able to do multi-tasking, but this difference may blur whenMacintosh is expanded to 512K bytes. And. asMr. Williams pointed out. who says the Macin-tosh can't have hard disks? There are at leasttwo vendors working on it, excluding Appleitself. And as far as price goes, the PC and Macare amazingly alike. After reading Mr. Williams's"Update on Apple Macintosh and Lisa 2" (May,page 339), I have to agree that the Mac wouldbetter penetrate the computer market if it werecheaper, but even at its present price, itrepresents a great value. Where else can youget a system with such power, fast bit-mappedgraphics, and the unique user interface with themouse for the price? Mac may no longer beinexpensive, but it's still a bargain.

Macintosh represents a breath of fresh air intothe dry and dull world of me-too computers ledby IBM. If Macintosh is a success, the innova-tion that computer companies used to put in-to their products will once more be felt.

J. Jason KimHonolulu, HI

Thanks to Gregg Williams for giving Apple the"one-two" in "Update on Apple Macintosh andLisa 2" (May. page 339). I too feel that theMacintosh is overpriced but I bought one any-way. And let me tell you, I'm glad 1 did.

It's a fabulous machine that allows me thedirect visual response 1 crave as an artist. I can'timagine going back to the old green screenafter this. All computers should look this good.It looks even better with MacPaint and Mac-Draw. They turn this computer into a realcomputer-aided-design system.

I think that the Mac has a fine future, butApple could have assured it if the Mac werepriced about S500 cheaper. Maybe Apple willlet us upgrade to 512K bytes for free, then itwon't be so bad. One day a computer companyis going to make a big hit when it realizes thatprice is an important consideration for thebuyer, but until then, those characters look sonice... .

Michael BrodskyAft. Crawford. VA

More on Clock-TimeBenchmarks

In response to Philip Ender's letter (May. page26) regarding my article "Benchmarking FOR-TRAN Compilers" (February, page 218): whilethe user ultimately sees wall-clock time, Mr.Ender fails to note that there are all types ofmainframe work loads. Also, you may have towait in line to use a shared single-user officemicrocomputer or you may have to wait for aslow 16-character-per-second printer to finishprinting. Because each mainframe installationmay have various loads and types of loads,there is no way to include all these in a bench-mark article without taking measurements atseveral places (such as Los Alamos, which hasmany heavy number crunchers; a university,with many users who do light editing; and

Draper Lab, consisting of a mix of users). Usual-ly the average waiting time in the execution-jobqueue is known for each mainframe site, thusno new information would be gained by includ-ing it in a benchmark. In fact, it would makecomparisons difficult. Because a user alsoknows the difference in speeds between a slowteletype and a fast laser printer, no new infor-mation would be gained by including these I/Otimes in the benchmark. If a mainframe installa-tion supports the recommended number ofusers and loads, then the mainframe still winsAlso note that the microcomputers are fastcatching up with mainframes. lob-Step time isstill the most accurate bound for comparingrespective systems; you can go no faster withan unloaded mainframe system or when youdon't have to wait in line to use a shared single-user office microcomputer.

AVRAM TETEWSKY

Cambridge. MA

Future Theme Suggested

In the Thinktank letter by lohn Glazer (May,page 32). Mr. Glazer states: "It is interesting toreflect on how the writing process itself is be-ing transformed by what the computer makespossible."

This strikes me as food for thought for a futuretheme for BYTE: "Computers: How are theychanging (can they change) the social sciences?"

In another flash of my imagination I can seeBYTE keeping track of these changes.

A. C. PosadaCharlottesville. VA

Disk Protection

In regard to Steven A. Green's inquiry about air-port security screens erasing his disks (May Let-ters, page 36): radiation is to varying degreesinhibited by lead foil; magnetic fields are not.I suggest he have someone weld him a mu-metal box big enough to hold his disk-file con-tainers. This should protect them from all butthe most intense fields he could encounter.

There are no end of devices that generatefields that can damage the fields on a disk(which are relatively feeble). Even an electric-window motor in a car or almost any solenoidvalve could damage a disk close to it.

Billy R. PogueThatcher, AZ

Closing the Debate

Douglas Davidson ("Address Calculation: TheForgotten Sort," November 1983. page 494)wrote that he had discovered a method of sor-ting n elements in time proportional to n. GregScragg (April Letters, page 20) wrote that thiswas impossible since it contradicted a well-known result in Knuth's T(ie Art of Computer Pro-gramming that any sorting method requires timeat least proportional to n log n. The seeming

{continued)

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contradiction is due to misconceptions by bothof the writers. Scragg slightly misquotes Knuth'sresult. The result is that any method based oncomparisons requires at least n log n com-parisons to sort an arbitrary array of n elements.Davidson makes the assumption that hismethod, which is actually the well-known tech-nique of hashing, is a sorting method. In thesimplest case, each element in the array getssent to a different address according to somepredetermined hash function. The order im-

parted by this hash function is no more a sortedorder than is calling array element I smallest,array element 2 next smallest, etc.

Hashing is primarily a method of processingan array so that searching can take place rapidly.To find where a key is. simply compute its hashfunction and look in that location. This providessearching efficiently without having to sort first.

The most common situation has many ele-ments in the array having the same hash value.These collisions are to be expected to occur

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frequently They are generally resolved by usinga field of each location for a pointer to a loca-tion for the colliding element, setting up a linkedlist. The standard measure of performance isthe length of the array times the average lengthof the list.

Ronald ). LeachIVas/imgton, DC

I read with interest the article by Mr. Davidsonon the subject of hash coding and the letterfrom Mr. Scragg in which he takes Mr. David-son to task for his contention that the sortmethod he outlines performs in a time propor-tional to the number of items to be sorted: |0(«)|.

In his letter. Mr. Scragg quotes two sourcesthat he says carry proof of this assertion thatno sort can perform in a time faster than 0|(«log «)]. Unfortunately he is guilty of not readingthe text quoted completely.

In fundamentals of Data Structures, page 350,Horowitz and Sahni state quite definitely thatthe best time performance that can be achievedis a time proportional to n times the log baseIn. e.g., 0|w log n\. This is exactly as stated byMr. Scragg but in this case Horowitz and Sahniwere discussing sort algorithms in which theonly operations allowed on the keys were com-parisons and interchanges. In hash coding, thisis not the case, as the order of the keys is par-tially determined by a calculation performedon the key itself and thus it is possible to getexecution time proportional to the number ofelements to be sorted.

That is not to say that the method as de-scribed by Mr. Davidson is ideal or even ap-proaching ideal. As implemented by him, themethod is inefficient because it always requiresmuch more data storage than elements to sort.It is this that produces the linear-time perfor-mance as the ratio of hits to collisions is keptnearly constant.

The real value of hash coding is in the im-plementation of look-up tables where there isno requirement for the data to be stored in lex-icographical order and where, with more so-phisticated collision-handling methods andhash-coding functions, very high percentageusage of storage can be achieved with littledeterioration in response time.

The whole realm of storing and searching iscomplex with a great number of methods avail-able, each with its advantages and disadvan-tages. It is important that before any onemethod is chosen all the factors are considered.

R. KennettLaSalle, Quebec. Canada

LETTERS POLICY: lb be considered forpublication, a letter must be typed double-spacedon one side of the paper and must include yourname and address. Comments and ideas shouldbe expressed as clearly and concisely as possi-ble, listings and tables may be printed along witha letter if they are short and legible.

Because BYTE receives hundreds of letters eachmonth, not all of them can be published, betterswill not be returned to authors. Generally, it takesfour months from the time BYTE receives a let-ter until it is published.

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FIXES AND UPDATES

Developments

Product News

VIS1CORP has cut the prices of its VisiSeriessoftware. The price for the IBM PC version ofVisiCalc has tumbled from $2 50 to $99. Visi-Word Plus for the IBM PC has the top price inthe line—$195. It once sold for $375. VisiSched-ule and VisiLink for the Apple can now bebought for $149, dropping from $300 and $250,respectively. VisiCorp also announced that itrecently inked a distribution agreement withFirst Software Corporation for 10,000 copies ofFlashCalc, a $99 spreadsheet. FlashCalc, de-signed for the Apple He and IIe/Il + , has vari-able-width columns and extensive formattingfeatures.

MEAD DATA CENTRAL of Dayton, Ohio, hasannounced software that lets Apple and Wangmicrocomputer users gain access to its NEXIS,LEXIS, NAARS, and other information-retrievalservices.

IBM ENTRY SYSTEMS DIVISION unveiled 256K-byte versions of the PC and PC XT, while at thesame time reducing the price of the PC Portableand the PCjr. An entry-level PC with a 360K-bytefloppy and 2 56K bytes of memory costs $1995.A 2 56K-byte PC XT starts at $4395. The Por-table now costs $2 595, or $3020 with a factory-installed drive. The base price of the PCjr nowstands at $599. The larger version with 128Kbytes of RAM and a drive has been reducedto $999.

INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE has begun marketingan enhanced version of its T.I.M IVdatabase-management system. New featuresadded to T.I.M.. which runs on the IBM PC, letyou transfer data between files while doingcalculations and accumulating totals in aseparate but related file. T.I.M.'s data files canhandle 32,000 records; 128K bytes of memoryis required. The price is $495. Owners of earlierversions can contact the company for updateprocedures.

EAGLE COMPUTER of Los Gatos, California,has unveiled the Turbo GT. an enhanced ver-sion of the Turbo XL. The GT comes with a32-megabyte hard disk, 512K bytes of RAM, anda $6995 price tag. The $4995 XL has a10-megabyte fixed disk and 2 56K bytes of RAM.

CORONA DATA SYSTEMS of Thousand Oaks,California, has announced 15 to 21 percentprice reductions on its line of IBM PC-compatible computers. You can get a Coronadesktop PC with I28K bytes of RAM, one disk

drive, a keyboard, BASIC, and MS-DOS for$1950. With a monitor included, both thedesktop model and the Portable PC cost $2195.

MORROW has unbundled the software pack-ages from its Micro Decision line becausesurveys indicated that a majority of users didn'tneed most of the software packaged with theMicro Decision. The single-drive MD-1E and theMD-3E now come with the NewWord word-pro-cessing program. The MD-3E also includes aspelling checker. They go for $999 and $1499,respectively. Versions of the Micro Decision withthe complete package of five application pro-grams will still be marketed, according tospokespeople for the San Leandro, California,manufacturer.

INFOCOM's complete line of interactive fictiongames now runs on the Apple Macintosh.Based in Cambridge. Massachusetts, Infocompublishes the Zork trilogy as well as a varietyof whodunits and adventures.

CYBERLYNX COMPUTER PRODUCTS ofBoulder, Colorado, recently demonstrated a ver-sion of its Smarthome I home-automation pack-age that puts to work certain features of theApple 11c. A starter kit costs $499.

VOLITION SYSTEMS recently reduced the priceof its Modula-2 compilers and development sys-tems. For the Apple II and III the prices are $295and $395, respectively. Both the IBM PC andPC XT versions are $395. The price is $495 forSage II/IV computers. The Advanced SystemEditor is $150. Volition Systems is located in DelMar, California.

NORTH STAR COMPUTERS has slashed pricesand bundled new software for its Horizon andAdvantage systems. For $5400, you can get a15-megabyte Horizon. Twice the storage can bepicked up for $6400. Advantages with similarstorage capacities are $200 less. A singlefloppy-disk drive Horizon now costs $2800,while a dual-drive Advantage goes for $2600.North Star, headquartered in San Leandro,California, is also offering fixed bundles of soft-ware at savings of from $600 to $1000 if pur-chased separately.

ATRON CORPORATION of Saratoga, California,recently held a series of technical seminars thatdemonstrated versions of its PC Probe and Soft-ware Probe that apply Microsoft's Windows en-vironment. The Windows option includes en-hancements to debug multiple programs anddata areas running under different windows,hook up with symbol tables, and automatical-ly track symbol tables and breakpoints after

memory reallocation. Windows is available asan add-on software package.

NEC HOME ELECTRONICS is now selling itsPC-8200 notebook computer and 14 programsfor $599. For $799, you can buy a 24K-bytePC-8200 with a 300-bps modem. NEC is basedin Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

LOTUS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, Cam-bridge, Massachusetts, announced that Hewlett-Packard's Portable Computer is the first systemto have the 1-2-3 spreadsheet built into ROM.In a related development, a Lotus spokesper-son said that 1-2-3 is available for the dual-diskand Winchester-disk-drive versions of ZenithData Systems' Z-150.

LEADING EDGE PRODUCTS has revised thepricing of its Personal Computer. The new baseprice is $2695. A version of the Leading Edgecomputer with color graphics starts at $200more. The company operates out of NeedhamHeights, Massachusetts.

FUI1TSU MICROELECTRONICS reduced theprice of its Micro 16s to $23 50. The Micro 16sxwith a 10-megabyte drive is $42 50.

MICROSTUF's Crosstalk XVI data-communica-tions software system is now included withRixon's PC212A card modem for the IBM PC.

GENERAL ELECTRIC Information Service Com-pany of Rockville. Maryland, has introduced anddemonstrated an IBM Personal Computer in-terface to its computer-based comprehensivewire-transfer system, MoneyNET. MoneyNETallows corporate treasurers to initiate fundtransfers and transaction processing with theFederal Reserve Bank and correspondentbanks.

Industry Updates

THORN EMI COMPUTER SOFTWARE has ac-quired a license for the exclusive worldwidemarketing and distribution rights for all productsof Perfect Software Inc. The Berkeley-basedPerfect Software is well known for its businessapplications software, including Perfect Calc andPerfect Writer. In a related development, Thornspokespeople said that the company will pub-lish and distribute personal computer softwarefor business, entertainment, and educationbeginning in mid-1984. Thorn EMI ComputerSoftware is a $7 million start-up company anda part of the Information Technology Group ofThorn EMI pic, a London-based multinationalcorporation with annual revenues in excess of$4 billion.

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 33

Circle 52 on inquiry card.

WHY

JOHNNY

CAN!

READ

HIS

OWN

CODE

Johnny'sA GoodProgrammer,Even Brilliant,

Out-Johnny works in 8080/Z80assemblylanguage, with a conventional assembler.That can make yesterday's brilliancetoday's garble, a maze of mnemonics anda jumble of meaningless labels. Johnny'sprogram is less than self-explanatory—even for Johnny.

Johnny could read his own code if he usedSMAL/80—the superassembler—and socan you. SMAL/80 boosts your program'sclarity and your productivity by giving you:

■ Familiar algebraic notation in place ofcryptic mnemonics—"A = A-3" for example,instead of "SUI 3" (if you know BASIC orPascal, you already know SMAL/80)

■ Control structures like BEGIN... END,LOOP... REPEAT WHILE, and IF.. .THEN...ELSE... to replace tangled branches andarbitrary label names (eliminating up to 90%of labels with no overhead imposed)

■ Complete control over your processor—because SMAL/80 is a true assembler, itdoesn't reduce execution speed or burdenyour program with its own runtime routines.

SMAL/80, the assembler that handles like ahigh-level language, lets you do it right thefirst time, and lets you read and understandyour work afterward—the next day or ayear later. Users say SMAL/80 has doubledand even tripled their output of quality code.But don't take our word for it— TRY IT!

Use SMAL/80 for 30 days. If you're notcompletely satisfied with it—for any rea-son—return the package for a full refund.SPECIAL BONUS: Order before Sept. 30,1984, and get Structured MicroprocessorProgramming—a $25 book FREE!SMAL/80 for CP/M-80 systems (all CP/Mdisk formats available—please specify);produces 8080/8085 and Z80 code. Nowsupports Microsoft REL.ONLY $149.95SMAL/80 for CP/M-80 systems,8080/8085 output only. SAVE $20: $129.95NEW! SMAL/80X65—for Apple II and lie(requires Z80 card and CP/M); producesZ80 and 6502 object code. $169.95

Mastercard SMAI-/80 We pay

Visa «*■»■»»»# WW shipping on

cods CHROMOD ASSOCIATES prepaid

(201) 653-7615 orders

1030 Park Ave. Hoboken, N.J. 07030

FIXES AND UPDATES

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONALhas acquired all the assets of Sorcim Corpora-tion, makers of SuperCalc. Terms called for cashpayments totaling $17.6 million over a five-yearperiod, plus contingent payments of almost $9million. Headquarters for Computer Associatesis in Jericho, New York. Sorcim is based in Sanlose, California.

PRACTICORP INTERNATIONAL is the newname resulting from the merger of Micro Soft-ware International and Computer Software As-sociates. Both companies developed andmarketed PractiCalc and other products bear-ing the Practi- prefix for Apple. Commodore,and now IBM computers. Practicorp Interna-tional Inc. maintains corporate offices inNewton Upper Falls, Massachusetts.

TAVA CORPORATION has agreed to bundleComputer Creations' Ultimate 5-in-l with its IBMPC-compatible computer. The Ultimate is acombination package containing Z-Comelectronic-mail, dictionary, word-processing,database-management, and mail-merge abili-ties.

SOFTECH MICROSYSTEMS announced anagreement with Business Solutions to market(ack2, an integrated package with word-processing, graphics, spreadsheet, anddatabase-management capabilities. The listprice is $495.

BYTEs Bits

TDI Brings ETH Modula-2Software to Commercial Market

TDI Ltd. has signed an agreement with NiklausWirth and ETH Zurich that allows TDI to offera family of portable, modifiable Modular-based operating systems and application pro-grams derived from software created at ETH.The agreement allows TDI to license the en-hanced software to commercial users (alongwith extensive documentation and support) fora per-machine price and to educational usersat a lower per-site price. This is said to be inkeeping with TDI pricing policies that "en-courage the widest possible distribution anduse of the software."

The software line, called Liberator, promisesseveral advantages to both users and program-mers because of the company's commitmentto creating high-performance software that willrun only on 32-bit microprocessors. Its use ofModula-2 guarantees that programmers canmore easily modify software and move it toother computer systems (TDI will sell the sourcecode for all products for an additional fee). Bothoperating-system and application software willuse windows, menus, and mice; users canmodify menu descriptions, error messages, andHelp files by editing text files associated withthe program.

TDI's first major product is a Modula-2 pro-gramming environment/operating system calledMoses. Future products will include applicationprograms and more sophisticated operating

systems. TDI is serving as a clearinghouse forunsupported Modula-2-related compilers andapplication programs originally available fromETH Zurich. In a related development, TDI saidthat it will occasionally make changes or exten-sions to the Modula-2 implementations it pro-vides; the company pledges that it will onlymake changes approved by Niklaus Wirth. Formore information contact TDI Ltd., 29 AlmaVale Rd., Bristol BS8 4NJ, England; telephone(0272) 742796.

Omikron Reorganizes UnderChapter 11

On February 21, 1984, Omikron filed forbankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Federalbankruptcy laws. Omikron made a name foritself supporting CP/M products for the RadioShack TRS-80 microcomputer. Problems arosewhen a number of bugs forced a delay in amajor project while at the same time severalcompetitors entered the market.

The company continues to operate, but it hashad to cut back on services such as toll-freecustomer lines and reduce its advertisingbudget and personnel staff.

Customers with products on order or refundsdue will receive complete information shortly.Omikron has formulated a plan to meet itsobligations but must await the approval of thebankruptcy court before it can be carried out.

Omikron maintains its offices at 1127 HearstSt., Berkeley, CA 94702.

Bug Snoops Sought

Want a checkbook system for the IBM PC? Ifso, contact Computer Tax Service in InclineVillage, Nevada. For $30 you can pick up beta-test copies of a program called Money Street.

Testers will hunt for bugs, critique documen-tation, suggest improvements, and help fine-tune the product. In return, they will get the finalversion of Money Street free, a testers' newslet-ter, and discounts on future software purchases.

"We want testers to bash it, smash it, and tryto crash it." says Bob Payne of Computer TaxService. "Just to get their blood pumping, wehid a few bugs in it."

For more information, contact Computer TaxService, POB 4845, Incline Village, NV 89450,(702) 831-4300 or 832-1001.

Kraft Announces Contest Winners

Paula Boge, a 16-year old from Dubuque. Iowa,won the grand prize trip to the EPCOT Centerin Florida in the recent Kraft Kideo Game Con-test. Ms. Boge elected to take the cashequivalent of the trip, approximately $4000,and buy a computer for her family.

The Kraft Kideo Game Contest challengedstudents 18 and under to devise a concept fora nutrition-oriented computer game gearedtoward younger children. Ms. Boge's entry,called Health Habits, was awarded top spot inthe competition that featured more than 800entries from 47 states. Nibbles, the maincharacter of her game, takes children throughthe adventures and misadventures of achiev-ing good health habits.

{continued)

34 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Quadmodem.

The intelligent way to talk

to other computers.

.<*

Ordinary modems can't do what

the QuadModem can. Because

they're not as smart.

If you expect your computer tocommunicate effectively with otherintelligent systems, you can bet it'llneed an intelligent modem. That'swhere the new QuadModem fromQuadram comes in.

QuadModem connects directly toyour phone line. From there it candial a number from memory; detectincoming baud rates,- answer thephone when another modem calls;and distinguish between dial tones,busy signals, data transmissions,and human voices (remember those?).It also automatically adjusts for rotaryor Touch Tone phone systems andshows you what's happening righton your computer screen.

Even problems aren't problems.

An advanced microprocessor inQuadModem can automatically spotphone problems, and the QuadModemis fully compatible with Bell 103/212Adial up modems and the mostpopular modem brands.

QuadModem is the complete intelligentmodem: with two different versions,an internal model for IBM PC's andmost compatibles and a stand-alonefor the PC and other popular brands.Both come with full supportingdocumentation and user manuals.Plus right now, we'll include anintroductory offer from The Source™And to round it out, you can addQuadTalk. our very powerful, highlyintelligent communications softwarethat's menu-driven and very friendly.

If you expect your computer tocommunicate properly, it's got toact intelligently. It can with the newQuadModem from Quadram.

QUADRAM

m An Intelligent Systems Company

4355 International Blvd./Norcross, Ga. 30093

(404) 923-6666/TWX 810-766-4915 (QUADRAM NCRS)

INTERNATIONAL OFFICES

Interquadram Ltd. 442 Bath Road. Slough, England SL16BBTel: 6286-63865 Tlx: 847155 Aunema G Interquadram GmbHFasanenweg 7,6092 Kelsterbach. West Germany Tel: 6107-3089Tlx: 417770 Seva G Interquadram s.a.r.l. 41, Rue Ybry 92522 NeuillyTel: 758-1240 Tlx: 6308421 so Bur Chevco Computing 6581 KitimatRoad, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada L5N-2X5 Tel: 416-621-7600

i',Y QUADRAM'

IBM" PC, XT, PCjr, are registered trademarks of International

Business Machines Corporation.

'The Source is a registered trademark of Source Telecommunicating

Corporation.

©Copyright 1984 Quadram Corporation. All rights reserved.

Circle 259 on inquiry card.

UNIX™ System V from AT&Tcan help you close a sale, aswell as open up new markets.

It's another reason why goodbusiness decisions are based onUNIX System V from AT&T.

More and more of your cus-tomers will be demanding multi-user and multi-tasking systems.The benefits of UNIX System V-portability, reliability, flexibility—make it the ideal software^„«—-"'•system for this lucrative market.

In addition, AT&T Will sup-port UNIX System;V \jtth theservice, training, and documenta-tion resellers need to prosper.

More choices,more opportunities

UNIX System V is virtuallyhardware independent. So you'llbe able to,,jc6nfigure systemsusing equipment from a varietyof vendors.

You can use the flexibility ofUNIX System V as a real selling

point to customers who want toadd hardware that is compatiblewith the machines they alreadyhave.

And over the long term,UNIX System V offers continuingopportunities to upgrade andexpand your customers' systemsEnd-user flexibility translatesinto market opportunity for thereseller.

Software that sells

UNIX System V offerl

~

■Hi pBBBBBBB

another real sales opportunity inthe area of customized software.

You'll be able to sell softwarefor a wider range of configura-tions. You'll have more softwareto offer, too. Your programmerscan concentrate on developingnew packages instead of rewrit-ing old ones.

For more information, sendin the coupon for a copy of ourfree booklet, "Why GoodBusiness Decisions are Based onUNIX System V."

UNIX System V. From AT&T.From now on, considerit standard.

Circle 6 on inquiry card.

Please abnd the free booklet "Why Good BusinessDecisiorjte are Based on UNIX™ System V."Mail to: iT&T, P.O. Box 967,

Madison Square Station,

N|w York, NY 10159

Name__l|

Title \ L_

Company JL ^_

Address.City.

. State.

.Zip.

i

AT&T L!

My business jlitegory (check one):

D OEM/VAll D Software House

□ MIS/DP Mm. G General Business Mgt.

Other % _

UNIX System^censee , i_ Yes 1. No '. ] Don't

ktfttw

FIXES AND UPDATES

In all, 22 prizes were awarded by a panel ofcomputer experts, nutritionists, educators, andwhiz kids.

Multiuser System NetworkTested in Miami

An interactive multiuser computer system thatallows 45 people to participate simultaneouslyis being tested in the Miami area by AmericanSoftware Technology. The system, called Enter-net, is designed to allow users to interact witheach other and the host computer in real time.

For the test, the company has created Fazuul.an interplanetary adventure game. The playercrash-lands on Fazuul, and he or she must posequestions and analyze clues to escape. Playerscan team up to beat the game or work againstother participants. All game commands are inEnglish.

If you live in the test area and own a 300- or1200-bps modem, you can gain access to Enter-net by calling 866-8060. The host computer willverify your telephone number and billing infor-mation (MasterCard, VISA, or prepayment) andprovide instructions on how to play the game.

Call for Papers

The conference committee for the 1985 ASMEInternational Computers in Engineering Con-

ference and Exhibition has issued a call forpapers that address the theme "Expert Sys-tems: A New Dimension in Computer Engineer-ing." The venue will be the Sheraton BostonHotel, August 4-8, 1985.

Papers are solicited in all areas related to theresearch, development, and application of com-puters in mechanical engineering with a focuson expert systems, including computer-aidedmanufacturing, simulation, robotics, engineer-ing software and standards, and finite-elementtechniques. Contributions in the form of a full-length paper or an extended abstract aresought.

A November 15, 1984. deadline has been setfor the submission of abstracts. Three copiesof the finished contribution must be submittedby January 15, 1985. The date for notificationof acceptance is February 15. 1985. Contribu-tions must be submitted to the appropriatetechnical program chairperson. For a list ofnames and addresses, contact the AmericanSociety of Mechanical Engineers, 345 East 47thSt.. New York. NY 10017.

Public-Domain SoftwareSales and Rentals

Pi's Company of Vista. California, offers non-copyrighted, public-domain software in its

W

PC FORTH

IBM PC & XT,

HP-150,

Macintosh,

Apple II,

CompuPro,

Sage & CP/M-68K,

Wang PC,

All CP/M and

MSDOS computers.

~IOTi>4Lxj* i irtwL

WITH IBIi FORTH

Try the professional language offeringthe utmost performance in the shortestdevelopment time. Transport your ap-plications between any of our enhanced83-Standard compilers or expanded32-bit versions. Choose from our wideselection of programming tools includingnative code compilers, cross-compilers,math coprocessor support, and B-Treefile managers. All fully supported withhotline, updates, and newsletters.

Laboratory Microsystems Incorporated

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

original source code. Three software libraries,CP/M, SIG/M, and IBM PC, are available. Eachlibrary is a collection of volumes from a usersgroup and is made up of game, utility, and busi-ness programs. Computerists can freely copyand exchange the libraries using DigitalResearch's CP/M versions 1.4, 2.2, or 3.0 and241K-byte 8-inch single-sided single-densitylBM-3740-format drives. PC-DOS and most5!4-inch floppy-disk-drive formats are sup-ported.

The CP/M Users Group library has 92volumes, the SiG/M library offers 148, and theIBM PC library has more than 100. Additionalservices include telephone ordering and auto-matic updates.

The complete CP/M library can be rented for$45. The SIG/M library rents for S75. and theIBM PC library rents for $99.50. Add $7.50 forshipping, handling, and insurance. The rentalterm is seven days after receipt, with a three-day grace period for return. For more informa-tion, contact P.J.'s Co., 1062 Taylor St., Vista. CA92083. (619) 941-0925.

BYTEs Bugs

Misplaced Lines

Dr. Antonio Salvadori. associate professor ofphysical science at the University of Guelph inCanada, spotted a bug in Stephen Bourne's ar-ticle "The Unix Shell" (October 1983. page 187).The five lines on page 190 in the third columnthat begin "is an append command. ..," shouldbe replaced with the following: "is the Shell pro-gram called temporarily to execute a file. Fileshave three independent attributes—read, write,and execute. If wg is executable, then. .."

Sieve of EratosthenesAlgorithm Defended

A BYTE reader wrote us expressing his confu-sion over the validity of the Sieve of Eratos-thenes algorithm that accompanied lacquesBensimon's March article "STSC APL*PLUS andIBM PC APL: Two APLs for the IBM PC" (page246). Specifically, the reader became befuddledwith Mr. Bensimon's BASIC prime-number-generating program (listing 2b, page 254), whichproduces an answer of " 1899 PRIMES' whenin fact there are only 1028 primes between 2and 8191."

"The problem with this . . . program," thereader wrote, "seems to be a faulty method forincorporating a sure and certain speed-up ofthe standard' sieve: after discarding all multi-ples of 2, ... one only has to eliminate the oddmultiples of 3, 5, 7, 11, etc... . After spendinga lot of time unsuccessfully trying to accomplishthis using only one FOR.. .NEXT loop, 1 havecome to believe that the most efficient way toobtain this speed-up is to eliminate all oddmultiples of 2, 3, 5, etc.. in a first pass. Whatremains is either prime or a power of 2. A sec-ond pass to eliminate 4, 8. 16, 32, etc., leavesonly the primes. My Turbo Pascal version of thisruns 10 iterations in about 13.5 seconds."

We sent a copy of the letter to lacques Ben-

[continued)

38 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 175 on inquiry card.

People who buy UDS modemsaren't playing games!

You can often judge a personal computer user bythe hardware he selects. If the modem comesfrom UDS, chances are he has a serious invest-ment in computer and software, a serious datacommunications requirement and serious com-puter-based decisions to make.

UDS modems offer true pro-quality perfor-mance to the serious microcomputer owner. Datarates range from 0 to 9600bps. Depending ondata rate, synchronous and asynchronousmodels may be selected for half- or full-duplexcommunications. Their prices put them withineasy reach of the serious user.

If data communication has progressed beyondthe game-playing stage in your microcomputersystem, it's time to investigate UDS. The efficiency,reliability and potential for faster data transfer canadd real professional capability. Contact UniversalData Systems, 5000 Bradford Drive, Huntsville, AL35805. Telephone 205/837-8100; TWX 810-726-2100.

Universal Data Systems

AA,: MOTOROLA INC.hformatfon Systems Group

Circle 314 on inquiry card.

(Formerly Warehouse Software)

Call for programs not listed.

Technical & Other Information (602) 246-2222

TOLL-FREE ORDER LINE 1-(800) 421-3135

Call for programs not listed.

DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Dbase II and Obase III Call

Fox and Geller Quickcode $159

Knowledgeman $275

Condor III $330

NWA Statpak $350

Tim IV $249

Infostar $255

PFS File $95

FRIDAY $175

Personal Pearl $145

Fast Facts for IBM PC $135

RBase 4000 $285

WORD PROCESSING

Wordstar, Mail Merge, Correct

Star, Star Index $345

Wordstar $235

Mail Merge or Correct Star $130

Microsoft Word With Mouse $295

Word Perfect $295

Volkswriter for the IBM PC $110

Volkswriter DeLuxe $175

Aspen Spellchecker $36

Metasoft Benchmark $265

Multimate $275

Peachtext 5000 $195

SPREADSHEETS

Calcstar $89

Supercalc II $159

Supercalc III $199

Microsoft Multiplan $139

!TK Solver $289

ACCOUNTING

TCS. equivalent of Peachtree - Speciallyaugmented by Warehouse Software.Customized for your IBM PC Terminaland Printer - GL, AR, PA, AP, CP/M-80,CP/M-86 for PC XT, DOS 1.1, 2.0.Each Module . .. $75For All Four $275

CYMA CALL

Dollars & $ence $115

MBSI Real World, GL, PA, AP, AREach Module $350

TRANSFER PROGRAMS

Move-it $85

Microstuff Crosstalk $105

BEST PRICE IN U.S.FOR IBM PC OR CLONES

Multifunction Board - Includes AsyncAdapter, Parallel Adapter, Clock withbattery back-up and Software, 64Kmemory expandable to 512K. 1 yearwarranty $249

LANGUAGES

Lifeboat Lattice C Compiler $295

Microsoft C Compiler $315

Microsoft Pascal Compiler $215

Microsoft Basic Compiler $245

Microsoft Basic Language $235

CBASIC 86 for IBM PC $135

FOR PC DOS

Norton Utilities $55

Copy II PC $34

Prokey V3.0 $89

Harvard Project Manager $265

Microsoft Flight Simulator $38

HARDWARE

Hayes 1200 Modem $495

Hayes 1200b Modem for IBM PC .. .$425

Internal Model for IBM PC $285

Anchor Signalman 1200baud Modem.$285

MPI 360K Disk Drives $185

CDC 360K Disk Drives $215

1/2 Height Panasonic Drives D/S D/DS18510 MB internal hard drive for IBM PC $99510MB external hard drive

for IBM PC $1095

Princeton RGB monitor $479

COMPUTERS

Corona or Zenith ComputerPortable or Desk Top Call

BOARDS FOR THE IBM PCOR LOOKALIKES

Quadram Color I $199

Quadram Color II $245

256K Sigma Ram Board $299

Maynard Sandstar Controller $195

STB Graphics Boards $285

Sigma Disk Controller $185

PRINTERS

Bluechip M120/0 $249

Gemini 10X $269

Gemini 15X $369

Okidata 82A Call

Okidata 83A Call

Okidata 84P $949

Okidata 92P $425

Okidata 93P $639

Juki 6100 $420

Call on all Epson Models

Daisywriter 2000 $1030

Silver-Reed Call

Diablo 620 Call

Diablo 630 Call

NEC 3550 Call

TERMS: Prices include 3% cash discount. Add 3%forcharge orders. Shipping on most items $5.00. AZorders +6% Sales Tax. Prices subject to change.

FIXES AND UPDATES

simon, who responded by telling us ". . . theSieve of Eratosthenes it certainly is!" Accordingto Mr. Bensimon, the figure 1899 is the correctnumber of primes between 3 and 16,383 (i.e..2 x 8191 + 1). The algorithm avoids evennumbers entirely because it operates on flagvector F of 8191 elements, which represent allodd numbers between 3 and 16.383. Thevariable P steps through the 1899 distinct primevalues during execution.

Tiger and Dragon

Mixed with Wrong Formula

Dan Rollins's article "A Tiger Meets a Dragon"(December 1983, page 457) motivated MexicoCity's Ruben Chaves Misrahi to write a Pascalprogram to graph dragons of different orderson his Apple lie. In the process, Mr. Misrahidiscovered a bug that has a solution that maynot be obvious.

Mr. Rollins's generalized dragon formula in thelast column on page 459 is incorrect. Accordingto Mr. Misrahi, the correct formula is

TOLL-FREE ORDER LINE 1-(800)-421-3135

WAREHOUSE DATA PRODUCTS

2701 West Glendale Ave., Suite 6

Phoenix, AZ 85021

S(n) - S(n'l) + d„ + S(n - l)

using S(O) = 0 null < sequence >

In a letter to us confirming this bug and itscorrection, Mr. Rollins notes that many of hisarticle's readers failed to realize that the Gen-dragon program (listing I, page 460) does nothave to be used with the plotter emulator(listing 2, page 475). In addition, if you replacethe GOSUB 1500 in line 550 with PSET (X,Y),you can transport the program to manymachines. Mr. Rollins also reports that anorder-ll dragon curve can be displayed directlyon an IBM PC's monitor and printed out witha graphics screen-dump program.

Important BiographicalInfo Omitted

We inadvertently left out some importantbiographical information about Scot Kamins,the author of "Macintosh BASIC" (April, page318). Mr. Kamins coauthored with Mitch WaiteApple Blackjack: Humanized Programming in BASIC(McGraw-Hill/BYTE Books, 1982). He has writ-ten a number of manuals for Apple ComputerInc., including the Applesoft Programmers ReferenceManual and the Macintosh BASIC Reference Manual

Mr. Kamins is currently writing a series ofbooks on Macintosh BASIC that is to be pub-lished in the fall. He is a senior technical writerfor Technology Translated Inc. (1047 Sutter St.,San Francisco, CA 94109), a technical writingconcern.

We apologize for our mistake.

Greater Memory Expansion

You can expand the RAM of Digital EquipmentCorporation's Rainbow 100B by 768K bytes (fora total of 896K bytes), not to 768K bytes as weerroneously reported (June What's New, page50). We apologize for the error.

It comes with 128K bytes of RAM, a pair of400K-byte 514-inch floppy-disk drives, and dualZ80 and 8088 processors. Without a keyboardor monitor but with CP/M-80, CP/M-86 version2.00, and MS-DOS version 2.05, it costs$2750. ■

40 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

C COMPILERS FORPC DOS MS DOS CP/M-86 CP/M-80 APPLE //, lie, lieCOMMODORE 64 RADIO SHACK and MACINTOSH

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

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AZTEC C68K for MACINTOSHVAX cross compilers

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

AZTEC C II

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

Compile & link on HOST—test on TARGET machineHOSTS: UNIX, PC DOS, CP/M-86, CP/M-80, VENIX, PCIX, APPLETARGETS: PC DOS, CP/M-86, CP/M-80, APPLE, RADIO SHACK,

COMMODORE 64, other hosts and targets available

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AZTEC C86 C COMPILER

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PC DOS MSDOS

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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 tax.

Circle 190 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 41

«p, ^

Weve made it

possible for you to

work with some

unusual computer

characters

Not long ago, a group of engineers here at Digital Research hada genuine brainstorm.

Introducing VidLink.™ The software-video technology that willliterally revolutionize the way you see your computer.

Using a cable that connects a Pioneer®LD-700 Laser-Disc Playerto your Commodore 64™ (and soon an IBM®PC or Apple®II), VidLinklets you key up visual information from virtually any videodisc. With

IBM is a registered trademark of Internatonal Business Machines Corporation. Commodore 64 is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines Inc. Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc. Pioneer LD-700 Laser-Disc player isa trademark of Pioneer Video Inc a wholly owned subsidiary of Pwieer Electronics, Tokyo, Japan. VidLink is a trademark of Digital Research Inc. ©1984 Digital Research Inc All nghts reserved. 'Price subject to tax, shipping and handling.

42 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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everything from NFL Videodiscs to a trivia quiz disc like Maze Mania.

Imagine. Playing games with interactive discs like Murder;Anyone?, Apollo 17: Mission to TaurusLittrow or The National Galleryof Art. You'll even be free to create your own challenges. VidLinklets you invent your own games or programs to work with a widerange of existing videodiscs.

Imagine. The ability to re-program sequences on a videodisc.The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Hooking the computer revolution to the video revolution is a snap.A VidLink connector cable and cassette-based or floppy softwarerunning on your computer is all it takes. And instructions are simpleand fully documented.

But perhaps the most unexpectedfeature is the price. Just $49.00* givesyou VidLink, one of the many visions wesee in the future of computer-video.

VidLink is only available directfrom Digital Research, lb order yours,and titles like Murder, Anyone?, MazeMania or First National Kiddisc, justhave your American Express,® Visa®orMasterCard®ready Then pick up yourold-fashioned phone and enter thesefamiliar characters: 1-800-227-6703, orin California: 1-800-632-7979.

Ho] DIGITALRESEARCH

We make computers work."

NFL SymFunny/Legendsofthe Fall Videodisc © 1981 courtesy of NFL Films Video Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. The National Gallery of Art Videodisc ©1983 courtesy of Videodisc Publishing Inc. New York New YorkSpace Archive Volume 2 Apollo 17; Mission to Taurus Littrow Videodisc ©1984 courtesy of Video Vision Associates Ltd. Madson, New Jersey. Murder, Anyone'Vdeodsc ©1983 courtesy of Vidmax, Inc Cincinnati Ohb.

Circle 102 on inquiry card. AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 43

WHAT'S NEW

Compaq Transportable Computers Get Stay-at-Home Brothers

Compaq Computer Corpora-tion has expanded its prod-uct line to include four desktopmachines based on a full 16-bit8086 processor with a clockspeed of 7.14 MHz. The newmachines can use all softwareand hardware for the IBM PCand PC XT. the company says.

Because some telecommunica-tions software and games willnot run properly at the 7.14-MHz speed (the IBM's 8088runs at 4.7 MHz), the clock canbe slowed from the keyboard orby instructions in software. AnLED on the front of the systemunit indicates what speed theprocessor is operating at.

The entry-level machine in theDeskpro line is the Model 1.This S2495 machine has asingle floppy-disk drive and128K bytes of RAM. The Model2. at $2995. has two floppy-diskdrives and 2 56K bytes of RAM.The $4995 Model 3 has 2 56Kbytes of RAM. one floppy-diskdrive, one 10-megabyte Win-chester-disk drive, and a serial/clock card. The top-of-the-lineModel 4 costs $7195 and has640K bytes of RAM. one floppy-disk drive, one 10-megabyteWinchester-disk drive, one10-megabyte cartridge-tapedrive for Winchester backup,and a serial/clock card. Allmodels include a 12-inch greenor amber monitor, an interfacefor an RGB color monitor, and aparallel printer port.

All models can accommodateup to 640K bytes of RAM onthe main system board and sup-port four half-height mass-storage devices in the systemunit. These include combina-tions of up to two 360K-bytefloppy-disk drives (controlled byone card, which also can con-trol a tape-cartridge drive), two10-megabyte Winchester-diskdrives (controlled by one card),and one 10-megabyte tape-cartridge drive for Winchesterbackup. Technology developedfor the Compaq Plus transport-able with a Winchester drive isused to shock-mount all mass-storage devices in the Deskpro

series. A 200-watt, 3-amp powersupply is standard and can sup-port any combination of inter-nal mass-storage devices.

All models have eight expan-sion slots, seven full-length andone short. The floppy-disk con-troller (with parallel printer port)occupies one slot in all con-figurations, as does the videoboard. Models with hard-diskdrives add the serial/clock cardin the short slot and the Win-chester controller in a long slot.This leaves five long slots andone short slot open in floppy-disk configurations and fourlong slots open in hard-diskunits.

The display features autoswitching between text andgraphics on the same monitor.In alpha mode, the monitor hasa 9- by 14-dot character matrixand overall resolution of 720 by3 50 pixels. The alpha/graphicsmode drops to a charactermatrix of 8 by 8 dots for a stan-dard 80-character by 2 5-linescreen or a 16 by 8 matrix for a40-character by 2 5-line screen;resolution overall is 640 by 200pixels monochrome or 320 by200 in four colors or gray levels(each pixel requires 2 bits).

The IBM PC keyboard layoutis used, but LEDs have beenadded to the Cap-Lock andNum-Lock keys. A 10-charactertype-ahead buffer is provided.

The tape system uses 8 tracksin a serpentine pattern with 59tracks per inch and 158 blocksper track. Recording density is6400 bits per inch encodedusing MFM method. Datatransfer rate is 2 50K bits persecond.

Software, except for adiagnostics disk, is not bundled.Compaq's MS-DOS 2.11 andBASIC cost $60. A tilt-and-swivelstand for the monitor is $50.and a small platform to allowstoring the keyboard under thesystem unit is $50.

For more information, contactCompaq Computer Corp., 20333FM 149, Houston. TX 77070.(713) 370-7040.Circle 600 on inquiry card.

Low-Cost Plotter Produces Four Colors

Sharp Electronics has set a$399 suggested retail pricefor its CE-515P four-color plot-ter. The CE-515P uses black,blue, green, and red pens thatcan be programmed to changeautomatically. The minimumshifting width of the ball pens is0.2 mm. The size of an alpha-numeric character when pro-duced in the four-step by six-

step mode is 0.8 mm wide by1.2 mm tall. It can handle paperup to 8'/2 inches wide and ploton postcard-sized documents.Roll-feed paper and transpar-ency sheets can be used.

Both EIA standard RS-232Cserial and Centronics-typeparallel interfaces are built intothe CE-515P. The plotter can bedriven by most microcomputers

that use BASIC, such as theApple. Other built-in features in-clude circle, paint, and axiscommands.

Softkey's Keychart is bundledwith the CE-515P. Keychart,which provides IBM PC com-patibility, is a presentationgraphics product. It uses amenu-driven fill-in-the-blank for-mat to produce a variety of

multisized charts.

Sharp is working with anumber of software houses tomake a substantial softwarebase for the CE-515P. ContactSharp Electronics Corp..Systems Division, 10 SharpPlaza, Paramus, N| 07652. (201)265-5600.Circle 601 on inquiry card.

[continued)

44 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

The automatic transmissionwith a $250 differential.

What a way to travel! The Password" modem isgeared to transmit up to 120 characters a secondfrom anywhere to anywhere else in the country atthe push of a button. Adjusts automatically to anyspeed —moving at a high of 1200 baud, ordown-shifting all the way to 300 baud.Totally compatible, it lets any micro-computer phone-communicate withany other microcomputer. Easilyportable, it parks almost any-where thanks to the convenienceof Velcro™ strips. -*-"

The Password modem turns ,^

out text ten times faster than f,

an expert typist —sends thou-sands of words by phone forless than express mail. Andour automatic transmission

comes through in the clutch by automaticallydialing or answering your calls. Now look at thesticker price! At $449, we're about $250 less thanthe best-known modem. A very sizeable differ-ence. Especially considering that both send andreceive at the same speeds, and both carrya two-year limited warranty.

The Password modem. High per-formance at a compact price.

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PASSWORD

by U.S. Robotics, Inc.

M

1123 W. WashingtonChicago. IL 60607Phone: (312) 733-0497

For a poster size reprint of this ad, send $3.00 to U.S. Robotics, inc.

Circle 310 on inquiry card

WHAT'S NEW

MS-DOS Portable, Pivot Has Modem, Drive Built In

Pivot, a portable 16-bit com-puter from Morrow, com-bines a modem, clock, calcula-tor, and 5W-inch floppy-diskdrive in a 9-pound package. It'savailable in three I28K-byte ver-sions, with prices starting at lessthan $2500.

Pivot uses Microsoft's MS-DOS2.0 operating system, which pro-vides access to hundreds ofbusiness applications. It's basedon the CMOS 80C86 micropro-cessor and comes with a 16-lineby 80-character. high-resolutionLCD display.

The battery-backed real-timeclock/calendar is accessed by

the clock icon on the Pivot'skeyboard, which has 63 pro-grammable keys, 10 functionkeys, and a 22-key calculatoroverlay. If you need to know thetime in lapan, you can get thecorrect time there by locating iton the world map Pivot candisplay. The four-function cal-culator will accept up to 2 56entries of 16 digits each, and itautomatically inserts decimalpoints and commas.

The built-in modem operatesat 300 bps under AT&T 103 pro-tocol. ROM-based software letsPivot emulate a dumb terminalfor data communications with

electronic services. You can exitan applications program, accessa database, and insert retrieveddata into the application. Withcommunications software, youcan have a full-duplex modemwith auto-answer and auto-dialfeatures for both tone androtary-pulse dialing.

All versions of Pivot run on12-volt DC power. An optionalrechargeable 1.5-pound VCRnicad battery provides up tofive hours of additional power.The battery module fits insidePivot and costs $50. Pivotmeasures 13 by 13 inches whenopen. When shut, it measures13 by 5.6 by 9.5 inches.

The Pivot family includes oneor two double-sided, double-density 5!4-inch floppy-diskdrives using nine-sectored IBMPC format with memory capaci-ties of up to 512K bytes andbit-mapped graphics with 480-by 128-pixel resolution. Theyhave three interface ports: aparallel port that mimics IBMPC I/O. an RS-232C serial portwith programmable data ratesfrom 300 to 19,200 bps. asyn-chronous or synchronous, andan R)UC port to connect themodem to standard telephonelines. For complete details, con-tact Morrow Inc., 600 McCor-mick St.. San Leandro, CA94577. (415) 430-1970.Circle 602 on inquiry card.

10-Net: IBM PC Network

Fox Research markets a kit ofhardware, software, andutilities for linking IBM PersonalComputers into a high-speedlocal-area network. With 10-Netusers can share applications,files, storage devices, andprinters. 10-Net costs $695 peruser.

10-Net does not require adedicated file server. It workswith twisted-pair cabling andoperates at I million bps.10-Net extends up to 3000 feet,and repeaters increase its rangeto I mile. It's Ethernet-com-patible with regard to messageformatting and addressing.Record locking and several

levels of password security en-sure file and data integrity. Net-work utilities provide a calendarand electronic mail.

As a complement to 10-Net.Fox Research has released anetwork version of its 10-Baserelational database-managementsystem. 10-Base permits single-query access to multiple files,and it places no restrictions onthe number of files that can becreated. A bridge feature letsyou exchange information withmore than 100 popular micro-computer programs, and aforms manager lets you designcustom screens and forms.

The network version lets you

set up a distributed database.With the assistance of a systemconfiguration table, you canlocate 10-Base's data dictionary,files, and other resources any-where within the network. Its ar-chitecture provides for 65-character path names.

Minimum system requirementsare an IBM PC. PC XT. or com-patible. PC-DOS 2.0 or later,I28K bytes of RAM. and a diskdrive. The network version of10-Base is $895 per networksystem. Additional manuals are$75. Contact Fox Research Inc..7005 Corporate Way, Dayton.OH 45459. (513) 433-2238.Circle 604 on inquiry card.

Five ProgramsConstitute Enable

Enable for the IBM PC com-prises five integratedsoftware modules: word pro-cessing, spreadsheet, graphics.database management, andtelecommunications. You cangenerate a graph from thespreadsheet, then insert thegraph and spreadsheet in textand print the whole package.You can select information forthe database using Enablesquery language and insert itanywhere without worrybecause Enable automaticallyexpands the column length andmodifies formulas.

It uses a master controlmodule (MCM) that supervisesthe activities of each moduleand serves as the sole interfacebetween you and the modules.It has a consistent set of com-mands. English-language menuswith explanatory messages areavailable in each module. Menuoptions can be selected withthe cursor or a keystroke. Ex-pert commands that bypass themenus are available.

Enable lets you run one ap-plication, one communications,and one printing program con-currently. Its macro facility canrecord keystrokes and com-mands as they are executed.You can edit stored commandswith the word processor.

Enable provides up to eightseparate windows that you cansize, shape, overlap, or zoom tofull-screen length. Data can becut and pasted from window towindow with a minimum of key-strokes. Files created by suchprograms as dBASE II. Lotus1-2-3, WordStar, VisiCalc,EasyWriter I. and Volkswriter canbe used without rekeying orconversion. Enable can createfiles in the proper format foreach of these programs.

Two disk drives and 192Kbytes of memory are required.It lists for $695. For full detailson the word processor's editingfeatures or the seven graphtypes of the graphics module,contact The Software Group,Northway Ten Executive Park.Ballston Lake. NY 12019. (518)877-8600.Circle 603 on inquiry card.

(continued)

46 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 302 on inquiry card. —►•

Our Family Tree Is Growing Again

A two user multiprocessing

(4 or 6 MHz), 2 serial ports, 64K RAM,and 2K FIFO butter for each user! Acost effective way to add users tovour multiprocessing system.

HD/CTC A hard disk andcartridge tape controllercombined together on oneboard! AZ-80CPU (4 or 6MHz); 16KROM,andup to 8K RAM provideintelligence required torelieve disk I/O burden -from host systemCPU. Round out yourmulti-processing systemwith an integratedmass storage/backupcontroller.

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SBC-1 A multiprocessingslave board computer withZ-80CPU (4 or 6 MHz),2 serial ports, 2 parallel ports,and up to 128K RAM. Providesunique 2K FIFO buffering forsystem block data transfers.When used with TurboDOS orMDZ/OS the results arephenomenal!

Systemaster

complete single-usersystem or as the

processing networkenvironment.Complete withZ-80ACPU,

MM

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lei ports, tloppyroller, DMA, realne c lock, RAM drivedisk emulationpackage, andTeletek's advancedCP/M BIOS orTurboDOS.

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CA9S8 58 (916)920-4600 Telex #49918.«

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WHAT'S NEW

Preprogrammed Hero

Heath's preprogrammedpersonal robot. Hero Jr.,roams, explores, sings, andspeaks English. It'll wake you inthe morning (a 10-minutesnooze period is built-in), playgames, and guard your housewith an optional securitysystem. A Motorola 146818CMOS 100-year calendar/clockprovides the date, day of week,and time, and it adjustsitself for biannual timechanges.

Hero Jr. trundles about ran-domly on its three wheels, anda wireless remote control letsyou drive it around. For soundsensing, it has a 2 56-bit resolu-tion sound sensor with adjust-able range and a 200- to5000-Hz bandwidth. A 2 56-bitresolution light sensor with ad-justable range and a 2 5-degreereception angle is provided. Itsultrasonic sonar can accuratelymeasure distances from 4inches to about 2 5 feet. Speechsynthesis equipment includes aVotrax SC-01, with 4 pitch levelsand 64 phonemes.

It can carry up to 10 poundson a 94-cubic-inch compart-ment. A 17-key keypad lets youmodify its personality or initiatea special task. Eight data LEDsflash in time with its speech orindicate sound levels when itlistens. Rear connectors include

a charger jack, on/off switch,sleep switch, and an RS-232Cinterface.

The operation of Hero Ir.'spersonality traits can be in-creased or decreased throughsoftware. A Hero |r. BASIC car-tridge permits programmingthrough its RS-232C port. Addi-tional preprogrammed game/entertainment cartridges will beavailable.

Hero Ir. uses a Motorola 6808microprocessor. It has 32Kbytes of monitor ROM, 8K bytesof RAM, and provisions for upto 16K bytes of ROM or RAMas well as for 4K or 8K bytes ofplug-in ROM cartridges. It's builtwith three circuit boards: micro-processor, power supply/sense,and keyboard. Two Motorola6821 parallel interface adaptersare incorporated into its design.

For steering, it uses a180-degree rotation, stepper-type motor, and a 12-volt DCmotor for the drive. It'spowered by two 6-volt. re-chargeable lead/acid gelled-electrolyte batteries; two op-tional cells double operatingtime. It stands 19 inches tall andweighs 21.4 pounds.

Hero )r. costs approximately$1000. Contact Heath Co., Dept.150-375, Hilltop Rd., BentonHarbor, MI 49022.Circle 605 on inquiry card.

Input Console Eliminates Rote Commands

Polytel Computer Products'Keyport 300 is a 300-keyprogrammable input device forthe home, office, and school.Available for the Apple II series,the Commodore 64, and theIBM PC or PC XT, Keyport usesinterchangeable overlays knownas Keyware. These overlaysorganize the commands associ-ated with, for instance, aspreadsheet in such a fashionthat anyone, regardless of com-puter expertise, can use theprogram immediately. The needto learn a command language iseliminated.

With the Keyware overlays.Keyport translates commandsinto languages the computerunderstands. It uses single

48 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

keystrokes, and the commandoutlines are written in plainEnglish.

A library of preprogrammedKeyware overlays for spread-sheet, word-processing, and in-tegrated programs is available.You can create custom overlaysusing Keyport's programmablekeys.

Keyport 300 uses a membranekeyboard; it has no integratedcircuits or moving parts. Itmeasures 9!4 by 12% inches. Touse this system, you plug Key-port into the computer, load aKeyware disk, fit the programoverlay onto Keyport, and beginprogramming.

A larger version of Keyport.the 717, which features 717 pro-

grammable keys, is available forthe Apple only.

An Executive Keyport 300package, complete with word-processing, spreadsheet, and

graphics demonstration overlays,is available for $299. TheKeyport 717 with educationalsoftware begins at $179. Con-tact Polytel Computer ProductsCorp., Suite 310, 12 50 OakmeadParkway, Sunnyvale, CA 94086,(408) 730-1347.Circle 606 on inquiry card.

[continued]

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INPUT/OUTPUT TECHNOLOGY, INC.

25327 Avenue Stanford, Unit 113, Valencia, CA 91355 • [805] S57-1000

Uncompromising Additions to your S-1QO/IEEE-B96 BUS

DUAL GPIB-488 INTERFACEBOARD

A Stand-Alone, Independently ControlledDual Channel IEEE-4BB I/O Processor. In-terface Activity Modes for Controller-in-Charge, Controller Assigned on TerminalBus Slave, and all Interface Functions arehandled transparent to Host System CPUthrough an on-board CPU and DMA con-troller. User Friendly operation.

AST, P/N 5S748-80Q-10S

ROB COLOR GRAPHICS BOARD

Programmable resolution up to 512 x 512pixels with A local video planes and on-boerdgraphics processor. Color mapper allows 16colors from a palette of 409B. Light peninput. Plus more ...AST, P/N 5E74B-300-1Q1

12-BIT A-D-A CONVERTERBOARD

S Channel A-O: 12 microsec. Conversion,5DKHz Sample Rate, ProgrammableGains, Offset and Diff./Single Modes.S Channel D-A: 2 microsec. Settling,Bipolar V or Unipolar I Dutput. Program-mable Reference levels, Dual-Ported Chan-nel Refresh RAM. 16/B-Bit DataTransfers via I/O or Memory MappedAST, P/N 55748-900-101

BAR CODE PROCESSOR BOARD

The BarTender is a stand-alone I/O Pro-cessor that reads and prints most commonBar Codes. Includes bi-directional reading,wand interface, clock/calendar with batteryExtensive documentation and software,A&T.52748-500-101 Without WandA£T,5S748-500-201 With Wand

PERIPHERAL SUPPORTBOARD

Two Serial SYNC/ASYNC Ports withRS-232, TTL or Current Loop Outputs,three B-Bit Parallel Ports, three Timers,Real Time Clock/Calendar and ResponseProgrammable Interrupt Controller. SmallProto Area with +5 and ±12v.

AST, P/N 5S748-15Q-1Q1

i

MULTI-PURPOSEPROTOTYPING KIT

Industrial Quality with Plated-Thru holes forWire-Wrap or Solder projects. Completewith +5, ± 12v Regulators, Bus Bar, FilterCapacitors, and Manual.

P/N 58748-450

Circle 157 on inquiry card J

ALSO AVAILABLE: MULTI-FUNCTION I/O BOARD, SMART PROTOTYPING KIT, 1S8KxB/64Kx1G STATIC RAM MODULE

=ECIFICATONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

WHAT'S NEW

SagePaint Drawing Program

SagePaint is a color-graphicsdrawing program from SageComputer.

Written in UCSD Pascal, itruns on a Sage II or IV com-puter enhanced by the Plutographics subsystem. The pro-gram uses a three-button mouseto draw eight-color graphics in288- by 568-pixel resolution.Using the metaphor of pen andink, the user can mix fore-ground and background colorsto create a wider variety of

Photo 1: SagePaint's color mixingpalette. On the left-hand side of thescreen, you can select functions fromthe icon menu.

"paints" than the eight purecolors that are supplied.

The user can select functionsfrom a menu of graphic iconsdisplayed on screen. The pro-gram can draw brush strokesand thin lines, erase, fill anenclosed area, copy and modifyrectangular areas of graphics,and enter text in one size.

SagePaint's price was notavailable at press date but wasestimated to be about S400 forthe program itself and $1000for the source code.

For further information, directyour inquiries to Sage Com-puter, 4905 Energy Way, Reno.NV 89502, (702) 322-6868.Circle 607 on inquiry card.

Portable Drive forNotebook Computers

The Bullet, a mass-storagesystem for such notebookcomputers as the Radio ShackTRS-80 Model 100, the OlivettiM-10. and the NEC 8201. is pro-duced and manufactured byHolmes Engineering. It plugsdirectly into the computer'sRS-232C port and operatesusing menu-driven commandsfrom the computer. Power isdrawn from rechargeable bat-teries or from a batterycharger/power transformer.

The Bullet uses thin wafer-typetape cassettes; each can storeup to 64K bytes of data on itscontinuous loop. A ROM-basedoperating system gives theBullet a rapid load/saveresponse time: for example, alOK-byte file can be saved andverified in about 40 seconds.It's housed in a cabinet thatcomplements the Model 100scolor. The 3'/4-pound Bulletmeasures 8 inches wide, 5Winches deep, and 2Vi incheshigh. With cables, wafer tape,manual, and battery charger/power transformer, the Bullet is$369.95. Contact Holmes Engi-neering Inc., 5175 Green PineDr., Salt Lake City, UT 84107.(801) 261-5652.Circle 608 on inquiry card.

Intelligent Copier/Printer Uses 68000

The K-2 intelligent copier/printer from Kentek Infor-mation Systems has the abilityto merge multiple fonts, custom-ized logograms and signatures,and business graphics. It useselectrophotographic technologyand is designed to print letter-quality text and graphics fromvirtually any host micro-computer.

Its on-board intelligencecenters around a MotorolaMC68000 microprocessor, sup-ported by a 514-inch floppydisk. It can perform a variety ofprogram control functions rang-ing from the selection of pagesizes, print orientation, andfonts to the generation of highlycomplex vector graphics suchas computer-aided designs,statistical symbols, line draw-ings, and technical diagrams.

The data stream of text andgraphics can be fed from yourcomputer to the K-2's on-boardcontroller. In turn, the controllercomputes the corresponding all-points-addressable bit-map pat-tern for transfer to the LED ar-ray printing head, which isfocused on an organic photo-conductor belt. It yields a 240-by 240-pixel-per-inch image at arate of 12 pages per minute.

The print engine uses a two-component dry toner that isheat and pressure fused.

Two paper cassettes are avail-able to feed 16- to 64-poundbond, letterhead, transparencies,pressure-sensitive labels, per-forated sheets, and envelopes.Paper sizes range from 5Vi by8!^ inches to 8/2 by 14 inches.Envelope sizes are 8M by 4K8inches to 6Vi by Vh inches.

The K-2 supports charactervariables, including line densityin standard text of 5, 5.33, 6, 8.and 24 lines per inch. Linespacing is available in single,double, triple, half, and one anda half. Character pitches include10, 12, and 15 with or without

proportional spacing. All charac-ters can be rotated.

Font selection and manage-ment is controlled by the hostcomputer and limited only bythe capacity of the floppy disk.Disks are capable of storingmore than 30 fonts of 154 char-acters each.

Connections are througheither an RS-232C or an RS-422port. The K-2 supports threeasynchronous protocols at con-current levels. Pricing begins atless than $10,000. ContactKentek Information Systems Inc.,Six Pearl Court. Allendale, NJ07401, (201) 82 5-8500.Circle 609 on inquiry card.

(continued on page 431)

50 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

'Heaven Knows How I'd Keep Track of My Flockithotit Infoscope."

Before we got Infoscope, I frankly didn't know what to do with our church'spersonal computer. Now I don't know what I'd do without it. Infoscope lets me putvirtually anything in our computer, and take anything out in whatever form I need.I can see how a business could use data management like that. But my "business"is my congregation — and I never knew my congregation so well before.

Wait till you see what we get out of Infoscope ...

"Our Computer Never DidSo Much Before."

I've got every church member inhere. Names. Addresses. Children.Anniversaries. Pledges. Special needs.Volunteer projects. Infoscope makes iteasy to enter information. If I make amistake (no man is perfect), Infoscopesuggests an alternative.

If I misspell a word, Infoscopesuggests the right spelling. Politely, Imight add. None of this SYNTAXERROR business. I don't needscolding.

I Forget Anniversaries. InfoscopeDoesn't.

Once I've entered the data, I just askInfoscope to pull out all anniversariesof our members for, say, January.Before I can blink my eyes, I've got it.I remember birthdays the same way.My congregation thinks it's wonder-ful, the kind of memory I have. It'shard to believe that pastors used tokeep all this in their heads. Or, forgiveme, but maybe they didn't...

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Anytime you want to comparedata, Infoscope lets you createwindows.

' f= Infoscope for the IBM Personal Co«futer / serial 1

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I can see our pledge list in onewindow, and

contributions in another. The onlything Infoscope doesn't know is thatBill Martin is late paying his pledgebecause Sue has been sick. That's mydepartment.

52 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

I Can Create a Window forEverything.

For example, Vacation BibleSchool. In one window, I pull out anddisplay all the volunteer teachers. Inanother, I scroll through last year'sstudents. In another, all the classprojects.

And so on. I can make eachwindow as large as I want, and put itanywhere on the screen I want.

At Last, Our Computer PerformsMiracles.

It just took the right program. WithInfoscope, we can enter data ... sort it

IMICROSTUFI

... compare it in expanding movablewindows ... even pull out data from alarger data base. No software ever didso much to make a microcomputer sovaluable. I swear by — well, I ap-preciate very much what it does forme.

* Infoscope operates on data inRAM, so it's 4 to 100 times fasterthan other informationa. management programs For a

demonstration, see your retailer.Or, write for details:

1000 Holcomb Woods Parkway / Roswell, Georgia 30076

Circle 212 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 53

ASK BYTE

Conducted by Steve CiarciaTI Keyboardt for<IBM PC?

Dear Steve.

Having seen the Texas Instruments PC key-board (November 1983 BYTE, page 232) andowning an IBM PC I feel as Bobbi Bullard does,that TI "started out right" in designing itskeyboard. Is it possible to convert the TI PCkeyboard to work with the IBM PC? If it is pos-sible, what would be involved in the conversion?Will MadisonAnchorage, AK

While it is probably possible to adapt theTI Professional Computer's keyboard to theIBM PC, it would require extensive changes tothe IBM BIOS (basic input/output system)keyboard-interpretation routine and possiblysome hardware changes—not an easy task.

Alternatives do exist, however, if you wantto get a keyboard with a softer touch andmove the much-maligned left-hand Shift keyand the Return key to a more conventionallocation. A few keyboards on the market, whilethey make no attempt to duplicate the TI Pro-fessional's 97 keys, may satisfy your needs.Some of these are produced by Key TronicCorp., POB 14687, Spokane. WA 99214; Maxi-Switch Co., 9697 East River Rd., Minneapolis,MN 55433; andQubie Distributing, 4809 CalleAlto, Camarillo, CA 93010. Advertised pricesfor these keyboards are in the $200-$300range.

A cheaper alternative is to use one of thekeyboard-customizing programs that modifythe keyboard interrupt-service routine tochange some of the key functions to yourspecifications. Some of these are Keyswapper2.0 from Vertex Systems, 7950 West 4th St.,Los Angeles, CA 90048; Magic Keyboard fromLifeboat Associates, 1651 3rd Ave., New York,NY 10028; ProKey from RoseSoft. POB 45808,Seattle, WA 98105; and SmartKey II fromHeritage Software. 2130 South Vermont Ave.,Los Angeles, CA 90007.

I hope one of these options will meet yourrequirements with less work than adapting theTI keyboard.—Steve

CP/M from AppleJj jot C-64

Dear Steve.

I have been searching for a way to transferdata from an Apple II CP/M disk to Commodore1541 disk-drive format. I want to use the Com-modore 64 with a Z80 cartridge and CP/M 2.2.I have seen disk-format converters available forother machines.

Darwin YuLivingston, NJ

I am not aware of a format converter thatwill change Apple II CP/M disk files to the Com-modore 1541 format. The Commodore CP/Mimplementation is new and has not yet gainedwidespread use.

Files can be transferred from one machineto the other by the use of serial ports andsome communications software. The transfercan be accomplished either by means of amodem or by direct connection through aserial cable. The files are then uploaded ordownloaded as required.

Many communications software packagesare available for each computer. Consult theads in BYTE or machine-specific magazines formanufacturers.—Steve

Questions on Apple

AN D BASIC

Dear Steve,

I have an Apple He with two disk drives, aGemini-lOX printer, and a Monitor III. First, whatis a good inexpensive program or peripheraldevice to speed up the processing time of mycomputer?

Second, I have an 80-column card in the aux-iliary slot. I want to know if any other card canbe used in Slot 3 while the 80-column card isin use? If so. which ones or what type?

Finally, can the Einstein compiler (lanuary,page 349) be used to compile copy-protectedprograms?

Melvin C EtheridgeCamp Lejeune, NC

You can speed up the processing time ofyour Apple lie in several ways. The one bestsuited to your application, however, dependson the type of program. For example, if yourprogram requires a lot of disk interaction, aRAM disk will greatly improve speed. If yourprogram does a lot of number crunching, theRAM disk will not be effective. A fastermicroprocessor can result in speed increasesof three to four times.

Alpha Logic Business Systems (4119 NorthUnion Rd., Woodstock, IL 60098, (815)568-5166) sells the Accelerator 11 board ($599),which increases the processor speed by three-and-a-half times, and the Saturn 32K-, 64K-,and 128K-byte memory boards ($219, $349,$499) with software to use the board as a RAMdisk. Omega Microware (222 South RiversidePlaza, Suite 2234, Chicago, IL 60606. (312)648-4844) sells the Ramex 128K, a multipur-pose expansion card with disk-emulation soft-ware ($499.99).

The Apple lie maps the auxiliary connectoras Slot 3 to maximize compatibility with ex-

isting 80-column software. When one of thelie 80-column text cards is plugged into thisconnector, a PR#3 command enables this cardand disables the ROM (read-only memory) orfirmware on any card plugged into Slot 3.

The Einstein compiler (or any other BASICcompiler) converts a BASIC program into amachine-language program that executesfaster.—Steve

Monochrome Graphicson a PC

Dear Steve,

I have an IBM PC with its monochrome-dis-play and printer-adapter card, color/graphicscard, and monochrome display. I want to getthe monochrome graphics output from mydisplay—without spending more than $100.

I know that some vendors have introduceda simple interface circuit to enable the IBMmonochrome display to be connected with thecolor/graphics card to get the result.

Please tell me if this method is technically andeconomically suitable. Will it do any harm tothe monochrome display? Also, please describein a future BYTE how such a circuit is built, ifpossible.

Matthew LimRepublic of Singapore

The IBM monochrome display is designedto work at a horizontal sweep rate of 18 kHzand a vertical scan rate of 50 Hz. This differsenough from the NTSC (National TelevisionSystem Committee) sweep rates output by thegraphics-display adapter to cause problems.IBM warns that operating the monochromedisplay from the graphics adapter will damagethe display. I have also heard of damagedpower supplies in these displays fromoperating this way.

For this reason, I don't recommend using themonochrome display with the color-graphicsadapter. Instead, I recommend that you buyan inexpensive monochrome monitor thatfollows NTSC standards, many of which areavailable from advertisers in BYTE for around$100, that will give as good a graphics displayas the IBM monochrome display. This gives theadded advantage that both monitors areavailable on your system, so you can have theexcellent text display of the monochrome-display system with the ability to switch to thegraphics display when doing graphics. Pro-grams such as Lotus 1-2-3 make this switchautomatically when both display systems areInstalled.

A pair of programs in the IBM BASIC Manual

(continued)

54 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Free and Easy

u

sing a BusinessPlotter is difficultand expensive,right? Wrong! That's the waythings used to be. Roland DG'snew hardware/softwarepackage not only makesplotting easy, it also makespart of the deal free!

During themonths ofApril, May andJune with thepurchase of aRoland DGDXY-800 8-Pen X-YPlotter, you get theKeyChart PresentationGraphics Software to run theplotter—Absolutely Free! Asavings of $375.00.

At the heart of the package isthe Roland DG DXY-800 X-YPlotter, (the lowest priced 8-penplotter on the market). TheDXY-800 is an 8-pen intelligentplotter offering an 11" x 17" plotbed, Centronics parallel andRS-232 serial interfaces, andcan also be used in either ahorizontal or vertical (60

degree inclined) position, to

conserve yourdesk-top space.Use regular paperor even acetateto produceoverheadprojectiongraphics.

Next addKeyChart, prob-ably the quickest,and easiest softwareprogram for generatingpresentation-qualitybusiness graphics. You don'thave to be a programmer to useKeyChart. It is completelymenu-driven and can provideautomatic default values forevery characteristic. Load inyour data from the keyboard, orfrom almost any electronicspreadsheet, including Lotus1-2-3.

V*

M.

keyChartgraphicssoftwareis high-quality,quick, and easy.

Why nottake theworkout of yournext businesspresentation?

thanks toRoland DG:KeyChartcan come toyou for free.

oland DG'sDXY-800KeyChartpackage is availablefor most popular personalcomputers. Just plug it in, andwithin minutes you'll becreating the kindof graphics youthoughtmight takedays of pro-gramming.All of thiscomes toyou for theDXY-800'snormal low retailprice of $995.00.KeyChart, normallypriced at $375.00 isincluded at no additionalcost. For those who don'tneed multi-pens, Roland DGalso makes a single penplotter (the DXY-101), alsobundled with KeyChart foronly $750.00Why not let the Roland DGgraphicssystemimprovethequalityof yourbusinesspresenta-tions?Butyou'dbetterhurry, this kind of free andeasy dealing isn't going to lastforever, just until June 30th.For a dealer near you contact:Roland DG, 7200 DominionCircle, Los Angeles, CA90040,(213)685-5141.

KeyChart is atrademark of SoftKeySoftware Products Inc.Lotus and 1-2-3are trademarks ofLotus Development Corp.

Roland DG

Circle 270 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 55

ERG/68000

MINI-SYSTEMS

D Full IEEE 696/S100 CompatibilityHARDWARE OPTIONS

D 8MHz, 10 MHz, or 12 MHz

68000/68010 CPUCI 68451 Memory ManagementO Hardware Floating Point

□ Multiple Port Intelligent 1/0

D 64K/128K Static RAM (70 nsec)D 256K/512K/1MB Dynamic RAM (150nsec)

□ Graphics-Digital GraphicsCAT-1600

D DMA Disk InterfaceD SMD Disk Interface

□ V*" or Vi" Tape Backup

D 5V4" or 8" Floppy Disk Drives

D 5MB-474MB Hard Disk Drives

D 7/10/20 Slot Back Plane

IZ] 20 or 30A Power Supply

C] Desk Top or Rack Mount End.

SOFTWARE OPTIONS

□ 68KFORTH1 Systems Language

□ CP/M-68K20/S With C, 68K-BASIC,68KFORTH', FORTRAN 77, EM80Emulator, Whitesmiths' C, PASCAL

D IDRIS3 O/S with C, PASCAL,FORTRAN 77, 68K-BASIC, CISCOBOL4, INFORMIX9 RelationalDBMS

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D VED 68K Screen EditorD Motorola's MACSBUG and FFPPackage

Trademark 'ERG, 'Digital Research,

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30 Day Delivery - OEM Discounts

since 1974

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P.O. Box 1176

Milton, WA 98354

(206) 872-7665

ASK BYTE

(Appendix I, page 8) switch the output backand forth between monitors. A more versatileprogram, VMODE by Ray Duncan, waspublished in the September 1983 issue ofSof-lalk for the IBM PC (page 178).-Steve

Replacing the Apple IIKeyboard >#

Dear Steve,

I have three questions I would like answered.What do I have to do to replace the Apple IIkeyboard? Can 1 use an Apple-compatible diskdrive on an IBM PC? What can I build or buyto allow me to access the game I/O port as aplug-in socket from outside the Apple IIcabinet?

David A. FongSan fose, CA

The Apple II keyboard plugs into a socketon the motherboard. A replacement keyboardcan be added simply by plugging its cable in-to this socket. Several keyboards are availablefor the Apple II. Some feature preprogramm-ed functions, single-keystroke commands, up-percase and lowercase, and a full numerickeypad. Consult the ads in BYTE or an Apple-related magazine for further information.

The Apple II disk drives are quite differentfrom the IBM PC disk drives even though theyboth use 5'A-inch disks. Apple uses a softwareapproach to control many of the disk-drivefunctions; the PC uses on-board hardware.Many of the functions required by the PCdrives are missing from the Apple drives. Theyare incompatible.

An extension socket can be made from apiece of flat cable, a 16-pin plug, and a socketto bring the connection outside the computer.A zero insertion-force socket facilitates the in-sertion and removal of accessories. One com-pany featuring several such products ($16.95to $34.95) is Happ Electronics Inc., 4640 IslandView, Oshkosh, Wl 54901, (414)231-5128.-Steve

C-64 Video Signals

Dear Steve,

I recently began a project to transform myCommodore 64 into a portable unit. I have aused case and monitor originally designed foran Osborne 1 system. Since the Osbornemonitor requires horizontal and vertical syn-chronizing signals along with an input videosignal, I need to convert the composite outputfrom the VIC II chip to the component signalsso I can see a display. Is there a simple solu-tion to my dilemma?

Gregg PeeleGreensboro, NC

A circuit to separate the horizontal and ver-tical synchronizing signals from the compositevideo signal from your Commodore 64 isknown as a sync separator. A suitable circuitwas presented in the January 6, 1982 issue ofEDN. "Sync Separator Provides Speed, Accu-racy" by Bradley Albing (page 207) describesa method to obtain the desired signals.—Steve

Apple ^Software on #SHoo

Dear Steve,

I'm currently running CP/M on my CompuPro20-slot S-100 mainframe using Advance MicroDigital's Supernet S-100 single-board computerwith an 8-inch Qume Data Track double diskdrive, a TeleVideo 925 terminal, and an EpsonMX-80 printer. My problem is that the companyI work for has its software written for the AppleII; some is standard DOS, and some isApple/CP/M.

Is there an S-100 board that can be addedto my system along with an Apple disk drivethat would permit the direct use of this Applesoftware or the ability to read the Apple/CP/Mprograms onto my CP/M 8-inch disks and runthem on my equipment?

If I use Modem7 to transfer the Apple/CP/Mfiles to my 8-inch S-100 system, will those pro-grams execute acceptably or must I modify theprogram files to make them work? They are allwritten in BASIC, with which I'm somewhatfamiliar.

Also, do you know of a computer (desktopor portable) that can run Apple, IBM, and CP/Msoftware interchangeably?

Verne CareyWindom, MN

I am not aware of an S-100 board that willallow direct reading of Apple software. Sincethe instruction sets for the two processors aregreatly different, there is no benefit.

As for transferring Apple/CP/M files to theS-100, Modem 7 works fine. There should befew, if any, changes required, since the BASICSfor each system are comparable. A direct serialconnection can be used if the two systems arein close proximity. Otherwise, a modem mustbe used.

If you have an IBM PC and a lot of money,you can run Apple, CP/M-80, and IBM softwareon the same machine. The Quadram Quadlinkcard will handle the Applesoft programs, andthe Trump Card from Sweet Micro Systems orthe Baby Blue card from Xedex will runCP/M-80 programs on the PC. For further in-formation, contact Quadram Corporation,4357 Park Dr., Norcross. GA 33093, (404)923-6666; Sweet Micro Systems, 50 FreewayDr., Cranston, Rl 02920, (401) 461-0530; andXedex Corporation, 222 Route 59, Suffern, NY10901, (914) 368-0353.-Steve

Robot Eyes #>

Dear Steve,

I am presently designing a robot and wantto give it electronic eyes for recognition anddata retrieval. In your series, "Build the MicroD-Cam Solid-State Video Camera" (Septemberand October 1983), you describe a unit usinga RAM chip. In this series you did not mentionhow the lens was mounted. I would like to knowhow you did this. I would also like to know howto make this unit work with three others. Thesefour units could have a dedicated 1802 pro-cessor that would give out only information thatwas requested from it or that the 1802s pro-

{continued)

56 BYTE" AUGUST 1984

HIGH PERFORMANCE

IT'S WHAT'S UNDER THE

III

THAT COUNTS

Take a close look under the hood of a Datasouthprinter. Inspect for loose parts, cheap fittings. Search forthings that show more concern for speed on the assemblyline than the communications line.

You won't find them. Instead you'll find the source ofthe Datasouth reputation: design, engineering and mate-rials dedicated exclusively to high performance value.

Now look closer.

MORE THAN THE HUM OF ITS PARTS

Count the moving parts in a Datasouth printer. Youwon't find many. Most of those are dedicated to transport-ing the printhead and the paper from point to point withoptimum speed and accuracy, while the rest of the printersits quietly with the motionless authority of a Stonehenge.

And thinks.

Under the hood of every Datasouth printer is a highlyintelligent microprocessor. Its sophisticated brainwork eliminates the need for many parts still common in other printers,and optimizes carriage and paper travel so the printheadintelligently follows the shortest path from one printablecharacter to the next. So more work getsdone with less strain on the machinery.

MODULAR MAINTENANCE

Datasouth design simplicityassures easy maintenance. All controlelectronics are on a single printedcircuit board. The 9 wire printhead israted at over 500 million characters,and is easily replaced in minutes.

dat;

Everything that matters is easy to reach, right there underthe hood. Even the cartridge ribbon, rated at 3 to 4 millioncharacters, snaps into place in seconds.

JUST TURN THE KEY

Datasouth printers are easily driven by virtually anymini or microcomputer. The fully instrumented dashboardallows the user to program up to 50 different applicationsfeatures at the touch of a few buttons. Meanwhile, thedigital readout shows everything from programmingprompts to line count.

TAKE YOUR CHOICE

Datasouth reliability comes in two high performancemodels. The DS180 is a legendary workhorse that deliverscrisp data quality printing at 180 CPS. The new multimodeDS220 cruises at 220 CPS for high speed data printingand at 40 CPS for letter quality word processing. Bothmodels print precision dot-addressable graphics.

If you have a high performance printing need,Datasouth has a high performance printer to fill it.

DRIVE ONE TO WORK TODAY

Both the DS180 and the DS220are on display at more dealer show-rooms every day, including one nearyou. So go take a hard look at thekind of hard copy you get from highperformance Datasouth printers.

See what really counts whenyou compare printers.

south

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O R M A N C E

A T R

N T E R S

Find Datasouth Printers At

Participating Compwtetiond' Stores

And Other Fine Dealers.

Circle 98 on inquiry card.

AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE

THROUGH OUR NETWORK OF

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CALL TOLL FREE:

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 57

ASK BYTE

gram demanded to be on the data lines. Theprocessor is to communicate strictly paralleland must collect data from all four units andprocess it before any information can be ob-tained. It is to run and store this informationuntil requested from another processor in therobot system.

I would also like to know why you chose a16-millimeter lens for this project. Can an 8mmmovie camera or a 35mm still camera lens beused with a better result?

Finally, do you know of any way to increasethe resolution of the unit?

Chois Blackwell Jr.Waco, TX

I don't see any reason why you can't use theMicro EXam as robot eyes. The binary char-acteristic of the image produced might limitits ability to recognize objects in cases wheretonal gradations are important, but this canbe circumvented to a large extent by techni-

What do you get when you cross1200 baud, free on-line time,and extra features at a price Hayescan't match?

Data Rate?

The MultiModemgives you a choice—either 1200 or 300 bitsper second. So you cango on-line with theinformation utilities.Check out bulletinboards. Dial into corpo-rate mainframes. Swapfiles with friends.

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With the Multi-Modem you getCompuServe'sDemoPak, a free two-hour demonstration oftheir service, and up toseven more free hoursif you subscribe. Youalso get a $50 credittowards NewsNet'sbusiness newsletter

Features & Price?

Of course, theMultiModem gives youautomatic dial, answer,and disconnect. Givesyou the Hayes-compatibility you needto support popularcommunications soft-ware programs likeCrosstalk, Data Cap-ture, our own MultiComPC, and dozens ofothers. Gives you atwo-year warranty,tops in the industry.

MultiModem.

But Better?

Yes. The Multi-Modem gives you fea-tures the HayesSmartmodem 1200™can't match. Featureslike dial-tone and busy-signal detection formore accurate dialingand redialing. Like abattery-backed mem-ory for six phone num-bers. All at a retail priceof just $549—com-pared to $699 for theSmartmodem.

What do you get?The new MultiModem,from Multi-Tech Sys-tems. Isn't this theanswer you've beenlooking for?

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PC: Multi-Tech Systems, Inc.— Compu-Serve; CompuServe Information Services,anH&R Block company— NewsNetNewsNet, Inc.—Crosstalk Microstui.Inc.—Data Capture Southeastern Soft-ware—Smartmodem Hayes Microcom-puter Products, Inc

58 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Multi ea (8)

Systems ^QfThe right answer every time.

Circle 227 on inquiry card.

ques described in the articles if you have timeenough to take the several pictures needed.If you want to use a dedicated processor in-stead of the Apple or IBM PC, you will needto write control software for it. The programshould be modeled after the Apple programlisted on pages 512 to 538 of the October 1983BYTE. If you want to use four cameras forspecial vision properties, the same programcould be modified to control them all and readthe images in sequence. Further processingwill depend on your specific application.

The output from the Micro D-Cam's 1S32sensor chip is serial, primarily because thechip is organized as a 64K by 1-bit memoryarray. Part 2 of the article shows how to con-vert this to a parallel data stream.

The selection of a lens for the camera alsodepends on the application. A lens for a 16mmmovie camera was chosen as one that pro-vides a standard mount, a "C" mount in thiscase, and has a focal length short enough toprovide a usable field of view. Remember thatthe field of view and magnification are deter-mined by the lens focal length, not the typeof camera it was made for. The longer the focallength, the higher the magnification and thesmaller the field of view for a given sensor size.Lenses designed for 8mm or 35mm camerascould also be used, since the sensing elementis about the width of an 8mm film frame andmuch smaller than 35mm film.

If you want to mount your own lenses, buyshort extension tubes (the kind sold at photo-graphy stores for close-ups) and attach themto your robot for use as lens mounts. Thelenses then screw or bayonet into the mounts.The resolution of the element is close to theresolution limit of most inexpensive lenses, sothe decision you make must achieve a goodbalance between magnification and field ofview. High magnification (longer focal length)will allow your robot to see a little bit of anobject very clearly; a short focal length willallow it to see more but with less detail.—Steve

8-inch Disks for Apple H

Dear Steve.

I have an Apple II and two 8-inch disk drives(Pertec type FD400). 1 want to connect bothdrives to the computer. I would be pleased ifyou would let me know how to do so.

Marc KleynMerchtem, Belgium

Converting 8-inch disk drives to run on yourApple II is quite involved since a different disk-controller card is required. Many of the diskfunctions of the Apple are implemented insoftware rather than hardware, thus the con-troller card is relatively simple. The 8-inchdrives have on-board circuitry that handlesthese functions, and the controller must pro-vide the proper interface.

Advanced Computer Products (I310B EastEdinger, Santa Ana. CA 92705, (800)854-8230) sells the Vista A800 8-inch DiskController Card for the Apple II. It uses all thestandard Apple DOS commands except IN IT.

(continued)

FEATURES

COMMODORE 64™

APPLE He™

IBM PCjr™

ATARI 800XL™ j

Price*

Built-in Memory

Typewriter Keyboard

Upper/Lower CaseProgrammable Function Keys

$219

64K

YES(66 Keys)

YES

YES

$69964K

YES

(62 Keys)

YES

NO

$66964K

"CHICKLET"

(62 Keys)

YESYES

$29964K

YES

(61 Keys)

YESNO

AUDIO j

Polyphonic TonesMusic SynthesizerHi-Fi Output

YESYES

YES

NONONO

YESNOYES

YES jNO |YES

VIDEO j

i TV Output

j Video Monitor Output

YES

YES

EXTRA COST

YES

EXTRA COSTEXTRA COST

YES 1YES

INPUT/OUTPUT j

Intelligent.I/O BusRS-232 Communications"Smart" Peripherals

YES

YES**

YES

NO

EXTRA COST

NO

NO

YES**NO

YES

EXTRA COST

YES

'Prices shown are common retail and may vary slightly in different markets.•"Requires an adapter to operate.

First you need the right input.

Like $219. That's what theCommodore 64™ costs. It's about one thirdthe price of the Apple lie™ or the IBM® PCjr™

And 64K. That's how much memorythe Commodore 64 has. It's also how muchmemory Apple lie and the IBM PCjr have.

This computer lesson is brought to youas a public service by Commodore (certainlynot by Apple or IBM), the only computercompany that can afford to show you a chartlike the one above.

But what you can't see above are the

thousands of software programs that makethe Commodore 64 fully capable of doinganything any "triple the price" computer cando; for fun or profit, for every member of thefamily; anything from soccer to spreadsheets to space exploration.

Because the Commodore is soaffordable, you can load up on Commodoreperipherals. Like a disk drive, a printer or atelephone modem. All together they cost justa tad more than an IBM PCjr by itself. Withno peripherals.

No wonder Commodore sells morecomputers than Apple and IBM combined.

ft commodore

w COMPUTERS

IT'S NOT HOW LITTLE IT COSTS,IT'S HOW MUCH >OU GET.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 59

"I just found theideal solution tomy telecomputingproblems. And it'sright here inside myIBM@ PC Plus I got afree bonus to boot!"

Hayes

Smartmodem 1200B™ and

Smartcom IT" software.

The complete, easy-to-use plug-in telecomputing system for theIBM® PC and compatibles.

llllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Looking forjust the right telecomput-ing system for your PC? Hayes has it!Smartmodem 1200B and Smartcom IIcommunications software. The mostreliable and easy to use modem andsoftware for your IBM PC or com-patible computer. At a great single-package value for you. And whenyou buy now, you'll also receive avaluable free offer. From Hayes, thetelecomputing leader.

Smartmodem 1200B.Your PC's telephone.

Everything you need to communi-cate-computer to computer-is onone, convenient plug-in board. Smart-modem 1200B easily slides into anexpansion slot of your PC (your dealercan install it in minutes). You're readyto send and receive information at upto 1200 bps. For speedy, economicaltransmission to personal computers,data bases and information servicesthroughout North America.

So what could make communica-tions easier? Smartcom II software,designed by Hayes specifically forSmartmodem and your PC!

Smartcom II.Your Smartmodem's software.

Smartcom II maximizes the out-standing capabilities of Smartmodem1200B. At the same time, it minimizesyour effort.

Thanks to Smartcom H's menu-driven ease, the first time out you'llbe creating messages, sending andstoring them to disk. Simultaneously!And when you're on the receivingend, your PC will do all the work,completely unattended.

Circle 141 on inquiry card.

Smartmodem 1200B and Smartcom 11 are trademarks of Hayes

Microcomputer Products. Inc.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business

Machines Corp.

•Trademarks of COMPAQ Computer Corporation. Corona

Data Systems. TeleVideo Systems. Inc.. Columbia Data

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CompuServe Information Service is a registered

trademark of CompuServe. Inc., an H&R Block Company.

Dow Jones News/Retrieval is a registered trademark

of Dow Jones & Company. Inc

OAG EE is a registered trademark of the Official Airline

Guides. Inc.

THE SOURCE. AMERICAS INFORMATION UTILITY is a

service mark of Source Telecomputing Corporation, a

subsidiary of The Reader's Digest Association. Inc

©1984 Hayes Microcomputer Products. Inc.

Smartcom II stores frequently callednumbers and parameters for lengthylog-on sequences. So callinganotnersystem requires just a few quick key-strokes. And if you ever need it,on-line "help" is right there at yourfingertips.

A complete,

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:j

PREVENT THE DISASTER

OF HEAD CRASH AND

DROPOUT.

The war against dust and dirtnever ends. So before you boot-up your equipment, andeverytime you replace acassette, disk or drivefilter, be sure to use Dust-Off IIit counteracts dust, grit and lint.Otherwise you're flirting withcostly dropouts, head crashesand downtime.

Dust-Off II is most effectivewhen used with Stat-Of f II. Stat-Off II neutralizes dust-holdingstatic electricity while Dust-Off IIblasts loose dust away. There'salso the Dual Extender and Mini-Vac for vacuuming dust out ofhard-to-reach places.

Photographic professionalshave used Dust-Off brandproducts consistently ontheir delicate lenses andexpensive cameras forover ten years. Theyknow it's the safe, dry,efficient way to contaminant-free cleaning.

Astern II

Cleaning not provided by liquid

cleaners.

Dust-Off Us remarkable

pinpoint accuracy zeros in on the

precise area being dusted. Andyou have total control—every-thing from a gentle breeze for

Stat-Off II neutralizes dust-holdingstatic electricity from media andmachines.

delicate computer mechanismsto a heavy blast for grimy dirt.Don' t let contamination dis-rupt your computer operation.Stock up on Dust-Off II—the ad-vanced dry cleaning system,at your local computer oroffice supply dealer.

Or send $1.00 (forpostage and handling)for a 3 oz. trial size andliterature today.

Dust-Offll

The safe dry cleaning system

Falcon Safety Products, Inc . 106b Bristol Road, Mountainside, NJ 07092

ASK BYTE

77ie latter has been improved and enhancedin a different format. A highspeed DMA(direct memory access) data rate of I micro-second per byte is provided, and it is compat-ible with DOS 3.3, Pascal 1.1, and CP/M 2.2(with optional Z80 card). The A800 sells for$299.95.-Steve

Punch-CArd Reader

Dear Steve,

I would like information on how to constructa mark sense punch-card reader or a sourcefrom which I could purchase one at areasonable price.

1 believe that card input would be more ac-curate for data entry than punching a set ofkeys. Also, keyboard entry is a large waste of"on time" for a system.

Stephen MizcalaNew York. NY

Punch cards are an excellent way of feedingdata to a computer if you can find them allpunched with the correct data. After you'vehad the pleasure of punching a few hundredcards and checking them for errors before sub-mitting them to the computer, I'm sure you'llnever again want to sit at a terminal typingin data and correcting it as you go.

Seriously, though, if you want a card reader,used units are sometimes available on thesurplus market. I found one listed for $34.50in the H&R March 1984 catalog. The catalognumber is TM20K9I7. and the address is H&RCorporation, 401 East Erie Ave, Philadelphia,PA 19134.

If punched tape turns you on, you can geta punch and a reader from John H. MeshnaInc., 19 Allerton St., Lynn, MA 01904. Thecatalog numbers are SPL 339A and LBXB1.The punch interfaces with an IBM Selectrictypewriter that you can get for about the priceof an inexpensive computer—Steve

IBM PC# Memory Segments

Dear Steve.

All the material I've read regarding memorysegmentation for the IBM PC states that eachphysical segment can be up to 64 K bytes long.However, the sample device driver for an in-storage disk that is listed in the back of the DOS2.0 manual for the IBM PC defines a 180K-bytevirtual-disk area contiguous to the code seg-ment. The program is initialized with the CS,ES, and DS registers all pointing to the codesegment, and the virtual-disk area appears tobe addressed using the "based and indexed ad-dressing" mode. How does this work?

Curtis L. JewsCaithersburg. MD

First, to make the answer to your questiona little easier to understand, let's review thememory-addressing method used in the IBMPC.

The PC uses the 8088 processor, which hasthe capability of addressing four segments ofmemory at the same time by putting the start-

(continued)

62 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 129 on inquiry card.

This is THE PASCAL COMPILER

Vaii i/o Roon I-fo 211*1 n^i At"%/"\ii1~IUU Vc DCcil nCdllllCJ AYLPOUl

I

1H91

VERSION 2.0

"It's almost certainly better

n IBM's Pascal for the PC...

Recommended.'

Jerry Pournelle

Byte, May 1984

$49.95

If you don't have CP/M [foryour Apple], Turbo Pascal isreason enough to buy it.'CaryHari talk Apple, May 196

"If you have the slightest interest in Pascal.. . buy it."

Bruce Webster, Softalk IBM, March, 1984

And Now It's Even BetterThan You've Heard!

• Windowing (IBM PC, XT, jr. or true compatibles)

• Color, Sound and Graphics Support (IBM PC, XT, jr. or true compatibles)

• Optional 8087 Support (available at an additional charge)

• Automatic Overlays

• A Full-Screen Editor that's even better than ever

• Full Heap Management—via dispose procedure

• Full Support of Operating System Facilities

• No license fees. You can sell the programs you write with Turbo Pascal without extra cost.

Yes. We still include Microcalc ... the sample spreadsheet written with Turbo Pascal. You can study thesource code to learn how a spreadsheet is written . . . it's right cm the disk.* And, if you're running TurboPascal with the 8087 option, you'll never have seen a spreadsheet calculate this fast before!*Except Commodore 64 CP/M.

Order Your Copy of TURBO PASCAL8 VERSION 2.0 Today

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Choose One (please add $5.00 for ship-ping and handling for U.S. orders. ShippedUPS)

Turbo Pascal 2.0 $49.95 + $5.00

Turbo Pascal with 8087 support

$89.95 + $5.00 Update (1.0 to 2.0) Must be accom-panied by the original master $29.95+ $5.00— Update (1.0 to 8087) Must beaccompanied by the original master$69.95 + $5.00

Check

VISA __Card #: _Exp. date:

Money OrderMaster Card .

My system is: 8 bit 16

Operating System: CP/M 80

bit

MS DOS.

m BonmnD

INTERNATIONAL

Borland International4113 Scotts Valley DriveScotts Valley, California 95066TELEX: 172373

CP/M 86 _

Computer:

Disk Format: ;

Please be sure model number & formal are correct.

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City/State/Zip:Telephone:

California residents add 6% sales tax. Outside U.S.A. add $15.00 (Ifoutside 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. D-, -

Circle 326 on inquiry card.

Lessfor lourMoney

If you do word processing onyour personal computer, youprobably know that there aremany programs for sale to helpyou with your spelling. But thebiggest spelling error you'll evermake is paying too much for yourspelling correction software. TheRandom House ProofReadergives you less for your money -less trouble, that is, and fewerspelling errors. The RandomHouse ProofReader is based onthe world famous Random HouseDictionary. It contains up to80,000 words, depending onyour disk capacity. You can addnew words with the touch of akey. It shows you the error andthe sentence it's in. It instantlysuggests corrections. It even re-checks your corrections. And itcosts half as much as otherprograms with far less power. TheRandom House ProofReader iscompatible with all CP/M 2.2®,MS-DOS® and IBM PersonalComputer® systems.

THER*ND0M

The ^1RandomHouseProofReader

$50

For orders or information, see your localdealer or call (617) 967-4541. Master cardand VISA accepted. Or write WangElectronic Publishing, One Industrial Ave.,Lowell, MA 01851. Please enclose $50 andspecify your computer model, disk sizeand memory.

Random House and the House design are registeredtrademarks of Random House, Inc. CP/M is a regis-tered trademark of Digital Research, Inc. IBM and IBMPersonal Computer are registered trademarks ofInternational Business Machines, Inc. MS-DOS is aregistered trademark of Microsoft, Inc.

64 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

ASK BYTE

ing address of each segment in one of the seg-ment registers. The four segments can start atany 20-bit address whose last 4 bits are zero,or in other words, on a paragraph boundary.Thus, a 20-bit address is specified complete-ly by multiplying the contents of a 16-bit seg-ment register by 16 and adding the offset in-to the segment as defined by the program. Themultiplication isn't the programmer's job: itresults from the hardware design that loadsthe segment registers in the high 16 bits of the20-bit address register before the offset isadded.

Each segment can be up to 64K bytes long.The usual arrangement is to put the programcode in the segment designated by the CS reg-ister and the data in the segment starting atthe address in the DS register. If a stack is re-quired, it is defined by the SS register, and theES register can be used for data in additionto the DS segment. The ES register is usuallyused to identify the segment of the destina-tion address in string moves. These are usedin the virtual-disk program to transfer data tothe virtual disk.

Now we get to the workings of the address-ing used in the DOS 2.0 virtual-disk program.The segment definition at the beginning of thevdsk procedure (line 69) sets the CS, DS, andES registers to the same address, as you say.Equally significant, it does not define a stacksegment. The result is that the constants andvariables defined in the beginning of the pro-gram will be stored in the body of the pro-gram rather than in the virtual-disk storagearea, and it also tells the assembler that wewant to use the stack area defined by DOS.These segment definitions are, however, tem-porary. They get changed as soon as we wantto address an area outside the programsegment.

Notice that around line 100, variablesnamed VD1SK_PTR and START_SEC aredefined. These are used to point to the begin-ning of the virtual-disk area, and their valuesare changed as required to put data into thevirtual-disk area without overwriting files. Tosee how this is done, we can follow part of theprocedure for writing a file.

First, on entering the program by requestinga write operation, a jump to the procedureOUTPUT will occur. This routine determineshow many sectors are to be written and theaddress of the starting sector, and it callsanother routine called SECTOR_WRITE. Thisroutine in turn calls CALC_ADDR to get thebeginning address of the sector to be savedand loads this into the ES register. An offsetaddress is then loaded into the DI register tomake the complete ES:DI destination addressfor a string move. The DS and SI registers arealso set in this routine to point to an areacalled the DTA /data-transfer area), which con-tains the data to be saved to the virtual disk.

While this explanation leaves out a lot ofdetail about how this program uses variablesegment boundaries on the fly to make useof large blocks of memory, I hope it will helpyou understand the program. As you can seefrom the description above, the general pro-cedure is to use an area in the code segment

to calculate segment addresses for data-storage areas as needed and load these intothe ES or DS registers as appropriate. The DIand Si registers are used as described abovefor string moves, but for other types of storageor retrieval operations, any of the general-purpose registers can be used to hold the off-set address.—Steve

Project Management ^

Dear Steve,

Do you know anyone who offers Q-GERT forthe IBM PC? Reportedly, this software (code-size equivalent to about 10,000 IBM cards) wasproduced on the basis of work done by AlanB. Pritsker and can be used for personnel man-agement, hardware-project management, etc.,similar to PERT.

F. R. CappellettiWashington, DC

A survey of several current application-soft-ware listings reveals no mention of the use ofO-GERT on an IBM PC.

However, a number of software publishersoffer other project and resource-managementprograms that can run on the PC under a widevariety of system configurations (operating sys-tems, memory, display, storage, etc.). Theseinclude

Data'Easy Software877 Bounty Dr. #EE203Foster City, CA 94404(415) 571-8100

Harvard Software inc.Software ParkHarvard. MA 01451(617) 456-3400

McClintok Corporation9655 South Dixie Hwy. #305Miami. FL 33156(305) 666-1300

Earth Data CorporationPOB 13168Richmond. VA 23225(804) 231-0300

Morgan Computing Co.

10400 North Central Expwy. #210

Dallas. TX 75231

(214) 739-5895

Aha Inc.

1475 Rodriquez St.Santa Cruz, CA 95063(408) 475-8705

SoftCorp Inc.

#L244, 2304 State Rd. #580Clearwater, FL 33575(813) 799-3984

Peachtree Software3445 Peachtree Rd. N.E.Atlanta, CA 30326(404) 239-3000

{continued)

Circle 142 on inquiry card. —►

Build your own IBM PC compatibleand save hundreds of dollars.

Heath proudly announcesthe NEW HS-151 Desktop andHS-161 Portable computers.

One of the world's largest softwarelibraries has IBM's name on it.Now you can run that software onHeath's new IBM PC compatiblecomputers, available in easy-to-build kits.

Can you build one of these comput-ers? 85% of our first-time customersask the same question. And theanswer is 100% yes. You can.In fact, you should build one. You'llsave a lot of money while learningabout computers in general and theHeath PC's in particular.

Build confidence...and your newcomputer...one step at a time. Twomain circuit boards come to youpre-assembled and factory-tested.So that you can build the three otherboards, we include a test solderingboard plus helpful soldering instruc-tions to make sure you get it right.Our instruction manuals are easy tounderstand, thorough and packedwith cogent illustrations. And onceit's built, the computer guides you

through a full range of included disk-based diagnostics.Expert advice is only a phone callaway, should you need it. You'llreach a trained consultant whosespecialty is talking sense, not jargon.We'll do whatever's necessary tomake our pledge come true: "WeWon't Let You Fail." Our entirebusiness depends on thatsimple promise.

Experience a little won-der and a lot of pride. Savemoney, too, by building the high-est quality personal computer. TheHeath PC's have 128K RAM stan-dard (expandable to 640K), a pro-fessional keyboard, dual 360K diskdrives and optional Winchester.These machines are truly complete.Both are color capable andMS*-DOS is included.Check out the Heath PC computerstoday. IBM compatibility meansthey'll run the most popular soft-ware. And, with the money saved bybuilding a kit, think of all the periph-erals and software you can buy!

HS-151 DesktopPC with stan-dard floppydisk driveor optionalhard disk.

CIRCLE READER SERVICECARD. Get more information on themost rewarding personal comput-ers. The HS-151 Desktop PC andHS-161 Portable PC.'MS is a registered trademark ofMicrosoft Corporation.

For computing on the go...the HS-161 Portable.

The HS-161 has the same features asthe HS-151. Amber Monitor included.Convenient keyboard folds up, twodisk drives fold down.

ASK BYTE

Quala

23026 Frisca Dr.Valencia, CA 91355(805) 255-2922

Primavera Systems29 Bala Ave. #224Bala-Cynwyd, PA 19004(215) 667-8600

Scitor Corporation

710 Lakeway #290Sunnyvale, CA 94086(408) 730-0400

In addition, you may be interested in a fewBYTE articles dealing with PERT and CPM:"Programming PERT in BASIC" by Steven Zim-merman and Leo M. Conrad, May 1982, page465 and "Programming the Critical-PathMethod in BASIC" by Steven Zimmerman andLeo M. Conrad, July 1982, page 3 78 -Steve

. 0';-:----:v-: ;;,<•■•,•■:■•■> ■

: ,:v; -'

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Data Defenders by RingKing. They're the finest qualityprotection you can buy for theinformation you have storedon SVa" mini-diskettes andprintout.

The Ring King 070 Tray holds70 mini-diskettes in a toughcopolymer shell with securitylock. The Ring King Flip File IIbinder holds 20 mini-diskettesand converts to a desktopindex. Ring King Looseleaf Filesare punched to fit standard 3-

ring binders. Ring IBinders hold up to 8"of 91/2"xII" or 14%" x 11" unburstprintout.

Ask for Ring King Data Defen-ders at your computer supplydealer. Or send for our free, full-color catalog of computer sup-port products. Write Ring KingVisibles, Inc., 2210 Second Ave-nue, P.O. Box 599, Muscatine,Iowa 52761. For customer serv-ice, phone (800) 553-9647, inIowa (319) 263-8144.

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Carrier-Current Modem

Dear Steve.

I am in the process of building your power-line carrier-current modem (August 1983. page36). I have had no problems except locating afew of the components listed in the schematics.If possible, would you supply me the partnumber and manufacturers for the followingcomponents: 0.22-fiF, 600-V capacitor (line-coupling capacitor) and fused capacitor (line-to-line coupling).

Fred Mathews Jr.Las Vegas, NV

In this day and age of microelectronics, find-ing high-voltage capacitors is becoming moredifficult. Few computer or electronics supplyhouses carry the 600-V capacitors used in myarticle on carrier-current modems. However,any electronics supply house that handlesradio or television components will surely havethe 0.22-fiF, 600-V capacitor. A typical partnumber for such a capacitor is Sprague 6PS-22(orange drop-dipped tubular).

The fused capacitor is exactly what it implies,a capacitor with a series fuse to provide pro-tection in case of capacitor failure. Since thecurrent through the capacitor is small, any low-value (1-amp) fuse will suffice.—Steve

Teletype Parts_

Dear Steve,

I have an old TDR33 Teletype (an ASR33 witha paper-tape punch/reader). The tape readerhas a few parts missing, and the feed wheel isbroken. Is there any place to get parts for theseold machines?

Douglas CookExeter, NH

Amateur-radio operators used Teletypes forradioteletype transmission long before theirapplication to personal computers. While solid-state units are now more popular, there is stillsome interest in the older units.

A scan through a recent amateur-radiomagazine revealed the company Typetronics,POB 8873. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33310. A self-addressed, stamped envelope will bring a listof parts, supplies, and gears.

Also, Teletype parts may be available fromMorris Precision Parts Co., POB 157, MorrisPlains, N) 07950, (201) 993-9669.-Steve ■

IN "ASK BYTE." Steve Ciarcia answers ques-tions on any area of microcomputing. The mostrepresentative questions received each month willbe answered and published. Do you have a nag-ging problem? Send your inquiry to

Ask BYTE

do Steve Ciarcia

POB 582

Glastonbury. CT 06033Due to the high volume of inquiries, personalreplies cannot be 'given. All letters and photo-graphs become the property of Steve Ciarcia andcannot be returned. Be sure to include "AskBYTE" in the address.

66 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 82 on inquiry card.

CLUBS & NEWSLETTERS

• MODUS OPERANDIMODUS, the Modula-2 UsersAssociation, first met in Zurich,Switzerland, as part of the 8thInternational Conference onProgramming Languages andProgram Development. It ismade up of a nucleus of institu-tional and corporate chartermembers that includes the ETHInstitut fur Informatik (Zurich),Volition Systems Inc. (Del Mar,California), the Modula ResearchInstitute (Provo, Utah), andLogitech Inc. (Palo Alto, Califor-nia, and Appels, Switzerland).MODUS plans to produce aquarterly newsletter, Modula-2News. Although the associationhas offices in Zurich, contactMODUS, c/o the Pacific SystemsGroup, POB 51778. Palo Alto,CA 94303.

• EPSONS IN BRITAIN

The HX-20/QX-10 (International)Users Group, specializing in in-formation about Epson prod-ucts, enables members from 2 5countries to exchange informa-tion on peripherals and soft-ware via its monthly newsletter.Members are offered introduc-tory prices on items premieredin the newsletter and can fur-ther benefit from educationalarticles, program listings, andfree software bonuses. Memberscan also exchange programsand ideas via an electronic mailfacility, the Closed-User GroupNetwork, on Telecom Gold. Inaddition, the group providesconsultants who, for a moderatefee, give demonstrations toEpson end-users. ContactTerence L. Ronson, HX-20/QX-10(International) Users Group, 2 5Sawyers Lawn, Drayton BridgeRd.. London W13 OIP, England.

• HEATH USERS IN LEHIGHVALLEY, The Lehigh ValleyHeath Users Group (LVHUG)welcomes all Heath/Zenith usersto join the newly formed club.The meetings are informalgatherings held at LehighUniversity at 1 p.m. on the lastSaturday of every month. Up-coming plans include selection

of club officers and determina-tion of dues to cover postageof a monthly newsletter, whichis presently distributed at themeetings. The newsletter coversminutes of the last meeting,goals of the club, and sug-gested future presentations. Anexchange column is planned formembers who wish to exchangetheir equipment. At this time,no dues have been set. CallCarol Bloch for details at (215)770-4640, or contact JamesBatug, LVHUG, 1425 NorthBroad St., Allentown, PA 18104,(215) 770-5993,

• CLASSROOM CREATIVITYCreative Word Processing in theClassroom is for educators whowant to explore the use of com-puters in developing children'sreading and writing skills. Thethree annual editions—fall,winter, and spring—have color-coded sections relevant to ad-ministrators, librarians, andteachers of kindergartenthrough grade 12. Lessons,discussions of hardware andsoftware, and articles on educa-tional theory are written byeducators with experience inseveral computer-assistedcreative-writing projects. Asubscription is S9 a year. Writeto Creative Word Processing in theClassroom, Suite 365. 2210Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica,CA 90403.

• LEGAL REVIEW

The Computer Law Newsletter, apublication from Delphi Data ofRiverside, California, is a con-cise review of legal issues in therapidly changing software in-dustry. It reviews current casesand offers suggestions aboutprotecting computer software,acquiring rights to software, andmarketing software. A subscrip-

tion to the bimonthly publica-tion is $96 for one year. Accessis available via modem at noextra charge. For details, contactClyde Sparks, 3425 Meadow-view Dr., Riverside, CA 92503,(714) 689-7408.

• A LEGACY FOR IUNIORSThe first bulletin-board service(BBS) for use exclusively byowners or potential owners ofthe IBM PCjr is open 24 hoursa day at (402) 466-8114. LegacyTechnologies Ltd. of Lincoln,Nebraska, is offering the publicservice as a forum for the ex-change of technical and generalinformation about the PCjr. Bothtechnical and nontechnical userscan communicate with otherusers, dealers, and distributors.Questions can be answered byLegacy engineers within 24hours. Contact Greg Brehm,Legacy Technologies Ltd., 4817North 56th St., Lincoln, NE68504. (800) 228-72 57; inNebraska. (402) 466-8108.

• MAC NEWS OF SAN DIEGOThe San Diego Macintosh UsersGroup meets on the fourthWednesday of every month.Membership is free, but toreceive the monthly newsletter,San Diego Mac News, you mustpay a subscription fee of $15.The newsletter is prepared andproduced using a Macintosh.Columns include the Chairman'sCorner, Editor's Note, Minutes,and a Gallery. Articles, drawings,letters, or other contributionsrelated to the Apple Macintoshor Lisa are welcome. For furtherdetails, contact the San DiegoMacintosh Users Group, POB12561. La Jolla, CA 92037.

• FREE ADVICE FOR USERGROUPS. A monthly help col-umn is available to all user

CLUBS & NEWSLETTERS is a forum for letting BYTE readers know what is hap-pening in the microcomputing community. Emphasis is given to electronic bulletin-boardservices, club-sponsored classes, community-help projects, field trips, and other activitiesoutside of routine meetings. Of course, we will continue to list new clubs, their ad-dresses 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 informationto BYTE, Clubs & Newsletters, POB 372, Hancock, NH 03449,

groups for the price of thepostage. The columnist offershelp for frustrated users andguarantees a reply on questionsabout CP/M, Pascal, UNIX,XENIX, WordStar, MailMerge,programming techniques, andcriteria for selecting softwareand microcomputers. For de-tails, write B. Bhavisyat, Land ofthe Blind, Route 1. Box 318,Moundsville, WV 26041.

• MAC SUPPORTS THE COM-MUNITY, The founder of ClubMac offers a free Macintoshcommunications program, amonthly newsletter, access to anon-line idea exchange, and aprofessionally staffed help line.Current or prospective Macin-tosh owners, software orperipheral vendors, Mac artists,and other interested personscan join by sending $3 5 in an-nual dues to Club Mac. 73 5Walnut, Boulder, CO 80302,(303) 449-5533.

• FIND OUT HOW

The Computer Analyst & Pro-grammers Association (CAPA)consists of professional peopleworking with computer hard-ware and software. Practicalguidance is submitted bymembers to improve program-ming languages, operating sys-tems, system documentation,and input/output (I/O) devices.The focus is on CP/M, MP/M.MS-DOS operating systems,BASIC, Pascal, FORTH, andhardware-interfacing capability.For information, send a self-addressed stamped envelope toCAPA, POB 5762. Rockford, IL61125-0762.

• CO-OP ITEMS FOR EPSONSThe National Epson QX-10Users Group (EUG) produces abimonthly newsletter that listsitems that can be bought at adiscount by members, containsnumbers of public BBSs for theEpson QX-10 that span the con-tinental U.S., and provides newsand comments on topics of in-terest to Epson users. The

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 67

You can now run the famed Gosling EMACS on your VAX,Sun, Pyramid, Cyb, Callan, Masscomp, Integrated Solutions,Apple Lisa, Pixel, Charles River Data, Perkin Elmer, Dual,Momentum, Cadmus, Tandy Model 16, NCR Tower, Fortune,Apollo, HP9000 and the list goes on!

UniPress Gosling EMACS: The famous multi-window full-screen editor. Edit several files at once. Interprocess com-munication on UNIX and VMS. Extensible via macros andthe built-in compiled MLISP language.UniPress Gosling EMACS: The ultimate programmer'stool: C, Pascal and MLISP language assist. EMACSmanages execution of Unix makefiles, and automaticallypoints to lines containing errors in the source code. Keyscan be bound as desired, macros can be named, customizedMLISP routines can supplement the many includedpackages, and much more!

UniPress Gosling EMACS: Use EMACS as your sessionmanager — Divide your screen into a "shell window" to runcommands, and one or more source file windows.UniPress Gosling EMACS: Runs under Unix 4.1/4.2,System IMA/ and Version 7. VMS and MS-DOS too!PRICES: UNIX: $395/Binary; $995/SourceVMS: $2500/Binary; $7000/SourceMS-DOS: $375/Binary; $995/Source(Requires at least 384K)Call us with your hardware type.

ALSO NEW! MINIMACS-Special efficiency-consciousEMACS for Unix. Runs on a wide range of hardware types.MINIMACS: Faster and smaller version of the famedGosling Emacs. Its features include full screen editing,multiple windows allowing several files to be editedsimultaneously, full EMACS keybindings, macro capabilityand many more powerful Emacs features, such as com-mand output being directed to a window.MINIMACS: Minimizes your resource load and is muchsmaller than the vi editor.Price: $375/Binary; $795/Source

UNIPRESS OFFERS A FULL LINE OFSOFTWARE FOR UNIX, VMS AND MS-DOS.

Lattice® C compilers to the 8086-family; both native andcross. Write programs on your mainframe for execution onthe IBM-PC, etc. (Cross compilers for UNIX and VMS.)

Window Shell: Multiple windows on any CRT!

Q-CALC • Lex • Phact • /RDB • The Menu System • UniCalc

• Full UNIX System V Operating System for the Apple Lisa

• and much more powerful software.

Call or write for more information.

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Telex: 709418

Mastercard and Visa

EMACS and MINIMACS are trademarks of UniPress Software, Inc. • Unixis a trademark of Bell Laboratories • VMS is a trademark of Digital

Equipment Corp. • MS-DOS is a trademark of Microsoft

• Lattice C and UniCalc are registered trademarks of Lattice Inc.

• IBM-PC is a trademark of IBM.

CLUBS & NEWSLETTERS

membership dues are $2 5 peruser; $15 per student user. Forinformation, contact EUG, Box1076, Lemont, PA 16851, (814)237-5511.

• LIBRARY MICROCOMPUTERDATABASES, The Public LibraryAssociation Task Force on theuses of microcomputers inpublic libraries is compiling na-tional and regional databases oflibrary microcomputer users.For details, contact Phil Clark,116 South 4th Ave.. HighlandPark, N) 08904.

• 6809 PEOPLE UNITEPeople with an interest inMC6809 machine code and the6809's hardware applicationscan join a user group that isbased in England but welcomesan international audience. Thebimonthly newsletter will cost£75 and will feature softwareand hardware sections, anassembly-language course forupdates, advertisements, letters,and articles of interest to 6809enthusiasts. For details, contactPaul Hill, 28 Woburn Rd„Launceston, Cornwall PL15 7HH.England.

• HERO ROBOTS ORGANIZEThe Hero Resource Exchange isan organization for the benefitof Hero 1 owners to exchangeinformation, programs, andideas about their robots. Fordetails, contact Walter Glod Jr.,10802 Condrey Ridge Court,Richmond. VA 23236.

• EVENS AND ODDS OFSECAUG, The South East Con-necticut Apple Users Group(SECAUG) meets at 7:30 p.m.every month. In odd-numberedmonths, the group meets everythird Thursday at the GrotonPublic Library; in even-numbered months, it meetsevery third Tuesday at theMohegan Community College inNprwich. Special-interest groupsinclude DOS. machine language,and BASIC programming. Thegroup maintains a library ofpublic-domain software in diskformat and produces a monthlynewsletter, Statements, a subscrip-tion to which is included in theS20 annual membership fee. Fordetails, contact Warren Nord-gren, 42 Terry Rd., Gales Ferry,CT 06335, (203) 464-9372.

• MALDEN CATHOLIC HSACTIVITY, Students at theMaiden Catholic High Schooland members of the MaidenCatholic Computer Club pro-duce the MC Microcomputer Newssix times during the schoolyear. Although the focus is onRadio Shack's TRS-80 Models IIIand 4, the newsletter alsocovers Apple Logo, BASIC pro-gramming tips, printer informa-tion, a glossary, and suggestedperiodical readings. Readers areencouraged to contribute com-ments and criticism. Newsletterexchanges are welcome. For fur-ther details, contact MCMicrocomputer News, MaidenCatholic High School, 99 CrystalSt.. Maiden, MA 02148.

• SOFTWARE LAW UPDATEThe coverage of Software Protec-tion, a monthly publication, in-cludes international develop-ments and software-licensinglaw relevant for software vend-ors, users, and legal advisors.The expanding editorial boardis international. A sample copyis 55; a year's subscription is$72; and $90 covers airmail out-side the U.S. For further infor-mation, contact Law & Tech-nology Press, 1112 Ocean Dr.#201. Manhattan Beach, CA90266.

• BILINGUAL MEDICAL IOUR-NAL, Micromed, devoted topractical applications of micro-computers in medicine, is anonprofit, independent groupthat produces a monthly news-letter in English and Italian. Ex-changes with other newslettersare welcome. The $10 member-ship fee outside Italy covers thecost of printing and mailing. Fordetails, contact Francesco DiGirolamo, Vie della Rimem-branza. 2 5, 66034 Lanciano,Italy.

• EPSON USERS UNITEAn international Epson usersgroup provides access to aremote BBS throughout thecountry. The 32-page monthlynewsletter, EpsonConnedion, willcontain information on formingregional groups for Epsonusers. The annual fee is $24.For details, contact Carolyn Mc-Carthy, EpsonConnedion, POB14027, Detroit, Ml 48214. (313)822-0090. ■

68

BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 312 on inquiry card.

WHY INVEST $90 IN MODULA-2 ?BECAUSE YOU'RE COMPETING WITH PEOPLE

IS THE ONE THEY ALREADY KNOW.

Whoever decided to make the switchfrom Roman numerals to a more efficientnotation for doing arithmetic should be ahero. His friends probably reacted as ifhe'd asked them to learn a whole new.language. We think you'll see the parallelwith Modula-2, epecially after you try it.

Niklaus Wirth, creator of Modula-2,asserts that Modula-2 is an abstract toolfor the construction of computingmachinery: "In my opinion, the term pro-gramming language is ill chosen andmisleading. Program notation would beeminently more appropriate."

We're not proposing that you learn a"new language." That would be like argu-ing the merits of English versus French. Butit does make sense to avail yourself of themost efficient known technology for con-trolling computing machinery-while yourcompetition is left in the dark ages.

Compared to Modula-2, whatever pro-gram notation you're now using is likedoing your arithmetic in Roman Numerals.

In this limited space, we won't try toprove that Modula-2, is the best availablecompetitive tool for the serious computerentrepreneur. "Such matters," according toFrank Herbert (DUNE), "can only be testedin the crucible of survival, not in the play ofsymbols."

The question is, for $90, can you affordnot to test our claim? No other company inhistory has made it as easy for you to dobusiness. Ourentire object-programlicensing agreement is on this page. Soput some distance between yourself andthose who believe the best programmingmethod is the one they already know.

MODULA-2 COMPILERS FOR IBM PCs,MACINTOSH, LISA AND IIS-$90

Modula-2 compiler and interpreter withenhanced, bit-mapped graphics, inter-rupts, and extended-memory support aresupplied on diskette for Apple's Lisa,Macintosh and II computers; IBM's PC,XT and compatibles (MS-DOS 2.0); andothers soon to be announced, including68000 systems under UNIX. Documenta-tion is on diskette. Compiler and librarysources are available under separatelicense.

PASCAL-T0-M0DULA-2C0NVERTER-$100

Invaluable to all who have Pascal invest-ments, or whose Pascal programs gener-ate too much code to run on the Apple lis,it will run on any of the mentionedsystems.

MODULA-2 ACCELERATOR CARDS FORIBMANDAPPLE-$245

If you don't want to waste the memoryand go to a full, compiled Modula-2, ouraccelerator cards increase executionspeed of our modified Modula-2 inter-preters by a factor of four. Acceleratorsare available for the Apple lis, and theIBM PC, XT and compatibles.

THE IDEAL MODULA-2 ENGINE

We'd love to introduce you to the Lilith.It's a workstation computer with bit-mapgraphics, three-button mouse and a bit-slice processor. The Lilith was designedby the original Modula-2 team at theSwiss Federal Institute of Technology(ETH) as the ideal Modula-2 engine. Over200 have been placed into academicand research environments. Now ModulaCorporation makes a commercial versionfor your more demanding problems. Justcall 800/LILITH2 to hear about customerbenchmark reports.

OBJECT PROGRAM LICENSE

Join us in a commitment to personalintegrity. Our prices are fair. Unlike pro-gram license agreements you can't helpbut violate, we've tried reTHINKing a few

things. Perhaps we can start a trend thatmakes violation of another's intellectualproperty unfashionable. Without all the"whereas" and "herewith" language,here's our attempt to transfuse integrityinto the entrepreneurial bloodstream:

You are to treat the information we send you as if itwere a book, with the exception that you are granted theright to make backup copies. Simple, Pournelle logic!

In the spirit of the "book" analogy, you are free totake your book to another house (or computer) withyou. This, of course, means someone at your ownhouse (or computer) cannot simultaneously read it.Similarly, you can loan your book to a friend. But therecan be no possibility you can read it at the same time.You may sell your book, only if the new owner agreesto these same conditions (which means a copy of thisagreement, signed by the new owner, must be sent tous). Finally, just as in a book, it lacks integrity tosubstitute your name for the name of the legitimateauthor.

As for our warranties: Defective software may bereturned within thirty days for replacement. But just likeany other self-help book, its value to you is what youmake of it No matter how badly it darrages your life,or that of your customers, we're not obligated to doanything whatsoever about it.

Now, it's time to play "How'd-you-like-to-see-something-rea//y-scary?"Whenyou send us your check or credit cardauthorization, enclose this page (or acopy) with an original signature. Violatethis agreement of integrity, and you'll geta doozer of a course in integrity at theclaws of our attorneys; and they'll tellyour mother,

MODULA

CORPORATION

reTHINK

950 N. University Ave., Provo, UT 84604 801/375-7400 or 800/LILITH2

In addition to information on the Lilith,

□ Please send me the Modula-2 Compiler at $90 for the D IBM PC or XT, or the Apple G lis, a Lisa orthe D Macintosh.

□ Please send me the Pascal-to-Modula-2 Converter at $100 fortheG IBM PC or XT, or the Apple D lis,□ Lisa or the □ Macintosh.

D Please send me the Modula-2 Accelerator at $249 forthe D Apple II orthe □ IBM PC or XT. (Note; You

must also have ordered the modified compiler below.)D Please send me the Modula-2 Compiler, for use with the accelerator at $40.Utah residents include 6% sales tax.$10 handling and shipping is included for all orders.

$ Total amount enclosed/authorized.

My signature below, besides being a possible credit card authorization, indicates my agreement to allthe above terms.

□ My check is enclosed

a Please bill my □ VISA/G MASTERCARD

Card number

Expiration

Signature

Date

Print/type full name

Title

Company

Phone

Address

City

Zip

© 1984 by Modula Corporation. Apple * Apple Computer Inc., IBM'* IBM Corp., MS-DOS'" Microsoft Corporation, UNIX" Bell Laboratories, Inc. Advertising copy by Genghis.

Circle 223 on inquiry card. AUGUST 1984 -BYTE

69

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4

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2051 South State Street Ann Arbor, Ml. 48104 313-769-3988

BOOK REVIEWS

PROGRAMMING

•—

IN MODULA-2

i

Niklaus Wirth

Springer-Verlag

New York: 1983

176 pages. SI6.95

THE ELEMENTS OF

FRIENDLY SOFTWARE

DESIGN

Paul Heckel

Warner Books

lit

New York: 1984

224 pages. $8.95

THE ABC'S OF

DEVELOPING SOFTWARESheldon D. Softky

ABC Press

of Silicon Valley

Menlo Park. CA: 1983

>».

144 pages, $13.95

THE PROGRAMMER'S

CP/M HANDBOOK

i -N

Andy lohnson-Laird

^

Osborne/McGraw-Hill

Berkeley, CA: 1983

500 pages. $21.95

Programming in Modula-2Reviewed by David D. Clark

User friendliness is one approach discussed in a review of two bookson software design this month.

By now, everyone has heard aboutNiklaus Wirth's new language,Modula-2. You've probably also heardthat it will be the programming languageof choice in the near future, replacingPascal and preferred over Ada. For thesepredictions to come true, however, peo-ple have to learn the language. NiklausWirth's book, Programming in Modula-2, isdesigned to teach programmers the fun-damentals of the language.

Professor Wirth describes the ra-tionale behind the development ofModula-2 in the book's preface:

In 1977. a research project with thegoal to design a computer system (hard-ware and software) in an integrated ap-proach, was launched at the Institut fur

Informatik of ETH Zurich. This system(later to be called Lilith) was to be pro-grammed in a single high-level language,which therefore had to satisfy the require-ments of high-level system design as wellas those of low-level programming ofparts that closely interact with the givenhardware. Modula-2 emerged from care-ful design deliberations as a languagethat includes all aspects of Pascal and ex-tends them with the important moduleconcept and those of multiprogramming.Since its syntax was more in line with thatof Modula than with Pascal's, the chosenname was Modula-2.

The text of the book was prepared incamera-ready form using a Lilith mini-computer and printed with a laserprinter. All of the programs to format

the text, control, and interfaceto the printer were also writ-ten in Modula-2 on a Lilith.

Structure

The book is divided into fiveparts followed by thetechnical Modula-2 report(mentioned later in thisreview in more detail), twoappendixes, and an index.The first nine chaptersdescribe the basic conceptsof variables, expressions,statements, and simple datatypes. Although the prefacestates that the book is in-tended for persons withsome knowledge of pro-gramming, in several in-stances it goes into detaileddiscussions of very elemen-tary concepts, explaining, forexample, that the order inwhich statements are ex-ecuted affects the outcomeof a calculation.

The next five chapters ex-plore the concept of the sub-program or procedure. Thissecond part starts with an ex-planation about breakingdown a large problem into simple parts,which can be further subdivided. It isthis process of stepwise refinement, ofyielding simple tasks that can be imple-mented in single procedures, that is thepower in any programming language.The reader is also introduced to theideas of locality or scope, recursion asa programming strategy and themethods of transferring parameters andresults to and from procedures.

The third logical division of the textbegins with chapter 15 and covers theconcepts of data type and structure. Ina general sense, the purpose of com-puter programs is to perform someuseful transformation on some piece of

[continued}

ILLUSTRATION BY RANDALL ENOS

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 73

BOOK REVIEWS

data. Using an appropriate data struc-ture facilitates the implementation of aprogram from such a transformation.One of the great strengths of Pascal,and now Modula-2, is the richness ofthis capability. This section of the textdescribes the data-structuring facilitiesclearly and completely.

Overview

The first 22 chapters can be skimmedby an experienced Pascal programmerwith little chance of missing anythingimportant. Modula-2 has severalchanges in syntax from Pascal, usuallywell-designed extensions and refine-ments. With the exception of some in-teresting examples, though, we've seenit before.

The really interesting stuff begins withthe exposition of modules in chapter23. Modules, familiar to people alreadyacquainted with UCSD Pascal UNIT orPascal Plus's ENVELOPE, provide ameans of grouping related tasks into

separately compiled pieces for inclusionin libraries. This capability to logicallygroup related procedures furtherenhances the process of stepwise re-finement.

After presenting the module invarious forms, the book provides ex-amples for the implementation of com-mon tasks such as character input/out-put (I/O) from video terminals and filestores. As with the C programming lan-guage, I/O is not explicitly provided forby the language. This is because it issuch a hardware-dependent activity. Tobe complete, each implementationshould provide a library of modulescontaining procedures and data typesto perform the functions required.

The chapter on screen-oriented inputand output is one of the most interest-ing in the book. It presents definitionmodules for line-drawing primitives, amouse handler, and a window handler.As an aside, the Lilith minicomputer, onwhich Modula-2 was the systems' pro-

gramming language, has a high-resolu-tion, bit-mapped display that is perfectfor graphics-intensive applications.

Details

In demonstrating the use of the line-drawing primitives, Professor Wirthreturns to an example presented in oneof his previous books, Algorithms + DataStructure = Programs (Prentice-Hall, 1976).The program generates a Sierpinskicurve. This program was used to il-lustrate recursive techniques in theolder book. The algorithm employs fourmutually recursive procedures (A, B, C,and D).

The program in the older book, whichwas written in Pascal, would not com-pile because some of the procedureshad not been previously declared. Toremedy the situation, Pascal provides aFORWARD statement. The situation inModula-2 is slightly different; all objectsat the same scope level are known to

(continued)

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BOOK REVIEWS

one another. This is the only exampleI could find in the book that even in-directly addresses the relaxed declara-tion sequence accepted by Modula-2.One of the improvements in the syntaxof language relative to Pascal is that itallows for declarations of constants,types, variables, and procedures to bedeclared in an arbitrary order in ar-bitrary locations, within the same scopelevel. Such syntax allows global vari-ables to be declared right in front of thegroup of procedures that uses them. Al-though this fact can be determined fromclose examination of the formal syntax(in my case, by recourse to someonewho is already an expert in the lan-guage), I think this new syntactical fea-ture should have been explicitlymentioned.

The fifth division of the text consistsof three chapters that cover languagefacilities for system programming andother low-level tasks. When Pascal wascreated, it was originally intended only

to teach good programming practices.Because it was so easy to write reliable,structured programs in Pascal, severalextensions of it were created to enableit to handle systems-level programming.The UCSD project, for example, wrotethe entire operating system in its ex-tended version, in order to access theunderlying hardware, programmersresorted to tricks to get the job done.Because of such practices, programswritten in one variant often were notportable to implementations using aslightly different version.

As stated in the preface, a major ob-jective in the design of Modula-2 wascreating a general-purpose program-ming language that could also programlow-level tasks. The topics discussed inthe fifth division of the book includemultiprogramming, concurrency, corou-tines, peripheral interfacing, and inter-rupts. While unleashing the programmeron these low-level facilities, an attemptis made to instill a sense of solid, sound,

conservative design when using them.These language features enable the pro-grammer to greatly damage the systemand should be used cautiously anddeliberately. This part of the book is themost terse, possibly by design. My ad-vice is, if you don't understand what thetext is discussing, don't even attempt touse the facilities described.

Following the main body of the textis the "Report on the Programming Lan-guage Modula-2." This document is thetechnical reference mentioned earlierthat describes the language. It definesthe standard language, at least until na-tional standards committees create newones. While a book review need notcomment on the technical merits of alanguage definition, a few comments onits presentation are in order. In this case,the most obvious observation is that itis understandable. The 2 5-page docu-ment clearly specifies the syntax andsemantics of the language. It is remark-

(continued)

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77

BOOK REVIEWS

able that so powerful a language can bedescribed so concisely. It is also inmarked contrast to the technical de-scription of some other languages,notably COBOL. PL/I. and Ada.

Drawbacks

The book does have some flaws. Itseems ironic that the creator of suchbeautiful languages as Pascal andModula-2 should use one of the mostunattractive programming styles I haveever seen. Indentation is shallow (oftenless than one character per level) andhard to follow in some of the longer ex-amples. There is a tendency to cramseveral statements onto the same line.The use of proportional spacing in thelistings is bothersome. Because differentletters occupy varying widths in thelistings, corresponding letters in con-secutive lines do not always line up. Thiscan be particularly annoying when char-acter arrays are padded with blanks:there is simply no way of knowing how

many blanks to use.

The listings in this book do, however,have one advantage over the Pascal list-ings presented in Professor Wirth'sprevious books. The presentationlistings that appear in typeset text andregular listings as produced by commonprinters are the same. One typeface isused for all program tokens instead ofreserved words in bold, identifiers andoperators in italics, and surrounding textin Roman. This makes it easier to writeabout the language and programs writ-ten in it.

Another slightly annoying property ofthe book is the level of presentation. Ittries to be all things to all programmers.By presenting many very basic conceptsof programming in general, it is prob-ably too terse for the beginner to learnhow to program without additional in-struction. All the detail for beginnersjust slows down the experienced pro-grammer. Such a person can skip largesections of the text, thereby possibly

missing important details. 1 think Pro-fessor Wirth should have directed hispresentation to the more experiencedaudience because at this stage in the lifeof Modula-2, very few persons will learnit as their first programming language.Instruction for the beginnner can beprovided by tutorial books that will ap-pear as the popularity of the languageincreases, just as they did for BASIC andPascal.

Possibly the most disconcerting thingabout this book is its index. Althoughit appears complete, it is hard to use.Printed in a two-column format, scan-ning it in alphabetical order means look-ing at an entry in the first column,checking the same line in the secondcolumn, moving down one line, check-ing the first column, and so on. It's noteasy to break the habit of lookingstraight down the list when searchinghurriedly. Such an index is a handicapin a book intended as a reference.

{continued)

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78 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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It's the new BASF Qualimetric™ 3-5" MicroFlexyDisk? Its name is a lot bigger than its size,and a lot smaller than its capacity- one astound-ing megabyte. Our new Micro fits into more thanshirt pockets. It fits into several of the hottest newsmall portable personal computers - like Apple ™Computer's new Macintosh™ and Lisa™ 2 andHewlett-Packard's HP-150 Touchscreen PC.

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BOOK REVIEWS

Praise

On a more positive note, this bookcovers almost all of the facilities of thelanguage quite well. Professor Wirth in-fuses his exposition with the impor-tance of stepwise refinement, the choiceof appropriate data structures, and theseparation of related tasks into isolatedmodules. In many cases, the program-ming examples given are quite interest-ing. The book seems to have been pre-pared carefully: I didn't notice one typo-graphical error. To top it off, the bookis reasonably priced, something quiterare in computer science books. Andfinally, this is an important book. It con-tains the report on Modula-2 and thusdefines the standard language. As thelanguage becomes more popular, it willserve as the arbiter of what constitutesa correct implementation. Simply, thisbook can help you resolve questionsregarding the legality of syntax andrecognition of nonstandard, nonpor-table use concerning Modula-2.

The Elements ofFriendly SoftwareDesign

The ABC's ofDeveloping SoftwareReviewed by Chris H. Pappas

A tension exists between two op-posing software-design theories.One school of thought maintains thatan efficient program must be structured,modular, and easily maintained. Theother approach focuses on and catersto the needs of the user.

1 have just finished reading two textson software development. The firstbook is The Elements of Friendly SoftwareDesign by Paul Heckel and the secondis The ABC's of Developing Software bySheldon D. Softky. Both are written forbeginning to experienced programmers.I see, as do the authors, that these twoapproaches are not mutually exclusive,even though both texts represent op-posite ends of the spectrum. The

amount of space Heckel devotes toprogram-design structure in his book issimilar in length to the space Softkydevotes to user friendliness.

THE Friendly Way

The information in The Elements of FriendlySoftware Design is both entertaining andinstructional. The major thrust of thetext indicates that software design, if ap-proached from the user's point of view,is the most recent addition in the fieldof communications crafts. Precursors in-clude literature, theater, music, film, andother art forms.

Significant examples are included thatsupport user friendliness: quotes fromfamous movie directors, authors, inven-tors, painters, and other people whoselivelihood revolves around communica-tions. Heckel suggests that softwareengineers go beyond proper programsyntax and structure and concern them-selves with addressing user needs.

[continued)

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• _

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Language Library

For PC DOS: MS DOS,CP/M-86, and others

A programmer's most importantsoftware tool is the language compileror interpreter he uses. He has todepend on it to work and work well.

At SuperSoft, we believe it. That'swhy we offer three fine compilers:SuperSoft FORTRAN, SuperSoftBASIC, and SuperSoft C, that answerthe programmer's need for rock solid,dependable performance on 16 bitsystems.

BASIC

COMPILER

Compatiblewith Microsoft BASIC

The SuperSoft BASIC compiler, availableunder CP/M-86 and MS DOS, is compatible withMicrosoft* BASIC and follows the ANSI standard.

Greater accuracy with BCDmath routines

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SuperSoft's BASIC is a true native codecompiler, not an intermediate code interpreter.It is a superset of standard BASIC, supportingnumerous extensions to the language. Importantfeatures include:

■ Four variable types: Integer, String, and Singleand Double Precision Floating Point (13 digit)

■ Full PRINT USING for formatted output

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*SuperSoft BASIC is compatible withMicrosoft BASIC interpreter and IBM PC BASIC.Due to version differences and inherentdifferences in compilers and interpreters someminor variations may be found. Machinedependent commands may not be supported.The vast majority of programs will run withno changes.

82 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

FORTRAN

SuperSoft FORTRAN is the answer to thegrowing need for a high quality FORTRANcompiler running under CP/M-86 and IBM PCDOS. It has major advantages over otherFORTRAN compilers for the 8086. For example,consider the benchmark program used to testthe IBM FORTRAN in InfoWorld, p. 44, Oct. 25,1982. (While the differential listed will not bethe same for all benchmark programs, we feel itis a good indication of the quality of our compiler.)Results are as follows:

IBM FORTRAN:SuperSoft FORTRAN

38.0 Seconds2.8 Seconds

In its first release SuperSoft FORTRANoffers the following outstanding features:

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Microsoft is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation

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C Compiler

In 1982 SuperSoft helped C programmersaround the world move their applications from8 to 16 bit operating systems with the first Ccompiler under CP/M-86," PC DOS, and MS DOS.

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AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 83

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BOOK REVIEWS

In the second chapter, "Our Counter-productive Instincts," the author pointsout that software engineers are primar-ily concerned with the logic in a pro-gram. Not enough time is devoted tothe visual aspects of the program: Howdoes it look to the user? Throughout thebook the words create visual imagesthat link thoughts with experience;Heckel believes that this use of familiari-ty is critical for successful softwaredesign.

If computers are to be accepted bythe general population, Heckel declares,it is the job of software engineers tomake the first experience a positive one.For instance, to design a word processorfor a secretary, try to emulate a type-writer. Make the new user feel at easeand not intimidated by the product.With a positive, familiar approach, it ismaintained, you can then lead the useron gradually to the more advanced fea-tures of the package.

"How to Design Software that PeopleWill Want to Use" is a section that con-tains many aspects to ponder in friendlysoftware design. For instance, "Mostsoftware is run by confused users actingon incorrect and incomplete informa-tion, doing things the designer never ex-pected." How true! Judgmental com-mands, such as "Illegal Command,"simply increase a user's defensiveness.Use empathy, not superiority. Give theuser control. Involve the user. Orient theuser to the world. In a word processor,the designer can not only show usersthe page they're typing on but can alsotell them which document, page, line,and position is in use. Avoid frustratingthe user. Don't bore them or go overtheir heads. Allow for help menus butdon't make them automatically invoked.Put yourself in the user's place. To bea competent software engineer, youmust know the medium's capabilitieswell. Be willing to rewrite. Don't expectto get it right at the first effort.

A Logical Approach

If you're on a software-developmentteam that isn't doing as well as it might,then Softky's The ABC's of Developing Soft-ware presents a totally different view ofprogram design. The text describes howto design and implement a major soft-ware project.The example used throughout this

(continued)

84 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 85

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BOOK REVIEWS

The two authorsoccasionally agree.

book concerns the development of asoftware package that will simulatepower-regeneration capabilities ofenergy sources placed strategicallythroughout California. The energy inputis to come from solar cells, turbines,windmills, waste-burning systems, andtidal-wave energy generation occurringover varying seasonal conditions for aperiod lasting two years.

Due to the immensity of the project,the author calls for tremendous initialdevelopment to ensure that the projectis successful, affordable, and deliveredon time.

The process begins with a solid pro-posal, explaining in full detail what theproject is all about, even suggestingpeople who should be hired. Becausethe software will be used and repairedby the people on hand, it is importantto keep them in mind when the designis started. Here's where Softky states,agreeing with Heckel's point of userfriendliness, "the simulation will beoperable by staff who are not profes-sionally trained programmers or soft-ware engineers."

Several interesting and upsettingstatistics are woven throughout. One isthat during the development life of anysoftware project, the developer can ex-pect a 30 percent turnover in staff.Softky stresses that a good initial prob-lem design includes time to bring newengineers on board and train them tothe point where they can be productive.If this happens late in the developmentphase, this training period can take sixmonths.

The author points out that softwaredevelopers must use the same systemthe customer owns. This could requiresome retraining of the developers. Also,because the software engineers cost somuch, it makes sense to have terminalsand printers for them all. Softky il-lustrates how to organize and structurethe entire project and includes an ex-cellent problem description using Pro-gram Definition Language (PDL).

Unlike Heckel, Softky sees the pro-gram controlled by data, control, input,output, and control logic, or sequentialfiles. Excellent discussions center on

data-management systems (DMS).Some programs are designed to freethe software engineer from worryingabout any links between the programand the system's peripheral devices.

The ABC's of Developing Software containsinformative guidance for the software-development phase. This includes therealization that as time slips, so doesthe quality of the entire project becauseimportant steps, such as keeping thedocumentation up to date, are by-passed. Quality monitoring is an on-going process.

Softky states, "User's needs are sopervasive that they ought to affect thelist of requirements. It is important toalways remember that most softwareisn't operated by people who built it,and as a result, some of it must exist to'hold the user's hand.' It also happensthat the design effort can turn up hardspots, those places where the usercould easily make a wrong decision.Conscientious designers then includevirtual requirements, which lead to im-provements in design solely for theuser's benefit." Here again, we finddirect agreement between the twoauthors.

Softky stresses closely organizedstructured design, ranging from thehigh-level, broad design down to thedetailed subprograms. He mentions theneeds for good design-test plans andthe usefulness of well-written software-maintenance and user's manuals.

The last step Softky mentions is in-tegrating and testing the software. Thisis where the efforts of many subgroupscome together under the master controlprogram. Debugging occurs during thewalk-through where the engineers,senior programmers, and the systemsanalysts have all done their parts; whathopefully emerges is a useful, well-documented, efficient, reliable, and on-time software package.

What I gained from Heckel's book willaffect the way I program from now on.What I gained from Softky's text is anappreciation and respect for uppermanagement. After you've read bothbooks, you'll have a handy combination.You'll have the knowledge to correctlydefine, structure, code, and implementa software design, combined with thecraftiness of a car salesman and the em-pathy of a psychiatrist.

{continued)

86 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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BOOK REVIEWS

The Programmer's

CP/M Handbook

Reviewed by Wayne W. Shearer Jr.

If you write assembly-language pro-grams for CP/M systems, this book isfor you. 1 could end this review righthere and not receive any complaintsfrom anyone who reads The Programmer'sCP/M Handbook. The author, Andylohnson-Laird, has provided the long-awaited definitive book on CP/M pro-gramming. Explanations of each func-tion are explicit, filled with examples,and are the most complete I've seenabout CP/M in print.

To the Point

The first sentence of chapter 1 explainsthe author's direction and purpose:"This book is a sequel to the OsborneCP/M User Guide by Thorn Hogan"(Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1982). The firstchapter outlines the contents of thebook, the notation used in its examples,the mnemonics and languages in theprogram listings, and the type of readerfor whom the book is written. And makeno mistake, this is not a beginner's book.In chapter 4, a couple of paragraphs aredevoted to each built-in command inthe console command processor (CCP),and that's it. The book is for serious pro-grammers who write applications, utili-ties, and systems for CP/M.

Ample Comment

Without a doubt, The Programmer's CP/MHandbook provides the best explanationof the CP/M file structure and disk in-terfacing that I have found. A fullchapter explains the file structure inCP/M. The file control block (FCB) isdescribed byte by byte—in English, notcomputerese. And I believe that I nowactually understand the disk-definitiontables and disk-parameter blocks usedin the CP/M basic input/output system(BIOS). I won't say the book is easyreading, but the explanations are aboutas clear as you can muster in assem-bly-language programming, and all ex-planations are accompanied by heavilycommented program listings.

One chapter is devoted to the basicdisk operating system (BDOS) andanother to the BIOS. Each call to theBDOS is discussed, including a shortsection on each, titled "Notes," thatwarns of common mistakes, misunder-

standings, and pitfalls that await theCP/M programmer. The same is donefor the BIOS calls. Character input/out-put (I/O) is given the full treatment, un-tangling the difference between logicaland physical devices and providing in-depth explanations of such mundanesubjects as serial and parallel interfac-ing. The chapter ends with a sampleBIOS listing. No, this isn't the samestripped-down BIOS that's been appear-ing in the back of the CP/M AlterationGuide for years; it's a well-documented,full-blown BIOS that the author has de-veloped and tested himself. This couldbe the first assembly-language programthat I've seen with more lines of com-ment than code.

But Johnson-Laird isn't satisfied withexpanding the CP/M manuals. He de-scribes enhancements that can beadded to the BIOS to correct deficien-cies in CP/M and to expand the featuresand facilities available. Programmerscan learn to customize a CP/M BIOSconfiguration and implement an en-hanced BIOS. These enhancements fallinto two groups—expanded I/O facilitiesand improved error handling. Eachgroup is given its own chapter. AddingI/O redirection, interrupt-driven input,serial protocols, terminal function keys,date and time, and device-configurationblocks are covered in one chapter. Thismay sound like a lot, but the chapterends with a listing of an enhanced BIOSwith over 4 500 lines of source code. Byan admittedly rough estimate, I figurethe comment lines outnumber thesource code lines by about 3 to 1. If youcan't understand this listing, you weren'tpaying attention. All programmersshould be so kind.

Debugging

The next chapter describes CP/M's errorhandling. Obviously, this didn't takelong. The author describes methods ofdetecting and correcting hardwareerrors. The goal is to build a CP/M thatreduces the possibility of losing data.The result of this effort is a CP/M wherethe message "BDOS ERROR" seldomappears.

The chapter titled "Debugging a NewCP/M System" should be lifted in its en-tirety and included in Digital Research'sdocumentation for CP/M—with appro-priate compensation to its author, of

[continued)

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BOOK REVIEWS

course. This section covers trouble-shooting the CP/M BIOS from basicdebugging techniques (called "the Or-ville Wright approach") to the use of ex-tensive built-in debugging code (listingsincluded, naturally). Page after page isfilled with checklists of potential prob-lems and possible remedies. Detailedtechniques for testing I/O, disk, and in-terrupt routines are provided, as thoseareas are especially hard to debugbecause they are very hardware depen-dent. The use of pass counters, errortrapping, and a discussion of bringingup the bootstrap loader are all covered.

The final chapter provides expandedutilities for the system. A major changeis made here: the author switches fromassembly language to BDS C. While Ihave not yet used C, the programlistings and examples are clear enoughto follow the logic of the utilities anddebugging aids described. In fact, theseutilities looked so good that I am nowin the market for a C compiler. I justcan't resist changing data rates, hidingfiles from the directory, reassigning I/Odevices at will, and changing serial pro-tocols as needed. With the understand-ing of CP/M that I gained after readingthis book, I can already think of a fewnew utilities that I just might develop.

This book has been needed by theCP/M community for some time now.The fact that it was written by someoneas talented and knowledgeable aslohnson-Laird is a pleasant surprise. Irecommend this handbook to anyonewho desires an intimate and seriousunderstanding of CP/M. I assure youthat it will become a valuable but tat-tered addition to your technicalliterature, as you open it repeatedly togleen yet another fact from its pages. ■

David D. Clark (246 South Fraser St. #2,State College. PA 16801) is a postdoctoralresearch scholar in the chemistry department ofPennsylvania State University.

Chris H. Pappas is a professor of computerscience at Broome Community College. Bing-hamton, New York, and is currently writing abook on APL.

Wayne W. Shearer ]r. (1143 South UniversityBlvd., Denver, CO 80210) is general managerof Shearer Associates, a consulting firm basedin Denver.

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AUGUST 1984 • B Y T E 93

EVENT QUEUE

August 1984

• C. UNIX COURSESCourses in C Language andUNIX. Concord. MA, SomersPoint. N), and College Park, MD.Three five-day courses areoffered: "C Programming Work-shop," "Advanced C TopicsSeminar," and "UNIX Work-shop." Contact loan Hall, PlumHall Inc., 1 Spruce Ave., Cardiff,N] 08232, (609) 927-3770.August

• DATABASE SEMINARSSoftwareBanc Seminars, varioussites in the U.S. and Canada.Such seminars as "ProblemSolving with 1-2-3," "dBASE II,"and "Exploring UNIX" areplanned. Contact SoftwareBancInc., 661 Massachusetts Ave., Ar-lington, MA 02174, (800| 451-2502; in Massachusetts, (617)641-1241. August

• DBM SEMINARS

Digital Consulting AssociatesClasses and Seminars, varioussites in the U.S. Seminars andclasses on information centers,database administration, andother microcomputer topics.Contact Digital Consulting Asso-ciates Inc., 339 Salem St.. Wake-field. MA 01880, (617) 246-4850.August

• ENGINEERING SUMMERCONFERENCES, ChryslerCenter, North Campus, Univer-sity of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Topics include aerospace,chemical, electrical, nuclear,marine, metallurgical, mechan-ical/automotive, industrial, andcomputer, information, and con-trol engineering. Fees rangefrom S450 to $1000, dependingon course length. ContactEngineering Summer Con-ferences, 200 Chrysler Center-North Campus, University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109,(313) 764-8490. August

• WORKSHOPS FOREDUCATORS, CompuworkshopsComputer Seminars for Educa-tors, various locations in Califor-nia. Among the seminars of-fered are "Computer Literacy

for Educators" and "How to SetUp a Computer-Based Educa-tion Program in Your School orDistrict." Each course is $50.Contact Compukids of SealBeach, Rossmoor ShoppingCenter, 12385 Seal Beach Blvd.,Seal Beach, CA 90740, (213)430-7226; in West Los Angeles.(213) 473-8002; in Tarzana, (213)343-4008; and in Rancho Ber-nardo/San Diego, (619) 451-1742.August

• DEC SEMINARSTechnical and ManagementSeminars for Professionals, vari-ous sites in the U.S. Subjectareas: system-performance man-agement, networking, personalcomputing, applications designand programming, real-time ap-plications design, and manage-ment development. On-siteseminars can be arranged. Con-tact Educational Services, Semi-nar Programs BUO/E58. DigitalEquipment Corp., 12 Crosby Dr.,Bedford, MA 01730, (617) 276-4949. August-September

• EFFICIENT COMPUTINGTECHNIQUES, Microcomputers:Techniques for Improving YourComputer Efficiency, Valley Innand Tavern, Waterville Valley,NH. Four intensive two-dayseminars: "Microcomputers: Pro-gramming in BASIC," "Introduc-tion to VisiCalc," "MicroDatabase Applications," and"Engineering and ManagementApplications." Tuition is $495, or$679 with meals and lodging.Contact New Hampshire Col-lege. Resource Center, 2 500North River Rd., Manchester.NH 03104. (603) 668-2211, ext.175. August-September

• MANAGERIAL SEMINARSComputer Competence Semi-nars, Boston University Metro-politan College, Boston, MA. Aseries of hands-on presentationstailored for managers who know

little or nothing about com-puters and for those who wishto sharpen their computingskills. On the docket are "PCsfor Improving Financial Analysisand Decision Support." "dBASEII," and many others. Fees rangefrom $225 to $595. In-houseprograms can be organized.Contact Joan Merrick. UniversitySeminar Center, Suite 415, 850Boylston St., Chestnut Hill. MA02167, (617) 738-5020.August-September

• RAINBOW SEMINARSAll-Hands-On, Boston, MA,Chicago. 1L, New York City, andSan Francisco, CA. A series ofapplications seminars featuringthe DEC Rainbow 100. ContactCarol Ericson, BUO/E50, Educa-tional Services, Digital Equip-ment Corp., 12 Crosby Dr., Bed-ford, MA 01730, (617) 276-4572.August-September

• PROFESSIONAL EDUCATIONSeminars from the Institute forProfessional Education, varioussites in the U.S. Programs instatistics, management, simula-tion and modeling, personalcomputers, and computerscience. Contact the Institute forProfessional Education, POB756, Arlington, VA 22216. (703)527-8700. August-December

• COMPUTERS IN ENGINEER-ING, The 1984 ASME Interna-tional Computers in EngineeringConference and Exhibit, HiltonHotel, Las Vegas, NV. More than60 panel discussions and papersessions. Product exhibits. Con-tact American Society of Me-chanical Engineers, 345 East47th St., New York, NY 10017.(212) 705-7100. August 12-16

• MICROS & VOC EDUCATIONMicrocomputers and High Tech-nology in Vocational EducationConference, Vocational StudiesCenter, University of Wisconsin,

IF 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 aboutcomputer conferences, seminars, workshops, and courses to BYTE, Event Queue, POB372, Hancock. NH 03449.

Madison. Concurrent sessions,formal classes, presentations,speeches, and videotaped pro-grams. Preregistration fee is$55, or $65 at the door. Con-tact Dr. Judith Rodenstein, 964Educational Sciences Building,University of Wisconsin, 102 5West Johnson St., Madison, Wl53706, (608) 263-4367.August 13-16

• COMPUTERS AND BIOLOGYThe Fourth Annual Notre DameShort Course Series: Computersin Biology, University of NotreDame, Notre Dame. IN. Threeconcurrent short courses: "Com-puters in Bioeducation," "Micro-computers in Classroom andLaboratory," and "ComputerizedData Analysis in Biological Re-search." Technical expertise isnot required. Tuition is $450.Contact Theodore J. Crovello,Biocomputing Short CourseCoordinator, Department ofBiology, University of NotreDame, Notre Dame, IN 46556.(219) 239-7496. August 13-17

• COMPUTING IN SCHOOLSThe Third Annual Harvard In-stitute on Computing inSchools, Harvard GraduateSchool of Education, Cam-bridge, MA. Designed foreducators and administrators.Software demonstrations andgroup discussions will befeatured. Prior computer ex-perience not required. ContactInstitute on Computing inSchools, Programs in Profes-sional Education, HarvardGraduate School of Education,339 Gutman Library, Cambridge,MA 02138, (617) 495-3572.August 13-17

• PROGRAM COMPUTERGAMES, Programming Gameson Computers, Salzburg Inn,Stowe, VT. Presented by MontyNewborn and David Levy,computer-game experts, thiscourse Is designed to show youhow to program a computer toplay chess, bridge, othello,checkers, and blackjack. Ability

(continued)

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to program in BASIC, FORTRAN,or Pascal is advised. The fee is$550. Contact Dr. MontyNewborn, 4874 Westmount Ave.,Westmount, Quebec H3Y 1Y1.Canada, or call (514) 481-1766.August 13-17

• COMPUTERS. GRAPHICS.AND BUILDING. Computers/Graphics in the BuildingProcess—BP '84, EmbarcaderoCenter, Hyatt Regency San Fran-cisco, CA. Exhibit of equipmentand services, tutorials, andtechnical sessions exploring thetheme "The Building Process inTransition." Contact ConferenceDirector, BP '84, Suite 333.2033 M St. NW, Washington, DC20036, (202) 775-9556.

August 19-23

• ADA COURSE

Hands-On Programming in Ada,Washington. DC Upon comple-tion students will be able todesign, code, and test Ada pro-grams in an interactive environ-ment. Enrollment is limited toindividuals with programmingexperience in at least one high-level language. The fee is $875.Contact Continuing EngineeringEducation, George WashingtonUniversity, Washington, DC20052, (800) 424-9773; in theDistrict of Columbia, (202)676-6106. August 20-24

• PROGRAM COMPUTERGAMES, Programming Gameson Computers. Salzburg Inn,Stowe, VT See August 13-17.August 20-24

• HAMFEST/COMPUTERFESTThe Central PennsylvaniaRepeater Association EleventhAnnual Hamfest/Computerfest,Hershey, PA. Indoor dealer andflea-market areas. Registration is$3. Children and spouses free.Contact Timothy R. Fanus,WB3DNA, 6140 Chambers HillRd„ Harrisburg, PA 17111, (717)564-0897 (noon to 8 p.m.).August 26

• INFO CENTER CONFERENCEInformation Center Conferenceand Exposition, SheratonBoston and Hynes Auditorium,Boston, MA, More than 60educational sessions on hard-ware, software, and organiza-tional topics of interest toinformation-center managers willbe featured. Contact Warren/Weingarten Publications, 38

Chauncy St., Boston, MA 02111,(617) 542-0146. August 26-30

• PCB TECHNICAL SEMINARThe 1984 Printed Circuit Fabri-cation Technical Seminar, Bos-ton, MA. Contact DonnaEsposito, PMS Industries, 62 5Sims Industrial Blvd., Alpharetta,GA 30201, (404) 475-1818.August 27-29

• ADA WORKSHOPWorkshop in Ada, Atlanta, GA.This course combines lectureswith laboratory sessions andemphasizes the design and im-plementation of Ada programs.Programming experience withFORTRAN, PL/1, Jovial, Pascal, C,or another high-level languagerequired. Fee: $900. ContactElaine Hadden Nicholas. Depart-ment of Continuing Education,Georgia Institute of Technology,Atlanta. GA 30332-0385. (404)894-2 547. August 27-30

• EUROM1CRO

The Tenth Annual EuromicroSymposium—Euromicro 84,Copenhagen, Denmark. One ofthe largest European computerevents. Euromicro featuresspeeches, tutorials, andtechnical sessions. Also featuredwill be the annual Euromousecontest in which robotic micezip through a maze, racingagainst time and foreign com-petitors. Contact Euromicro, p/aTH Twente, Department INF,Room A306, POB 217. 7500 AEEnschede, The Netherlands; tel:(31) (53) 338799: Telex: 44200THES. August 27-30

September 1984

• COURSES FROM ICSCourses from Integrated Com-puter Systems, various sitesthroughout the U.S. Among thecourses offered are "ComputerNetwork Design and Protocols"and "Data Communications."Fees are generally $895. Con-tact Integrated ComputerSystems, 6305 Arizona Place,POB 45405, Los Angeles. CA90045, (800) 421-8166; inCalifornia, (800) 352-8251 or(213) 417-8888. September-October

• ERGONOMICS CONFERENCEWorld Conference on Ergo-nomics in Computer Systems,various sites throughout the U.S.

(continued)

96 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 180 on inquiry card.

With Microfazer, youcould be doing this...

While your pnrvdoing this.

6 e \a | b I o j

1 . ' . ■*- W-^lT I II

R7tTy w

V

W*r

, J

Your personal computer works needs, you and the computer

fast. Except when you're can get Pack to Pusiness fast,

printing. Then it doesn't work This makes Microfazer perfect

at all. And when your for any Puffer task: word

computer's not working you're processing, complicati

stuck waiting. But with graphics, you name it.

Microfazer there's no more But Microfazer remembers

waiting. Microfazer is the print more

Puffer that frees your computer. MjCrofazer remembers to givSo you can compute and print at you the hardware featuresthe same time. you're looking for in a print

Compute while you print buffer. Features that include

Microfazer stores data from your memory expansion to 512K.computer, then sends it to m m w ^m w~* ****. ^m m m

(Parallel-to-Parallel version), RESEPAUSE, and COPY functions.Plus a choice of serial or parallelinterfaces (or combinations of

ISISiinliSiZnSilMiBii

The perfect system buffer

Microfazer qoes with print

Microfazer remembers to give and plotters to make it the

you the hardware features perfect buffer for all your

you're lookinq for in a print system needs.

„_ Microfazer^members exactly whatyour printer

MICROFAZERBY QUADRAM

i Microfazers price makesTM it perfect, too.

So stop waiting on yourprinter. Get MicrofazerJM and compute while youprint. Microfazer. Thebuffer that remembersit all.

QUADFW1

li*"'"WAl

V — ii ii r

©Copyright 1984 Quadram Corporation. All rights reserved.Circle 260 on inquiry card.

4355 International Blvd /Norcross. Ga. 30093(404) 923-6666/TWX 810766-4915 (QUADRAM NCRS)International Offices

Chevco Computing • 6581 Kitimat Road #14Mississauga. Ontario. Canada L5N-2X5 • 416-821 -7600

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TECHNOLOGY CORPORATE CAMPUS3159 Campus Drive • Norcross, GA 30071

For information 1-404-449-8089Technical Support 1-404-446-3836Telex 880497

What a performance!Seven new data acquisitionand control boards foryour IBM PC.™

Encore!Encore!

Data Translation^has done it again. Ounfirst two analog anddigital I/O boards forIBM personal com-puters received ravereviews.

So we extendedour product line to seven... starting at $295 for quan-tity purchasers.

While most of thepersonal computer worldfocused on home and office applications,we lifted the curtain on two other keyareas. Laboratory data acquisition andindustrial control.

Now, no matter what you need foryour IBM PC, we have it. Each boardis a complete data acquisition andcontrol system. With A/D, D/A,digital I/O, and a programmableclock. You simply choose theboard offering the speed andresolution you need most. Justplug it into your PC's backplaneand it's showtime.

With on-board intelligence,all seven are software compati-ble and supported by Data mapisay 'ueui]oW payTranslation's PCLAB software package.

Data Translation is playing the lead-ing role in personal computer data acqui-sition and control. Find out how we canhelp your performance today.VISA and MasterCard accepted.Call (617)481-3700

A/D

DA

//

b

/ *^

'I

f/€/M4Im

Wit

295(OEM)

Low Cost

DT2808

10

16SE

3.3 8 2 10

16 yes

495

16SE

11951345

GeneralPurposeHigh Speed

DT2801DT2801-A

12

1

or8DI

1

13.7 12 1627.5 33

2170

HighResolution

DT2801/5716

16

8DI

2.5 16

1295

Low Level

DT2805

12

13.7

2270

Low Level,

High

Resolution

DT2805/5716

16

'

'

2.5

1 t

1695

SimultaneousS/H

0T2818

12

4

27.5 33

4< 4<

yr >r

NOTES: 1 PCLAB software supports all models

2. Programmable earn is standard for all 012801 and 017805 models.

3. Screw terminal and signal conditioning panels available for connection of all 1/0 signals

DATA TRANSLATION

World Headquarters: Data Translation, Inc., 100 Locke Dr.. Marlboro. MA 01752 (617) 481-3700 Tlx 951 646.European Headquarters: Data Translation. Ltd . 430 Bath Rd , Slough. Berkshire SL1 6BB England (06286) 3412Tlx 849 862.In Canada: (416)625-1907. IBM PC is a registered trademark of IBM.

EVENT QUEUE

and Europe. Ergonomic expertsand computer professionals andusers will exchange informationand observations. Contact Com-puter Psychology Inc.. 54 EastMain St.. POB 16, Mendham, NJ07945. (201) 543-9009. InEurope. Telefonaktiebolaget LMEricsson, LM Ericssons vag 4-8,S-1262 5 Stockholm. Sweden; tel:(8) 7190000. September-October

• HIGH-TECH TUTORIALSTutorial Short Courses fromHellman Associates. London,England, and various sites inthe U.S. Among the courses of-fered are "VLSI Design." "DigitalControl." and "Error Correction."Fees are generally $895. Con-tact Hellman Associates Inc.,Suite 300. 299 California Ave..Palo Alto, CA 94306. (415)

3 2 8-4091. September-October

• MEDICAL COMPUTERSEMINAR. Medical ComputerWeekends, various sitesthroughout the U.S. For car-diologists, internists, andprimary-care physicians. Focuseson the role of the multipurposemedical office computer.Seminars qualify for 13 hoursCME Category I credit. ContactInternational Medical EducationCorp., 64 Inverness Dr. E,Englewood. CO 80112. (800)525-8651; in Colorado, (303)790-8445. September-October

• SEMINARS FOR PROFES-SIONALS. Professional Develop-ment Seminars, various sitesthroughout the U.S. Topic areas;data communications, databasemanagement. EDP operations,microcomputers, softwareengineering, CAD/CAM, personalcomputers, IBM mainframes, of-fice automation, management,and administration. Fees rangefrom $195 to $1095. Contact In-stitute for Advanced Technology,6003 Executive Blvd., Rockville,MD 20852. (800) 638-6590; inMaryland. (301) 468-8576.September-October

• CONTINUING ENGINEERINGEDUCATION, George Washing-ton University, ContinuingEngineering Education, Wash-ington, DC For a schedule, con-tact George Harrison, Continu-ing Engineering Education,George Washington University,Washington, DC 20052, (800)424-9773; in the District of Col-umbia, (202) 676-6106.September-November

• SHOWS IN GERMANYChip Microcomputer Weeks,various sites throughout WestGermany. Microcomputer prod-ucts, trends, and applicationswill be demonstrated. Spon-sored by Chip, a leading Ger-man computer magazine. Con-tact Network GmbH. An derFriedenseiche 10. D-3050Wunstorf 2, BundesrepublikDeutschland (West Germany);tel: (0 50 33) 10 56; Telex: 9245 45. In England. NetworkEvents Ltd.. Printers Mews,Market Hill, Buckingham MK18MX. England: tel: (02 80) 81 5226; Telex: 83111.September-November

• INTEL WORKSHOPSMicrocomputer Workshops,various sites throughout the U.S.and Canada. Intel, the semicon-ductor memory manufacturer, isoffering more than 20workshops on microprocessorapplications. A brochure isavailable. Contact CustomerTraining. Intel Corp., 27 In-dustrial Ave., Chelmsford, MA01824-3688. (617) 256-1374.September-December

• IBM SYSTEMS SHOWThe IBM System User Show.Olympia 2. London. England.Covers the full spectrum of IBMmainframes, minicomputers, andmicrocomputers. A focus onbusiness. Contact EMAP Interna-tional Exhibitions Ltd.. 8 HerbalHill, London EC1R 5|B, England;tel: 01 837 3699. September 3-5

• Al IN EUROPE

The Sixth European Conferenceon Artificial Intelligence, Pisa,Italy Covers programminglanguages, expert systems,natural-language processing,robotics, and computer vision.Tutorials. Contact the Pro-gramme Chairman. Institute ofEducational Technology, OpenUniversity, Walton Hall, MiltonKeynes MK7 6AA, England. InItaly, Stefano A. Cerri, Dipart-mento di Informatica, Universitadi Pisa. Corso Italia, 40, Pisa56100, Italy; tel: Pisa 40862/3/4;Telex: CNUCE 500371.September 5-7

• SOFTWARE ONLY

The Second Annual NationalSoftware Show, ConventionCenter. Anaheim, CA. An ex-position and conferencedevoted solely to microcom-

(continued)

100 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 97 on inquiry card.

The IdealComputer

oompIs No to

FISIS151SISISISTSIS1S15151 Q Myth.

Ideal Solutions. Finally... a trulycomplete family of computers andperipherals extensive enough toplease even the toughest custom-ers.The Zeus Multiuser MultiprocessorComputers, Personal Computers,and peripherals, from OSM™

Value and Compatibility AboveAll. As diverse as they are, every Zeuscomputer boasts the same familytraits. Impressive power and speed,combined with high reliability. For-ward-looking, easy-to-use features.And expandability you can afford.All for a surprisingly low initial cost.

Zeus MultiUsers Let You Share

The Power. With a Zeus Multiuser

Circle 240 on inquiry card.

system, you buy only onecomputer for all your com-puter users. As many as 32employees can work on thesystem at the same time, fromtheir own desks—even whenthey're using separate soft-ware, or calling up differentfiles and data.When you'reready to expand, just plugin additional terminals,

modems or printers where youneed them.The cost? One of the lowestcosts per-workstation of anycomputing system. Zeus Multi-User systems are specificallyigned to suit a wide range ofneeds.You can select the numberof workstations you want, the amountof hard-disk storage you need (upto 70,000 pages worth), and manyother customizing features.

Zeus Personal Computers.Simplicity and Sophistication.

The Zeus V.I.PC, one of the threeIBM "-compatibles in the Zeus family,is the only single-user computerthat can offer you the security of abuilt-in back-up storage system.It protects you from inadvertentlylosing your valuable data by copy-ing it onto a high-capacity, high-speed cartridge tape. And everyZeus Personal Computer gives youthe major advantage of twiceas much memory as the IBM PC,

Zeus MultiUsers support 2 to 32 workstations simultaneously.

for less cost.

Call OSM Marketing Servicestoday for the name of your localZeus representative: (800) 538-5120outside California, or (415)961-8680.

Zeus. The Ideal Solution to

Your Real Needs.

I ComputerCorporation

Zeus Computers and Peripherals

OSM Computer Corporation

665 Clyde Avenue

Mountain View, California 94043

(800)538-5120 outside California

(415)961-8680

TWX 910-379-5003

© OSM Computer Corporation

OSM and Zeus are trademarks of OSM Computer Corporation.IBM is a registered trademark of International Business MachinesCorporation, Specifications subject to change without notice.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

101

Circle 54 on inquiry card.

DUMP/RESTORE-XTCan Help You Avoid Disaster!

When's the last time you backed up your hard disk? Are you flirting withdisaster? The School of Hard Knocks proves that when you're least expect-ing it, head crashes, electrical outages, and system failures occur whensufficient backups have not been made.

Up until now, you've had to buy add-on hardware to accomplish thisnecessary task, outlaying hundreds of dollars. But now, there's DUMP/RESTORE-XTI Using your own floppy disk drive and our backup program,you can backup your hard disk in about 30 minutes*.

DUMP/RESTORE-XT spans diskettes, tool So, if your diskette runs out ofroom, don't panic.. Just insert another diskette and press ESC to continue.Full positive and negative wildcard selections are supported.

DUMP/RESTORE-XT is modeled after FAST DUMP/RESTORE, whichwas designed for CP/M systems. We have over 1,500 copies of thisprogram in use world-wide. Our track record speaks for itself. Our hun-dreds of satisfied users speak for us.•Depending on volume of data.

Suggested retail: S90. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Dealer inquirieswelcome.

24000 Telegraph Road

Southfield, Michigan 48034 USA

(313| 352-2345

ONE STOP SHOPfor SERVICE,W SAVINGS, and SATISFACTIONCall for August Specials!!

■10

PRINTERS

Brother HR-15 419

Epson FX-100 679

FX-80 459

RX-80 FT 389

Gemini 10X 259

15X 379

NEC 3550 1795

2030 Call

0kidata92P 439

93P 747

Prowriter 349

HP InkJet 469

Quadjet Color Ink 629

MONITORSAmdek310A 159

300 135

Princeton HX 12 479

Sakata SC100 Color 259

Taxan Amber 119

Vision 3 449

Zenith 123 12' Green 95

122 12' Amber ....95

135 13" Color....459

MODEMS

Hayes 1200 469

1200B 389

MM//e 229

300 baud 199

Novation Apple Cat 2 259

Smart Cat + ...379

Promodem 1200 349

SignalmanMark I 81

Mark X 210

XH 269

Volks Modem 300 baud ... 59

PC64K

2-Drives, Controller

Color & Monochrome,

Parallel Port

$2195

IBM XT $3795

Call tor Special Deals !

MONTH'S SPECIALS

Brother HR-15.... S375

Gemini 10X $259

Gemini 15X $379

Word w;Mouse ...$269Slim Line Drive

Apple/IBM $189

Videx Ultraterm... $179

apple

NEW ARRIVAL!!

MACINTOSH...$2995

//e and //c

64K CPU, 2 Drives,

Controller, 80-Col

$ SAVE S

IBM PRODUCTS

Tandon TM 100-2 219

Panasonic 320K 179

Teac55B 320K 179

STB Graphix Plus II 329

RIO+ 259

Super RIO 279

Microsoft Multiplan 179

Lotus 1-2-3 289

AST 6 Pak 269

Mega+ 269

Ouadboard EX 0K 219

Hercules Graphics Card..369

Dbase II 289

Ascll Express Pro 129

APPLE PRODUCTS

Micro Sci A2 Drives 189

Rana Elite I 219

Teac Drive 210

Chinon Drive 179

Videx 80 col w/softswitch.189

Ultraterm 179

Grappler+ 119

Grappler Work-alike 59

Buffered 16K 99

16K Ram 50

System Saver Fan 69

Microsoft Prem //e 279

SoftcardCPM.229

Multiplan 179

MAC Multiplan 139

Basic 109

Apricorn Serial Card 69

Chalkboard Power Pad ...63

Z-80 Card 59

Ascll Express Professional.89

Maxell S/S 24

D/S 35

WE SUPPORT THESE FINE SYSTEMS:Attos, Apple. Columbia, CompaqCorona, DEC, Epson, IBM, KayPro,Sanyo, TeleVideo, Zenith, and manymore.

NO CLUB FEE

PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WTTHOUT NOTICE.CASK PRICE!

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Computer Price

Club714 841-6160

16783 Beach Blvd.Huntington Beach, Cfl 92647

EVENT QUEUE

puter software. Contact RagingBear Productions Inc., Suite 175,21 Tamal Vista Dr., CorteMadera, CA 9492 5, (800)732-2300; in California, (415)924-1194. September 5-7

e COMPUTER INTERFACINGFOR SCIENCE, Personal Com-puter and STD Computer Inter-facing for Scientific InstrumentAutomation, Washington, DC. Ahands-on workshop costingS395. Contact Dr. Linda Leffel,C.E.C., Virginia Polytechnic In-stitute and State University,Blacksburg. VA 24061, (703)961-4848. September 6-8

e COMPUTERS IN COMMON-WEALTH, Halifax Computer andOffice Automation Show, MetroCentre, Halifax. Nova Scotia,Canada. Contact Industrial TradeShows. 20 Butterick Rd.,Toronto, Ontario M8W 3Z8,Canada, (416) 252-7791.September 6-8

• BYTE SHOW

The BYTE Computer Show,Brooks Hall, San Francisco, CA.Seminars, conferences, anddisplays of interest to BYTE andPopular Computing subscribers.Contact The Interface Group,300 First Ave., Needham, MA02194, (800) 325-3330; inMassachusetts, (617) 449-6600.September 6-9

e FUTURE DBMSFourth Generation Data Man-agement Software, Washington,DC. Topics include user-friendlyDBMS, applications generators,data dictionaries/directories,database designers, anddecision-support systems.Registration fee; $650. ContactSoftware Institute of AmericaInc., 8 Windsor St., Andover,MA 01810, (617) 470-3880.September 10-11

e MOTION CONTROLSEMINAR. Electronic MotionControl Seminar, Boston, MA.Sponsored by the ElectronicMotion Control Association.Contact EMCA Headquarters,Suite 1200, 230 North MichiganAve., Chicago. IL 60601, (312)372-9800. September 10-11

• ELECTRONICS SHOWSMidcon/84 and Mini/MicroSouthwest-84. Dallas, TX. Con-current conferences exploringpractical applications and thestate of the art of electronics.

including computers, graphics,and networks. Contact Elec-tronic Conventions Manage-ment. 8110 Airport Blvd., LosAngeles. CA 90045. (213)772-2965. September 11-13

e UNIX EXPOSITIONUNIX Systems Expo/84, Conven-tion Center, Los Angeles, CA.More than 200 exhibits ofUNIX-related products and ser-vices, as well as presentationsand panel discussions. ContactComputer Faire Inc.. 181 WellsAve.. Newton. MA 02159, (617)965-83 50. September 11-14

e EUROPEAN COMPUTERGRAPHICS, Eurographics'84—The Fifth Annual EuropeanComputer Graphics Congress,Copenhagen, Denmark. A con-gress with an internationallineup of speakers and productexhibits. Contact Kenness Inter-national, 1 Park Ave., New York,NY 10016, (800) 23 5-6400; inNew York, (212) 684-2010.September 12-14

e INTRO TO DATA COMMUNI-CATIONS. Introduction to DataCommunications. Atlanta, GA.An overview of data-commun-ications terminology, tech-nology, hardware, and software.Participants will learn to designa batch data-collection systemand estimate the response timeof a multipoint circuit. Fee:$725. Contact Elaine HaddenNicholas, Department of Con-tinuing Education, Georgia In-stitute of Technology, Atlanta.GA 30332-0385, (404) 894-2 547.September 12-14

e SOFTWARE EXPOThe Fifth Annual Software/Expo,Hyatt Regency. Chicago, IL. Aconference and exposition. Con-tact Software/Expo, Suite 205,2400 East Devon Ave., DesPlaines, IL 60018, (312)299-3131. September 12-14

e TECHNOLOGY FORDISABLED, Computer Tech-nology for the Handicapped,Raddison South Hotel,Minneapolis, MN. A nationalconference and exhibit forspecial education, rehabilitation,and medical professionals.Presentations and workshops.Registration is $150 beforeSeptember 1; $175 after. Admis-sion to the exhibit floor only is$3. Contact Closing the Gap,

[continued)

102 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 70 on inquiry card.

The.CONCEPT AVT+

In a word: capability.

THE CONCEPT AVT+ DISPLAY TERMINAL

ANSI standard conformance, DEC software compatibility, eight pages ofmemory, 80/132 columns, windowing, multiple computer connections...and afull range of practical ergonomic features. Capabilities which enable allterminal users to maximize their productivity and explore their creativity.Only from Human Designed Systems.

Introducing the new concept AVT+ displayterminal from Human Designed Systems. Simplythe smartest interactive display terminalavailable today. And at a very competitiveprice.

It starts with ANSI standard (X3.64-1979)conformance and DEC softwarecompatibility, and incorporatessuperior human design features,advanced functionality and highestquality construction. A commitmentto quality that is reflected in each ofthe individual components.

The concept AVT+ keyboard is ergonomicallydesigned for optimum operator comfort,incorporating a VTlOO-style numeric pad forDEC software compatibility. And it builds onthose human design features with a range ofcapabilities that make the concept AVT+ anideal choice for smart terminal users.

The concept AVT+ offers up to eight pages ofdisplay memory that eliminates unnecessary

"Quantity one DEC and VT are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation

hardcopy printouts and provides a powerfultool for applications requiring multiple formatsand storage of large volumes of text; non-volatile memory that enables users topermanently configure a terminal for theirneeds or applications; windowing that allowsusers to create individual displayswithin display memory; program-mable function keys which transmitdata and/or execute terminalcommands; up to three additionalcommunications ports for connectionto other peripherals and computers;flexible user networking and functionality foruse in a wide range of different applications,including multiple computer connections, andmuch more

The new concept AVT+. More to offer at its pricefor terminal users than any other terminalavailable today.

human designed systems, inc.

3440 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104215-382-5000 Circle 148 on inquiry card.

Human Designed Systems. We're redefining terminal performance.

Atlanta - (404) 391-9763: Boston - (617) 449-6446; Chicago - (312) 825-2960; Dallas - (214) 437-1688; Delaware - Intocon: (302) 239-2942; Denver - (303) 469-1953;Hawaii — Gray Associates: (808) 261-3751; Houston — (713)952-1403; Los Angela* — (213)4109454: Northern New Jersey—utfocon: (201)624-1372; NewYorkCity Area—Intocon: (212) 689-8833; New York State — Naco Electronics: Rochester7716)223-4490; Syracuse: (315)699-2651;Sanhancisco-(415) 692-4184; WasrungtoaDC-totematlona) Systems Marketing; (301) 279-5775; Argentina - Itron SA (01) 77+9369; Australia — Computer Clarity Pry. Ltd.: (02) 241 3385; Belgium — BELCOMP091-31.52.22; Omoxia-CATLS^ems:Toronto:(416)362-1063;Denma3k—ADCOM Data Ape 1-1944 66;«nlarid—Evumauc:0594141;rrance — Walton:(l)226 06.90;Japan — Ampere: 03 (365) 0825; Singapore — DTS Singapore: (65) 33-88-566, Switzerland — Mltek ageOl/461 22 52; United Kingdom - ShandeU Systems Ltd:02407-2027: Venezuela - H. Blonm SA: 2 541.21.22; West Germany — COMKO Computersystemges. mbH: 0221-48 30 51. DISTRIBUTORSHIP BJOUIRIES INVITED.

AUKSSES£SASES?MAN

PLANEfFALL I

WWIKM

THE INCOMPLETE WORKSOF INFOCOM, INC.

Incomplete, yes. But it's not justbecause we're always bringing outnew stories in the Infocom interactivefiction collection. Nor is it simply dueto the fact that with all the writing andre-writing, honing and perfecting thatwe put into every one of our stories,our work is seemingly never done.

The real reason is: an Infocomwork of fiction can never be completeuntil you become a part of it.

You see, as hard as we work atperfecting our stories, we alwaysleave out one essential element—themain character. And that's where youenter in.

Once you've got Infocom's inter-active fiction in your computer, youexperience something akin to wakingup inside a novel. You find yourself atthe center of an exciting plot thatcontinually challenges you with sur-prising twists, unique characters(many of whom possess extraordi-narily developed personalities), andoriginal, logical, often hilarious puz-zles. Communication is carried on inthe same way as it is in a novel—inprose. And interaction is easy—youtype in full English sentences.

But there is this key differencebetween our tales and conventionalnovels: Infocom's interactive fiction isactive, not passive. The course ofevents is shaped by the actions youchoose to take. And you enjoy enor-mous freedom in your choice ofactions—you have hundreds, eventhousands of alternatives at everystep. In fact, an Infocom interactivestory is roughly the length of a shortnovel in content, but because you'reactively engaged in the plot, youradventure can last for weeks andmonths.

In other words, only you cancomplete the works of Infocom, Inc.Because they're stories that growout of your imagination.

Find out what it's like to get inside astory. Get one from Infocom. Becausewith Infocom's interactive fiction,there's room for you on every disk.

inFocom

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, KAYPROII,MS-DOS 2.0T NEC APC, NEC PC-8000, Osborne, Tandy 2000.TI Professional, TI99/4A, TRS-80 Models I and III.•Use the IBM PC version for your Compaq, and the MS-DOS 2.0version for your Wang or Mindset.

Circle 155 on inquiry card.

Main/Frames

from

$175

Wow!JO Models'

70 Models of Enclosures1 Assembled and testedQuasi-Coax MotherboardsPower Supply ,

Card cage and guides :Fan, line, cord, fuse, power& reset switches

Disk EnclosuresFrom $100

8" Floppy Main/Frame

$275

8" Disc Enclosure

MORE BANGFOR THE BUCK

Phase/80 8" Floppy Main/Frame^^

$370 "

Slim Line 8" Floppy Main/Frame

Write or call for our

brochure which includes our vff

application note: U

"Making micros, better than *

any oP box computer" A

INTEGR4ND ;'.

8620 Roosevelt Ave. • Visalia, CA 93291

209/651-1203

We accept BankAmericard/Visa

and MasterCharge

32 Page

Free Fakt

Pakt Catalog

EVENT QUEUE

POB 68, Henderson, MN 56044,(612) 665-6573 or (612)341-8299. September 13-16

• GULF COAST COMPUTINGThe Heart of Texas ComputerShow, Bayfront Plaza, CorpusChristi. Seminars and displays.Contact Heart of Texas Com-puter Show, POB 12094. SanAntonio. TX 78212, (512)681-2248. September 14-16

• PEOPLE AND COMPUTERSThe 1984 SME World Congresson Human Aspects of Automa-tion. Hotel du Pare. Montreal.Quebec, Canada. Contact Soci-ety of Manufacturing Engineers,One SME Dr., POB 930. Dear-born, Ml 48121, (313) 271-1500,ext. 369. September 16-19

• COMPUTERS AND MODERNWORLD, COMPCON Fall '84,Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Ar-lington, VA. Tutorials, panels,demonstrations, sessions, andpapers will explore the theme"Small Computer (R)Evolution."Contact COMPCON Fall '84.IEEE Computer Society, POB639. Silver Spring. MD 20901.(301) 589-8142. September 16-20

• MEDICINE. BIOLOGY,ENGINEERING, The Thirty-Seventh Annual Conference onEngineering in Medicine andBiology, Los Angeles Hilton, LosAngeles, CA. Papers, shortcourses, and scientific and com-mercial exhibits will be featured.Contact The Alliance forEngineering in Medicine andBiology, Suite 402, 4405 East-West Highway, Bethesda. MD20814. (301) 657-4142.

September 17-19

• NETWORK COMPONENTSCOURSE, Data CommunicationsNetwork Components. Atlanta,GA. Covers the use. operation,application, and acquisition pro-cedures for 2 5 major communi-cations components. Fee: $750.Contact Elaine Hadden Nicho-las, Department of ContinuingEducation, Georgia Institute ofTechnology, Atlanta. GA30332-0385, (404) 894-2547.September 17-19

• ADA WORKSHOPFuture Ada EnvironmentWorkshop, Miramar Hotel By-the-Sea, Santa Barbara, CA.Workshops, addresses, presenta-tions, working groups, anddiscussions. Registration: S400

to $700 depending on roomchoice. Contact ACM AdaTECFuture Ada EnvironmentWorkshop, TRW R2/1134, OneSpace Park, Redondo Beach, CA90278. or register directly withCarolyn Gannon, GRC, POB6770, Santa Barbara, CA 93160.September 17-20

• KENTUCKIANA EXHIBITIONCompuFest '84, CommonwealthConvention Center, Louisville,KY. Computer consultant serv-ices and approximately 100hardware, software, peripheral,and word-processing systemvendors will man exhibits.Technical sessions will beoffered. A full days worth ofseminars costs $15. Registrationfee is $2. Contact the KentuckySociety of CPAs, 310 West Liber-ty St.. Louisville. KY 40202.(502) 589-9239. September 18-20

• OFFICE PRODUCTS

IN OK CITY, The First AnnualSouthwest Office Products Show,Oklahoma City. OK. ContactSWOPS. POB 950, Norman. OK73070. (405) 329-3660 or (918)587-95 50. September 18-20

• ADA WORKSHOPWorkshop in Ada, Atlanta, GA.See August 27-30.

September 18-21

• PARISIAN COMPUTINGThe Thirty-Fifth SICOB-Inter-national Exhibition of Data Pro-cessing, Teleprocessing, Com-munication, Office Procedures,and Office Systems, CNIT. Paris-La Defense. Paris, France. Micro-processing and videotex will bemajor highlights of the exhibi-tion. International visitors pre-senting their passports will havea special reception room. Someof the congresses and confer-ences will feature simultaneousinterpretation in English andFrench. Contact InternationalTrade Exhibitions in France. 8West 40th St., New York, NY10018, (212) 869-1720.September 19-28

• EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCEThe First North Carolina Educa-tional Microcomputer Con-ference. Benton ConventionCenter and Hyatt Hotel,Winston-Salem. Educational ses-sions, hands-on workshops, andproduct displays. A network ofvarious computers will be setup. Contact leanette Gann, NC

[continued]

106 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 158 on inquiry card.

Self-dFENSEforEDP

■®

The micro invasionhas begun. And, chancesare, you've now got a lot ofdifferent people in a lotof different departmentsusing a lot of differentmicros.

Now there's a way foryou to control and maxi-mize the benefits of all thedifferent micros in yourdomain.

Fight back with dBASE II.®

dBASE II is the relational databasemanagement system from AshtonTatethat enables you to manage your micro-based corporate data resources with thehigh level .of consistency and sophistica-tion you've enjoyed with mainframe andminicomputer systems.

Armed with dBASE II and thedBASE II RunTime™ program develop-ment module, you can write programswhich will enable micro users in eachdepartment to "do their own thing" whilecreating complete database consistencythroughout the company.

dBASE II is a powerful, flexible wayfor you to effectively manage the microproliferation.

Circle 29 on inquiry card.

Help is here.

If you'd like to know more abouthow dBASE II and RunTime can help youwin the micro management battle, contactAshtonTate today. 10150 West JeffersonBoulevard, Culver City, CA 90230.(800) 437-4329, ext. 212. In Colorado(303) 799-4900. In the U.K. (0908) 568866.

/SHTON -TATE

dBASE II is a registered trademark and RunTime is a trademark of AshtonTate.

Suggested retail price for dBASE II is $700.©Ashton-Tatel984

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 107

TM

Circle 13 on inquiry card.

Peripheral Networking Now

J

Buy ASCI Intelligent Port Expanders

• Eliminate Manual Switching by RemoteControl

• Improve Productivity and Reliability

• Share Printers, Modems or Plotters

• Expand Computers or Terminals

• Use Matrix Switching for Multiple Trans-mission or Security

• Supports Polling and Queing

INSTANT COMPATIBILITY with new computer devicesand MAJOR OEM PRODUCTS:

Altos — Burroughs — Data General — DEC

H.P. — IBM — NCR — Northstar — Victor

and other key manufacturers.

Call 213-793-8979 to EXPAND YOUR SYSTEMS

Ala,

it

TODAY

Advanced Systems Concepts Inc.

435 N. Lake Ave.. Dept. B8Pasadena, CA 91 l o l800-824-7080 Telex: 701 215

PURCHASING

COMPUTERS

Alpha Micro 1000 WF 6.193

Altos 586-20 w/o term 5.725

586-40 w/o term. 7.063

986-40 w'oterm. 8.403

68000-12 10,068

Compupfo Godbout'

Sys.8l6ARAM17* 4,378

Sys.816ARAM2T 4,489

Sys 816AH- 6,283

Sys 816C 6.462

Sys. 816CH* 8.324

Sys.616D* 9,402

Sys. 816F (CPU 2861' 12,737

'Completely Assembled

M ■Drive-H 1.100

Pragmatic 20 meg.. 8" 2.990

Pragmatic 40 meg., 8 4.686

Columbia Sys.. 2 320K 2,244

Sys., 12 meg. 3,393

Sys.. portable 2.100

Molecular SMS 10 meg. 4,900

Molecular 16X, 30 meg 12,593

NEC APC-H03 2,999

APC-H12 Graphics 618

Special Softpacks 747

APC-H26.10 meg. 2.172

8201 portable 619

8801A, System CALL

Northstar Advantage

vWDual Floppies 1,976

w/5meg. 3,299

w/15meg. 3,886

Onyx 8001 MU20, 256K 10,454

8002MU20,512K 14.338

5001 MU2lmeg. 6,813

Sanyo555, W/2-160K 1,100

Sanyo 555-2, w/2-320K 1.375

Tava CALL

Televideo TS-1605 PC 2,356

TPC-1. port. 1,643

TPC-2, port. 2,356

COMPUTERS

Zenith ZF-110-22 2.685

ZW-110-32 4,176IBM PC Compatibles

ZF-151-22 2.565

ZFA-161-22 2,553

ZW-151-2 3,912

HARD DISKS

Corvus 12 meg. w/mt 2.299

Davong5meg Univ. 1,525

32 meg. Univ. 3,040

Iomega 10 meg. 2.091

Mountain Computer

10 meg internal 1,701

35 meg external 3,484

Tallgrass 12 meg. w/tape 2,670

20meg. w/tape 3,097

35 meg. w/tape 4,337

IBM ft PERIPHERALS

IBM PC 64K mono. 2-360K 2.950

Keytronics 5150 keyboard 189

5151 keyboard 239

MODEMS

MONITORS

AmdekColorlVA 1,007

Color IV T 767

NEC 1410 RGB 780

Princeton RGBw'cable 485

PRINTERS

Anadex9625B, parallel 1,190

Brother. DX-15P 439

C.ltohF10-55 1,250

Dataproducts B 300-4 5,921

Datasouth DS-220 1.568

PRINTERS

Diablo W0 API 1,615

Fujitsu 830. 80 cps CALL

IDS Prism 132. vwcolor 1.465

Juhi6100 487

NEC 2010 718

3550 1,584

7710 1.799

Oktdata CALL

Printronix P300 5.900

Qantex7065 1,575

Qume 1V40 vv/interface 1.395

Tally 160L, vWtractor 569

180L, w/tractor 784

Texas Instc TI810 basic 1.323

TI855 842

Toshiba P 1340 799

P-1350 1,499

P1351 1,599

Transtarl20PorS 408

PLOTTERS/DIGITIZERS

Hitachi HDG 2222Houston Instr., DMP29DMP40DMP41DMP42DMP52Hi-PadStrobe M 100

TERMINALS

DEC VT100

Freedom 200

Hazeltine Esprit II

QumaQVTl02AQVT103A

Televideo 924925950

Wyse WY-50

2.321

2,3213.484

1.529

580520

542

CALL FOR YOUR PRICE ON ANY OF OUR 7,000 OTHER PRODUCTS.

Since 1980z

THE

PURCHASING AGENT, INC.

2444 Old Middlefield Way, Suite J

Mountain View, CA 94043

(415) 964-8222 b 84 8

EVENT QUEUE

Regional Education Center. POB21889, Greensboro. NC 27420.(919) 379-5764. September 20-21

• PROIECT MANAGEMENTSEMINAR, Software for ProjectManagement and Estimating,Los Angeles. CA. Fee: $425.Contact CIP Information Ser-vices Inc.. U05-F Spring St..Silver Spring. MD 20910, (301)589-7933. September 20-21

• DOCUMENTATION METHODSHow to Document a ComputerSystem, Holiday Inn—ThomasCircle, Washington, DC, andHyatt Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill,NJ. A series of documentationprocedures will be presented.The fee is SI55. ContactTechnical CommunicationsAssociates, Suite 210. 12 50Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale,CA 94086, (800) 227-3800, ext.977; in California, (408)737-2665. September 21 andSeptember 24, respectively

• PACIFIC COAST FAIR

The Fifth Annual Pacific CoastComputer Fair, Robson SquareMedia Centre, Vancouver, BritishColumbia, Canada. This eventfeatures exhibits, user-groupdisplays, and more than twodozen speakers. Workshops,presentations, and panels willdiscuss the Apple Macintosh,MS-DOS. software and hardwaremarketing, publishing. Modula-2.and graphics. Admission is $4per day. Contact Pacific CoastComputer Fair Association, POB80866, South Burnaby, BritishColumbia V5H 3Y1. Canada,(604) 581-6877. September 22-23

• GRAPHICS STANDARDCOURSE, Introduction to GKS,Hyatt Regency Hotel, Austin,TX. A course on the GraphicsKernel System (GKS) standard.The fee is $495. Contact NovaGraphics International Corp.,1015 Bee Cave Woods, Austin,TX 78746, (512) 327-9300.September 24-25

• ASIAN COMPUTER SHOWThe Fifth South East AsiaRegional Computer Conferenceand Exhibition and Hong KongComputer 84, Hong Kong Ex-hibition Centre. China ResourcesBuilding, Wanchai. Hong Kong.Contact Cahners ExpositionGroup, 7315 Wisconsin Ave..POB 70007, Washington, DC20088, (301) 657-3090.September 24-27

• OFFICE AUTOMATION INOTTAWA, The Seventh AnnualOttawa Computer and OfficeAutomation Show. LansdownePark, Ottawa. Ontario, Canada.Contact Industrial Trade Shows,20 Butterick Rd., Toronto, On-tario M8W 3Z8, Canada. (416)252-7791. September 26-27

• COMPUTERS. COMMUNICA-TIONS, AND CONTROLEurocon 84—The Sixth Euro-pean Conference on Elec-trotechnics, Brighton, England.A conference that seeks toidentify the impact of computer-based technology on com-munications and control. Con-tact Manager. Conference Ser-vices, Institution of ElectricalEngineers, Savoy Place, LondonWC2R 0BL, England: tel: 01-2401871, ext. 222; Telex: 261176.September 26-28

• MID-ATLANTIC SHOWThe Fifth Annual Mid-AtlanticComputer Show and OfficeEquipment Exposition, Conven-tion Center, Washington, DC.Contact CompuShows Inc., POB3315, Annapolis, MD 21403,(800) 368-2066; Annapolis, (301)263-8044: Baltimore. 269-7694;District of Columbia, 261-1047.September 27-30

October 1984

• TECHNOLOGY FORDISABLED. Discovery 84:Technology for Disabled Per-sons, Chicago, IL. Presentations,demonstrations, and exhibits oncomputers, technological prod-ucts, and services for disabledpersons. Before September 1,registration is $12 5; after, it's$175. Contact Office of Continu-ing Education, University ofWisconsin-Stout, Menomonie,WI 54751, (800) 457-8688; inWisconsin, (800) 227-8688.October 1-3

• INFO/MANAGEMENT CON-FERENCE. Information Manage-ment Exposition and Con-ference: Info 84, Coliseum andSheraton Centre Hotel, NewYork City. Contact Banner &Greif Ltd., 110 East 42nd St.,New York, NY 10017, (212)687-7730. October 1-4

• NORTHWEST ELECTRONICSSHOW Northcon/84 and Mini/

[continued)

108 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 257 on inquiry card.

Introducing the Most PowerfulBusiness Software Ever!

TRS-80T" (Model I, II, HI, or 16) • APPLE" • IBM™ • OSBORNE" • CP/M™ • XEROX"

Tired CI ^«K «= «v»

GENERAL IEP©EC^

The VersaBusiness" Series

Each VERSABUSINESS module can be purchased and used independently,or can be linked in any combination to form a complete, coordinated business system.

VERSARECEIVABLES™ $99.95

VERSARECEIVABLES™ is a complete menu-driven accounts receivable, invoicing, andmonthly statement-generating system. It keeps track of all information related to whoowes you or your company money, and can provide automatic billing for past due ac-counts. VERSARECEIVABLES" prints all necessary statements, invoices, and summaryreports and can be linked with VersaLedger IF* and VersaInventory™.

VERSAPaYABLES'" $99.95

VERSA PAYABLES'" is designed to keep track of current and aged payables, keeping youin touch-with all information regarding how much money your company owes, and towhom. VERSA PAYABLES'" maintains a complete record on each vendor, prints checks,check registers, vouchers, transaction reports, aged payables reports, vendor reports,and more. With VERSA PAYABLES", you can even let your computer automatically selectwhich vouchers are to be paid.

VeRSAPaYROLL™ $99.95

VERSA PAYROLL" is a powerful and sophisticated, but easy to use payroll system thatkeeps track of all government-required payroll information. Complete employee recordsare maintained, and all necessary payroll calculations are performed automatically, withtotals displayed on screen for operator approval. A payroll can be run totally, automati-cally, or the operator can intervene to prevent a check from being printed, or to alterinformation on it. If desired, totals may be posted to the VERSALEDGER IP" system.

VersaInventory™ $99.95

VERSAINVENTORY'" is a complete inventory control system that gives you instant accessto data on any item. VERSA INVENTORY1" keeps track of all information related to whatitems are in stock, out of stock, on backorder, etc., stores sales and pricing data, alertsyou when an item falls below a preset reorder point, and allows you to enter and printinvoices directly or to link with the VERSA RECEIVABLES'" system. VERSAINVENTORY1" printsall needed inventory listings, reports of items below reorder point, inventory value re-ports, period and year-to-date sales reports, price lists, inventory checklists, etc.

•CQKIPLJTRQNICSi

50 N. PASCACK ROAD, SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. 10977

VersaLedger ir $149.95

VersaLedger IT" is a complete accounting system that grows as your businessgrows. VersaLedger II™ can be used as a simple personal checkbook register,expanded toa small business bookkeeping system or developed into a largecorporate general ledger system without any additional software.

• VersaLedger II™ gives you almost unlimited storage capacity

(300 to 10,000 entries per month, depending on the system),

• stores all check and general ledger information forever,- - • prints tractor-feed checks,

• handles multiple checkbooks and general ledgers,

• prints 17 customized accounting reports including check registers,balance sheets, income statements, transaction reports, accountlistings, etc.

VersaLedger IF* comes with a professionally-written 160 page manual de-signed for first-time users. The VersaLedger II™ manual will help you becomequickly familiar with VersaLedger II™, using complete sample data filessupplied on diskette and more than 50 pages of sample printouts.

BH

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

Every VERSABUSINESS'" module is guaranteed to outperform all other competitive systems,and at a fraction of their cost. If you are not satisfied with any VERSABUSINESS"" module, youmay return it within 30 days for a refund. Manuals for any VERSABUSINESS'" module may bepurchased for $25 each, credited toward a later purchase of that module.

To Order:

Write or call Toll-free (800) 431-2818

(N.Y.S. residents call 914-425-1535)

* add $3 for shipping in UPS areas * add $5 to CANADA or MEXICO

* add $4 for C.O.D. or non-UPS areas ,, * add proper postage elsewhere

DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME

All prices and specifications subject to change ,

Delivery subject to availability.

* TRS-80 is a trademark of the Radio Shack Division of Tandy Corp. ■ *APPLE is a trademark of Appfe Corp. - *1BM is a trademark of IBM Corp. - *OSBORNE |s a trademark of Osborne Corp.

*CP/M is a trademark of Digital Research *XEROX is a trademark of Xerox Corp.

HOW

TO RUN

THEWORLD

, -^\

Without software you're nowhere.

That's why the Corona PC runs virtually everything. Word Star.1 dBASE II.2Lotus 1-2-33? Thousands of packages in all. But we didn't stop there.

We give you 60% better graphics than IBM® (640x325 pixels). So your piecharts look tastier. We doubled the memory: 128K memory expandable to 512Kon the main board. For power that won't quit. And we bundle software. For instantproductivity right out of the box. All at a price about 20% less than IBM's.

The Corona PC. Once you can run the world, running your business looks easy. In North

America, call 1-800-621-6746 for the Authorized Corona Dealer near you.In Holland, call 020-03240-18111. There are over 1600 dealers worldwide.And their job is to help. Service by Xerox.

corona

data systems, inc.

THE CORONA PC

©Corona Data Systems 1984. 1. TM Micropro Corp. 2. TM AshtonTate. 3. TM Lotus Development G>rp. *HTS driver needed for graphics only.

Circle 83 on Inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 111

High performance to cost ratio...

Programming Chips?

Projects develop profitably with development hardware /software from GTEK.

MODEL 7228 - $549This model has all the featuresof Model 7128, plus IntelligentProgramming Algorithims. Itsupports the newest devicesavailable through 512Kbits; pro-grams 6x as fast as standardalgorithims. Programs the 2764 inone minute! Supports Intel 2764A& 27128A chips. SupportsTektronics, Intel, Motorola andother formats.

MODEL 7956

(with RS232 option) $1099.

MODEL 7956 (stand alone) $ 879.

GTEK's outstanding Gang Pro-grammer with intelligentalgorithm can copy 8 EPROMS ata time! This unit is used in a pro-duction environment when pro-gramming a large number of chipsis required. It will program allpopular chips on the marketthrough the 27512 EPROMS. Italso supports the Intel 2764A &27128A chips. It will also programsingle chip processors.

EPROM & PAL

PROGRAMMERS

—These features are standard from GTEK—Compatible with all RS232 serial interface ports* Auto select baud rate • Wither withouthand-shaking • Bidirectional XonOCoff • CTSTJTR supported • Read pin oonipaoble ROMS • No per-sonality modules • Intel Motorola, MCS86 Hex formats • Split facility for 16 bit data paths •Read program, formatted list commands* Interrupt driven — program and verify real time whilesendingdata* Program single byte, block, or whole E PROM* Intelligent diagnostics discern badand/or erasable EPROM • Verify erasure and compare commands • Busy tight* Complete withTextool zero insertion force socket and integral 120 VAC power 1240 VAO50Hz available! •

MODEL 7324 $1199

This unit has a built-in compiler.The Model 7324 programs allMMI, National and TI 20 and 24pin PALs. Has non-volatilememory. It operates stand aloneor via RS232.

MODEL 7128 - $429This model has the highestperformance-to-price-ratio of anyunit. This is GTEK's most popularunit! It supports the newestdevices available through256Kbits.

MODEL 7316 Pal Programmer $ 599

Programs Series 20 PALs. Built-in PALASM compiler.

DEVICES SUPPORTED

by GTEK's EPROM Programmers

NMOS

NMOS

2758 2764A

2716 27128

2732 27128A

2732A 27256

2764 27512 68766

2508251625322564

68764875551335143

CMOS

27C16

27C16H

27C32H

27C64

27C256

EEPROM

5213 I2816A5213H I2817A52B13X281648016

MPU'S

8748 8741H8748H 87448749H 87518741 687058742H

UTILITY PACKAGES

GTEK's PGX Utility Packages will allow you to specify a range of addresses tosend to the programmer, verify erasure andVor set the EPROM type. The PGX Utili-ty Package includes GHEX, a utility used to generate an Intel HEX file.

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

Both utility packages are available for CPM® MSDOS,* PCDOS," ISIS* andTRSDOS"1 operating systems. Call for pricing.

AVOCET CROSS ASSEMBLERS

These assemblers are available to handle the 8748, 8751, Z8, 6502, 68X and othermicroprocessors. They are available for CPM and MSDOS computers. When order-ing, please specify processor and computer types.

ACCESSORIES

Model 7128-L1, L2. L2A

(OEM Quantity) $259.

Model 7128-24 $329.

Cross Assemblers $200.

SIM48 Simulator Call for pricing

PGX Utilities Call for pricing

PALX Call for pricing

Gttek

XASM (for MSDOS) $250.

U/V Eraser DE-4 $ 80.

RS232 Cables $ 30.

8751 Adapter $174.

8755 Adapter $135.

48 Family Adapter $ 98.

68705 Adapter Call for pricing

Development Hardware/SoftwareP.O. Box 289, Waveland, MS 39576601/467-8048,INC.

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

EVENT QUEUE

Micro Northwest-84. Seattle,WA. Among the topics areautomation. CAD/CAM, localarea networks, and personalcomputing. Contact ElectronicConventions Management Inc.,8110 Airport Blvd., Los Angeles,CA 90045. (213) 772-2965.October 2-4

• GLOBAL INFO/MANAGE-MENT CONGRESS, The Six-teenth Annual International In-formation Management Con-gress, Hyatt Regency Hotel,Singapore, Republic of Singa-pore. Seminars, displays, andmore than 30 conference ses-sions. Contact IMC Infomatics'84, POB 34404. Bethesda. MD20817. (301) 983-0604.October 2-4

• ADA WORKSHOPWorkshop in Ada, Atlanta, GA.See August 27-30. October 2-5

• PC EXPO

PC-World Exposition, MarketHall, Dallas. TX. Contact MitchHall Associates. POB 860,Westwood, MA 02090, (617)329-8090. October 3-5

• MOTION CONTROLSEMINAR, Electronic MotionControl Seminar. Philadelphia,PA. Contact Electronic MotionControl Association, Suite 1200,230 North Michigan Ave.,Chicago, IL 60601, (312)372-9800. October 8-9

• VIRGINIA IS FOR COM-PUTERS. The Tidewater NinthAnnual Computer Fair, RadioAmateur Hamfest/ElectronicFlea Market, Virginia BeachPavilion, Virginia Beach, VA.Dealers, a giant flea market,displays, and forums. Advancedtickets are $4; at the door, $5.Contact lim Harrison, 1234 LittleBay Ave., Norfolk, VA 23 503,(804) 587-1695. October 8-9

• ANNUAL CONFERENCE OFACM. ACM 1984 Annual Con-ference. Hilton Hotel, San Fran-cisco. CA. Papers, sessions, andpanel discussions will addressthe theme "The Fifth GenerationChallenge.'' Contact Associationfor Computing Machinery. 11West 42nd St., New York. NY10036. (212) 869-7440.

October 8-10

• NETWORK CONFERENCEThe Ninth Conference on LocalComputer Networks, Minne-

apolis, MN. Papers, conferencesessions, and tutorials. Thetheme is "Local Computer Net-works—The Exploding Market-place." Contact Ninth Con-ference on Local Networks, c/oHarvey Freeman, ArchitecturalTechnology Corp.. POB 24344,Minneapolis, MN 55424.October 8-10

• INFO SYSTEMS CONFER-ENCE and EXPO. INTECH-TheIntegrated Information Tech-nology Conference and Exposi-tion. Convention Center, Dallas,TX. Seminars, sessions, andpanels addressing total informa-tion systems integration. ContactNational Trade Productions Inc.,9418 Annapolis Rd., Lanham,MD 20706. (800) 638-8510; inMaryland. (301) 459-8383.October 9-11

• SOUTHWEST COMPUTINGThe Third Annual SouthwestComputer Conference, Conven-tion Center. Tulsa, OK. Abusiness and industry eventfeaturing more than 50seminars as well as 2 50 ex-hibits. Contact SWCC, POB 950,Norman, OK 73070. (405)329-3660 or (918) 587-9550.October 9-11

• MID-WEST ELECTRONICSThe Mid-America ElectronicsConvention-MAECON/84, St.Louis, MO. Exhibits, seminars,tutorials, and symposia. ContactElectronic RepresentativesAssociation, 20 East Huron St.,Chicago. IL 60611. (312)649-1333. October 10-11

• NETWORKS EXPLOREDLocalNet '84. Sheraton HarborIsland Hotel. San Diego, CA.Speakers, papers, and exhibi-tions will look at local networktechnology and the effects ofoffice automation. ContactOnline Conferences Inc., Suite1190, 2 Penn Plaza. New York.NY 10121, (212) 279-8890.October 10-12

• PROJECT MANAGEMENTSEMINAR, Software for ProjectManagement and Estimating,Washington, DC. See September20-21. October 11-12

• COMPUTERS IN SUNSHINEGreat Southern Computer Show.Centroplex Expo Centre, Or-lando. FL. Seminars and exhibitsof hardware, software, peripher-

[continued)

B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 137 on inquiry card.

Why choose?

... when you canhave them all.

Multiprocessing

CP/M 86

Introducing Concurrent CP/M with PC Modefor DISCOVERY Multiprocessor Networks

Selecting the right blend ofhardware and software for yourcomputing needs can be amonumental challenge. ActionComputer Enterprise, pioneer in thefield of microcomputermultiprocessing, makes choosing easy.Scoring another innovative first, wehave brought Concurrent CP/M withPC Mode to our full range ofDISCOVERY Supermicros. This newmultitasking enhancement to ouralready powerful multiprocessingoperating system provides thecapability to network multiple IBM PC

compatible workstations withoutsacrificing the ability to run yourbusiness in a true multi-userenvironment. And of course, theDISCOVERY can utilize the fullcomplement of CP/M-80 and CP/M-86based software including many finemulti-user applications.

If total flexibility is what yourbusiness needs, pick the system thatoffers all the choices . DISCOVERY.

Take Action Today!Call Toll Free: 1-800-821-6596.

(In California, it's 1-818-351 -5451.)

DISCOVERY. . The Ultimate Soluti

DISCOVERY is a iradema'k of Action Compute' Enterprises, incCP/M, CP/M Plus, CP/M-86 ana Concurrent CP/M are trademarks orregistered trademarks of Digital Research, lieIBM PC and PC-DOS are trademarks of IBM Corporation

CIOO Action Computer Enterprise

The Multiprocessing Company

Corporate Headquarters: 430 N. Halstead St., Pasadena, CA 91107 USA TWX 910-588-1201 ACTION PSD

In Europe: ACE (Europe), B.V.. Paradijslaan 42, 5611 KP Eindhoven, The Netherlands Tel. (004) 045-2658 TLX: 51767 ACE E NLIn Asia: ACE (Asia), G/F, Lee Wah Mansion, 171-177 Hollywood Road, Hong Kong Tel. 5-441692 or 5-442310 TLX: 75332 PACIC HX

Serviced nationwide by Bell & Howell Company - ibm pc compatible mode.

Circle 9 for Dealer inquiries. Circle 10 for End-User inquiries.

Circle 284 on inquiry card.

cTtje SoftwSreclbolw6rkspresents:

The Computer Chef "Series

ALL RIGHT COMPTER CH€F.I DIDNT GET TO THE MARKETTODAY WHAT CAN I DO WITHA HEAD OF CABBAGE ANDA CAN OF SPAM?

■3SL

^

A Software Implementationwithin Your Product Hardware

If you manufacture a computer system or a computer based product,allow it to EMULATE COMMUNICATE by installing one or more ofSystems 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 codeand license to distribute in your hardware product. Each package isavailable either "Port it Yourself" with instruction manual and training orported to your hardware by Systems Strategies communications staff.

Systems Strategies/Advanced Technology DivisionSpecialists in Data Communications Software

Systems Strategies Inc.

225 West 34th Street

New York, New York 10001

(212)279-8400

EVENT QUEUE

als. and accessories. ContactGreat Southern ComputerShows, POB 655. lacksonvilleFL 32201. (904| 3 56-1044.October 11-13

• GOLDEN STATE EXPOComputer Expo and PC Faire,Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA. Con-tact Computer Expo & PC Show.Suite 395, 2020 Hurley Way.Sacramento, CA 9582 5, (916)924-9351. October 11-14

• EDUCATIONAL COMPUTERFAIR. Fourth Annual EducationalComputer Fair, Cleveland, OH.Contact Educational ComputerConsortium of Ohio, 4777 Farn-hurst Rd., Cleveland, OH 44124,(216) 291-522 5. October 12-13

• LONE STAR COMPUTINGThe Second Annual Heart ofTexas Computer Show, Conven-tion Center, San Antonio, TX.Exhibits of computers, games,robots, and other high-techproducts. Contact Heart of TexasComputer Show, POB 12094,San Antonio, TX 78212, (512)681-2248. October 12-14

• COMPUTERS IN LABORA-TORY, Laboratory Computer In-terfacing, McGill University,Montreal, Quebec. Canada. Twoshort courses, "Computers inthe Laboratory" and "Lab-oratory Computer Interfacing,"are offered. Contact Dr. EricSalin, Department of Chemistry,McGill University, Montreal.Quebec H3A 2K6, (514)392-5784. October 13-14

• FUTURE OF VIDEODISCThe Second International Con-ference on the Future of OpticalMemories, Videodiscs, andCompact Disks to the Year2000, Loews Summit Hotel,New York City. Speakers anddemonstrations. The fee is$795. Contact Technology Op-portunity Conference. POB14817, San Francisco, CA94114-0817, (415) 626-1133.October 15-17

• UNIX INSIDE AND OUTUNIX Operating System Exposi-tion and Conference. SheratonCentre Hotel and Marina Expo-sition Complex. New York City.Seminars, social functions, and350 exhibition booths. ContactNational Expositions Co. Inc., 14West 40th St., New York, NY10018, (212) 391-9111.

October 16-18

• OFFICE COMPUTERS

The Sixth Annual Calgary Com-puter and Office AutomationShow. Roundup Centre, Calgary,Alberta, Canada. Contact Indus-trial Trade Shows. 20 ButterickRd., Toronto, Ontario M8W 3Z8,Canada, (416) 2 52-7791.October 17-18

• COMPUTERS, COMMAND,CONTROL, The Second AnnualSymposium and Exhibition ofAFCEA, Inn at Executive Park.Kansas City, MO. The theme forthis year's symposium is "TheRole of Knowledge-BasedSystems in Command and Con-trol." Panel discussions, paperpresentations, and exhibits. Con-tact Armed Forces Communica-tions and Electronics Associa-tion, POB 456, Leavenworth, KS66048, (913) 651-7800.

October 17-19

• ASIS MEETING

The Forty-Seventh AnnualMeeting of American Societyfor Information Science, FranklinPlaza, Philadelphia, PA. Thisyear's theme is "1984—Chal-lenges to an Information Soci-ety." Contact 1984 ASIS Conven-tion, The Automated Office,3401 Market St., Philadelphia,PA 19104. October 21-26

• HOOS1ER COMPUTERFESTIndy/Con '84. Indiana Conven-tion Center and Hoosier Dome,Indianapolis. The largest micro-computer/electronics exhibitionand conference in the state.Contact lndy/Con, 5160 East65th St.. Indianapolis, IN 46220,(317) 842-3024. October 23-24

• COMPUTERS IN CONSTRUC-TION, Computers in Construc-tion, Atlanta, GA. Fee: $42 5.For further details, contact CIPInformation Services Inc., 1105-FSpring St.. Silver Spring. MD20910. (301) 589-7933.

October 2 5-26

• COMPUTERS IN ARTSSymposium on Small Computersin the Arts. University HiltonHotel. Philadelphia, PA. Intro-ductory and advanced coursesin computer animation, music,graphics, interfaces, and legalissues complemented by talks,exhibits, research presentations,a computer art gallery, and filmshows. Contact Symposium.POB 1954, Philadelphia, PA19105. Octofer 25-28 ■

114 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 297 on inquiry card.

K*

Triple Actor

Development & Maintenance Tool

Built-in-EP-ROM Programmer onCP/M basis for software development& maintenance.

Terminal

Access to the host computer.

Portable Business Computer

WordStar (MailMerge & SpellStarincluded), CalcStar, InfoStar SYSTEM(DataStar, ReportStar & FormSortincluded) are bundled to Formula-1.

You must be able to design moreeffective Information ManagementSystem by reasonable cost and smallspace. Formula-1 with bundled soft-ware packages will be a good assistantto solve many of your problems.

J Small and All-in-One

This portable computer is ahigh-performance and com-posed of 2 disk drives of5.25" two-sided doubledensity, 5.5" CRT, Folding-Keyboard, Thermal Printer,EP-ROM Programmer,Serial & Parallel I/O Inter-face and expansion FloppyDisk Interface all packed inone case.

You can write-in CP/M'sHEX and COM files directlyto EP-ROM and also canwritein EP-ROM's datadirectly to HEX file.EP-ROM-2716, 2732, 2764and 27128 are available.

You can build communica-tion network system byconnecting acoustic coupl-er and Formula-1 can be aterminal of office compu-ters.

Computer System Engineering

liliCTOVOiCE CCWCRAUiOFl

Shinei Bldg., 8-5 Nishishinjuku 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160 JAPAN Telephone: (03)377-1661 Telex: 2325279 MVOICE J

Circle 217 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 115

Introducing the newProject Scheduler 50001.

Help! The demands of managinga project have you frantically jugglingpeople and resources. It's gettingmore complicated and you're aboutto drop the ball on profits anddeadlines.

Successfully managing one projectcan be difficult. Successfullymanaging two or three projects canbe overwhelming. But now, help ishere for you. With Project Scheduler5000 you can precisely forecast,schedule, control and track largeprojects easily and quickly. You canreplace your frustration with a senseof self-satisfaction from a projectwell managed.

This new generation in schedulingsoftware makes possible what was,until now, only a dream: true inter-active use and immediate responseto changes and additions. You canschedule over 5000 activities spreadover 10,000 time periods. What thismeans is that you can manage thelargest projects with ease. Whileyou probably don't need this poweron a daily basis, it's nice to knowthat you have room to grow.

Interactive "What If" Capability

"What if" scenarios are animportant source of informationthat allow you to make the bestdecision after trying the alternatives.Now you have time for this kind ofin-depth planning, because updatingand modifying are so simple withProject Scheduler 5000.

A scheduling package should domore than schedule. With ProjectScheduler 5000 you never take therisk of making guesses instead ofaccurate decisions.

Main Frame Power —Computer Simplicity

Project Scheduler 5000brings mainframecapabilities to yourpersonal computer.

Personal

116 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

... the best solution toeffective project management

On Time On Target

Project Scheduler 5000 gives youall the information you need whenyou need it. Instantly, you know thestatus of your project.

At a glance, unique plot symbolswill let you know whether or notthe project is on time and on targetand if not, why. Meeting perfor-mance goals will become a habit.

Project Scheduler 5000 keeps youconstantly informed through its par-tial complete capabilities. Partialcomplete status is displayed,reported and used to calculate"value earned".

Accurate Resource Assignment

Extensive resource categoriesallow you to schedule more efficiently.Using these categories, you canassign to an activity an almostlimitless amount of resources. Inaddition, these resources can beassigned at any point within theactivity timeline providing the accu-racy you need to build realisticresource profiles by person, laborgrade, or other types.

integration Of Multiple Projects

Keeping track of how aresource is used from projectto project can be extremelydifficult. Not with ProjectScheduler 5000. The programcan combine projects to giveyou a complete overview ofwhere and when resourcesare used. Graphic presentations"can be condensed allowing you tovisually compare multiple projectsquickly and easily. Think of it! Youcan simultaneously manageseveral projects and be on timeand meet or beat costprojections on each one.

Get The Picture Any Way YouWant It

Hours, days, weeks, and months.You can select the resolution youneed. In addition, you can breakdays into as many as 99 units toprovide detailed shift or hourresolution. Get the big picture ofyour schedule on the screen orreport by selecting a compressedformat which displays up to 60days, weeks or months of a project.

Fast Comprehensive Reporting

Communicating project informa-tion is no longer the time consumingtask it used to be. An enhancedreport generator synthesizes projectinformation into reports on resourceallocation, status, schedule and costat both the project and the detailedactivity level. You can interactivelydefine special reports to give you allthe detail you need. Reports andGantt plots can be printed on hardcopy or stored on disk for futureuse. Presentation quality graphicsare available on a color plotter.Additionally, a spreadsheet interfaceprovides labor and cost transfers forfurther analysis.

Integrated Graphics Power

Project Scheduler 5000 plusGraphics complements the outstandingscheduling and reporting featuresprovided by Project Scheduler 5000.Using presentation quality financialline graphs, resource histograms,resource bar graphs and other highimpact displays, Project Scheduler5000 plus Graphics provides addi-tional insight as you study in depththe effects of resource allocation,labor usage distribution and costspreads.

With this control tool youcan also track your original costestimates against updated forecastsand expenditures. Project Scheduler5000 plus Graphics will help eliminatethe possibility that you'll overlookcritical costs and deadlines.

Available for PC or MS DOS:IBM PC or XTTI ProfessionalWang PC*Grid Compass*DEC Rainbow*

♦Project Scheduler 5000 plusGraphics available 4th quarter 1984.

SCITOR

SCITOR CORPORATION

256 Gibraltar DriveSunnyvale, CA 94089(408) 730-0400

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 117

■~J&&

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■«

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EfTE

Framework

by Rik \adrnicek, ]ohn Markoff, and

Ezra Shapiro 121

The 65816 Microprocessor.Part I: Software

by Steven P. Hendrix 125

Circuit Cellar Feedback

by Steve Garcia 129

Benchmarking UNIX Systems

by David F. Hinnant 132

Forth-83: Evolution Continues

by C. Kevin McCabe 137

Features

THE 6502 MICROPROCESSOR has a history as brilliant as that of the Beatles or the BostonCeltics. Not just the heart and soul of a still-evolving line of Apple computers (see the MayBYTE, page 276, for John Markoff's product description of the new Apple lie), the 6502has given life to personal computers made by Commodore, Ohio Scientific Instruments,and Atari, plus single-board computers by Rockwell and Synertek, two early second-sourcemakers of the chip. After its invention in 1974 by a team of eight ex-Motorola employeesworking at a calculator-chip company called MOS Technology, the 6502 quickly becamean engineering success owing to its compact instruction set, high clock speed, extendedaddressing modes, and memory-mapped I/O.

But what has become of the 6502 in the 16-bit microprocessor age? Is a CMOS 65C02the end of the evolutionary ladder for this popular chip? This month, Steven P. Hendrixprovides details on a recently announced 16-bit version of the venerable 6502. a micro-processor called the 65816 made by Western Design Inc. of Mesa, Arizona. Capable ofaddressing 16 megabytes of memory and running at clock speeds up to 10 MHz, the 65816offers complete software compatibility with its 8-bit predecessors. It is rumored to be atthe heart of a new Apple computer called the Apple llx. Hendrix's examination of thisenhanced microprocessor's software is part 1 of a two-part story that concludes next monthwith a detailed look at the hardware.

In the wake of our preview of Symphony comes a look at Ashton-Tate's Framework ina feature put together by our West Coast staff. Using an outline processor for its underly-ing structure, this integrated program uses frames instead of windows (will the next generationproduct use window frames?) and can peer through a frame into a dBASE II database pre-senting the data laid out in a table, so you don't have to create an arcane report form toview data. Our product description shows Framework to be a significant offering.

Since readers and editors alike have a minimum monthly requirement for benchmarks,this month we put UNIX through its paces on several mini- and microcomputers to timefunctions like performing disk reads and writes, making function calls, and finding primenumbers (using the infamous Sieve benchmark). David F. Hinnant's report may give yousome insights into how UNIX works as well as information on how different versions perform.

The FORTH language community has more fodder for its debates on the merits of FORTH'sdifferent "official" versions now that FORTH-83 has been adopted by the FORTH StandardsCommittee. As author and committee member C Kevin McCabe describes. FORTH-83 dif-fers significantly from FORTH-79, even going so far as to redefine some FORTH keywords.Nevertheless, you can expect this newest version of FORTH to win substantial support frommany threaded-code proponents.

The hazy days of summer prompt Steve Ciarcia to take a project-building break this month.He takes advantage of the respite to answer letters from readers about projects coveredin past issues. Steve's answers can help to clarify those occasionally tricky problems thatcrop up when late-night soldering sessions make your eyes blur while reading a crucialpart of a schematic. A new Circuit Cellar project returns to these pages next month.

Next month also brings articles on the 65816, disk coatings, and a fascinating analysistechnique called cluster analysis, along with reports from the microcomputer frontier.

—G. Michael Vose, Senior Technical Editor, Features

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

119

PREVIEW

FRAMEWORK

BY RlK JADRNICEK,

John Markoff, and Ezra Shapiro

Integrated software

that combines familiar features

within a novel structure

Framework, a new program for the IBM Personal Com-puter (PC) and work-alikes. was developed byForefront Corporation and is now being distributedby Ashton-Tate. This package has something foreveryone. All the usual elements of integrated software pack-ages—word processing, database management, financialmodeling, business graphics, communications, and a macrolanguage—are combined in a window environment builtaround an outline-processing system.

The result falls somewhere between the two most popularapproaches to integration; Framework is neither a shell thatenables independent applications to exchange data (as areVisi On and DESQ), nor is it a "seamless" integrated program(like Ovation). Nevertheless, the logical structure ofFramework provides an easy transition between text and dataoperations and the generation of coherent, seemingly con-tinuous final reports.

Framework is designed to be self-contained, including asit does all the major business applications. However, it is alsoan operating environment; you can open a window to DOS(disk operating system) and run a program. When you'refinished, you'll find yourself back in Framework. As

{continued)

Rik }adrnicek, a BYTE contributing editor, is president of Micro Flow(POB 1147, Mill Valley, CA 94942), a microcomputing consulting firm.

Ezra Shapiro is BYTE's West Coast bureau chief. He can be reachedat McGraw-Hill. 425 Battery St., San Francisco. CA 94111.

)ohn Markoff is a senior technical editor at BYTE's West Coast bureau.He can be contacted at McGraw-Hill, 1000 Elwell Court, Palo Alto.CA 94303.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

121

AT A GLANCE

Name

Framework

Type

Windowing integrated software package with macro commandlanguage

Applications Supported

Word processing, spreadsheet, database manager, businessgraphics, communications, and outline processing

Manufacturer

Ashton-Tate

10150 W Jefferson Blvd.Culver City, CA 90230(213) 204-5570

Developer

Forefront Corp.Mountain View, CA

Price

S695

Language

C

Computers

IBM PC and compatibles with two 360K-byte floppy-disk drives anda minimum of 2 56K bytes of RAM

Audience

Business professionals

Photo 1: The Framework desktop in its initial state. Menus alongthe top edge can be accessed by holding down the control key andthe first letter of the menu title.

Framework cannot control all the screen-handling routinesemployed by an external program, it may not be possibleto run it within a partial-screen Framework window—the pro-gram itself might grab the whole screen. The basic DOS com-mands (CHKDSK, D1R, etc.), though, can be run in a smallcorner of the Framework display.

Understanding Frames and Outlines

The underlying principle of Framework is really quite sim-ple. You create "frames" (roughly equivalent to subfiles ap-pearing in separate windows on the screen) containing text,graphics, database, or spreadsheet data. Each frame can holda maximum of 32,000 characters, but that is not a limitationon file size; the trick to using this product is to start seeingyour data as smaller blocks that can be linked together whenit comes time for output.

Framework's opening display consists of a blank centralworkspace (dubbed the "desktop"), a line of one-word menutitles across the top of the screen, and a status area at thebottom for various messages. You can pull down menus foroperations that remain consistent throughout Framework(such as frame creation and on-screen formatting) by point-ing to the appropriate title with the cursor. This menu lineis always displayed, and you're never more than a couple ofkeystrokes away from accessing its commands. Most of youractual work is done in windows on the desktop; formulas andmacro commands are usually entered and displayed in thestatus area. On-line help is available with the touch of a func-tion key. This arrangement should be familiar to the usersof spreadsheets or some of the newer word-processingpackages.

Using the menus, you begin by first deciding whether youwant to work on text, a database, a spreadsheet, or an outline(more on that later) and then opening a window on thescreen. Suddenly, a box appears that's appropriate to its func-tion (e.g., a spreadsheet frame set up with letters across thetop to indicate columns and numbers down the left side toindicate rows). This window is the basic operational unit, theframe. Using the function keys, you can size it for your needsand drag it around the screen to a convenient position. It'sinitially untitled, but you can enter a name for it along itstop border. With the plus-sign and minus-sign keys on theright edge of the cursor/numeric keypad, you can "zoom"

122 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Photo 2: There are two ways to begin working with Framework: either start a brand new frame by selecting its type from the Createmenu (2a) or call in an existing file from one of your disk drives by using the Disk menu (2b). The Disk menu also includes options forclosing files and cleaning up the desktop.

in from the desktop to the frame title, in to the frame, andback out again. The bottommost zoom position blows up theframe to occupy the entire desktop. You can have a largecollection of frames open on the desktop at any one time;you aren't required to close up and put away any of themuntil you're done. Though Framework is memory-bound—thatis, it works entirely in available RAM (random-access read/write memory)—the program uses data-compressionalgorithms to temporarily squeeze open frames that haven'tbeen used for a long time. While it's conceivable that you'llhit the upper limit of your system—by trying to recalculatean enormous spreadsheet, for example—it's unlikely thatyou'll have to close frames in order to continue to work. Warn-ing messages signal if you push your luck.

Framework departs from other windowing environmentsin how it keeps track of frames: it ties them together in anoutline that is essentially hierarchical. Frames are orderedas you would rank them in an indented outline. Thoughframes may be given the same weight and treated as indepen-dent files, all frames are not necessarily created equal; aframe can have one or many subframes, and those, in turn,can also have "descendants." In fact, you can open a newframe at any point within an existing frame or build a newframe around an old one. Even a frame title or a spreadsheetdata cell can become an entire frame that you can zoom into. Framework keeps an account of this structure by buildingan index of frame titles that looks like a standard outline.

You have two ways to deal with this system, and you cantoggle between them with a few keystrokes. First, you cansimply create frames one at a time and build the hierarchyas you go along. In this case, opening a view of Framework'soutline processor is merely a method of providing yourselfwith a map of how you've organized your data. Using thesecond method, you can open an "outline frame," which isset up displaying a simple indented form, empty at the outset,into which you can enter short points that can then be usedas frame titles. You don't have to open frames for every pointif you don't want to, and it isn't necessary to put anythingat all into an open frame on the desktop. Framework's powerand flexibility become evident as you learn how to move backand forth between these two outline-processing modes.

Furthermore, you can use an outline frame to create just

{continued on page 370)

Photo 3: The stack of "trays" (bracketed titles) to the lower rightshows all frames available on the desktop in the order in which theywere created or opened.

Photo 4: Two simple spreadsheet examples and a graph generatedfrom one of them. Were the graph to be zoomed to full-screendimensions, it would appear in color.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 123

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Mil

We have the lowestprices for ©Sanyo 550's

*

*Our prices this month ore at least $ 10 less than any other bona-fide advertised price in this magazine for Sanyo 550/555's, the 360k -2's, and our new 720k |-4's. Of course, low prices aren't the only reason we've sold more Sanyo 550's than any dealer in the United States. To find out why these "under $1000"kMS-DOS machines are the "hot" computers of 1984 coll or write fot our new 12-poge brochure.

SANYO ■■■ ALTOS

Special sole on "4-digir" Sanyo computers.All include dual drives. Dasic. Wordstar,Cakstat. Mailmerge, Spellstar and Infostar.Plus prices include a Sanyo 5000 letterquality printer (moy be deducted for$200 credit). The 1150s hove dual320K drives, the 1250s and 4050sfeature 1.2 megabytes of formattedstorage.

All Sanyo systems have a full one yearwarranty on the main board. 90 days oneverything else, and can be serviced atovet 50 service centers nationwide(quantities limited).

1150w/CP/M $1499

1250w/CP/M $1849

^4050 w/CP/M-86 $1999^

TERMINALS

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Also great prices on ADDS, other Wysemodels, Televideo, Altos, Zenith andQume terminals.

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HI DMP-40 $745

HI DMP-41 $2340

MODEMSPassword

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Hayes 1200 $509

Hayes 300 $209

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THE-

65816

MICROPROCESSORPART 1:

SOFTWARE

An S-ll&bit successor to the 6502

WITH SEMICONDUCTOR memoryprices falling, microcomputer systemsare boldly going where no micros havegone before. Systems with 64K-bytemain memories are common, and thosewith a megabyte or more are justaround the corner. Since such old 8-bitstandbys as the 6502, 6800, and Z80can directly address only 64 K bytes,their days as the backbone of general-purpose systems may be numbered. In-deed, the increasing number of per-sonal computers, like Apple and Atari,using bank switching and disk simula-tion to expand their semiconductormemory access shows the growingseverity of the address-space pinch.

Designed to relieve the constraints oflimited memory, a new branch of the

6502 family directly addresses up to 16megabytes while bringing the simplici-ty and execution speed of this time-tested microprocessor to 16-bit systems.The main representative of this newgroup is the W65SC816, which I referto hereafter as the 65816. In emulationmode, it is pin- and software-compatiblewith the 6502, and toggling a single flagbit converts it to a complete 16-bit pro-cessor. In part 1 of this article I cover

[continued)

Steven P. Hendrix. an instructor pilot for theU.S. Air Force, has a B.S. in computer scienceand mathematics from the USAF Academy. Hecan be reached at Route 8, Box 8IE, NewBraunfels. TX 78130. His hobbies include com-puters and astronomy.

by Steven P. Hendrix

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 125

W65SC816 PROCESSOR PROGRAMMING MODEL

1

1_

8 BITS

8 BITS

1

8 BITS

OATA

l_

BANK REGISTER(DBR)

X REGISTER HI(XH)

1

T

X REGISTER LOW(XL)

DATA

L_

BANK REGISTER(DBR)

Y REGISTER HI(YH)

i

(Y)

1

Y REGISTER LOW(YL)

STACK REGISTER HI * STACK REGISTER LOW (_SH] J_^ (_SL)

ACCUMULATOR(B)

1^(C)

I

ACCUMULATOR(A)

PROGRAM BANK REGISTER(PBR)

PROGRAM(PCH)

(PC)

I

COUNTER(PCD

I

DIRECT REGISTER HI(DH)

' DIRECT REGISTER LOW

STATUS REGISTER CODING

STATUS REGISTER

(P) IT

N V M X D I Z C

-»• EMULATION 1 = 6502

-CARRY

-ZERO

-IRQ DISABLE

-DECIMAL MODE

-INDEX REGISTER SELECT

-MEMORY SELECT

-OVERFLOW

-NEGATIVE

1= TRUE

1 = RESULT ZERO

1 . DISABLE

1 » TRUE

1 « 8 BIT. 0= 16 BIT

] = 8 BIT. 0= 16 BIT

1 = TRUE

1 o NEGATIVE

PIN CONFIGURATION

VP[

W65SC816

1

40

]RES

roy[

2

39

]VDA

ABORT[

3

38

]m/x

IRQ[

4

37

] *2 (IN)

ML [

5

36

]BE

NMl[

6

35

]E

VPA[

7

34

]R/W

W

8

33

]DO/BAO

A0[

9

32

]D1/BA1

Al[

10

31

]D2/BA2

A2[

11

30

]D3/BA3

A3[

12

29

]D4/BA4

aaH

13

28

]D5/BA5

A5[

14

27

]D6/BA6

A6q

15

26

]D7/BA7

A7[j

16

25

]A15

A8C

17

24

]A14

A9[

18

23

]A13

AlOC

19

22

]A12

All[

20

21

]vSs

40

]RES

39

]*2(0UT)

38

]S0

37

]4>0(IN)

36

]N/C

35

]N/C

34

]R/W

33

]D0

32

]D1

31

]D2

30

]D3

29

]D4

28

]D5

27

]D6

26

]D7

25

]A15

24

3*14

23

]A13

22

]A12

21

]vss

Figure 1: The programming model for the 65816 shows that the 6502's 8-bit registershave been expanded, the program counter extended, unused bits filled, and a new register(the direct register) added.

some of the software considerations forthis processor. Next month, part 2 willaddress some hardware considerations.Throughout, the term "page" refers toa 2 56-byte memory area wherein indi-vidual location addresses differ in onlythe low-order 8 bits, just as for the 6502."Bank" refers to a 64K-byte memoryarea with address locations that differin the low-order 16 bits, with the upper8 bits identical.

Overview

Figure 1 shows the programming modelfor the 65816. Close examination re-veals the 6502 registers with extensions,plus one additional 16-bit registerformerly not present (the direct register)and two 8-bit bank registers. The 8-bitregisters of the 6502 have been ex-tended to 16 bits, the 6502's 16-bit pro-gram counter has been effectively ex-tended to 24 bits, and the previouslyunused bits in the status register havebeen filled (with an extra bit added). Theaccumulator and index registers still canbe treated optionally as 8-bit registersby setting the appropriate status regis-ter bits. Except for the accumulator, thefull 16-bit registers retain the original8-bit names. Each half of each registeruses the same original name, and theyare distinguished from one another byan "H" or "V suffix for the high- andlow-order bytes, respectively. The 16-bitaccumulator is newly designated as "C."The high- and low-order bytes of the ac-cumulator are referred to as "B" and"A."

The six status register flags matching

those of the 6502 retain the same

meanings. The seventh 6502 flag, "B,"

(continued on page 385)

E = 1 (6502 Emulation)

OOFFFE.F-IRQ/BRK

Hardware/Software

OOFFFC.D-RESET

Hardware

OOFFFA.B-NMI

Hardware

00FFF8.9-ABORT

Hardware

OOFFF6.7

—

OOFFF4.5-COP

Software

E = 0 (16-Bit Operation)

OOFFFE.F-IRQ

Hardware

OOFFFC.D-RESET

Hardware

OOFFFA.B-NMI

Hardware

00FFF89-ABORT

Hardware

OOFFF6.7-BRK

Software

OOFFF4.5-COP

Software

Figure 2: When the 65816 is notemulating a 6502, it has a separate vectorthat defines the software interrupt's locationand relieves the routine from having todetermine which type of interrupt invoked it.

126 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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CIARCIASCIRCUIT CELLAR

Circuit CellarFeedback

Steve

answers

some letters

about past

projects

by Steve Ciarcia

m^Wt ne result of writing a design column■ like the Circuit Cellar is that it pro-^Hl^ duces a lot of mail. While this mightbe a curse for some authors, I find that receiv-ing many pounds of mail suggests that I'm do-ing something right.

Generally speaking, reader feedback comesin three forms. The first group includes generalcomputer questions and interfacing problems.A selection of these questions is presentedeach month in 'Ask BYTE."

The other two groups deal specifically withmy articles or make project suggestions. Therenever has been a good vehicle for sharing thiscorrespondence with you. I sometimes inserta few project-related questions in "Ask BYTE"when I think the answer has some broadeducational value.

Unfortunately, because most of theseproject-specific letters are never published, Ireceive many of the same questions and haveto answer them individually. For example,unless you wrote me directly or found itsomewhere in BYTE, you probably wouldn'tknow that there is now an MPX-16 user's group(see page 398), that there is a PAL (phasealternating line) equivalent for the Texas In-struments NTSC (National Television SystemCommittee) graphics chip used in EZ-Color,

or that an alternative 300-bps modem chip isavailable so that the ECM-103 can operate inEurope.

This month, rather than presenting a newproject, I'll share some of these project-specific letters with some answers I've beenmailing to other readers. The ones I've chosenare just a few of the hundreds I receive eachmonth.

The letters I appreciate most are projectideas and general comments. Many readerstake the time to describe their experiencesbuilding Circuit Cellar projects and enhance-ments they have made. While there has beenno lack of article ideas on my part, it is hardto ignore a hundred letters asking for a1200-bps modem or a voice-recognition inter-face.

Finally, with 450,000 technically educatedreaders, BYTE is one of the best sources ofexpertise in the U.S. Many of its readers chartthe course of history rather than passivelyobserve it.

I appreciate reader feedback and try not totake anything for granted. Many of today's in-ventions sound absurd at first disclosure, but,if you've developed a perpetual-motionmachine, I'd like to know about it.

—Steve Ciarcia, Consulting Editor

Radio Speech Synthesis

Dear Steve,

I liked your article in the ]une 1983 BYTE("Use ADPCM for Highly Intelligible SpeechSynthesis," page 35). Could you please sendme a new figure 7 (page 42) showing a 12-bitA/D converter in it?

I know the circuit sends out TTL-level paralleldata; could you recommend a circuit additionthat will let me send out this audio data in aserial bit stream? 1 may send this data overa short radio link (citizens band radio) to bereceived by a friend having a serial-to-parallelconverter and then plug the converter into thecircuit in figure 10 (page 49). It is a one-waydata link. I might want to modulate this serialdata stream and elevate the entire stream by

16, 32, or 40 kHz in an upper-carrier fashionand demodulate at the receiving end. Doesthis sound like FM carrier modulation?

Steve AbraitisCleveland, OH

The 12-bit version of the circuit can be foundin the applications notes on the ADPCM chip.Contact your local Oki sales representative.

I do not recommend using a serial radio link

[continued]

Steve Ciarcia (pronounced "see-ARE-see-ah") is an elec-tronics engineer and computer consultant with experiencein process control, digital design, nuclear instrumenta-tion, and product development. He is the author ofseveral books about electronics. You can write to himat POB 582, Glastonbury. CT 06033.

Copyright © 1984 Steven A. Ciarcia. All rights reserved.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 129

in the manner you describe. This is dueto the sheer magnitude of the speed re-quirements involved. For example, foran 8-bit D/A converter with an 8-kHzsample speed, the data rate is 4K bytes/sec x 11 bpsfasync) = 44 kbpsmin. Fora 12-bit D/A converter with an 8-kHzsample speed, the data rate is 6K bytes/sec x 11 bpsfasync) =66 kbps.

You would need a carrier of twice thebit rate, a minimum of approximately120 kHz, to send this data over the air.This, coupled with the signaling speedrequirement, puts the system out of thereach of conventional citizens bandtransmission—Steve

Needs Disk Controller

Dear Steve,

I used your book to build a Z80 com-puter. I am now starting on your Term-Mite ST smart terminal (January, page37). Now I think I may have reached adead end.

Do you know of a disk-controller cir-cuit and monitor program that wouldwork with this computer? 1 haven't seenany. If you can be of any help, I wouldreally appreciate it.

H. G. WoodwardSan Antonio, TX

My ZAP computer was designed to besoftware and peripheral compatiblewith the Digital Croup computer system.Any peripheral that can run with the DCsystem can be used with the ZAP, oncethe bus signals are lined up. A disk con-troller and DOS (disk operating system)are available for the DG machine. TheDC system is being supported by AeonElectronics, Suite MSB, 1855 SouthPearl, Denver, CO 80210, (303)777-2366.

Because the ZAP uses a Z80, theTRS-80 disk controller could also beused as well as the Tarbell, Morrow, andGodbout boards. Use of the last threeboards would mean setting up the ZAPbus to the S-100 standard, which wouldmake many other S-100 boards availablefor your use—Steve

Where's the Transformer?

Dear Steve,

I recently bought your fine book BuildYour Own Z80 Computer. 1 want to con-struct the computer and have started togather parts. So far, I cannot find the10-V, 6-A transformer. Also, what proto-typing board was used?

I enjoy your articles in BYTE. 1 would

like to see construction and other ar-ticles on the TI-99/4A. It is a goodcomputer.

Pat RobertsonVirginia Beach, VA

You can use a transformer with ahigher current rating or with a slightlyhigher voltage output (11.6 or so). Keepin mind that this will strain the regula-tors a bit more, and they may have tobe heat-sinked and cooled. A 10-V, 6-Atransformer is a moderately rare item,but you can order the Stancor ModelP-8655 from Sterling Electronics, POB7790, Richmond, VA 23231. The cost is$18.45 (shipping additional). This unitprovides the desired specifications in acenter-tapped configuration.

For the prototype board, you can usean S-100 card produced by Vector Elec-tronic Company. These are carried bylameco, Priority One Electronics, andmany other companies that advertise inBYTE.

I have played around with theTI-99/4A and was frankly amazed at thepower and completeness of its BASIC.The full-size keyboard was nicer to typeon than the keyboards found on manyinexpensive units today. I did not likethe way Tl used function keys to logical-ly shift the keyboard characters, how-ever. Although the 99/4A has been dis-continued, Til keep an eye on the mailto see if projects for this machine arewarranted—Steve

Simplify the ZAP

Dear Steve,

I am studying your book Build YourOwn Z80 Computer, and 1 have severalquestions.

Has the state of the art changed sig-nificantly since you wrote the book thatwould simplify your computer? Is therereading material that would give memore information? I've noticed aTMM2016, 2048 by 8-bit RAM (random-access read/write memory) that lookslike an attractive replacement for the2114, 1024 by 4-bit RAM. Can these beexchanged without modifications to thecircuitry? Can you tie MCSO and MCS1together to access this replaced RAM?

1 also have a question about the leadIORQ that feeds two NAND gates thatdetermine whether a read or a writeoperation is to be performed (figure4.24 on page 109). Shouldn't this leadbe IORQ rather than IORQ, since a highwhen active control signal is desired toAND the respective NAND gate togenerate a low out on lORD or IOWR?

Any help you can give me will beappreciated.

Dave SchaferOmaha, NE

Several new chips are available thatwould simplify the ZAP computer. How-ever, one of the underlying conceptsbehind the computer and the book wasto make the circuits understandable tonovice builders. The use of LSI (large-scale integration) multifunction com-ponents would have made the buildingsimpler but the understanding harder.This is why discrete SSI (small-scale in-tegration) and MSI (medium-scale in-tegration) components were used.

BYTE Books and Hayden Press offermany fine books on computer periph-eral design. Many examples of circuitsthat employ LSI devices are found inthese books.

The TMM2016 memory part couldeasily be used in place of two 2114parts. No circuit modifications arenecessary except for the MCSO andMCS1 lines. Tying these together woulddamage the decoder IC Line MCSOaddresses the 2708 EPROM (erasableprogrammable read-only memory),which has an 8-bit data bus. Lines MCS1and MCS2 each drive two 2114s. The2114s have a 4-bit data bus, which iswhy two are driven together. The 2016part, with its 8-bit bus, replaces two ofthe 2114s and is driven by either MCS1or MCS2.

Your comment on the IORQ line iscorrect. The positive true signal is theone that should have been shown onthe schematic. This same problem oc-curs on figure 4.26—Steve

Questions about LineConditioning

Dear Steve,

Thank you for the article on line con-ditioning ("Keep Power-Line PollutionOut of Your Computer") in the Decem-ber 1983 BYTE (page 36). I've built aneight-outlet conditioned power bar withsurge and EMI (electromagnetic inter-ference) protection; I have three ques-tions on this project.

Why are three MOVs required insteadof two? Won't the function of the thirdbe assumed by two acting together?

Radio Shack's EMI filter (part number273-100) is rated only to 5A; to achievea 10-A rating for the total system, I wiredtwo of these units in parallel. Will thishave any consequences on the EMI at-tenuation specs for the system?

(continued on page 392)

130 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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SYSTEMS

UNIX performanceon microcomputers and minicomputers

by David F. Hinnant

WITH THE ADVENT of inexpensive butpowerful 16- and 3 2-bit microproces-sors, the multiuser, multitasking UNIXoperating system is available on manynew microcomputers. Because UNIX isbecoming a standard multiuser operat-ing system, this article presents bench-marks for several microcomputer UNIXimplementations and shows how theyperform when compared to minicom-puter versions of UNIX.Almost every week, new versions of

UNIX for popular microcomputers ornew UNIX-based microcomputers arebeing announced. They come fromeveryone from AT&T (UNIX was devel-oped at Bell Laboratories) and IBMdown to previously unknown compa-nies who license UNIX from AT&T andthen implement, or port, it for new hard-ware configurations. For some UNIX im-plementations on microcomputers, youneed additional hardware (at least ahard-disk system for the megabytes of

132 BYTE* AUGUST 1984

\\\\\n^

m\\\,\,.

0*»

ew

ta«S

utilities and programs that come withUNIX), while some implementations runby just inserting a disk and booting upthe run-time operating system.

Quite a few releases of UNIX softwareare also available, including Version 6,Version 7, System III, and System V(AT&T's new standard) from Bell Labs;the 4.1 BSD and 4.2 BSD UNIX exten-sions from the University of California,Berkeley; XENIX, an enhanced UNIXVersion 7 from Microsoft; VENIX, a fine-ly tuned UNIX with real-time capabili-ties; Uniplus+, an enhanced UNIXSystem III from Unisoft; also, many sys-tems claim to be "UNIX-like." Do allthese UNIX implementations look andwork alike? What do you look for indetermining which is the better UNIX-based machine? Some will be fasterthan others because of hardware con-straints, but how can you tell if you'regetting the best system for your oper-ating conditions? That's usually the bot-tom line. Enter the UNIX benchmarks.

Just what is a benchmark? For our pur-poses, a benchmark is a set of instruc-tions that measures how well the hard-ware and software of a computer sys-tem perform together. Benchmarks caneither exercise singular, specific func-tions of a compiler or operating system(e.g.. function-call overhead or system-call overhead) or they can test thegeneral performance of the machine byexercising a number of operations (e.g.,looping, searching, etc.). In both cases,these timings are compared to resultson other machines.

Benchmarking an operating system ismuch more complex than benchmark-ing a compiler. However, since UNIXand its language compilers are written

in the high-level language C, compilerimplementation is just as important, aswe will see. What should an operat-ing-system benchmark do?

The purist approach tests only well-defined individual functions of the oper-ating system (e.g., pipe implementation,disk throughput, system-call overhead,and context switching). This is difficultto do, as any program that exercisesone particular operating-system func-tion inadvertently includes statementsthat are not related to the functionunder scrutiny. We must reconcile our-selves to a benchmark that includes aslittle superfluous code as possible.Since this unwanted overhead variesfrom program to program, in mostcases, the execution-time results cannotbe manipulated in an arithmetic fashionto produce true timings of a particularoperating-system function. They can,however, be compared to timings onother machines.

The practical approach tests overallsystem performance by performingmany typical functions (e.g., sorts; com-pilations; and creating, listing, anddeleting files) but in a controlledfashion. Again, these timings are com-pared with timings on other UNIX ma-chines.

Both approaches have merit, and ex-amples of both will be presented here.

Some Benchmark Guidelines

Let's develop some guidelines forbenchmarking operating systems ingeneral and apply them specifically toUNIX. In order to benchmark any oper-ating system, as many environmentalvariables as possible should be elimi-nated:

• The benchmarks should be run ina multiuser environment so that anynormal operating-system overhead(e.g., context switching between pro-cesses and other operating-systemhousekeeping) is taken into account.(Most UNIX implementations offer asingle-user mode as well as a multi-user mode.)

• The benchmarks should, be takenmore than once and averaged tocompensate for any system-levelbackground processes that repeat-edly sleep awhile and work awhile.(A good UNIX example is the routineupdate that wakes up every 30 sec-onds and, among other things,flushes buffers and in-core tables todisk.)

• The benchmarks should be per-formed while the system is otherwiseidle so that the timings are as trueas possible. On microcomputers,even one additional user can distortbenchmark results significantly;depending, of course, on what is be-ing done.

• All available optimizations shouldbe used. Implementations that takeadvantage of the hardware con-

[continued)

David Hinnant (2017 Wunterfield lane.Raleigh, NC 27609) holds a B.S. degree inphysics and is a UNIX systems programmer withITT Telecom in Raleigh. He is coauthor of a bookon UNIX microcomputers soon to be publishedby Robert ]. Brady Co. His UNIX UUCP ad-dress is ...ucbvax\decvax\ittvax\ittral\hinnant.Machine-readable copies of the benchmark suiteare available upon request to the UUCP address.Benchmark results from UNIX systems not men-tioned in this article are welcome.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY PAUL AVIS

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 133

Listing I: Trie UNIX pipe benchmark.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #1

This program evaluates pipe efficiency and implementation.Since pipes are commonly used in UNIX, pipe performance is often adecisive factor in overall system performance, and says a lot aboutthe UNIX implementation. Here we test pipe implementation bycramming 0.5 MB through a pipe as fast as possible.

Instructions:Compile by:

cc -O -s -o pipes pipes.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The*-s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

Time by: /bin/time pipes

Results:

Since pipes usually use the disk as a buffer, real time isimportant, but can be misleading if the disk is very slow.Of greater importance here is the system' time, as it isa direct measurement of kernel efficiency. The user' timeis of little importance.

\

#define BLOCKS 1024

/* the buffer */char buffer|5l2|:

/* file descriptor for pipe "/int fid|2|:

maim){

/" want to test pipe implementation; not arithmetic */register int i:

/* initialize the pipe */pi pel fid);

/* fork the child process •/if I forkd I {

/* parent process writes to pipe in 512 byte chunks */for (i = 0: i < BLOCKS; i + + |

if (write|fid|l|. buffer, 5121 < 0)

/• if there is a problem, say so */printfl'Error in writing: i = %d\n ", i|;/* close the pipe when we're done "/if lclose(fid|l|l != 01

printfl "Error in parent closing\n"|;

!

else {

/• close, since we aren't writing */if (closelfidllll != 0|

printfl "Error in child closing\n "I;

/"child process reads the pipe until EOF */for l::|

if |read(fid|0|, buffer, 512) == 0| {break;

}

figuration are generally better tobegin with. If a compiler option forobject-code optimization is available,it should be used. If the hardwarecan support fast (register in the caseof C) variables, they should be used.In the benchmarks discussed here,all variables that can be of theregister type will be declared as

such. In reality, the number ofregisters available for use by registervariables varies widely because ofhardware differences between micro-processors. Remember, our goalhere is not to develop benchmarksthat determine which UNIX machineis the best under a given set of re-quirements but to develop a general

set of benchmarks to aid the con-sumer in determining which hard-ware/software implementation givesthe most performance for themoney.

• The benchmarks should be exactlythe same on all machines tested andportable enough to run on all themachines. Seme may argue that if aparticular software option is avail-able, it should be used as an op-timization is used (a binary-treesearch function, for example). Keepin mind that extensions are not op-timizations. Although the distinctioncan become cloudy, an extension isprobably not used as routinely as anoptimization.

• Some of the benchmarks devel-oped should be able to exercisespecific, known functions of operat-ing-system and compiler implemen-tation.

• The benchmarks developedshould also contain tests of overallperformance by simulating typicaluser activities. This should includeexecuting background processesconcurrently with foreground pro-cesses (if possible) to see how thesystem responds under a multitask-ing load.

• The benchmark timings should bemade using a consistent and accu-rate method. A stopwatch just won'tdo. Fortunately, UNIX has a standardtiming mechanism that reportselapsed (real) and processor timesused by a process. The processortime is further divided into user andsystem times.

User time is the amount of time theprocess spent executing nonprivilegedinstructions (e.g., arithmetic calculations,sorting, searching, calling user-levelfunctions, etc.).

System time is the time the processspent executing privileged (kernel) com-mands (i.e., system calls) plus some sys-tem-level overhead (e.g, context switch-ing between processes).

The elapsed time is just that. And itis often not the sum of the user and sys-tem times. The majority of the missingtime is spent waiting for I/O (input/out-put) operations to complete, waiting fora signal from another process, sleeping,or swapped out on disk while anotherprogram is running. It is unfortunatethat in some implementations of UNIXthe elapsed time reported by this tim-ing mechanism is given only to the sec-ond. Thus, the sum of the system anduser times can on occasion be greater

134 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

■fable 1: The results of UNIX benchmarks for some common microcomputers and minicomputers. The table is sorted on the fastest execu-tion (real) time for the shell benchmark in listing 6a.

System

Time in

Seconds

1. Pipe

2. System

Call

3. Function Call

No.

Machine

Version

real

user

sys

real

user

sys

real

1

VAX-I 1/780

4.1 BSD

3.2

0.1

1.2

4.8

1.4

4.0

1.0

2

Masscomp

Sys 111 +

5.7

0.0

2.8

6.3

0.4

5.8

0.9

3

Sun-2/120

4.2 BSD

7.6

0.1

3.7

6.8

1.1

5.6

0.8

4

VAX-I 1/750

4.1 BSD

4.6

0.2

2.1

7.0

0.9

6.2

1.7

5

PDP-11/70

2.8 BSD

8.1

0.0

3.4

8.0

0.2

7.5

1.0

6

Altos 986

XENIX

6.0

0.1

2.8

11.0

0.8

10.3

0.4

7

IBM PC XT

PC/IX

16.6

0.1

7.6

39.8

2.9

35.6

4.7

8

PDP-I 1/23

VENIX

30.0

0.1

9.5

24.0

3.2

20.4

3.3

9

IBM PC XT %

VENIX/86

18.0

0.1

7.3

20.5

2.3

17.8

2.8

10

SCI-1000 "

Sys 111 +

9.3

0.0

3.1

26.2

0.7

24.2

1.2

1 1

Omnibyte

Idris -8:

32.0

0.1

30.4

21.3

2.5

18.4

1.7

12

TRS-80 I6B

XENIX

8.0

0.1

3.4

15.0

1.5

12.7

1.4

13

PDP-I 1/23

V7

23.0

0.1

10.7

36.5

0.9

33.7

3.6

14

DEC Pro/350

VENIX

26.0

0.5

13.8

33.3

5.8

26.5

3.5

15

Apple Lisa

Sys 111 +

8.1

0.0

3.0

10.5

0.2

9.1

1.3

System

Time in

Seconds

4. Sieve

5a. Disk Write

5b. Disk Read

6a. She

II

7. Loop

No.

Machine

Version

real

user

sys

real

real

real

user

sys

real

user

sys

1

VAX-! 1/780

4.1 BSD

1.7

1.5

0.1

2.0

8.0

3.3

0.3

1.3

2.6

2.5

0.1

2

Masscomp

Sys 111 +

2.8

2.5

0.1

1 .7

—

3.5

0.4

1.4

6.6

6.3

0.1

3

Sun-2/120

4.2 BSD

5.1

2.8

0.4

1 .8

4.9

3.5

0.3

2.0

7.4

7.0

0.1

4

VAX-1 1/750

4.1 BSD

2.4

2.7

0.1

3.0

8.0

3.8

0.4

1.5

5.1

4.9

0.1

5

PDP-I 1/70

2.8 BSD

2.3

1.6

0.1

4.0

9.5

4.0

0.2

1.7

7.9

7.1

0.2

6

Altos 986

XENIX

3.3

3.0

0.0

3.5

7.3

7.0

0.4

1.6

13.3

13.0

0.1

7

IBM PC XT

PC/IX

8.2

7.8

0.3

1 1 .6

20.7

8.5

1.1

3.2

32.2

31.5

0.3

8

PDP-I 1/23

VENIX

5.5

5.1

0.1

8.0

33.7

12.0

0.7

4.8

26.0

25.2

0.1

9

IBM PC XT %

VENIX/86

9.0

8.2

0.3

7.0

25.6

13.0

0.8

4.2

32.7

31.4

0.3

10

SCI-1000 "

Sys 111 +

4.4

3.6

0.1

4.3

9.1

13.6

0.5

1.9

14.5

13.6

0.2

II

Omnibyte

Idris <8:

7.0

5.4

0.4

12.3

$

17.6

0.3

16.1

17.0

16.1

0.4

12

TRS-80 I6B

XENIX

6.0

4.8

0.3

8.0

22.0

18.0

0.4

2.6

14.0

12.5

0.5

13

PDP-I 1/23

V7

5.8

5.3

0.1

22.0

32.7

20.4

0.8

8.5

27.4

25.9

0.3

14

DEC Pro/3 50

VENIX

6.3

5.1

0.1

7.7

28.0

27.0

0.8

4.7

26.7

25.3

0.1

15

Apple Lisa

Sys 111 +

6.1

5.3

0.1

20.8

44.5

37.6

0.4

3.2

14.0

12.0

0.2

Indicates UNIX System 111 plus some Berkeley enhancements.

The benchmark in listing 1 had to be modified slightly to run under Idris 2.1, perhaps explaining the large times that resulted.

Idris 2.1 is a Version 6-based UNIX system, and hence did not have the randd system call. Thus, the benchmark could not be run.

Unfortunately, this time was not available at the time of publication.

The SCI-1000 benchmarked was a preproduction 80186 system with debugging code in the kernel and compiler.

For some reason, the C compiler optimizer caused the operating system to crash, so these results are with nonoptimized benchmarks.

System Configuration:

1 — 4-megabyte RAM, two 256-megabyte disk drives

2 — 2-megabyte RAM, one 50-megabyte disk drive

3 — 2-megabyte RAM, one 42-megabyte disk drive

4 — 2-megabyte RAM. one 121-megabyte disk drive

5 — 1.5-megabyte RAM, 400 megabytes of disk drives

6 — l-megabyte RAM, one 40-megabyte disk drive

7 — 5l2K-byte RAM, one 10-megabyte disk drive

8 — 2 56K-byte RAM, two 5-megabyte disk drives

9 — 5l2K-byte RAM, one 40-megabyte disk drive

10 — 640K-byte RAM, one 10-megabyte disk drive

11 — 384K-byte RAM. one 20-megabyte disk drive

12 — 384K-byte RAM, one 15-megabyte disk drive

13 — 256K-byte RAM, two 10-megabyte disk drives

14 — 256K-byte RAM, one 5-megabyte disk drive

15 — l-megabyte RAM, one 5-megabyte disk drive

than the elapsed time.

This mechanism is the time com-mand, which is invoked explicitly by

/bin/time filename

where filename is the program to betimed. Under UNIX, filename can beeither an object file or a text file of shellcommands. Of course, some overhead

is in the time command itself, since ithas to start filename executing, but it issmall and can be neglected because allour benchmarks will be timed this way.The results are compared to other UNIXmachines timed in the same manner.

The UNIX Benchmark Suite

How can we apply these guidelines to

the UNIX operating system and its mostimportant language, the C compiler?What should we test? That question canbe answered by answering the question,"What does UNIX do most often?"

UNIX has a number of unique and

powerful features that are used quite

heavily. If implemented efficiently, these

[continued on page 400)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 135

Apricot votedbest inthe world.

But you be

thejudge.

Of course, you'll have to visit yourlocal Apricot dealer to confirm the experts'judgement firsthand. But here's somepreliminary evidence:

• A keyboard that includes special func-tion keys, a numeric keypad, a built-in,software-accessible calculator, anddynamic, touch-sensitive keys that adaptto each program.

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• A special, high-resolution (800 x 400pixel) non-glare monitor.

• Full 16-bit internal architecture forfaster program execution. (The Apricotruns most software written for theIBM PC.)

• Standard 256K RAM internal memory(upgradeable to 768K).

• RS-232 (V-24) serial port plus asynchronous and asynchronous parallelport.

The Apricot is available with a singledisk drive, as you see it here with twindisk drives, with double-sided twin disks,or with a 5 Mbyte or 10 Mbyte Winchesterdisk drive. Prices range from $2295 to$4895. For more information, return thecoupon or call 800/447-4700.

'Microcomputer of the Year and BusinessMicrocomputer awards, British MicrocomputingAwards Presentation.

□ 111 be thejudge. Send me the evidence.Name

Address.City

State.

.Zip_

Primary use: □ business □ home

MAIL TO:#iftM\ ACT (North America) Inc.3375 Scott Blvd., Suite 342Santa Clara, CA 95051

The unique MicroScreen™ senxts as a calendar!clock, a built-in calculator, and a labelling devicefor special touchsensitive keys.

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© 1984 ACT North America, Inc.

136 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 8 on inquiry card.

by C. Kevin McCabe

A new standard

corrects some problems,

but FORTH is still

a language in flux

FORTH-83:

EVOLUTIONCONTINUES

A!! FORTH words in this article, and in thetables, are in boldface type. Italics is used todesignate numeric values that are treated in aspecific way. Italicized terms in angle brackets(< >) are unspecified word names.

The evolution of FORTH from aradio-telescope control language to anacclaimed software tool can hardly betermed usual—or entirely peaceful.Perhaps because the language is attrac-tive to software hackers, new versionsof FORTH appear with a frequencyquite unlike more established lan-guages. Proponents of various dialectstend to splinter into groups, with heateddebates over mono-addressing,threaded versus direct code, and otheresoteric matters.

The latest standardization attemptmay only add to a continuing contro-versy over which version is the "real"FORTH. FORTH-83, accepted almost un-

animously by the FORTH StandardsTeam, includes numerous differencesfrom the earlier FORTH-79 standard.FORTH-79, in turn, differs greatly fromFIG-FORTH, the public-domain versiondeveloped by the FORTH InterestGroup (FIG), FORTH Inc.'s commercialversions of FORTH, and several earlierproposed standards. Major changes invirtually all areas almost insure thatFORTH-79 programs will not be com-patible with the new standard.

The Changes

Eleven FORTH-79 "words" (named ex-

{conlinued)

C. Kevin McCabe {Lord. Bissell & Brook. 115South LaSalle St.. Chicago. IL 60603) is a trialattorney concentrating in aviation-disaster litiga-tion. When not using his Exidy Sorcerer. Kaypro4, or other homebrew systems, he enjoys flying,skydiving, writing, and hacking.

Table 1: FORTH-79 words not included in the FORTH-83 required word set.

FORTH-79 Word

Remarks

79-STANDARD

new word FORTH-83 fulfills same function

?

use equivalent sequence @ . instead

CONTEXT

moved to new system-extension word set

CURRENT

moved to new system-extension word set

EMPTY-BUFFERS

moved to controlled-reference word set

LIST

moved to controlled-reference word set

MOVE

moved to uncontrolled-reference word set

QUERY

moved to controlled-reference word set

SCR

moved to controlled-reference word set

U'

use UM* instead

U/MOD

use UM/MOD , but note floored division

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 137

ecution procedures) have been re-named or removed entirely from thestandard's required word set (see table1). Twenty new words have been addedto the required word set. Major changesin FORTH-83 definitions affect integerarithmetic, control structures, relationaloperations, use of mass storage, stackmanipulations, I/O (input/output), com-pilation of new definitions, andvocabulary usage. Required words thathave undergone significant changes indefinition are listed in table 3. Both theassembly-language and the double-number extension word sets have beenrevised, and a new system-extensionword set has been added as an option;the additions and changes in meaningare shown in tables 4, 5. and 6.FORTH-83 division operations use

"floored" integer arithmetic, with thequotient z rounded to the greatest in-teger less than or equal to z, i.e., towardnegative infinity. This provides sym-metry with respect to 0 on the numberline but is incompatible withFORTH-79's simpler rounding toward 0.FORTH-83 division operations also aredefined to force error conditions if adivisor is 0 or a quotient lies outside thepermissible operand range.

The DO . . . LOOP and DO . . .+ LOOP control structures have beenrevised considerably. For positive in-crements, termination of a FORTH-79loop occurs when the new index valueequals or exceeds the limit; for negativeincrements, +LOOP terminates onlywhen the new index is less than (but notequal to) the limit. FORTH-79 loop pa-

rameters are also restricted to signedsingle-precision numbers.

Both characteristics have changed inFORTH-83. The new versions permitloop parameters to be any signed or un-signed single-precision value (valuesbetween -32,768 and 65,535; see table7). FORTH-83 loops terminate when theindex is incremented across the boun-dary between limit-1 and limit; code todetect the transition is easily imple-mented for any processor with an over-flow bit. Use of the transition detectionrather than FORTH-79's direct com-parison means that a limit equal to theinitial index will no longer terminate theloop after one pass; instead, the indexis handled on a continuous "number cir-cle" using 2's complement arithmetic.{continued on page 412)

Table 2: Modifications to

and clarifications of. stack parameter manipulations under the proposed FORTH-83 standard. Stack

diagrams show value(s) on

the parameter stack before and

after the execution or

compilation of the ina

Hated FORTH word. For an

explanation

of the abbreviations used for stack values, see

table 1.

Word

Word Set

Stack Diagram(s|

D +

required and

{ wdl wd2 — wd3 )

l

required

( 16b addr — |

D-

doubledouble

{ wdl wd2 — wd3 )

tt>

required

1 32b — addr + n I

DEPTH

required

(-+n)

*

required

( wl w2 — w3 )

DROP

required

{16b-)

+

required

i wl w2 — w3 )

DUP

required

{ 16b - 16b 16b )

+i

requiredrequired

( wl addr — )I 16b-)

ELSE

required

(-)

( sysl — sys2 ) (compiling)

-

required

{ wl w2 — w3 )

FILL

required

(addr u8b — )

-TRAILING

required

( addr +nl — addr +n2 )

1

required

(-wl

1 +

required

{ wl — w2 I

IF

required

{flag-)

1-

required

( wl — w2 )

{ — sys) (compiling)

21

double

( 32b addr - |

1

required

{-w)

2 +

required

( wl — w2 )

LOAD

required

(U-)

2-

required

( wl — w2 )

OR

required

( I6bl I6b2 - I6b3 )

2@

double

1addr - 32b 1

OVER

required

{ I6bl 16b2 - 16bl 16b2 16bl )

2DROP

double

{32b- )

R>

required

{-16b)

2DUP

double

( 32b - 32b 32b I

R@

required

{-16b)

20VER

double

( 32bl 32b2 - 32bl 32b2 32bl I

REPEAT

required

(-)

{sys — ) (compiling!

2 ROT

double

1 32bl 32b2 32b3 - 32b2 32b3

ROT

required

( 16bl 16b2 16b3 - I6b2 16b3 16bl )

2SWAP

double

{ 32bl 32b2 - 32b2 32bl 1

SPACES

required

( +n-)

required

(-1

( sys — ) (compiling!

SWAP

required

{ 16bl 16b2 - 16b2 16bl )

>R

required

( 16b I

THEN

required

(-)

( sys — ) (compiling)

0

required

( addr - 16b)

TYPE

required

( addr +n — )

ABS

required

{ n — u)

UNTIL

required

{flag -)

ALLOT

required

(w-l

(sys — ) (compiling)

AND

required

1 I6bl I6b2 - 16b3 )

WHILE

required

{flag -1

-BEGIN

required

(-)

\

( sysl — sys2 ) " (compiling)

{ — sys) (compiling)

XOR

required

( I6bl I6b2 - I6b3 )

CI

required

( 16b addr - )

1

required

{-)

C@

required

(addr - 8b )

{—) (compiling)

i

CMOVE

required

{ addrl addr2 u — )

|COMPILE|

required

(-)

(—) (compiling)

CONVERT

required

( +dl addrl- +d2addr2)

I

required

(-)

COUNT

required

{ addrl — addr2 + n I

138 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Announcing the WY-75.

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<

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>v

1 1

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Circle 333 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 139

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My

BYTE

History and Goals of Modula-2

by Niklaus Wirth 145

Tutorial on Modula-2

by ]urg Gutknecht 157

Lilith and Modula-2

by Richard Ohran 181

An Introduction to Modula-2

by Robert ). Paul 195

Pascal. Ada. and Modula-2

by David Coar 215

Modula-2

A PIECE OF FOLK WISDOM on computer programs says, "Write two and throw the firstone away." We all know that completing a program gives us insight into how we shouldhave done it in the first place, as does subsequent real-world experience using it. The sameis true of programming languages. Dr. Niklaus Wirth of the Institut fur Informatik researchinstitute of ETH (Switzerland's equivalent to MIT) invented Pascal in 1968—largely as a hypo-thetical language to teach programming—and had a working implementation by 1970. Wirthstarted on the design of Modula-2 in 1977, but only after he had written another language,Modula, and learned from it as well. (Modula was an experimental language concernedwith multiprogramming; it contributed its name, syntax, and the concepts of multiprogram-ming and modules to Modula-2.)

After using Pascal for several years in academic and commercial situations, Wirth andmany users of the language found shortcomings and defects in it, most notably its awkward-ness when used for large programs, the many nonstandard extensions, and problems thatoccurred when a programmer wanted to use Pascal to manipulate the computer's memoryand peripherals directly. Wirth was sensitive to the last criterion. In the preface to his book,Programming in Modula-2 (Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1982), Wirth says:

In 1977, a research project with the goal to design a computer system (hardware andsoftware) in an integrated approach, was launched at the Institut fur Informatik of ETHZurich. This system (later to be called Lilith) was to be programmed in a single high-levellanguage [italics mine|, which therefore had to satisfy requirements of high-level systemdesign as well as those of low-level programming of parts that closely interact withthe given hardware.Note that this means that all the software in the Lilith machine—operating system, window-ing facilities, text editor, system utilities, and everything else—is written in Modula-2.

Other key features of Modula-2 include the concepts of the module (which separatesthe definition and implementation of related code and makes the language more suitedto large projects that require a team of programmers) and the process (used to implementmultiprogramming), an improved syntax (allowing programmers to learn the language fasterand make fewer syntax errors), and the ability to use procedure and array names assubroutine arguments (both of which make programs potentially more versatile).

This issue contains a variety of Modula-related articles. There are introductory articlesby Wirth and one of his colleagues, Dr. lurg Gutknecht, a description of the Lilith machineby one of its designers, an introduction to Modula-2 for Pascal programmers, and a com-parison of Modula-2 with Pascal and Ada.

Even before we announced this issue, we found a lot of people already excited aboutthe language. Several implementations of Modula-2 are already available, and a lower-costversion of the Lilith machine may be available within a year. We hope that this issue willcontribute to the ground swell of interest in Modula-2.

—Gregg Williams, Senior Technical Editor

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 143

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MODULA-2

HISTORY

AND GOALS

OF MODULA-2

BY NI KLAUS WlRTH

The module comes of age

BY 1977 THE concept of high-level lan-guage, and with it Pascal, had gainedpopularity. To a major degree this wasdue to the recognition that masteringthe art of programming is based on theunderstanding of its underlying con-cepts, and that therefore it is essentialto use a notation that displays the con-cepts in a lucid manner and emphasizesthe need for orderly structures. Equallywidespread, however, was the beliefthat the price for this gain in structureand lucidity was unduly high, and thatit was well worth paying it in the class-room but not in the competitive worldof industry. This amounted to nothingless than the relegation of modern pro-gramming tools to the world of ivorytowers and toys.

Naturally, this claim was more than abelief; it could be proven. Even worse:it didn't have to be proven, it was evi-dent. The same algorithm expressed inFORTRAN would run twice as fast aswhen expressed in Pascal or PL/I. Andit was widely known that a clever pro-grammer using an assembler couldeven enlarge this factor. In the samevein, the code generated by a high-levellanguage compiler was considerablylarger than the one constructed by the

clever coder at a lower level.

The numbers, although measured,proven, and therefore true, were basedon a misunderstanding caused by manypeople's inability to distinguish betweena programming language and its imple-mentation. A programming language isa formalism suitable for expressing algo-rithms and data structures, based on aconcise and formal definition of its con-structs and their meaning. (From this itfollows that the term language is actuallymost unfortunate and misleading.) Animplementation is a mechanism for the in-terpretation of programs expressed inthe formalism. I am afraid that eventoday many professionals, includingteachers and writers, fail to make thisfundamental distinction.

I was then fully aware that the claimedloss in effectiveness was not inherent in

Dr. Niklaus Wirth is head of the Departmentof Computer Science at ETH (the Swiss FederalInstitute of Technology) \nstitut fur \nformatik(8092 Zurich. Switzerland). He developedseveral programming languages, including Pascaland Modula-2, and the Lilith personal computer,and has received the IEEE Emanuel R. PioreAward for outstanding achievement in the fieldof information processing.

the concept of the high-level, structuredlanguage, but in the inadequacy of thepresent implementations. Conse-quently, in our efforts to develop a com-piler for Pascal we paid much attentionto achieving an efficient compiler, i.e.,a compiler that compiled fast and alsogenerated dense and effective code.Eventually, our second Pascal compilerfor the CDC Cyber computer, com-pleted in 1974, generated code whoseefficiency was genuinely comparablewith that of a good FORTRAN compiler.Ironically, however, the breakthroughof Pascal did not come from our valiantefforts to measure up to FORTRAN pro-duction compilers. It rather came fromour so-called portable Pascal p-com-piler, where efficiency was a very minorconcern. In San Diego, Ken Bowles hadthe insight and courage to write p-codeinterpreters for various microprocessorsthat had just appeared on the marketwith loud fanfare. He introduced Pascalto the world of computer users andfans, where the efficiency of the pro-gramming process was often muchmore relevant than that of the resultingprograms. Even more important, theseusers were seldom compelled to remain

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

145

HISTORY AND GOALS

Modula-2 grew out ofPascal and incorporatesa few major and someminor improvements.

compatible with their past; they wereless likely to adhere to the widespreadmisconception that their softwarelibraries were so valuable, merelybecause their development had cost somuch.

The success of Pascal implementa-tions for microcomputers, however, hasnot eliminated the value of good com-pilers. To the contrary, it has increasedthe motivation to produce high-qualityimplementations.

The Project Lilith

An implementation does not consist ofthe compiler alone but includes the in-terpreting computer. Our efforts in con-structing a good Pascal implementationwere bounded by the suitability of thetarget computer. In fact, we spent alarge amount of energy to conceal andmake up for the inadequacy of theunderlying computer. We had learneda lot about compiler design, but I alsorecognized that a truly satisfactorydesign would have to encompass pro-gramming language, compiler, and com-puter, all properly matched.

My visit to the Xerox Palo Alto Re-search Center (PARC) in 1976/1977, andmy confrontation with its powerful per-sonal workstation, the Alto, providedthe incentive to undertake a new re-search project encompassing all theseaspects. I was intrigued by the Alto'ssingularly simple design concept andthe resulting flexibility for the program-mer. Thus. 1 embarked on learningabout hardware design and, upon re-turning to Switzerland, started the proj-ect that resulted in the computer Lilith,a personal workstation based on apowerful processor (Am 2901), a bit-mapped display, a mouse as inputdevice, and an architecture tailored tothe needs of a compiler. With a staff ofsix part-time assistants this seemed tobe an overly ambitious goal, a projectalmost certainly doomed to failure.Nevertheless, after two years, two pro-totypes of Lilith were operational,

together with a compiler, an operatingsystem, an advanced full-screen mouse-driven text editor, an interactive line-drawing editor, and elementary utilityprograms.

Apart from the motivation and com-petence of the team members, the feasi-bility of the ambitious task rested onthree fixed constraints that 1 hadpostulated at the start: (1) we would im-plement a single language, and all softwarewould be written in that language, with-out exception whatsoever; (2) the oper-ating system would be designed for asingle user, thus avoiding difficult prob-lems of scheduling, protection, resourcemanagement, and accounting; (3) thecomputer would have a single processor.powerful enough to execute programsand to perform the raster operations onthe displayed bit map.

Indeed, considering that Lilith was tobe a personal workstation, there wereno advantages to be gained by deviat-ing from these constraints, in spite ofwidespread popular trends to developmultiprocessor, multilanguage. multi-user systems.

The first constraint required a lan-guage equally suitable for expressingalgorithms on a high level of abstractionand for expressing operations directlyaccessing machine facilities, equallysuitable for formulating a database sys-tem as for programming a disk driver.Evidently. Pascal was not capableenough, and 1 did not favor the com-mon escape of embellishing it with afew "desirable extensions." Modula, asmall language that I had designed inthe preceding years to experiment withthe concepts of multiprogramming,clearly did not suffice either. But itfeatured a facility to partition programsinto modules with explicitly specified in-terfaces. This was precisely the facilityneeded to allow the introduction of so-called low-level facilities in the high-levellanguage, because it allowed you to en-capsulate them and to constrain theirdangerousness to clearly delineatedparts of a program. Hence, the choicefor the new language was Pascal, aug-mented by the module and a few otherfacilities, and regularized by a more sys-tematic syntax. Thus was born Modula-2.

Modula-2

The language was defined in 1978 (10years after Pascal) and implemented by

L. Geissmann, S.E. Knudsen, and C.lacobi on the PDP-11. Its small store ofavailable memory (28,000 16-bit wordsor 56K bytes) caused many obstaclesand was the reason for the first com-piler's five-pass structure. In the summerof 1979, the compiler was completed,and at the same time, the first Lilith pro-totype became operational. The oper-ating system Medos-2 had been con-structed by S.E. Knudsen concurrently,and together with the compiler it wastransported from the PDP-11 to Lilithwithin three weeks. This was in itself anencouraging feat in software engineer-ing and proof of Modula-2 s usefulnessas a system-implementation language.After a year's in-house use, 1 publishedthe report on Modula-2 and we re-leased the Modula-2 compiler to inter-ested parties (March 1980). The defin-ing report is included in the tutorialbook Programming in Modula-2 (N. Wirth,New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982) whichI prepared up to the camera-ready stagewith the aid of Lilith and a document-formatting system that 1 programmed,of course, in Modula-2.

As mentioned already Modula-2 grewout of Pascal and incorporates a fewmajor and a fair number of minor im-provements. The single most outstand-ing added facility is the module struc-ture. Basically, this facility allows you topartition programs into units with rela-tively well-defined interfaces. More spe-cifically, it allows you to control the vis-ibility of declared objects and to hidethem from places where they better re-main unknown. Since it plays such animportant role, we shall now look brieflyinto the history of Modula-2's develop-ment.

Although the principle of informationhiding was much discussed in the early1970s, it is perhaps Modula's merit toplace it consistently into the frameworkof a clearly defined language. To thebest of my knowledge, it was DavidParnas who first coined the expressioninformation hiding. Both Tony Hoare andPer Brinch Hansen gave it form by con-necting it to the class facility of the pro-gramming language Simula. This is es-sentially, in terms of Pascal, a recordtype; the set of instantiations of thistype forms what Simula terminologycalls a class. In contrast to Pascal records,the Simula class allows you to associate

(continued)

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procedures with the data representedby the field identifiers. Hoare and BrinchHansen then postulated that while thenames of the procedures would nor-mally be visible, those of the data wouldremain hidden except within the asso-ciated procedures. This feature was im-plemented in Brinch Hansen's Concur-rent Pascal and embodied the principleof information hiding, which in themeantime (1975) had been promoted tothat of data abstraction. The example inlisting 1 serves to exemplify the issue:we use a liberal Pascal notation ("N" isa constant):

In a program using this class (type),one might declare variables

qO.ql: queue

and thereafter access them by state-ments like

q0.put(13.7) ql.get(v)

but statements like "qO.n := 237" or"ql.in := qO.out," which evidently inter-fere with the presented implementationof the abstraction of a queue, would bedisallowed. More importantly, theywould be prevented by the compiler,which does not "see" the field iden-tifiers "n," "in," and "out" that are hid-den inside the class (record) declaration.Unfortunately, these proposals inter-twined several independent conceptslike visibility, instantiation, indirection ofaccess, concurrency, and mutual exclu-sion. Both authors had actually postu-lated these kinds of classes to embodyareas of mutual exclusion in multipro-cessing systems, and the facility becamemore widely known as a monitor (inwhich the HALT statements are re-

placed by synchronization operations).In the development of the experi-mental multiprogramming languageModula-1,1 strived for clarity of conceptand was convinced that a substantialdisentangling of the various intertwinedconcepts was mandatory. Together withH. Sandmayr we found a possible solu-tion in the structure then called modulethat would concern the aspect of visi-bility only. This, I believe, was the majorbreakthrough, because in all other lan-guages the visibility issue had always re-mained intimately connected with thatof existence. In particular, it was nowpossible to declare sets of static, globalobjects that were visible from selectedparts of the program only. This istypically desirable to encapsulate cer-tain permanent parts of a system (likedevice drivers, storage allocators,window handlers, etc.). I enhanced thismodule facility with so-called import andexport lists that allow the explicit controlof visibility across the "module wall" ofeach individual object. Furthermore,true to Algol and Pascal tradition,modules can be nested. An export nowsignifies the extension of visibility to theoutside, and import signifies its exten-sion to the inside (see figure 1).

Separation of Specificationand Implementation

During my aforementioned stay at PARCin 1976, I became acquainted with thelanguage Mesa, a Pascal offspring spe-cifically designed to meet the needs oflarge system development. Mesa alsoincorporated an information-hiding fea-ture. It also allowed you to encapsulateprogram parts into modules but lacked

Listing 1: Sample queue routine in Pascal.

TYPE queue =

RECORD n, in. out: INTEGER;

(*n = no. of filled slots: initially 0*)

buffer: ARRAY [0 . . N- 1] OF REAL:

PROCEDURE Put(x:REAL);

BEGIN IF n = N THEN HALT Chill*);

buffer|in|:=x; in: = (in+ l)MOD N;n: = n+ 1END;

PROCEDURE get(VAR x: REAL):BEGIN if N = 0 THEN HALT ('empty*)

x:=buffer|out|; out: = (out+l) MOD N:n:= n-ENDEND

the ability to control the visibility of in-dividual objects, and it entangled thefacility once again with another feature,namely that of separate compilation, a facili-ty of implementation. Its noteworthycontribution was the separation of thedeclarations of the exported objectsfrom that of the ones to remain hidden.The former is called the definition part, thelatter is the implementation part, which con-tains all those details that are relevantto the realization of the exportedmechanisms, but not to their functionaldefinition.

The combination of Mesa's modulefacility with split definition and imple-mentation parts, and the (nestable)Modula-1 modules with controllable im-port and export resulted in Modula-2.

The facility of separate compilationposed some nontrivial problems. Thekey idea is that the compilation of adefinition part results in a (compiled)symbol table (represented as a file). Thefile contains all information relevant toimporters (clients) of that module. If, ata later time, another module importsobjects from, say, modules Ml and M2,then the compiler accesses the pre-viously generated symbol files of Mland M2. Thus, the rules of type con-sistency are observed across moduleboundaries as well. This makes separatecompilation genuinely helpful and safe,in contrast to independent compilation asknown from assemblers and FORTRANcompilers, which is a misleading pitfallwhen used with high-level, data-typedlanguages.

It is noteworthy that Ada incorporatesthis form of module in almost identicalform, although under the name package.We can attest that this is one of themore essential features of any systemlanguage because we have made exten-sive use of it for the last five years.Regrettably, Ada designers have failedto restrict separate compilability toglobal modules.

Using Modules Effectively

During the last five years, we have seenthat postulating and providing a newfacility is one thing, and learning tomake good use of it is another. Themore intricate and sophisticated a facil-ity is, the smaller is the chance that itwill be used wisely. In fact, finding theappropriate structure for the data and

{continued)

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HISTORY AND GOALS

program is the key to successful pro-gramming. With the module we haveadded another level of granularity inprogram structuring. The difficulties offinding a good partitioning—I carefullyavoid the word "optimal—are cumu-lated at this level, because often themodules are the units that are con-structed by different programmers.Their contracts, in fact, are the defini-tion parts of their modules. The defini-tion parts establish the interfaces, whichconstitute the first task in a system'sdesign process. Lucky are those who hita good solution at the outset, for anychange affects all participants. If adefinition module A has been changedin any way, then all modules that importA must be adapted (and at least be re-compiled). This is not the case, however,if only the implementation part of A hadbeen modified. Hence, a fair degree ofdecoupling is established. Extreme ex-amples are the primary utility modulesof an operating system, because theyare used by virtually every program.The system may well be modified with-out hampering the users. However, the

slightest change in a definition modulewill require the recompilation of allclients.

The first rule to be observed whenyou deal with modules is that the inter-faces must be considered before imple-mentations are attempted. The terserthey are, the smaller the chance formistakes and the need for changes. In-terfaces should, by their very definition,be "thin."

A second observation is that amodule usually hides a set of data andprovides a set of operators to manipu-late this data. By forcing the client to ac-cess this data via the offered pro-cedures, the module's designer mayguarantee that certain consistency con-ditions are always observed, i.e., alwaysremain invariant. In the queue modelshown in listing I, it is guaranteed thatthe counter n truly reflects the numberof elements contained in the buffer andthat their order of coming out of thequeue is the same as that of going in.

As a consequence, a module is typi-cally chosen as the collection of rou-tines that operate on a set of data.

IMPORTS

EXPORTS

Figure 1: Crucial to the structure of Modula-2 is the concept of the module, which maynested inside other modules. Within each module, the visibility of objects to other modulesmay be controlled via the IMPORT and EXPORT functions.

which can be seen by the client as anabstraction defined by the accessibleset of procedures.

Often, a module is also chosen as thecollection of procedures that constitutea level of abstraction of data that isresiding elsewhere. For example, amodule containing a set of input andoutput routines such as

Readlnteger(f.x) and WriteReal(f,x)

will allow you to think in terms of theabstract concept of a sequence of in-tegers and real numbers, and to ignorethe details of its implementation interms of bits, bytes, buffers, files, disksectors, etc.

Consequently, such a module ischosen in order to establish a new levelof abstraction. The success of such anabstraction crucially depends on itsrigorous definition and your willingnessto genuinely ignore its implementation.Please don't misunderstand! I do notsay to remain ignorant of its implemen-tations, but rather only use an imple-mentation's properties that are definedin terms of the abstraction. To cite awell-known example: if you think interms of integers, it does not makesense to ask for the value of an integer'slast bit, even if you know that it isrepresented as a sequence of bits. In-stead you should ask whether the in-teger is odd.

Computers, Languages,and Commercialism

It is precisely the ability to think in termsof proper abstractions that is the hall-mark of a competent programmer. Evenmore, he or she is expected to be ableto jump from one level to another with-out mixing them up. A structured lan-guage is enormously helpful in thisendeavor, but it does not do it for you.It is like with a horse: you may guide itto the water, but it has to do the drink-ing itself. I am afraid that this simpletruth is in stark contrast to the numer-ous lulling advertisements being pub-lished in such abundance. They clever-ly reinforce themselves with slogans likeSwitching to Pascal solves all your (program-ming) problems and Our Computer speaksPascal, and, in fact, represent nothingmore than an extremely aggressivesales campaign.Sooner or later, people will, through

(continued)

150 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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harsh experiences, realize that theyhave become victims of slogans andfads, and that owning the best of toolsis worthless unless that tool isthoroughly understood. I am afraid thatthe modern trend of overselling canbecome counterproductive. I have seenprogressive teachers proudly offeringtheir students the chance to learn struc-tured Pascal, and I quickly realized thatthe students had no inkling of whatstructure meant. And I have seen pro-fessional programmers proudly presentPascal programs abounding with neat-ly indented structures, comments (fordocumentation, of course), and lots ofprocedures and sophisticated datatypes. Upon closer inspection, however,the baroque nomenclatures and struc-tures revealed themselves as dead-weight. Sometimes, redesigning theseprograms led to drastic, even tenfold,reduction in their size and complexity.I sadly realized that a high-level pro-gramming language could not only beused to design beautiful programs withmuch less effort, but also to hide in-competence underneath an impressivecoating of glamour and frills. Theanalogy to literature became all too evi-dent. We must do our best to avoid themisuse of modern programming lan-guages for the selling of lousy contentsthrough enticing packaging. Style maybe essential to achieve a good design,but ultimately it is the design, and notthe style, that counts.

Let me emphasize the point: neitherowning a computer nor programming ina modern language will itself solve anyproblems, not even yours. But it may beinstrumental. Predominantly, I havenoticed, more effort is spent on obtain-ing those instrumental tools than onmastering them. And this is a gravemistake. Perhaps the most effectiveprecaution against it is this rule: Knowwhat the tool is to achieve and what youare going to use it for before you ac-quire it. This holds for language as wellas computers—the more sophisticatedit is, the more effort you will need forits mastery, the bigger will be thechance for its misuse, but, presumably,the higher the ultimate reward. I hopethat this reward is not only measuredin terms of problems solved and dollarsearned, but also in the learners' satisfac-tion of having gained understanding,ability, and genuine insight. ■

152 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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MODULA-2

TUTORIAL ONMODULA-2

BY JURG GUTKNECHT

A structured programming languagebased upon the concept of autonomous modules

MODULA-2 INTRODUCES the moduleinto the world of systems engineering.It is a basic constituent of Modula-2 pro-grams, appears in a variety of formats,and is comparable to that of proceduresbrought in by ALGOL and Pascal forstructuring programs.

One module may combine a set oflogically connected procedures; a sec-ond module may hide a complex datastructure and provide operations to in-fluence this structure; a third modulemay define the fundamental data typesin a large program. Modules are eitherautonomous or embedded, as sub-modules, into larger modules. Theautonomous are said to be embeddedinto the universe.

The module is essentially a separateprogram part, with an infrastructure thatis similar to the infrastructure of a Pascalprogram. Types, constants, variables,and procedures declared within themodule are generally not visible outsidethe module, and objects defined out-side the module are not accessible fromwithin.

The module technique has turned outto be surprisingly difficult to master. Wehave been involved with Modula-2 atthe Institut fur Informatik and our ex-perience shows that it is easier tomisuse the module than to use it pro-fitably. Nevertheless, we find it to be in-dispensable. This tutorial may help you

in developing a good eye for appro-priate program modularization.

Let us define some integral concepts.The nature of permanency is commonto all types of modules. The lifetime ofthe module and its objects equals thatof the whole program. This is in contrastto the temporary character of pro-cedures. In fact, the notion of a moduleis more closely related to the notion ofrecord than to that of procedure.

We define a module as active at agiven moment if statements of themodule are executed. The first time amodule becomes active is when it hasbeen loaded. The module body (alsocalled initialization part) is then ex-ecuted as a subroutine of the programloader. The last module loaded is themain module and its initialization partis the main program. A module is reac-tivated whenever one of its exportedprocedures has been called.

An Example

To get firm ground under our feet, wewill develop a Modula-2 sample pro-gram—a text formatter. For this exam-ple, assume that the text must beprinted on sheets of paper in adjusted

Dr. ]urg Gutknecht {\nstitut fur \nformatik.ETH-Zentrum (Clausiusstrasse), CH-8092,Zurich, Switzerland) is actively involved in theuse of Modula-2.

and multicolumn form. Assume furtherthat this text is available in an ordinarytext file that consists of lines of text (seefigure la). Let us define a paragraph asa sequence of lines that is terminatedby an empty line. Thus, from our textformatter's point of view, line ter-minators (hereafter referred to as EOLcharacters) are equivalent to spacecharacters, except when they terminatean empty line, which concludes a non-empty sequence of lines.

The crucial thing for our formatter todo is to convert the text from "straighttext" representation into "columnartext" representation. We shall organizeour program so that it creates a newtext file, which contains the text in itsnew format. A standard utility programmay later produce the desired printout.

The overall dynamic structure of ourprogram now suggests itself: read textlines from the input file in sequence,and build up the text pagewise in itsnew format. Completed pages shouldbe written immediately into the outputfile to make way for the next page in thememory. Clearly, the events of readinglines and writing pages are asyn-chronous.

An appropriate program structureshould certainly reflect the describedsituation. We could regard the inputhandler as the main, and therefore con-

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 157

TUTORIAL

trolling, part of the program. Alternately,we might structure the output format-ter as the translation controller thatperiodically demands a new text por-tion from the input routine. From our ex-perience, the former point of view issuperior to the latter, particularly if the

la

input stream includes control infor-mation.

Further, we propose to encapsulatethe formatter into a submodule. Let usnow develop the interface to this sub-module that we shall call Layout. Essen-tially, communications will consist of a

single operation: formatting an appro-priate piece of text. We shall thereforecall this procedure Format. Format ac-cepts and formats a paragraph. Theparagraph is handed over in the formof a pointer Urn (end of text) into a

(continued)

Lara is a document processing program consisting of an interactive editor (lara)

and a printer companion (larapriht) producing hardcopies of Lara documents on

the laser printer.

Lara introduces several new concepts.

We shall roughly outline the most important of them in this memo.

The memo also includes basic rules and guidelines for working with Lara.

We shall expect the reader to be familiar with the program editor and the

text editor Andra.

it does not refer to any

Concepts of Lara:

Self—Consi stency:

Each Lara document completely describes itself, i.e

other information such as styles and user profiles.

Thus, the values of all formatting attributes occuring within the document

are included in the (header of the) document file.

Hierarchical document structures

A Lara document is structured as a sequence o-f so called chapters.

Each chapter starts on a new page and is made up of a sequence of paragraphs

Each paragraph starts an a new line and consists of a sequence of characters

chapter, resp. paragraph, is created by typing a form—feed (CTRL L), resp.

line-feed (CTRL J).

In the case of adjusted paragraphs, RETURN is equivalent to line-feed.

Document, Chapter, Paragraph, Character

are the structural units of which a Lara document consists.

Each structural unit is connected with a set of formatting attributes

(applicable to instances of that structure, see table below).

A structural unit of higher level is selected by a multiple click of the

select button pointing at the same location.

Each clicking increases the selection menu by one.

For a selection to be successful, the beginning and end of the respective

structural unit must be displayed.

An unsuccessful level may be skipped by simply clicking again.

lb

Lara is a document processingprogram consisting of aninteractive editor (lara) anda printer companion(laraprint) producing

hardcopies of Lara documentson the laser printer. Laraintroduces several newconcepts. We shall roughlyoutline the most important ofthem in this memo. The memoalso includes basic rules andguidelines for working withLara. We shall expect thereader to be familiar with theprogram editor and the texteditor Andra.

Concepts of Lara:Self-Consistency: Each Laradocument completely describesitself, i.e. it does not referto any other information Such

as styles and user profiles.Thus, the values of allformatting attributes occuring

within the

i nc1uded i n

the) document file.

Hierarchical

structure! A

structured as

document sx~ethe (header of

documentLara document isa sequence of socalled chapters. Each chapterstarts on a new page and ismade up of a sequence ofparagraphs. Each paragraphstarts on a new line andconsists of a sequence ofcharacters. A chapter, resp.paragraph^ is created bytyping a form—feed (CTRL L),resp. line-feed (CTRL J). Inthe case of adjustedparagraphs, RETURN isequivalent to line—feed.

Document, Chapter, Paragraph,Character are the structuralunits of which a Lara documentconsists. Each structuralunit is connected with a setof formatting attributes(applicable to instances ofthat structure, see tablebelow). A structural unit ofhigher level is selected by amultiple click of the selectbutton pointing at the samelocation. Each clickingincreases the selection menuby one. For a selection to besuccessful, the beginning andend of the respectivestructural unit must bedisplayed. An unsuccessfullevel may be skipped by simplyclicking again.

Figure I: The test file (la) prior to being converted into 3-column format (\b).

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TUTORIAL

character buffer buf (see listing 1).

A few explanations on this programfragment are in order. Although similarto Pascal, some conspicuous dif-ferences can be detected:

Import lists: these refer to separatestandard modules, namely FileSystem andInOut, members of the basic modulelibrary. We shall discuss the library con-cept later. The entries in the import listsdesignate objects declared in and ex-ported from the library modules. Apartfrom File, which is a type, all listed objectsare procedures. Note that File is a recordtype, as can be seen from the statement

WHILE NOT IN.EOF DO Fields of

imported records (such as eof) are im-plicitly imported together. In Modula-2'ssyntax, WHILE and IF statements arenever initiated with a BEGIN but arealways terminated by a keyword (UNTILor END). This rule lets nested state-ments appear more elegant than theircounterparts in Pascal. Also, the am-biguities that arise in Pascal with nested

IF. . .THEN. . . ELSE statements havebeen eliminated.

Type Cardinal: this is a new standardtype describing natural numbers.Repetition of names: the module namehas to be repeated at the end of themodule. (This repetition convention alsoapplies to procedures.) Character con-stants: nC designates the character withoctal ordinal number n. Abbreviations:# is equivalent to < > and & is an ab-breviation for AND.

In our program fragment, we couldhave used the standard Modula-2 pro-cedure INC for incrementing lim (i.e.,INQlim) is equivalent to lim:= lim + 1).

Let us now examine the imported pro-cedures ReadString and WriteString.They accept as their parameter an ar-ray of characters of arbitrary length. Thecorresponding formal parameter is a so-called dynamic or open array:

PROCEDURE ReadString(VAR s:ARRAY OF CHAR):

Listing

columns.

A program fragment written in Modula-2 designed to format text into

MODULE Formatter:FROM FileSystem IMPORT File, Lookup, Close, ReadChar, WriteChar;FROM InOut IMPORT ReadString, WriteString, Write;CONST EOL = 36C;VAR in, out: File;name: ARRAY [0..31] OF CHAR;ch: CHAR;

buf: ARRAY I0..1000] OF CHAR;lim: CARDINAL;BEGINWriteString|"in> "); ReadString(name); Write(EOL);Lookup(in, name, FALSE);

WriteString("out> "I; ReadString(name); Write(EOL);Lookuplout, name, TRUE);lim := 0; ReadChar(in, ch);WHILE NOT in.eof DOWHILE ch # EOL DO

lim := lim + I; buf|Hm| := ch; ReadCharlin, ch)END;

lim := lim + I; buf|lim| := " "; ReadCharlin, ch);IF ch = EOL THEN Format; lim := 0; ReadCharlin. ch) ENDEND;

Close(in); Close(out)END Formatter.

Listing 2: A procedureof characters.

used to return the length

of a given string

within

an

array

PROCEDURE LenlVAR s: ARRAY OF CHAR): CARDINAL;

VAR 1: CARDINAL;BEGIN 1 := 0:

WHILE (1 <= HIGH(s)) & (si 11 # 0C) DO 1 := 1 + 1 END;

RETURN 1END Len;

Dynamic arrays are of major importancein Modula-2. The index type of dynamicarrays is always CARDINAL, and the lowboundary is 0. The boundary of the ac-tual array parameter can be obtained byHICH(s) using the standard functionHIGH. Dynamic arrays can only be usedas formal parameters.

Next, let us look at strings (i.e., se-quences of characters). Assume that afunction procedure had to be devel-oped that returns the actual length ofa string. A string within an array ofcharacters is terminated by 0C or by theupper array boundary, whichever comesfirst. Consider the procedure declara-tion in listing 2.

In Modula-2, functions differ from or-dinary procedures solely by the supple-ment of a result type. The result isreturned by the RETURN statement. Wepoint out the amazing simplicity of thisalgorithm. It has its roots in the condi-tional evaluation of the test in theWHILE statement. If ! < = HIGH(s) isfalse, then the second part of the ex-pression is ignored rather than eval-uated. Thus, an index out-of-range errorcannot occur.

Laying Out Layout

Let our attention now turn to the sub-module layout. We know that Layout ex-ports the procedure Format, which for-mats a paragraph that is stored in theglobal buffer buf. Therefore, the wallaround Layout has to be transparent forthis variable: buf must be imported. Buthow should Format record its results?An obvious solution is to introduce thetwo-dimensional array form that rep-resents a text page. By successively call-ing the formatting procedure, a map ofthe current text page will be built up.The variables row and col indicate thecurrent status of the formatting process.Of course, these variables have to sur-vive the procedure Format. On theother hand, the significance of thevariables form. row. and col is strictlyrelated to the specific implementationof Format. They have no meaning out-side the submodule. They are, in fact,invisible outside the module as they arenot exported. We shall say that thesevariables constitute the private datastructure of the (sub)module.

We have seen that the procedure For-mat operates on the status variables row

(continued)

160 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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and col. How are these variables ini-tialized? Remember the initializationpart mentioned above. The Modula-2linking loader guarantees that the state-ment sequence in the module body has

been executed whenever an exportedprocedure is called from the outside. Sointroducing the initialization statementsin the module body solves our problem.So far we have disregarded the out-

Listing 3: The submodule Layout, the output formatter, must appear within themain module.

MODULE Layout;IMPORT buf. Mm. out, WriteChar, EOL;EXPORT Format. OutPage:CONST len = 30; wid = 33: maxRow = 70;maxCol = 3>len; bndCol = maxCol-len;FF = I4C; (-form feed.)VAR form: ARRAY |0..maxRow-l|, |0..maxCol-l] OF CHAR:row, col: CARDINAL; (.current coordinates.!

PROCEDURE OutPage:

VAR c. r. p: CARDINAL;BEGIN r := 0;WHILE r # maxRow DO c := 0;WHILE c # col DO p := 0:WHILE p # len DO WriteCharlout, formlr, c + p|); p := p + 1 END;WHILE p # wid DO WriteCharlout, " "I: p := p + 1 END:c := c + lenEND:IF r < row THEN p := 0;

WHILE p # len DO WriteCharlout, form[r. c + p|); p := p + I ENDEND:

WriteCharlout, EOL]:r := r + 1END;

WriteCharlout. FFIEND OutPage;

PROCEDURE Format;

VAR beg, cur. end, pos, wds, spc, rem: CARDINAL;BEGIN

beg := 0; cur := 0:

REPEAT cur := cur + I UNTIL buflcur) = " ";REPEAT wds := 0; beg := beg + 1:LOOPwds := wds + I: end := cur;

IF end = lim THEN spc := 0; rem := 0; EXIT END;REPEAT cur := cur + I UNTIL buf|cur| = " ";IF cur - beg > len THENIF wds > 1 THENspc := lien + beg - end) DIV (wds -rem := (len + beg - end) MOD (wdsEND:EXITENDEND;pos := 0:

WHILE pos # len DO formlrow, col + pos] :pos := 0;

WHILE beg # end DOformlrow, col + posl := buflbegl;IF buflbegl = " " THEN pos := pos + spc:

IF rem > 0 THEN pos := pos + I; rem := remEND;

pos := pos + I; beg := beg + IEND;

row := row + I;IF row = maxRow THENIF col = bndCol THEN OutPage; col := 0 ELSE colrow := 0END:UNTIL end = limEND Format;

i);

I)

pos := pos + I END:

col + len END:

BEGIN col :■END Layout:

0; row

put. Clearly, a page should be writtenline by line into the output text file eachtime the page is completed. Formatcalls procedure OutPage when row andcol have reached their maximum. Is thisthe only situation in which a page hasto be written? It is likely that the lastpage of the text is only partially filled,so that the variables row and col won'treach their maximum values. So Out-Page should also be called from themain program as termination procedureimmediately before closing the files. Wetherefore generalize OutPage to includethe handling of a partially filled form andinclude it in the export list.

Our submodule, Layout, appears inlisting 3. Its text has to be included inthe declaration part of the mainmodule.

Notice the presence of a newrepetitive LOOP statement. The loopstatement is used whenever a repetitionwith more than one exit, or no exit atall, has to be programmed. The LOOPis left whenever an EXIT statement hasbeen encountered within the loopbrackets LOOP and END. It is note-worthy that the loop statement makesa jump statement (like GOTO) unneces-sary. In our example, the loop is leftwhen either the paragraph is terminated("emergency exit") or when the currentword has no room on the current line("regular exit").

Constant expressions are anotherinnovation of Modula-2 over Pascal.They are particularly useful for thespecification of array bounds such as in|0 . . . maxRow-\\ and can also be usedfor the declaration of dependent con-stants (e.g., bndRow = maxRow - len).

Until now, we have underexploited thepossibilities of our submodule Layout. Infact, we have fixed the number of col-umns and the column widths as con-stants, although the module works cor-rectly for arbitrary (appropriate) valuesof these quantities. Let us extend theformat of input files with an optionalheader line that is initiated by aCTLF(6C). CTLF has to be followed bya digit from 1 to 4 indicating the desirednumber of text columns.

A second modification concerns theoverall program flow. It is not a goodidea to terminate the program after hav-ing processed a single text file. Instead,the program should be ready to process

(continued)

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TUTORIAL

Structuring elements allowand invite softwaredesigners to groupdeclarations and proceduresinto distinct modules.

another file. Hence, we embed ourprevious main program into a WHILEstatement. We shall specify that enter-ing ESQ33Q instead of a filename willbring the process to an end. Module 1m-Out exports a variable termCH contain-ing the termination character of thestring read by ReadString. Of course, thisvariable is exported for inspection only.See listing 4 for our extended mainprogram.

in listing 4 we find yet another newModula-2 statement. The IF statementfrom Pascal has been extended by theELSIF clause. The meaning and possibleapplication of this clause should be ob-vious from our example.

In contrast to our earlier solution, thesubmodule layout may need to be in-itialized several times (i.e., each timenew text is to be processed). The wayto master this problem is to introduce

an explicit initialization procedure; inour case, this procedure is called Init-Form, which replaces (and extends) theprevious submodule body. The body ofthe new submodule is empty.

With that, however, the responsibili-ty for the correct sequence of moduleinitialization has passed over from theModula-2 loader to the programmer.

Divide and Conquer

Since the late 1960s serious program-mers have based their softwaredevelopment on structured program-ming. This means that they have struc-tured the dynamic flow of their pro-grams such that a procedure call cor-responds to each action in the formula-tion of the respective algorithm.Thereby, the question of where to pro-gram all these procedures has not beenraised or answered "in the declarationsection of the program." This is thepoint where Modula-2 intervenes. As wehave already seen in the previous sec-tion, Modula-2's structuring elementsallow and even invite the softwaredesigner to divide and logically groupthe set of declarations and proceduresinto distinct units called modules.

The consequences of this divisionreach further than expected. Separate

Listing 4: The main program that has been extended to a) use variables for thenumber of columns and column widths, and b) request a new text file to process aftercompleting file output.

BEGIN

WriteStringl "in> "I; ReadString(name): Write(EOL);WHILE termCH # ESC DOLookuplin, name, FALSEI:

WriteStringl "out > "I; ReadString(name): Write(EOL);Lookuplout. name. TRUE);lim := 0: ReadCharlin. ch);IF ch = CTLF THEN ReadCharlin, ch|;IF ch = "I" THEN lnitForm(96, 96, 70, 01ELSIF ch = "2" THEN InitForm(46, 49, 70, I)ELSIF ch = "3" THEN lnitForml30. 33, 70, 2)ELSIF ch = "4" THEN lnitForm(22, 24, 70, 3|ELSE lnitForm(96. 96. 70, 0)END;

REPEAT ReadCharlin. ch) UNTIL ch = EOL;ReadCharlin. ch)ELSE lnitForm|96, 96, 70, 0)END:

WHILE NOT in.eof DOWHILE ch # EOL DO lim := lim + I; buf|lim] := ch: ReadCharlin, ch) END;lim := lim + 1; buf|lim| := " ": ReadCharlin, ch);IF ch = EOL THEN Format; lim := 0; ReadCharlin, ch) ENDEND;OutPage;

Close(in): Close(out);

WriteString|"in> "); ReadStringlname): Write(EOL)ENDEND Formatter.

compilation is one new aspect. It is asmall step from encapsulating a pro-gram part within a main module to com-pletely removing this part from its en-vironment and defining it as auto-nomous. In fact, the Modula-2 compileraccepts autonomous modules as com-pilation units and performs full com-patibility checking across moduleboundaries.

But Modula-2 goes one step further:separate modules can be split up intoa definition and an implementationpart. The definition part defines themodule from a functional point of view,while its implementation companionlays down the methods used to realizethese functions or to represent data.The definition part can be regarded asa separately stated (and compiled), ex-tended export list.

This concept clearly opens a newdoor for software engineers. They maydefine centrally the components oflarge software systems in a concise andunified way and leave the implementa-tion to a team of programmers.

It is crucial to separate compilationthat imports must always refer to defini-tion (parts of) modules. An importantconsequence of this is that recompila-tion of an implementation (part of a)module does not influence the module'sclients. However, the recompilation ofa (modified) definition part can triggera chain reaction of which the extent isdetermined by the number of importa-tions in dependent definition modules.It is therefore a good idea to minimizeimports in definition modules.

Let us illustrate all that by two ex-amples: a compiler and an editor. Thinkof the compiler as being designed ac-cording to the method of recursive de-scent. The different parts in recursive-descent compilers are known to beclosely interwoven. On the other hand,we have seen that modularizationessentially amounts to a textual splittingof the program. Hence, modularizing acompiler has to be a difficult undertak-ing. Nevertheless, some functional unitscan be extracted: lexical analysis (scan-ner), syntactical analysis (parser),generating of the symbol table, andtype checking and code generation. Weshall assign each of these functionalunits to a separate module.

These modules are obviously tightly

[continued]

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Symbolic

parameter

accepted

Indirectionimplemented -(value currentlystored atBUFLEN used)

Create Macros

Execute Macros —

Even use symbolswith assemble —command

SK

m'r-^M..i^

"£-.i£ '

W2A

O !'•"'

EBOOQO GETLINE

CALL

CLRBUF

-;'<>? a

CALL

GETCHAR

207A

0106

7201

JC

ERROR

SOTAsOl oa

C3

RET

2*P?As O109

BA0003 ERROR:

MOV

DX,Offset ERROP_MSG

Z09A«01OC

EB4100

CALL

PRINT_MSG

207A

01 OF

C3

RET

01 IP

8B0E1C01 CLRBUF":

MOV

CX.CBUFLEN3

209A

OH4

BF2001

MOV

DI,Off set BUFFER

2096

Oil?

B02O

MOV

AL, 20

•;:;;";;

on*

011A

F3AA

REPZ:STOSB

2o9A

01 IB

C3 ■■

RET

ID \BUFFER L t\BUFL£Nl

207Ai0120

4D 59 4C 53 54 41 52

2Q

33

57 4D 42

4F 4C 47 43

MVLSTAR SYMBOLIC

209A.0130

*: ■

»7_XD8UF

20 44 4.3 42 55 47 47

43

32

20 20 36

20 32 2E 30

DEBUGGER V 2,0

'D \BUFFER L £\BUFLEN3

*•XXINIT

'RIP

'\CODE START

'RSP

'ASTAC* ..BOTTOM

1

«.DBUF

D \BUFFER L EVBUFLENJ

2O9A.01Z0

4D 57 4C 53 34 4t 52

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MVLSTAR SYMBOLIC

2O9A.0I3O

20 44 45 42 55 47 47

49

-sz

20 20 m

20 32 21= 30

DEBUGGER V 2,O

»\TA6LE =

lOOO

265D.010O

_MDV__fiJLTA TABLEMOV AX,EATABLE]

2630:0106

SUB AX.STABLEtBJU

265D.010A

DB STABLE,>TASLE

265D.010C

■ 1.II0O L A

265DiOtOO

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MOV

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26SD.0103

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2*98

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SUB

AX.IBX+OffQBt

TABLE]

TUTORIAL

coupled. They all rely on a central anddynamic data structure: the symboltable. How can this common data struc-ture (i.e., the respective data types) bepresented to the different modules? Thesolution is to place the description ofthe data structure itself into a module,a so-called data-type module. This datamodule constitutes a common base thatmust be imported by any module thatparticipates in the handling of the sym-bol table. Notice the contrast to our firstexample: there, a public procedureoperated on a private and hidden datastructure. Here, private and public pro-cedures operate on a common andpublic data structure.

What can be hidden at all in our com-piler modules? Methods is the answer.Consider, for example, the symbol-table

generator. Listing 5 is an excerpt fromits definition module.

ObjPtr, ObjClass, StrPtr, and StrForm aredata types which are imported from thedata module, NewScope and CloseScopeopen and close scopes, and NewObj andNwSrr are procedures to create new en-tries in the symbol table. Find and Find-Field search for objects with a givenname, InitTableHandler initializes explicitlythe table handler, and EndTableHandler isthe termination procedure for thismodule. We emphasize that no informa-tion is given about methods. It is leftopen, for example, which strategy is ap-plied and whether a certain object issearched with a linear or a binarysearch.

Only the implementation module inlisting 6 lifts the veil of secrecy.

Listing 5: TableHandler, the definition module from a symbol-table generator.

DEFINITION MODULE TableHandler:FROM DataTypes IMPORT ObjPtr, ObjClass. StrPtr. StrForm:EXPORT QUALIFIED Scope.NewScope, CloseScope, NewObj, NewStr. Find, FindField,InitTableHandler, EndTableHandler;

VAR Scope: ObjPtr: (.header of scope located by Find*)

PROCEDURE NewScopelkind: ObjClass): ObjPtr;PROCEDURE CloseScope;

PROCEDURE NewObjIid: CARDINAL; class: ObjClass): ObjPtr;PROCEDURE NewStrlform: StrForml: StrPtr:PROCEDURE Findlid: CARDINAL): ObjPtr;PROCEDURE FindFieldlid: CARDINAL; rec: StrPtr): ObjPtr;PROCEDURE InitTableHandler:PROCEDURE EndTableHandler;END TableHandler.

Listing 6: TableHandler, the implementation module that contains the logic (seealso listing 5).

IMPLEMENTATION MODULE TableHandler;FROM Data IMPORT ObjPtr, Object, ObjClass, StrPtr, Structure, StrForm:

PROCEDURE Findlid: CARDINAL): ObjPtr;

VAR objx: ObjPtr:BEGIN Scope := topScope;

LOOP objx := FindlnScopelid. Scope);IF objx # NIL THEN EXITELSIF ScopeT.kind = Module THENobjx : = Findlmportlid. Scope);

IF objx = NIL THEN objx := FindlnScopelid. universe) ENDEXITELSE Scope := Scopet.baseENDEND:

RETURN objxEND Find;

END TableHandler.

Figure 2 shows the modular structureof our compiler in graphical represen-tation. An arrow from module "M" tomodule "N" indicates that "N" imports"M" (i.e., "N" depends on the definitionmodule of "M").

It is noteworthy that most multipasscompilers show, from the point of viewof time, a similar structure—first pass,lexical and syntactical analysis: secondpass, table generating: third pass, typechecking: and fourth pass, code gen-erating. However, the spatial and tem-poral structures must not be mixed up(see figure 3).

Our second example of separate com-pilation is a text editor. In contrast tocompilers, editors are interactive pro-grams. Their dynamic flow is typicallyaction oriented. Actions influence thetext document's contents and, there-fore, its representation on the display.This knowledge may result in the at-tempt of a modularization seen in figure4.

But the display handler has to rely onthe document handler. In fact, the docu-ment handler can be regarded as anabstract file system delivering a streamof characters and formatting informa-tion to the display. So we have mutualimports between the document anddisplay handler.

Although this situation does not leadto a conflict as long as mutual importdoesn't occur between definitionmodules, it indicates that the couplingof the two modules is too tight. A fun-damental rule states that the "thinner"the interface between modules, the bet-ter the modularization.

In our example, we shall remedy thesituation by eliminating the arrow fromthe display to the document handlerand replacing it with an arrow from thedisplay to the command interpreter (seefigure 5).

This modification has some desirableconsequences. First, the command in-terpreter can directly pass over display-oriented commands—such as scrollingthe text—to the display handler withoutprimarily involving the documenthandler. The second consequence is ofeven greater importance: the documenthandler is now freed from its depen-dence on the display. Therefore, it canalso be imported by modules that pro-cess the text in a different way, say, by

(continued)

166 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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TUTORIAL

Parser

TypeCheckingCodeGenerator

Jl

TableHandler

Scanner

DataTypes

Figure 2: A representation of the modular structure of the compiler example. The arrowsfrom one module to another indicate that the latter imports the former.

3a

CodeGenerator

TypeChecking

TableHandler

Parser

Scanner

»

(Frequent sw

Modular one-pass compiler

tching of activity between modules)

3b

Scanner/Parser

Table Generation

Type Checking

Code Generation

Compiler Base

Four-pass compiler

Figure 3: A one-pass compiler (3a) as contrasted to a four-pass compiler (3b) over t time.

a printing program or by an off-linestatistics program.

From Program Componentsto Library Modules

We have seen that a specific modulecan be used by different programs. Thisthought naturally leads to the notion ofa module library. The fact that the wordlibrary stands for a collection of bookstempts me to create the word modularyfor a collection of modules. Actually, ina Modula-2 environment even theoperating system is simply a collectionof basic and usable modules. The sharpboundary that separates system and ap-plication software thus becomes evenless distinct.

Most of the features that do notbelong directly to the programming lan-guage but are indispensable for realprogramming, such as I/O (input/output)string handling and process scheduling,are transferred to modules in Modula-2.On one hand this relieves, and alsogeneralizes, the language and, on theother hand, increases its flexibility.Figure 6 shows an example of a hier-archy of Modula-2 library modules.

When designing a library module, thequestion of which facilities should bemade available is paramount. If the setof offered procedures is too com-plicated, then most users will createtheir own modules; if the proceduresare too simplistic, they are again dis-satisfied. Our goal is to find the "goldenmean."

We can summarize our experiencerelating to this quest in the followingguidelines. We recommend that thelibrary-module designer obey theserules.

Guideline i

Do not export complex proceduresfrom your library module (i.e., pro-cedures with a large number of explicitor—even worse—implicit parametersand assumptions). Instead, export theatoms of complex operations as in-dividua. This gives the user of yourmodule the chance to "tailor" theoperation as a whole to his requests.For example, assume that a mouse-handling module offers a procedureTfackMouse to track the mouse until amouse button has been pressed or acharacter typed. This procedure would

(continued)

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TUTORIAL

satisfy all users N who agree to use thistermination condition and to give awayprogram control during the trackingloop.

But what about userv4 who wants theloop to stop when the left mousebutton has been pressed, or user B whowishes to keep the cursor on a grid, oruser C who wants to make the shape ofthe cursor depend on its location on thedisplay? (See listing 7 for the generaland specific cases of "mouse tracking.")

They would prefer two exported pro-cedures, GetMouse and DrawCursor.

Guideline 2

If complex objects are to be handled byyour module, divide it up into severalphysical modules or groups of modules,each of them operating on the objectsat a different level of abstraction("distributed processing"). This enablesyour module's client not only to importa suitably restricted set of operations,but also to select the entry level to themodule set, i.e., the level of abstractionon which he wants to have the objectshandled.

CommandInterpreter

a

DocumentHandler

a

<

r

DisplayHandler

Moreover, later modifications in thedefinition can be restricted to individualmodules in the set, thus reducing thenumber of user modules that have tobe recompiled.

For example, the window handlerbase Windows (see figure 6) handles win-dows as a whole. It merely operates onthe graph of their global overlappinghierarchy and completely disregardscontents. By contrast, module JextWin-dows exports procedures to write text in-to the windows.

Guideline 3

Assume again that your library modulehandles complex objects. If the max-imum number of objects to be simulta-neously handled is sufficiently small,identify each object by a number; forinstance, define a subrange as objecttype. Thus, each user may store that in-formation about the objects that is rele-vant for his sphere of activity in aprivate table that is indexed by the datatype (distributed data).

Alternatively, a pointer type couldhave been chosen as object type. Insuch a case, each object points to itsdescriptor record. As the object descrip-tors are public, they cannot be effective-ly protected. This somehow contradictsthe module concept, in fact, Modula-2offers the possibility of hiding a type.A hidden (or abstract) type is definedin the definition module without struc-ture indication and declared in the cor-responding implementation module

(normally as a pointer). But hidden ob-ject types restrict the handling of theobjects strictly to the module.

In the case under discussion, thesubrange is preferable to a pointer type(be it hidden or not) as the latterdemands fixing the descriptor recordonce and for all (see listing 8).

Guideline 4

If you design a library module thathandles objects of a certain category,you may decide to include a merelyrestricted set of (universal) operations.If so, make use of the Modula-2 pro-cedure-type parameter mechanism toenable the user to install his own pro-cedures. Thereby, the range of poten-tial users of your module can radicallybe enlarged without its size and com-plexity being increased. Procedure-typeparameters make it possible to keepaway details from a module. Keepingaway details is somehow dual to hidingdetails in the module.

If a default procedure is provided fora certain operation, this procedureshould be exported to enable the userto reassign the default whenever re-quired. For example, the procedureOpenWindow in module Windows ex-pects as parameter a procedure which,upon calling, restores the contents ofthe window. The window handler callsthis procedure whenever restoration ofthis window becomes necessary (seelisting 9).

{continued)

Figure 4: Our first effort to modularize thetext editor leads to mutual imports betweenthe document and display handler modules.

CommandInterpreter

1

\

t

L

DocumentHandler

DisplayHandler

Figure 5: Our second effort to modularize the text editor frees the document handlerfrom dependence on the display handler.

170 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE

171

TUTORIAL

Concurrency

Concurrent processes have a particularattraction for software engineers. Theaspect of parallelism opens up the pure-ly sequential world of ordinary pro-gramming. We shall distinguish betweengenuine and logical concurrency. "Genuineconcurrency" implies that several pro-cessors are available to execute a pro-gram; this is not usually the case thesedays. "Logical concurrency" is of muchgreater importance. In Modula-2, anautonomously running process is calleda coroutine.

You can create coroutines in yourModula-2 program using the standardprocedure NewProcess. Each coroutineis controlled by a procedure. In a way,a coroutine is an "instantiation" of its

[continued)

Listing 7: Four types of users and their respective use of the procedures GetMouseand DrawCursor.

User N: REPEAT CetMouselbuttons. x, y):DrawCursorlx, y); BusyRead(ch)UNTIL (buttons # {}) OR (ch # OC);

User A: REPEAT CetMouselbuttons. x. y);DrawCursorlx, y|; BusyRead(ch)UNTIL (left IN buttons) OR (ch # OCI;

User B: REPEAT CetMouselbuttons. x, y);

DrawCursorlx DIV unit.unit, y DIV unit.unit); BusyReadlch)UNTIL (buttons # {}) OR (ch # OC);

User CREPEAT CetMouselbuttons, x, y);

IF x < wid THEN SetPattern(private) ELSE ResetPattern END;DrawCureorlx, y); BusyReadlch)UNTIL Ibuttons # {}) OR (ch # OC);

Listing 8: An example of a hidden [or abstract) type.

TYPE Window = |0..7|; (.subrange type.TYPE Window; (.hidden type.)

P

Module

Main programs

Q

Module

WAX

GraphicWindowsDef Module

|Impla Module

TextWindowsDef Module

|lmpln Module

PrivatWindowsDef Module

|lmpliL Module

f:

WindowsDef Module

|Impl Module

I

Menu

Def Module

Impl Module

ScreenFontsDef Module

| Impl Module

CursorMouseDef Module

| Impl Module

DisplayDriverDef Module

Library

| Impl Module

Figure 6: The structure of Modula-2 programs that use the display software library modules.

172 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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TUTORIAL

procedure. The essence of the co-routine concept is that control can betransferred between the different co-routines. When your program calls thestandard procedure TRANSFER withparameters p and q (both of type PRO-CESS), control is passed from p to q.Thereby, the current state of the co-routine p is saved and coroutine q isreactivated in the state of its previousinterruption.

Whenever a coroutine of a programterminates, i.e., its procedure terminates,then the program itself terminates.Therefore, procedures of auxiliary co-routines are typically embedded into an(infinite) LOOP. . . END loop, such thatprogram termination is controlled bythe main process, i.e., the coroutinecreated by the program loader.

Let us elucidate the coroutine with aprogram that creates reservation lists.

Listing 9: The default procedure OperiNindow will restore the contents of the win-dow when needed.

TYPE RestoreProc » PROCEDURE(Window):

PROCEDURE OpenWindowlVAR wdw: Window; x.y.w.h: CARDINAL; Repaint: RestoreProc):

Listing 10: Procedure GenList. which creates reservation lists, demonstrates the useof coroutines in Modula-2.

PROCEDURE GenList;

CONST lim = 20;

VAR i, j, k, entry: CARDINAL;

list: ARRAY |0..50| OF RECORD name, next: CARDINAL END:BEGINlist|0|.name = 0; list|0|.next := 1; (.sentinel.)Iist|l|.name := I: list|l|.next := 0; (.sentinel.)entry := 2; (.create alphabetic list.)LOOPIF entry = lim THEN EXIT END;> GetRegistration;

IF name = 0 THEN EXIT END;list|entry|.name := name;k := 0: (.insert item.)LOOPi : = list|list[k|.next|.name; j := name:WHILE (buffi] = buflil) & l(buf[i| # 0CI OR (bufljl # 0C|) DO

i := i + 1: i := i + IEND;

IF buf|i| > bufljl THEN EXIT END;k := list|k|.nextEND:

list|entry|.next := listlkl next; list|k|.next := entry;entry := entry + IEND;

IF entry = lim THEN (.create chronological list.)LOOP> GetRegistration;IF name = 0 THEN EXIT END;list |entry|.name : = name;entry := entry + IENDEND;(.print list.)k : = list|0|.next:

WHILE list|k|.next # 0 DO i := list|k].name;WHILE buf|i| # 0C DO WriteChar(out, buf|il): i := i + I END:WriteChar(out, EOL);k : = listlkl.nextEND:

WriteCharlout, EOL):k := lim;

WHILE k < entry DO i := list|k|.name;WHILE buflil # 0C DO WriteCharlout, buf|i|); i := i + 1 END;WriteCharlout. EOL):k := k + 1END;

WriteCharlout, FF)END GenList;

Assume that different courses in infor-matics with restricted attendance wereannounced. Students are accepted ac-cording to the sequence of theirregistration.

We shall design the program so thatit accepts chronologically ordered reser-vations stored on a text file in. A reser-vation is a pair of the desired course(0-9) and the student's name. As longas the number of applicants for a coursehas not yet reached the limit, the nameof each new student is alphabetically in-serted into the main list of that course.Additionally, our program maintains astandby list for each course containingthe names of surplus applicants. Ob-viously, the standby lists have to bechronologically ordered.

Of course, the process of generating(and printing) the two lists is exactly thesame for each course. We shall for-mulate it as a procedure GenList. Noticethat name is in fact an index into a namebuffer buf and that name = 0 signals ter-mination. See listing 10.

Let us emphasize again that this pro-cedure describes the whole process ofgenerating and printing the two lists ofan individual course in a very coherentway. Hence, we should try to find a for-mulation that does not force us to splitup the procedure—for technical rea-sons—into smaller portions.

In fact, assigning a coroutine to eachcourse—with GenList as controllingprocedure—is an elegant way of for-mulating our program. The main pro-cess shall activate the respective co-routine whenever it has read a newreservation item from the input file. Thecoroutine will transfer control back tothe main process when it is ready to ac-cept a new registration.

You can obtain the final form of Gen-List by simply embedding the pro-cedure body into a LOOP. . . END loopand replacing GetRegistration (markedwith a >) by TRANSFER [handler\cur\,main).

The crucial thing for the main processto do is reading reservations from theinput file, one after the other, and pass-ing control to the appropriate coursehandler (see listing 11).

Notice that all process-oriented typesand procedures stem from a standardmodule SYSTEM. This module can beregarded as the interface between

(continued)

174

I YTE • AUGUST 1984

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Modula-2 and the system. SYSTEM alsoexports a type ADDRESS. An object oftype ADDRESS is a pointer to amemory-word. (The type WORD is also

exported from SYSTEM.)

Each coroutine is connected with amemory section where its variables areallocated. Beginning and size of this sec-

Listing 11: Module Lists reads a reservation item from the input file and theninvokes the respective coroutine handler.

MODULE Lists;FROM SYSTEM IMPORT ADDRESS. PROCESS. NEWPROCESS. TRANSFER:FROM Program IMPORT AllocateHeap;

FROM FileSystem IMPORT File. Lookup, Close, ReadChar, WriteChar;FROM InOut IMPORT ReadString, Write, WriteString;

CONST EOL = 36C; FF = 14C: (.form-feed.IVAR buf: ARRAY |O..IOOOO| OF CHAR;

name, i. cur: CARDINAL; ch: CHAR; A: ADDRESS;

main: PROCESS; handler: ARRAY |0..9| OF PROCESS;

in, out: File: fname: ARRAY 10.311 OF CHAR;BEGINbuf|0| := 0C; buf|l| := 255C; buf|2| :» 0C; i := 3:FOR cur := 0 TO 9 DO

A := AllocateHeap(400); NEWPROCESS(GenList. A. 400. hand!er|cur]lEND;

WriteString("in> "I; ReadString(fname); WritelEOLI:Lookuplin. fname. FALSE):

WriteString! out> "); ReadStringlfnamel: Write(EOL);Lookupiout, fname, TRUEI;ReadCharlin, ch);WHILE (ch >= "0") & (ch <= "9") DO

cur > ORD(ch) - ORDC'O"); name := i;

ReadCharlin, ch); ReadCharlin. ch);

WHILE (CAP(ch) > = "A") & (CAP(ch) < = "Z") DObuf|i] := ch; i := i + 1: ReadCharlin, ch)

END:

buf|i| := OC i := i + 1:

TRANSFERImain, handlerlcurl):

ReadCharlin, ch)END;

name :m 0;

FOR cur := 0 TO 9 DO TRANSFERImain. handler[cur|) END:Close(in); Close(out)END Lists.

tion have to be specified as parametersof NEWPROCESS at the time of creatingthe coroutine. In our example, we havecalled procedure AllocateHeap of an-other low-level module Program toreserve the desired amount of storage(400 bytes).

Notice finally that the standard func-tion CAP returns the uppercase variantof its character argument.

Summary

Modula-2 is a modern programminglanguage invented for the developmentof large software systems. The moduleis a new structuring tool, comparable inits relevance with the procedure andlocality introduced by ALGOL andPascal. Although conceptually simple,the module has proven to be surprising-ly difficult to master. On the other hand,the modular way of thinking has far-reaching and unexpected conse-quences, even for the design of oper-ating systems and for computer archi-tecture.

The coroutine concept of Modula-2allows processes to be coherently for-mulated as procedures. Coroutines area kind of dynamic counterpart tomodules. In contrast to modules, pro-cedures can be instantiated. Thus,thanks to a mechanism to transfer con-trol between coroutines, different in-stances of the same procedure maysimultaneously be alive. ■

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MODULA-2

LILITH ANDMODULA-2

by Richard Ohran

A case study of high-level-language processor design

THE LILITH IS a specialized computer(called an engine) designed specifical-ly to execute Modula-2 programs. Itsspecialization makes it fast and efficientwith Modula-2. It would not be par-ticularly effective as an engine for pro-gramming in other high-level languages,such as FORTRAN or BASIC.

The Lilith achieves its exceptional per-formance through a combination of anefficient architecture specifically tailoredto Modula-2 and a hardware implemen-tation of that architecture that furtherenhances performance of the system.

TVie History of

the Lilith Computer

The driving force behind Modula-2 andthe Lilith computer was Niklaus Wirth,the designer of Pascal. Wirth's own ac-count of the development of Modula-2and the Lilith appears in this issue (see"History and Goals of Modula-2," page145).

After the Modula-2 language hadbeen defined, the team's hardwareengineers began work on the comput-ing engine that was to support Modula-2: the Lilith computer. Two overridinggoals shaped the design of the Lilith:

• to provide efficient support for theprogramming language Modula-2

• to provide a flexible and advanceduser interface so that the computer

would be an effective single-userworkstation

As it turned out, these two goals werecompatible.

The efforts to design a machine thatwas particularly suited for Modula-2were based upon earlier, similar proj-ects. Early in Pascal's history, efforts atthe ETH (the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology) in Zurich to transportPascal from Control Data systems toother computers led to the develop-ment of the P-machine architecture. (KenBowles, then at the University of Califor-nia at San Diego, took a version of theP-machine compiler and added an oper-ating system to it to make the UCSDp-System.)

The P-machine was a specialized ar-chitecture particularly well suited forPascal. This architecture has been wide-ly used as a mechanism for producingportable code, which is then interpretedby the host processor. The P-machineperhaps should have been given a moreglamorous name; as it stood, it wasnever widely accepted as the elegant

Richard Ohran (950 North University Ave..Provo. UT 84604) is director of the ModulaResearch Institute and assistant professor of com-puter science at Brigham Young University. \naddition to Lilith, he devotes his spare time totable tennis, motorcycles, and amateur radio.

machine architecture that it was.

The architecture designed for Modula-2 (called the M-machine) is similar tothis idealized Pascal architecture, exceptthat the M-machine is specifically de-signed for high-performance executionof Modula-2 programs. Only those in-structions that would be useful to theModula-2 compiler have been includedin its instruction set. Instructions thatwould benefit only the assembly-lan-guage programmer have been left out-no excess baggage.

Another important part of the Lilith'sperformance is its user interface, onwhich the greatest influence was Wirth'sexperience with the Xerox Alto duringa sabbatical spent at Xerox's Palo AltoResearch Center. The Alto computerhad a bit-mapped display and used amouse for rapid cursor positioning.These strong features of the Alto, withsome improvements that support thedisplay without sacrificing performance,help make the Lilith an effective andflexible workstation.

M-Code: Lilith'sInstruction Set

One of the advantages the Lilith hasover other computer systems that sup-port Modula-2 is the carefully designedinstruction set of the M-machine. The ef-fectiveness of any computer processor

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 181

LILITH

depends in large measure upon its in-struction set. If the instructions are in-adequate for the job, performance ispoor. Conversely, if there are many in-structions that are not used by the com-piler, performance is likely to be poorbecause extra instructions mean extrabits, which must be moved and tested.The Lilith engine has only 2 56 careful-ly chosen instructions: the languageconstructs of Modula-2 map neatly tothe Lilith's instruction set, without extrainstructions to add fat to the processor.

The size of an object-code programis a good measure of its executionspeed. (For this reason, whenever abenchmark test is done, the size of theprogram object code is usually listedalong with the execution times.) Notethat the size of the code is a relativemeasure of the number of instructionsrequired to execute a certain program.

M-code, the Lilith's instruction set, isdense; few instructions are required foreach Modula-2 language statement.PDP-11 code for a Modula-2 program istypically three times the size of M-codefor the same Modula-2 program. Withother aspects equal (i.e., clock speed,memory cycle), Lilith would be fasterthan the PDP-11 because fewer instruc-tion executions would be required to ac-complish the same task. The Lilith's high

code density is achieved through use ofan expression evaluation stack, severaladdressing schemes, and short instruc-tions for performing sophisticated high-level operations.

Stack Architecture

One reason for the Lilith's high codedensity is that the M-machine is a stackmachine. The elegance and simplicity ofstack architectures for higher-level-lan-guage programs is well known (see ref-erence 1). Effectively implemented stackmachines are faster than register-basedmachines because stack machines needfewer instructions.

The Lilith engine has an expressionstack used for calculations and alsoorganizes its main memory as a stack.Using an expression stack eliminatesthe need for user-accessible registersbecause stack operations simply popoperands off the stack and push the re-sult back on the stack. Of course, no ad-dress is associated with the expression-stack operations for the same reason.This means that operations on the ex-pression stack use only single-byte in-structions and are, therefore, fast. Thestack organization of main memory ef-ficiently supports procedures and blockstructure. The result of the Lilith engine'sstack organization is a reduction in the

number of instructions needed to sup-port the constructs of the Modula-2 lan-guage.

M-machine Addressing

Schemes

To keep data addresses as short as pos-sible, the M-machine uses several ad-dressing modes, depending upon thetype of data being referenced. In gen-eral, data is referenced by very short ad-dresses (4 or 8 bits). The arithmetic andlogical instructions require no addressbecause they reference the expressionevaluation stack. Only in the case of in-direct reference and external data (fromanother module) does the M-machineuse a 16-bit address. The result of usingseveral addressing modes dependingupon the needs of the instruction is thatthe most commonly used instructionsare the shortest and the less common-ly used instructions are longer.

Because of the frequent use of shortaddresses (see the text box, "The 4-bitConstant"), the average length of the M-instructions in a typical program, in-cluding op code and data address, isonly 10 bits. The overwhelming majori-ty of M-codes in a typical program areonly I byte long. It takes only a smallnumber of bits to instruct the Lilith

{continued)

The 4-bit Constant

One of the unique features of theLilith's instruction set is its useof 4-bit constants embedded ina byte along with a 4-bit op code. It mayseem that a constant of only 4 bits is sosmall that it would be useless. In fact,because a single byte with an embedded4-bit constant can often be made to serveinstead of a 2-byte instruction, the use of4-bit constants reduces code size. Theability of the Lilith engine to effectivelyuse 4-bit constants is partly responsiblefor the Lilith engine's compact code.

Four-bit embedded constants are usedin at least four ways: 1) for loading a con-stant value onto the stack; 2) for loadingand storing a procedure's local variables;3) for calling procedures within a givenmodule; and 4) for referencing fieldswithin a record. In each case, using a 4-bitconstant embedded in the same bytewith the instruction allows something that

would normally require at least 2 instruc-tion bytes to be accomplished with only1 instruction byte.

Of course, 4-bit constants are limitedto values within the range 0 to 15. How-ever, consider how useful it is to be ableto load a small value onto the stack witha single-byte instruction. Such small con-stant values are often used for increment-ing and comparisons.

When employed as the address of alocal variable, a 4-bit value can be usedto access the first 12 local variables in aprocedure (the number is 12 rather than16 because the four-word procedure ac-tivation record described in the text oc-cupies words 0 to 3). Procedures oftenhave 12 or fewer items of local data. Forsuch procedures, the Lilith engine canload and store all local data within thatprocedure with single-byte instructions!

In a similar way, a 4-bit value can be

used to select one of the first 16 pro-cedures in a module. Often, moduleshave fewer than 16 procedures. As withmanipulating local data, embedded 4-bitconstants make most procedure calls onthe Lilith unusually concise.

When a structured variable is used inModula-2, it is frequently referencedthrough the use of a pointer addressloaded onto the expression evaluationstack. For subfields of a record so ad-dressed, Lilith offers a selection of shortinstructions with embedded 4-bit offsetsto provide quick and efficient access.Many other situations in Modula-2 pro-gramming also use this technique.

The Lilith's use of the 4-bit constant ispartly responsible for the fact that over70 percent of the instructions in a typicalLilith program are only 1 byte long. Thismeans that the code for a Modula-2 pro-gram on the Lilith is short and also fast.

182 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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183

LILITH

engine (see reference 3).

One of the ways the Lilith engineachieves such short addresses is thatthe M-machine does not use absoluteaddressing (see table 1). Both local andglobal data are addressed by offsets tobase registers. Indirect addressing isdone by adding an offset to the top ofstack, and external addressing (for datain other modules) is done by adding anoffset to a pointer to the appropriatemodule's data space. Using offsets in-stead of absolute addresses means thatinstructions usually need only 8 addressbits (rather than 16). While many com-puters make use of base registers andoffsets to calculate actual addresses, theLilith engine automatically updates thebase registers whenever the context ischanged. This means that the address-ing schemes are both short and effi-cient.

Short Addresses SpeedProcessing

The advantage of the Lilith engine'smultiple addressing modes is that thereis no need to supply insignificant ad-dress bits as part of an instruction aswould be the case if there were onlyone long address used at all times. Be-cause the most common instructionsuse either no address (because they ad-dress the stack) or only a 4-bit address,M-code is unusually concise. Thismeans that the processor spends moretime doing useful work because it doesnot have to fetch as many bits for its in-structions as most computing engines.

High-Level Instructions

The Lilith engine provides a number ofsophisticated, high-level instructions,which speed the execution of some ofthe syntactic constructs of Modula-2.These instructions include context

switching (transferring to a coprocess),FOR and CASE statements, and pro-cedure calls.

As an example, let's consider the pro-cedure call. Procedure calls in Modula-2are more complicated than procedurecalls in FORTRAN, for instance. Ratherthan simply saving the address to returnto when the procedure terminates,Modula-2 requires the creation of an ac-tivation record whenever a procedureis called. This record includes not onlythe return address, but also informationabout where the procedure call camefrom, a link to global data accessiblefrom inside the called procedure (thisis determined by Modula-2's scoperules), and the priority of the modulecontaining the procedure (this is impor-tant when handling interrupts).

In order to effectively supportModula-2, any processing engine mustprovide this relatively complex activa-tion record for each procedure call. Ifthe M-machine needed many instruc-tions to perform all the operations as-sociated with building a procedure ac-tivation record, procedure calls wouldbe slow. However, the Lilith enginebuilds the activation record with asingle 1-byte instruction. The processortakes care of all the associated memoryreferences and data manipulations with-out the need for detailed instructions.By comparison, the 8088 processorused in the IBM PC would require per-haps a dozen bytes of instructions toperform the same task.

Perhaps the crowning example in theLilith of a concise instruction for per-forming a sophisticated task is the co-routine transfer. Coroutine transfers arethe basis for multiprogramming. In a co-routine transfer, one process (program)is suspended at some point and an-other process is started. Such a trans-

Table 1: M-machine instruction formats. The Lilith takes advantage of provenprinciples of stack architecture and addressing from base registers. The Lilith engineuses six different instruction formats to ensure that instructions are never longer thannecessary [see reference 4).

Class Size Format Location of Data

Implicit I byte | op

Immediate I byte ] op ■ nj

Local 2 bytes [op | n~

Global 2 bytes | op | n

Indirect 3 bytes | op | i

External 3 bytes | op | m

Expression Stackn is data or offset to dataData at L-register + nData at G-register + nData at Top Of Stack + nAt Frame table m offset n

fer involves a complete change of con-text. The Lilith engine accomplishes acoroutine transfer with a 2-byte instruc-tion.

Hardware PerformanceEnhancement

The Lilith computer is more than an im-plementation of a well-conceived ar-chitecture. It is effective hardware thatmakes the most of its architecture. I pre-sent here five crucial elements of theLilith implementation of the M-machine,which improve the overall performanceof the system significantly: the imple-mentation of the expression stack,masking the data portion from a 1-byteimmediate-type instruction, an unusualmemory configuration, a special instruc-tion fetch unit, and a special barrelshifter.

Bipolar Expression Stack

In the past, stack machines often useda reserved part of main memory forevaluating expressions. This type of im-plementation has been consideredslower than using registers (even thoughstack machines use fewer instructions)because it requires many references tomain memory, and main memory ismuch slower than registers. In order toget around this speed problem, theLilith (like the Burroughs and Hewlett-Packard stack machines) uses a small ar-ray of fast bipolar registers to imple-ment its expression stack.

Because the Lilith implements the M-machine's expression stack with veryfast registers that are connected to the2901 bit-slice processors so that the toptwo operands on the stack are alwaysaccessible, all basic stack operations areperformed in a single microcycle (150nanoseconds). Basic stack operationsinclude PUSH, POP, AND, OR, addition,and subtraction. The M-machine usesan expression stack to reduce thenumber of instructions needed to sup-port the Modula-2 language; the hard-ware implementation of the M-machinestack makes the most of the architectureby making stack operations very fastindeed.

While the Lilith is much like the Bur-roughs and Hewlett-Packard stack ma-chines, the Lilith has an additional ad-vantage. The Burroughs and HP stackmachines constantly test to ensure that

{continued)

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185

LILITH

Why Stack Architecture?

The Lilith engine is a stack machinebecause stack structures effective-ly support high-level, block-struc-tured programs. The important fact abouta stack is that it is inherently dynamic.As operations that place new operandson the stack occur, the stack grows ac-cordingly; as operands are removed fromthe stack, the stack shrinks accordingly.Moreover, stack operations use no ad-dress: operations always address the topof the stack. This means that stack opera-tions are both elegant and efficient.

Consider the following Modula-2 ex-pression:

((4 + 3) • 5) D1V 16

The evaluation of this expression on astack proceeds as follows:

PUSH 4PUSH 3ADD

(removes top two operands, adds them,and places the result on the stack).

PUSH 5MULTPUSH 16DIV

35

35

Notice that at the end of the sequence,the final value is all that remains on thestack. In addition, notice how the stackgrows and shrinks as needed. If the sameexpression were calculated usingregisters, more bits of instructions wouldalmost certainly be needed (Lilith re-quires only 8 bytes for each of the aboveoperations). Typically, a register machinewould leave at least one useless in-termediate result in one register and thevalue of the expression in another. Whenthe expression is calculated on a stack,there is no possibility of ambiguity (nowwhich register holds the right value?). Youare left with only the result—the in-termediate values are gone. (An impor-tant benefit of this is that there is no need

to have separate load and store instruc-tions for each register. Code for stackoperations is concise.)

The same technique works effectivelyon a larger scale. Whenever a procedureis called, space must be allocated for itslocal data. Because local data is definedonly within a procedure, once the pro-cedure terminates, the space allocated tothe local data should be recovered. Usinga stack to organize procedure calls andtheir local data performs the necessaryallocation and deallocation without ex-tra bother (i.e., with fewer instructions andwith greater speed).

Figure 1: The schematic representation of asimple program.

Consider the schematic representationof a simple program in figure 1. The pro-gram consists of the main routine, whichcalls two procedures A and B. A has twolocal procedures Al and A2. A2 is arecursive procedure. A typical executionof this program might proceed as shownin table 2.

At each call, the local data of the calledprocedure is pushed onto the stack. Inthe return operation, the terminating pro-cedure's local data is popped off thestack. In particular, notice how elegantlyrecursion occurs. At each invocation ofthe recursive procedure, another instanceof its local data is pushed onto the stack.As the program "backs out" of the recur-sive calls, the data from each instance ofthe procedure is removed from the stack.

Of course, a register-based machine ar-chitecture could allocate storage to pro-cedures and recover that storage upontermination of the procedure. The keypoint is that a stack-based machinenaturally communicates via the stack.Parameters and local values are pushedonto the stack and popped off when theprocedure terminates.

Because this necessary allocation anddeallocation occurs as a natural conse-quence of stack architecture, stack ma-chines are efficient. While any high-level-language processor has to perform thesame kinds of tasks, a stack machine canperform them with fewer instructionsbecause the stack structure is inherentlydynamic and requires only shortaddresses.

Table 2: A typical execution of the

program from figure 2.

Program Calls

Stack Activity

Main called by host system

Push As data onto stack

Main calls A

Push A Is data onto stack

A calls Al

Push A2's data onto stack

Al calls A2

Push A2's data onto stack

A2 calls A2

Push A2's data onto stack

A2 calls A2

Pop A2's data off stack

A2 returns

Pop A2's data off stack

A2 returns

Pop A2's data off stack

Al returns

Pop As data off stack

A returns

Main calls B

Push B's data onto stack

B returns

Pop B's data off stack

Main terminates

the stack does not overflow or under- ten into main memory. In the Lilith number of levels of the stack employed.

flow. In these two machines, when anoperation causes an overflow/underflow,part of the stack is automatically writ-

engine, use of the expression stack islimited by the compiler to operationsin which the compiler can control the

Operations like function calls are notallowed to use the expression stack

[continued]

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AUGUST 1984 'BYTE

187

LILITH

directly because there is no way toknow at the time of the call whether afunction (particularly a recursive one)will cause a stack error.

What this means is that the Lilithengine's stack cannot overflow or under-flow. The hardware does not even sup-port testing for overflow and underflowin the usual way. (The Lilith engine teststhe stack only to see if it is empty whenunloading the values on the expressionstack into main memory—as might hap-pen in a coroutine transfer.) In effect, theLilith tests for over/underflow when aprogram is being compiled rather thanwhen it is running.

If assembly-level programming wereto be done on the Lilith, the protectionof run-time testing would have to bebuilt into all stack operations. But be-cause expression stack use is controlledby the compiler, errors that could arisein assembly-language programmingcannot occur. For example, it is notpossible for a program to attempt topop an operand off the stack whenthere is nothing in the stack (causing anunderflow). Because the Lilith is special-ized as a Modula-2 engine, control ofexpression stack size can be conve-

niently entrusted to the compiler. Thismakes the stack operations run fasterthan they would otherwise, because iteliminates the overhead of run-timetesting.

Masking Constants fromOp Codes

It was mentioned above that the Lilithengine saves on instruction size by em-bedding 4-bit constants in the samebyte with a 4-bit op code. While thismeans that the Lilith does not have tomove 2 bytes when I will do (see thetext box if you haven't already), it alsomeans that the same byte contains boththe op code and an operand. Separat-ing the byte into two parts and sendingthe parts to the appropriate placesposes a problem. An innovative solu-tion actually makes these instructionseven more efficient.

The instruction fetch unit (the portionof the Lilith engine responsible for sup-plying the processor with instructions)sends instructions that have embeddedoperands to two parts of the processorat the same time. Both the microcontrolunit (MCU) and the arithmetic-logic unit(ALU) receive the single byte that con-

Q <O O CE

m u =i5 uj 4

3 X 5

6000 -

U-L

_□_

n

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 > = 20NUMBER OF MICROINSTRUCTIONS PER M-CODE

Figure 2: This microinstruction profile of M-codes shows that the overwhelmingmajority of op codes in the test program {which attempted to accurately reflect theLilith's basic performance) require three microcycles or less (450 nanoseconds or less).The conspicuous peak at ^ 20 microinstructions is mainly due to the fact thatfloating-point operations require many microinstructions.

tains both the op code and theoperand. While the microcontrol unitdecodes the machine instruction, theALU masks the op code out of the byteand prepares the operand for the com-ing operation.

The use of the dual path for instruc-tions with embedded operands is part-ly responsible for the fact that morethan 60 percent of the instructions in atypical program are executed in threemicrocycles or less (450 nanosecondsor less). (See figure 2.) Common instruc-tions execute at an average rate of 1.2million instructions per second, in-cluding memory wait time.

Unusual MemoryConfiguration

As mentioned earlier, the Lilith's largehigh-resolution bit-mapped display ishandled by its main processor with lit-tle loss of performance. In contrast, theXerox Alto (which heavily influenced theLilith's design) was unable to control thescreen without sacrificing overall perfor-mance. The Alto used about 50 percentof its power just to drive its screen (seereference 2).

The key factor in the loss of comput-ing power experienced by the Alto wasthe excessive number of memory cyclesrequired to service the display. Toreduce this loss, I chose to expand thememory width and make memory ac-cessible to the main processor via a64-bit bus. This means that screen re-fresh requires approximately one mem-ory reference per five microseconds.Only 11 percent of the Lilith's memorytime is used to refresh the display, andthe memory itself is idle 60 percent ofactual operating time. I verified thesefigures with a measured benchmark:using the Lilith's main processor to con-trol the display causes less than 3 per-cent overall system degradation. TheLilith engine controls its high-resolutionraster display without significantly re-ducing the general effectiveness of themain processor.

For 16-bit memory read operations,special logic selects the group of 16 bitsneeded from the full 64-bit memoryword. However, it is not practical towrite to memory in 64-bit chunks. Thiswould make writing a 16-bit value cum-bersome and slow. Therefore, Lilithwrites its memory in single word units,

[continued)

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LILITH

Lilith spendsmuch more timeexecuting instructionsthan it doesgetting them.

16 bits at a time. The rather unusualcombination of a memory that has abroad read bandwidth and a moretypical write bandwidth allows the Lilithto operate its screen effectively withoutmaking memory write operations slow.

Getting InstructionsFaster

Because the Lilith engine can read fourwords of instructions at a time, but mostoften may need only a single instructionbyte at the time, an extra device, the in-struction fetch unit (IFU), is included in

the Lilith engine to support the pro-cessor. The IFU performs a prefetch of64 bits of instructions and presentsbytes of instructions to the processor asneeded. As soon as the IFU sends thelast byte of instruction to the processor,the IFU prefetches the next 64 instruc-tion bits. Usually, the IFU is ready withan instruction whenever the processoris ready to accept one. But even atworst, the processor waits only onememory cycle for the IFU to read an-other 64 bits and deliver the next in-struction byte. The IFU then has 7 morebytes waiting to be delivered to the pro-cessor without any delay.

What this means for performance isthat the Lilith processor spends muchmore time executing instructions thanit does getting them. Most processorshave to wait one memory cycle for eachinstruction. They actually spend moretime fetching instructions than they domanipulating data. In contrast, the Lilithcan prefetch as many as eight instruc-

tions in one memory cycle. One instruc-tion goes directly to the processor, andduring the next seven memory cycles,the processor does only useful work. Ifthe IFU were considered a cachememory device, it would have the re-spectable hit ratio of 84 percent (in-structions waiting to be executed ver-sus needing to get an instruction beforeproceeding). The IFU makes the mainprocessor wait while it gets the nextbatch of instructions during only 16 per-cent of the processor's cycles.

In practice, executing typical Modula-2 programs, the Lilith processor spendsonly 22 percent of its operating timefetching instructions and the remaining78 percent doing useful work. (Otherprocessors typically use at least 50 per-cent of their operating time fetching in-structions.) This impressive performanceis partly due to the ability of the Lilithengine to read its main memory in64-bit chunks. It is also partly due to the

{continued)

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LILITH

The high performanceof Lilith

and the flexibilityof its userinterface combineto make itan effectiveworkstation.

fact that the average Lilith instruction isonly 10 bits long—that means that theIFU fetches an average of 6.4 instruc-tions each time it is activated.

The Barrel Shifter

Although the full power of the Lilith'sprocessor is available for screenmanipulation, moving a portion of thescreen image is particularly difficult.Imagine the image of a tiny plane "fly-ing" across the screen. Internally, themovement of the plane's image is ac-tually accomplished by moving the bitsthat represent the plane. Obviously,these bits must be moved as a unit onebit at a time if the plane's movement isto be smooth (that is, it should appearto move one pixel with each refresh ofthe screen).

Moving an irregularly organizedgroup of bits (that is, not full words oreven bytes) by irregular units (bits ratherthan words or bytes) is not straightfor-ward. Assume that our plane's image is32 bits long and it starts out fitting nice-

ly into a column of words. The firstmove puts 1 bit into the next word andshifts the original two words over by 1bit and leaves 1 bit of the first wordempty. Anyone who has attempted toprogram animation in assembly lan-guage knows how much shifting andmasking this involves.

The Lilith employs a special shiftingdevice called a barrel shifter to ac-complish the shifting and maskingneeded for image movement on thescreen. A barrel shifter rotates the bitsin a given word by one to 15 positionsin a single cycle. This allows very fastshifting and masking and, consequent-ly, movement of graphic data in mem-ory. The Lilith can easily move large por-tions of its screen in real time—ignoringbyte and word boundaries.

The use of the barrel shifter allows theLilith's processor to accomplish com-plex shifting and masking in a singlecycle. This permits the impressivegraphic performance the Lilith is notedfor and, incidentally, makes operationson Modula-2's type B1TSET very fast.The use of the barrel shifter is anotherexample of the hardware implementa-tion of the Lilith engine enhancing theperformance of the M-machine archi-tecture.

Lilith as a Workstation

The high performance of the Lilith com-puter and the flexibility of its user in-terface make it an effective workstation.When developing programs on theLilith, the user may take advantage ofprogram-development and diagnosticprograms that are specifically designedto make the most of the Lilith's process-

ing power and user interface. The Lilithenvironment also includes softwaretools that may be incorporated into userprograms (such as multifont characterdisplays; bit-map operations; and win-dow, mouse, and cursor manipulation).The Lilith processor is also micropro-grammable, meaning that special in-structions can be added to the instruc-tion set of Lilith to speed up sophisti-cated tasks. Lilith has been successful-ly microprogrammed to draw vectors onthe display, increase the precision offloating-point operations, and control alaser printer. Such micro-level flexibili-ty in a processing engine can be in-valuable.

Conclusion

The Lilith is a specialized engine de-signed specifically to execute Modula-2programs. It achieves exceptional per-formance through a combination of ef-ficient architecture tailored to Modula-2and an efficient hardware implementa-tion. Although Lilith is a specialized pro-cessing engine, compared to other ma-chines in its price class, it is a highly flex-ible engine for Modula-2 program-ming. ■

REFERENCES

1. Bulman, D. M. "Stack Computers: An Intro-duction." Computer. IEEE Computer Society, May1977, page 18.

2. Thacker, C. P., et al. A/to: A Personal Computer.Palo Alto. CA: Xerox Corporation, 1979, page14.

3. Jacobi, Christian. Code Generation and the LilithArchitecture. Diss ETH No. 7195. Zurich: SwissFederal Institute of Technology, 1982.

4. Wirth, Niklaus. The Personal Computer Lilith.Report 40. Zurich: Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology, 1981.

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MODULA-2

ANINTRODUCTIONTO MODULA-2

by Robert J. Paul

Tfo new language isa superset of Pascal

IN THIS ARTICLE we'll take a look at thedifferences in control structure, expres-sions, and general syntax betweenPascal and Modula-2. First, however, Ishould mention three fundamentalphilosophical differences between thetwo languages.

First, the introduction of the moduleconcept in Modula-2 extends the"separate compilation" features thatvarious Pascal implementations haveoften added. You can build a library ofmodules that provide standard routinesto perform common operations. Youcan also use the modules to create hid-den data structures and to isolate a pro-gram from the specific data structuresused.

Second, Modula-2 replaces the PascalI/O (input/output) routines read andwrite with the standard module TTIO,a logical change considering themodule concept. This module providesthe primitive routines Read and Write,which function one character at a time.Another module, InOut, provides moresophisticated routines, including Read-Int, to read an integer in character form;Writelnt and WriteCard, to write in-tegers and cardinals (unsigned integers)in decimal notation; WriteOct and

WriteHex, to write integers or cardinalsin octal and hexadecimal notation, re-spectively; and WriteString, to writecharacter strings.

The third major change from Pascalis the addition of concurrency primitivesto Modula-2, which lets you write con-current (multitasking) programs in astandard and portable way. Concurren-cy can make certain programming taskseasier, and some applications require it.Concurrent variations of many lan-guages (including Pascal) have beendeveloped, but Modula-2 is a standardlanguage in which to write concurrentprograms.

Comparison to Pascal

You can use several criteria to distin-guish one programming language fromanother: program structure, controlstructure, expressions, and data typingfacilities. One language is clearlysuperior to another, for example, if itranks higher in all four areas; mixedresults, on the other hand, highlight the

Robert J. Paul is a senior software engineer withTurning Point Software (11A Main St., Water-town. MA 02172). He has a B.S. in computerscience from Rensselaer Polytechnic \nstitute.

relative strengths and weaknesses ofeach one.

Of course, these criteria refer to thelanguage definition alone. Its implemen-tation on a specific machine determinesthe time required to compile and ex-ecute a program. In general, competentimplementations of either Pascal orModula-2 should result in almost iden-tical compile and run times.

Program Structureand Procedures

The main routine in a Modula-2 pro-gram is called the "main module." It con-tains all the sections of a Pascal pro-gram as well as features that provide forexternal subroutines (in other modules).Listing 1 shows a schematic of the mainmodule.

The bulk of any .Pascal or Modula-2program is a collection of proceduresor subprograms that perform specificfunctions. Pascal distinguishes betweena function, which returns a value, anda procedure, which does not. Modula-2offers the same facilities, although thedistinction between procedures andfunctions blurs because the keywordPROCEDURE introduces both of them.

[continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 195

INTRODUCTION

Listing 1: A schematic representation of the main

module. The programmer provides

the names in lowercase; the words in uppercase are

Modula-2 keywords.

MODULE modulename;

FROM librarymodule IMPORT libraryroutinel, libraryroutine2;

FROM librarymodule2 IMPORT libraryroutine3;

CONST

{' constant declarations go here *)

charcount = 80 * 24;

(* sample constant ')

TYPE

(* type declarations go here *)

typel = (apple, pear, orange);

(* enumeration type *l

type2 = I 1960 .. 1990 I;

(* subrange type *)

returntype = CARDINAL;

(* unsigned integer *)

VAR

(" variable declarations go here *)

foo: returntype;

(* declare 1 variable *)

PROCEDURE procedureKparml, parm2: typel; VAR parm3: type2);

VAR

(* local variables declared here *)

BEGIN

(* body of procedure goes here *)

END procedurel;

PROCEDURE functionMparml: typel) : returntype;

VAR

(* local variables declared here ")

BEGIN

(* body of function goes here *)

(* to exit

vith value use the return statement... *)

RETURN integerexpression;

END function 1:

BEGIN

(* beginning of main procedure *)

(* body of main program goes here *)

procedurel lapple.orange, 1967);

foo := function 1 (pear):

END modulename.

Listing 2: Variable-size array as a procedure parameter

of the function Count-

Them. This example also illustrates the output routines required to write text strings

and cardinals and to terminate an output line.

MODULE samplel;

FROM WriteStrings IMPORT WriteString, WriteLn;

FROM TTIO IMPORT WriteCardinal;

CONST

smallsize = 20;

(• small sized array *)

largesize = 35:

(* large sized array *)

VAR

i: CARDINAL;

smallarray: ARRAY |0 . . smallsizel OF CARDINAL;

largearray: ARRAY |0 . . largesizel OF CARDINAL;

(*Procedure: CountThem

Parameters: one variable size array of CARDINALS (unsigned integers)

Returns: CARDINAL, sum of the elements in the array

*)PROCEDURE CountThem( vector: ARRAY OF CARDINAL ) :

CARDINAL;

VAR

i, sum: CARDINAL:

BEGIN

sum : = 0;

(* initialize sum *)

FOR i := 0 TO HIGH(vector) DO

(* for all elements *)

sum := sum + vectorl i I;

(• add to sum •)

END;

(* end of FOR *)

RETURN sum;

(* and return value ")

END CountThem;

(*Main Program starts here

Initialize two arrays and call the function CountThem

once with each of the two arrays.

*)BEGIN (• main program ')

FOR i : = 0 TO smallsize DO

(* initialize small array *)

smallarrayli] := i;

{continued)

The syntax of a procedure definition is

PROCEDURE

name (<fp>[;<fp>|)

[: return-type|;ICONST (* optional constant

declarations *)|[TYPE (* optional type

declarations *)|[VAR (* optional variable

declarations *)]BEGIN

statement-sequenceEND name;

Above, < fp > is shorthand notation fora formal parameter section (an identifierlist followed by a colon and a typename).

The two methods of passing param-eters in Pascal are the same inModula-2. "Call by value" means that acopy of the parameter value is sent tothe subprogram. This makes it impos-sible for the subprogram to modify thecalling program's copy of the parameter.In the alternative method, "call byreference," the subprogram receives theparameter's address, meaning thatchanges made to its value by the sub-program also affect its value in the call-ing program. You can request "call byreference" in Modula-2 by placing thekeyword VAR (the same as in Pascal)before the formal parameter section.The default is "call by value."

Modula-2 can also pass variable-sizearrays to procedures; Pascal cannot. Ifyou substitute ARRAY OF typename forthe type name in the formal parametersection, you can pass an array of thespecified type to the procedure. Thespecial function HIGH(arrayname)returns the upper bound of the arraypassed (see listing 2).

Statements and ControlStructures

The heart of any language is how youcontrol the program-execution flow.Modula-2 provides all the familiarPascal control structures and a fewmore to make special programming cir-cumstances easier to handle.

One important change from Pascal isthat every control structure in Modula-2has an explicit termination, usually anEND statement. This prevents the am-biguity possible in the following Pascalprogram sequence:

{continued)

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INTRODUCTION

END:

(• end of FOR *)

FOR i := 0 TO largesize DO

(* initialize large array *)

largearray|i| : = i:

END:

(• end of FOR *)

WriteStringCThe sum of the numbers 0 to '):

WriteCardinaK smallsize, 5 ):

WriteStringC is ');

WriteCardinaK CountThem(smallarray), 5 ):

WriteLn:

WriteStringl The sum of the numbers 0 to '):

WriteCardinaK largesize. 5 ):

WriteStringC is '):

WriteCardinaK CountThem(largearray). 5 ):

WriteLn:

END samplel.

IF (oregano IN recipe[l|)THENIF (thyme IN recipe|l|)THEN writeln('Use oreganoand thyme')ELSEwritelnf'No oregano');

Although the indentation implies thatthe first message should print if therecipe specifies both oregano andthyme and the second message if itdoes not specify oregano, this is nothow the program executes. In fact, theprogram matches the ELSE clause withthe most recent IF statement, so thesecond message prints if the recipedoes have oregano but does not havethyme.

Modula-2 smooths out this Pascalproblem and a few other rough edges.The basic control structure needed toprovide conditional execution, the IF-THEN-ELSE statement, is the best ex-ample of this improvement.

IF expressionTHEN statement sequence|ELSIF expressionTHEN statement sequence](ELSE statement sequencelEND

You can repeat the ELSIF clause asmany times as you wish, providing fora number of mutually exclusive cases.When the program encounters the ex-pression, it can execute only one of thestatement sequences; if none of the ex-pressions is true, then the program ex-ecutes the ELSE clause. You can writethe Pascal oregano example inModula-2 as

IF (oregano IN recipe[l|)THEN

IF (thyme IN recipe|l|)THENWriteString( Use oreganoand thyme')ENDELSE WriteString('No oregano');END

The placement of the END statementstells the compiler which IF statementgoes with the ELSE clause.

The CASE statement provides a wayto select between mutually exclusiveconditions.

CASE expression OFlabel I |,label2,.. ,|

: statement sequence| labeB |,label4,...]

: statement sequence|ELSE statement sequence]END

The expression is evaluated and com-pared to the labels; if the program findsa match, it executes the correspondingstatement sequence. If it does not finda match, the program executes theELSE clause. You can place as manylabels as you wish before each state-ment sequence, and you can specify asmany statement sequences as youneed. The type of the case expressionmust be INTEGER, CARDINAL, CHAR,BOOLEAN, or an enumeration or sub-range type, and you cannot repeatlabels. For example, the following pro-gram fragment determines what type ofcharacter the variable ch contains.

CASE ch OF

'0'

WriteString("Digit").. 'z'

WriteStringC'Lowercaseletter")

| A .. T

: WriteStringC'Uppercaseletter")I • + ', '-', -. '/'

: WriteString("Operator")ELSE WriteString("Other

punctuation or symbols")END

The next basic type of control flow isthe loop. Modula-2 provides three loop-control statements like Pascal's and onenew statement that provides a moregeneral form of loop control.

The FOR statement sets a control vari-able to some initial value and then ex-ecutes a statement sequence, varyingthe control variable through the pro-gression of values specified in the FORstatement.

FOR var := exprl TO expr2| BY expr3 |DO statement sequenceEND

This initializes the simple variable varto the value of the expression exprl. Ifthe variable is not greater than the sec-ond expression, expr2. the program ex-ecutes the statement sequence and in-crements the variable by the value ofthe third expression, expr3. This pro-cess repeats itself until var exceeds thelimit in expr2. If you omit expr3, thedefault increment is one. If the incre-ment is negative, the repetition con-tinues until var is less than expr2. Thus,Modula-2 offers greater flexibilitythrough the use of expr3 while Pascalrequires the increment to be either 1 or-1.

In Modula-2 as in Pascal, the WHILEand REPEAT statements provide in-definite looping. These statements havethe following forms:

WHILE expression

DO statement sequenceEND

and

REPEAT

statement sequenceUNTIL expression

The WHILE statement evaluates ex-pression, and, if it is logically true, ex-ecutes the statement sequence. Theprogram repeats this process until ex-pression is logically false. The REPEAT

{continued)

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INTRODUCTION

Listing 3: Examples of the LOOP construct. The first example shows proper use ofthe LOOP statement: the second, poor use: and the third, the appropriate correctionsto the second.

c

The following procedure processes keystrokes until it reads the character X. If it reads the com-mand A, B', or 'C, the procedure calls the function functionl. function!, or functionl. respectively. Thesefunctions return a positive integer return code. This routine also demonstrates the proper use ofthe LOOP and CASE constructs. Note that this logic is virtually impossible to duplicate in Pascalwithout the use of a GOTO statement.

PROCEDURE ProcessCommandl VAR and: CHAR I : CARDINAL;VAR

re: CARDINAL;BEGINLOOPRead(cmd):CASE cmd OFX : EXIT.

A : re := functionll);B' : re := function2||;C : re := function3();ELSE re := 0:END;

IF (rc # 0) THEN RETURN re;END;END:I*If you are here, you must have executed the EXIT statement above

(• read one character •)get out of LOOP stmt •)

(• end of CASE •)

(• end of IF •)(• end of LOOP *)

WriteStringCNormal termination'!;RETURN 0;END ProcessCommand;(*

The following procedure illustrates a questionable use of the LOOP construct. It is improper becausethe WHILE statement is a more informative way of expressing the logic. This procedure reads aninput file and looks for a match with an already initialized global array, MasterArray. The searchcontinues until either a match or an end-of-data character. @'. is found. If it finds a match, theprocedure returns the position in the array. If no match is found, it returns a zero.*)PROCEDURE SearchList I VAR token: CHAR ) : CARDINAL;VAR

index: CARDINAL:BEGINLOOPRead(token|:index := I:IF (token = MasterArray! index I)

THEN RETURN index;END; I* end of IF •)

index := index + 1;IF (index > Maxlndex)THENRead(token);index := 1;IF (token = '©')

THEN RETURN 0:END; (* end of nested IF *)

END; (* end of outer IF *)

END: C end of LOOP *)

END SearchList;(*

The better procedure to handle this is ...•)PROCEDURE SearchList! VAR token: CHAR | : CARDINAL;VAR

index: CARDINAL;BEGINindex := 1;Read(token);WHILE (token t ®) DO

{continued)

A new loopingstatement, appropriatelycalled LOOP, providesan infinite iteration.

statement, on the other hand, executesthe statement sequence first and thenevaluates expression. If expression islogically false, the process repeats untilit is true. The major difference betweenthe two loops is that a WHILE statementexecutes its statement sequence zero ormore times, while the REPEAT state-ment executes its statement sequenceat least once. Note that the REPEATstatement does not end with the ENDclause but rather with the UNTIL clause.The new looping statement is called,strangely enough, LOOP. The syntax issimply

LOOP statement sequence END

and provides for an infinite loop. Thereare two statements that can terminatethis endless loop, EXIT and RETURN.The EXIT statement can appear onlywithin the statement sequence of aLOOP statement; program executioncontinues at the first statement after theLOOP statement. The RETURN state-ment, on the other hand, terminates thecurrent procedure and returns controlto the calling procedure. If you use thisstatement in a function, an expressionfollows the RETURN statement, in-dicating the value to return. If RETURNappears in a main procedure, it ter-minates the program. For both goodand bad examples of the LOOP state-ment, see listing 3.

Data Types

The data types available in Modula-2are almost identical to those of Pascal.The basic data types BOOLEAN, IN-TEGER, REAL, and CHAR from Pascalare all available, along with the datatype CARDINAL, which represents anunsigned (positive) integer. Enumera-tion types, which permit the program-mer to name the acceptable values forthe type, and subrange types are alsoavailable. Array types, which create acollection of identical data items, andrecord types, which create a collection

{continued)

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INTRODUCTION

IF (token = MasterArrayl index |)

THEN RETURN index;

END:

(• end of IF *)

index := index + 1;

IF (index > Maxlndex)

THEN

Read(token):

index := 1;

END:

(* end of IF •}

END;

(* end of WHILE ')

RETURN 0:

END SearchList;

Listing 4: Examples of type and variable declarations and their uses. The threesections give several type definitions, variable declarations using the type definitions,and some program fragments that manipulate the variables.

MODULE sample2;TYPE

(* sample module header *)

(*

Declare an enumeration type Color with 5 possible values.

•I

Color = (yellow, red, green, blue, purple);C

Declare a subrange type Index that can take on values between 1 and 80, Inclusively.*l

Index = I 1 . . 80 |:(*

Declare an array type Cardlmage to be an array of 80 characters, identified by indexes of I to 80.•)

Cardlmage = ARRAY Index OF CHAR;C

Declare a record type Name to be a last name, a first name, and a middle initial.*)NameType = RECORD

last: ARRAY II .. 20| OF CHAR;

first: ARRAY 11 . . I0| OF CHAR;

middle: CHAR;END;I"

Declare a record type Person to be a collection of a name, city, state, zipcode. and age. Note thatyou must store the rip code as characters, not as integers or cardinals, because a 16-bit computeronly allows integers up to 32767 and cardinals to 65535.•IPerson = RECORD

name: NameType;

city: ARRAY [1 . . 30| OF CHAR;

state: ARRAY |l . . 2| OF CHAR;

zipcode: ARRAY |1 . . 51 OF CHAR;

age: CARDINAL;END;C

Now. declare some variables using the above types'IVAR

yes, no: BOOLEAN;

foo, bar: INTEGER;

temperature, height: REAL;

ch, nextchar: CHAR;

distance, age: CARDINAL;

myrose, herdaisy: Color;

i, j, k: Index;

card I. card 2: Cardlmage;

me, you: NameType;

somebodyelse: Person:(*This declaration creates an array with room for 50 people

(* logical true/false *

(* signed integers "

(* floating-point numbers *

(* single characters *

(* unsigned integers *

(• can be any of 5 colors *

(• indexes into a Cardlmage '

(• arrays of I . . 80 chars *

(* records for names *

(* record for name and addr *

(continued)

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INTRODUCTION

friends: ARRAY |0 .. 49] OF Person;

BEGIN

(* begin main program of module sample2 *)

yes : = TRUE;

(• set yes to logical TRUE •)

no : - (NOT yes);

(• set no to the opposite of yes *)

foo := -32768;

(" signed integers have range -32768 •)

bar : = 32767;

(•to 32767 on a 16-bit machine *)

temperature := 96.8;

(* floating point numbers have *)

height := 6I25;

(* several decimal places of precision *)

Read(ch):

(• read a single character •)

IF (ch = Y)

(* do a comparison •)

THEN nextchar := 'N';

(* and some assignments *)

ELSE nextchar : = T;

END;

distance := 65535;

I* unsigned integers have range 0 •)

age := 0;

(*to 65535 on a 16-bit machine *)

myrose := red;

(* the color names are constants ')

herdaisy := purple;

IF (myrose = herdaisy)

THEN WriteStringCWe Match!');

END:

FOR i : = 1 TO 80 DO1 > 81-i:

cardl| i I := card2| j |:

(* can't exceed this range ")

END;

me.last := Paul':

(' note that string assignments ')

me.first := Robert';

(* pad with nulls if necessary ")

me.middle := |';

somebodyelse.name := me;

(" record assignments allowable ")

somebodyelse.city := Watertown';

somebodyelse.state := MA';

somebodyelse.zipcode := 02172';

somebodyelseage := 23:

Because Modula-2 allows record assignments

you can copy the entire structure above into another

structure using one statement. In this case.

t would appear that I am my own best friend.

friendsl 0 ) : = somebodyelse:

END sample2.

(" don't forget to end the module definition *)

of nonidentical data items, also followthe Pascal precedent (see listing 4).

Modula-2 inherits another data type,sets, from Pascal in a restricted form.The set type reflects the mathematicalconcept of a set: a collection of itemsthat is not ordered—either an elementis a set member or it's not. Pascal per-mits sets with many elements (the ex-act number depends on the implemen-tation); Modula-2 restricts the set sizeto the number of bits in a word, thebasic unit of storage. On most micro-computers and minicomputers, theword size is 16 bits, so sets can haveonly 16 elements on these systems.Listing 5 shows the declaration and useof a set type.

Modula-2 pointers provide a means ofdynamically allocating storage. They areidentical to the pointers available inPascal. The compiler translates the stan-dard Modula-2 procedures NEW andDISPOSE into calls to routines calledALLOCATE and DEALLOCATE-an in-teresting feature. You must either import

these procedures from the standardlibrary module Storage providing thestandard functionality, or provide yourown version. Thus, you can tailor stor-age allocation and deallocation routinesto your particular application, if that isappropriate. Listing 6 illustrates thedeclaration and use of pointers inModula-2.

One new data type added to Modula-2, the procedure type, is used to declarea formal parameter as a procedure. Thisallows you to pass the name of a func-tion or procedure as a parameter to an-other procedure. (Note that you cannotdeclare the passed procedure local toany other procedures and that it can-not be a standard procedure.) Listing 7illustrates the declaration and use of thisfacility.

Expressions

Expressions in Modula-2 are virtuallyidentical to those in Pascal. Operands,the items you manipulate, can be sim-

{continued)

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INTRODUCTION

Listing 5: This example of set type and variable declarations uses sets to represent acollection of spices in recipes. It's a reasonable use of sets, because you don't careabout the order of the spices, and you wouldn't list the same spice twice for onerecipe.

MODULE sample3:

TYPEC

Declare an enumeration type that represents the spices that can go into a recipe•I

Spices = (basil, ginger, oregano, paprika, parsley, thyme);C

Declare a data type to indicate that none, some, or all of the individual spices have been selected*1

SetOfSpices = SET OF Spices;

VAR (' Declare an array of recipes "I

recipes: ARRAY |1 .. 20| OF SetOfSpices;

BEGIN (' main program *)

C

Mark the first recipe as using oregano and thyme, but no other spices•I

recipes|l| := { oregano. thyme };I*

Mark the second recipe as using no spices; the third recipe as using ginger, parsley, and thyme:and the fourth recipe as using those spices used in recipes 1,2, and 3 (that is, ginger, oregano.parsley, and thyme). Note that you can't list thyme twice, as the set merely records whether theitem appears in the list or not.

recipes|2|

recipes|3|

recipes|4|

END sample3

{}:

{ ginger, parsley, thyme };

recipesMl + recipes|2| + recipes|3|;

Listing 6: Am example of pointer types and usage. Pointers are one of the mostdifficult features of Modula-2 {and Pascal, for that matter) to use properly. Thisexample reads characters from the input file until a control character [value less thanASCII space) is found. If a space is read, the list assembled so far is printed;otherwise, the character is added to the list. The list is singly linked, with each entrypointing to the next one using the "next" field of the record. The list is stored inascending alphabetical order, so you must search the list to look for an appropriateplace to insert.

MODULE sample4;C

Note: the usage of the standard procedures NEW and DISPOSE requires, in turn, the definitionof procedures ALLOCATE and DEALLOCATE. Usually, these are the standard routines.')FROM Storage IMPORT ALLOCATE. DEALLOCATE;FROM TTIO IMPORT Read, Write, WriteLn:TYPElink = POINTER TO element:element = RECORDsymbol: CHAR;next: link;END:VARlist: link;(*Procedure: Insert

Parameters: sym, CHAR, element to insertPurpose: inserts the element sym into the linked listLocal variables:

p = pointer to new element created for sym

ptr = pointer into list, points to element just AFTER the element to be inserted

last = pointer into list, points to element just BEFORE the element to be inserted

(* declaration of pointer type *)

(' type that we're pointing to *)

(* data in element *)

(• pointer to next element *)

the list is merely a pointer

*l

(continued)

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INTRODUCTION

PROCEDURE lnsert(sym:

CHAR);

VAR

p, ptr. last: link:

(* local pointers *)

BEGIN

NEW(p);

(* create a new element *)

p".symbol := sym:

(* and initialize it *)

ptr := list;

(* make copy of pointer to list ")

last : = NIL;

(*

pointer to element pointing to ptr *)

WHILE (ptr # NIL) AND (ptr'.symbol < sym) DO

last := ptr;

(* track parent of ptr ")

ptr := ptr."next;

(* and get next element *)

END:

C end of WHILE •)

IF (last = NIL)

THEN

(" insert at top of list *)

p'.next := ptr;

(* point to rest of list *)

list := p;

(* make new first element *)

ELSE

(* insert in middle of list *)

last * .next : = p;

(* point to p instead of ptr ')

p'.next := ptr;

(' new element points to rest *)

END:

C end of IF ")

END Insert;

Procedure: PrinlLisI

Parameters: t. link, list tc

print

Purpose: write the characters in the list to the termina

PROCEDURE PrintListlt:

link);

BEGIN

WHILE (t # NIL) DO

(* for entire list *)

Write(t'.sym);

(" print characters *)

t := t'.next;

(* go to next entry •)

END;

(• end of WHILE ")

WriteLn;

(* go to next line *)

END PrintList;

BEGIN

(• main program *)

list := NIL;

(• initialize to empty list *)

LOOP

Read(ch);

I* get character command *)

IF (ch > ' ')

THEN Insert(ch);

(* insert the character •)

ELSIF (ch = ' )

THEN PrintListllist)

(* print the list *)

ELSE

EXIT

(* exit the program *)

END;

P end of IF ")

END;

(• end of LOOP *)

END sample4.

Listing 7: Example of the PROCEDURE data type. This facility lets you constructgeneral-purpose routines that require an {otherwise unspecified) auxiliary function toperform some calculation. For example, many FORTRAN libraries provide plotting,graphing, or statistical functions that require a user-specified function to work.

MODULE sample5:

C

This module sets up a statistical function. Average, which computes the average value of a function fx.*)TYPE

fen = PROCEDURE ( REAL ) : REAL;VAR

avgl, avg2: REAL;PROCEDURE Average! fx: fen; low, high, step: REAL) : REAL:VAR

sum: REAL;BEGIN

sum := 0:

(continued)

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INTRODUCTION

WHILE ( low < high ) DO

(* until entire range done •)

sum := sum + fx(low);

(* find value and sum *)

low := low + step:

(* bump index •)

END;

RETURN (sum / (high-low)):

(* return average value *)

END Average;

(* Sample function : f(x) = x

•)

PROCEDURE Linear(x: REAL) : REAL;

BEGIN

RETURN x;

END Linear;

(* Sample function : f(x) = x*x

•)

PROCEDURE Quadratic^: REAL) : REAL;

BEGIN

RETURN x*x;

END Quadratic;

(• Begin main procedure

*)

BEGIN

avgl := Average(Linear, -1.0. 1.0. 0.01);

avg2 := Average(Quadratic, -1.0, 1.0. 0.01);

END sample5.

pie variables (foo, count), arrayreferences (recipe[4| refers to the fourthelement of array recipe; priceindexlapril, 1967) refers to the 1967th ele-ment of the aprilth array of priceindex),record field references (bob.name.mid-dle refers to the middle field of recordname, in the name field of record bob),and pointer dereferences (ptr" refers tothe item referenced by pointer ptr).

The standard operators from Pascalare also available in Modula-2. Arith-metic operators that work on bothsigned integers (INTEGER) and un-signed integers (CARDINAL) are addi-tion ( + ), subtraction (-). multiplication(*), integer division (DIV), and modulus(MOD). Integer division (x DIV y) pro-duces the integer part of the result ofreal division (x I y); the modulus func-tion produces the remainder after an in-

teger division. Real arithmetic includesaddition (+), subtraction (-), multiplica-tion (*), and real division (/).

Set operators include set union (+),yielding all elements that appear ineither set; set difference (-), yielding allelements in the first set and not in thesecond set; set intersection (*), yieldingthose elements appearing in both sets;and symmetric set difference (/), yieldingall elements in one set and not in theother (that is, a/b is equivalent to(a-b)-t-(b-a) if a and b are sets).

Relational operators produceBoolean (TRUE or FALSE) results, andyou can use them to compare the basictypes-INTEGER, CARDINAL, REAL,and CHAR—as well as enumeration andsubrange types. These operators in-clude equal to (=), not equal to (#), lessthan (<), less than or equal to (^),

greater than (>), and greater than orequal to (>). You can use the relationaloperators set membership (IN) and im-proper set inclusion (< and ^) tooperate on sets. However, you can com-pare only pointer variables with theequality and inequality operators.

Conclusion

Modula-2 clearly surpasses Pascal interms of its program-structuringfacilities. It contains all the proceduresand functions of Pascal and adds a stan-dard way to separately compile por-tions of a program.

The control structures of the two lan-guages are very close. Modula-2 has theedge over Pascal with the new LOOPstatement and the consistent use of theEND clause to terminate control state-ments.

Data typing in the two languages isalso very close, but this time Pascal hasa slight edge—Modula-2 's restriction ofsets to 16 elements (on a 16-bit com-puter) is unnecessary and too ofteninconvenient.

Both Modula-2 and Pascal providepowerful and flexible expressions, andneither language has an advantage overthe other in this respect.

In many ways, Modula-2 is really asuperset of Pascal. It takes the goodpoints of the language and strengthensthem with some logical and importantextensions. When high-quality com-pilers become available on manymachines, Modula-2 may replace Pascalas a language of choice. You can useModula-2 everywhere you can usePascal, and in many places where youcan't. ■

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MODULA-2

PASCAL, ADA,AND MODULA-2

by David Coar

A system programmer's comparison

WHEN FACED WITH a reasonably largesoftware project, many factors can in-fluence the choice of an implementa-tion language. Some are technical andsome are not. In comparing Pascal, Ada,and Modula-2,1 will deal with the majortechnical factors by using basic prop-erties that these languages possess asmeasuring tools. In each case, I willdescribe the relevant programmingissues briefly and then discuss the threelanguages within that context, pointingout differences, commenting on therelative merits of certain features, andoffering opinions concerning possibleimprovements. Since I'm focusing onthe capabilities provided by the lan-guage features rather than the specificsyntax used to invoke them, this articlecomplements detailed descriptionspublished elsewhere (see references).Why did I choose these particular lan-guages? Over the years, Pascal hasachieved popularity as an implementa-tion language. Nevertheless, its creator,Niklaus Wirth, apparently never thoughtof Pascal as a true systems-implemen-tation language. Modula-2, on the otherhand, represents a conscious effort onhis part to define such a language.Modula-2 has facilities for hardware in-terfacing and allows many programmersto work together on the same project.Of course, these are the same goals thatwere established by the Department of

Defense for the new programming lan-guage, Ada. Thus, Pascal and Modula-2are different attempts by the same per-son to design a programming language,while Ada and Modula-2 have differentorigins but the same stated goals.

Strong typing

In most modern programming lan-guages you must declare each data ele-ment and routine before using it. First,you choose an alphanumeric identifierto serve as its name. Then, specify itstype. You know certain primitive types,such as integer, real. Boolean, and char-acter in advance (see table 1). You mustdeclare the others explicitly beforeusing them. You may create new typeseither by making certain minor modifi-cations to previous types or by combin-ing one or more previous types intocomposite structures such as arrays andrecords. In any case, the type of an ele-ment completely determines its storagerequirements and the uses to which itmay be put. This is what is meant bystrong typing. Typing plays a major rolein all three languages by restricting the

David Coar (POB 23489, Portland, OR97223) is a member of the technical productstaff of Floating Point Systems Inc. He receivedhis bachelors and masters degrees in mathematicsfrom the University of California at Berkeley.His hobbies include skiing and classical guitar.

way you can allocate and use dataelements.

STORAGE ALLOCATION

In order to generate code for your pro-gram, the compiler must know the sizeand location of each data element youdeclare. The data element's type com-pletely determines its size. Its locationnormally is offset from the beginning ofa multiple-element memory area. Thecompiler assigns an offset of zero to thefirst element in the area, the secondgets offset more than the first, and soon. The details of this algorithm com-pletely determine the resulting memoryarea's size. Each memory area locationand the way it gets allocated depend onthe kind of memory area it is. There arethree possibilities: stack, heap, and main.Stack areas are contained within alarge memory area called an executionstack. A special top-of-stack pointer keepstrack of the execution stack's currentend. When you call a function or pro-cedure, you change the top-of-stackpointer and the program uses the areabetween the old and new top-of-stackfor your newly called routine's data ele-ments. When the call completes, theprogram restores the top-of-stackpointer to its previous value and returnscontrol to the calling procedure orfunction.

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 215

THREE LANGUAGES

Heap-memory areas contain a singledata element, usually an array or arecord. To use this data element, youmust have a pointer to the heap-mem-ory area containing it. A pointer is aspecial kind of data element that alwayscontains the address of a data elementin the heap. Your program must explicit-ly allocate each heap area that it needs,using special syntax provided for thispurpose. The address of each new areais stored in a pointer. Pascal andModula-2 also have syntax for explicitrelease of heap areas, but not Ada.

Main memory is allocated once whenyou load your program. A Pascal pro-gram has only one main-memory area,which contains all the data elementsdeclared in the main part of your pro-gram and all the executable code. InModula-2, each library module your pro-gram uses has a separate main-memoryarea that contains its data elements andthe executable code for all its pro-cedures and functions. Similarly, eachlibrary unit of an Ada program has itsown main-memory area for dataelements and executable code.

Ada is the only one of these three lan-guages that gives you explicit controlover the size and relative location ofdata elements. In Pascal and Modula-2,an element's size, as well as locationwithin each enclosing memory area, iscontrolled completely by the compiler.For most applications this is not a prob-

lem. However, if you must generate oruse data that has a predefined, exter-nal format, then you must have controlover a data element's size and relativelocation within a record.

Both Ada and Modula-2 let youspecify an absolute address for a dataelement or routine. This facility, whichdoes not exist in Pascal, is essential forimplementing interrupt handlers andmemory-mapped I/O (input/output). Itwould be nice if there were a relatedfacility in any of the three languagesthat would allow you to specify a dataelement or routine's symbolic addressfor linking it with an external system.

It's a little surprising that Modula-2has no mechanism for creating variable-length arrays. Instead, when you declarean array you must specify its type fully,including the range of acceptable indexvalues. Because the upper and lowerbounds for such a range must be con-stant, the number of elements in the ar-ray will also be constant. Modula-2 in-herited this unfortunate feature fromPascal with only one minor improve-ment. When you specify the type of anarray parameter to a procedure or func-tion in Modula-2, you need not includeits size. This allows you to use aparameter to pass different size arraysto a procedure or function. However,Modula-2 doesn't let you create an ar-ray whose size is determined at runtime, which makes the language unnec-

Table I: The data types available in each of the three languages are shown in thetable. Enumerated types, records, and arrays are not primitive types: the others are.Strictly speaking, characters are a special enumerated type and strings are a par-ticular class of character arrays.

Language

Integer Types

Real Types

Structured Types

Special Types

enumerated

real

record

pointer

Pascal

character

array

Boolean

integer

string

set (bit mask)

enumerated

real

record

word

character

array

address

Modula-2

integer

Boolean

set (bit mask)

procedure

enumerated

real

record

pointer

character

short real

array

Boolean

Ada

integer

short

long integer

long real

string

exceptiontask

essarily restrictive. It should at least giveyou pointers to such arrays.

Type Conflicts

Each expression in your programbelongs to two potentially different datatypes. One type comes from the way it'sused, because that tells you the type ofdata value it must produce. The secondcomes from the expression's structure.Given inputs of a specific type, eachoperator in the expression producesoutputs of a specific type. So the ex-pression's data elements and the oper-ators that are used to combine them tellyou what type of data value it willproduce.

If these two types are different, thecompiler must decide how to resolvethe conflict. In a strongly typed lan-guage, conflicts are generally treated asprogramming errors. This has one unfor-tunate consequence: an element's datatype is not determined by its intrinsicproperties but by your need to com-bine it with other data elements. InModula-2, for instance, I learned toavoid cardinal (unsigned integer) dataelements quickly because they couldnot be mixed with integers in expres-sions.

Pascal provides almost no relief fromthe regimen of strict typing. There arefew implicit type conversions, and func-tions for explicit type conversion arelimited to ORD, CHR, TRUNC, andROUND. With the function ORD you canconvert an enumerated value into anunsigned integer. With the function CHRyou can convert an unsigned integer in-to a character. The functions TRUNCand ROUND convert values of type realinto values of type integer. The programhas to handle other type conversions byusing case statements, explicitly ini-tialized arrays, or untagged variantrecords. In particular, there is no safeand easy way to recover an enumeratedvalue from an unsigned integer. All toooften conversions that are perfectlynatural from a conceptual standpoint,and which should be programmatical-ly simple, lead to the use of untaggedvariant records—probably the least safeconstruct in the language.

Modula-2 provides a little more relieffrom strict typing. In certain situations,it provides implicit type conversionwhen a value is assigned to a different-

(continued)

216 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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THREE LANGUAGES

Listing 1: This listing shows how subtypes and derived types are declared in Ada. \nAda, everything between the '--' symbol and the end of line is ignored by the com-piler. Text included in this manner may be used to explain the details of a program.

Subtypes and Derived Types in AdaTYPE day IS (mon. tue, wed, thu, fri, sat, sun); - an enumerated type.SUBTYPE weekday IS day RANGE mon. fri; - a subtype of the type day.

- values of type day may be stored into data elements of type weekday

- and conversely.

TYPE midweek IS NEW day RANGE tue.thu; - a new type derived from the

- type day. Values of type midweek may not be stored into data elements

- of type day or weekday. Similarly, values of type day and weekday may

- not be stored into data elements of type midweek.

SUBTYPE nibble IS integer RANGE 0.255; - a subtype of the type integer.

- values of type nibble may be stored into data elements of type integer

- and conversely.

TYPE byte IS NEW nibble; - a new type derived from the type nibble.

- values of type byte may not be stored into data elements of type

- nibble or integer. Similarly, values of type nibble and integer may

- not be stored into data elements of type byte.

ly typed data element. For example, youmay store a cardinal value in an integerdata element and a positive integer ina cardinal element. However, neither aninteger nor a cardinal may be stored ina real element. There is a slightly richerset of functions for making explicit typeconversions. In particular, the functionVAL allows you to recover enumeratedvalues from unsigned integers. Addi-tionally, certain types have a built-infunction that shares the type name andconverts input values of that type. Thedrawback of this feature is that it ap-pears to be system dependent becauseno computation can be performed inmaking the conversion. Consequently,use it with care if you intend to moveyour software from one system toanother.

Ada is similar to Modula-2 in its en-forcement of strict typing. For certainwell-defined types, there is a built-infunction that shares the type name andconverts input values into the particularvalues of that type. This means thatmany type conversions are reasonablyeasy. Moreover, the collection of typenames that can be used for sharing andconverting is well defined, and theresults are independent of any imple-mentation. All of this is a definite im-provement over Modula-2.

Ada's implicit type conversion isbased on the notion of a subtype. Whena type is created by placing restrictionson another one, it is called a subtype(see listing 1). Its values may be mixedwith expressions of the original type,and values of either type may be stored

in data elements on the other, as longas the constraints of the subtype are notviolated. While subtypes (called sub-ranges) exist in both Pascal andModula-2, Ada tries to make their mean-ing more precise.

Derived Tvpes andOverloading

Ada further refines strong typing by in-troducing the notion of a derived type: anexact copy of another logically distincttype (see listing 1). Derived types allowyou to have look-alike data types whosecorresponding data elements cannot beconfused with one another. In order tomake the derived type an exact copy ofthe original, Ada gives it logicallydistinct copies of each original opera-tion. While this feature seems reason-able at first, it has some undesirableside effects. To understand them, how-ever, we must first discuss anotherdistinctive Ada feature, overloading.

Two elements of your program areoverloaded if both are visible and have thesame name. In a strongly typed lan-guage, overloaded elements normallycannot be confused with one anotheras long as they have different types. Inspite of this, both Pascal and Modula-2prohibit overloading. Ada allows it, butonly for procedures and functions. AnAda procedure or function call mayrefer to any one of several routines withthe same name. The compiler thenchooses the correct one according tothe number of its parameters, the typeof each parameter, and the type, if any,of its return value.

Overloading is closely associated withanother distinctive Ada feature, theability to redefine basic operators suchas addition, subtraction, and multiplica-tion. To do this, you simply declare afunction that has the right number ofparameters and use the appropriatesymbol for its name. If you have defineda collection of operators, you can usethem in an expression with values of thecorrect type exactly as you would useany ordinary operator. One desirableconsequence of all this is that it lets youcreate versions of the basic operatorsthat mix types in a more or less ar-bitrary way.

Another less desirable consequenceof overloading comes from the rulesgoverning types in general and derivedtypes in particular. There is a set ofoperations for each type in your Adaprogram. Each set of operations is aprocedure or function with at least onetype-oriented parameter or return value.The operations belong to the typeeither because they were inherited bythe type or because both the type andthe operations set were declared in thevisible part of the same package.

Now consider the following situation.Types x\ and x2 are declared in pack-age x along with a procedure q whoseparameters are of type x\ and x2. Inpackage y, type y\ is derived from xl,and type yl is derived from x2. As men-tioned earlier, a derived type inherits acopy of each operation belonging to theoriginal type. Inside y there are now twoprocedures named q: one with param-eters of type y 1 and x2 belonging to y 1,and one with parameters of type xl andy2 belonging to y2 (see figure 1). Ofcourse, you probably wanted a pro-cedure with parameters of type y 1 andy2, but to get it you'd have to explicitlydeclare it. And that would not be theend of your problems. The literal valuesfor types xl and y\ are indistinguish-able, as are those for x2 and y2. So acall on q that substitutes a literal valuefor one of its parameters will be ambig-uous inside y. unless the literal value isappropriately qualified. What makesthis ambiguity especially frustrating isthat there is really only one procedureq. The copies are merely pseudonyms.Ambiguity regarding a literal value'stype is probably unavoidable. Neverthe-less, the automatic proliferation of over-loaded procedures and functions that

218 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

THREE LANGUAGES

occurs in the Ada language seems un-reasonable.

Initialization

The problem of initialization is relatedto strong typing and storage allocation.When you declare a data element, youoften might want to give it an initialvalue. Occasionally, you might evenwant to specify an initial value for alldata elements of a given type. Thiswould let you document importantproperties of such data elements. Forstack and heap elements, convenience,documentation, and control centraliza-tion are the major advantages providedby initial values. For main-memory dataelements, however, the initial value'sprimary virtue is efficiency, since theloader generates them from a map atrun time. If you don't generate them atthat time, you wind up with two copiesof each initial value in main memory.The list of hardware instructions thatmust be executed to initialize the dataelement will contain one copy, while thedata element itself will hold the otheronce the hardware instructions are ex-ecuted. In addition, there will be hard-ware instructions to write the value in-to the correct memory location. For alarge table of error messages, this couldlead to a significant increase in memoryrequirements.

Beyond some reasonably simple syn-tax extensions for declarations, astrongly typed language must havefacilities for creating structured con-stants if you want to implement initialvalues. Otherwise you can't describe theinitial values for compound data struc-tures such as records and arrays. Adais the only one of the three languagesthat supports either declarations orstructured constants. The decision notto include these features in Pascal andModula-2 presumably was motivated bya desire to keep the language as sim-ple as possible. Most Pascal implemen-tations have extensions in this area, butthey differ substantially and will causeproblems if you want software that iseasy to move from one system toanother.

Structured Control

The data elements in your program con-trol its behavior. Depending on theircontents, you may decide to examine aninput value, compute a new value for

one of them, or produce an outputvalue. Statement lists in the body of theprogram specify these actions in detail.Program execution is basically sequen-tial in nature. At any given instant, onlyone statement controls your program.Certain kinds of statements let youtransfer control to either a differentstatement list or to another statementwithin the same list. In the absence ofsuch explicit transfers, however, the pro-gram executes the statement list inorder, starting with the first one. Allthree languages provide essentially thesame facilities for dealing with this typeof deliberate, sequential control. Adaprovides two additional control mech-anisms, the rendezvous and the excep-tion, but both have serious flaws, andthe rendezvous is not an appropriateconstruct for a low-level systems imple-mentation language.

Sequential Control

All languages let you explicitly transfercontrol from one part of your programto another. The GOTO statement is themost primitive example of such a fea-ture. It lets you jump to a more or less

arbitrary location within the same list ofstatements. Often, a particular relation-ship between two or more data ele-ments, such as x + y = z, is consciouslypreserved for a number of consecutivestatements. Because you run the risk ofdestroying such relations whenever youjump into the middle of a list of state-ments, you should use GOTO state-ments sparingly. Good programminglanguages discourage explicit transfersby providing more structured methodsfor altering the flow of control, e.g., pro-cedures, functions, conditional state-ments, and looping constructs. Ada andModula-2 transfer control similarly andboth are a substantial improvementover Pascal.

In both Ada and Modula-2, a pro-cedure's or function's return statementlets you cut off its execution andtransfer control to the place where itwas called. However, when you invokethe return statement to get you out ofa function, you must always supply anappropriate return value. Unlike Pascal,neither Ada nor Modula-2 have a spe-cial data element that contains the

(continued)

OVERLOADING

PACKAGE x

TYPE

.rl

PROCEDURE v(USES rl AND xZ)

TYPE xZ

PACKAGE /

TYPE

fl

PROCEDURE i(USES yl AND xZ\

PROCEDURE n(USES ,2 AND »ll

TYPE

C2

Figure 1: Procedure q in package x has parameters of type xl and x2. Type yl inpackage y is derived from type xl. Type y2 is derived from type x2. As a result,package y contains two procedures named q. One has parameters of type yl andx2. The other has parameters of type y2 and xl. 1/ you want a procedure that doesthe same thing for yl and y2 that the original q does for xl and x2. you will haveto declare it yourself. 1/ you call it q, it will be overloaded with these two otherprocedures named q that you got for free.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 219

MICROPROCESSOR CHIPS-

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IB Counter Timer Circuit

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40 Parallel < ■- 0 interlace Controller

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28 Counter Timer Circuit

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48 CPU Segmented

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6500/6800/68000 SERIES —

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| External I Locking]iter Adapt (MC6f

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Prog DMAConiro!

Prog Interrupt Control

Prog CRT Controller

Prog KeyDoard/Oisplav Interlace

Cluck deiieraior/Driver . . .

a en Ffl State Bi Directional Trans

B twl Si Directional Receiver

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8 tut Bi Directional Receiver

Octal Latched Penonerai Driver

B-DitUniv Peripheral interlace

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DISK CONTROLLERS

Single DensitySingle/Dual Density(lnv )

.ji'^ir. r tortus Density ;liue)i;ij..ilL)eiiMtvSirjeStiluct(lnv ) . . .D.i.ii ijeiMty.'Side Select True

SPECIAL FUNCTION

Dual MOS Ckxk Driver (5MZ)Dual MOS Clock Driver (5MZ)Communication Chip .Floppy Disk Read Amp SyslemMicroprocessor Real Time ClockMicro Compatible Time ClockMicrocontroller w/64-drgil RAMand Oirecl LED DriveMicroprocessor w/64-digit RAM& Direct LED Drive w/N Buss int32-seg VAC Fluor Drvr (ZO-pmpkg )Prog Oscillator/Divider l60Hz)Prog OscilWw/Drvidep UOOHiJ

24 959.9b24 95

Part No

1103

4027

4116N 2

4116N-3

41I6N-*

4164N 150

4I64N-200

MMb^bi

MM 5262

MMb270

MM5280

41256

VWi.'JU <MM^'ylJ ,MM',:■'■"■: -1

'•**% QYNAMIC RAMS

18 1024x1 (300ns)

16 4096x1 (250ns)

16 16 384x1 [150ns)

16 16.384x1(200ns)

16 16 384x1(250ns)

16 65.536x1 (150ns)

16 65.536x1 (200ns)

18 1024x1 (300ns)

22 2048x1 (365n»)

IB 4096x1 |2S0ns)MK4096

22 4096x1 I200ns)2107

16 256*1 lloOftil

16 16 384x1 (150ns)

16 16 384x1 (200ns)

16 16 384x1 (250ns)

16 8192x1 1200ns)

STATIC RAMS

<650ns)

2.49

1 89 8/14 951 69 B/12 951 49 8/10 956 95 8/49 955 95-8/44 9549-8/1 95. . . .104 95

2114L2114-22114L-2

5101

MM5257

HM6116P3

HM6116P4

HM6U6LP4

HMrj,VP 13

HMh,--h-lL i-' !-j

27LSOO

7489

74C920

74C921

74C929

74C930

74S169

74S200

74S206

74S289

82S10

82S25

18 1024x4

20 1024.4

22 25b>4

18 4096-1

(450ns)Bi01(350ns)(450ns)L P(450ns)81n|450ns) MOS1450ns)(450ns)L P(200ns)(20Ons)L P170ns|(70ns)(450ns|(450ns

1 49 8/9 951 95 B/13 95

1 75 8/11 95

2 25 8/14 95

(450ns) CMOS(450ns)404424 iwoxa 1150ns) CMOS24 2048x8 (200ns)CMOS24 2048-8 (200ns)L P CMOS28 8192x8 "

CMOS

(150ns) LP CMOS(80ns)L P(50ns)3l0lfeSOM)(250ns>CMOS■^^On^iCWlOS 16501);,':.Hri-.i!,MQS(651Bj(35ns| 93405(80nsl 93410(60ns]93411(35ns)3101

piini)0 C (93415)|50ns)0X (74S289)

PROMS/EPROMS

22 296x4

18 256.4

16 1024.

18 1024x

1024x1

1702A

24

n

256x81024.8

(tai)

(450ns)

4 95395

2708 5

74

1024x8

(550ns)SMO0246

TMS2516

74

2048x8

(450ns)2716

TMS2532

M

4936x8

(■ViOr-.-i NMC2532

IMS2564

78

B192.8

TMS2M6

H

t'C48>8

(450ns| 3 voltage

2716

74

2048xB

(450ns)

2716-1

?*

2048xB

(350ns|

27160-5

?4

204fl*8

(550ns|

2732

24

4096x8

|450ns)

74

4096.8

(300ns)

2732A4

74

4096x8

(450ns)21V

273204

M

4096.8

(550ns)

2758Q A

74

1024x8

(450ns)

n

fl!y;..B

(450ns)

2764-3

n

u^/.b

1300ns |

MMS204Q

74

512x8 (

8192.8

M

16 384x8 |450ns) 12BK EPROM

7D95

IB

32>8

PRDMOC 16330-1)

74S287

16

256x4

PROMT S (5301 1)

lit

32x8

PROM I S (6331-1)

16

256.4

PROMO C (6300-1)

256.8

PROM T S (6309 1)

74S472

M

512x8

PROM T S (6349 1)

4 95

512x8

PROM DC (6348)

74

512xB

PROMT S (DM8/S296N

4 95

74S475

74

512x8

PROMO C (634D)

4 95

74S476

11

1024x4

PROM T S

74S478

n

1024x8

PROM I S

74S570

16

st2*«

PfiOMOC (6306)

74S571

16

512x4

PROM T S (6306)

1R

1024x4

PROMO C (6352)

1024-4

PROMT S (B2S137)

16

32x8

PROMOC (27S18)

2 95

74

512>8

PROMT S (27S15)

9 95

16

32x8

PROMT S (27S19)

2 95

82S126

16

256x4

PROMO C (27S20)

lb

256x4

PROMT S (27S21)

16

512x4

PROMO C (27S12I

395

B2S185

16

2048.4

PROMT S (TBP24S81)

82S190

74

2048x8

(80ns)

74

^'048*8

(80ns)

74

1024x8

PROMO C (82S180)

99;

DltSTSIBtli

74

1024x8

PROMT S (B2S181)

16

20-18x4

PROMO C (82S1B4)

DM«/S1B5N

18

?048.4

PROMT S.(82S185)

9 9;

DM87S190N

74

2048.4

PROMO C |B2S190i

0M87S191N

24

2048x8

PROMT S (82S1911

□CIO

Moslek DC/DC Convert *-5VtO-9V

2 95

MC34 70P

16 Floppy Dis

ii,:.n- ■■'.vp System

4 9!:

MC1408L7

16

niin'ACcrv.;.-!.- ;DAC0a0/LLN)

1 4ti

MC1408L8

16

OH D/A Convener (DAC0808LCN)

2 21

A0C0803LCN 20 8 bit A/D Convener (± 1/2LSB)

4 9£

ADC0804

76

bit A/D Convener (1LSB]

3 4i

JAC0806

16

till U/A Converter (0 78% Lin )

AUC0B09

28 BbitA/D Converter (8-Ch Multi ]

4 4£

ADC0817

408 bil A/DConverter (irj-Ch Multi )

HM

0AC1000

24

Obit D/A Con. Micro Comp (0 05°

) /Hi

DAC1008

70

O-Dit D/A Conv Micro Comp (0 20%) 6 9?

DAC1020

16

0 bitD/AConv (0 05% Lin )

'Hi

DAC1022

16

0-bit D/A Conv (0 20% Lin |

59;

DAC1222

IN

2-brt D/A Conv (0 20% Lin |

B9t

LM3342

onstant Current Source

1 IS

LM3352

em per ati

eTransducer

1 4{

LM399H

emp Comp Prec Ret ( 5ppm/C)

b 01

AY-5-1013A

40 30K8aurJUirt(TR1602)

i a;

LOW PROFILE(TIN) SOCKETS

1-9 10 W 100-up

SOLDERTAIL(GOLD)STANDARD

6W

ITTTTrT

WW

SOLDERTAILSTANDARD (TIN)

19 10-99 100-up

WIRE WRAP SOCKETS(GOLD) LEVEL #3

I 85

110.00 Minimum Order — U.S. Funds OnlyCalifornia Residents Add 6'/2% Sales TaxShipping — Add 5% plus $1.50 InsuranceSend S.A.S.E. lor Monthly Sales Flyer!

Spec Sheets — 30c eachSend S1.00 Postage tor yourFREE 1984 JAMECO CATALOGPrices Subject to Change

lameco

ELECTRONICS

ViSA'

DT1050 — Applications: Teaching aids,appliances, clocks, automotive, telecommunica-tions, language translations, etc.

The DT1050 is a standard DIGITALKER kit encoded with 137 separateand uselul words, 2 tones, and 5 different silence durations. Thewords and tones have been assigned discrete addresses, making Itpossible lo output single words or words concatenated Into phrasesor even sentences The voice' output of the DT105O is a highly inteiilgible male voice Female and children's voices can be synthesized The vocabulary is chosen so that It is applicable to many pro-ducts and markets

The DT1050 consists ol a Speech Processor Chip, MM54104 (40-pin)and two (2) Speech ROMs MM52164SSR1 and MM52164SSR2 (24 pin)along with a Master Word list and a recommended schematicdiagram on the application sheet

DT1050 Digitalker™ $34.95 ea.

MM54104 Processor Chip $14.95 ea

DT1057- Expands Ihe DT1050 vocabulary Irom 137 lo over 260

words. Includes 2 ROMs and specs

PartNo. DT1057 $24.95 63,

BIMli^OiL

Part No

'•Pins Function

WblPI

7045£WKil*

7106CPL

FE0203D

7106EV/KIP

7107CPL

71Q7Ev7Kit-

7I16CPL

7201IUS

7205IPG

7205£V/Kif

?206CJPt

7206CEV/Kit-

?207AIPD

72Q7AEV/KH-

72151PG

721S£V/K)f

7216AUI

721601PI

7217IJI

7217AIPI

7224IPL

7226AEV'Kit*

CMOS Precision Time'

SlOPwatchCnip. XTL

311 Digit A/D(LCD Drive)

3V: Digit LCD Display tor 7106 & 7116

IC Circuit Board Display

yi? DigitA/D(L£D Drive)

IC Circuit Board Display

3V;Dig>tAr-Di.CD0iS HLD

low Battery Volt indicator

CMOS LED Slopwdlch/ timer

Stopwatch Chip. XTL

Tone Generator

Tone General or Cfwp XTL

0 scil la lor Controller

l-req Counter Chip. XTL

4Func CMOS Stopwalch CKT

4 Func Stopwatch Chip XTL

5 Digit Unrv Counter C ABDigil Freq Counter C C

4 Digit LED Up/ Down Counter C A4 Digit LED Up/Down Counter C CLCD 4Vr D-git Up Counter OBIb Function Counier Chip XTL

34.9511 9b29 9516952 251295

130009 1963 INTERSIL Data Book ii356o )

$9.95|

74HC High Speed CMOS

7*HC00

74HC02

74HC03

74HC04

74HCU04

74HC08

74HC10

74HC11

74HC14

74HC20

74HC2)"

74HC30

74HC32

74HC42

74HC51

74HC58

74HC3

?4HC74

74HC75

74HC76

74HC85

74HCBS

74HC107

74HC1Q3

74HC112

74HC113

74HC125

74HC132

74HC13-7

74HC13H

U

74HC139

/4HCT47 It

74HCI51 IB

MHCtM 16

PHHC154 !4

74HC157 It

74HC15B 16

?4HC160 IS

74HC161 16

74HC162 16

74HC163 16

JMHC164 14

'4HC165 16

-■4HC166 IB

74HCI73 16

74HC1/4 IB

74HCt75 16

74HCI92 16

74HCI93 II

74HC194 IB

74MC195 16

MHC237 16

74KC24D M

74HC241 20

74HC242 14

74HC243 14

74HC244 W

74HC245 20

74HC25! 1674HCU04 i;

'4HC25J74HC25774HC25974HC26674HC27374HC2B0?4MC29974HC36674HC367-•4HC37374HC37474HC39074HC39374HC53374HC534MHC595MHG68B

74HC400274HC401/74HC402074HC402474HC4U4U74HC406U74HC407S74HC407B74HC451174MC4514

74HC4543

74C0074C0274C0474C0B74C1074C1474C2074C3074C3274C4274C4874C7374C7474C8574C8674CB974C9074C93

EBE

74C24U74C244

ib

n

i 95

1 951 95

74C373

m

2 49

74C374

74C901

14

59

74C903

14

74C906

14

59

74C911

78

8 95

Id

1 19

74C912

28

8 95

1 19

74C915

74C9I7

in

8 95

74C922

is

4 49

1 19

74C923

10

4 95

1 19

74C925

18

5 95

74C92b

18

1 69

80C95

ii

69

74C195

16

1 39

80C97

14

1355 SHOREWAY ROAD, BELMONT, CA 940028/84 PHONE ORDERS WELCOME — (415) 592-8097 Telex: 176043

TLD71CP

TL072CP

TL074CN I

TL081CP

TL082CP

TL084CN I

LM30ICN

LM302H

LM304H

LM305K

LM307CN

LM308CN

LM309K

LM310CN

LM311CN

LM312H

LM317T

LM317K

LM318CN

LM319N

LM320K5

LM320K12

LM320K15

LM320K-24

LM320T-5

LM320T 12

LM320T 15

LM320T24

LM322N

LM323K

LM324N

LM329DZ

LM331N

LM3342

LM335Z

LM336Z

LM337MP

LM337T

LM33SK

LM339N

LIW340K-5

LM340K 12

LM340K 15

LM340K24

LM340T-5

LM340T 12

LMMOT-IS

LM340T-24

LM341P5

LM341P-12

LM341P15

LM342P5

LM342P12

LM342P-15

LF347N

LM348N

14

LM3S0K

LF351N

I

LF353W

1

LF355N

1

LF356N

a

LM358N

8

LM359N

14

LM370N

14

LM373N

14

LM377N

14

LMJBOCN

1

LM380N

14

LM381N

14

LM382M

14

LM3B4N

LMJBijN 3

1

LM3B7N

a

LM3SUN

IB

LM391N-8U

IS

LM392N

a

LM398N

8

LM399H

TL494CN

18

TL496CP

8

NE531V

a

NE544N

NE550A

14

NE555V

8

XRL555

8

LM556N

14

NE564N

rl

LM5B5N

14

LM566CN

a

LMWV

NE570N

18

NE571N

18

LM7D3CN

8

LMfUSN

14

LM710N

14

LM711N

14

LM723N

14

LM733N

LM739N

14

LM741GN

LM747N

LM74BN

LM1310N

MC1330AI

MC1349

MCI350

MCI358

LM14S6V

LM1458CN

LMt488N

LM1489N

LM149UN

LH1605CK

LM1800N

LM1871N

LM1872N

LM1877N-9

LM18B9N

LM1896N

LM2002T

ULN2fX)3A

XR2206

XR220''

XR220B

XR2211

LM2877P

LM2878P

LM2901N

LM2902N

LM290(,N

LM390UN

LM3905CN

LM3909N

LM3914N

LM3915N

LM3916N

HC4T36N

AC4151NB

RC4194TK

HC4195TK

LM4250CN

LM4500A

NE5532

NE5534

79M05

ICL8038B

LM130B0N

30003 1982 Nat. Linear Data Book (1952 pgs) $11.95

220 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 168 on inquiry card.

Commodore

RS232 ADAPTER FORVIC-20 AND COMMODORE 64

@

The JE232CM allows connection of standard serial RS232

printers, modems, etc. to your VIC-20 and C-64. A 4-poleswitch allows the inversion of the 4 control lines. Com-plete installation and operation instructions included.

■ Plugs into User Port • Provides Standard RS232 signallevels ■ Uses 6 signals (Transmit. Receive, Clear to Send,Request to Send. Data Terminal Ready, Data Set Ready)

JE232CM $39.95

VOICE SYNTHESIZERFOR APPLE AND COMMODORE

JE520AP

JE520CM

• Over 250 word vocabulary-affixes allow the formation of morethan 500 words • Built-in amplifier, speaker, volume control, andaudio jack • Recreates a clear, natural male voice • Plug-in userready with documentation and sample software • Case size:7V4"L x 3'/4"W x 1-3/8"H

APPLICATIONS:

• Security Warning

• Teaching

• Instrumentation

• Telecommunication

• Handicap Aid

• Games

The JE520 VOICE SYNTHESIZER will plug right into yourcomputer and allow you to enhance almost any applica-tion. Utilizing National Semiconductor's DlGITALKERSpeech Processor IC (with four custom memory chips),the JE520 compresses natural speech into digital mem-ory including the original inflections and emphases. Theresult is an extremely clear, natural vocalization.Part No. Description Price

JE520CM For Commodore 64 & VIC-20 $114.95

JE520AP For Apple ll, ll+, and He $149.95

JE664 EPROM PROGRAMMER

8K to 64K EPROMS - 24 & 28 Pin Packages

Completely Self-Contiined - Requires No Additional Systems lor Operation

■ Programs and validates EPROMs ■ Checks lor properly erased EPROMs- Emulates PROMs or EPROMs ■ RS232C Computer Interlace lor editing andprogram loading ■ Loads data into RAM by keyboard ■ Changes dala in RAMby keyboard • Loads RAW from an EPROM ■ Corn pares EPROMs for contentdifferences ■ Copies EPROMs ■ Power Input 115VAC. 60Hz. less than IOWpower consumption ■ Enclosure Color-coord mated, light tan panels withmolded end pieces in mocha brown -Size i5VLx8VDx3VH -Weight:5*. lbs.

The JE664 EPROM Programmer emulates and programs various 8-Bit Word EPROMs from 8K loMK-Brl memory capacity Data can be eniered hWUnJuWll internal 8K18-&t RAM M three*ays: (1! from a ROM or EPROM. (2) from an erternai computer via me orjnonai JE665 RS232CBfflj i'ii '<i)rn its panel keyboard The JBBW'ilfMMt may be accessed ft" emulation p*fB0SeSNor'i i'ii: [i.mei ■■, t(!si sot;kH in ,i.-. internal microprocessor In programming and emuiahon irseJE.664 allows lor examination, cftange and validation ol program content. The JE664s RAMscan Be programmed quickly loan "T"s (or any value), allowing unused addresses in trie EPROMlo be programmed later wilhoul necessity ol "UV" erasing The JE&64 displays DATA andADDRESS rn tonvenrenl hexadecimal (alphanumeric) formal A "DISPLAY cPHQM DATA"button changes Itte DATA readoul Irom RAM word to EPROM word and is displayed in bothhexadecimal and binary code The fronl panel lealures a convenient operating guide The JE664Programmer includes one JM16A Jumper Module (as listed Below)

JE664-A EPROM Proflnmmer $995.00

Assembled 4 Tested (includes JM16A Module)

JE665 - RS232C INTERFACE OPTION - The HS23ZC Interface Option implements

(.uriipuler .lici::.-, lo Hip JEliM ■, fiAM Ihn, ..illows Ihe computer (0 manipulate, store andlranslerEPHOMdaiatoandtrom(heJE664 A wmple program listing is supplied in MBASIC torCP.'M computers Documentation is provided lo adapl the software lo other computers wiin anRS232 port 9600 Baud, 8-BH word, odd parity and 2 stop oils

FOR A LIMITED TIME A SAMPLE OF SOFTWARE WRITTEN IN BASIC FORTHE TRS-80' MODEL I, LEVEL II COMPUTER WILL ALSO BE PROVIDED

JE664-ARS EPROM Prog. W/JE665 Option $1195.00

Assembled & Tested (Includes JM16A Module)EPROM JUMPER MODULES - The J£664's JUMPER MODULE (Personality Module) is aplug-m Module thai presets the JE664 lor Itie pioper programming pulses to the EPROM andconligures the EPROM socket connections lor lhal particular EPROM

EMM* MWtNtn lmeh

ma

AML •.•■'...:„ Hal ■-..- ll

in ■-.

Intel Motorola NX.. NtC II

AMu YHHt*. Mrattk

11*95

>V Mmoroto. II

SI4 95

MotoroU fl HrtadH. OKI

(1495

amd. fupiisj. NEC. mucin huh.

JU95

FujrtS el

11495

l*W(ita

Jl*95

hum r.i.iM,™ OKI

JlJ'.r,

ProModem 1200

PROMETHEUS

Intelligent 300/1200 Baud

Telephone Modem withReal Time Clock/Calendar

The ProModem'' is a Bell 212A (300/1200 baud) intelli-gent stand-alone modem ■ Full featured expandablemodem • Standard features include Auto Answer andAuto Dial. Help Commands, Programmable IntelligentDialing, Touch Tone™ and Pulse Dialing & More • Hayescommand set compatible plus an additional extendedcommand set ■ Additional options & models available

PM1200 $375.00

KEYBOARDS

* i MuUJXr

13V'Lx4V'Wx VH

New!

16-9/161X6VWX1VH

Nationally KnownManufacturer!

21 V L x9 8" Wx 3»"H

New

Mitsumi 54-Key UnencodedMatrix All-Purpose Keyboard

■ SPST keyswitches ■ 20 pin ribbon cable connec-tion • Low profile keys ■ Features: cursor controls,control, caps (lock), function, 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 switch-ing • Operates in upper and lower case ■ Five userfunction keys F1-F5 ■ Six finger edge card connec-tion • Color (keys): tan ■ Weight: 2 lbs ■ Data mcl.

KB76 $29.95

106-KEY 8-BIT SERIAL ASCIIKEYBOARD

■ The terminals were designed lo be daisy chainedaround a central host computet and used as indi-vidual work stations ■ Hall effect switching ■ numericand cursor keypad * 10 user definable keys ■ 50"interface cable with 9-pin sub-miniature connector

■ 7 LED function displays • Security lock ■ N-key roll-over ■ Automatic key repeat function ■ Color: (case):white w/black panel—(key caps): grey and blue- Weight: 6'2 lbs. ■ Data included.

KB139 $59.95

68-Key Keyboard with NumericKeypad for Apple II and II+

■ Plugs directly into Apple II or II +■ motherboard with16-pin ribbon cable connector -26 special func-tions • Color (keys): white/grey • Weight 2 lbs

KB-A68 $99.95

POWER SUPPLIES

TRANSACTION TECHNOLOGY, INC.5VDC @ 1 AMP Regulated Power Supply

•Output +5VDC® 1.0 amp (also +30VDC regulated) ■ Input 115VAC, 60 Hz■ Two-tone (black/beige) self-enclosed case ■ 6 foot. 3-conductor blackpower cord • Size: S's'1 L x 7" W x 2V H • Weight: 3 lbs.

PS51194 $14.95

New!

Power/Mate Corp. REGULATED POWER SUPPLY

■ Input: 105-125/210-250 VAC at 47-63 Hz ■ Line regulation: '0.05%-Threemounting surfaces • Overvoltage protection - UL recognized • CSA certifiedPart No. Output Size- Weight Price

EMA5/6B

EMA5/6C

5V@3A/6V@2.5A 4VL x4"Wx2WW 2 lbs. S29.955V@6A/6V@5A 5VL x 4VW x 2VH 4 lbs. $39.95

POWER SUPPLY +5VDC « 7.6 AMR 12VDC @ 1.5 AMP SWITCHING

■ Input H5VAC, 50-60HZ $ 3 amp/23QVAC. 50Hz Q 1 6 amp • Fan vol 17power supply

PS94VOS $39.95

KEPCO/TDK 4-OUTPUT SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY

■ Ideal for disk drive needs of CRT terminals, microcomputers andvideo games ■ Input: 115/230VAC, 50/60Hz • Output: +5V@ 5 Amp, +12V@1.8 Amp, +12V @ 2 Amp, -12V @ 05 Amp ■ UL recognized -CSA certified

■ Size. 7^"L x 6-3/16"W x 1 VH • Weight: 2 lbs.

MRM 174KF $59.95

POWER PAC INC. REGULATED POWER SUPPLY

- Perfect for computer systems- Output +5VDC^+12VDC 9 2 Amps, 12VDC ffi 0.5 Amp andvoltage protection ■ Size: 12VL x e^'W x 4VH ■

PS2922 $69.95

11 Amps. -5VDC@1 Amp,24VDC 8 3 Amps ■ Over-Weight: 17 fbs. ■ Spec incl.

4-CHANNEL SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY

• Microprocessor, mini-computer, terminal, medical equipment and processcontrol applications • Input: 90-130VAC. 47-440HZ ■ Output. +5VDC @ 5A,-5VDC@1 A; +12VDC® 1 A, -12VDC @ 1A ■ Line regulations: • 0.2%- Ripple:30mV p-p -Load regulation: M% ■ Overcurrent protection ■ Adj: 5V mainoutput * 10% -Size: 6Vlx 1VW x 4-l5/16"H -Weight: I1* lbs

FCS-604A $69.95 each

Switching Power Supply for APPLE li, 11+ & //e"

■ Can drive four floppy disk drives and up to eight expansion cards

■ Short circuit and overload protection ■ Fits inside Apple computer

■ Fully regulated +5V ffi 5A, +12V® 1.5A. -5V @ .5A. -12V@.5A

• Direct plug-in power cord included • Size: 9VL x 3Mt°W x 2VH

• Weight: 2 lbs.

KHP4007 $79.95

$10.00 Minimum Order — U.S. Funds OnlyCalifornia Residents Add 6Vi% Sales TaxShipping — Add 5% plus $1.50 InsuranceSend S.A.S.E. tor Monthly Sales Flyer!

Spec Sheets — 30c eachSend $1.00 Postage for yourFREE 19B4 JAMECO CATALOGPrices Subject to Change

ameco

ELECTRONICS

VISA*

1355 SHOREWAY ROAD, BELMONT, CA 940023/84 PHONE ORDERS WELCOME — (415) 5928097 Telex: 176043

Fiberoptics

| The EDU-LINK Learning Kit

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result of the function. Consequently, thefunction cannot return an uninitializeddata value. If you reach the end of afunction before executing a return state-ment, the program generates a run-timeerror. This makes it much easier toguarantee that the generated value isappropriate.

In both Ada and Modula-2, an exitstatement within a program loop allowsyou to cut off its execution and transfercontrol to the next statement beyond it.In Ada you can label a loop, and youcan exit from any one of several nestedloops by supplying the correct label. InModula-2, however, you cannot labelloops, and there is no easy way to cur-tail an outer loop. The exit statementalways terminates the innermost loop,as it does in Ada when the programdoesn't supply a label.

Of the three languages, only Modula-2has no GOTO statement. The availabili-ty of exit and return statements makesthem unnecessary. However, Ada hasretained them. The Modula-2 exit state-ment, on the other hand, is too restric-tive, and the Ada construct seems moreappropriate. In fact, it might be betterif an exit statement always required alabel. This would prevent problemsfrom arising when one loop is insertedwithin another after it's written.

A final difference between the threelanguages has to do with the handlingof statement lists. When you write aloop in Ada or Modula-2, the body ofthe loop is assumed to contain a list ofstatements. The same is true for eachbranch of a conditional or case state-ment. In Pascal, on the other hand, mostof these constructs require a singlestatement, which can, if necessary, bea list of statements enclosed within abegin-end pair. The absence of explicitbegin-end bracketing in Ada andModula-2 creates the need for a way toterminate the corresponding statementlist. Ada has introduced three newtokens, end if, end case, and end loop,while Modula-2 has simply reused thereserved word end for all three. TheAda solution is often helpful in pin-pointing the cause of syntax errors.

Exception Handling

Exceptions are conditions you wish toexclude from normal processing con-siderations. They are normally the result

[continued]

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THREE LANGUAGES

of an unlikely set of circumstances thatmay or may not represent an error.Many times a particular exception canarise at almost any point during the ex-ecution of your program, and youwould like to be able to deal with itwithout continually testing for it. A hard-ware interrupt, especially one caused byan arithmetic error such as dividing byzero, is a perfect example of this typeof exception. Since the hardware mustcheck for it, additional software testsmay be wasteful. A mechanism forhandling exceptions should probably berated by its ability to deal with this kindof hardware interrupt.

Of the three languages, only Ada hasattempted to solve the problem of ex-ception handling. At the end of eachfunction or procedure, and at certainother points in your program, you candefine an exception handler. It is essen-tially a case statement containing onebranch for each exception you are will-ing to handle. Exceptions must be

declared and you may activate one atany point in your program by executinga raise statement that references it.When an exception is raised during theexecution of a procedure or function,by the routine itself, by another routinethat it called, or by the hardware, theappropriate branch of its exceptionhandler is invoked.

Once a routine has dealt with an ex-ception, it must return control to the listof statements that called it. You can pre-vent the exception from propagating,but you can't fix things up and returnto the place where the exception oc-curred. For this reason, Ada exceptionshave only marginal value. They will beadequate for many situations, but theyaren't useful enough to justify an expen-sive implementation.

Task Management

As mentioned earlier, most program ex-ecution is sequential. If you wish tosimultaneously execute more than one

statement sequence you need to createa separate task or process. You alsoneed to control it once you create it. Atany given moment, there is a potential-ly different statement in control of eachtask in your program. If your programcontains more than one active task, acollection of statements (rather than justone) determine its behavior. A task mayor may not be active, and an active taskmay or may not be executing on a pro-cessor. Active tasks must share the avail-able processors. If there are several pro-cessors, then several tasks may be ex-ecuting at once. Otherwise there will beonly one.

Pascal has no task-management facil-ities. Modula-2 allows you to createthem by calling the procedure NEW-PROCESS and to control them by call-ing the procedure TRANSFER, whichsuspends the execution of one task andresumes the execution of another at thepoint where you last left it. Both of

{continued)

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THREE LANGUAGES

these routines, as well as the type PRO-CESS, are contained in the specialmodule called SYSTEM, and little is saidabout their implementation. Ada, on theother hand, has defined an elaborateset of tasking facilities.

An Ada task is activated along withthe part of your program that containsits declaration, and it must be ter-minated before that part of your pro-gram can be deactivated. If it's declaredwithin a procedure or function, a copyof the task will be activated each timethe routine is called, and this copy mustterminate before the call can complete.If you don't want the task to run to com-pletion, you can terminate it explicitlywith an ABORT statement.

To communicate with an Ada task youmust declare one or more entries for it.When you declare an entry you specifyonly its name and parameter structure.An accept statement within the body ofyour task associates a list of statementswith the entry and thus defines its

meaning. If there is an outstanding callon the entry, it will be executed and thecaller will be activated. Otherwise thetask suspends execution until the entryis called. If an entry is called before theaccept statement is executed, the callis queued along with any others that arepending for that entry and the caller issuspended. The pairing of a call and anaccept statement is called a rendez-vous. Special syntax allows you to ac-cept one of several possible entries andto make conditional calls on an entry.The Ada tasking model is complexand cumbersome. It has lots of featuresand not much flexibility. As a result, itwill be costly to implement and not veryuseful. And to top it off, the problemsassociated with updating shared dataelements are dealt with only as an after-thought. The moral of this story is thatelaborate tasking models have no placein a systems-implementation language.A few simple mechanisms are needed,not a complicated structure.

Modularity

You can partition almost any large soft-ware system into reasonably small, self-contained units, or modules—each witha number of related data elements andthe procedures and functions neededto manipulate them. If you have careful-ly defined and suitably restricted themodule interfaces, you will be able tocode and debug them independently.As a general rule, focusing on individualmodules reduces the number of vari-ables you have to contend with at anygiven moment and makes the system asa whole easier to design, debug, andmaintain. Moreover, to the extent thatyou can overlap work on several partsof the system, less time will be requiredto implement it.

Pascal discourages modular design bypreventing you from breaking up yourimplementation. In the first place, youmust group your declarations as follows:label declarations, followed by type

(continued)

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THREE LANGUAGES

declarations, then variable declarations,and finally, procedure and functiondeclarations. This makes it virtually im-possible to group functionally relatedelements. In the second place, there areno mechanisms for splitting your pro-gram into smaller pieces for separateencoding. Everything you do is part ofa single program, and data files are theonly mechanism for communicating be-tween separate programs.

As its name implies, modularity is astrong point of Modula-2. A Modula-2module contains data elements, pro-cedures, and functions, all of which aredeclared within its scope. You must ex-plicitly export any elements you needsomewhere else, and you must explicitlyimport any external elements you needinside. A module that is not containedwithin another is called a library

module. You may declare a librarymodule all at once, in which case it iscalled a program module. Alternative-ly, you may declare it in two stages. Thefirst stage is called a definition module.In it you declare only those portions ofthe module that are visible from theoutside. Procedures and functions maybe introduced but not fully declared.The second stage is called an imple-mentation module. You use it to com-plete your declaration of the elementsyou introduced in the correspondingdefinition module. Additionally, youdeclare any other elements that may berequired. A definition module and itsimplementation module need not im-port the same external elements (seelisting 2). This lets library modules serveeach other without creating circular de-

{continued)

Listing 2: This listing shows a pair of library modules that depend on each other.The implementation of module a makes use of procedure q in module b, while theimplementation of module b makes use of procedure p in module a. \n Pascal andModula-2 everything between the symbols "(*" and "*)" is ignored by the compiler.

DEFINITION MODULE a;

EXPORT QUALIFIED p:

PROCEDURE p(x: 1NTEGERI;END a.DEFINITION MODULE b;

EXPORT QUALIFIED q;

PROCEDURE q(x,y: INTEGER);END b.IMPLEMENTATION MODULE a:

FROM b IMPORT q:

PROCEDURE p(x: INTEGER);

BEGIN(• statements defining the behavior of p "I

END p:

PROCEDURE rlx: INTEGER);

BEGINI* statements defining the behavior of r *)q(x,4): (* a call on the procefure q from module b *){* more statements defining the rest of r •)

END r;BEGIN

(" statements for initializing a •)END a.IMPLEMENTATION MODULE b;

FROM a IMPORT p:

PROCEDURE q(x,y: INTEGER);

BEGIN

[• statements defining the behavior of p *|

END q;

PROCEDURE r(x: INTEGER):

BEGIN(* statements defining the behavior of r *)p(2): (* a call on the procedure p from module a *)(* more statements defining the rest of r •)

END r;BEGIN

(' statements for initializing a *)END b.

228 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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THREE LANGUAGES

pendencies in their definition modules.All of the Modula-2 compilers 1 knowimplement the following mechanism toallow one library module to use the ex-ported element of another. When adefinition module is compiled, a file iscreated that contains a summary of itsdeclarations and a timestamp that wasgenerated by the compiler. This sum-mary file is used to establish correct typ-ing information for any elements thatare imported by other library modules

(see listing 3). It is also used when theimplementation module is compiled. Inboth cases, the timestamp contained init is copied to the resulting code file,and run-time checks guarantee that allcode referring to the definition modulewas compiled using the same summaryfile. Since the functionality provided bythis mechanism is a requirement of thelanguage, Modula-2 is excellent for mod-ular decomposition of large systems.An Ada package equates to a Modula-2

Listing 3: When a definition module is compiled, a summary file is produced thatcontains a timestamp. When a module imports anything from another module, thecompiler uses information from the appropriate summary file to insure correct usage.When an implemenation module is compiled, the timestamp from its definition moduleis included in the resulting code file, along with timestamps for any imported modules.At load time, all copies of the timestamp for a particular module must agree.

DEFINITION MODULE a;

EXPORT QUALIFIED p:

PROCEDURE plx.y: INTEGERI;END a.

The summary file resulting from this definition module contains a timestamp whose value, for instance, is v\.

MODULE b;

FROM a IMPORT p;

(* declarations for b *)BEGIN

(* statements initializing b "I

p(32,2l; (* calls the procedure p from module a *)

(• other statements defining the behavior of b *)END b.

The code tile for module b contains a copy ol the timestamp value 111. The compiler obtained this value from thesummary file for module a because o\ the import statement at the beginning of b.

IMPLEMENTATION MODULE a;

PROCEDURE plx.y: INTEGERI:

BEGINI* statements defining the behavior of p •]

END p;BEGIN

(• statements initializing the module a *)END a.

The code file tor this implementation module contains the timestamp value vl. The compiler obtained this valuefrom the summary tile for module a. The implementation module may be changed and recompiled. As long as itagrees with the description contained in the summary tile, there will be no need to recompile module b.

DEFINITION MODULE a:

EXPORT QUALIFIED p:

PROCEDURE plx: INTEGERI:END a.

The summary file resulting from this definition module contains a timestamp whose value v2 is not equal to vl.

IMPLEMENTATION MODULE a;

PROCEDURE plx: INTEGER):

BEGINI* statements defining the behavior of p *)

END p:BEGIN

(* statements initializing the module a *|END a.

The code file for this implementation module contains the timestamp value v2. The compiler obtained this valuefrom the summary file for the second definition module. The module b must now be changed and recompiledbefore it can be used with this new version of module a.

module, except for the way you makeelements visible externally. All elementsdeclared in a package specification (theAda equivalent of a definition module)are assumed to be visible outside thepackage unless they are declared in itsprivate part. In Ada you must explicitlyhide an element, while in Modula-2 youmust explicitly make it public.

In Modula-2 a compilation unit mustbe a library module. In Ada it may bea procedure, a function, or a package,and it may or may not be declared with-in another compilation unit. Ada'sgenerality adds little to the overall capa-bilities of the language but does in-crease the compiler's cost by making itmore difficult to implement. The facilitiesprovided by Modula-2 seem adequatefor most applications, and anything lesswould certainly be unacceptable.

One final point on modularity. In Adayou may demand in-line expansion forselected procedures and functions. Youcan thus implement new arithmeticoperators and have the compiler gen-erate the code for them in line, exactlyas it would for normal arithmetic oper-ators. Since this code can make useof any resource within the package thatdeclared the operator, it can create ex-ternal dependencies on routines anddata elements of the package that aresupposed to be hidden. If you changethe implementation of such a packagein any way, you must recompile everycompilation unit that uses one of its in-line routines. It would be better if Adarequired you to supply a completedefinition for any such routine in thepublic part of its package. However, thisis not only not required, it's not allowed.

Abstract Typing

When combined with modules or pack-ages, strong typing provides a fine toolfor creating data structures that havespecific, well-defined properties. How-ever, strong typing is representa-tion-oriented by its very nature. It is in-evitably tied to the production of typesand data structures rather than to theirconsumption. Another form of typing,which I shall call abstract typing, has todo with consumption rather than pro-duction. It comes into play when youwish to write a program dealing withdata structures having certain proper-ties but whose exact representation is

[continued)

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THREE LANGUAGES

unimportant to the algorithm.

The traditional way of doing this is torequire that each external data structurebe represented internally by a tag or ad-dress, and that all necessary operationson them be passed as explicit param-eters to the algorithm. You can do thisin Pascal and Modula-2 but not in Ada.The first two languages allow you topass procedures and functions as pa-rameters, while the latter does not. InPascal, you would probably use integersfor the data structure tags. In Modula-2,you could use pointers passed in asparameters of type "word." Of course,this solution forces you to bypass alltype checking by the compiler, it wouldbe nice if you could declare a routinewith some parameters that are pointersto a data structure of type x and othersthat are routines to manipulate suchpointers where x is left unspecified.Then the compiler could verify that allappropriate types matched.

At first glance, this is what an Ada

generic declaration appears to do. Youspecify a collection of parameters, someof which may be types, and then youdeclare a routine or package usingthese parameters wherever necessary.However, what you get is not a simpleroutine or package. Instead, you get aroutine or package that will generate asecond one when supplied with the cor-rect parameters. You may use it todeclare any number of nongeneric in-stances, and each time you execute apart of your program that contains sucha nongeneric routine, a new version ofthe underlying routine or package willbe generated. By using generics youend up with more routines and pack-ages, not fewer. While the algorithm isshared, the code and data are not, andeach copy of the generic routine orpackage will require its own memory.However, since Ada doesn't allow youto pass procedures and functions asparameters, generics are all you've got.With procedure types, Modula-2 has

Listing 4: Modula-2 procedure variables can be used to provide handlers for a datastructure within the data structure itself.

DEFINITION MODULE structure:EXPORT QUALIFIED reference, node, handler, create:TYPE reference = POINTER TO node:TYPE handler = PROCEDURE(REAL.INTEGER.reference);TYPE node -RECORDlink: reference;x.y: INTEGER:h: handler;END;PROCEDURE createlh: handler!: reference;END structure.

IMPLEMENTATION MODULE structure;FROM Storage IMPORT ALLOCATE;PROCEDURE createlh: handler): reference;

VAR r: reference:BEGINNEW(r): (• calls ALLOCATE *)rT.h := h;RETURNIr);END create;BEGIN

(* statements initializing the module structure ")END structure.MODULE manager;FROM structure IMPORT reference, node, handler, create;PROCEDURE transitionlx: REAL; y: INTEGER; r: reference);BEGIN

(• statements defining the behavior of transition *)END transition:VAR ref: reference;BEGIN

ref := create(transition);END manager.

provided a consistent way of dealingwith functions and procedures as datavalues in an arbitrary data structure, andnot just as parameters to a routine. Withthis feature, which has no counterpartin either Pascal or Ada, you can declarea type that defines the parameter struc-ture for a procedure or function. A dataelement of that type behaves like a pro-cedure or function, but it may belocated anywhere in memory, includingthe heap (see listing 4). Any routine thatbelongs to a library module and has theright parameter structure may be as-signed to it. Procedure types may beused in high-level structures, such asfiles, that include both data and control,and in low-level structures such as inter-rupt handlers. They allow you to simplifythe structure of your application withoutobscuring its intent.

Conclusions

As a systems-implementation language,Modula-2 is a major improvement overPascal. In fact, it is substantially betterthan most currently available languages.From what I have said so far, you mightbe tempted to call it the "poor man'sAda," but this is certainly wrong. Whilethere are many extra features in Ada,most of them are marginal improve-ments. The only one that seems reallynecessary is the feature that allows youto control the size and relative locationof data elements within a data structure.With all its shortcomings, Modula-2 isa good implementation language anda technical success. It has no surprisesand no overlapping functionality. Ada,on the other hand, is a questionable ex-periment at best. It contains severalcostly features that are of little value,and the implications of certain otherfeatures, such as derived types, seemto lack forethought. Of course it's easierto criticize than to create, but it seemsthat without the support of the Depart-ment of Defense the many "gotchas"and funny features of Ada would havecaused its demise. ■

REFERENCES

The Ada Programming Language. ANSI/MIL-STD-

1815A: American National Standards Institute,

1983.

Jensen. K.. and N. Wirth. Pascal User Manual and

Report. New York, Heidelberg, Berlin: Springer-

Verlag, 1975.

Wirth, N. Programming in Modula-2. New York.

Heidelberg. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. 1982.

232 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 233

TheleleVideoThe best hardware

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234 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

THE BEST HARDWARE FOR THE BEST PRICE.

Features

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IBM PC

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IBM XT

Monitor

YES

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128K OPTION

256K

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Printer Port

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Reviews

The Macintosh

by Bruce F. Wefater 238

The IBM PClR

by Rowland Archer \r. 254

The Sanyo MBC-550

by Bill Sudbrink 270

Four Logos for the IBM PC

by Mark Bridger 287

The Juki 6100 Printer

by G. Michael Vose 305

Review Feedback 308

Reviewer's Notebook

WordStar—the old, reliable word-processing program from MicroPro—is being besiegedon all sides. First there were the competing word processors. Then came NewWord, a low-cost WordStar work-alike program written by some of the same people who wrote the original.And now there's a WordStar work-alike written in BASIC.

At the BYTE/Popular Computing show in Chicago, Bruce Tonkin approached me, claimingthat he had a compiled-BASIC program called My Word!. He said that it runs faster thanWordStar, that it runs on everything except Apple computers, and that it costs only $2 5.

Fortunately, he had a version for the IBM Personal Computer (PC) with him and therewas a new Zenith Z-l 50 just across from the BYTE booth. (I'll talk more about the Zenithlater.) Anyway, this $2 5 program actually worked. Of course, it doesn't do everything thatWordStar does (such as on-screen justification), but it does almost everything. And it doessome things that WordStar can't do. For example, you can set up a long table and thensort the table according to information in any of its columns.

Bruce Tonkin's company is called TNT Software (34069 Hainesville Rd., Round Lake, IL60073).

About six months ago we did a review of the Zenith Z-100, the Heath company's firstMS-DOS machine. The Z-100 has the best version of MS-DOS I've seen on any machine.The only problem with the Z-100 is that it cannot take advantage of the large variety ofIBM PC software that is available.

Now we're trying to get the Z-l 50, Heath's true IBM PC-compatible machine. If they ap-plied the same care and intelligence that they did on the Z-100, then the new Z-l 50 mustbe some machine. I must admit, however, that the portable version—the Z-l60—looks abit strange.

A few months ago. I mentioned the Leading Edge Word Processor, a slick package withunique, rather unwieldy file-handling procedures. Now, because of competition from IBM'sown word-processing programs called DisplayWrite, the basic price of the LEWP has beenreduced to about $200. Also, the Leading Edge PC has finally arrived here. The LeadingEdge PC is one of the newest IBM PC clones. An identical twin of the Sperry PC, it is pro-duced by Mitsubishi in lapan, and its most distinguishing characteristic is its dual-speedprocessor.

The 8088 microprocessor in the LEPC can run at either 4.77 MHz (just like the IBM PC)or 7.6 MHz (a significant improvement). Running your favorite programs at this higher clockspeed is a bit of a thrill.

The Leading Edge PC—like every PC clone I've seen—is not 100 percent compatible. Infact, 1 give it a "98." All of the major non-graphics programs run on it (we haven't receivedthe graphics board yet).

Heading our reviews this month is a look at the Macintosh, the machine that has prob-ably received more attention than any other. Contributing Editor Bruce F. Webster examineswhether the "Mac" can do serious work.

Next, our veteran analyst Rowland Archer |r. examines the IBM PCjr, another machinethat has been in the news a lot. Rowland carefully examines what this machine can andcannot do.

Then we shift to a popular MS-DOS-based system—the Sanyo MBC-5 50. Bill Sudbrink deter-mines whether this low-cost machine—which looks like part of your stereo system—is a realalternative to the high-priced office systems.

For programmers, we have a review of four Logos for the IBM PC that offer turtle graphicsof varying quality.

And finally, we have a review of a new low-cost daisy-wheel printer—the Juki 6100—writtenby our features editor, Mike Vose.

—Rich Malloy, Product-Review Editor

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 237

SYSTEM REVIEW

The Macintosh

The many

slightly

by Bruce F. Webster

Few computers—indeed, few consumeritems of any kind—have generatedsuch a wide range of opinions as theMacintosh. Criticized as an expensive gimmickand hailed as the liberator of the masses, the. , Mac is a potentially great system. Whether it

flaWGCl §em fives up to that potential remains to be seen.

Personally, I think the Macintosh is a won-derful machine. 1 use one daily at work, andthen at night i play with the one I have athome. Or, at least. 1 try to play with it. You see,my wife—who for years resisted all my at-tempts to introduce her to computers—hasfallen in love with the Mac (her words, notmine). She uses it to type up medical reports,notes on her clients, and personal letters. Infact, she's suggested that we get a secondMacintosh so that we won't have to fight overthe one we have.

The Macintosh is not without its problems.Resources are tight—it needs more memoryand disk space—and software has been slowin coming to market. Many have criticized itsprice ($2495). In fact, there are indications thatApple considered a lower price ($1995) andthen rejected it. It doesn't seem to have hurtthe Mac's market—people are still buyingthem faster than Apple can make them—butthere's the potential for backlash if themachine doesn't deliver on all its promises.

Whatever its problems and limitations, theMac represents a breakthrough in adaptingcomputers to work with people instead of viceversa. Time and again, I've seen individualswith little or no computer experience sit downin front of a Mac and accomplish useful taskswith it in a matter of minutes. Invariably, theyuse the same words to describe it: "amazing"and "fun." The question is whether "power-ful" can be added to that list.

In an industry rapidly filling up with IBM PCclones, the Macintosh represents a radicaldeparture from the norm. It is a small, light-weight computer with a high-resolutionscreen, a detached keyboard, and a mouse(see photo 1). It comes with 128K bytes ofRAM (random-access read/write memory),64K bytes of ROM (read-only memory), anda 400K-byte 3 /2-inch disk drive. If you throwin an Imagewriter printer (see photo 2 and

figure 1) the system costs $2990. The pro-cessor is a Motorola 68000, running a name-less operating system (see the text box, "ASecond Opinion" on page 248 for a fulldescription). It has absolutely no IBM PC/MS-DOS compatibility, and it would appear Ap-ple plans none.

The Display

The display is small (9-inch diagonal), but ithas very high resolution (512 by 342 pixels).Every pixel is crisp. Several things make thedisplay unusual. First, the Macintosh has no"text mode." Instead, the display is always bit-mapped graphics. Second, the display is black-on-white rather than amber- green- or color-on-black, giving it an ink-on-paper effect.Third, the pixels are equally dense both hori-zontally and vertically, eliminating the "aspect-ratio" problem that plagues other graphicssystems. (In other words, a box 20 pixels wideand 20 pixels high will be a square.)

The effect is excellent. The display is clear,crisp, easy to read, and easy on the eyes.Because all text is graphically generated, true"what you see is what you get" word process-ing is available (with multiple fonts, sizes, andstyles). Embedded drawings and proportionalspacing are also possible. Some criticism hasbeen made about the lack of a color-graphicscapability. Frankly, I am unconvinced of itsnecessity. Most applications I have seen usecolor graphics as a substitute for detail, andthe Mac can give you lots of detail. (An inter-esting footnote: the QuickDraw graphics rou-tines in the Mac's ROM do provide for color,although Apple has not announced any inten-tions for supporting such.)

The Mac's display does create a problem.Computer graphics are memory-intensive:once you start drawing pictures, you startusing up lots of memory. The video displayitself consumes about 22K bytes (or aboutone-sixth) of the total RAM. Any off-screenmanipulation (windows) or information (textfonts) chews up additional memory quickly.

The Keyboard

Like the rest of the machine, the keyboard issignificantly different from those found on

238 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

other systems (see photo 3). It's smaller thanmost and has only 58 keys. It is detached butthe 3-foot coiled cord has lots of give to it soyou don't have to wrestle the computer forthe keyboard. The full printable ASCII(American National Standard Code for Infor-mation Interchange) set is available, and thelayout of alphanumeric and punctuation keysis pretty standard. There are no function keys,no cursor keys, and no control key. Instead,you will find two Option keys and a Commandkey. The Option keys, located directly undereither Shift key, are used to generate specialtext characters (Greek letters, math symbols,and the like). The Command key, whose sym-bol looks like a freeway cloverleaf, is an alter-native to the mouse. For example, if I'm typ-ing along and wish to underline some text, Ican type Command-U instead of stopping andusing the mouse to select Underline in theStyle pull-down menu.

All in all, I like the keyboard. I'm a fast touch-typist and occasionally I overrun the two-key"rollover" (the number of keys you can pressdown simultaneously), but I never losecharacters because of buffer overflow. Thekeyboard's layout is compact, so I can easilyreach any key—well, almost any key. The Com-mand key, located between the left Option keyand the space bar, is in an awkward position.I often hit the Shift key or Option key instead.

I don't like function or cursor keys and themouse renders them fairly useless, so theirabsence doesn't bother me at all. A separatenumeric keypad is available for $99 (it plugsin between the keyboard and the Mac). Thiskeypad has cursor keys on it, but I wonderhow many applications will recognize them.

TVie Mouse

The Macintosh has a standard, one-button,mechanical-tracking, optical-shaft-encoding

Bruce F. Webster (7909 Ostrow St., Suite F, SanDiego, CA 92111) is vice-president of FTL Games andOasis Systems. He received his B.S. in computer sciencefrom Brigham Young University and did graduate workat the University of Houston. His hobbies includereading and war-gaming, especially science-fiction andfantasy war games.

mouse (again a departure from industrynorms). The mouse has a 3 /2-foot cord, itsown port in the back, and full support fromthe ROM routines and the operating system.In other words, almost every application onthe Macintosh will use the mouse. (I say"almost" because someone is bound to comeout with a program that ignores it altogether.)Before buying my Macintosh, I used amouse on an IBM PC and was not impressed.The Macintosh mouse impresses me. In someapplications, such as MacPaint, I seldom touchthe keyboard, except to hold the Shift, Option,

{continued)

Photo 1: The Apple Macintosh computer.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 239

REVIEW: MACINTOSH

Photo 2: The Macintosh dot-matrix printer.

This is 9-point text. Geneva.

This is 12-point text.This is 14-point text.

This is 18-point text.

This is 9-point text. 6eneva. bold.

This is 12-point text, bold.This is 14-point text, bold.

This is 18-point text, bold.

This is 9-point text, New York, aa4 this is soli.

This is 12-point text, New York, bold.This is 14-point text, New York, bold.

This is 18-point text, bold.

Figure 1: A sample printout from the Macintosh using its printer and the MacWrite word-processing program. The printout was obtained using MadNrite's high-quality output mode,as opposed to the draft and ordinary quality modes. The output here is shown at 100 per-cent of actual size.

or Command key down with my lefthand while moving the mouse with myright. 1 find using the mouse faster,easier, and less disruptive than usingfunction and cursor keys. Function andcursor keys do not fall within the stan-dard touch-typing layout because theyvary in size, number, position, and func-tion. To use them, I have to stop andthink about what key I need, look downat the keyboard, find it, hit it, and look

up again. Often this process has to berepeated several times. With the mouse,1 never take my eyes off the screen. I justreach to my right, grab the mouse, anddo what 1 need to do.

Of course, the mouse isn't always aperfect solution. Some commands canbe tedious to perform via the mouseand pull-down menu. For example,deleting text to the right of the cursorin MacWrite can only be done with the

mouse. This is a nuisance if you haveonly one or two characters to delete. I'dalso like the mouse's cord to be a littlelonger and sometimes I have troublefinding enough surface area to work themouse, but these are minor complaints.The mouse is an excellent feature of theMacintosh.

User Interface

Macintosh's user interface is far differentfrom those of other personal com-puters. Strictly speaking, it is not all thatnew. The original concepts were pio-neered at Xerox's Palo Alto ResearchCenter (PARC) several years ago. Appleused them heavily in the original Lisamachine, released a year before theMac. However, that Lisa sold for$10,000, and the Xerox machines formuch more. The people who mostneeded the interface were those whocould least afford it: small business-people, students, etc. The Macintosh isstill a bit expensive, but it's within thereach of far more people than any ofits predecessors.

In creating the Macintosh's uniqueuser interface, Apple has attempted tomake the abstract seem concrete. Fewthings are as abstract as the data andprograms stored and used on a com-puter. The Mac takes that abstractionand presents it as something familiar:a desktop cluttered with pencils, papers,manila folders, and even a wastebasket.Do you want to put a document in afolder? Pick it up with the mouse andput it in the folder. Do you want tothrow something away? Pick it up andput it in the wastebasket. Abstractionstake on real forms that we can under-stand and use without obscure com-mands or bizarre syntax.

Another important aspect of this userinterface is the way in which the Macin-tosh makes commands available to theuser. As I write this review with Mac-Write, the top of my screen has anApple symbol and six words (File, Edit,Search, Format, Font, and Style) writtenacross the top. If I point at any of theitems with the mouse and press the but-ton, a menu of options appears on thescreen. When I release the button, themenu disappears. All available com-mands appear in the menus. I haven'thad to memorize or learn much: in fact,I opened my MacWrite manual only

[continued)

240 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

AT A GLANCE

Name

Macintosh

Manufacturer

Apple Computer Inc.2052 5 Mariani Ave.Cupertino, CA 95014(408) 996-1010

Components

Size: 13.5 by 9.7 by 10.9inches (main unit)2.6 by 13.2 by 5.8 inches(keyboard)

Weight: 19.5 poundsProcessor: Motorola 68000(7.8336 MHz)Memory: 128K bytes ofRAM: 64K bytes of ROMDisplay: 9-inch built-inmonitor: high-resolutionbit-mapped display (512 by342 pixels): adjustableKeyboard: 58 keys,detached, standard layout,no function keys,software-mappedMouse: single button,mechanical tracking,optical shaft encodingMass storage: built-insingle-sided 3^-inch Sonydrive (400K bytes)Sound generator: four-voice soundInterfaces: two RS-422Aserial ports (230.4K bpstransfer rate): external-diskinterface for second(optional) disk drive:mouse interface:synchronous serialkeyboard bus

Operating System

Proprietary unnamed

Optional Hardware

Imagewriter dot-matrix

BUNDLED SOFTWARE0 2 4

PRICE

$0 $2000

$4000 $6000 $8000 $10,000

printer:

$595

Numeric keypad:

$99

Carrying case:

$99

Modem (300 bps):

$225

(300/1200 bps):

$495

Security Accessory

Kit:

$49

Second floppy-disk

drive:

$495

Optional Software

See text box

Documentation

160-page user's manual

Price

$2495 ($2990 with

Imagewriter)

:

2

MAC

APPLE HE

The Memory Size graph shows the standard andoptional memory available for the computers undercomparison. The Disk Storage graph shows thehighest capacity of a single floppy-disk drive foreach system. The Bundled Software graph showsthe number of software packages included witheach system. The Price graph shows the list price

of a system with two high-capacity floppy-diskdrives, a monochrome monitor, graphics and color-display capability, a printer port and a serial port,2 56K bytes of memory (64K bytes for 8-bit systems),the standard operating system for each system, andthe standard BASIC interpreter for each system. TheMac's price includes 128K bytes of memory only.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 241

The rear of the Mac. Note the icon labels. The bottom row ofconnectors is for (from left) the mouse, second floppy disk,printer, modem, and speaker.

The top of the Mac with the cover removed. The disk drive anddigital circuitry are below the cathode-ray tube; the analogcircuitry is to its left.

DISK ACCESS IN BASIC250

200

150

100

212

175

56

46

25.2 J

,^_l

BASIC PERFORMANCE250 |

78.9 I I

DO

WRITESYSTEM UTILITIES50|

READ

30

QO

25

25

* *

LI

SIEVESPREADSHEET (MULTIPLAN)25

CALCULATIONS

15

10

FORMAT/DISK COPY

FILE COPYMACINTOSH

2

1.9

18

—

11.4

10.5

i

LOADIBM PC | APPLE HE

RECALCULATE

The graph for Disk Access in BASIC shows how long it takes to writea 64K-byte sequential text file to a blank floppy disk and how longit takes to read this file. (For the program listings, see "The ChameleonPlus," by Rich Krajewski, June 1984, page 327.) The BASIC Perfor-mance graph shows how long it takes to run one iteration of the Sieveof Eratosthenes prime-number benchmark. In the same graph, theCalculations results show how long it takes to do 10.000 multiplica-tion and division operations using single-precision numbers. TheSystem Utilities graph shows how long it takes to transfer a 40K-byte

file using the system utilities. The Spreadsheet graph shows how longthe computers take to load and recalculate a 2 5- by 25-cell spread-sheet where each cell equals 1.001 times the cell to its left. The spread-sheet program used was Microsoft Multiplan. The time for the for-mat/disk copy test on the Macintosh reflects using the disk-copy utilityon a single-drive system. Four disk-swaps are required for the com-plete disk copy, the time for which is included in the benchmark.*The Sieve benchmark couldn't be run on the Mac (see text for details)."The new Disk Copy program was not available at press time.

242 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Minis and

• fi the bes

mainframeshave usedWordMARCfor four

m. ■ pears exact

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Originally created for minis and main-frames, WordMARC is now available foruse on your micro*. And quite simply, it'sthe best office-quality word processing soft-ware package a micro user couldbuy. After all, it was the best wordprocessor mainframe and mini users likeuniversities, national laboratories, and For-tune 500 companies could find over the lastfour years. But, ifyou need moreproof, read on.□ No Problems, No Nonsense, NoCompetition. For starters, every-thing you see on your screen ap-pears exactly as it will be printedon paper. Scientificnotation. Foreign lan-guage characters. Underlining. Subscripts. Every-thing. □ A Partial List of Features. That's Right,Partial. Menu driven w/function keys. Easy self-paced tutorials. Spellingchecker. Mail merge. Sci-entific notation. Foreign lan-guage characters. Automatic reformatting. Automaticpagination. Document recovery system. Documentencryption. ASCII file handling. And so on. □ IfWordProcessing's Your Call, Call 800-831-2400.

Granted, just because the call is freeis no reason for picking up thephone. You should stop and considerour track record with minis and mainframes.You should stop and think what that can mean■ your micro. And you should stop thinking aboutWft^kWf*Wf{\ anv other word processing software. OK. Now that■ I 11^*1 \J% you've done that, it's time to pick up the phone.

*WordMARC is compatible with the IBM PC or XT, as wellas the Eagle, Compaq, Corona, Columbia, NCR PC, DECRainbow, and TI Professional computers. All versions ofWordMARC on micro, mini and mainframe computers arecompatible.

MARC Software International, Inc.

260 Sheridan Avenue, Suite 200Palo Alto, California 94306800-831-2400 □ In Calif., 800-437-9900

•WordMARC is a trademark of MARC Software Inter-national, Inc. © 1984 MSI, Inc. IBM PC and XT. Eagle.Columbia, Compaq, Corona. NCR PC, DEC Rainbow, andTI Professional computers are trademarks, respectively

of International Business Machines Corporation, EagleComputer, Inc., Columbia Data Products, Compaq Com-puter Corporation, Corona Data Systems, Inc., NCRCorporation, Digital Equipment Corporation, andTexas Instruments.

Circle 191 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 243

REVIEW: MACINTOSH

once or twice, briefly. The same is trueat the "desktop" level. Any actions canbe performed via the pull-down menusor by direct "physical" manipulation ofthe objects shown. The best feature ofthe Mac documentation is that 1 almostnever have to refer to it.

My one complaint about the user in-terface is that it's slow. Sometimes run-ning a program or opening a file seemsto take longer than it should. File copy-ing on a one-drive system is alsotedious.

A special disk-copy utility is now avail-able that lets you copy an entire diskin just four swaps—not too shabby whenyou realize that this utility uses nearly80 percent of the total RAM just to holdthe data. Unfortunately, this utility won'tsolve the problem of copying severalfiles onto a disk that's already formattedand in use. There is a simple solution:more RAM.

Memory Limitations

The 68000 is a powerful microprocessorbut it has a limited environment in theMacintosh. The Mac comes with 128Kbytes of RAM: less than 1/100th of the16-megabyte RAM the 68000 could use,and there's no way to expand it. True,Apple is planning to upgrade the Macto 512K bytes sometime in the future,but that still leaves 97 percent of the

Apple is planning to upgrade the Mac to 512Kbytes sometime in the future, but that still leaves97 percent of the potential memory spaceunused and unusable.

potential memory space unused andunusable. The Mac has no provisions forexpanding memory beyond replacingthe 64K-bit chips it currently uses with2 56K-bit chips as they become avail-able. It has no expansion slots and noexternal bus. And remember, this is agraphics-intensive environment wherememory often gets eaten up ratherquickly.

So the question arises: why did theMacintosh design team so limit theirmachine? The most common reasonI've come across is that the Macintoshteam wanted to provide a standard en-vironment for software developers andusers (although the latter is less oftencited). In other words, software devel-opers know that a Mac will always have128K bytes of RAM and users will neverhave to worry about software requiringmore RAM than they have. The idea issound, but it causes two problems. First,128K bytes is not enough RAM for astandard, especially in the Macintoshenvironment, where graphics chew

Photo 3: The Macintosh keyboard. Note the absence of a control key, but the presence in-stead of a "cloverleaf" key just to the left of the space bar. This key performs several of thefunctions usually performed by a control key.

away at your free space. Second, therewill be no standard for software devel-opers when the 512K-byte upgrade be-comes available. Many software devel-opers are ignoring (or unable to use) the128K-byte machine and will release theirpackages for 512K-byte machines only.Unless Apple plans a free update to allMac owners, the standard environmentwill no longer be standard.

Another argument I've heard to sup-port the concept of such limited mem-ory is that the expansion slots weredropped to avoid power and coolingproblems and to keep the user out ofthe machine. Again, this is a good ideaif you provide sufficient resources in theunexpandable model. I have no com-plaints with Apple's choice of twoRS-422A ports, an external disk port,the mouse port, and audio output. Ex-ternal video would be nice, but it isn'tcritical. But there's just not enoughmemory.

Others argue that I28K bytes of RAMis enough because so much of the workis done for you in the 64K-byte ROM.The ROM toolbox (the optimized 68000machine-language routines that handleall aspects of the user interface) is trulya marvelous thing, but it doesn't changethe fact that large, complex programsneed lots of memory, especially if thedisplays are all graphical. A supportingargument points to MacPaint and Mac-'Write, saying,"See, these work fine!" Yes,they do, but both have easily reachedlimits. Furthermore, these programswere developed over a long period oftime, concurrently with the Macintosh.The authors of these programs knew alot about optimizing code for the Mac.Software developers with less time andmore ambitious designs will find thelack of RAM a serious roadblock.

I also have heard that the upgrade to512K bytes will eliminate all such prob-lems because there will be more thanenough RAM for any application. Again,I disagree. You can never have enoughRAM. I think it no accident that the

{continued)

244 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Thinking o!

buying a modem?

You owe it

to yourself to check out the Qubie' 212A modems.

Just a few years ago, computersneeded big air-conditioned rooms tooperate in, balefuls of money to buy,and a team of wizards to keep themrunning. The constant march oftechnological progress has givenmore and more powerful machineswhich cost less and less. Desktopcomputers more powerful than theearly mainframe computers are theresult of the evolution. The Qubie'modems represent the latest exten-sion of this progress. Because upuntil now, a 212A compatible modemcost at least $500. Through the useof four low-cost, state of the artmicroprocessors, we can now offertwo versions of our full featured212A modem at prices the compe-tition sells 300 baud modems for.

In The Beginning

In September of 1983 we introducedthe first 212A modem card for the IBMPC available for under $300. ThePC212A/1200 is a complete communi-cations package including PC-TALKIII software, modular phone cable,card edge guide, and instructionmanual. The modem is an auto-dial,auto-answer type, which uses all theHayes software commands so it canbe used with any of the popular soft-ware packages including Crosstalk'™and Smartcom™ We picked the bestsoftware package we could find basedon it's ease of use and features, PC-TALK III. Our modem includesfeatures the old industry standardmissed out on. Like being able to fitin one slot in a Portable PC or PC/XT.

PC TALK III

Or an optional connector to use themodem's serial port when not usingthe modem. Of course the topper isthe $299 price, hundreds less thanthe competition.

Now Available Outside

Our standalone modem, the 212E/1200can be used with any computer orterminal with a RS-232C serial port.You can use any Hayes compatiblecommunications software on any-thing from an Apple to a Zenith.Many owners of IBM PC's are usingit because they lack available expan-sion slots, or have more than onecomputer they want to use theirmodem with.

It's attractive gold anodized casehouses seven status lights (who sayslow prices means a shortage offeatures). It fits comfortably undera standard telephone. It is also a212A compatible auto-dial, auto-answer modem which supports allHayes software commands. Even theswitch settings are the same, so anysoftware giving recommended switchsettings for a Hayes modem can beused, without knowing what theswitches do. There is a volume con-trol knob for easy adjustment of thespeaker's output. Included in thepackage is modular phone cable, acable to hook it to your computer orterminal, and instruction manual.Choose the communications packageright for your needs, and you'reready to go!

Tour Hearts

The heart of the Qubie' modems arefour digital signalmicroprocessors.Two handle sending,and two do thereceiving. Ratherthan attempt tofilter all but therelevant tones usedfor modemcommunications, the

PC212A/1200 Includes: Modem ■

Card. PC-TALK III software, card Jedge guide, modular phone cable. 1quick reference card, and instruc-tion manual. 2299Optional external serial port con- -nector 220.

2121/1200 Includes: Standalone Jmodem with cable (specify male orefemale), modular phone cable, andainstruction manual $329. ■

microprocessor tttedigitally. This alio*

come line noise and static 1than analog filter based mode

Why Buy From Qubie'

Because you will get a product as goor better than any available, pay .for it, and get factory direct h< >you need it. If at any time duringthe one year warranty period youmodem should require service, we ifix it or replace it within 48 hoursNotice also there are no hiddencharges in our prices. No extra icfreight, insurance, credit cards, orCOD fees. In a hurry? UPS 2nd dayair service is just $5 extra. If youare like many who say, "Nah, it's toogood to be true'/ just apply the acid \test and find out. Then you will beasking yourself, "Why should I paywhat these modems used to cost?"

The Acid Test

Qubie' gives you a 30 day satisfac-tion guarantee on your modem. If youare not completely satisfied we willrefund the entire amount of yourpurchase including the postage toreturn it. If you can, get anyoneselling another modem to give youthe same guarantee. Buy both, andreturn the one you don't like. Weknow which one you will keep.

IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporal

Crosstalk is a registered trademark of Microstuf Inc.

PC-Talk III is a registered trademark of The Headlands Press Inc

__.

Order Today, Shipped Tomorrow!

All prices include UPS surface freightand insurance. Add $5 for two day airservice. For fastest delivery send certi-fied check or credit card. Personalchecks take 18 days to clear. Calif,residents add 6% sales tax. Corpora-tions and Institutions call for purchaseorder details.

(800) 821-4479

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Tempo House, 15 Falcon Road,London SW11 2PH, United Kingdom

REVIEW: MACINTOSH

Apple says the 68000is much better than the8086/8088 chips usedin the IBM PC and itscompatibles, yet theycan use more RAMthan the Mac.

Commodore 64, with 64K bytes, hasdominated the low-end market over ma-chines that have (or had) 8K, 16K, or24K bytes. Apple gave the lie, whichuses an 8-bit 6502 chip, 128K bytes ofRAM. Why the company limited the68000, a 32-bit chip, to the same initialamount of memory is beyond me. Eventhe fourfold upgrade is too limiting.Apple delights in stating how much bet-ter the 68000 is than the 8086/8088

chips used in the IBM PC and compat-ibles, yet most of those systems can usemore RAM than the Mac. Where's theadvantage?

Obviously, 1 think that 128K bytes isnot enough RAM to make the Macin-tosh a truly powerful machine. My at-tempt to run the Sieve of Eratosthenesbenchmark on the Mac provides one in-dication of its RAM limitations. OnceBASIC was loaded into the Mac, therewas too little space left in memory forthe Sieve program. To fit the programinto memory, I had to declare all vari-ables integer. This will, of course, speedthe execution time considerably. Thus,the speed of the Mac Sieve is not com-mensurable to the other two systems.(If you are curious, the modified bench-mark took 96.4 seconds on the Mac.)The upgrade to 512K bytes will helpconsiderably, but it's still an inexcusablelimit. I am convinced that this limitedRAM has held up the release of Macsoftware. As I write this, it has been

three months since the Macintosh wasreleased, and all the Apple dealers intown have only three software packagesfor the Mac besides MacPaint and Mac-Write, which are still bundled. Macshould have had at least double the ini-tial and upgrade RAM, i.e., 2 56K bytesand 1 megabyte, respectively. It may bethat Apple will release yet another up-grade when 1-megabit chips becomeavailable in mass quantities, or they mayjust release a new machine.

Although the RAM is a limitation onthe Macintosh, the ROM is a tremen-dous strength. In what is undoubtedlyone of the marvels of modern program-ming, the Macintosh design teamcrammed an unbelievable amount ofpower into the 64 K bytes of ROM in theform of tightly written, highly optimizedmachine code. In doing so, the teamprovided standard user interfaces sothat most application programs on theMac will be used in similar forms. I tried

[continued)

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246 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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IBM Compatible

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REVIEW: MACINTOSH

A Second Opinion

The Macintosh is advertised as a128K-byte machine. In reality, theFinder (Macintosh's operating sys-tem) and other systems software takeabout 40K bytes. Subtract from thisanother 40K to 70K bytes for any applica-tions programs that may be in memoryand the 128K-byte Macintosh becomesan 18K- to 38K-byte machine. For ex-ample, when Mac's Microsoft BASICpackage is loaded on top of the residentsoftware, there is only 13K bytes of spacefor programs and data left. Similarly, Mac-Write. Macintosh's word-processing pro-gram, only allows documents with a max-imum size of about 24K bytes. This prob-lem seems to be an inherent limitationin the current design of the Macintoshbecause there is no way to expand thememory capacity of the machine. When2 56K-bit memory chips become availablethe Macintosh will be upgraded to a512 K-byte machine, enough space for themost ambitious application programs.However, at the time of this writing thesechips are only in the development stage.This means that they will not be commer-cially available before 1985.

Disk Swapping

Closely related to the memory limitationsis the problem of "disk swapping."Because the basic Macintosh system hasonly one disk drive, transferring datafrom one disk to another requires that theMacintosh read from the input disk, ejectthe input disk, and prompt the user toinsert the output disk. After sending thedata to that disk, it is ejected and the useris told to reinsert the input disk. This cycleis repeated until the data transfer iscomplete. Initially, this shuffling of disksseemed to be tolerable. At least I thoughtit was until I attempted to back up a diskwith 270K bytes of data on it. It tookmore than 50 disk swaps and 20 minutesto perform this simple operation. Thisworks out to an effective transfer rate ofabout 5K bytes per swap. The processbecomes even more hectic when the Machas to consult systems software duringthe transfer. The user must then swapthree disks in and out of the internal

by J. Edward Chor

drive. Unfortunately, this is precisely thekind of design flaw that will prevent theMacintosh from gaining widespreadacceptance in a business environment.Disk backups are absolutely essential tobusiness applications. Therefore, theneed for a second drive is a hidden andunadvertised cost of owning the machine.All things considered, the DeskAccessories (accessory programs thatcan be run at the same time as anotherprogram) are an excellent complement tothe Finder. These accessories are avail-able to the user at all times, regardlessof the application program that may beresident in memory. This means, ofcourse, that users will be able to cut andpaste between diverse applicationprograms. Although not as sophisticatedas Lisa's information-passing capability,the Macintosh currently is the onlymachine in its price range that providesthis feature as a system-resident function.However, sometimes the Finder does itsjob too well. If there are two or three diskicons present on the desktop, each witha copy of the System Folder, calling upa Desk Accessory such as the AlarmClock will cause the Finder to request thatthe disk under which the system was ini-tialized be inserted. The Finder then getsthe data pertaining to the Desk Accessoryfrom that disk's System Folder instead ofusing the System Folder of the disk thatwas in the internal drive. After the Findergets that information, the user must thenreinsert the disk he or she was originallyworking with to display the accessory. Al-though not a major inconvenience, thisprocedure does become somewhat ag-gravating when one wants to do a simplething like set the Alarm Clock.

Programmer's Perspective

Nothing much has been said aboutMacintosh from the programmer's pointof view. Unfortunately, the reason for thisis that there is very little to say. TheMacintosh is the only machine in recenthistory to be offered without a program-ming language. However, Apple has pro-mised assembly language, BASIC, andPascal for the Mac. As of April 1984 none

of these packages was being marketed.The only language currently available.Microsoft BASIC, is extremely disappoint-ing. Programs written with it will essen-tially look like MBASIC programs writtenfor the IBM PC. Even when Apple's lan-guage packages for the Macintosh arereleased, users should not expect to beable to produce application programsthat utilize Macintosh features like themenu bar, dialogue boxes, and windows.Because any language that is run on aMacintosh will be treated like an applica-tion program, these routines will be in-accessible to programs created at a lowerlevel than the application program thatuses those features. The Macintosh ap-plications that use those features are be-ing done currently in one of two ways.They are either created on a Lisa anddownloaded to the Mac, or two Macs areused in tandem (one for writing the pro-gram and the other for running it). De-veloping software in this fashion canbe an expensive proposition.

Although Apple has indicated that pro-grammers will be given assistance in de-veloping application programs for Macin-tosh, in fact this assistance will be avail-able only to a certain chosen few. i.e.,established software houses or in-dividuals who have a proven track recordof commercial success. Of course, onecan always purchase the technical manualfor Macintosh, which presumably con-tains all of the information regarding thehighly touted Macintosh toolbox, and at-tempt to develop Mac applications fromscratch. It can be obtained from Applefor $150. Regrettably, it is unlikely that a"cottage industry" will grow up aroundthe Mac in the same way that one grewaround the Apple II. But in spite of itsshortcomings, the Macintosh is a signifi-cant advance in user-friendly computing.

I. Edward Chor (1307 West Addison St.,Chicago. IL 60613) is an attorney. He receivedhis B.A. in psychology from Eastern IllinoisUniversity and his J.D. from Southern IllinoisUniversity. His hobbies include reading, sports,and fiddling with machines.

248 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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The reason for such a strongstatement? We configure the sys-tem around the 80286—amongthe most powerful 16-bit proces-sors available anywhere and onethat's built for speed. The 286/287board lets you run anything fromthe 8086/8088 family and includesthe 80287 math processor and asmuch as 16 Kb of EPROM on-board.

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 249

REVIEW: MACINTOSH

Software for the Mac

When 1 bought my Macintosh inmid-February, three softwarepackages were available for it:MacWrite/MacPaint, which Apple devel-oped and gave away with the system, andMicrosoft Multiplan and Microsoft BASIC(Microsoft has been working with theMac for two years.) By the end of April,the number of available packages hadclimbed to four: MacFORTH. fromCreative Solutions Inc. (CS1) had hit theshelves. (CSI already had a commercial-ly available 68000-based FORTH.)

By the time you read this, the trickleof Mac software should have grownmodestly. The torrent probably won't hituntil early 1985 when the 512K-byte. two-disk Macintosh emerges as the new stan-dard and software firms have a year ofdevelopment under their belts. The 512K-byte Mac will increase the flow of soft-ware in another way. With the extra RAM.individuals will be able to develop Macsoftware without having to buy a Lisa.Programs will be able to do fancier thingsbecause graphics capability increases asmemory does. And the programs them-selves will not have to be as tightly codedto fit into available memory: therefore,they will be developed more quickly. Ithink the result will be a flood of pro-grams, both public-domain and entre-preneurial.

MacWrite and MacPaint

Both MacWrite and MacPaint are great.Get them, use them, and have fun withthem.

MacWrite gives you nine different fonts,six different point sizes, five differentstyles (mix and match), and superscript-

1

rs

'•iI

ion.' 'Mmm ■

M

Am example of MacPaint on the Macintosh.

ing and subscripting. The program hasthree types of spacing, four types of justi-fication, adjustable margins, and twokinds of tabs. It also has headers, footers,rulers, and page breaks. And it has ascreen that shows you what you're goingto get and a printer that gives you whatyou saw. The result: the fanciest letter andreport writer you ever saw. I don't thinkI'd use it to write a book, though. Theamount of text you can edit is too limitedand some things (such as pulling in or ap-pending files) are awkward or impossible.Still, it's great fun.

MacPaint is also destined to be aclassic. Admit it: you've always wanted todraw nice pictures but you haven't hadthe time to learn the necessary skills.Enter MacPaint (see the photo on thispage). In seconds, you can create imagesthat would take you hours by hand (if youcould do them at all). Children and adultscan learn to use it in an amazingly shorttime (a tribute to Bill Atkinson). My bossand 1 laid out a 16-page manual for a newsoftware product in two days, completewith borders, boxes for illustrations, and

varying type sizes (MacPaint will generatetext). We also designed the disk labelsand drew up specs for some booth propswe had built. However, you can only drawin a 3- by 5-inch window, which in turnmoves around on an 8- by 10-inch area.The small drawing window makes largepictures tedious, especially if you're try-ing to put in text that is wider than thewindow. But this is a minor problem.MacPaint is a perfect example of what'samazing and fun about the Macintosh.MacWrite/MacPaint is available fromApple Computer Inc. (20525 Mariani Ave.Cupertino. CA 95014) for $195.

Multiplan

Microsoft Multiplan is a Macintosh ver-sion of a standard spreadsheet. Not sostandard are the crisp display, pull-downmenus, and ease of cell manipulation viathe mouse. The worksheet is limited to63 columns and 2 55 rows, but thesefigures should increase once the 512K-byte machine becomes widely available.1 found Multiplan easy to use—easier,in fact, than any other spreadsheet I'veused. But I do have a few complaints. Thedocumentation assumes a fair amount ofknowledge on the part of the user, a poorassumption considering the Macintosh'smarket. For example, this is the documen-tation for conditional expressions:

\?[logical-expressionvalue-if-tme.value-if-false)

The IF function evaluates the logicalexpression, then returns the value-if-true if the expression is TRUE: or itreturns the value-if-false if the expres-sion is FALSE.

There are no examples and no explana-

some prerelease programs with nodocumentation and I was able to usethem almost immediately. Try thatunder CP/M or MS-DOS. The ROMtoolbox is a vital facet of the overallamazing nature of the Macintosh.

The Macintosh also lacks adequatemass storage. At first, it doesn't lookbad: it consists of one single-sided3 '/2-inch built-in disk drive (made bySony) holding 400K bytes. Having onlyone disk drive can be a nuisance, butit's acceptable if the drive holds enough

data and if you can copy it easily. How-ever, the system files on a Macintoshdisk take up over 200K bytes, or half thedisk. Even with trimming, you only haveabout 220K bytes of usable space ona bootable disk. If any other companymarketed a CP/M or MS-DOS systemwith a single disk drive with only 220Kbytes of free space, no one would buyit. It takes a lot of time and disk swap-ping to copy files or to back up a disk.The Mac's only saving grace on thispoint is that it automatically ejects the

disk and prompts you for a new one.

The 128K-byte Macintosh with onesingle-sided drive is not a powerfulmachine. You can do useful work withit, and the user interface beats all otherscold. But for the same price or less. Icould go out and buy, for example, aCompaq with 256K bytes of RAM andtwo 360K-byte disk drives/And I couldget lots of software for it—programs thatcan handle larger, more difficult tasksthan the Mac currently can.

The upshot is this: a $3000 Macintosh,

250 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

REVIEW: MACINTOSH

tion of what a "logical expression" is orhow it resolves to true or false. The in-dex refers us to the definitions of NOTor OR: the latter gives us a little more in-formation and one complex example(demonstrating IF, OR, AND, and NOT).This will be confusing to novice users.But consider getting Multiplan anyway.Not only does it work well, it can shareits information with other Microsoft pro-grams, such as BASIC, Word, Chart, andFile. The program is available from Micro-soft Corporation (10700 Northup Way,Bellevue, WA 98004) for $195.

MICROSOFT BASIC

Microsoft BASIC is fairly standard. It doeshave lots of Mac-specific graphics calls.However, most of the them are poorlydocumented: instead, the documentationrefers you to the QuickDraw Programmer'sGuide, which doesn't come with thesystem.

The BASIC itself runs in an environmentwith three windows: Command, Output,and List. All commands, typing, andediting take place in the Command win-dow: program output and echoed com-mands show up in the Output window:and program text is seen in the List win-dow. It all works nicely, although I finda few things annoying. The Command/Output window dichotomy can causeproblems, especially when the Outputwindow insists on writing text behind theCommand window (and nowhere else).Also, the List window has a tendency topropagate itself, so that you end up withseveral List windows stacked behind eachother.

Even with its shortcomings, Microsoft

BASIC is useful. Several public-domainprograms for it have already shown upon computer bulletin boards, includinga terminal-emulation program and a68000 disassembler. The program isavailable for $195 from Microsoft Cor-poration (10700 Northup Way, Bellevue,WA 98004).

MacFORTH

MacFORTH (Level 1) lets you do amaz-ing things on the Macintosh. You cancreate windows complete with close andsize boxes and "attach" programs thatwill execute automatically when a givenwindow is activated. You can build yourown pull-down menus with check marks,inactive items, and command-key options.In fact, you could code your own applica-tion and have it "take over" the Mac, put-ting up its own menu bar and controll-ing all the windows.

The only catch to all of this is that youhave to learn FORTH, a programming lan-guage unlike any other. FORTH isn't dif-ficult to learn, but it can be a bit confus-ing to use because of its stack orienta-tion and "reverse Polish notation" syntax.CSl's Going FORTH module helps a bit.Going FORTH is a clever program thatsets up two side-by-side windows. Onewindow steps you through an introduc-tion to FORTH. The other is an activeFORTH window, where you can try outthe things you're learning. Also, eachchapter in the printed documentation isa tutorial on a given subject (menus, win-dows, etc.) with lots of examples to keyin and try out.

1 think CSI has developed a solidFORTH implementation. (I programmed

in FORTH professionally for a year, but1 am by no means an expert.) The win-dow, menu, and graphics functions.arewell done and easy to use. For example,if you create a window called Easel, anda program to run within Easel calledSketch, the FORTH command EASELON .ACTIVATE SKETCH links Sketch toEasel. If you select the Easel window withthe mouse, the Sketch program will auto-matically start executing.

All in all, CSI has done an excellent job.It has made FORTH relatively easy tolearn. The documentation is easy to readand use. although the glossary can becryptic to a FORTH neophyte. Best of all,CSI has unlocked a lot of the Mac'spower. FORTH produces very compactcode, which means that the Mac's limitedRAM isn't so limited anymore.

CSI has three levels of MacFORTH. Ireviewed Level 1 ($149), which is de-signed as an introductory package. Itdoes all the things I mentioned, but itdoesn't support real (floating-point)numbers or all of the ROM toolbox rou-tines. Level II ($249), aimed at in-housedevelopers, has real numbers and ad-vanced graphics as well as provisions forinserting 68000 assembly routines. LevelIII ($2 500) is for software developers in-terested in marketing programs devel-oped in MacFORTH. It includes technicalsupport, a run-time package, and licensesfor 2 50 copies. Additional licenses cost$5 per copy.

If you want to make your Mac do things,get a copy of MacFORTH and have fun.MacFORTH is available from CreativeSolutions Inc. (4801 Randolph Road.Rockville, MD 20852).

with 128K bytes of RAM, a 400K-bytedisk drive, and an Imagewriter printer,is an amazing machine but not really apowerful one. A 512K-byte Mac with two400K-byte disk drives is both amazingand powerful, but it is also expensive($3 500, including printer and not coun-ting any cost for the RAM upgrade). Inthe two-and-a-half months that I've own-ed my Mac, I've often wondered if Ishould have bought one so quickly.However, the arrival of MacFORTH (seethe text box "Software for the Mac" on

this page) has done much to quell myreservations. 1 can now create my ownwindows, graphics, and pull-downmenus, and the "fun quotient" of myMac has made a quantum leap. Besides,I suspect that by the time this sees print,prices will have dropped and the soft-ware base will have expandedconsiderably.

Conclusion

You won't find another machine that'sas easy to use or as much fun as the

Macintosh. In the right configuration, itcan do as much as any microcomputeron the market. However, you should gofor a 512K-byte system with two diskdrives and a printer. Anything less andyou'll find yourself frustrated by themachine's limits.

1 have no doubt that I would havebought a Macintosh sooner or later, andI have no intention of getting rid of theone I own. The Mac's a gem—rough,slightly flawed, but a gem none-theless. ■

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 251

'

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DISK DRIVES

: Amdrsk I, 3" Merc-Floppy. 143K J 299 J 249• CENTRAL PT.. Fier, UMity& Apple DOS $ 20 $ 15

»AZ 143K Disk DriveA2 Controller Card

* A40, 160K. Drue

♦ A70.286K. DriveA40/A70 Controller

$345 $219

S100 $ 79

$449 $299

$599 $299

$100 $ 79

1/2 HIGH ALPS. A4a Bert Drive. 163K $299 $199

nRIWS TEAC, T40, Direct Drive, 163K $349 $219

"""" TEAC. T80, Double Sded, 326K $ 449 $329

Controller Card by ComX $110 $ 49

Rana Elite 1, 163K. 40Track $379 $239

_ _ Elite 2, 326K. 80 Track $649 $399

4*5 Elite 3.652K, 160 Track $849 $499

■ ■F Elite Controller $145 $ 89

RAM EXPANSION

*ComX.80co! +64K RAM.Ior lie. 1 Yr.Wty $199 $ 99

* RAM Card, 1 Yr.wty. Ill*) 16K $179 $ 39

* Microtott, RAM Card (IK) 16K $100 $ 69« Titan/Sltum RAM Card (IK) 32K $249 $159

RAM Card (IK) 64K $425 $249

RAM Card (IK) 128K $599 $359

Software Call

VIDEO CARDS

* ComX. 80 col. ♦64K RAM(lle) 1 yr. wty.

$199 $ 99

* Videx. Video Term 80 col. (+ of e)

$279 $189

* UltraTerm (+ or e)

$379 $279

Soft Video Switch (11+)

$ 35 $ 25

Enhancer II (IK)

$149 $ 99

Function Strip (IK)

$ 39 $ 29

We Have Full Videx Line- Call.

Up to 35» ory

MISCELLANEOUS

*ALS.TheCP/MCardV3.0(+ore)SPECIAL $399 $199

* Z-Card II (♦ or e)CP/M 2.2 SPECIAL $169 $ 99ASTAR, RF Modulator, to use TV $ 35 $ 25

* CCS. Serial Interface 7710 (Set BAUD) $ 150 $ 99Chalkboard, Power Pad $ 100 $ 75Digital Ras.. CP/M Gold Card (W/64K) $495 $359

* Expand 64K Gold Cd. to 192K $ 325 $239

* Eatttide. Wild Card (copier, IKonly)SPL $ 110 $ 59

Wld Card 2 (copier * or e] $140 $ 99

KENSINGTON. System Saver $ 90 $ 65

Modem (Mac) $140 $109

Surge Suppressor (Mac) $ 50 $ 39

Starter Pak (Mac) $ 90 $ 64

Key Tronic. KB200 keyboard (IK) $298 $219

Koala, Touch Tablet w/Micro Illustrator $125 $ 85

Kraft, Joystick (Ap 11/11+) $ 65 $ 49

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M&R. Sup R fan (+ore) $ 50 $ 30

* Microioft, Z80Softcard(+ore| $345 $345

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* Z80SoftcardPiemium(IK) $695 $479

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* Orange Micro, Grappler Plus |e or +) $ 149 $119

16K Butler Board for Grappler Plus $175 $119

Buffered Grappler Plus, 16K $239 $179

Paymar. Lower Case Chip, Rev. 7(11+) $ 50 $ 39

* PCPI, Applicard, 14featuies 6Mhz$375 $275RH Electronics. Super Fan II $ 75 $ 59

* Titan /Saturn, Accelerator 11 $ 599 $ 399Traniend/SSM. AI0II, Serial/Para l/F $225 $169TG Product!, Game Paddles (IK) $ 40 $ 29

Joystick (11+) $ 60 $ 45

Videx. PSIO l/F Card $229 $169

WICO. Mouse. Complete $179 $119

SOFTWARE.foryour APPLE

BUSINESS & TRAINING

Arktronict. Jane (lie or lie only) NEW $ 179

Jane (11+) NEW $ 295

+ Applied Soft Tech., VersaForm $ 389

Artsci. Magic Window II $ 150

* Ashton-Tate. dBase II (Req CP/M 80) $ 495

Friday (Requires CP/M 80) $295

BPI Systems. GLAR.AP.PR or INV.each $ 395

* r3rodarbund.Bank St Writer or Speller.c,i $ 70Business Solubora, Jack 2 (lie) NEW $ 395

Incredible Jack NEW S 129Continental, GL. A RAP or PR. each $250

* Home Accountant $ 75Tax Advantage $ 70

CDEX,on Vacate, Multiplan or Apple lle,ea $ 60$350

Dow Jones, Market Analyzer

Market Manager

Market Microscope

Fox & Goffer. Quickcode ordGraph.ea. $295

dlltility (for dBase II) $ 99

Hayden. fie Writer (Specify 80 col. bd) $ 150

* Howard Soft. Tax Preparer, 1984 $ 250Knoware. Knoware NEW $ 95UK, Letter Perfect w/Mail Merge $ 150Micro Pro. (all require Z80CP/M Card)

• WordStar w/»pplicard SCP/M SPECIAL $ 695InfoStai w/Applicard t\CP/M SPECIAL $ 695WordStar™ + Training Manual SPECIAL $495SpellStar'-orMailMerge'rea SPECIAL $250WordStar Prolessional, 4 Pak SPECIAL $ 695Options Pak, SS/MM/SI SPECIAL $ 345

" Mult-Plan, Apple DOS or CP/M $195

$119$195$259$ 99Call$199$269$ 45$265$ 89$165$ 49$ 47$ 40$225$300 $195$700 $450

$195$ 65$ 99$185$ 64$ 99

$295$295

$239$129$355$155$129

* Osborne /ComX. (Disk and Book) (Stat. Bus. & Math)

Some Common Basic Programs(75ea.) $100 $ 49

Practical Basic Programs(40ea.) $100 $ 49

Paachne. Requires CP/M & MBasic. 64K

Series 40GLSAR JAP, all 3 $395 $239

PerlectPerTect Writer/Sp<*2 pak(CP/M) $399 $199

* Quark, Word Juggler & Lexicheck (lie) $ 189 $ 139Sensible. Sen. Speller or Bookends, ea. $125 $ 85Siens/On-Lirw. ScreenWrier Pro, 2 Pak $200 $135

Screenwriter I $130 $ 89

The Dictionary NEW! $ 100 $ 69

Gen. Manager ll-NEW! $230 $155

Homeword $ 50 $ 34

* Silicon Valley, Word Handler $ 60 $ 39

* List Handler $ 50 $ 33

* Handler Pak (Word, Listl Spell) $130 $ 85Software Arts. TKSolver (lor lie or He) $299 $199Software Publishing. PI S File $125 $ 84(specify + ore) PES:Report $125 $ 84

PFS: Graph $125 $ 84

PFS: Write (lie) $125 $ 84

Stoneware, DB Master Version 4.0 $350 $229

DB Utility lotII $129 $ 87

Vtdex. UttraPlan $189 $119

VWCorp, Vrsicalc 3 3 (IK) $250 $169

VlsiCorp, vlsicalc Enhanced (He)

$250 $179

Vis-file or VisiDex, each

$250 $179

UTILITY & SYSTEM

Beagle, GPLE or Alpha Plot, each

$ 35 $

?7

Ap. Mechanic, Disquiet, or Pronto DOS.ea

$ 30 $ 19

Double Take or Utility City, each

$ 30 $ 19

Flex Test or Frame Up, each

$ 30 $ 19

Typefaces, Tip Disk #1 or DOS Boss, each

$ 20 $ IS

Central Point Filer, DOS 3.3 & Util.

$ 20 $ IS

* Copy II Plus (bit copier)

$ 40 $ 30

Einstein, Compiler -Applesoft BASIC

$129 $ 85

Epeon, Graphics Dump

$ 15 $ 9

Hayes, Terminal Prog, (for SmartrnotJeiTi)

$100 $ 65

* Inaoft, GraFORTH II by Paul Lirtus

$ 90 $ 65

Microsoft. A.LD.S.

$125 $ 85

Fortran 80

$195 $135

COMPLETE MICROSOFT UNE IN STOCK

* Omega, Locksmith (bit copier)

$100 $ 75

Penguin, Complete Graphics System II

$ 80 $ 54

Graphics Magician

S 60 $ 41

Phoenix, Zoom Grafix

$ 40 $ 34

Quality, Bag of Tricks

$ 40 $ 29

Terrapin, Logo

$ 99 $ 65

United SW1, ASCII Express-The Pro

$130 $ 87

Utilico, Essential Data Duplicator III

$ 80 $

19

HOME & EDUCATIONAL

Atari, Centipede, PacMan or Donkey K.,ea

$ 35 $

»a

Barrons, Study Program for SAT

$ 90 $ 60

Beagle Bros., Beagle Bag

$ 30 $ 19

Bluechip. Millionaire

$ 60 $ 40

Brodarfaund, Cnopkfter or Lode Runner.ea

$ 35 $ 23

Arcade Machine

$ 60 $ 40

Apple Panic

$ 30 $ 20

CBS, C. Goren Learning Bridge

$ 80 $ 54

* Continental, Home Accountant

$ 75 $ 49

Datatoft, Aztec or Zaxxon, each

$ 40 $ 27

Davidson, Speed Reader II

$ 70 $ 47

Word Attack! or Math Blaster! ea.

$ 50 $ 34

Edu-Ware, (Large Inventory)

35% off list

Harcourt, Computer Prep for SAT

$ 80 $ 54

Hayden, Sargon III (Chess)

$ 50 $ 34

Infocom, Zork 1,11,111, or Star cross, each

$ 40 $ 27

* lnson^3&meslZarg/"Sptder Raid/Grapple

$ 82 $ 25

Knoware, Knoware NEW $ $ 64

Koala, Full line in stock, CALL

35% off list

Learning Co., (Large Inventory)

35% off list

Microsoft, Typing Tutor II

$ 25 $ 17

Monogram, Dollars and Sense

$100 $ 69

Origin, Ultima III

$ 60 $ 40

Scarborough/lightning, Mastertype

$ 40 $ 27

Sierra/On-Una, Ultima II

S 60 $ 40

Sir-Tech, Wizardry

$ 50 $ 35

Spinnaker, Full line in stock, CALL

35%offlist

Sub Logic, Flight Simulator II

$ 50 $ 37

Terrapin, Logo

$ 99 $ 65

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• MEANS A BEST BUY

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CONROY-LAPOINTE DISKETTES

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lOea. SS/SO. 35Track (Apple, etc.) $ 21

100ea,SS/SD,35Trackl/tpple,etc.) 149

lOOOea, SS/SD, 35Track (Apple, etc.) 1245

lOea, DS/DD, 40Track (IBM, H/P) 29

100 ea, DS/DO, 40 Track (IBM, H/P) 239

lOOOea, DS/DD, 40Track (IBM, H/P) 1995

AMDEtt 3" Diskettes, Pac-10 $ 60 $ 49

COC100eaSS/D0,40T (Apple, IBM) $550 $195

lOea SS/DD. 40T (Apple, IBM) $ 55 $ 21

100ea DS/DO. 40! (IBM H/P) $750 $295

lOea DS/DO. 40T (IBM H/P| $ 75 I 32

DYSAnUOea SS/DD (Apple, etc) $ 41 $ 29

lOea DS/DD 48T(IBMH/P.etc) $ 69 $ 43

MAXELL, lOeach.MDl. SS/DD $ 55 $ 29

10e3Ch, MD2 DS/DD $ 75 $ 39

VERBATIM. lOeacti MDS25-01, SS/DD $ 49 $ 25

lOeach MD34, DS/DD $ 84 $ 35

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W/Jackets, no labels, top quality, 90 day limited warranty

tOOea, SS/SD. 35 Track (Apple, Atari) $ 415 $ 130

lOOOea, SS/SD, 35Track (Apple,Ataii) $4150 $995

lOOea, DS/DD, 48TPI (IBM. H/P) $ 626 $ 170

lOOOea, DS/DD, 48TPI (IBM, H/P) $6260 $1400

HI

41CX. Calculate-! NEW $ 325 $ 27541C. Calculator S 195 $ 149

41CV, Calculator W/22K $275 $219

A

for the ATARI

RANA 1000 Drive. 320K $ 449 $ 369KOALA, Pad w/Micro lllus. $ 100 $ 75

MODEMS «

ACCESSORIES

&

OURPRICE

$399 $269

$599 $419

$149 $109

$329 $239

$399 $275

$249 $189

ANCHOR, Signalman Mark XII

HAYES. IBM-PC Smartmodem 1200B

IBM-PC Smartcom II Software

Micromodem lie w/Smartcom

Mtcromodem lOO(S-lOObus)

Stack Chronograph (RS 232)

Slack Smartmodem 300(RS-232} $289 $225

Smartmodem 1200 (RS-232) $699 $535

IBM-PCto Modem Cable $ 39 $ 29

KENSINGTON. Modem 1200 NEW S 595 $385

NOVATION. l03/2!2SmartCat $595 $415

ACCESS 1-2-3 (1200BiCrosstalk XVI) $595 $399

Apple Cat II 300 BAUD $389 $249

212AppleCat 1200BAUD $725 $559

Cat $189 $139

MS* $149 $104

212AutoCal $695 $579

QUADRAM.

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MONITORS Sssories

* AMDHL 12" Green, H300G $200 $125

* 12" Amber, #300* $210 $149

* 12-Amber, *310Afoi IBM-PC $230 $149

* 13'Cotorl*.Composite $379 $289

* 13' Color !l,RGB,Hi Res,(IBM/Apple) $529 $43913",ColorlV,RGB,720Hj400V,(lBM) $795 $685DVM III, Color II or III to Apple II l/F $199 $175

* PRINCETON. RGB Hi Res, HX-12 $795 $499

* RGB Hi Res. SR-12 $799 Can

* Amber, MAX-12 (for Mono Board) $249 $199

* QUADRAM. Quadchrome 12" RGBColor $695 $495» Quadscreen 17" 968x512 $1995*1595

ZENITH, 12" Green. ZVM123 $200 $ 99

12" Amber, ZVM124 $200 $149

PLOTTERS

AMDEK, Amptot II, Spen. 10«14 Bed $1099 $ I

PRINTERS ACCESSORIES

DOT MATRIX:

EPSON. RX80FT, 100 cpsRX80,100 cpsFX80. 160 cps

FX100,160 cps $

MX100F/T, 80COS, w/Graftraxi- $

Apple It Graphics Dump Program $

* MANNESMANN Spirit 80 col 80cps $

TALLY, 160L, 80 col. I60cps $

180U32COI I60cps $

OKIDATA, 80, 80 col. 80 cps, para. SPl $ 299

$ 499$ 399$ 699

" 895

995

15

399

798

$ 349$ 749

$1395

82A.80COI, 120 cps, para.

83*. 132 col, 120 cps, pan

84,136 col, 200 cps, paia.

92,80 col, 160 cps, para.

93 136 col 160 cps, para.

2350P,Pacemark, 350cps,para

2410P,Pacemaik, 350cps,para.

Accessories, Rug 'N Play,Tractors,OkigraphORANGE MKRO,Grappler+, for Apple $ 165PRACTICAL. Microtlufl In-line 64K,Para.

rttmbufl In-une 64K,SerQUADRAM. Quadiet, Jet Color Printer

* STAR MIC Gemini 1LTX, 120cps

Gemini 15"X, 120cps

LETTER QUAUTY:

AMDEK, 5040, 40cps, Para. ( Ser

* TTX, 1014. 13cps,Para.&Ser,PinSf nc3p.JUKI. 6100 18 cps, Para, 3 pitch

$ 339$ 299* 495$ 689$ 495$ 9$299$ 568$778LOW!$ 319$ 599$1095

$599 $ 469$999 $ 749

$2695$2995

$ 349

$ 349

$ 895

$ 499

$ 549

$1675

$ 649

$ 599

$2095

$2395Can$ 119$ 259$ 259$795$289$ 439

$1450$ 439$ 459

PRINTER INTERFACES and BUFFERS:

IBM-PC Parallel Printer Cable $ 60 $ 35

Apple II l/F & Cable for Epson or Gemini $ 95 $ 59

SUADRAM,icrofazer, w/Copy, PP, 8K, KMP8 w/PS $ 189 $139Microlazer.w/Copy.PP, 64K«MP64w/PS $ 319 $ 239Microfaier.w/Copy.PP, 128K,w/PS $465 $345

Miciolazer, Snap-on. 8K.PP. Epson w/PS $ 179 $ 145Microfazer, Snap-on, 64K, PP, Epson w/PS $ 319 $ 235AH Microfarers are expandable frr/copy to 512K) (Snapon to 64K)SUPPLIES'. Tractor Feed Paper, Ribbons, Daisy Wheels

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252 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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Display MngrlPCDOS or CP/M-86each) $500

Speed Prog Pkg. CP/M-86) $ 200

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Business BASIC Comp. $ 600

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C Compiler $ 500

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FORTRAN Compiler $ 350

COBOL Compile! $ 700

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AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 253

SYSTEM REVIEW

Impressive

but

disappointing

by Rowland Archer Jr.

The IBM PC/r

The IBM PCjr makes a good first im-pression. It is slickly packaged, easyto set up and use, and gives an over-all impression of quality. It is lightweight com-pared to the IBM PC primarily because of itsplastic case (the PCs case is metal.) Clearly,IBM took some time in deciding how to packthe system and guide the first-time user. Forexample, the design of the connectors makesit virtually impossible to plug the wrongperipheral device into a jack. This is a goodthing because the jacks, located on the backpanel, are labeled sparsely. (See the photo inthe "At a Glance" spread on page 258.)

The IBM PCjr's options are also easy to in-stall, requiring at most a flat-blade screwdriver.As with the back-panel connectors, you can-not plug an option into the wrong mother-board connector. 1 never had to set a DIP(dual-inline package) switch or change ajumper while installing options, a welcomerelief from the PC. PCjr's software notices new-ly installed options and adjusts automatically.On the minus side, the PCjr's plug-in cardsare wobbly, with no card guides or tie-downs.I haven't seen any adverse effects from this,but it is unsettling.

Specifications Overview

The PCjr is highly compatible with the IBM PC.It uses the same Intel 8088 microprocessor,runs the same PC-DOS version 2.1 disk oper-ating system, and can use many of the sameapplication programs. It comes in two basicmodels and many extra-cost options are avail-able. The least expensive model retails for$599; it includes 64K bytes of RAM (random-access read/write memory), a color-video con-troller for use with your TV set, an RGB (red-green-blue) or composite monitor, a three-voice sound generator, a cordless keyboard,and two slots for plug-in ROM (read-onlymemory) program cartridges (see photo 1).No display device is included in the baseprice. You must either use your TV set, inwhich case you will need the TV adapter; anRGB monitor, which requires the RGB monitoradapter; or a composite monitor, which re-quires a cable with an RCA phono plug at oneend and the appropriate connector for your

monitor at the other.

The enhanced version of the PCjr costs $999and includes all the features of the basemodel plus 64K bytes more RAM (for a totalof 128K bytes), 80-column video display capa-bility, and a built-in half-height 514-inch floppy-disk drive that holds 360K bytes. Each ofthese is also available as a separate optionto the base-model PCjr. Additional options in-clude Cartridge BASIC (a ROM cartridge in-corporating an enhanced BASIC that is com-patible with the PC's BASICA), a TV connec-tor (radio frequency, or RF, modulator), cas-sette recorder cable (IBM does not sell acassette recorder), an internal modem, a ther-mal printer, one or two joysticks, a parallel-printer adapter, and a keyboard cord thatreplaces the infrared link.

IBM also announced several new softwarepackages concurrently with the PCjr. Thesepackages demonstrate IBM's intention to sellthe PCjr to families and schools; they includeeasy-to-use home applications, arcade-stylegames, and some game-based math pro-grams.

Keyboard

Most reviewers have roundly jeered the PCjr'skeyboard. I wish I could report that it seemsbetter after a couple of months of use, but itdoesn't. As photo 2 shows, the keyboard haswidely separated keys with no legends onthem. The definition of each key is printed onthe grid between the keys. This lets softwarevendors provide keyboard templates that givea label for many keys, as Sierra On-Line doesfor the HomeWord word processor, which I'lldiscuss later.

Unfortunately, it also means that you haveto lean over the keyboard or tilt it toward youto read the legends. The keys themselves havea mushy feel, most unpleasant for touch-typ-ing. I get the impression that IBM designedthis keyboard for children, and perhaps that'swhy I don't like it.

The keyboard's cordless feature is of ques-tionable value. Besides being one more thingto buy batteries for, it is direction sensitive.If you put the keyboard in your lap, its signalwill not reach the system unit (IBM's lingo for

254 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

the main computer box) unless it is pointingright at it. If you place the keyboard in yourlap and sit within the 20-foot acceptabledistance from the system unit, it is easy to tiltthe keyboard out of contact with the receiver.Contact is also lost if someone or somethingpasses between the keyboard and the systemunit. And if the keyboard sits on a table infront of the system unit, being cordlessdoesn't add much.

The PCjr's keyboard has only 62 keys (theIBM PC has 83). However, it can produce allthe PC's key codes through multiple key-strokes (see table 1). For example, on the PC,function code 1 is generated by hitting Fl; onthe PCjr you must first hit the key labeled Fn,then the 1 key, which is also labeled Fl. ThePCjr Technical Reference manual refers to "the62-key keyboard and the 83-key keyboard;' soperhaps relief is around the corner in the formof an unannounced, full-size keyboard.

The keyboard is the PCjr's major weakness.Alternative keyboards are available already,but if you add the price of a keyboard froman outside vendor, the PCjr's costs creepscloser to that of the IBM PC.

Video

The PCjr's video circuitry is an extension ofthe IBM PC color-graphics adapter. Its videocontroller is built into the system mother-board, rather than on a plug-in card like thePC's. Table 2 summarizes the modes availablefor text and graphics display. In addition tohaving all the PC color card's modes, the PCjrhas some extended modes: 16 colors in 320-by 200-pixel format, and 4 colors in 640- by200-pixel format. These give the PCjr an edgeover the PC in color displays. Note that youneed the 128K-byte memory option with thevideo-display adapter to enjoy 80-column textand the enhanced graphics modes.

As mentioned before, the PCjr comes withoutputs for a composite monochrome or col-or monitor (RCA jack), an RGB color monitor

Rowland Archer Jr. (5420 Loyal Place, Durham. NC2 7 713) is a manager of software development at a For-tune 500 corporation. He holds an M.S. in computerscience from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

such as the IBM color display, and a connec-tor for an RF modulator to drive a color TVset. There is no support for the IBM PC mono-chrome display.

Most programs that run on the IBM PCcolor-video card will run on the PCjr videocontroller. However, the two differ in memoryusage; the PCjr's video memory comes out ofmain-system memory rather than separatememory like that of the PC's display-adaptercards. Up to 16K bytes is used in the IBM PC'sgraphics modes, so some PC graphics pro-grams that run in 128K. bytes will not run ona 128K-byte PCjr because it has insufficientmemory.

For speed, some programs store text direct-ly into video memory, the area used by thevideo-controller circuitry to refresh the screen.The PCjr's video memory is located at the topof user memory, while the PC's color-cardvideo memory is at location B8000 hexadec-imal. IBM uses a hardware trick to allow pro-grams that access this memory directly on thePC to function on the PCjr. References toB8000 hexadecimal are automatically re-directed by the hardware to the PCjr's video-

[continued)

Photo 1: The IBM PCjr is slickly packaged, easy to set up. and gives an initialimpression of quality, although it may disappoint more demanding users.

AUGUST 1984

1YTE 255

REVIEW: PCjr

memory location. No such compatibili-ty with the IBM PC monochrome-dis-play adapter is provided, so programsthat access the monochrome display'srefresh memory directly, with no sup-port for the PC's color-display card, willnot work on PCjr.

There are a few other minor dif-ferences between the PC's color videocontroller and the PCjr's. The PC turnscolor on by default; the PCjr turns coloroff. The PCjr includes a keyboard func-tion that shifts the visible part of the dis-play left or right to center it on thescreen (this is especially useful on TVsets, which frequently have displays thatare off center).

Disk Drive

The PCjr uses a half-height 5!4-inchfloppy-disk drive that is compatible withthe IBM PC's. You can freely interchangedisks between the two machines. Thedrive in my PCjr was manufactured byQume. It is double-sided double-densitywith 360K bytes per disk.

If you start with the base-model PCjr,you can add the disk drive later. Installa-tion of the drive is easy: remove the faceplate covering the disk-drive hole in thefront panel, plug in the controller board,hook up the power and controllercables, and snap the drive into place.

Half-height drives have different tim-ing parameters than full-size drives, andsome software (a very few programs)will not function properly on them. Inparticular, copy-protection schemes thatdirectly program the disk controller may

Table 1: IBM creates all 83 IBM PC keyboard codes with the PCjrs 62 keys.

Some commonly used

single-key sequences on the PC, such as Page Up and Page

Down (PgUp. PgDn).

require two keystrokes on the PCjr.

IBM PC Key Code

PCjr Equivalent

Fl - FIO

Fn then Fl - FIO

Shift Fl - FIO

Shift Fn then Fl - FIO

Ctrl Fl - FIO

Ctrl Fn then Fl - FIO

Alt Fl - FIO

Alt Fn then Fl - FiO

Ctrl Break

Fn Break

Ctrl End

Ctrl Fn then End

Ctrl PrtSc

Fn then Echo

Ctrl Home

Ctrl Fn then Home

Ctrl Num Lock

Fn then Pause

Ctrl PgDn

Ctrl Fn then Pg Dn

Ctrl PgUp

Ctrl Fn then Pg Up

Shirt PrtSc

Fn then Prt Sc

Scroll Lock

Fn then Sc Lock

Num Lock

Alt Fn then N

PgUp

Fn then Pg Up

Pg Dn

Fn then Pg Dn

Home

Fn then Home

End

Fn then End

\

Alt /

Alt'

1

Alt I

Alt I

Numeric keypad numbers Alt Fn then number

Numeric keypad -

Fn then -

Numeric keypad =

Fn then =

Numeric keypad .

Shift Del

PrtSc *

Alt .

cause a program to fail on the PCjr.

A more bothersome difference be-tween the PC and the PCjr is the lackof DMA (direct memory access) on thePCjr's disk controller. The PC has DMA,which means that the disk controllercan transfer a block of data from thedisk to memory without interventionfrom the PC's central processor while

^•^^' mm

Photo 2: Trie infamous PCjr keyboard features widely spaced keys and legends that arehard to read from a normal typing angle.

each byte of data is transferred. ThePCjr's designers saved money by keep-ing the circuitry simple and letting themain microprocessor handle the data.The net result is that, while the disks areactive, other processing stops. The mostannoying consequence of this is thatkeyboard type-ahead is ignored whilethe disks are active. This probablywould not bother me if I were not usedto the fact that I can type ahead on thePC. However, there are times when thisis annoying. For example, if you use theFn key plus Pause to control the displayof a disk file, the PCjr frequently beepswhen you press the key while the diskis active.

The restriction this places on simulta-neous communications and disk-driveactivity is perhaps more severe. Youcannot download data from a commu-nications line (modem or RS-232C port)directly to a disk file, unless your com-munications program can notify theremote machine to stop sending datatemporarily while it saves its full bufferto disk.

The PCjr manual warns about a designlimitation that 1 never witnessed. Ac-

[continued]

256 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

AT A GLANCE

Name

IBM PCjr

Manufacturer

IBM Corporation

POB 1328

Boca Raton. FL 33432

Dimensions

System unit: 13.9 by 11.4by 3.8 inches highWeight: 5 pounds 8ounces: 8 pounds 4ounces with disk driveKeyboard: 13.5 by 6.6 by1 inches highWeight: 1 pound. 6ounces with batteries

Features

Intel 8088 1678-bit micro-processor operating at4.77 MHz. 64K bytes ofRAM. 64K bytes of ROMslots to plug in up toI28K bytes more ROM.one RS-232C serial port.40-column video outputfor RGB (red-green-blue)or composite colormonitor, or televisionwith optional RF (radiofrequency) modulator,single-voice beeper,three-voice soundgenerator with externalaudio output, cassetteport (recorder not sup-plied), two joystick inputs,and cordless 62-keykeyboard.

Software

Cassette BASIC, tutorialdisk, and sample disk

Hardware Options

RF modulator for TV

connection: $30

360K-byte disk

drive: $480

64K bytes RAM/80-

column video: $140Parallel-printer

adapter: $99

Internal 300-bps direct-

connect modem: $199

Software Options

PC-DOS 2.10: $65

Cartridge BASIC: $75

Documentation

Guide to Operations andHandsOn BASIC

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128K| 640K

1 64

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3 500

1000

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BUNDLED SOFTWARE0 2 4

PRICE

$0 $2000 $4000 $6000 $8000 $10,000

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IBM PC

APPLE HE

The Memory Size graph shows the standard andoptional memory available for the computers undercomparison. The Disk Storage graph shows thehighest capacity of a single floppyndisk drive foreach system. The Bundled Software graph showsthe number of software packages included witheach system. The Price graph shows the list priceof a system with two high-capacity floppy-disk

drives, a monochrome monitor, graphics and color-display capability, a proprietary serial printer port,2 56K bytes of memory (64K bytes for 8i>it systems),the standard operating system for each system, andthe standard BASIC interpreter for each system.Note that the IBM PCjr standard system includesthe maximum of one floppy-disk drive, an IBMcolor monitor, and 128K bytes of memory.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 257

Connectors for a wide variety of input/output devices are minimally Taking the top off the enhanced IBM PCjr reveals the disk drive and

labeled on the back of the PCjr.

controller card. 64K-byte memory addon card, and power supply.

DISK ACCESS IN BASIC

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RECALCULATE

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The graphs for Disk Access in BASIC show how long it takes to writea 64K-byte sequential text file to a blank floppy disk and how longit takes to read this file (For the program listings, see "The ChameleonPlus." by Rich Krajewski. lune. page 327.) The BASIC Performancegraph shows how long it takes to run one iteration of the Sieve ofEratosthenes prime-number benchmark and also how long it takesto do 10.000 multiplication and division operations using single-precision numbers (see the Calculations results). The System Utilities

graphs show low long it took to format and copy a disk (adjustedtime for 40K bytes of disk data) and to transfer a 40K-byte file usingthe system utilities. The Spreadsheet graph shows how long the com-puters took to toad and recalculate a 25- by 25-ceII spreadsheet whereeach cell equals 1.001 times the cell to its left. The spreadsheet pro-gram used was Microsoft Multiplan. Note that because the PCjr hasonly one disk drive the Format/Disk Copy graph is not applicableand File Copy was done to another part of the same disk.

258 BYTE* AUGUST 1984

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BYTE 8/84-S 861

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 259

REVIEW: PCjr

cording to the documentation, diskerrors can occur if you place your moni-tor or TV set within 6 inches of the diskdrive. This includes the obvious positionfor a monitor—on top of the PCjr.Maybe I was lucky, but I never had aproblem when I left mine on top of thesystem unit. If you heed IBM's admoni-tion, you will find that the PCjr has alarge "footprint"; i.e., it takes up a lot ofroom on your desk.

Cassette Tape

and ROM Cartridges

The base-model PCjr supports twomodes of program loading: cassettetape and ROM cartridge. Cassette-tapeformat is compatible with the PC. BASIChas commands to save and load pro-grams and data files on tape.

The ROM cartridge is unique to thePCjr, and it seems to be IBM's preferredmethod of software distribution for non-disk software. Each ROM cartridge canhold up to 64 K bytes of memory. Thereare two cartridge slots. The ROM in thecartridges can be programmed to re-place the ROMs in the system unit. This

means that you can replace the PCjr's"personality" with a completely dif-ferent ROM-based package.

The Technical Reference manual gives In-structions for programming a ROM car-tridge to contain new DOS (disk oper-ating system! commands, which will beadded to the DOS's vocabulary whenthe ROM is plugged in. Cartridge BASICuses this technique. When it is installed,the terms "BASIC" and "BASICA" invokeCartridge BASIC, rather than causingDOS to look for a file on disk to run.

When ROMs are inserted or removed,the PCjr performs a warm restart se-quence. This can be annoying. For ex-ample, if you boot a disk that requiresCartridge BASIC, you must insert theBASIC cartridge, causing the boot se-quence to start all over again. On theother hand, if you leave the BASIC car-tridge in one slot, it will remain availableto the system, and you can use the sec-ond slot for other ROM cartridges.

Sound

The IBM PCjr's built-in sound capabili-ties are superior to the PC's.

Table 2: Summary of video-display modes available on the PCjr. The first groupcontains the IBM PC-compatible modes. The second group contains the PCjr'sextended modes.

PC Color-Card Compatible Modes:

Text Modes Graphics Modes

40 by 25 - B&W40 by 25 - Color80 by 2 5 - B&W (80 by 25 - Color I

320 by 200 - 4 colors320 by 200 - B&W640 by 200 - B&W

PCjr Enhanced Color-Video Modes:Graphics Modes

320 by 200 - 16 colors

III

640 by 200 — 4 colors (II

160 by 200 - 16 colors

(11 These modes require a !28K-byte PCjr

Table 3: A comparison of memory (bits) available for BASICthe PC and PCjr, given 64K bytes and 128K bytes of RAM.BASIC is comparable in function to the PC's BASICA.

programs and data inThe PCjr's Cartridge

IBM PC64 Kbyte 128Kbyte

IBM PQr64 Kbyte 128Kbyte

Cassette BASIC 61404 62940Disk BASIC 23563 60891BASICA 13335 60455Cartridge BASIC n/a n/a

45020 62940n/a n/an/a n/a41744 59694

The PCjr's soundcapabilities are superiorto the PC's, though thebuilt-in speaker doesnot handle low notesas well.

There are two ways to produce soundon the PCjr. One is like the PC's, whichuses a timer chip and a small speaker.The PCjr's speaker is a tiny piezoelec-tric one; it does not handle the lownotes as well as the PCs speaker (whichis not exactly a woofer itself).

The PCjr's second sound-generationmethod uses a Tl (Texas Instruments]76496 complex-sound generator chip,capable of producing three voices si-multaneously. There is also a white-noise generator for sound effects. Allchannels can be controlled indepen-dently, mixed together, and fed to yourtelevision speaker, or through an RCAjack to any external amplifier (such asa spare input on your stereo system).Even though there are four soundsources in the TI chip, there is only onechannel of sound output from PCjr, sostereo sound is not available.

Cartridge BASIC supports both the in-ternal, single-voice speaker and the ex-ternal, three-voice-plus-noise-channelsound output. BASIC'S SOUND andPLAY statements can control each ofthe three voices individually, so suc-cessive SOUND statements to differentvoices result in chords. The volume ofeach voice can be controlled over arange of 15 increments. The BASICNOISE statement controls the soundchip's white-noise generator. A creativeprogrammer can have lots of fun creat-ing some great sound effects and musicon PCjr.

BASIC

The PCjr comes with a version of BASICin ROM just like the BASIC in the PC'sROM. This is referred to as CassetteBASIC because it uses a cassette taperecorder (not supplied) for program anddata storage. Cassette BASIC has nocommands to support the disk drive.Because the PCjr has limited memory,

(continued)

260 BYTE • AUGUST

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 261

REVIEW: PCjr

IBM decided to provide the functionsof the PC's advanced BASIC (BASICA)in the optional Cartridge BASIC thussaving more RAM for user programsand data. Table 3 shows the free mem-ory available under the various formsof BASIC on the PC and PCjr, given 64Kor 128K bytes of RAM in each machine.The PCjr's Cartridge BASIC, likeBASICA, provides support for disk I/O(input/output), graphics, and communi-cations. Cartridge BASIC also includessome things that are not found in thePC's BASICA, such as support for thePCjr's built-in sound generator, and the

enhanced graphics modes.

Cartridge BASIC includes one com-mand that is really a BASIC program.Typing TERM loads the program fromthe cartridge and lets you use your PCjras a simple terminal via the built-inserial port or optional modem. Nothingfancy here—you can set the data rate,data bits, parity, duplex, and screenwidth, and issue commands to the in-ternal modem. This simple programdoes not save incoming data to disk orsend disk files down the communica-tions line; it doesn't even have a modefor logging received data to the printer.

Table 4: The commands supported by the IBM PCjr's optional internal modem.

Each command can

be typed in full or abbreviated to its first letter.

ANSWER

Modem goes into auto-answer mode

BREAK n

Send a break character for n x 100 ms

COUNT n

Answer after n rings: hang up when dialing after n + 3 rings

DIAL m...m

Dial a number: may include subcommands to pause for dial tone.

wait 5 seconds, and switch between pulse and tone dialing

FORMAT n

Set parity, data bits, stop bits

HANGUP

Hang up the phone

INITIALIZE

Return to power-up state

LONG RESPONSE

Set message length short or long

MODEM

Modem carrier generated on line

NEW p

Set command character to p

ORIGINATE

Set modem to originate mode

PICKUP

Pick up the phone, voice mode

QUERY

Get modem status

RETRY

Redial if busy

SPEED o

Set bps rate to 110 or 300

TRANSPARENT

Modem commands are ignored and sent through

VOICE

Put modem into voice state

WAIT

Modem idle until next command

XMIT m...m

Send tone pairs m. m, etc.

ZTEST o

Modem test modes

Note: All commands

may be abbreviated to their first letter

Table 5: HomeVJord word-processor commands.

Print Functions

Edit Functions File Management

See final document

Copy text Get document

Print document

Erase text Save document

Set first page number

Move text Erase document

Find text Merge document

Find and replace Convert to/from

ASCII file

Layout Functions

Preset Values

Align text right

Make automatic backup documents

Align text left

Change top, bottom margins

Justify text

Change left, right margins

Center text

Change line spacing

Start new page

Change tabs

Set top, bottom margins

Save preset values

Set left, right margins

Select 40- or 80-column screen

Set line spacing

Select printer type

Normal, bold, under-

lined text

Headers and footers

If you get serious about using the PCjrfor telecommunications, you will wanta package with more features than this.

DOS 2.10

The disk-drive model of the PCjr runsPC-DOS 2.10. This version of PC-DOSalso runs on the PC and PC XT. Prior tothe time the PCjr was announced, PC-DOS version 2.00 was the latest revisionavailable. The differences between DOS2.00 and DOS 2.10 are bug fixes (un-specified by IBM) and support for thePCjr's half-height disk drives. Accordingto IBM, the head-settling time param-eter for DOS 2.00 is too fast for someof the half-height drives being installedin PCjrs, leading to disk I/O errors. I triedrunning several programs under DOS2.00 and never noticed a problem. Evenso, given IBM's warning. I wouldn't useDOS 2.00 on a PCjr for any importantdata.

Joysticks

IBM sells an optional joystick for thePCjr that works with most of the gameprograms mentioned on the "At aGlance" page. It appears identical to thejoystick made by Kraft Systems. Pro-grammers can also use it from BASICwith the STICK and STRIG functions,which return the joystick coordinatesand the status of the joystick push-buttons.

You can connect one or two joysticksto PCjr. They are smooth-acting andcomfortable to use. You can set the Xand Y joystick axes to spring return tocenter or to free float. There is also abias dial for each axis, which can beused to adjust the cursor's response tomovement of the joystick.

INTERNAL MODEM

Novation makes the IBM PCjr's internalmodem, shown in photo 3. This direct-connect, 300-bps, auto-answer, auto-dialmodem is easily installed. It can dialwith tones or pulses, and it includes acable to connect the modem to amodular telephone jack. If you want tohave a telephone connected to thesame jack, you must purchase a Ymodular adapter.

When installed, the modem is auto-matically designated the COM1 deviceto BASIC and DOS; the built-in serialport is COM2. If there is no modem in

[continued)

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REVIEW: PCjr

Photo 3: The PCjr's 300-bps direct-conned internal modem option is made by novationand features auto-dial and auto-answer.

This is HoweHorH in action.

4

The sm»11 box in the lower might-hand

corner shows the forMat of the printed

rage once this text lias been for«s((p,ior 80 col nt-ins . 4-4

The four syMbols to the left of the boxare ICONS. They stand for PRINT, EDITFILE, and LAYOUT.+*

You select an ICON by hitting ESC andMoving the ICON selection box bypressing the arrow keys. ■

Press ESC to go to Menu

Photo 4: HomeWord. an easy-to-use word processor for the IBM PCjr, features a text-editarea: icons for selecting print, edit. file, and layout functions: and a box containing a graphicrepresentation of the current page's format.

your PCjr, the serial port is COM1. Uponinstallation of the modem, this changein designation of the serial port forcesyou to reconfigure programs that accessthe serial port.

Table 4 summarizes the commandsavailable with the IBM PCjr's internalmodem. The PCjr's modem commandsare not Hayes compatible, which is un-fortunate given the amount of availabletelecommunications software using theHayes command format. However, thecommands are simple to use; you canenter any command from the keyboardby typing Control-N and then the com-mand mnemonic.

HomeWord

Among the software released by IBMfor the PCjr is Sierra On-Line's uniqueword processor. HomeWord (see photo4). HomeWord is easy to use but ade-quate for most home word-processingneeds.

The program includes an overlay tem-plate for the PCjr keyboard. If you havesome experience with word processors,you can probably figure out how to useHomeWord from the template alone.Unfortunately, the template is made ofheavy paper stock and comes folded inhalf. The crease in the middle keeps it

from lying flat, and it looks like it couldeasily be torn in half from folding andunfolding.

HomeWord has several interesting fea-tures. A menu of icons or symbols ap-pears at the bottom of the screen. Youselect word-processing functions bymoving through this picture menu. Forspeed, you also can select most func-tions directly through special keysequences.

On most TV sets, you can only display40 characters per line and still havereadable text. A box in the lower right-hand corner of the HomeWord screenis a shrunken representation of the cur-rent page, using single pixels for eachletter. This box lets you view the shapeof text on your document's pages in thefinal format. Table 5 summarizes Home-Word's commands.

Other Applications

IBM has released four arcade games(Mouser, Crossfire, Scuba Venture, andMine Shaft) in cartridge form for theIBM PCjr. Disk-based games include acouple of adventure games, educationalgames, and an introducation to Logocalled "Turtle Power."

1 received several other software pack-ages to try out on the PCjr. They areIBM PC versions, with no apparentmodifications for the PCjr. InformationUnlimited Software's Easy Writer 1.15has more features than HomeWord. butit seems dry after HomeWord's dazzlingicons and use of color. Software Pub-lishing's PFS:File and PFS: Report are apair of file-management programs thatallow you to store, modify, retrieve, andreport on a database. I also ranMicroPro's WordStar version 3.30 onPCjr with no problems. This WordStaraccesses the PCs video memory direct-ly, apparently using the hardware trickmentioned earlier.

Accessories

If pointing the PCjr's keyboard at the in-frared receiver is not your cup of tea,you can buy a cord to hook the key-board to your system unit. The cord isa flat cable about 6 feet long. It is notcoiled, and tends to get in the way onthe desk. (With cables like this one.maybe cordless keyboards are not sucha bad idea after all.)

Another option is a Centronicsparallel-printer port, compatible with

264 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

REVIEW: PCjr

the PC's Photo 5 shows the way this op-tion attaches to the side of the PCjr. Thepanel on the right-hand side of the sys-tem unit snaps off to reveal a 60-pinconnector that brings the bus out. Theparallel-printer adapter snaps onto theside, connecting to the 60-pin bus.

When the installation is complete, the60-pin bus is available for the next op-tion. The PCjr Technical Reference manualstates that up to five option adapterscan be supported. However, powerusage will be restricted on a machinethat has all the internal options con-nected; only 400 milliamps of + 5 V DC(volts, direct current) are available onthe external bus. and the +12 V DC and-6 V DC sources are completely usedup.

The way the parallel-printer adapterconnects to the PCjr foreshadows other,more interesting options to come. The60-pin bus includes 20 address lines, abidirectional 8-bit data bus. three inter-rupt levels (requests 1. 2. and 7). mem-ory and I/O read and write signals, andmiscellaneous clock and timing signals.DMA devices (such as disk controllersthat don't interfere with type-ahead andRS-232C data input) can be connected.This bus is the key to add-on third-partyhardware, and several vendors havealready announced PCjr hardware ex-pansions that connect to it.

Inside the PCjr

The PCjr's lid is easy to snap off (seephoto on the "At a Glance" page), butthere is no power interlock to preventdangerous AC (alternating current) linevoltages from being present when thePCjr's insides are exposed. The switch-ing power supply is on the far left. Thepower supply is the trickiest card to in-stall in PCjr—it requires mating two easi-ly bent pins on the motherboard witha connector on the card, as well as in-serting the card's edge into a connector.

lb right of the power supply is thememory/80-column video-expansioncard, which is individually shielded.Next is the Novation 300-bps modem.And finally, the disk drive controller isnext to the disk drive.

Photo 6 shows the PCjr with all itscards out and the floppy disk removed.The eight chips in the lower left-handcorner contain 64K bytes of RAM.There is no parity checking bit. unlikethe PC which includes a 9th-bit parity

check for every 8 bits of memory. In theupper left-hand corner you will see thecassette relay, which is a yellow compo-nent. To the left of the relay is the tinypiezoelectric speaker used for internalsound. The large 40-pin chip just belowthe relay is the INS8250 UART (univer-sal asynchronous receiver/transmitter)chip that controls the serial port. Belowthe 8250 is another 40-pin chip, theMotorola 6845 video controller. The40-pin chip below that is a proprietarygate array used in the video section.On the lower right are the covers forthe two ROM program cartridges.Directly above the left-hand slot are thetwo system ROMs. To the right is the60-pin system-bus extender (at the edgeof the PC board). The large chip just to

its left is the 8088 microprocessor, thePCjr's brain.

Manuals

The documentation set is impressive.IBM made a real effort to make thecomputer understandable to novices.Chapters such as the one titled "TakingControl" in the Hands-On BASIC manual(jointly published by IBM and McGraw-Hill) deal with computer-fear by stress-ing that the computer is only a tool, nota diabolical machine with a mind of itsown.

Hands-On BASIC uses cartoons andfull-color diagrams liberally to make thepages visually interesting. IBM chose alittle boy named "PC" for the theme

[continued)

Photo 5: Some options, such as the parallel-printer adapter shown here, attach to the busconnector on the right-hand side of the PCjr.

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Photo 6: The IBM PCjr's motherboard with all internal add-on adapters, disk drive andpower supply removed. [See text for a guided tour.)

AUGUST 1984 • B Y T E 265

REVIEW: PCjr

character for the PCjr. He appears insome, but not all, of the end-user-oriented manuals.

The Guide to Operations tells you how toset up your machine use the keyboard,install options, and run diagnostics. Thewriting style is simple and clear. Theoperations manual includes a keyboardtutorial linked to a program in the PCjr'sROM called Keyboard Adventure (andthis keyboard is an adventure). Thistutorial guides you through the PCjr key-board with animated color graphics anda three-voice rendition of the openingto Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

An interactive tutorial program calledExploring the IBM PCjr is included withdisk-drive versions of the PCjr.

Another introductory program calledthe Sampler provides some sample ap-plication programs for the PCjr. It comeson a single floppy disk and includessome simple BASIC programs, seen inmenu form in photo 7.

The Microsoft BASIC manual comeswith Cartridge BASIC. It is almost iden-tical to the manual shipped with the PC.Modifications include new PCjr com-mands, and references to the PC's disk-based BASIC and BASICA are changed

to references to Cartridge BASIC. Thisis primarily a programmer's reference,but new programmers should start withHands-On BASIC, which comes withevery machine.

If you buy PC-DOS. you get twomanuals: one is simply titled DiskOperating System, and the other is a small,staple-bound book called Disk OperatingSystem User's Guide. The first is the ref-erence manual for DOS users; the sec-ond is a get-acquainted guide for first-time users, complete with cartoon char-acters meant to ease computer anxie-ty. An extra-cost option is the DOSTechnical Reference manual, intended forDOS programmers. One advantage ofsplitting the DOS manual into two partsis that each part fits into its binder, incontrast to DOS 2.0 documentation,which doesn't. The disadvantage is theextra cost for the now-optional technicalmanual. This new manual set is used forthe PC and PC XT as well.

The Technical Reference manual followsthe same style as the PC's manual. Itgives a detailed look at the PCjr'sdesign, including schematics and list-ings of the ROM BIOS code. IBM obvi-ously knows that much of the PC's

EXPENSES

TILE

□ D

LOANS

TELEPHONE

CHECKBOOK

GAME CONNECTOR

m rcrrmarroi ■•ti ttm

Photo 7: The IBM PCjr Sampler Disk includes a number of BASIC programsdemonstrating the kinds of applications that are available. Shawn here are the selection iconsfor a budget program, recipe file, loan-payment computer, checkbook manager, number game,and simple communications program.

The PCjr's modemcommands are notHayes compatible,which is unfortunategiven the amount ofavailable

telecommunicationssoftware using theHayes format.

phenomenal success is due to third-party software and hardware vendorsthat need this detailed information tomake additional programs and optionsavailable for the machine.

Conclusions

The PCjr is impressive in many ways. Itis also disappointing in some criticalareas.

The PCjr's major advantages include:IBM PC compatibility; a large softwarebase (at least for the disk version ofPCjr); good graphics, text, and soundcapabilities: and an excellent documen-tation set. The PCjr allows children andadults alike to acquire some computerliteracy while learning to operate themachine—and of course the IBM nameensures continued support and ser-vice

Minuses include the keyboard, a realloser: limited expandability from IBM atthis time (no external disk drive or add-on memory beyond 128K bytes total):and the price—it's rather expensive fora home computer, but with its currentkeyboard, it's not meant for businessuse.

As this article goes to press, new key-board and memory options arerumored to be pending from IBM. Fornow. I must admit that the PCjr is notmy choice for a personal computer. Itmay appeal to children and educationalinstitutions or to hunt-and-peck typists.But if you are in the market for a com-puter and decide to buy an IBMmachine, think carefully about buyinga PC. or at least look at the price of afully expanded PCjr versus a compar-ably configured PC ■

266 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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FREE1-800-528-1054

PRINTERS

Brother

OX-15 S369

HR-25 S619

C-ltoh

A10-20 S459

F-10 Parallel or Serial S915

55 CPS Serial or Parallel S1199

8510 Parallel (Prownter) S319

8510 SP S439

8510 SCP S509

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Computer International

Daisywnter 2000W/48K S985

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CP.-2 Keyboard SI 50

CR-3 Call

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DS180 S115S

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All Printer Models Call

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2010 5645

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Smartmodem 300 Baud SI99

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212A Autodial S420

Password 1200 5310

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»*.»*«»<•«»

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\

TheBettmann Archive

M

All he could do was hit.

And the Babe's fans loved him for it.Doing one thing very well has itsrewards. Some people make history.Some set records. Some win hearts.

Multimate International. In a brief18 months, a growing "fan club" ofusers has made us one of the leadingsoftware companies in the world. Theobject of their affection: Multimate,the program that put the power andspeed of a Wang® dedicated wordprocessor into the IBM® PC.

We've carved a niche in officeautomation. By committing ourselvesto word processing for the IBM PC andmost plug compatibles. By makingsure that Multimate interfaces wellwith other data managementproducts. By developing a programthat will allow users to convert Wangfiles to the Multimate format. Bylooking beyond what word processingis. And seeing what it can be.

Multimate International. We'vecome a long way in a short time bybeing very good at what we do. Weintend to keep it that way.

To find out more about Multimate,the word processor, and MultimateInternational, the company, callJordan Caswell at 1-800-243-3142.

Ultimate We're putting our reputation into words.

IBM PC is a registered trademark of Internationa] BusinessMachines Corporation.

Wang is a registered trademark of Wang Laboratories.

Circle 228 on inquiry card. AUGUST 1984 "BYTE 269

SYSTEM REVIEW

T/teSflm/0 MBC-550

inexpensiveMS-DOS

by Bill Sudbrink

In January, I read a classified ad that wentsomething like this:FOR SALE: Computers,128K memory, double-densitydisk, MS-DOS and IBM7 compatible. $995.

COmpilter I had been regularly reading the classifiedsfor three years and knew this price was a typo.The correct price must be $1995 or $2995. Idecided to call anyway, hoping that $1995 wasright. The salesman told me that $995 was thecorrect price. "What's wrong with it?" wentthrough my mind.

"What's wrong with it?" seems to be thereaction of all my friends and classmates uponfirst hearing the price and the features of theSanyo MBC-550 series. Because attending col-lege means paying to work instead of work-ing for pay (leaving little money for buying acomputer), I went to have a look at theMBC-550 and the two-disk MBC-555. What Ifound made me an owner the next day.

[Editor's Note: We've included two textboxes that provide additional insight into theSanyo MBC-550 and 555. lames G. DroppoJr.'s "The Double-Drive MBC-5 5 5" is on page278. John Unger and [effrey Phillips discuss"Sanyo MBC-55 5/IBM PC Compatibility" onpage 276.|

The cabinet measures 15 inches wide, 4%inches high, and 14/5 inches deep. At firstglance the cabinet looks a lot like a videodiscplayer. It has a smooth silver surface with airvents running across each side and a singlepower switch on the front. The keyboard casehas the same finish as the cabinet, and thekeys are two shades of grey with white letter-ing. A black coiled cable connects the key-board to the cabinet. The cabinet contains afan, which I didn't discover until several daysafter purchasing the system: the fan is virtuallysilent. The floppy-disk drives are also veryquiet, with only the occasional click as theread/write head changes tracks.

The cabinet has positions for two floppy-disk drives. In the basic MBC-5 50 setup (onedrive), the second drive position is occupiedby a handy disk-storage box, which can hold12 disks. On the rear of the cabinet is agrounded outlet that is on the same switch

as the main unit. This outlet lets you turn onyour system and display with one switch.

Monochrome and/orColor Display

The MBC-550 comes out of the box capableof driving both monochrome and RGB (red-green-blue) displays. As a matter of fact, it candrive one of each at the same time. The for-mats of the two displays are the same. Thebasic video signals are generated for the RGBdisplay and auxiliary circuitry converts the col-or signals to monochrome signals. Table 1shows the eight pixel values and their colorand monochrome attributes. Figure 1 showsthe pin-outs of the RGB socket.

The character-display format is 2 5 lines by80 columns: for pixels, it's 640 horizontal by200 vertical. Both graphics and text may bedisplayed at the same time. Each character isan array of 8 horizontal by 8 vertical pixels.In ROM (read-only memory), 2 56 charactersare stored, and the lower 127 are standardASCII (American National Standard Code forInformation Interchange). The ASCII characterset is pleasing to the eye, with lowercasedescenders. I can distinguish no differencebetween the Sanyo ASCII characters andIBM's. The COLOR command in BASIC letsyou display text in any character/backgroundcolor combination.

Other BASIC graphics commands includeLINE (draws a line between any two points onthe screen), CIRCLE (draws circles, ellipses,and arcs anywhere on the screen), SYMBOL(puts the standard characters on the screenin any magnification and four orientations),PAINT (fills an enclosed area with a specifiedcolor), PSET and PRESET (colors and uncolorsspecific pixels), and GET and PUT (stores anarea of the display into a numeric array andplaces a numeric array in a specified area ofthe display).

Display memory is set at cold boot to thehighest 16K bytes available. Altering a valueat I/O (input/output) address hexadecimal 10changes the display memory block.

Keyboard

The MBC-550 keyboard (see photo 2) is ar-

270 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

ranged in the regular QWERTY format withone slightly annoying exception. The Shift keysat lower left and right are moved farther awayfrom the bottom row by the addition of an <>(angle bracket) key to the left and an »(asterisk) key to the right; a jab for the shiftkey that falls short results in a < or *. TwoShift-Lock keys are situated on either side ofthe space bar. The Caps lock is on the left andthe Graph lock is on the right. Each lock keyhas an embedded red LED (light-emittingdiode) to indicate activity.

The keyboard has a very nice feel for touch-typing, with the home keys (F and J) moredeeply dished to mark the position of thehome row. The keyboard also has two adjust-able legs to let you tilt the keyboard to yourown tastes.

In addition to the QWERTY keypad, thereare five function keys arranged vertically alongthe left side of the keyboard and a combina-tion numeric/cursor-control keypad on theright. The function keys are programmed fromBASIC with the KEY command.

The numeriofcursor-control keypad is a stan-dard numeric keypad with =. *. -. +. • . andReturn keys. Eight of the ten numeric keys canalso serve as cursor-control keys. (Numeric keyfunctions are shown in table 2.) A BASIC Breakkey (Control-C) is in the upper right corner ofthe numeric pad. out of the way but not inac-cessible. A hardware processor reset switchis recessed on the left side of the keyboard.

The keyboard communicates with the com-puter in ASCII at 1200 bps (bits per second)with even parity. 8 data bits, and 2 stop bits.When a character is pressed while the con-trol key is down, the character is transmittedin parity error. The keyboard has automaticrepeat on all keys after approximately one-halfsecond.

Processor

The MBC-550 uses the l<W8-bit Intel 8088microprocessor and an 8288 bus controller.The MBC-550 also has a socket for the 8087

Bill Sudbrink (5100 Barto Ave.. Camp Springs. MD20746) is majoring in computer science at the Univer-sity of Maryland, College Park.

mathematics coprocessor and is configuredto take advantage of it.

The 8088 in the MBC-550 runs at 3.6 MHz.more than 1 MHz slower than the IBM Per-sonal Computer (PC), which runs at 4.77 MHz.This speed difference shows in the process-ing benchmarks on page 274.

There is no question that Sanyo sacrificedspeed in order to cut production costs. In myexperience with computers, however, process-ing speed is really of importance only whendealing with real-time applications such asgraphics animation. In these applications, aslow system usually results in poor graphicsanimation. The simple BASIC test program inlisting 1 shows that the MBC-550 is capableof quick, smooth animation.

Memory

The Sanyo comes with 128K bytes of 4164dynamic RAM (random-access read/writememory) soldered to the main board, whichhas sockets for another 128K bytes to bringthe system total to 256K bytes. The last ad-dressable 16K bytes of memory. FC000 toFFFFF (hexadecimal), contain the system

{continued)

Photo I: The Sanyo MBC-550.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 271

REVIEW: SANYO

GREEN SIGNAL,

VERTICAL SYNC(INVERTED)

RED SIGNAL

C6) ^ ^

HORIZONTAL SYNC(INVERTED)

GROUND

Figure I: The pin-out of the MBC-550 rear-panel RGB receptacle.

Table 1: The eight pixel values ft

ir color and monochrome displays.

Pixel Value

Color Display

Monochrome Display

0

black

off (black)

1

blue

low intensity

2

green

medium intensity

3

light blue

high intensity

4

red

off (black)

5

purple

low intensity

6

yellow

blink off medium

7

white

blink low/high

T^ble 2: Normal (unshifted) and shifted functions of the

numeric keypad.

Cursor Control

Keypad

(unshifted)

(shifted)

linefeed

I

not used

2

page down

3

right

4

down

5

left

6

home

7

up

8

page up

9

not used

0

ROM. The ROM contains, among otherthings, the floppy-disk bootstrap, thekeyboard decoding, and the characterimages. The system uses no memoryparity checking, so each 64K-byte up-grade requires only eight 4164 chips.The documentation seems to indicatethat memory expansion is limited to2 56K bytes. Although there are no cardslots in the MBC-550. the address anddata buses and all of the memory andI/O signals are available through a62-pin header on the processor board(see table 3). In the schematics, thisheader is noted only as an "externalport." Interestingly, pin 30B labeled CLK(clock), receives a signal referred to onthe schematics as "OSC IBM BUSS."Maybe there is an IBM-compatible cardcage in the future.

Disk Drives

Sanyo now supplies only 5W-inch.single-sided, double-density disk driveswith the MBC-550 series. In theFebruary 1984 edition of Sanyo Newslet-ter, a short paragraph mentions that theEDH 511 10-megabyte hard disk is avail-able for the MBC-550. but at this writ-ing my local dealers have not heard any-thing about the new disk. Double-sideddisk drives are also said to be on theway.

The Sanyo-supplied drives use regularsoft-sectored disks with a formattedstorage area of 160K bytes under MS-DOS 1.25. Regular MS-DOS formattingis used, and the disks are transportableamong various MS-DOS machines, in-cluding the IBM PC. The version of MS-DOS supplied with the MBC-550 sup-ports from one to four drives. As I men-tioned before, the drives are pleasing-ly quiet.

While Sanyo may be slow in produc-ing hardware options for its computer,other firms are not. Two dealers in theMaryland suburbs of Washington. DC.are offering double-sided, double-density disk drives and MS-DOS 2.0 forthe MBC-550. Prices are less than $250for the drive and DOS (disk operatingsystem). The double-sided drives arealso MS-DOS standard, and they dou-ble the formatted storage area to 360Kbytes under MS-DOS 2.0. [Editor'sNote: At press time, we learned thatMS-DOS version 2.11 is now availablefor the MBC-5501

{continued)

272 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

AT A GLANCE

Name

Sanyo MBC-550

Manufacturer

Sanyo Business Systems

Corp.

Computer Division

51 Joseph St.

Moonachie. N| 07074

(20!) 440-9300

Size

15 by 14J4 by 4% inches:keyboard. 17& by 6% byIX inches

Processor

8088 16-/8-bit at 3.6 MHzwith 8288 bus controller

Memory

128K of 4164 dynamicRAM; expandable to 256K

Mass Storage

One or two I60K 5Ji-inch.single-sided, double-density floppy-disk drives

Display

2 5 rows by 80 columns:color (RGB) or mono-chrome

Keyboard

Detached QWERTY withfive function keys andnumeric pad

Software

MS-DOS 1.25. SanyoBASIC. WordStar. CalcStar.EasyWriter

Options

RS-232C serial port ($100).Apple joystick. 8087 mathcoprocessor. 64K RAMexpansion ($120).monochrome monitor($199). color monitor($749). double-sided diskdrive ($499)

Documentation

Operator's guide. 287pages; software guide. 492pages

Price

MBC-550 (one drive). $995;MBC-555 (two drives. Mail-Merge. SpellStar. and Info-Star). $1495: with monitorand serial port. $1795

DISK STORAGE

0 500 1000

1S00 2000K

BUNDLED SOFTWARE

0 2 4 6

PRICE10 $0 $2000 $4000 $6000 $8000 $10,000

2

$2099

SANYO MBC-550

APPLE HE

The Memory graph shows the standard and op-tional memory available for the computers undercomparison. The Disk Storage graph shows thehighest capacity of a single floppy-disk drive foreach system. The Bundled Software graph showsthe number of packages included with each system.The Price graph shows the list price of a system

with two high-capacity floppy-disk drives, a mono-chrome monitor, graphics and color-display capa-bility, a printer port and a serial port. 256K bytesof memory (64K bytes for 8-bit systems), the stan-dard operating systems for each system, and thestandard BASIC interpreter for each system.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 273

The rear panel of the Sanyo MBC-550. Note the parallel printer connector.

The inside of the Sanyo MBC-555. Note the two floppy-disk drives at thetop [front) and the lack of expansion slots.

DISK ACCESS IN BASIC

BASIC PERFORMANCE

212

200

175

150ma

ou

UJ

m ioo

50

56

1

46

1

32*

29*

0

■

n

2501 2(

7

228

200 ■

150 1

100 1

50 ■

ol H

B-191-

-93- 92-

—jy^

CALCULATIONS

SYSTEM UTILITIES50

SPREADSHEET (MULTIPLAN)25, 76

RECALCULATE

IBM PC LZIZ] AppLE HE

The Disk Access in BASIC graph shows how long it takes to writea 64K-byte sequential text file to a blank floppy disk and how longit takes to read this file (For the program listings, see 'The ChameleonPlus." by Rich Krajewski. in the June BYTE, page 327.) The Sieve barshows how long it takes to run one iteration of the Sieve ofEratosthenes prime-number benchmark. The Calculations bar showshow long it takes to do 10.000 multiplication and division operationsusing single-precision numbers. The System Utilities graph shows howlong it takes to format and copy a disk (adjusted time for 40K bytesof disk data) and to transfer a 40K-byte file using the system utilities.The Spreadsheet graph shows how long the computers take to load

and recalculate a 2 5- by 2 5-cell spreadsheet where each cell equals1.001 times the cell to its left. The spreadsheet program used wasMicrosoft Multiplan.

Note that in the tests of BASIC disk access for the Sanyo, the testfile was written to and read from the default (Le.. nonblank) disk. SanyoBASIC apparently cannot access other disk drives. In the spreadsheettest on the Sanyo. CalcStar was used. The standard 2 5 by 2 5 spread-sheet could not fit into memory. A 2 5-column by 17-line spreadsheetwas used and the times were extrapolated to 25 lines

274 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 275

REVIEW: SANYO

Sanyo MB0555/IBM PCCompatibility

By John Unger and Jeffrey Phillips

As scientists, both of us have doneextensive programming in thework environment on mainframecomputers and minicomputers usingFORTRAN and PL/I. However, our homecomputing needs are different and in-clude program development, word pro-cessing, and remote communicationswith minicomputers at the office. Whenwe purchased identical Sanyo MBC-555computer systems, we had no great illu-sions concerning IBM Persona! Computer(PC) compatibility. Dealers had informedus that the Sanyo would not run IBM soft-ware requiring graphics and might notrun other IBM software. Documentationwas known to be poor. Nevertheless, theattractions of the low cost, bundled wordprocessing, database, BASIC software,graphics, and IBM compatibility (in termsof disk format, microprocessors, andoperating system) were too good to passup. If public-domain software developedfor the IBM PC could be adapted for useon the Sanyo, then so much the better.We first ran the MicroPro (WordStar,etc.) and [.US. (EasyWriter) packagesbundled with the MBC-555; we foundthem to be completely installed for theSanyo system, and everything workedflawlessly right out of the package. Work-ing with WordStar was somewhat discon-certing at first, though. Because of the

way the Sanyo writes to the screen, usingthe scroll feature (Control-QZ) to reviewtext is difficult to adjust to; the text doesnot scroll smoothly and appears to jumparound the screen as the top line iserased and a new line is added at the bot-tom. This effect is especially bothersomewith double-spaced text. Also, the Sanyoappears to write to the screen much moreslowly than some 8-bit CP/M machinesthat we've used, but it's about the samespeed as the IBM PC. Interestingly, thisproblem does not seem to be as ap-parent with the version of EasyWriter thatcomes with the Sanyo; perhaps l.U.S. usesmore efficient code for screen-writingroutines.

One of the first programs we attemptedto convert was PC-Talk, a "freeware" com-munications program written in IBMBASIC. (A compiled version would notrun on the Sanyo.) The initial problem weencountered was an "out of memory''message during the load. It seems thatthe Sanyo, supplied with 128K bytes ofRAM (random-access read/write mem-ory), can spare only about 40K bytes forBASIC program space. We corrected thisproblem by adding 64K bytes' worth ofmemory chips to the main board. Alladd-on memory is available to programsrunning under Sanyo BASIC. The re-mainder of the conversion attempt was

an education in the differences betweenIBM BASIC and the simpler Sanyo BASICwhich is structured much like 8-bit Micro-soft BASIC.

The problem that caused us to aban-don the attempt was the failure of PC-Talkto recognize extended keyboard codessuch as Home or Shift-Ctrl (which are sup-posed to translate to the IBM Alt ex-tended code) when typed on the Sanyo.This problem made it impossible to getpast the main menu of PC-Talk withoutdestroying the integrity of the BASICcode. It is just as well we did not spendmore effort on converting this programbecause no one in our user group hadsucceeded in setting the data-transmis-sion rate on the Sanyo using the instruc-tions in the owners manual. Also, thesituation has now changed becauseSanyo has come up with its own commu-nications software.

A second exercise involved using POKEcommands to enter assembly-languagesubroutines into BASIC programs, asoutlined by Hugh Howson in two BYTEarticles (references 2 and 3). Goingthrough his examples gave us our firstlook at the BIOS (basic input/outputsystem) of the Sanyo. We were very en-couraged to discover that most of theBIOS and DOS (disk operating system) in-terrupts found on the IBM PC also are

Serial Communications

The MBC-550 does not come with abuilt-in serial port. The optional serialboard, which costs $100, can driveeither a modem or a printer and is com-pletely under software control. Trans-mission rates can be varied between110 and 4800 bps but not by BASIC.Sanyo includes in the user's guide aBASIC routine to alter the data-trans-mission rate; however, due to rathertemperamental timing, the BASIC rou-tine does not work. The assembler rou-tine in the guide works perfectly. The

serial board communicates through astandard DB2 5 female connector. Theconnector pin-outs comply with stan-dard printer and modem configurations.The main component of the serialboard is the Intel 82 51A serial interfacecontroller chip, which takes data on itsparallel bus and converts it into serialorder. It also receives data on its serialRxDATA pin and converts it for theparallel bus. The 82 51A is completelysoftware controlled. Parity, word size,and stop bits are variable. Parity can beeven, odd, or none; word size can be 5,6, 7, or 8 bits; and the number of stop

bits can be 1, 1/2, or 2. You select thesecharacteristics by sending a control wordto I/O address 2A (42 decimal). Table 4shows the 8251A control word coding;listing 2 is an assembly-language pro-gram to alter the serial setting.

Parallel Communication

The standard MBC-5 50 system includesa Centronics-type parallel interface. Theinterface can drive many kinds ofprinters and seems to cooperate withWordStar nicely. I have a C. Itoh dot-matrix printer that has operated per-fectly with the MBC-5 50.

276 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

REVIEW: SANYO

supported on the Sanyo. Specifically, in-terrupts 0, 1. 3, 10 through 1C and 20through 27 are supported. All others haltthe processor. Interrupts 15, 18, 19, IB,and 1C return to the calling program with-out taking any action. There also aresome minor differences. For example, thekeyboard interrupt (17) does not have theoption of returning a status byte, thevideo interrupt (10) does not have graph-ics options, and the memory-size inter-rupt (12) always returns 16K bytes lessmemory than you thought you had, ap-parently to compensate for the 16K bytesof dedicated video RAM. A related con-version attempt involved a screen-dumpprogram written in IBM BASIC with anassembly-language subroutine. This pro-gram used the graphics GET statementto access the screen, then used theVARPTR function to pass the address forthe screen array through a CALL state-ment to the assembly-languagesubroutine. It soon became apparent thaton the Sanyo the format of the array out-put by the GET statement differed radical-ly from that produced on the IBM. In ad-dition, the offset address returned by theVARPTR function was relative to an un-known segment address, making it nextto useless. Furthermore, parameterspassed through the CALL statement werenot correctly utilized by the assem-bly-language subroutine. We were able towrite a clumsy but functional version ofthe program only by eliminating passedparameters and taking advantage of "pro-prietary" information regarding the for-mat of the GET array.

After reading articles on C compilers(references 1 and 4), we ordered a copyof the DeSmet C compiler for one of thenew Sanyos. The decision to buy this

compiler was not made without someanxiety; although the product is sup-posedly able to run on plain-vanilla MS-DOS, some of the more interesting fea-tures and utility functions have beendesigned around the IBM PC. However,we were pleased to discover that not onlydoes the fast and handy editor. SEE, workflawlessly, but the entire library of func-tions for direct screen I/O (input/output)on the IBM PC are completely compati-ble with the Sanyo. This feature is a directconsequence of the fact that the BIOS in-terrupt 10 routines are identical betweenthe IBM and Sanyo machines.

Our version of DeSmet C (2.2) is morerecent than the one reviewed in BYTE forthe IBM, and the benchmarks we've runon the Sanyo show that the Sanyo pro-duces results comparable to those re-ported for the IBM in the BYTE article.We're pleased with the package and nowhave the freedom to create not only EXEfiles from powerful and versatile sourcecode but also machine-language pro-grams using the 8088 assembler thatcomes with the C compiler.

In brief, the biggest problem with theMBC-555 is the lack of in-depth technicaldocumentation. This lack prevents use ofthe machine's excellent graphics. Now allwe have to do is figure out how to ac-cess the fine high-resolution graphics ofthe Sanyo with C-language functions or,at least, through assembly-languageprograms.

We were frustrated again when we at-tempted to run compiled public-domainutility software. Two RAM-disk programswritten for the IBM failed to work on theSanyo, as did an IBM program to play"Mary Had a Little Lamb." (The Sanyo ap-parently does not support music.) The

moral seems to be: If you expect to runIBM software, don't buy a Sanyo.

If you plan to write your own softwareusing the full power of the 8088 andSanyo graphics capability, expect tospend a lot of time with the debugger,searching through the DOS, BIOS, andBASIC assembly code in order to gleansome insight into the interrupt and portstructure. We think that Sanyo should cor-rect the problems with the VARPTR andCALL statements or at least provide theinformation needed to use them in theirpresent form.

Are we unhappy that we boughtSanyos? Not at all. The MBC-5 5 5 has pro-ven to be a versatile computer with greatpotential at a great price. With a little helpfrom Sanyo, especially in the form ofgood documentation on the BIOS anddetails for the rest of the operatingsystem, that potential will begin to berealized.

John Unger (POB 95, Hamilton, VA 22068)and leffreu Phillips (1629 Apricot Court, Reston.VA 22090) are geophysicists for the United Statesgovernment.

REFERENCES

1. Houston, [erry, Jim Brodrick, and LesKent. "Comparing C Compilers forCP/M-86." BYTE, August 1983, page 82.

2. Howson. Hugh R. "POKEing Aroundin the IBM PC." Part 1. BYTE, November1983. page 121.

3. Howson, Hugh R. "POKEing Aroundin the IBM PC." Part 2, BYTE, December1983, page 417.

4. Phraner, Ralph A. "Nine C Compilersfor the IBM PC" BYTE, August 1983, page134.

Sound

The MBC-550 has no complex soundgenerators. Sanyo BASIC recognizesSOUND and PLAY as reserved wordsbut apparently does nothing with them.When SOUND or PLAY is the first wordon a line, the rest of the line is ignored.A simple test shows that

10 FOR T=0 TO 1000020 NEXT T

takes 15.8 seconds to execute. Whenyou insert 15 SOUND or 15 PLAY theloop takes 22.0 seconds to execute.

Dividing the difference, 6.2 seconds, by10,000 demonstrates that not much isgoing on in these two statements.

The MBC-550 does have a bell. Whenaccessed through the normal channels,BEEP or PRINT CHRS(7), the bellsounds rather like a frog being steppedon. When accessed in other ways, thebell makes other amusing sounds. TheTxDATA pin of the 82 51A that receivesthe keyboard data drives the bell. TheI/O address of the 82 51A is hexadecimal38. Executing the statement OUT&H38.&HFF causes a short "pop" tocome out of the speaker. The loop

10 FOR X=l TO 50

20 OUT &H38.1

30 FOR T= 1 TO 50:NEXT T

40 NEXT X

causes a sound like a machine-gun:"tock-tock-tock-tock." The following rou-tine generates a "crash" or "you've-been-shot" sound.

10 FORX=0 TO 2 5520 OUT &H38.X30 NEXT X

The parity, data bits, and stop bits of thekeyboard 82 51A chip can be controlled

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYT E 277

REVIEW: SANYO

The Double-Drive MBG555

I have used the Sanyo MBC-555 as aword processor at home; 1 use an IBMPersonal Computer (PC) in the office.A major advantage for me is the fact thatthe Sanyo comes with MicroPro software,eliminating any business/home softwarelicensing questions.

My overall impression of the MBC-5 55is good. MicroPro's IBM-compatible soft-ware works fine on the Sanyo. 1 am ableto write reports, letters, data files, etc., in-terchangeably between the Sanyo andthe IBM PC. As I'll describe, simple BASICprograms are easily transferred. Thehardware and software works prettymuch as advertised.

An obvious omission in the documen-tation, which is otherwise good, is thelack of a description of pin-outs for plugson the back of the computer. With all theinformation on signal characteristics con-tained in the manual, pin-out informationwould be appropriate and quite useful.My color monitor could not be hookedup without a definition of pin-outs so Icould make up an adapter cable.

I did not find all the software items Ilooked for, either. Sanyo BASIC documen-tation is quite good as far as it goes. Thetrouble is that not all commands arecovered; you are referred to a book onSanyo BASIC that the Sanyo dealer is sup-posed to have. I asked my dealer—he didnot have such a book. I checked anotherSanyo dealer—no book. I checked localbookstores—no book. So the followingdiscussion of compatibility of SanyoBASIC and IBM PC BASIC was producedwithout benefit of this additional docu-mentation.

WordStar. SpellStar, MailMerge, Info-Star, and CalcStar are documented in thesecond volume. Because I already wasquite familiar with the MicroPro software,I have not yet had to refer to the secondvolume. The detailed manual sectionsand training guides will be useful to newusers. The menus in this software are ofconsiderable help in the learning processAlso, the popularity of these packageshas resulted in a number of good books,

By James G. Droppo Jr.

available in most bookstores, to supple-ment a beginning user; documentationof these programs is no problem.

The Good, the Bad

Sanyo makes it clear in its literature onthis series that the BASIC supplied isSanyo BASIC. What this translates to isa BASIC that is close to IBM PC BASIC,but not identical. Files may only be trans-ferred in ASCII (American National Stan-dard Code for Information Interchange)format. The internal coding of BASICstatements is not the same. The pro-cedure for transferring files is to save aversion with an "A" option; that is, inBASIC with the program loaded, youenter

SAVE "FILENAME.BAS "A

and then the program may be loadedwith no special options on the other com-puter. This works when going from theIBM PC to the Sanyo MBC-5 50, and viceversa.

The BASIC editing mode on the Sanyois different than on the IBM PC: it worksonly on numbered program lines and re-quires hitting the Break key to stop theediting mode. I find it relatively easy touse, but compared to the IBM PC BASICscreen editor, it's limited.

On the positive side of the Sanyo is itsmore standard keyboard. I find I can hitDelete or Return without a several-secondsearch. The Sanyo also has a handy resetbutton on the side of the keyboard. Bothcomputers have an extra key between theShift and Z keys (< > on the Sanyo; \ onthe IBM). Just recently I stopped makingthose annoying shift errors caused by thisextra key.

On the Sanyo's negative side is theplacement of the disk drives, whichfollows the Oriental practice of goingfrom right to left. The A drive is on theright and the B drive is on the left. Ifyou're going back and forth betweenmachines, it gets quite frustrating. A lotof disks get put into the wrong drives.Although I felt I could not complain too

much, 1 could do something about it.

I opened up the computer and reversedthe disk-selection jumpers on the half-height disk drives. This gave me the samelogical order as on the IBM PC. Near theback of the circuit board on the diskdrive, drive A has the second and fourthpins jumpered and drive B has the thirdand fourth pins jumpered. My MBC-555had two different models of disk drives-one with jumpers readily accessible whenthe case was opened, one with the cir-cuit board underneath it. The latter re-quired the complete removal of the driveto change the jumper. Changing thejumpers can mean a very simple opera-tion or a relatively major one, dependingon the type of drives.

If you have to remove the disk drivesin order to change the jumpers, youmight be tempted to merely reverse thecomplete drive mechanisms. This is notrecommended because, generally, thefinal drive on the end of the disk-driveribbon cable has a special set of termina-tion resistors not used in intermediatedrives. Anyway, the ribbon cable withinthe Sanyo is too short to let you physical-ly switch the drive position.

The drives are single-sided, double-density units that have half the capacityof double-sided, double-density drivesused in many IBM PCs. You must formatdisks on the IBM with the single-sided op-tion for compatibility with the Sanyo. Theinstruction

A> FORMAT B:/l

loads the Format program from drive Aand gets ready to format one side of thedisk in drive B. No special commands arenecessary when formatting disks on theSanyo.

James G. Droppo Jr. (3521 Sylvester St., Pasco,WA 99301) is a senior research scientist in thegeosciences department at Baltelle. Pacific North-west laboratories. He holds a doctorate in at-mospheric sciences from the State University ofNew York at Albany.

278 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 279

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REVIEW: SANYO

in assembly language just like the serialport 82 51 A. The control address for thekeyboard 82 51A is hexadecimal 3A.Once you alter the attributes of the key-board control address, however, data

from the keyboard is no longer receivedproperly. The correct value of the key-board control address is hexadecimalFF. With some experimentation and im-

(ccnLinued)

Table 3: The pin-out of the MBC-550

expansion header

\n the schematic diagrams.

pin 30 (CLK) has

a notation that reads

"OSC IBM BUSS."

Pin

Signal

Pin

Signal

A0I

NMI (inverted)

B0I

ground

A02

D7 (data)

B02

reset

A03

Do

B03

+ 5V

A04

D5

B04

unused

A05

D4

B05

unused

A06

D3

B06

unused

A07

D2

B07

-12V

A08

Dl

BOB

RQ/GT (inverted)

A09

DO

B09

+ I2V

AIO

RDY

BIO

ground

All

AEN

Bll

MWR (inverted)

A12

AI9 (address)

BI2

MRD (inverted)

A13

AI8

B13

IOW (inverted)

AI4

A17

BI4

IOR (inverted)

AI5

AI6

BI5

unused

AI6

AI5

BI6

unused

A17

A14

B17

unused

A18

AI3

BI8

unused

AI9

A12

B19

unused

A20

All

B20

CLK

A2I

AIO

B2I

IR7

A22

A09

B22

unused

A23

A08

B23

unused

A24

A07

B24

unused

A25

A06

B25

unused

A26

A05

B26

unused

A27

A04

B27

unused

A28

A03

B28

ALE

A29

A02

B29

+ 5V

A30

AOI

B30

CLK

A3!

AO0

B3I

ground

Table 4: Control-word codes for the 8251A serial interfaceaspects of the transceiver are subject to software control.

controller chip. All

Bit

Value

Function

7 and 6

00011011

invalid

1 stop bit

\'h stop bits

2 stop bits

5

0

1

odd parityeven parity

4

0

1

parity disableparity enable

3 and 21 and 0

00011011should always be 10 for the MBC-550

5 data bits

6 data bits

7 data bits

8 data bits

280 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

EVEN WHEN YOUR MODEMSENDS IT BY WAY OF THE

When you send data by telephonethrough nasty environments like this,it can run into problems tougher thanjust alligators. Problems like impulsenoise. Chatter from the switchgear.Static from the atmosphere or badweather. Distortion due to crosstalkor just plain white noise.

To get your message through,your IBM PC or XT needs the ad-vanced performance features of thePOIntelliModem™ It's got the bestreceive sensitivity available today—actually down below -50 dBm. Sonow you can achieve a high level ofdata transmission integrity. Even withbad connections.

Get patented modem technology.

The PC:lntelliModem is elegantlysimple. Its patented design does it allon a single microprocessor chip, withjust one crystal. Other modems take

Bizcomp: A history ofinnovation.

1980

1981

Invented first command-drivenmodem

Introduced proprietary line-status monitoring

1983 Designed first single-//P 212A-compatible modem

1983 Introduced first integrated

voice/data modem for IBM PC

1983 Granted patent on command-driven modem

two, four or more ^Ps (and even moreoscillators), and still accomplish less.

How do we do this? By creatingarchitecturalinnovations infirmware, andby pushing thechip to its limit,close to 12 MHz.Since it uses fewerparts, the PC:lntelliModem'sno-compromise design offershigher reliability, a more com-pact form factor, and lower costs.

This design elegance leads natu-rally to more elegant performance.Takeline status detection, for example. ThePC:lntelliModem's adaptive, decision-directed logic monitors line status moreclosely than other modems. Even at weakor degraded signal levels. So it canmake connections with less chance oferror, by detecting signals for dial tone,remote ringback, busy and voice-some of which other modems ignore.

Plan ahead with integratedvoice and data.

For opening up a whole new world ofintegrated voice and data applications,there's nothing like the PC:lntelliModem.Literally. Its easy-to-use software pack-age-PC:lntelliCom™-lets you switchrepeatedly between talking or listeningand sending or receiving data. All at

Make sure your modem has allthese PC:lntelliModem features

Integrated Voice/Data

Switch between voice and data

communications

Programmable telephone handset jack

Status Reporting

Line status detection (dial tone,

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Audio monitor

Programmable status LED

PC:lntelliCom™ Software Included

99-name on-line telephone directory

Auto-dial, auto-repeat dial, auto-answer

Link to another number if busy

File transfer

Data capture to diskette

Programmable auto log-on sequences

Compatible with Crosstalk™ and

PC-Talk III™Pulse and Tone DialingReceive Sensitivity: -50 dBmSpeeds: 110,300,1200 baud

the touch of a single function key. Thatmeans now both you and your com-puter can talk on the same line. With-out having to hang up, re-dial or plugand unplug a lot of cables.

So if you're designing microcom-puter datacomm products-or justlooking for a PC/XT modem for your-self, check out the PC:lntelliModem atyour local dealer. You'll get the mes-sage. And so will they. Or contact:Bizcomp, 532 Mercury Drive, SunnyvaleCA 94086; 408/733-7800.

We've got people talking.

Circle 39 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • B Y T E 281

REVIEW: SANYO

Listing I: An animation test program for the MBC-550.

10 REM SIMPLE ANIMATION WITH PUT AND GET

20 REM USE ARROW KEYS TO MOVE BLOCK AND S TO STOP

30 REM THE BLOCK IS MOVING ONE PIXEL WITH EACH KEYSTROKE

40 REM DIM PATTERN%(25)

50 X = 320^=100

55 REM INfTIALIZE ARRAY

60 GET |I.1)-(I6.8).PATTERN%

65 REM CLEAR ARRAY EXCEPT FOR ARRAY SIZE INTEGER

70 FOR A=2 TO 25:PATTERN%(A|=0:NEXT A

75 REM PUT BLOCK INTO ARRAY

80 FOR A=ll TO I6:PATTERN%(A)=&HFE7F:NEXT A

90 CLS

100 PUT (XY).PATTERN%

II0I$ = INKEY$

120 IFI$= "THEN 110

130 IF l$="S" THEN 190

140 IF <X> I) AND (l$=CHR$(28)) THEN X=X-1

150 IF fY>l90) AND (IS = CHR$(31|) THEN Y=Y+I

160 IF (Y> I) AND (l$=CHR$(30|) THEN Y=Y- 1

170 IF (X<630) AND (l$=CHR$(29» THEN X=X+ I

180 GOTO 100

190 END

Listing 2: An assembly-language program to alter serial communications functions.

SSEG

SEGMENT STACK

DB 256 DUP (?)

SSEG

ENDS

DSEG

SEGMENT

DATA

DB?

DSEG

ENDS

CSEG

SEGMENT

ASSUME CS:CSEG.DS:DSEGSS:SSEG

START

PROC FAR

PUSH DS

PUSH AX

MOV BX.DSEG

MOV DS.BX

CALL MAIN

RET

START

ENDP

MAIN

PROC NEAR

MAINCSEG

MOV AL.0

OUT 42 AL ; THE FIRST THREE OUT STATEMENTS ESTABLISH TIMING

MUL AL :ALL MUL STATEMENTS ARE FOR TIMING

OUT 42AL

MULAL

OUT42AL

MULAL

MULAL

MOV AL.64 : 64 IS THE PREPARE TO RECEIVE COMMAND SIGNAL

OUT42.AL

MULAL

MULAL

MOV AL.250 :250 SETS THE 825IA FOR EVEN PARrTY. 2 STOP

OUT 42.AL ;BITS AND 7 DATA BrTS. SEE TABLE 4.

MULAL

MULAL

MOV AL.55 ;

OUT 42AL

MULAL

MULAL

RET

ENDP

ENDS

END START

55 IS THE LOCK COMMAND SIGNAL

agination, you can make the MBC-550generate plenty of sound.

Software

The MBC-5 50 comes with five softwarepackages: MS-DOS 1.25. Sanyo BASIC1.1. WordStar 2.4. CalcStar. and Easy-Writer 1.3. WordStar. CalcStar. and Easy-Writer are all standard releases anddon't need to be reviewed here.

Sanyo BASIC is standard BASIC andis code-compatible with IBM BASIC ex-cept for some of the graphics com-mands that IBM's version lacks—WINDOW, VIEW, and SYMBOL. TheVIEW and WINDOW commands enableyou to set aside areas of the screen forspecial graphics tasks. The SYMBOLcommand takes any string of the 255displayable characters and magnifies orrotates them and places them anywhereon the screen.

Sanyo BASIC has a nice screen editorthat you engage by listing the line orlines that you want to edit and thenpressing the up-arrow on the numericpad. The cursor-control and the Deleteand Insert keys then enable you to makewhatever changes you like, includingchanging line numbers and creatingnew lines. When you're through, pressthe Break key and the editor stores allchanges and returns you to BASIC

In its February 1984 newsletter. Sanyoprinted a list of 48 IBM software pack-ages that run on the MBC-550 withoutmodification. The list included sevenlanguages, eight adventure games, tenword processors, and six database-man-agement systems The MBC-550 can runa lot of software.

Conclusion

Having now owned a Sanyo MBC-550for four months. I am very pleased withthis machine. The MBC-550 is morecomputing machine for the dollar thanany other personal computer on themarket. Because it offers compatibilitywith the IBM PC and other 8088-basedsystems, the MBC-550 will never runshort of software With a large organiza-tion like Sanyo behind it and a priceone-third that of comparable machines,the Sanyo MBC-550 is a good buy. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

BYTE editors extend special thanks to FT Vfolf.of Richard Dean Associates Inc. Newburyport.Massachusetts, for his invaluable assistance inthe preparation of this article

282 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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Circle 93 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 283

until nortronics,Heads Could Really

284 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Cleaning Read WriteBe A Headache

Now meticulous head care is easy as hading a program.

Take our word for it. We're theworld's leading manufacturer ofadvanced technology magneticrecording heads. And we know, whatyou can't see can hurt you.

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Circle 234 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 285

for Performance, Quality and Reliability

Anyone can sell you a box full of hardware. But is it too much computer? Too little? Will it run theappropriate software? What about service? If you need the right answers both before and after thesale, call your nearest Full Service CompuPro System Center.For product information, see pgs. 201, 249.

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©1984 CompuPro

••' ■"'' '■:'.

SOFTWARE REVIEW

Several newLogos offer

turtle

graphics of

varying

quality on the

IBM PC

by Mark Bridger

Four Logos for theIBM PC

This is not. of course, the famous BigBlue IBM logo; this is the Logo pro-gramming language, specifically thefour versions currently available for the IBMPersonal Computer (PC) and/or PCjr. Untilrecently, the only Logos available ran eitheron mainframes with lots of memory or on 8-bitmachines, such as the Apple and the Commo-dore, with barely enough memory—at most64K bytes. The widespread availability of16-bit machines like the IBM PC with adequatememory (128K bytes or more) and colorgraphics enables you to enjoy the power andfascination of a full Logo implementation.

An Overview

In terms of structure and ancestry. Logo is acousin to LISP—the language generally usedby artificial intelligence researchers. LISP,which was invented in the early 1960s by J.McCarthy, is a language whose basic datastructure is a list. A list is an ordered collec-tion of objects, which may be names,numbers, or other lists. Both Logo and LISP(short for list processing) can manipulate listsin many different ways. The full implementa-tion of LISP contains many features not foundin Logo (see references 2 and 6).

The most dramatic difference between Logoand other programming languages—includingLISP—is its turtle graphics. Originally, the turtlewas a motorized metal and Plexiglas creature,controlled by the programmer, which couldlower its pen to draw a trace of its path onthe floor. Instructions for the turtle werecoded in Logo, and you could draw quite com-plicated pictures with relatively few com-mands. When CRTs (cathode-ray tubes) be-came widely used on computers, the turtle ap-peared on them as a small triangle, and itspath as a line of pixels (dots) on the screen.Logo and turtle graphics have been con-sidered virtually synonymous for quite sometime and it is fair to say that most people whouse Logo do so to use the turtle. Schools useLogo and turtle graphics extensively as ameans of teaching programming and geo-metry and fostering creativity (see references3 and 5).

Like BASIC and LISP. Logo is an interpreted

language This means that when you run aLogo program, an interpreter translates eachline into the strings of zeroes and ones thatare machine language. Even if you repeat aline or the program goes to an instruction ithas already translated, the interpreter musttranslate it into machine code all over again.This means that an interpreted language pro-duces relatively slow-running programs, butit has advantages over compiled languages.A compiler translates a complete program,line for line into machine code and then savesit as an autonomous stand-alone program,needing no interpreter. Pascal. FORTRAN, andC are compiled languages. While compiledprograms execute very quickly, they have adisadvantage: to change a compiled program,you must change the source code using a texteditor and then recompile it. Only then canyou see if the changed program works the wayyou want it to. With an interpreted languageyou just change the text and run.

One last point: Logo is a structured lan-guage, like Pascal and C There are no linenumbers in Logo—commands execute se-quentially and special commands controlrepetition. You can organize instruction se-quences that are used several times in yourprogram into procedures, give them names,and invoke them by these names Thus, Logodoesn't need line numbers because the inter-preter tells the machine what to do and whento do it based solely on the logical structureof the written program.

TtaE Logos Available

I will discuss four Logo packages in this review.Dr. Logo. IBM Logo. PC Logo, and WaterlooLogo. I will look at various features of the lan-guage, give some examples, and try to com-

{amtinuett)

Mark Bridger (Math Department. Northeastern Uni-versity. Boston. MA 02115) is an associate professorof mathematics at Northeastern University. He has aB.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in math-ematics from Brandos University. When he isn't play-ing with his computer. Mark enjoys carpentry, garden-ing, and playing bluegrass music, particularly on themandolin.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 287

REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

pare how each of these products im-plements those features.

Graphics

The turtle, represented on the screen bya small triangle, responds to the basiccommands: FORWARD (distance). BACK(distance). RIGHT or LEFT (angle), andPENUP or PENDOWN. with distanceand angle as specified numbers. Youcan also set the BACKGROUND color,the PALETTE, and the PENCOLOR. Inaddition, the various Logos provideother graphic enhancements as follows.WRAP/FENCE/WINDOW: With theWRAP option, if the turtle leaves thescreen on the right, it reappears on theleft at the same height; similarly, if itleaves on the left. top. or bottom, it re-appears on the opposite side. FENCEprevents the turtle from leaving thescreen at all, while WINDOW allows theturtle to leave and keep going eventhough you can no longer see it. All the

Logos except Waterloo provide thesethree options. Waterloo allows the tur-tle to operate in FENCE mode only.PAINT or FILL: This is similar to IBMBASICAs PAINT command. It fills in theclosed area that contains the turtle witha specified color. Only Waterloo andIBM Logos provide this feature. Water-loo Microsystems claims that a new ver-sion of its Logo will be able to paint inuser-selected textures.HIGH RESOLUTION. The standardgraphics mode for Logo is 320 by 200pixels in four colors: however. PC Logolets you choose 640 by 200 pixels withone color on a black background. Thisresults in crisper. more detailed pictures,but only in one color. (This color comesfrom directly programming the IBMColor Graphics Adapter and does notapply to the PCjr.)

PICTURE SAVING: All four Logos offerprocedures for saving a picture oneither disk or the printer. The only

Listing I: HIL, a Hilbert Curves benchmark program in logo.

TO HIL :COLOR

SETBG0

SETS BACKGROUND TO BLACK

SETPAL 0

CHOOSES PALETTE 0

SETPC :COLOR

SETS PEN COLOR TO INPUT :COLOR

FULLSCREEN

USES WHOLE SCREEN FOR GRAPHICS

HOME

SENDS TURTLE TO STANDARD POS.

CLEARSCREEN

CLEARS SCREEN

PENUP

TURTLE WON T DRAW WHEN MOVED

SETX 150

MOVE TO X= 150. Y UNCHANGED

SETY-IOO

MOVE TO Y=-100. X UNCHANGED

PENDOWN

TURTLE IS NOW IN LOWER RT.

CORNER OF SCREEN .READY TO DRAW

HILBERT 3 6 1

BIGGEST CURVE FITTING SCREEN

END

PROCEDURE HIL ENDS

THE NEXT PROCEDURE DRAWS 1

HE CURVE. EACH HILBERT CURVE IS

:DRAWN BY DRAWING FOUR HILE

(ERT CURVES OF A LOWER LEVEL WrTH

DIFFERENT ORIENTATIONS, CAL1

ED PARITIES. NOTE HOW THIS

PROCEDURE "CALLS ITSELF" -

miS IS RECURSION.

TO HILBERT :SIZE :LEVEL :PAR1TY

IF :LEVEL = 0 |STOP|

LEVEL 0 CURVES DO NOTHING

LEFT :PARITY'90

ROTATE PARITY RIGHT ANGLES

LOCAL "L

CREATE LOCAL VARIABLE L

MAKE "L :LEVEL-1

SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO RECOMPUTE

HILBERT :SIZE :L (-PARITY)

DRAW LOWER ORDER CURVE

FORWARD SIZE

DRAW CONNECTING SEGMENT

RIGHT :PARrTY*90

CHANGE ORIENTATION AGAIN

HILBERT :SIZE :L :PARrTY

ANOTHER LOWER ORDER CURVE

FORWARD SIZE

ANOTHER CONNECTOR

HILBERT :SIZE :L :PARITY

SAME AS PREVIOUS

RIGHT :PARITY*90

ANOTHER TURN

FORWARD SIZE

THE LAST CONNECTOR

HILBERT SIZE :L (-PARITY)

THE LAST CURVE

LEFT rPARITY'W

THE LAST TURN

END

PROCEDURE HILBERT ENDS

:See TURTLE GEOMETRY (Abelsor

and diSessa. MIT Press) for

this and other turtle graphics proj

ects.

printer supported is the Epson/IBM. Thescreen dump occurs via the DOS 2.0GRAPHICS command in PC and IBMLogos (but only under 2.0).ARCS/CIRCLES: Procedures for draw-ing arcs and circles are built into Water-loo Logo and are among the listed utili-ty programs for IBM Logo. However, ifyou have Dr. Logo or PC Logo, you mustwrite your own.

MUSIC: All four Logos provide somesort of tone and duration primitive com-mands, along with complete instructionsfor their use in producing music of asort from the IBM PC's rather meageraudio system. Waterloo and PC Logosprovide sample programs that playtunes ranging from "The Star-SpangledBanner" to a Bach Partita (one of myfavorites, but it sounds like an anemicMoog synthesizer on the PC).SPEED: I performed some benchmarktests on the Logos, using the Hilbert(HIL, or actually Peano) Curves program(see listing 1 and reference 1). Sincegraphics is a primary use for Logo, andsince drawing repeated and recursivedesigns is very popular, this program isa pretty fair representation of a Logoapplication. The first time I drew aleveI-6 curve, I left my 8087 chip turnedon and produced the rather lopsidedresults found in table 1.

The reason for PC Logo's speed iseasy to figure out. Logo, like BASIC,assumes—unless told otherwise—thatits variables are real. In particular, theturtle moves through real coordinatesprocessed by floating-point calculations.A machine with an 8087 NumericalData Processing chip (the one that sitsnext to the central processor 8088 chip)handles real variables like lightning. Ifyou have an 8087, you can expect PCLogo, the only Logo to provide supportfor it. to be much, much faster ingraphics and all real-number manipula-tions. If you're a speed demon, PC Logois probably the way to go.

On the other hand, there is somethingto be said for watching the way the tur-tle actually draws your picture. You canlearn and savor the act of creation—sometimes speed may not be a majorconcern if you have children using Logo.If you turn off the 8087 chip. IBM wins(see table 1). You have to admit that 12or 15 minutes is a long time to watcha picture being drawn.

[continued)

288 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

AT A GLANCE

HUBERT CURVES

OR. LOGO ijj IBM LOGO ~J PC LOGO

WATERLOO LOGO ■ BASICA

A COMPARISON OF four Logos for the IBM using threebenchmark programs (see table 1). Sieve 50 finds theprimes up to 101 (see listing 2). The Hilbert Curves pro-gram (listing 1) measures how long it takes to draw a setof curves. One thousand iterations of the MATH program(listing 3) measure each language's ability to perform real-number multiplication and division. Execution time in-dicated on the y axis is in seconds.

NameManufacturer

Dr. Logo

Digital ResearchPersonal ComputerPOB 579160 Central Ave.Pacific Grove, CA 93950(408) 649-5500

IBM Logo

IBM Corp. (distributor)Boca Raton, FL 33432(software prepared byLogo Computer SystemsInc.)

Price

$150; additional backup S175disks cost $25

Computer Needed IBM PC with at least

192K bytes of memory,color graphics adapter,one disk drive, andmonitor

Contents User's manual/tutorial,

language disk andbackup (CP/M operatingsystem; kernel pro-vided): copy-protected

IBM PC XT or PCjr with atleast 128K bytes of mem-ory, color graphicsadapter, one disk drive,and monitor

User's manual and tutorial.Logo quick-reference card,and language disk; notcopy-protected

PC Logo

Harvard Associates Inc.(distributor)260 Beacon St.Somerville. MA 02143(617) 492-0660(software prepared byGold Hill Computers Inc.)

$150

IBM PC XT or PCjr with atleast 64K bytes of mem-ory. 128K for full imple-mentation, color graphicsadapter, one disk drive,and monitor

User's manual/tutorial,language disk, anddemonstration utilitiesdisk; not copy-protected

Waterloo Logo

Waterloo Microsystems Inc.175 Columbia St. WestWaterloo. Ontario N2L 5Z5Canada(519) 884-3141

$125

IBM PC XT (PCjr soon)with at least 128K bytes ofmemory, color graphicsadapter, one disk drive,and monitor

User manual, Logolanguage disk, anddemonstrations disk(DOS-file compatible); notcopy-protected

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 289

IBM PC 256K, Disk Drives, FDC,Monitor and Adaptor $2350.00

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

List Processing

Here are some examples of lists. Noticethat in Logo you enclose the lists inbrackets.

[CURLY LARRY MOE] (list of threenames)

|| (empty or

null list)

[1 3 579 M| (list of

numbers)

[12 3 IBM PC| (mixed list

of 5 items)

IHE1DEGGER KANT |ORTEGA

GASSET] 811

(list of 4items: twonames,another list,and anumber)

You can add an object to the front ofa list with the command FPUT and tothe back with LPUT. Note that names re-quire a preceding double quote in Logo.FPUT "MARX [DARWIN FREUD| yieldsthe list [MARX DARWIN FREUD|, whileLPUT "DARTAGNON |ATHOS POR-THOS ARAMISI produces [ATHOS POR-THOS ARAM1S DARTAGNON|.

You can also form a list from indi-vidual objects using the LIST command.(LIST "COMPILE "LINK "EXECUTE) out-puts the list [COMPILE LINK EXECUTE|.And you can concatenate (string to-gether) two lists with SENTENCE.SENTENCE |1 2 3||3 TWO ONE| yields|12 3 3 TWO ONE|.

Given a list, you can extract its first ob-ject using FIRST (similar to CAR in LISP)

and form a list containing everythingelse using BUTFIRST (similar to CDR inLISP). FIRST |LARRY MOE CURLY| pro-duces LARRY, while BUTFIRST [LARRYMOE CURLYI yields [MOE CURLY|. Youcan work from the other end of the listusing LAST and BUTLAST.

One attractive feature of lists in Logothat you don't have with arrays in mostother languages is that list elements canbe anything, whereas usually array ele-ments must all be the same type. On theother hand, you can easily access andchange any array element, but you canattack lists only from one end or theother. For example, suppose you wantto remove the 3 from the list L = [I 23 4 5 6|. To get to the 3, you have torotate the list twice. First, MAKE "L(LPUT FIRST :L BUTFIRST :L) yields L =[234561]. Then, MAKE "L (LPUTFIRST :L BUTFIRST :LJ yields L = |3 45 6 1 2|. (MAKE is a Logo command thatassigns a name to a list, "L is the nameof a list, and :L is the contents of "L.)You can now remove the 3 with a BUT-FIRST. MAKE "L BUTFIRST :L yields L= [45612]. Then rotate back. MAKE"L (FPUT LAST :L BUTLAST :L) yieldsL = |2 4 5 6 1], and MAKE "L (FPUTLAST :L BUTLAST :L) yields L = |1 2 45 6],

Logo also provides a REPEAT state-ment, so that you can write the wholeprocedure in the following way:

REPEAT 2 |MAKE "L (LPUT FIRST :L

BUTFIRST :L)|MAKE "L BUTFIRST :LREPEAT 2 |MAKE "L (FPUT LAST :L

BUTLAST :L)|

(continued)

Table 1: A comparison of four Logo systems for the IBM PC using five benchmarktests. A complete description of the tests is given in the text. The HIL benchmark isgiven in listing 1. The SIEVE benchmark is given in listing 2. The MATHbenchmark uses real-number multiplication and division and is given in listing 3. TheTRIG benchmark uses sine and cosine functions and is given in listing 4. TheALPHABET benchmark (listing 5) prints the alphabet on the screen over and over.All times are in seconds.

Language

SIEVE 50

HIL

MATH 1000

TRIG 1000

ALPHABET 100

Dr. Logo

264

15

196

233

27

IBM Logo

35

5

75

535

13

PC Logo

20

7

45

74

196

with 8087

19

I

19

16

210

Waterloo Logo

122

12

140

292

35

BASICA

13

43

9

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

These procedures are used later in theSIEVE program.

PROPERTY is another Logo list-han-dling feature. You can give any identifierone or more property names with singlevalues for each property. For example,

PPROP "THISCAR "BRAND [Volvo|

gives the identifier THISCAR the prop-erty BRAND whose value is Volvo. Youcan then select from a list those identi-fiers that have certain values for certainproperties and PACKAGE them undersome name. The use of PACKAGE isalso handy for collecting related pro-cedures in order to save them togetherin a disk file.

All the Logo languages under reviewimplement the standard list-handlingfeatures described above except forone: PC Logo doesn't have the PACK-AGE command. Dr. Logo is notable be-cause it provides some nice extra com-mands: SHUFFLE, which creates a ran-dom permutation of the elements in aspecified list: SORT, which sorts a listinto ascending alphanumeric order: and

PIECE, which picks out a segment of listelements—for example, the thirdthrough twelfth elements.

The Dr. Logo instruction book has avery amusing example: a random recipegenerator, which makes highly fantasticdishes by picking out random elementsfrom lists of foods and cooking pro-cedures.

The PC Logo utilities disk comes witha famous Logo program called Animalsin which the computer tries to guesswhat animal you're thinking of by ask-ing yes/no questions. Initially, it has onlya small stock of questions: if it fails toguess your animal, it gives up and asksyou for the answer. Then the programasks you for one question that wouldhelp it to distinguish its guesses fromthe correct answer in the future. It storesthis question and uses it in futuregames: thus, the computer learns.

There is no doubt that speed is impor-tant for list handling. You can't learn any-thing waiting for the machine to moveobjects around lists. In keeping withwhat seems to be a tradition, I coded

Listing 2: SIEVE 50, an iterative version of the Sieve of Eratosthenesprime-number benchmark.

TO STROLL :K

IF :K 0 |MAKE ODDS LPUT 0 BUTFIRST :ODDS|

IF :K I (REPEAT (:K- I) (MAKE "ODDS LPUT FIRST :ODDS BUTFIRST :ODDS|]

END

TO SKIPZEROS

IF FIRST :ODDS 0 [STOPI

MAKE "COUNTER :COUNTER + 1

IF :COUNTER :N ISTOP1

MAKE "ODDS LPUT FIRST :ODDS BUTFIRST :ODDS

SKIPZEROS

END

TO STRIKEOUT

SKIPZEROS

IF :COUNTER :N ISTOPI

LOCAL "PRIME

MAKE "PRIME :COUNTER + :COUNTER + I

MAKE "PRIMES SENTENCE :PRIMES :PRIME

REPEAT INT (QUOTIENT :N :PRIME) ISTROLL :PRIME|

STROLL (REMAINDER :N :PRIME)

STRIKEOUT

END

TO SIEVE :SIZE

MAKE "N .SIZE

MAKE "PRIMES [2|

MAKE "ODDS |1|

REPEAT :N- 1 IMAKE "ODDS SENTENCE :ODDS 1

MAKE "COUNTER I

STRIKEOUT

PRINT :PRIMES

END

LAST :ODDS|

a variation of the Sieve of Eratosthenesalgorithm for finding prime numbers inLogo (see "Eratosthenes Revisited:Once More through the Sieve" by Jimand Gary Gilbreath, January 1983 BYTE,page 283). While Logo is certainly notan appropriate language for doing asieve, the very cumbersomeness of theroutine gives a good workout to Logo'slist-handling abilities.

Look first at listing 2 and note that thesieving program is made up of sub-programs. SIEVE sets up the list andcalls STRIKEOUT. STRIKEOUT finds thefirst nonzero entry in the list (usingSKIPZEROS), makes PRIME the corres-ponding odd number, and then re-moves every PRIMEth number from thelist using STROLL—a combination ofstrike and roll. The program records thevarious primes and prints them out. Theonly arithmetic occurs in computingPRIME = counter + counter + 1, and indetermining how many times to doSTROLL (N divided by PRIME times).The benchmark results for the SIEVEprogram are in table 1.

Editing and Debugging

You create programs and procedures(they are the same thing in Logo) twoways: typing line by line directly on thescreen or working in an "editor" thatallows you to go back and forth amongthe lines, entering, changing, anddeleting as you wish. All the Logos sup-port these two modes, but the editor ismore important for developing andchanging long programs. It is essentialto be able to see and move several linesof instructions at a time, and the editorthat makes this the easiest is best.

All editors must provide certain basicfeatures: the ability to overwrite or in-sert characters, to delete or add lines,and to skip from line to line. Logo con-siders a line to be equal to all the char-acters up to and including the next car-riage return. If there are more charactersthan will fit on a physical line on thescreen, the text should wrap aroundand continue on the next line, while pre-serving its integrity as a logical line forthe Logo interpreter. All the Logoeditors except Waterloo work this way.In Waterloo Logo the line continueseven if it goes off the screen andbecomes invisible (like the turtle with aWINDOW option). In order to see what

(continued)

292 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

BYTE MAGAZINE ■ JERRY POURNELLE

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If you've ever thought about a program (or a writing)editor, think no more. No, not IBM's Personal Editor;that doesn't measure up to VEDIT.'

'Take a look at it; you'll see why thousands of users swearby it, and are even using it as their only editor.'

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'The CompuView people urge you to contact them if youhave trouble, and my experience indicates that theymean it.'

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

you wrote, you must scroll the screenhorizontally with several manual cursormoves and keystrokes. This is extreme-ly annoying, especially with theWaterloo editor that supports lines only40 columns wide. (The others all allow80-column lines in text mode.) Ironical-ly, Waterloo Logo does have line wrapoutside the editor if you are entering aprogram line by line on the screen.

While Dr. Logo and IBM Logo haveperfectly adequate and easy-to-useeditors, PC Logo is really the clear win-ner in this category. It has SEARCH andREPLACE commands as well as the abil-ity to move or copy large blocks of textfrom one place to another. PC also hasvarious useful editorial functions as-signed to nearly every key on the IBMPC keyboard including the function keys.The Waterloo editor has a nice way ofmoving a text block after you highlightit, but this doesn't compensate for itslack of line wrap.

A final word about editors: you canuse almost any screen editor or wordprocessor to create Logo programs.However, there are two complications:first, you must leave Logo to use youreditor and return to Logo to run the pro-gram: second, your version of Logomust be able to read the file that youreditor/word processor creates. The firstcomplication is at worst an inconve-nience, but the second is very seriousfor Dr. Logo. Dr. Logo operates underthe CP/M-86 operating system. If youreditor is DOS-based, as many are, thefiles it creates cannot be read by Dr.Logo. Furthermore, you won't be ableto copy any Logo programs into yoursystem unless the programs are on aCP/M-86 formatted disk, which is unlike-ly if they weren't created for using Dr.Logo. Most IBM PC users operate underDOS, so it is wise to be wary of productsusing other operating systems. Theymay work quite well but not have thecompatibility you desire. (WaterlooLogo also has its own operating system,Port, but it is possible to use DOS fileswith Port provided the disk is formattedwith 8 sectors per track.)

Because you must debug programsthat don't work properly, debugging fea-tures are important. For effective de-bugging, the four Logos provide aPAUSE command. When you insert it ina program, PAUSE creates a temporary

[continued)

294 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

halt so that you can print out the valuesof the variables on the screen and seewhat's going on. Then you can resumeprocessing with the CONTINUE com-mand.

Dr. Logo and PC Logo also provide aTRACE command which, if typed in be-fore executing the program, displays thenames and values of all variables andprocedures as the program encountersthem in execution. With recursive pro-cedures, Dr. Logo prints out the level ofthe procedure call, too. If you combineTRACE with PAUSE, you can save timeand keystrokes in debugging. However,Dr. Logo goes further and providesWATCH and DEBUG as well. WATCHputs the procedure into "one step"mode, executing only one line at a time;you then press enter to start the nextline. DEBUG splits the screen, display-ing the results of TRACE on the top halfand the program's actual output on thebottom half. You can also invoke a com-bination of TRACE, WATCH, PAUSE, andDEBUG. This package of utilities makesdebugging in Dr. Logo by far the mostconvenient.

Arithmetic

Except for some dedicated fans, veryfew people choose Logo for numbercrunching (extended arithmetic calcula-tions using real numbers). Of course,turtle graphics uses real-number manip-ulation implicitly, but this is so tied upwith screen output that it becomes aseparate category. To please thenumber crunchers, I did a few bench-marks using only standard arithmeticand trigonometric functions, becauseWaterloo and PC Logos don't havelogarithmic or exponential functions.This lack is quite surprising in the caseof PC Logo since its 8087 supportshould make all types of transcenden-tal functions easy and fast. For the sakeof comparison, I also ran an exactanalog of each arithmetic program inIBM BAS1CA and added the times to thechart. Table 1 includes the results for aprogram called MATH 1000, which usesmultiplication and division as shown inlisting 3. The TRIG 1000 program resultsin table 1 come from sine and cosinecalculations as given in listing 4.

Notice that even without the 8087, PCLogo is the fastest for real-numbermanipulations. Its speed on trigono-

{continued)

296 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

metric functions using the 8087 explainswhy it produces graphics so quickly. Youhave to wonder why PC Logo is slowerthan IBM Logo in the Hilbert Curvesbenchmark when the 8087 is not pres-ent. I suspected that there might besome inherent slowness in getting infor-mation to the screen, so I tested theLogos with a simple program that justdisplayed the alphabet many times. Theresults of running ALPHABET (see list-ing 5 and table 1) were striking. Forsome strange reason, probably a bug,PC Logo actually slowed down the morealphabets it printed. (Note that this bughas now been corrected and PC Logo'sscreen output is notably faster.)

Memory and Performance

PC Logo is the only one of the four thatneeds as little as 64K bytes of memory.But it sacrifices some features (includinghigh-resolution graphics and an 80-char-acter screen) with that little memory.IBM Logo requires 128K bytes, while theother two require a minimum of 192Kbytes. How much memory the languagecan use (and how efficiently the lan-guage can use it) is probably of greater

interest than how much it needs.

Logo stores lists (procedures and in-structions are different) in data struc-tures called nodes (see reference 4). Sup-posedly, the number of nodes that existdetermines how much space you havefor writing and running programs,assuming a node means the same thingfor each Logo. Since it is unlikely thatyou would ordinarily exhaust memorysimply by writing a long program (itwould have to be very, very long), theamount of memory you need to run theprogram is crucial.

The recursive program that uses stackmemory is the most common memorygobbler (see text box, "Recursion:Therein Lies a Tail," page 300). IBM Logois by far the most effective user of stackmemory, and PC Logo the least. Further-more, IBM can use as much as 2 56Kbytes of memory—more than any of theothers—while PC Logo can use onlyI28K bytes (perhaps accounting for itssmall stack). Waterloo can use as muchas 192K bytes, while Dr. Logo impliesthat 2 56K bytes or more "enhances" itsperformance. On entry Dr. Logo says ithas 9074 nodes free, while IBM claims

Listing 3:

MATH 1000, a real-number multiplication and division benchmark.

TO MATH

:N

MAKE

COUNTER 1

MAKE

Q 1

REPEAT

:N |MAKE '

Q CCOUNTER + :COUNTER •

3.141591/(5 + 2.71828 •

:COUNTER| MAKE

"COUNTER :COUNTER + l|

PRINT

Q

END

Listing 4.

TRIG 1000, a trigonometric function (sine and cosine) benchmark.

TO TRIG :N

MAKE "COUNTER 1

MAKE "Q 1

REPEAT :N IMAKE 'MAKE "COUNTER

PRINT :QEND

Q SIN(:COUNTER'2| + COS|:COUNTER"3 +:COUNTER + l|

:COUNTER)

Listing

5: ALPHABET, a

text screen output program.

TO ALPHABET :N

MAKE

"AIABCDEFGH

IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ]

MAKE

"COUNTER 1

REPEAT :N [TYPE :A TYPE :COUNTER MAKE "COUNTER :COUNTER +

II

END

to have 31,095. Since I have a 320K-bytesystem, what could "enhances" mean?

Instructions,documentation, and extras

All the Logos come with instructions forstart-up and for writing programs, aswell as documentation for all the com-mands and procedures available. Theyalso have fairly adequate indexes. Thereference manuals for IBM, PC, and Dr.Logos are thick loose-leaf books withcomplete instructions for gettingstarted. Dr. Logo provides color platesshowing the graphics outputs, while IBMsupplies a separate spiral-bound note-book devoted to the turtle. The first partof the PC manual is an elementary tutor-ial; the package also includes a separatedisk with examples and utilities contain-ing the famous Dynaturtle game (whichillustrates Newtonian laws of inertia), acurve-sketching program, and severalothers. By contrast, Waterloo Logo pro-vides only a demonstration disk and arather slim booklet listing and describ-ing briefly its primitive procedures andits differences from Apple Logo. Water-loo Microsystems apparently feels thatits Logo is sufficiently close to the Applesystem so that you either already knowhow to program in Logo or will pur-chase an Apple tutorial; the companydid suggest to me that a more exten-sive manual will appear in the future.

In the IBM and Dr. Logo instructionmanuals, procedure descriptions eachbegin a page, contain one or more ex-amples, and are arranged alphabetical-ly. The PC manual is similar but arrangesits procedures by type (e.g., list manip-ulation, graphics, input/output, etc.) andthen alphabetically within the group.Finding a description is rather slow andoften means using the index. Waterlooand IBM also provide reference cardslisting various procedures with briefdescriptions of their syntax.

For the serious programmer, IBM andPC Logos provide some nice extras likeaccess to DOS services and machine-language subroutines. PC Logo lets youset the 8088 registers and call inter-rupts. You can extend this setting, some-what awkwardly, to load and call a ma-chine-language routine by using theDOS stay-resident service in your sub-routine and setting an interrupt vector

to point to the procedure. IBM provides

(continued)

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REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

Recursion: Therein Lies a Tail

When a procedure has the com-mand to perform itself as oneof its instructions, this is recur-sion. Consider the very simple Logoprogram:

TO STARTYPE |.|STAREND

When invoked, this program types anasterisk and invokes itself again; then ittypes an asterisk, then invokes itselfagain, ad infinitum—you can stop it onlywith a Logo BREAK command. Not everylanguage supports this kind of antic: FOR-TRAN and BASIC do not. while Pascal,C, LISP, and Logo do.

When you call or invoke a procedureby name in a program, certain informa-tion—the location of its commands inmemory and the value of its variables—isplaced in a special region of memorycalled the stack. You can picture the stackas just that: a stack of memory locations.The last item to be "pushed" or placedon the stack goes on top of the itemsalready there: you can access only themost recently added item; and you mustremove or "pop" it in order to reachthose beneath it. Each time you call aprocedure, its vital information is"pushed" onto the stack. Each time thecomputer finishes processing a calledprocedure, this information is "popped"

Table 2: This table shows the

point at which the STAR2 program

dies in each Logo,

which will give

you an idea of the relative stack

size available.

Language

Time (seconds)

Dr. Logo

514

IBM Logo

2386

PC Logo

106

Waterloo Logo

763

off the stack. The information on the pre-viously "pushed" procedure is now ontop of the stack.

If you analyze the behavior of STAR, itappears that you never reach an END.Before the first STAR can end, it mustcomplete the second STAR, which can'tEND until STAR number 3 finishes, whichcan't end until. . . .Therefore, the vital in-formation about each copy of STARnever "pops." The stack will grow foreveruntil the memory allocated to it runs outand the system crashes.

The remarkable thing is that this crashnever occurs. Because there are no in-structions (other than the END statement)following STAR'S recursive call to itself,recursive language compilers and inter-preters recognize the simple repetition(or iteration) of one fixed procedure. They

handle it by recording one fixed copy ofthe procedure and executing it over andover again. Such a situation is called "tail"recursion because the recursive call isplaced at the end or tail of the procedure.Consider the following two variants ofSTAR:

TO STAR1 :N TO STAR2 :N

TYPE :N TYPE :N

TYPE |*| STAR2 :N+1

STAR1 :N+1 TYPE |*|

END END

STAR1 is simply another example of tailrecursion, this time with a variable N. Nis a counter, which is printed with anasterisk during each repetition. I triedSTAR1 in all four Logos, and it continuedfor more than 4000 repetitions.

STAR2 is another story. An instructionexists after STAR2's call to itself: the com-mand to print an asterisk. This commandis never executed because STAR2 nevergets past invoking itself an infinitenumber of times. The interpreter doesn'trecognize that STAR2 is intended to doexactly the same thing as STAR1; it justsees that the recursive call is not the lastcommand in the program, so it pushesthe whole mess on the stack and keepsgoing. Consequently. STAR2 is a goodway to measure the stack size allocatedor usable by the various Logos. The lastnumber that STAR2 prints gives the

.BLOAD and .CALL routines—they workthe same way as in BASIC—to load andrun machine-language code. These willbe provided in a future update of PCLogo. IBM and PC Logos also includethe commands .EXAMINE and.DEPOSIT, which are the (polite) Logoversions of PEEK and POKE. Both IBMand PC Logos have procedures toredirect input/output characters andnumbers to and from disk files.

Waterloo Microsystems (WaterlooLogo) and Harvard Associates (PC Logo)offer a flat licensing fee for school sys-tems or other nonprofit groups that in-tend to use Logo. This enables the non-profit user to make and use as manycopies as needed for the group. Extracopies of documentation can be pur-chased separately. IBM also has educa-

tional discounts available to schoolsand universities. Only Digital Researchhas no similar plan at this time; further-more, its Dr. Logo is the only one thatis copy-protected. Digital Researchdoes, however, supply one backup.

Hardware

All four Logos run on either the IBM PCor XT, although you can't load Dr. Logoonto a hard disk because it is copy-pro-tected. While you can theoreticallyoperate Logo without a color-graphicsadapter, there is hardly any point inusing it without turtle graphics. All theLogos require at least one disk drive,but Waterloo Logo appears limited toone because there is no procedure tochange or reference an alternate drivefrom within the language.

IBM and PC Logos both run on thePCjr at this time. Waterloo Microsystemsclaims that by the time you read this itsLogo will also. Digital Research has noimmediate plans for PCjr compatibility.

PC and Dr. Logos support the use oflightpens, while Dr. and IBM Logos sup-port joysticks.

Conclusions

As you can see. it is hard to pick a clear-cut winner from these four contenders.IBM Logo has the best balance ofspeed, features, and documentation. Allthe procedures work as advertised, andthe ease of interfacing with machine lan-guage makes up for some of Logo's in-nate weaknesses. The amount and effi-cient use of stack space are strongly inits favor, as is its ability to use as much

300 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

REVIEW: FOUR LOGOS

relative size of the stack. Table 2 gives thecomparative stack sizes; in other words,it shows the last number printed beforeSTAR2 dies. As you can see. IBM Logohas, by far, the largest effective stack.

It is interesting to try to determine ex-actly how clever the interpreter is indetecting tail recursion. Consider now thefollowing variant:

TO STAR3 :N

TYPE :N

TYPE |*|

IF :N>0 |STAR3 :N+ 1|

END

The last instruction is once again a callto the procedure itself, but a spurious IF:N>0 precedes it in the actual instruc-tion line. This is effectively tail recursion,but does the interpreter know? Only theIBM interpreter correctly interprets thisas tail recursion and continues to executethe program; all the others die at aroundthe same number of repetitions as theydid with STAR2.

How important is stack space and itsconservation? Logo depends to a greatextent on recursive procedures, becauseit lacks the built-in control structures"WHILE . . . END" and "REPEAT . . .UNTIL' found in other structured lan-guages. Listing 6, MSIEVE, is a recursiveversion of the Sieve (thanks due toMeredith Lesly). MSIEVE 100, for exam-ple, looks for primes less than or equal

to 100. PC and Dr. Logos die well before100 while Waterloo continues only toabout 400. IBM does MSIEVE 1100 butfinally dies by MSIEVE 1500. If you callNODES after MSIEVE dies, you find thatthere are 21,104 modes left (from 30,881initially); IBM Logo has really run out ofstack spaces, not memory. It is interestingthat MSIEVE is also, in a certain sense,

tail-recursive, but it is unrealistic to thinkthat an interpreter could rearrange it asan iterative process. You can provemathematically that any recursion can berecast as an iteration, but interpreters arenot mathematicians.

A point of interest: SIEVE (iterative) andMSIEVE (recursive) take about the sametime to execute.

Listing 6: MSIEVE, a recursive version

of the Sieve benchmark by Meredith Lesly.

TO SIEVE :N

PRINT SIEVE2 BUTFIRST IOTA :N

END

: throws away 1 and starts: sieving process

TO SHRINKIT :N :LIST

IF EMPTYP :LIST IOUTPUT :LIST|

LOCAL T MAKE T (FIRST :LIST) / :N

OUTPUT SENTENCE (IF T = INT T llli IFIRST :LIST|I

SHRINKIT :N BUTFIRST :LIST ENDEND

; eliminates multiples of; first element of list

TO SIEVE2 :LIST

OUTPUT IF EMPTYP :LIST |:LIST|

(SENTENCE FIRST :LIST SIEVE2 SHRINKIT FIRST :LISTEND

:LIST|

; collects primes into list

TO IOTA :N

LOCALT

MAKE "T 1

REPEAT :N- 1 |MAKE "T SENTENCE T 1 +

OUTPUT T

END

LAST T|

: creates list of first N; integers

as 2 56K bytes of memory. It could usea few more features in the editor, high-resolution graphics, and 8087 support.Nevertheless, IBM Logo is an impressivepiece of software.

PC Logo comes in a close second withmany extra enhancements, 8087 sup-port, high-resolution graphics, and ac-cess to system-level interrupts. Its editoris very nice, especially the SEARCH andREPLACE commands, and no quotesare necessary to call up a procedure. Itcould use more stack space for recur-sive procedures and a greater ease ofmachine-language interfacing.

Dr. Logo, in third place, is still a veryappealing product. Its debugging facil-ities are a pleasure to use and itsmanual is very easy for a beginner toread. Its list-handling facilities are

superior. On the other hand, the inter-preter is sensitive to whether you typeupper- or lowercase letters in youridentifiers—very annoying. Also, Dr.Logo's incompatibility with DOS can bea drawback, especially since it preventsreading Logo programs saved on DOSdisks.

Bringing up the rear is Waterloo Logo,which has the fewest features. In fair-ness you can say that it works quitewell—I didn't detect any bugs and some-one drawing pictures will appreciate theARC, CIRCLE, and PAINT commandsgreatly. It is quite close to Apple Logo,but its editor is cumbersome, its manualquite Spartan, and, like Dr. Logo, it hasno machine-language or file-handlingcapabilities.

If you want Logo to experiment with

turtle graphics or for your students orchildren to play with, then any of thesepackages is quite adequate. However, ifyou want some special features or needto do any serious program develop-ment, then IBM Logo or PC Logo is yourbest choice. ■

REFERENCES

1. Abelson, H..and A. diSessa. Turtle Geometry.Cambridge. MA: MIT Press, 1980.

2. Allen, J. "An Overview of LISP' BYTE, August1979, page 10.

3. BYTE, Logo Issue, August 1982.

4. Kildall. G., and D. Thornburg. "Digital Re-search's DR Logo," BYTE, lune 1983, page 208.

5. Papert, S. Mindstorms, New York: Basic Books,1980.

6. Winston, P., and B. Horn. LISP. Reading, MA;Addison-Wesley, 1981.

AUGUST 1984 ■ BYTE 301

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So they turned to Hercules.

Lotus recognized that the Hercules Graphics Card deliveredthe performance they wanted. It offered high quality text and highresolution graphics on IBM's monochrome display. It completelyreplaced the IBM monochrome card. And it didn't cost an arm anda leg.

Since then, Hercules has sold a lot of Graphics Cards. So manythat the Hercules Graphics Card has become the high resolution stan-dard for the IBM PC. And this means that there is more high resolutiongraphics software available for Hercules than for any other graphicscard you can buy.

Software like Microsoft® Word. Our high resolution makesWord's text much sharper and easier on your eyes. And there areother programs for business graphics, computer aided design,terminal emulation and programming.Call for our free information kit. See why thecompany that made the first graphics card forthe IBM PC still makes the best.

Hercules. We'restrong on graphics.800 255 5550 Ext. 408

Address: Hercules, 2550 Ninth St, Berkeley, CA 94710 Ph: 415 540-6000 Telex: 754063 Features: IBM monochrome display graphics resolution of720x348; parallel printer port; text mode software compatibility; free software for programming; 2 year warranty. Foreign distributors: CompuServe/Canada; Reflex/U.K.; Computer 2000/W. Germany; Edisoft/France; SourceWare/Australia. Trademarks/Owners: Hercules/Hercules Computer Tech-nology; Microsoft/Microsoft Corp; IBM/International Business Machines; Lotus & 1-2-3/Lotus Development.

304 BYTE- AUGUST 1984 Circle 145 on inquiry card.

HARDWARE REVIEW

A low-costprinteroffering high-quality outputand moderatespeed

by G. Michael Vose

The ]uki 6100Printer

Like many personal computer owners,I've waited for years for the price ofletter-quality printers to drop belowthe $1000 barrier. I've daydreamed about theneatly crafted manuscripts I could sendaround the publishing world once fully formedcharacter printers become easily affordable.(I have little need for graphics, but I enjoy thecrisp, manicured, typewriter-quality look ofoutput from a daisy-wheel printer.)

Well, that day has arrived and now I'm facedwith yet another problem—choosing fromamongst the many low-cost, letter-qualityprinters that have become available in thepast six months. I can't be content daydream-ing about spiffy manuscripts; now I have toevaluate pitch setting, line spacing, speed, andspecial-character handling. Choosing a printeris getting as complicated as buying a com-puter.

Letter-quality printer technology hasevolved quickly. To bring these printers tomarket under $1000 requires a sacrifice inspeed, but no sacrifice in features. Taking aclose look at one low-cost, letter-qualityprinter, the Juki 6100, may help you to makesome sense out of this confusing market.

The Juki 6100 from Juki Industries is an18-cps (characters per second), fully formedcharacter printer. It originally sold for $699 butnow carries a suggested list price of $599.

Size and Features

Measuring 20Vi by 6 by 14 inches, the Juki6100 is 2 inches lower, 1 to 2 inches shorter.and 1 inch narrower than the NEC Spinwriteror the Diablo 630. At 27/2 pounds, it weighsabout 10 to 12 pounds less than the NEC orthe Diablo. The housing is a two-color, high-impact plastic with a clear plastic dustcoverabove the platen.

The 100-character print wheel (Royal/Adlercompatible) on the Juki offers 110 (10 pitch),132 (12 pitch), and 165 (15 pitch) charactersper line. It can also provide 82 to 220 propor-tionally spaced characters per line.

The Juki 6100 features bidirectional printingwith friction paper feed (an optional bidirec-tional tractor-feed mechanism costs $149) anduses IBM Selectric typewriter ribbon car-

tridges (available at most office supply stores).It accepts either single-strike carbon-film ormultistrike cloth ribbons. The maximum paperwidth is 13 inches.

The Juki 6100 comes with a standardCentronics-compatible parallel interface; anRS232C serial interface is optional. It usesDiablo 630 escape codes to control its variousspecial functions (bold, underline, etc.). Thefront-panel controls for the 6100 include athree-position sliding toggle switch for selec-tion of pitch settings and a membrane pad forthe color-coded Reset, Pause, and Form Feedswitches, plus three LEDs (light-emittingdiodes) to indicate the machine's status. Thepower switch is on the left rear panel of themachine. The printer can be configured to use110- or 220-volt AC power at 50 or 60 Hz.

Performance

The 6100 is rated at 18 characters per second.My benchmark tests showed this to be an un-cannily accurate claim. I used six of the bench-mark programs developed for BYTE (see "TheArt of Benchmarking Printers" by SergioMello-Grand, February BYTE, page 193). Theunit I tested averaged 17.96 cps (see table 1)in bidirectional operation. Some word-processing programs drive printers unidirec-tionally, however, and table 1 also lists thespeeds of the Juki 6100 in its one-way mode;the difference is nearly 2 Vi cps, or a 14 per-cent decrease in speed. This means that a1000-word document would print bidirec-tionally in 5.57 minutes but require 6.51minutes to print out unidirectionally.

I ran the benchmarks at 10 pitch using aCourier 10 print wheel. Since the limiting fac-tor in daisy-wheel printer performance is thespeed at which the print wheel can turn fromletter to letter, the pitch setting shouldn't af-fect the outcome of the benchmarks in bidir-ectional mode. In unidirectional mode, perfor-mance would be slightly better in the higherpitch modes due to fewer carriage returns.

(continued)

G. Michael Wose is BYTE's senior technical editor forfeatures. He can be contacted at POB 372, Hancock,NH 03449.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 305

AT A GLANCE

Name

Juki 6100

Manufacturer

Juki industries of America299 Market St.Saddle Brook, NJ 07662(201) 368-3666

Type

Fully formed character printer

Size

20!4 by 6 by 14

Equipment Needed

Computer with parallel orserial interface

Features

Diablo 630 control codes, sub-and superscripts, bold/shadowprinting, underlining,double-striking

Documentation

44-page operation manual

Price

$599 (suggested retail)

HH^

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The ]uki 6100 letter-quality printer.

PRINT SPEED

LIST PRICE

382

$2710

10 20 30

CHARACTERS/SECOND

40 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

DOLLARS

I BROTHER fg«Jl)KI , DIABLO

HR-15 1H6100 | | 630

□ DM63

This is the Juki 6100 This is the Juki 6100This is the Brother HR-15. This the BrotherThis is the Diablo 630 This is the Diablo 6

The Juki 6100 printer (using a Courier 10 daisywheel) is compared with the Brother HR-15(using a Prestige 1012 daisy wheel) and theDiablo 630 (using a Courier Legal 10 daisywheel). The pitch for all printers is 10 charac-ters per inch. The print speeds were determined

by timing how long it takes the printers to printthe Shannon test (573 characters; see "The Artof Benchmarking Printers," by Sergio Mello-Grand, in the February BYTE, page 193). Theprices shown are the list prices, including tractor-feed mechanism.

306 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

REVIEW: JUKI 6100

The 6100 operates at a noise levelcomparable to most letter-qualityprinters, approximately 62 decibels.This is certainly not quiet, but neitherdoes it qualify as a major disruption inthe average office or laboratory setting.

Nuts and Bolts

The Juki 6100 uses an Intel 8051 micro-controller with on-board ROM (read-only memory) software to control thepositioning of the print head, the selec-tion of print-wheel characters, and theimplementation of its word-processingfunctions, which include sub- and super-scripts, bold/shadow printing, double-striking, and underlining. A 2K-byte printbuffer, using static RAM (random-accessread/write memory) chips, is standardand is expandable to 8K bytes. A circuitboard located inside the rear panelholds these electronics.

The 6100's print-head mechanism is asimple design that uses a linear induc-tion motor to ensure accurate headpositioning. The head can be moved in1/120-inch increments along the platen.The head rides in a carriage that travelsalong a rectangular steel guide bar. Thehead motor is attached to the printer'selectronics by a single ribbon cable.

Lifting the cover from the Juki 6100 in-volves removing just four Phillips-headscrews. All major parts of the printer arequickly and easily exposed to make ser-

vicing the printer a simple task. Juki In-dustries announced in May that it hassigned a third-party maintenance agree-ment with Xerox Americare.

USABILITY

Using the Juki 6100 is simple. Set-up re-quires only the attachment of the powercord and the cable from your computer.You can then select a variety of specialprinter characteristics by setting the10-position DIP (dual in-line pin) switchlocated just behind the LED/membranefront panel. The choice of functions in-cludes automatic linefeed, impressionlevel to control the strength of the ham-mer strike, continuous or cut paper,paper length (either 11 or 12 inches),line spacing (either % or % inch), andeight different international charactersets (requiring special print wheels).

The DIP switches are easy to reachwith a pen or small screwdriver. Oncethe DIP switches are set for your par-ticular computer configuration, theprinter operates under software control.For example, to use the Juki 6100 withan IBM Personal Computer and a word-processing program, you select a Diablo630 printer driver, install it according tothe instructions with the word-processing software, and the softwaretakes care of sending the appropriateescape codes to engage the printer'sfunctions. To engage these functions

Table 1: Benchmark results for the }uki 6100 printer. The benchmarks are from theFebruary BYTE {see the text).

Bidirectional

Unidirectional

Time

cps

Time

cps

(seconds)

(seconds)

Shannon Test (80)

33.88

16.91

38.07

15.05

Shannon Test (60)

33.68

17.01

37.71

15.19

First Order English

58.84

17.00

65.93

15.17

Fourth Order Shakespeare

48.76

16.32

53.64

14.84

First Order UNIX Manual

58.14

17.20

85.25

11.73

Spreadsheet Simulation

68.65

23.31

79.28

20.18

Average cps:

17.69

Average cps:

15.36

Compared toother low-cost,fully formedcharacter printers,the ]uki isfaster and sturdier,but also noisierand more expensive.

from a BASIC program, you LPR1NT theescape character codes provided in theJuki manual.

The 44-page operation manual pro-vides all the information an experiencedcomputer user will need to run the6100. It is probably too terse for thenewcomer, but novices can enlist theaid of a friend or dealer, or they can calla Juki America regional office for assis-tance. The manual's English is occa-sionally obtuse (e.g., "When data in thebuffer decrease to 220 BYTE, data aresent from CPU till next buffer full."), butthe information can be found with somedigging. Tables provide pin-out informa-tion for both the parallel and serial con-nectors. The description of how tochange print wheels and ribbon car-tridges is clearly explained with linedrawings used to enhance the text.

Conclusions

The Juki 6100's principal strengths areits affordability and its simplicity. At$599, it rivals dot-matrix printers inprice while providing superior printquality. When discounted (you'll see adslisting the 6100 for as little as $449, lessshipping), it is an honest-to-goodnessbargain. I've compared the Juki to otherlow-cost, fully formed character printersand found it to be faster and sturdier,but also noisier and more expensive. It'sa good buy unless you need a fasterprinter that can generate a lot of textin a hurry.

The Juki 6100 would be ideal for abusiness with a small volume of cor-respondence (20 to 30 letters daily) orfor a writer using a computer for wordprocessing. It is superb for applicationsin which first-class text appearance isrequired. ■

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 307

REVIEW FEEDBACK

Adam

In Jules H. Gilder's article on Coleco's Adam(April, page 206), Mr. Gilder did a disserviceto Coleco in recommending that the purchaseof Adam be delayed until all the bugs are fixedand Coleco delivers on all its promises, I repre-sent the market for the Adam Personal Com-puter and I believe that the Adam works welland is just what we need. BYTE also did a dis-service by publishing his bias.

It seems that the whole story is that Adamcosts less than S750 complete and the nearestcompetitor costs three times as much. Howmany families are now without an Adambecause of the Gilder story? It is too bad thatthe industry looks down on Coleco's Adambecause it doesn't generate the profit of otherpersonal computers.

Steven M. LittleSanta Barbara, CA

We are glad to hear that Adam finally workswell. Mr. Little, however, does a disservice toboth Jules Gilder and to BYTE when he claimsthat our review was biased. Mr. Gilder carefullytested the machine and accurately reportedhis results. To do otherwise would have beena disservice to our readers.

-Rich MalloyProduct-Review Editor

1>iE Zenith Z-ioo

We read with interest Ken Skier's review of theZ-100 in the January issue of BYTE (page 268J.Our DISK-TRAN series of programs meets theneed for transferring files between different for-mat media for both the Z-90 and Z-100 to readand write in various disk formats.

George ). Sellers

Computer Consultants to Business

Cumberland, MD

Two Apls

I'd like to convey my appreciation for JacquesBensimon's article on APL, "STSC APL*PUJSand IBM PC APL' (March, page 246). I also wishto comment on the difficulties with APLs right-to-left notation. I believe this unfortunate choice,along with cryptic symbols, is responsible forthe delayed acceptance of this language.

For the past three years, I have been develop-ing a programming system that uses a syntaxsimilar to APL but reads from left to right, fol-lowing convention for standard text. This sys-tem, called BETA/65, also uses more familiarBASIC names for functions and keywords. Thissystem is now available to users of Ohio Scien-

tific Challenger computers.

In BETA/65 notation, as in APL, arguments ofmonadic functions appear on the right, as usersexpect. There is increased interpretive overheadwith this convention. Interpretation of amonadic function (operator and operandi re-quires 170 cycles compared with 102 cycles fordyadic functions. However, monadic functionsappear less frequently in programs and, whenpresent, typically require several hundred cyclesfor execution. Hence, the additional overheadis usually not apparent to the user.

The cycle times quoted above are based oninterpreter implementation with the 6502microprocessor. A hardware implementation ofthis interpreter seems feasible. Such a high-speed interpreter combined with a numericalcoprocessor would be a formidable computingmachine.

An advantage of APL-like languages that wasnot mentioned is the direct correspondence ofcode text to execution sequence. This differsfrom algebraic notation (used by FORTRAN.BASIC, and C), which executes according to afunction-precedence list. Use of direct notationshould simplify work for compiler writers. Also,extensions to the primitive instruction set canbe more easily assimilated into the language.

D. G. JOHANSEN

La Honda, CA

Peachtext 5000

1 just read the review of Peachtext 5000 byStevanne Ruth Lehrman (April, page 186). Ihaven't had a chance to do much work with allof the features of my newly acquired copy ofthis software, but I did notice one error in yourarticle of which readers should be aware. Peach-text 5000 no longer includes a box of 10 blankdisks, as described in its catalog. I opened thepackage obtained from my Heath/Zenith dealerand instead of finding the disks, I found a notesaying that the bonus had been discontinued.Lee A. BeatriceSomerville. MA

Statistical Software

I read with great interest the excellent article,"Statistical Software for Microcomputers" bylames Carpenter, Dennis Deloria, and DavidMorganstein (April, page 234).

A precommercial version of our product, SPS.running under Apple DOS was used for the re-view and it was being compared to a set of al-ready commercialized statistics packages.

The data in the tables is accurate for the pre-commercial Apple version of the program. The

data in table 13 on ratings of main features(page 251), however, is not representative forthe commercial versions. For example, the av-erage number of significant digits produced bySPS Version 3A.0is 17 using all 6 independentvariables in the Longley data set when this mod-el is computed using the commercial IBM PCversion running under DOS 2.0. We provide twomultiple regression routines, one that utilizesa Gauss-lordan elimination algorithm and onethat uses a Singular Value Decomposition (SVD)algorithm. We obtain this 17-digit accuracy withthe SVD routine, which should be used, as ourmanual points out. with highly collinear datasince the algorithm works with original X matrixand not (X'X). In fact, even more accurate resultswould have been obtained for the precommer-cial version if the SVD procedure had beenused for the Longley data.

Perhaps the ratings that SPS received in table13 would be upgraded if the commercial ver-sion had been reviewed. We do provide a tableof contents, index, and sample runs in thedocumentation, as well as the ability to selectcases, join and sort files, and perform a widerange of transformations.

Our SPS package is currently available onCP/M, MS-DOS and PC-DOS formats. Althoughthe Apple DOS version is no longer available,a version is still available for the Apple II andHe machines using a CP/M card.

Richard Tilmann

DBI Software Products

Mt. Pleasant, Ml

I commend BYTE and authors Carpenter,Deloria, and Morganstein for their comprehen-sive article on statistical software in the Aprilissue. It is the first article of its kind to appearin any of the nationally circulated microcom-puter magazines, and it provides valuable in-formation to personal computer users in-terested in statistics.

Your readers who use the IBM Personal Com-puter (PCJ may also be interested in SIGSTATthe Special Interest Group for Statistics. SIGSTATis part of the Capital PC User Group, a nonprofitassociation of nearly 2 500 IBM PC users in theWashington. DC, area.

SIGSTAT members review statistical softwarefor the IBM PC and report their findings in theMonitor, the monthly newsletter of the CPCUG.It costs $25 per year for a subscription (senda check to Capital PC User Group. POB 3189,Gaithersburg. MD 20878).

Our electronic bulletin board operates 24hours per day at 300 or 1200 bits per second(bps) (no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit). Thetelephone number is 301-596-3369. The bulletinboard has reviews of statistical packages andsome demonstration and public-domain soft-

308 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

ware. Because it is difficult to fill the many re-quests for past reviews, we prefer that interestedPC owners download the reviews from thisbulletin board. We encourage PC owners toupload their comments about statistical soft-ware and to contribute nonproprietary pro-grams to SIGSTAT. We do not accept piratedpackages for the bulletin board and do not con-done illegal copying of copyrighted software.For readers who do not have access to PCtelecommunications, send a 5^-inch double-sided disk with a preaddressed, postage-paidmailer to the address below. SIGSTAT will copyonto the disk past software reviews, the list ofcurrently available commercial statistical pack-ages, and any public-domain statistical softwarewe have at the time.

Harry |. FoxwellBurke, VA

I was pleased to read the recent review ofstatistical software by lames Carpenter, DennisDeloria, and David Morganstein in the Aprilissue. Their comparative analysis of 24 pack-ages was very informative, especially the exten-sive list of tables.

I am curious, however, why the micro versionof SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences),SPSS-11. was not included in their analysis. Ithas purportedly been on the market since themiddle of 1983 and runs on the DEC Profes-sional 350. Although I have no actual ex-perience with this package, it seems more ap-

pealing than those surveyed for several reasons.First, the mainframe SPSS has been in existencefor over 14 years and, therefore, has withstoodthe test of time. Any of the initial bugs werelocated and corrected long ago. Due to theirfamiliarity with the language, experienced SPSSusers would prefer to work with this packageon microcomputers.

Aside from the micro version of SPSS. I wouldbe interested in knowing when the other ma-jor mainframe statistical software packages, e.g..SAS and BioMed, will be offered to the microindustry. This reader is anxiously awaiting acomparative analysis of their statistical softwarefor microcomputers.

Paul E. BurkhardtStockbridge, MA

TVtE Rainbow 100

David B. Suits neglected to share some of theRainbow 100's really impressive features in hisreview (April, page 170), so 1 thought I wouldoblige.

Did you ever multitask on a single terminalwith two computers? On my desk at work, myRainbow looks like a mild-mannered VT52 orVT102 to my host minicomputer software.Because the terminal emulation is all containedon the ROM. there's no extra software to buy.After I start up a job stream in the Rainbow'sline (terminal) mode. I can then slip back to local

mode and wrap up some documentation orglance through a spreadsheet. I then return tothe minicomputer, still processing, which haskept my place as a terminal while 1 was awaypersonal computing.

When Mr. Suits was reviewing the documen-tation, he didn't discover the Rainbow's virtualdisk, which is the memory drive (MDRIVE). WithCP/M-86 version 2.0 and 128K bytes or moreof RAM, you can configure 64K-byte incrementsof the RAM as a storage unit or drive. With my2 56K bytes of RAM, I can set up a 128K-byteslice of memory, PIP over my Rainbow editor(RED) or Multiplan programs and the responseis like lightning. When I'm done, I copy anyedited files back to disk and "remove" the drive.Melinda HayesOwensboro, KY

Some misconceptions were presented to yourreaders in David Suits's review of the Rainbow100. I'd like to comment on some of these.

It is not quite true that the Rainbow cannotread double-sided floppies; however, there isa catch to it. A double-sided floppy has twowrite-enable cutouts that inhibit the drive com-pletely when both are present. Therefore youmust cover the right-hand cutout for the upperdrive and the left-hand one for the lower withsome self-adhesive label (a postal stamp will do)to simulate the single-sided disk.

When you want to use the other side of the

(continued)

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 309

REVIEW FEEDBACK

disk, you have to move the sticker

The Rainbow also reads and writesVT180(ROBIN) floppies; however, its reading isprone to errors. Various Rainbows behave dif-ferently, and some produce fewer errors. Also,when writing the VT180 floppy, it has to be inthe drive when the system starts, otherwise thefirst attempts will cause error reports.

Rudi W. StanceEching. West Germany

Kaypro 10

Steve McMahon's review of the Kaypro 10 (May,page 206| neglected to mention an importantfeature available for this machine, the CO-POWER-88 board by SWP Microcomputer Prod-ucts Inc., of Arlington, Texas

Available as a factory option or directly fromSWP, the CO-POWER-88 upgrades the Kayproso it can run MS-DOS and CP/M-86.

Fred L. Helms

SWP Microcomputer Products

Arlington, TX

Eco-C Compiler

We would like to thank BYTE for publishing Dr.David D. Clark's review. "Two More Versions ofC for CP/M" (May, page 246), which includedour Eco-C compiler. We think it was a well-written and fair review of Release 1.52. Howeverwe would like to inform your readers about sev-eral important changes in Eco-C since Release1.52 was first distributed.

Dr. Clark mentioned our free update policyfor the first year the compiler was on themarket. We did this because we knew that wewould be enhancing the compiler over time.The release that Dr. Clark mentioned (but didnot review) reduced the limitations of Eco-C to

bit fields and the #line preprocessor directive.That release (2.04) also improved code genera-tion, especially on function calls. While mostof the benchmarks have rather modest improve-ments (e.g., 5 to 10 percent), the Fibonaccibenchmark dropped from 187 seconds toabout 79 seconds.

We also dropped the price of the Eco-C com-piler last year to $2 50 rather than the $3 50 men-tioned in the article. At the time we reducedthe price, we sent a letter to all licensed Eco-Cusers offering credits ranging from $70 to SI00on some of our other products.

The latest release (3.0) also increased thenumber of library functions to 120, added newcompile-time switches (including multiple, non-fatal, error messages), and implemented severalnew optimizers. We began shipping this releasefree of charge to all licensed users on May 1of this year.

Your readers are probably wondering why ourcompile times are slower than the other twocompilers. Part of the reason is that subset com-pilers typically work with data types that fit nice-ly into a central processor register pair (nolongs, floats, or doubles), which greatlysimplifies a number of tasks for the compiler(e.g., symbol-table manipulation). Code size willalso be smaller in most cases (e.g., even our in-teger printf() must handle the long data type).Another reason is that Eco-C does not requirethe source file to fit into memory, resulting inmore disk I/O (input/output). Other nonsubsetcompilers face similar problems.

The overall compile-assembly-link (CAL) timespresented in Dr. Clark's review do show a speedadvantage for subset C compilers. However, theEco-C Release 3.0 CAL times are similar to otherfull C compilers. See Christopher O. Kern's ar-ticle "Five C Compilers for CP/M-80" (August1983. page 110). We are currently testing a newassembler and linker that cut the CAL timesalmost in half.

Equally (more?) important are executiontimes. Eco-C now does the Eratosthenesvanilla'' sieve in 29.2 seconds while theFibonacci ("fib") drops to 75.3 seconds. Ad-justing for clock-speed differences in the Kernarticle. Eco-C times are first in the vanilla", "fib",and "string-length" benchmarks. (We cannotduplicate the other Kern benchmarks since theinput data is unknown.)

Finally, we appreciate Dr. Clark's inclusion ofa floating-point benchmark: it represents thefirst such benchmark aimed specifically at a Ccompiler and one that deserves more attention.Unfortunately, the reader has no idea whetherthe Eco-C time is good or bad, since neithersubset compiler can run it. Release 3.0 runs thistest in 41.2 seconds generating less than 21Kbytes of code (versus 48 seconds and 22K bytesfor Release 1.52). As a reference, a competitorscompiler generates more than 24K bytes ofcode and executes the benchmark in 113.3seconds; a 275 percent time difference in Eco-Cs favor Dr. Clark is correct that we put a lotof effort into the floating-point package

It would also be interesting to see a bench-mark for the long data type, since it is heavilyused in some functions (e.g., random file I/O).Our long tests suggest considerable advantagefor Eco-C here, too.

)ACK PURDUM, PH.D.

Eco Soft Inc.Indianapolis, IN ■

REVIEW FEEDBACK IS a new column ofreaders letters. We welcome responsesthat support or challenge BYTE reviews.Send letters to Review Feedback. BYTEPublications, POB 372, Hancock, NH03449. Name and address must be onall letters.

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Kernel

'syx

THIS MONTH THE KERNEL welcomes Dick Pountain's BYTE U.K.column, which opens our window on Europe. The inaugural col-umn reports on Inmos's Transputer and the programminglanguage Occam.

Jerry Pournelle offers a series of observations from ChaosManor, once again assailing the Macintosh, taking issue withAT&T's software pricing, and sharing enthusiasm for his new lap-size portable. In BYTE West Coast, John Markoff and Ezra Shapiropresent an interview with some of the original designers of theMacintosh who were not present for the interview published inour February issue. William M. teike's report from Tbkyo describesthe Akihabara electronics bazaar, the Fujitsu FM-11, and the SharpMZ-5500. Bill also offers another short program in C as a bonus.

Computing at Chaos Manor: Between Conventions

by ]erry Pournelle 313

Chaos Manor Mail

conducted by ]erry Pournelle ;...,. 334

BYTE Japan: Pasocom Pagodas

by William M. Mte. . ...339"

BYTE West Coast: Macintosh's Other Designers

by )ohn Markoff and Ezra Shapiro 347

BYTE U.K.: Microprocessor Design

i Dick Pountain 361

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Trump Card

Gold Card

Turbo Pascal

First BYTE Show

Macintosh

Writing Machines

Lap-size Portables

Format Conversions

Financial Games

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R:Base Database

AT&T Software

Dynamic RAM

by Jerry Pournelle

COMPUTING

AT CHAOS MANOR

Between Conventions

It has been a month. First there was theL-5 Society annual convention, at whichI got doused with beer during a fund-raiser. The next weekend was the Science Fic-tion Writers of America's annual Nebulaawards ceremony. The week after was Contact,an annual meeting of science-fiction writersand anthropologists. No sooner had I returnedfrom that but I was on an airplane to Chicagofor the first BYTE Computer Show. All told, Ithink I've been at Chaos Manor about 12 dayssince I turned in the last column.

Next week I leave for a speech in Cincinnation my way to COMDEX in Atlanta, followedby the annual meeting of the American As-sociation for the Advancement of Science. Iknow I'll never cover all of what goes on inthe micro world no matter how much time Ihave, but this is getting ridiculous.

Meanwhile, my apologies: this column is go-ing to be choppier than usual; there's a lot tocover.

Trump Card

The name went through several iterations: thefirst few Steve Ciarcia tried had already beentrademarked. I sometimes wonder if there'sa single catchy English word that hasn't beenregistered by someone or another. In anyevent, the board I reported on last January onpage 61 as Quicksilver is now out as theTrump Card.

I still don't have one, but Steve brought aproduction model to the BYTE Show, and wetalked Emil Bohach of Small Business Systems,the local CompuPro Systems Center, into let-ting us plug Steve's board into his PC. TrumpCard has an on-board Z8000 chip running at10 MHz. There's also a BASICA-compatiblecompiler that you load from disk. Steveplugged in the board and it worked as adver-tised: it compiles BASICA programs at an as-tounding rate, and after compilation they runabout 100 times as fast. I didn't get to see theon-board C compiler work.

Trump Card was written up by Steve in theMay and June issues of BYTE. 1 can practical-ly guarantee that if you have a PC, you'll wantTrump Card. More when 1 get mine. I can hard-ly wait.

Go for the Gold

For a couple of years we've had an Applicardin the Apple 11+ the boys keep in the backroom. The Applicard has an on-board Z80 andturns the rest of your Apple into a terminalso that you can run the Z80 under the CP/Moperating system. It also speeds things upsomething wonderful. Our Applicard hasalways worked fine, but it did have one prob-lem: we had considerable difficulty teachingthe operating system how to find the serial I/O(input/output) port. 1 think Barry Workmanfinally got The File Transporter talking to theApple, but it was no simple task.

Last January Mrs. Pournelle got an AppleHe to match the one that Apple gave to herschool. Shortly after, we acquired a copy ofDigital Research's new Gold Card. The GoldCard does the same thing that the Applicarddoes, but it has no difficulty finding both serialand parallel ports. Moreover, the STAT func-tion works as you expect it to, so that you canmake logical-to-physical port assignments.

Gold Card comes with CP/M + , sometimesknown as CP/M 3.0. You also get CBAS1C anda built-in conversion to make your Apple an80-column machine if you like. I'm no greatfan of CP/M +—1 don't think it has enough ad-ditional features beyond CP/M 2.2 to make itworth installing—but it does no great harm tohave it on an Apple.

Gold Card installation is simple, and onceit's installed, you can boot the machine eitherunder CP/M or as a normal Apple. The GoldCard is invisible when you're running AppleDOS (disk operating system). Our Gold Cardhas worked without glitches for severalmonths now.

Turbo Yet Again

Phillippe Kahn, president of Borland Interna-tional, always manages to call me just as I'mwriting this column.

He called today to tell me about a speedyway for Turbo Pascal users to communicate

(continued)

jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psychology and isa science-fiction writer who also earns a comfortable liv-ing writing about computers present and future.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 313

CHAOS MANOR

with him. One of the Borland staff,generally Phillippe himself, logs ontothe CompuServe net every day. You canleave messages and be certain he'll getthem.

Access is through the ProgrammerSpecial Interest Group. The simplestway is. after you log on, to do GOPC5158, which will put you into a TurboPascal bulletin board where you canread messages and replies. Due to thelarge number of calls he gets and hislimited staff, he'd really prefer peopleto communicate this way rather thanover the phone. Borland will still try togive telephone support.

A couple of readers report difficultiesgetting Turbo to run with CP/M +. How-ever, Phillippe himself has a Morrow sys-tem running CP/M +, so it isn't the CP/Mthat's doing it. He suspects a nonstan-dard BIOS (basic input/output system)may be at fault. Borland will refund thepurchase price if you can't get it to workwith your system.

I've also heard a couple of complaintsfrom readers who bought the first edi-tion of Turbo Pascal, liked it a lot, andnow find they've got to pay $29.95 forthe second edition. 1 confess I have lit-tle sympathy for them. Borland is giv-ing previous purchasers a hefty dis-count; book publishers don't do that.When you buy a new edition of a text-book, you pay full price. Of course,Borland could have charged $99.95 forTurbo Pascal; the company could thencharge initial purchasers $5.95 for theupdate, and everyone would think theywere great guys.

As for me, I congratulate Borland fortaking the micro community a giant stepin the right direction.

One of the neatest things about TurboPascal is the overlay structure. You canhave multiple overlays; the compilerautomatically reserves space for thelargest overlay, thus ensuring that all thesmaller ones will fit. Furthermore, youcan have nested overlays, as many deepas you like (until you run out of memoryspace; each overlay reserves space forthe largest overlay that it calls). For16-bit systems. Turbo can make use ofthe whole heap space, which means youcan have large dynamic arrays. A Turboprogram is limited to a maximum of64K bytes of code size (as is PascalMT+), but this turns out not to be asserious as it might be because Turbo

produces such tightly efficient code.Given the easy-to-use overlays, efficientcode, and integrated editor, I thinkTurbo is the best Pascal compiler on themarket. It's also the cheapest.

Kahn says he's pretty sure the TurboModula-2 compiler will be on salebefore the end of 1984. I hope so.

The BYTE Show

I've mixed emotions about the ChicagoBYTE Computer Show.

First, the good news; a lot of peopleshowed up. The BYTE staff, includingEditor in Chief Phil Lemmons, SteveCiarcia, me. Product-Review Editor RichMalloy, and Senior Technical EditorGregg Williams were on hand to answerquestions. Popular Computing's Editor inChief Pamela Clark was there, too. Wehad a good dialogue with the attendees.I sat down outside the BYTE booth at10:00 on Saturday morning and talkedwith crowds until I had to leave at 2:00,and there were always lots of people toask questions and tell me things I didn'tknow. The other BYTE people had muchthe same experience.

More good news: the seminars wereinteresting and well organized. Thepresentations were excellent. We had acouple of complaints about scheduleconflicts—two of the most interestingpanels were on at the same time—butthat was all. People who come to com-puter shows for the panels seemeduniversally happy.

Now the bad news: there weren't any-where near enough exhibitors. 1 hearda lot of explanations for this. My ownview is that it was a classic comedy oferrors: everyone thought it was some-one else's job to let potential exhibitorsknow about the show. Whatever theproblem, we've been told Next Time ForSure. It better be: I really hate havingto face disappointed BYTE readers. For-tunately, most were not unhappy, andI had some great conversations.

The BYTE Shows have high potentialvalue, and I think they should continue.The BYTE staff has been asked for sug-gestions on improvements. I've beenpressing for minibooths: small, low-costspace for first- and second-time ex-hibitors, much as Jim Warren had for theWest Coast Computer Faires. BYTE hasalways been the micro enthusiast'smagazine, and BYTE Shows with mini-booths would be right in line with that

tradition. Alas, I'm not in charge, and allI can do is keep asking. I'll do that.

Late update: the LA. show hadminibooths. and I thought it was great.

People Will Talk ...

For me, the main value of the BYTEShows is the chance to talk with readers.Now true, I get a lot of mail and thushave some feedback; but that's no sub-stitute for face-to-face contact, and atthe Chicago BYTE Show I was able tospeak with literally hundreds of you.There were a lot of questions, but twowere most frequent by miles. Readerswanted to know what I think of Macin-tosh and what system I recommend forwriters.

Mac Reconsidered

I have a problem with the Macintosh:I don't recommend that you get onenow—but now is May 1984, and by thetime you read this, things will havechanged drastically. I don't know what1 recommend "now," meaning as youread this column. It all depends onwhat's available.

As I write this, the Macintosh is abargain only if you can get it at theheavily discounted price offered tofaculty and students of the favored 24universities in the Macintosh "consor-tium." (Incidentally, I'm told that whenyou see a list of the universities withinthe consortium, you'll see only 23; oneuniversity made anonymity a conditionof joining, and Apple can never use thatuniversity's name in any press releasesor advertising.)

There are several reasons why youwouldn't want the Mac at full price justnow. Some are inherent in the machine:negative features that must be over-come with something positive. Theother reasons may well be temporary:they're fixable, but only if the Macintoshsurvives, and despite all the Machype,I'm not as convinced of that as everyoneelse seems to be.

First, the "permanent" problems. Thechief one is that the Macintosh is arather ill-designed machine. The Caps-Lock key is where the Control key oughtto be; there is no Escape key; the Con-trol key is badly placed. There are nocursor arrow keys, meaning that touch-typists must remove their hands fromthe keyboard and use the mouse even

(continued)

314 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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CHAOS MANOR

for small cursor movements.

The mouse itself has only one button.This, we are told, is to prevent user con-fusion; one button is enough. However,to use the mouse you must often doShift-click (hold down the Shift key asyou press the single mouse button) orCommand-click (ditto for the Commandbutton and mouse). This makes a two-handed operation out of what shouldbe a one-handed affair. It would havebeen easy enough to put copies of theShift and Command keys on the mouseitself. Of course, that would have costa bit more.

The single disk drive is a real pain. Forthe past six weeks, I've heard stories ofa new Copy routine that would usemore of the Macintosh's memory andthus require fewer disk swaps for copy-ing a disk; but I have not seen the newroutine, and as of May 15 there hadbeen no firm date set for delivery.Similarly, every week someone an-nounces that the second disk drive will

be available next week, but so far nonehave been delivered.

The operating system has bugs. Thereare a lot of ways you can trash a diskand lose all your text files. This is inex-cusable, and sufficient to prevent mefrom using the Macintosh as a word pro-cessor. My time and energy are toovaluable to gamble with. I am told thereare fixes to most of the disk trashings,but since none of them are docu-mented, they are not available to "therest of us."

The Macintosh documents are near-ly worthless. Every now and then theMacintosh will deliver messages about"Fatal Error #2" and the like, but that'sinterpreted nowhere. The Macdocu-ments are pretty, with lots of visual ap-peal, but they don't tell you enoughabout the machine. Neither, incidental-ly, does Doug Clapp's book Macintosh1.Complete (Soft Talk). This $19.95 book isunreserved in its praise of the Mac buttells you little that isn't in the Mac-

documents. It's often deliberately cryp-tic. A better book is Cary Lu's The AppleMacintosh Book (Microsoft), which costsless ($18.95). Though it is incomplete(any book published simultaneouslywith the announcement of the Macwould be), it does have a lot of usefulinformation. However, neither book, northe Macdocuments, will interpret theMac error codes.

The Macintosh disk drives are pain-fully slow. It takes the better part offorever to load software. It's so difficultto make backup copies that one istempted not to make them: this canresult in unrelieved grief if you're thencaught by one of the disk-trashing bugs.

There's nowhere near enough mem-ory. As 1 write this, only two languagesare available for the Macintosh: FORTHand Microsoft BASIC I know little aboutthe FORTH; but when you've loaded theMicrosoft BASIC, you have only 14Kbytes of work area left. That means you

[continued]

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have to write cryptic BASIC programsor none at all. Shades of the old dayswith 4K-byte memory boards!

I now find you can use the CLEARcommand to get up to 29K bytes ofworkspace, it's an undocumentedfeature.

The 'desk calculator'' feature withinthe Mac is useless. This is a pity,because l must keep a Tl calculator nextto my desk in order to do the myriadcomputations required in daily life, andI'd hoped to replace the TI with theMacintosh. No way, though: the Mac'scalculator has no memory, no change-sign key, and, of course, no scientificfunctions or notation. Moreover, it'svery hard to use. Mice are not the bestway to input numbers. I presume thatone could write a calculator routine inBASIC, but what's the point? Both it andBASIC would have to be loaded—atpainfully slow speed. You'd be better offwith a lap computer like the NECPC-8201A, which has BASIC in ROM.

As I write this, there is no applicationsoftware for the Macintosh. MicrosoftMultiplan was recalled, as it should havebeen—the version we bought crashes atthe slightest mistake, losing everythingyou've calculated. Each week I hear an-nouncements of an incredible pile ofnew software to be delivered next week,but when the next week comes, noneof it is available. I've given up believingthe breathless new announcements.More: the spate of announcements,followed by nondelivery, makes mewonder whether interfacing software in-to the Mac's operating system is moredifficult than Apple wants us all tobelieve. Perhaps I'm an excessiveworrier. Perhaps not.

Some Love It

There's a good side to the Macintosh;good enough that if Apple fixes the fix-able defects, it may truly be "the com-puter for the rest of us."

First off, I don't know anyone—includ-ing me—who doesn't think it's fun toplay with. MacPaint, with its spray canand paintbrush: MacWrite, with the abili-ty to change type fonts and sizes; andthe cut-and-paste utilities combine to letyou create some remarkable graphics.The days of the illuminated manuscripthave returned. It takes a long time toprint a letter written with MacWrite, butit looks spectacular.

318 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Second, for those who must writeshort illustrated documents, Mac issuperb.

Third, the Mac attracts people whohate computers. A typical case: busi-nessman gets Mac; finds he can't domuch with it; takes it home; wants to ex-periment with it, but finds he can't getnear it because his wife and children,who previously hated computers, havetaken it over and will not let go. Thereis. apparently, something about miceand pull-down menus and icons that ap-peal to people previously intimidatedby A > and the like. Experienced usersmay know that the Mac won't do verymuch, but beginners can make it dosomething, and that's important.

Experienced hackers tend to divideinto two groups: a sizable number thinkthe Macintosh is a ridiculously pricedEtch-A-Sketch, but just about as manythink it's wonderful. They don't do any-thing useful with it, mind you; but theycease not to explore, and they're in lovewith all the exciting new concepts andfeatures. I think they're more in lovewith the idea of the Mac than with theactual machine, but that's irrelevant. Theimportant fact is that knowledgeablecomputer wizards think the Macintoshis wonderful; they believe that it willsoon have lots of excellent applicationsoftware; and they passionately detestanyone who has doubts or misgivingsabout the Mac. This is, they say, thecomputer for "the rest of us—eventhough they've long ceased to think ofthemselves as one of "the rest."

The Macdilemma

For all the enthusiasm, the Macintoshis not really all that advanced. TheModula Computer Company offers anAmerican version of Lilith with black-and-white graphics capabilities betterthan Macintosh; and it has NiklausWirth's Modula-2 operating system,complete with mouse, pull-down menus,scroll bars, and most of the otherMacgoodies. At least two firms are de-veloping new Modula-2-based bit-mapped screen systems; one, the Sage,will use the 68000 chip, have a mega-byte of memory plus two disk drives,and sell for about twice what Applewants for the Macintosh.

Apple has decided to maximize prof-it rather than market share. That may

[continued)

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I have strongopinions aboutmachines and editorprograms, but inreality, any texteditor is much betterthan typewriter andpaper.

not be a wise decision during thiscritical period. Part of the excitement ofthe Mac was that it truly was "the com-puter for the rest of us": which impliedthat "the rest of us" could afford it. Alas,that didn't happen. At $2500 plus taxfor the basic machine. Macintosh is nobargain; and when you've bought it,you're not done.

The Mac needs an external disk—hardor a second microfloppy—and morememory. It needs, but can survive with-out, a better keyboard. You'll spend atleast $750 for a second drive and mem-ory update, and if Apple prices theseitems the way the Mac itself was priced,you'll spend twice that. Moreover, notall these items are available; and somehardware improvements will be devel-oped only if a lot of Macs are sold.

No machine is useful without soft-ware. Apple has chosen to make "soft-ware developer" status a lot harder toget than was implied in presentationsat the West Coast Computer Faire andother hobbyist/hacker meetings. To beeligible for the "developer" discountand support, you must already be in thesoftware business—which means auto-matic exclusion of the innovative hobby-ists who weren't interested in moretraditional machines but were turned onby the Mac.

Then, too, the machine has a closedarchitecture, and the Macdocumentsare incomplete. You can buy, for $150,Inside Mac, a pile of xeroxed loose-leaffact sheets (including interpretation ofthe error codes), but even these aren'tcomplete. At present there is no assem-bler, and when the assembler becomesavailable, you will need two Macs inorder to run it with the debugger. Allin all. Apple has told the hobbyists to

drop dead. This may not be wise. TItried it. Long live the TI-99.

So What Should We Do?

If the software does come floodingforth—after all, there are all these an-nouncements, and there must be somesubstance behind them—then Macsalesmay soar. Hardware developers willcome up with fixes for the major prob-lems. This will generate even more salesand more software.

As that base market expands, otherdevelopers will get into the field. Lastfall at COMDEX we saw nothing butIBM PC clones; if the Mac provespopular, we'll see Maccompatible ma-chines everywhere; and since there's aconsiderable profit margin in the Macin-tosh price, competitors will be able tooffer more features for the same moneyor, more likely, much the same featuresfor a lot less.

So: at the moment there's no compel-ling reason to get a Macintosh. If you'rein the mood to enthrall a recalcitrantspouse or child who now hates com-puters, perhaps it's worth the price; butyou can get a lot more utility for whatthe Macintosh costs.

Things may be different later, but bythen the clones will be appearing. Alex-ander Pope said, "Be not the first bywhom the new are tried. Nor yet the lastto lay the old aside." It's still good ad-vice. Pournelle's Rule is: "If you're in themainstream, the best business systemis last year's state-of-the-art develop-ment system." Whether or not Macin-tosh is in the mainstream, it's still adevelopment system. I'd wait.

Writing Machines

Half the people I meet want to knowabout the Mac. The other half are eagerto learn about writing machines. "What,"they ask, "do you recommend for a pro-fessional writer?"

The easiest answer is "That depends,"but I have a better one. "Almost any-thing."

Assuming that a writer is making a liv-ing, any decent computer system willraise productivity enough to pay foritself. Obviously, 1 have strong opinionsabout machines and editor programs;but in reality, any text editor is muchbetter than typewriter and paper.

There are three major considerationsfor a professional. First, do you like the

keyboard and screen presentation? Ifyou don't, you will probably get usedto it; but you are going to be sittingthere a long time, and it's worth extrabucks to get something aesthetically ap-pealing. Borrow the money if need be,but get a machine with a good "feel"to the keyboard and well-shaped char-acters on the screen. Make sure thephysical layout is suitable. I wear bifocalspectacles and thus dislike the usualscreen, which sits too close so that Ihave to tilt my head back in order toread the display. My screen has big let-ters, sits far away, and is at natural eyelevel. I'd pay a lot to keep that setup.

The second principle is Pournelle'sLaw: "If you don't know what you're do-ing, deal with people who do." Buy yoursystem from someone local, preferablya dealer who's been in business awhile;someone you can get at with a baseballbat if need be. If you're not buyingbrand-name equipment, be sure yourdealer is familiar with the manufacturerand has reason to trust it.

Third, be sure your system can runWordStar,

I suppose that sounds like heresy. Notreally, though. I'm not recommendingthat you write your books with Word-Star; just that you be sure your newsystem will run it. There are severalreasons for this. First, you may some-day have to collaborate with anotherwriter; and while it's unlikely that you'llboth use the same text editor, it's verylikely that you'll both know how to useWordStar.

Then, too, there are all those Word-Star utilities. As an example, we're do-ing final editing of the first book in thePournelle's Users Guide series. (BaenBooks, and watch for it; the cover byRobert Tinney is worth the price of thebook.) After all the tirades I've launchedagainst books without an index, I've nochoice but to make one for mine. That'sno mean task, so we've turned to thecomputers to aid us. By judicious useof the utilities furnished with OasisSystems' The Word Plus, plus SuperDex,the indexing program distributed bySpite Software, we've made greatprogress—but SuperDex wants thebook in WordStar format.

That's no great problem. WRITE nowcomes with FILTER.COM, a programthat will take a number of WRITE files

{continued)

320 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 311 on inquiry card. —»

Before you workanywhere, take alook at the toolswe work with.

NASAs space shuttle. For AirForce officers working as electricalor aerospace engineers, thechallenge is just beginning. In fact,from laboratories to lasers tolaunch pads, we have excitingprojects and managementopportunities very few employerscan offer.

For example, we are developingexperiments that will be animportant part of the spaceshuttle's cargo in the years to come.Experienced Air Force engineerswill work as shuttle missionplanners and as astronaut flightcontrollers.

If you have an electrical oraerospace engineering degree, orsoon will have, we may have achallenging future for you as an AirForce officer. It's a future thatdemands the vision andcommitment of people like you.And it's vital to our country.

For more information about AirForce engineering opportunities,mail the card. Or call toll-free1-800-423-USAF (in California1-800-232-USAF). Better yet, sendyour resume to HRS/RSAANE,Randolph AFB, TX 78150. There's noobligation.

H

A3reat place for er>3ineers.

CHAOS MANOR

and concatenate them into one enor-mous WordStar file; or, of course, takea WordStar file and convert it into aseries of linked WRITE files. FILTER isblindingly fast, too; so fast that for longWordStar files it's quicker to use FILTERto convert to WRITE, let WRITE refor-mat the file, and then reconvert back toWordStar, rather than use the WordStar

global reformat command. We do haveto use WordStar to generate the papercopy that the index refers to, though.Hence, the necessity for a system thatruns WordStar.

There are many other word-mashingutilities, such as Footnote, and nearly allof them want to work on WordStar textfiles.

C 0 MPLow Prices * Low Prices * Low Prices * Low Prices

MONITORS

Amdek 300Amdek 300AAmdek 310AAmdek Color IAmdek Color IIPGS-HX-12PGS-MAX- 12PGS-SR- 12

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Quadboard 64K $269.00

Hercules Graphic $359.00

Plantronics Best Price

Paradise Multifunction Card Best Price

Orchid - Blossom Best Price

64K Ram Upgrade Kit $50.00

MODEMS

Hayes Smart Modem 1200 Best Price

Hayes Smart Modem 200 Best Price

Hayes 1200B Plug in Modem Card Best Price

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Prices & availability subject to change without noticeIBM PC is a registered trademark of IBM Corp.

T^e Real Question

A lot of those who ask my advice don'tstate their real question, "What's thecheapest computer you recommend?"Fortunately, there's a simple answer tothat one.

For those without much money,there's no real choice. Unless you're will-ing to steal your software—a practice Idon't recommend—you need a Kaypro,which has become both the VW andChevrolet of the micro industry. Kaypromachines are rugged, reliable, and notvery pretty. They come with plenty ofsoftware and will run more. Given mydruthers, I'd scrape up the extra bucksfor a Kaypro 4, but you can live with the2; and when you've outgrown it, you canstill sell it for half what you paid.

There are, I expect, a number of otherlow-cost reliable machines on themarket. I can't know about everything.I do know the Kaypro line, and I haveno difficulty recommending the ma-chines.

Incidentally, a few months back Ireported problems with the hard diskin the Kaypro 10. That turned out to becharacteristic of some of the earlymachines: the software in ROM wouldfalsely report disk errors when therewere none. All those early ROMs havebeen replaced, and after its quick tripto the factory, our 10 has behaved flaw-lessly. My friend Norman Spinrad chosea Kaypro 10 as his writing engine, andhe's quite happy with it.

Norman made his choice after play-ing around with most of the computershere at Chaos Manor. For a while, Ithought he'd get an Otrona. TheOtrona's built-in screen is too small forday-after-day writing, but its amberscreen is excellent. You could do a lotworse than get an Otrona Attache, ex-ternal amber screen, and external harddisk. The big screen and hard disk formpart of a permanent base, and the At-tache can be carried on trips. Inciden-tally, WordStar comes with both Kayproand Otrona machines; and WRITE, myfavorite text editor, is available for both.

Real Portable

It started with Pamela Clark. I noticedthat wherever she went she carried herTRS-80 Model 100 lap-size portable.Then Phil Lemmons showed up with theNEC version. Both raved about how

(continued)

322 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 210 on inquiry card.

HIGH TECHNOLOGY AT AFFORDABLE PRICES

Dot Matrix Printers

C. Itoh Prowriter (8510) $ 369.88

C. Itoh Prowriter-2, (136 col) 589.88

C. Itoh Prowriter BPI 439.88

C. Itoh HotDot 509.88

C. Itoh HotDot-2 (136 col) 729.88

DMX-80 (Panasonic) 269.88

Epson RX/FX/LQ Series CALL

Inforunner Riteman 309.88

Mannesmann Tally 180-L 879.88

Mannesmann Tally Spirit-80 329.88

Okidata Microline 82A/83A CALL

Okidata Microline 84 Step II CALL

Macintosh Microline 92 CALL

Okidata Microline 92 469.88

Okidata Microline 93 699.88

92/93/84 Plug-n-Play ROMs for graphic

compatibility with IBM-PC CALL

Star Micronics Gemini 10X 299.88

Star Micronics Gemini 15X 429.88

Star Micronics Delta 10 439.88

Star Micronics Delta 15 589.88

Star Micronics Radix 10/15 CALL

Toshiba P-1351 1689.88

Toshiba P-1340 CALL

Letter-Quality Printers

C. Itoh A-10 Starwriter (18 cps) $ 549.88

C. Itoh F-10 Starwriter (40 cps) 1079.88

C. ltohF-10 Printmaster(55cps) ... 1379.88

NEC 2010/2030 (18 cps) 749.88

NEC 2050 for IBM-PC (18 cps) 899.88

NEC 3530 (33 cps) 1429.88

NEC 3550 for IBM-PC (33 cps) 1779.88

NEC 7710/7730 (50 cps) 1939.88

Qume Series Printers CALL

Silver Reed EXP-770 (25 cps) 979.88

Silver Reed EXP-550 (17 cps) 559.88

Silver Reed EXP-500 (12 cps) 439.88

Smith Corona Memory Correct III Messenger

(12 cps) w/interface module 589.88

Star Micronics PowerType (18 cps) CALL

Modems

Hayes Micromodem lie * 259.88

Hayes Smartmodem 300 239.88

Hayes Smartmodem 1200 559.88

Hayes 1200B (IBM-PC) 479.88

Novation AppleCat 300 baud 229.88

Novation AppleCat 1200 baud 419.88

Novation SmartCat 103,300bd * 69.88

Novation SmartCat 212,1200bd 409.88

Novation Access 1 -2-3 (IBM-PC) 409.88

USR Password, 1200 baud 369.88

USR Password, 300 baud 159.88

USR Telpac Software (IBM) 79.88

Monitors

Amdek 300G (green) $ 144.88

Amdek 300A (amber) 159.88

Amdek 310A (TTL, amber) 179.88

Amdek Color-1 + 319.88

Amdek Color-2+ (12" RGB) 459.88

NEC JB-1205M (amber) 159.88

NEC JB-1201M (green) 159.88

Princeton Graphics HX-12 509.88

Princeton Graphics Max-12 199.88

Quadram QuadChrome 529.88

Roland DG-121 (green/amber) 149.88

Roland DG-122 (green/amber) 179.88

IBM-PC Peripherals

64K Memory (4164/200ns) 9/pkg. ...$ 79.88

AST SixPak Plus (64K) 299.88

Hercules Graphics Card 379.88

Keytronics 5151 219.88

Microsoft Mouse (parallel) 149.88

Mouse Systems PC-Mouse 219.88

Paradise MultiDisplay 479.88

NEW! Quadram 384K Quadboard CALL

Quadram Quad 512+ (64K) 239.88

Quadram QuadColor-1 219.88

Quadram QuadColor-2 229.88

Quadram Parallel Card, RS-232C Card orClock/Calendar Card 79.88

STB Graphics Plus II 379.88

STB Super RIO Plus(64K) 319.88

Tandon TM 100-2 (DSDD) 229.88

1 Titan Cygnus I/O (parallel) 149.88

Titan Cygnus I/O (RS-232) 169.88

TG Joystick 59.88

Apple II Peripherals

ALS CP/M Plus Card (CP/M 3.0)... * 329.88

AMT MicroDrive (half height) 219.88

Rana Elite-1 Disk Drive 259.88

TBL Cooling Fan 59.88

TBL Disk Drive Controller 69.88

Titan Accelerator II 469.88

Titan Memory Boards CALL

Videx VideoTerm 239.88

Videx UltraTerm (80/160 column).... 289.88

Videx Enhancer II 109.88

He Microline 92 CALL

lie Printer Cables CALL

Macintosh Peripherals

Macintosh Microline 92 CALL

Kensington Macintosh Starter Pak (swivel

stand/surge protector/dust cover) 69.88

Kensington Macintosh Modem CALL

Macintosh Software CALL

Accessories

EPD Lemon/Lime/Orange/Peach CALL

Flip-n-File Diskette Box CALL

Grappler+ Printer Card & cable 109.88

Kensington MicroSaver(4-plug) 59.88

Monitor Stand (tilt/swivel) 39.88

Pkasso-U Printer Card & cable 129.88

Printer Cables 29.88

Quadram Microfazer Print Buffers CALL

Trace 80 col Sound Trap 129.88

Trace 132 col Sound Trap 189.88

80 Column Printer Stand 39.88

132 Column Printer Stand 49.88

ADVANCED LOGIC SYSTEMS*ALLOY* AMDEK*ANADEX*AST*CCS*CARDCO*C ITOH•COMREX*COLUMBIA DATA PRODUCTSCURTIS MANUFACTURING "DATAPRODUCTS (IDS)* DIABLO* DTC* EAGLE COMPUTER* EASIFEED*EPD* EPSON "FRANKLIN COMPUTERHAYES MICROCOMPUTER PRODUCTS* HERCULES COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY* INFORUNNER* INTERACTIVE STRUCTURES* JMMJUKI• KENSINGTON MICROWARE* LEADING EDGE• LQ* MANNESMAN TALLY* MA SYSTEMS* MICROSOFT* MILFORD NULL MODEMMOUSE SYSTEMS* NOVATION* NEC*OKIDATA*ORANGE MICRO* PARADISE SYSTEMS* PERFECT DATA* PRINCETON GRAPHICSQUADRAM* QUME*QCS* RANA SYSTEMS* ROLAND DG* SILVER REED*SMITH-CORONA* STAR MICRONICS*TANDON*TECMAR

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The right place for the right price

If you live in the New England area (or plan to visit there), youshould drop by our Discount Computer Store We're aboutone hour's drive from Boston, the ocean or the White MountainsFrom Boston, just go up Route 3 to Nashua, NH, and take Exit7W (Route 101 A). We're 5.1 miles from that exit, in Amherst NH.Take the next right after you see the Dexter Shoe factory outletstore.

In fact we're near a lot of New Hampshire's factory outletstores and with no sales tax you can save a bundle on com-puter equipment, shoes and whatever else strikes your fancy.We have several systems on display, as well as printersmodems and monitors, all at the same prices you see in our adsAnd if you can't fit a purchase into your car, don't worry...we'llship it free anywhere in the 48 contiguous states

No matter where you live—Boston or San Francisco—Youdon't have to strike out into the wilderness to save money. Takea short drive or drop us a line for the best advice and the bestprice on peripherals today.

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MILFORD, NH 03055-0423 □ TELEPHONE (603) 881-9855

Circle 41 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 323

CHAOS MANOR

much time these things saved: youcould work anywhere, even on an air-plane.

At the BYTE Show the Great Salt LakeComputer Company had a blowout saleon NEC PC-8201A lap-size portables,and I couldn't resist. Before I knew it,Fd plunked my plastic down and carriedoff the machine, which 1 immediatelydubbed Percy.

It's wonderful.

On the way home from Chicago, 1managed to write half of my Popular Com-puting column and part of this one. Oh,sure, Percy's built-in text editor is a bitlimited, but by gollies it's good enoughfor text entry. 1 wrote about 4000 wordson that airplane.

Getting the text out was the simplestthing in the world. Percy's documentsare very complete. In particular, they ex-plain how to set the data rate, data bits,and stop bits for his built-in RS-232Cport. The Golem, my CompuPro-8/16boat-anchor system, boasts a program

called BAUDCOM that does the samething for his RS-232C serial port. All Ihad to do was connect the two portswith a cable, set the system to 9600 bps,and let fly. The PIP utility on the Golemworked perfectly as the collector; Isimply went

PIP M:MYTEXTTXT=TTY:

and then followed instructions on howto send a file from the NEC PC-8201A.The only tricky part was to send, fromPercy's keyboard, a Control-Z characterwhen he indicated that he was donesending the file. That immediatelysignaled "end of file" to the Golem, andhe closed the file. Missionaccomplished.

The only real trouble with Percy is thathe won't hold more than 7000 words oftext before his memory is full. One solu-tion to that is the NEC cassette recorderyou can buy with the PC-820IA. Thisrides in checked luggage, to be draggedout in your hotel room. The problem

with that is that cassette transfer is slow,I don't really trust cassettes anyway, andthere's no way to edit the text you'veproduced. I thought about that for awhile.

Then I did some experimenting: I triedsending text from Percy to Adeline theOtrona Attache. That worked. I alsomade a discovery: Percy fits nicelyalongside Adeline in her ballistic nyloncarrying case. This means I can stuff theNEC portable into the Otrona's bag untilI'm on the plane: then retrieve the por-table for in-flight use while the Attacherests in the overhead rack. When I getto my hotel, I'll transfer the newly writ-ten text from Percy to Adeline, whereI can edit away with WRITE.

One note of caution: it's well knownin the trade that the Japanese are aboutto introduce a new generation of lap-size portables. I have enough upcom-ing trips to justify buying Percy—especially at sale price—just for use inthe next six weeks, by which time I'llhave got my money's worth. Others withfewer trips and deadlines might want towait a bit to see what's coming.

Botch i?

I get pretty involved at the West CoastComputer Faire. Sometimes that's re-grettable. For example, while I wasdistracted with something else, therewas put into my hands the damnedestdocument I ever did see. It's called aData Passport. It was accompanied bya flyer proclaiming, "We Speak Botchi."

All this comes from an outfit calledData Conversion Inc. The companyclaims to have the smartest data-trans-formation droids in the universe. For ex-ample, the flyer reads, "We're not youraverage bunch of yahoos. There is nodata conversion problem we can't han-dle. Called MASTER DATASMITHS, ourdroids have a certain arrogant pride."

What Data Conversion Inc. claims isthe ability to transform and convert datafrom any media format to any other,and to do it "faster, less expensively,and more reliably than anyone else onthe planet. Maybe even the Galaxy."Eight-inch, 5[A, Vh, it makes no dif-ference: these chaps can convert it.

They also have the oddest contractI've ever seen. For example, if the con-version attempt fails, they will either re-fund your money or keep trying "until

(continued)

324 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 91 on inquiry card.

2 Reasons

Investors Are Getting

"Street" Smart.

EJ 6 I-

I I

prm. rnxpmrr

• L • xi

> liTWHir

QBE- i ! nxE

The Apple He

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If you venture on Wall Street, you have to know the territory.Now a new software product from Dow Jones improves your"Street'"smarts.

The Dow Jones Investor's Workshop™, developed especiallyfor the Apple He, brings you:

• The latest stock quotes (delayed a minimum of 15 min.)and business news from Dow Jones News/Retrieval*, theleading online information service.

• Reports that show you exactly what your portfolio isdoing, at the touch of a few keys.

• Charts* that give you a clear picture of your stocks'performance, helping you know when to buy and whento sell.

Also Runs on the He and II PlusThe Dow Jones Investor's Workshop runs on the Apple8 lieand II Plus, as well as the He. It's so easy to use, you'll becreating charts and reports moments after you're up and running.With a suggested retail price of $149 and full support from ourtoll-free Customer Service hotline, the Investor's Workshop is avalue any investor can appreciate.

Now you can be "Street" smart.

DowJones

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For more information call 1-800-345-8500 CXt. 240 (Alaska, Hawaii and foreign call 1-215-789-7008 ext. 240) orsend this coupon to: Ms. Lynn Filippone, Dow Jones & Co., Inc., BO. Box 300, Princeton, N.J. 08540

Name

Address

City

State.

Zip.

*Tht' chart in this ail (and, incidently. in mostApple ads for the He) is a Price and Volume barchart that shews the performance of the Dow JonesAverage over a six-month period. You can alsoconstruct Moving Averages and Th-nd Lines

Dow Jones News/ Retrieval is a registered trademark ofDow Jones & Go , Inc. Dow Jones Investors Workshopis a trademark of Dow Jones & Co., Inc.

Apple and the Apple logo are registered trademarksof Apple Computer, Inc.

Copyright © (984 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved,

Phone Number(s)

Circle 112 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 325

CHAOS MANOR

the stinking droids get it right.'' Inanother section, they proclaim that "ifany part of this contract is held to bebrain damaged, the remaining terms re-main in force." They say they're willingto collect their fees in Planet Earth U.S.Dollars, monopoles, or antigravity belts.I haven't the foggiest notion ofwhether they can actually convert data

or not; all I have to go on is the flyerand Data Passport. 1 find the documentsimpressive: professional writing, layout,and printing. Despite the humor, thecontract is clear, precise, and fair. Sincethe arrival at Chaos Manor of NewGeneration Systems' Disk Maker 1 we'vehad no sticky data-conversion prob-lems, so I've no longer a need for the

Graphics with Gray Matter.

New GRAPHICS-PLUS GP-29. Big Features. Little Cost.

The GP-29 delivers the graphicsand text versatility of powerful,expensive terminals at significantcost savings. And you can buythe GP-29 as a ready to use termi-nal or as a retrofit board for theZenith Z29.

Expand your applications withdual plane graphics. Create imageswith "shades of gray." Overlaytwo separate images. Animate theimages. Store multiple images inlocal memory.

The GP-29 gives you low costgraphics you never imagined possi-ble. 1024 x 500 hi-res and 512 x 250lo-res selectable resolution. 128k ofdisplay memory. And our dedi-cated graphics processor providesselective vector erase, area erase,area fill, area move, arc drawing,pan and zoom.

You also get Tektronix 4014 com-patibility as well as DEC VT100 andVT220 compatibility.

Enhanced Text Too!

The GP-29 offers four selectabledisplay formats: 80 and 132 col-umns with 24 or 49 lines. Off-screen scrolling memory. Storagefor pages and pages of text. Off-line editing capability. Double highand double wide characters andmuch, much more.

Plus, you get operator conven-ience features like "plain English"set-up menu, easy to use program-mable keys, local function keys,transparent mode and non-volatilememory. And a serial printer portis standard. Call or write today toplace your order.

GP-29 retrofit for Zenith Z29 S 995.

GP-29 complete terminal 1695.

Optional long-persistence CRT .. 95.

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GP-19 board for the Zenith Z19 terminal is also available for S695.

Master Datasmiths' services; but if I did,I wouldn't hesitate to let them take awhack at it. Incidentally, they advertisethat the first disk conversion is free.

Millionaire and Other Vices

The word is that so many hackers at theBenton Harbor facility of Heath Com-pany were playing Millionaire that thesupervisors had to put severe restric-tions on when the game could beplayed. I believe it. Millionaire isaddictive.

Millionaire is a stock-market simula-tion, and it's worth playing just to learnabout margins and options: indeed, Isuspect that students would learn aboutas much from playing Millionaire andBlue Chip Software's companion gamesTycoon (commodity-market simulation)and Baron (real-estate investment) asthey ever learn from Econ 101. (For mysins, I was once required to teach Econ101, so I have some right to thatopinion.)

In any event, Millionaire is easy tolearn and fun to the point of addiction.Try it. You'll like it.

Peter Flynn's Notes

There's no way to bring order to ChaosManor. That doesn't stop Peter Flynn,our new editorial assistant, from trying.Peter's job is undefinable: basically, hegets paid to be interrupted. One of hisprimary missions, though, is to makenotes for my upcoming columns. Fromtime to time I'll include some of them.

The Sweet-P Story

Peter's notes begin: "A couple ofmonths ago I brought out the Sweet-PPlotter for reviewing. Ignoring the direc-tions, I proceeded to test out the unitwith the AUTOCAD software. Everythingseemed to work fine. After carefully ex-amining several drawings, 1 noticed straylines between points that should nothave been connected. When I tookapart the printer the problem was ob-vious. The solenoid spring was notexerting enough force to properlyreturn the pen to the upright position."I sent a letter to Enter Computer re-questing a new spring. A couple of dayslater they called, and after listening tomy description of the problem, askedus to send the plotter back for repair.Instead 1 put it away, since the BYTE

{continued)

326 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 233 on inquiry card.

■ ^^ I TM

Polished WordStar® is a Sight to Behold!

What You See is What You Get...and MORE

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Replaces need for keyboard template for

keystroke savings

WordStar Compatibility - No Retraining

Keystrokes

User has option of keystroke saving techniquesFiles

Old WordStar files accessible

Polished WordStar files accessible by

standard WordStarUtilities

Use of MailMerge®, SpellStar®, Starlndex® is

not affected

Printer Support Enhanced Too!

Get the most from your dot matrix or ink jet printerwithout worrying about an assembly language patch.A menu of popular printers gives you automaticinstallation of all features. A custom installationquestion/answer session is available for printers not onthe menu.

Versions Now Available For:

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We've made WordStar a lot more likeable!

StarPolish is a trademark of TDI Systems, Inc.

WordStar, MailMerge, SpellStar, Starlndex are registered trademarks of

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Machines, Corp.Victor 9000 is a registered trademark of Victor Technologies, Inc.

Circle 301 on inquiry card.

<?

TDI SYSTEMS, INC.

620 Hungerford DriveSuite 33

Rockville. Maryland 20850|301) 340-8700

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 327

CHAOS MANOR

deadline was coming up and I had otherthings to do.

"Two months later while organizingthe attic storage I stumbled into theSweet-P shipping box. My fascinationwith plotters convinced me to ship it outfor service. After packing up the unit,I called Enter Computer for a returnauthorization number. Instead, 1 got BillWinklepleck on the phone who walkedme through an inspection and at-tempted repair. After opening the unit,he had me stretch the spring. However,the one we have is shot. No amount ofstretching will rejuvenate it.

"While I was replacing the cover, it oc-curred to me that the Sweet-P is oneelegantly designed piece of equipment.With help over the phone, almost anynovice should be able to repair one.

There is not even any easy way one canelectrocute oneself. Mr. Winklepleck issending a new set of springs."

He did, too. Alas, one of the staffcouldn't resist opening the box andmanaged to lose the spring, so we hadto get another.

The Sweet-P is an excellent piece ofmachinery, easy to hook up and use;and it's no great trick to replace thatbad spring, assuming that peoplearound here will mind their own busi-ness long enough to let it be done ...

R Way

We're looking for a new database.Things have got into a mess, and we'rehoping to get some inventory and filelocation control.One product Peter examined was

R:Base, from Microrim of Bellevue,Washington. You've probably noticedthe ads, which contrast "d way" with"R way" of doing things. Peter con-cludes: "Powerful but not worth the ef-fort if all you need is simple file manage-ment. Good if it is to be used very often.The tutorial will not easily teach a com-plete novice. The structure of com-mands will take a lot of getting used tofor someone not accustomed to largedatabases. If there is someone in anoffice who will undertake the work tolearn this program, he/she will be wellrewarded for the effort (provided thatthe office has use for relationalinformation)."

My own examination of R:Base waspretty superficial, but 1 agree with Peter.

[continued)

ITEMS DISCUSSED

Applicard Not available

Personal Computer Products Inc16776 Bernardo Center Dr.San Diego, CA 92128(619) 485-8411

Baron $59.95

Millionaire $59.95

Tycoon $59.95

Blue Chip Software6744 Eton Ave.Canoga Park, CA 91303(818) 346-0730

COBOL Syntax Checker $7500

UNIX System V for 68000. . .$43,000

AT&T

222 Broadway

New York, NY 10038

(800) 828-8649

Data-Conversion Service Contact

Data Conversion Inc. for rates

6310Caballero Blvd.Buena Park, CA 90620(714) 522-7762

Kaypro 2 $1295

Kaypro 4 $1995

Kaypro 10 $2795

Kaypro

533 Stevens Ave.Solana Beach, CA 92075(619) 481-4318

Macintosh $2495

Apple Computer20525 Mariani Ave.Cupertino, CA 95014(408) 996-1010

NEC PC-8201A $599

NEC Home Electronics1401 Estes Ave.Elk Grove Village, IL 60007(312) 228-5900

SuperDex DocumentIndexing System. . .

Spite Software13531 SE Foster PlacePortland, OR 97236(503) 224-0137

Sweet-P Plotter

Enter Computer6867 Nancy Ridge Dr.San Diego, CA 92121(619) 450-0601

100.

.$59.95

.$695

FILTER.COM

(on disk with other filters) $32.50

Workman and Associates112 Marion Ave.Pasadena. CA 91106(818) 796-4401

Gold Card Not available

Digital ResearchPOB 579

Pacific Grove, CA 93950(408) 649-3896

Otrona Attache. . .

Otrona Corp.4755 Walnut St.Boulder, CO 80301(303) 940-3445

R.Base

Microrim Inc.1750 112th Ave. N.E.Bellevue. WA 98004(206) 641-6619

.$2995

$495

S-100 1-megabyte Board $2449

Z-100 High-Performance Memory$2250

Macrotech International Corp.9551 Irondale Ave.Chatsworth, CA 91311(818) 700-1501

TRS-80 Model

Radio Shack1800 One Tandy CenterFort Worth, TX 76102(817) 390-3011

Trump Card

Sweet Micro Systems Inc.50 Freeway Dr.Cranston, RI 02910(401) 461-0530

Turbo Pascal

Borland International4113 Scotts Valley Dr.Scotts Valley, CA 95066(408) 438-8400

WordStar

MicroPro International33 San Pablo Ave.San Rafael, CA 94903(415) 499-1200

.$799

.$995

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.$495

328 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

THE MI-286 DUAL CPU BOARD IS AT LEASTTWICE AS FAST AS COMPUPRO'S 8085/88...AND IT'S A DIRECT REPLACEMENT!

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Add more users. The MI-286. It improves throughput so dramatically you can add those extra users you'vealways wanted. It carries S-100 technology to its logical limit. And it only costs $1395!*

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3i0 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 165 on inquiry card.

CHAOS MANOR

When I get Footfall finished, I'm going todo a systematic comparison of data-base programs; that will probably in-clude some of the integrated packagesthat combine word processor, databasemanagement, and spreadsheet calcu-lator into one monster program. Untilthen, 1 suppose we'll just have to limpalong.

Maybe We Shouldn't Worry

1 remain impressed as all get-out withAT&T's hardware, especially the desktop3B2 (see last month's column). I'm notso impressed with the rest of what thecompany's doing.

Today I received two AT&T pressreleases. The first announces a COBOLSyntax Checker. This thing will run onthe UNiX System V (AT&T's standard"commercial" UNIX). Its mission is to"reduce the chances of a program be-ing rejected due to syntax and simplesemantic errors. As a result, expensivemainframe central processing unit (CPU)time is reduced."

"The product, available in sourcecode under license agreement withAT&T, is priced at $7 500 for the first CPUand $3750 for each additional CPU."

More on that in a moment. The sec-ond press release announces UNIX Sys-tem V for the Motorola 68000 micro-processor chip. Under a series of agree-ments with Motorola (68000). NationalSemiconductor (16032 and 32032), In-tel (1APXI86), and Zilog (Z80000), eachfirm is supposed to port UNIX SystemV to its own chip. Motorola was the firstto finish.

The press release then quotes AT&Tsoftware systems vice-president Tom

Crowley: "The microcomputer markethas been eagerly awaiting the results oflast year's announcement |of the agree-ments]. The wait is now over. With thisproduct, the power and versatility ofUNIX System V will now be available fora wide range of microcomputers em-ploying the MC68000."

Then comes the kicker. "The product,available in source code under licenseagreement with AT&T, is targeted to thegrowing number of resellers who arebuilding hardware and software prod-ucts around UNIX System V. Priced at$43,000 for the initial CPU and $16,000for each additional CPU ..."

That's source code, though. I calledthe follow-up number on the pressrelease: after four hours, I still wasn'table to get a consistent story on thelicense fees computer manufacturerswould pay for UNIX object code. It turnsout to depend on the number of endusers and can go as high as $3 500-$7000 per machine sold.

Foo.

The mountain has labored, and didn'teven produce a mouse. This may fly inthe minicomputer market, although if itdoes, the minicomputer people aren'tpaying much attention to the microworld.

For that matter, who wants a COBOLSyntax Checker for $7500? I wouldn'twant one at any price, but I knowdarned well that I could write a prettygood COBOL Syntax Checker to run ona micro. I'd write it in Turbo Pascal orModula-2, and it sure wouldn't cost$7500.

Maybe Apple was right in going forprofit rather than market share. With

bizarre prices like those, AT&T is nothreat to anyone in the micro world. Canyou imagine Concurrent CP/M selling for$3 500 a shot? Absurd. But 1 guess theminicomputer world puts up with it.

For instance, a couple of years ago 1read about a database program for sale.The price was $795 for the MS-DOS ver-sion; $600 to $2000 for the 68000 UNIXversion; $12,000 to $48,000 for the DECPDP-11 version; $24,000 to $48,000 forthe VAX; and $48,000 to $96,000 for anIBM mainframe.

Given that I could buy a pretty goodmicro for $5000, my question when Iread that was, what could I get runningthis on an IBM mainframe that I couldn'thave got from 20 micros? Or what doesthe DEC PDP-11 do for me that I can'tdo with a 68000? If 1 went the microroute, I'd have hardware and all for theprice the mainframe or minicomputerEDP shop manager paid for the soft-ware alone.

The article didn't tell me the reasonsfor this odd price structure. I assume it'swhat the traffic will bear; I doubt thedatabase-management system required50 times as much work for the main-frame version as it did for the 68000version. Yet, apparently, these prices aretraditional among mini and mainframeusers, and no one sees them as alarm-ing.

I expect AT&T is in for a shock.

Just Lots of Memory

A while back the Macrotech troopscame over, and as I watched, theypulled all the memory boards out of theGolem and dropped in their 1-megabyte

[continued]

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AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 331

CHAOS MANOR

dynamic memory. After a couple offalse starts—the Golem is. after all, run-ning CP/M-8/16 enhanced by Tony'sblack-magic improvements, and the tim-ing was a bit tricky—everything fired upand ran.

The Golem has a hard disk, 8-inchdisks, a 5W-inch disk, and a megabyteof RAM (random-access read/writememory) disk; if their board will dropinto that and run, it should go with anyCP/M system.

It's been running for a month now. Noglitches, and it's a lot of memory.Macrotech is no longer the cheapestsource of memory; AT&T will sell youmemory at $2200 a megabyte, some-what less than Macrotech asks for the1-megabyte board. On the other hand,AT&T makes memory only for AT&Tmachines, so the lower price won't doyou much good; meaning that, as apractical matter, Macrotech providesthe most bang for the buck.

We also have one of Macrotech's big

boards in Zorro, our Z-100. The com-pany provides software to let you usesome of that memory as RAM disk,something the Z-100 sorely needs.That's been running for over a month,too, with no problems. If you needmemory and don't want to pay the pricefor static, Macrotech is no bad place toturn to. I've been talking to key peoplethere for a couple of years now, andthey've always been straight-arrowaboveboard. If they have problems witha product, they tell me.

1 still have minor misgivings aboutdynamic memory, and now that I'vegiven the Macrotech board a fair test,I'm going back to my CompuPro static-memory boards; but I admit that's prob-ably pure prejudice. The Macrotechboard will stay aboard Zorro, so we'llhave more tests.

The Behinder I Get

Every Monday the BYTE staff in Peter-borough sends me a huge Federal Ex-

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press box of my mail from the previousweek. It's always full of good stuff, butlately there's been (along with about 10pounds of mail) more software thanever. I note there's a trend toward inte-grated software, which combines aspreadsheet, editor, and database.We're trying to select a package.

Meanwhile, Shirley, the CompuProfour-user Model 10, is alive and well,although not much used until the archi-tects and construction people getthrough building the new upstairs officesuite; after that, Shirley will become theprime machine for lohn and Peter. I'llreserve one of the user ports for myself,simplifying communications and accessto the downstairs troops.

We have the Tl Professional PC, whichhas one of the nicest keyboards 1 knowof and a lot of excellent features; andI'm told that the Zenith Z-150 IBM PC-compatible should arrive in the next dayor so. I hope to do some hard com-parisons of the two systems; they bothhave some excellent features, and I haveevery reason to think that, dependingon your needs, one of these is the cloneto buy if you want a PC-DOS system.The Zenith is somewhat more compati-ble with the IBM; the Tl Professional hasa bunch of interesting features, includ-ing voice recognition. A full report RealSoon Now.

There's still the Sage IV; I'm expectingsome S-100 boards from Lomas; thesoftware pile is growing; CompuPro hasannounced that Tony Pietsch's newS-100 IBM-compatible video board, withboth color and high resolution, will beshown at the Atlanta COMDEX nextweek; I'm learning more about Percy;Alex has been happy with the U.S.Robotics 300/1200-bps modem we gotat the Priority One blowout sale; and Ilove Thinktank, except for the stupidcopy-protection scheme, which, inciden-tally, I've just learned to defeat.

I'm really trying to keep up. ■

jerry Poumelle welcomes readers commentsand opinions. Send a self-addressed,stamped envelope to \erry Poumelle, doBYTE Publications, POB 372, Hancock.NH 03449. Please put your address onthe letter as well as on the envelope. Dueto the high volume of letters. ]erry cannotguarantee a personal reply.

332 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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CHAOS MANOR MAIL

Scientific Computing

Dear Jerry.

I suppose I shouldn't be as surprised as 1 amby your reply to lay Pasachoffs letter in theApril BYTE (page 404). I'm still waiting to seein your columns or anywhere in the microcom-puter industry a serious appreciation for thecomputing needs of scientists and engineers.After all, we've paid our dues: computersweren't invented by programmers but by abunch of guys who called themselves "radioengineers." Indeed, anyone who understandsthe needs of the scientific user would neverstate that FORTRAN is good only for "quick anddirty answers to specific problems" or thatBASIC is just as good.

Among the many limitations of Pascal orModula-2 for scientific work is the lack of astraightforward way to do complex arithmetic.Contrary to the view of most programmers, whooften have a mathematical or engineering back-ground and should know better, complex num-bers are not an aberration but are at the coreof engineering mathematics. It is ironic thatmicrocomputers, whose performance dependsso strongly upon complex arithmetic, can't dothat same arithmetic in a convenient manner.Unless they have a full-feature FORTRAN com-piler, that is, a commodity as scarce as oystertoenails.

I suggest that you try to write a general-purpose complex matrix-inversion subroutinein BASIC, Pascal, or Modula-2 or, better yet,evaluate a Hankel function of a complex vari-able. It will give you a new appreciation forFORTRAN.

Steve MaasTorrance, CA

If, God forbid, 1 were ever to have to evaluatea Hankel function of a complex variable. Iwould probably turn first to APL.

Fortunately, I don't have such specializedproblems. However, skilled programmers tellme there are ways to accomplish complexarithmetic in Pascal and more particularly inModula-2. The library routines are not all thateasy to write; but once written, they can beemployed in a straightforward manner.

It's undoubtedly easier to write the pro-grams you describe in FORTRAN. However,the structure lor lack thereof) makes FOR-TRAN programs hard to understand andharder to maintain; and the lack of type check-ing allows some pretty subtle bugs to creepin. If you know that the FORTRAN routineyou've written does what you want andnothing else, fine: but I'm not sure how toknow that.

It's a philosophical difference; but I'd rather

wear a straitjacket while programming andhave the compiler catch my errors, than pro-gram in free form, have it compile fine, andthen later discover the program isn't doingwhat I thought it would— ferry

A Most Fabulous Object

Dear lerry,

I enjoy your column . . . Umm . . . Eachmonth I wait in eager anticipation with myknuckles hard and white. As the mail arriveseach day ... No, no, this is all wrong. Howabout, some times, as I'm thumbing throughBYTE, trying to decide what I have time to read,I find myself reading your column. Yes, I thinkthat's it—clear, honest, a little bit slang yet tothe point.

In April (somewhere after December for peo-ple in lead time) you mentioned something thatreally caught my attention. I believe it may beat least a partial cure for my serious psycho-logical problem. You see, I have this passionfor ... no ... oh .. . please . .. here it comesagain, that terrible madness . . .

I must have that Omnisphere!! Give it to me!!You must, even now I can see you, fascinated,thoroughly enjoying its mystical glow, I musthave it! Oh, umm . . .

Sorry, uh, I'm okay now, it just happens nowand then. Oh. you don't need to worry. I'm notreally dangerous or anything, but I might staymore calm if you were to give me the addressof the Orb Corporation. I would like one of myown.

Please, keep up the good work (play if youlike) and by all means enjoy the Omnispherea bit for me. Oh. one more thing, the white zoneis for booting and unbooting only, no . . . Thered zone is for loading and . . . Oh, uh, well . . .

MICHAEL AlCHLMAYR

Tacoma, WA

Actually, I don't blame you. it really is themost fabulous object in the entire universe . . .and does have a calming effect. I'll go touchmine for you.

The Omnisphere is available from The OrbCorporation, 125 Elm St., New Canaan, CT06840, (203) 966-4392. It is not cheap. I alsounderstand there may be a waiting list.—Jerry

Writing Tool

Dear Jerry,

For two years now I have been looking atcomputers and reading computer magazines.To familiarize myself with the basics, I boughtan Atari 400 at the time they still cost more thanS250.1 have learned programming in BASIC onthe Atari, Apple, and the IBM PC. Still, 1 am

unable to make an intelligent decision aboutbuying a computer.

I am a technical writer and editor of a tech-nical trade journal. My needs, I thought, weresimple. I wanted a creative tool that would allowme to get organized and help me with my work,which is substantially more than simple wordprocessing. Is that too much to ask from a com-puter? Whenever I walk into a computer store.I am overwhelmed by the enthusiastic salespitch extolling the virtues of letter-quality print,spreadsheets, and graphics programs spittingout bar and pie charts.

In the course of my work. I do normal alge-braic calculations and make numerical lists andplot curves, eventually integrating them into myarticles. Occasionally, I do surveys and comeup with relatively simple statistical curves andtrend analyses that also must be integrated in-to the articles. Finally, 1 have a moderate data-base requirement, keeping track of a few hun-dred companies. Based on my research and thecurrent state of the art, it seems that I wouldneed many different software programs andwould not have a chance to integrate them. Tothe best of my knowledge, I would forever beswapping disks, trying to keep track of what iswhere in what form and on what file.

It should be worthwhile for somebody tocome up with integrated software to do thiskind of work. Besides writers, it would alsoapply to college students. That ought to beworth something. In any case, would you ad-vise me if there is anything that comes closeto my requirements? That is, of course, withinmy budget of $3000-35000.

Tamas FrecskaCincinnati, OH

As the customer base grows (seemingly with-out bounds), there's getting to be a lot of soft-ware for the IBM PC and clones. I'd expect youto be able to find a package to meet the needsyou describe. We're about to see a wide blos-soming of integrated software. Realistically, thebest will probably be generated for IBM PCsystems and work-alikes.

Of course, that kind of computer power isn tfree: to save you swapping disks, for instance,you'll need a hard-disk system. Now that wehave ours, I can't think how we lived without it.

There are literally dozens of systems withinthe price range you quote: to recommend oneis to be unfair to the others. Moreover, we canspeak only of systems we've had here at ChaosManor. Systems we're happy with includeCompuPro, IBM PC. and Zenith. I don't have,but people I respect recommend, theTeleVideo and Corona PC clones. For develop-ment work, the Eagle systems are good, but

[continued)

334 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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CHAOS MANOR MAIL

the documents are insufficient to allow me torecommend them to new users as businesssystems.

If I were editing a trade journal. I'd probablygo for a CompuPro Dual Processor systemwith a hard disk. That way. you'd have accessto the best of the 8-bit software as well as thenew 16-bit that's being developed. On theother hand, full PC compatibility for Com-puPro systems is still in the Real Soon Nowcategory.

Do take the plunge. It's not so much a mat-ter of getting the best system as getting onethat's good enough; and there are a lot ofthem that are plenty good enough.—Jerry

Tandon and WordStar

Dear ierry,

1 have been meaning to write for some timeand was finally spurred into action by the let-ter on Tandon disk drives ("Needed: SpareParts," April, page 398).

I guess I was just lucky When the drive dooron my Tandon 5W-inch floppy-disk drive broke(at an extremely critical time, naturally), I calledTandon. The first person 1 talked to referred meto someone in another department. That per-son said, "Oh, you need a new door assembly.

Dimensions

Length: 2 inchesWidth: % inchHeight at Wide End: % inchHeight at Narrow End: % inchMaterial: Oak (other hardwoodsprobably acceptable)

Operating Instructions

1. Remove door assembly. (If pieceof wood is necessary, doorassembly has probably broken offalready.)

2. Insert disk.

3. Insert narrow end in disk drivewhere door assembly was, insert-ing between outer drive case andthe plate that clamps the diskdown. Push in gently until diskengages.

4. To remove disk, reverse procedure.

Figure 1: A piece of wood successfullyused for temporary operation of Tandon diskdrives.

I'll just stick one in the mail for you, free ofcharge." It arrived a few days later, installedquickly, and I've had no further problems (knockon wood), in the meantime, I needed the drivedesperately, and my husband fixed it with apiece of wood. He cut out a wedge-shapedpiece that could be pushed in to "close thedoor." This worked perfectly (see figure 1).

I'd like to put in some good words for Word-Star. I learned word processing on WordStar,so I can't compare it to other word-processingsoftware, but it has features that are absolute-ly vital for what I do. One thing is that I don'twant my documents to be automatically refor-matted if I change margins. I need to be ableto have different-size margins within a singledocument so 1 can have part of the documentformatted at 10 characters per inch (right margin65), with inserts at 12 characters per inch (rightmargin 80). I am also writing documents wherephysical layout and appearance are important,so the "what you see is what you get" featureis essential. Moreover, I've done a lot of typ-ing of business letters and reports, and 1 thinkthat secretaries who type those documents takea great deal of care at the time they are typingto have the letter look nice. In my opinion.WordStar more nearly approximates the jobthat is already being done than other word pro-cessors without the on-screen formatting capa-bility. I would not recommend a program with-out this capability to anyone in a normal busi-ness environment. IBM has already demon-strated enough disdain for the secretaries of thisworld by not adopting the Selectric keyboardfor the PC, without word-processing softwareadding to the burden.

Nancy JacobsenForest Knolls. CA

I'm glad Tandon was nice to you; the com-pany took more than six weeks to deliver ashipment of door-latch parts to BarryWorkman even after he'd paid for them. Mean-while, your husband's invention may be a boonto mankind.

We've had stories of Tandon problems fromChina to New Zealand. Eventually things arefixed, but it takes time, and for those in foreignlands it can get awfully expensive.

As I've said in previous columns, WordStar3.3 is something more than an adequate wordprocessor. Do understand, though: WRITE iscapable of changing margins, spacing, andsuch like "on the fly"; and there's a "print toscreen" feature to show you what it will looklike when printed out. However, I agree: ifyou're doing fancy formatted layouts, you'llwant a ' what you see is what you get" editor.Recall that most of my output is standard60-character lines.—jerry

Computer Security

Dear Ierry,

Do you think it will ever be possible to alertour high priests to the simple solution to com-puter break-ins? It appears to me that the wholesecurity problem is due to one innocent device:the dial-up modem. I have never had any trou-ble with anyone breaking into my computer:

they would first have to break into my home.At work I occasionally use a timesharing com-puter, which has dedicated terminals scatteredthroughout the company and will answer a dial-up modem. If the modems were not available,we would not have to worry about someonebreaking into the computer. They would firsthave to get past the security guards.

Dial-up modems are quite convenient, andthey do allow computers to communicate witheach other. This could be provided in a securesystem by giving the modems restricted power.For example, a salesman may call the officecomputer. The computer, recognizing themodem, would allow him to check currentprices or stock or enter an order. When thesalesman returns to the office, he would use adedicated terminal to check and then per-manently record the orders he entered. Themodem has no access to sensitive information,and the salesman should check the ordersbefore any bogus ones corrupted the com-pany's database.

The idea of limited-power modems is not new.Many of the remote CP/M systems, and mostbulletin-board systems, employ this technique.The remote CP/M systems have masked out theSAVE, ERA, and REN commands and don't havethe assemblers, debuggers, or compilers on line.The caller has only those powers given by thesystem operator. The intelligent operator hasblocked out any commands that could corruptthe system.

The idea of somebody getting into my com-pany's computer and messing around with sen-sitive information makes me nervous, and I ampositively horrified by the idea of calling adefense computer and messing around with it!Perhaps administrators of such systems wouldimplement a special program to greet curioushackers. This program might give them a salespitch or some other public information. Theadvertising people might even like that idea.

Tom RubyFreeport, IL

There are many ways that a systems hackercan thwart the break-in artist; but until recentlyno one thought that a desirable thing to do.For many years, it was traditional for computernets to be completely open. Anyone couldread anyone else's files or watch over some-one's shoulder while they worked. This wastrue even on the unclassified portions of thePentagon's ARPA (Advanced Research ProjectsAgency) net. The benefits of allowing brightusers total access were that they would spotand fix bugs, thereby making the net operatemore efficiently.

In the past few years, there have emergeda number of "crackers" who take malicious joynot only in penetrating computer systems butin altering files and even in crashing thesystems. They set up Trojan horse shells thatlook to the casual user like the normaloperating system; these collect passwords.Some of these "crackers" are quite clever andfind ways to access parts of the system thatthe systems programmers never intended.

As an example, it's possible to install into

[continued)

336 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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Circle 287 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 337

CHAOS MANOR MAIL

your system, from outside, a program that willsend me copies of your files while you thinkthat you are playing a game of chess with me.That's not easy to do, of course, and it's harderon small micros than on big machines withhighly complex operating systems. UNIXsystems are particularly vulnerable to penetra-tion since UNIX wasn't designed with securi-ty in mind.

Systems people are working on softwaresolutions, but at the moment the only sureanswer to the "cracker'' problem is to be verycareful what you allow telephone access to.Physically remove disks with sensitive informa-tion before plugging In the telephone connec-tion; physically disconnect the cable to thehard disk if need be.

It's too bad: it was a lot more fun back Inthe wide-open days—lerry

Micro Cornucopia and L-5

Dear Jerry.

I bought a Kaypro 4 and have increased itsspeed to 5 MHz and added a better monitorROM. These changes were made possible bythe people at Micro Cornucopia, POB 223,Bend, OR 97709, (503) 382-8048.

Micro C is a small journal the company putsout for people with single-board computerssuch as the Kaypro. Xerox, Big Board, and Slicer.Columns on each of these machines are in-cluded, plus columns on C, Pascal, FORTH, andSBASIC Micro Cornucopia provides lots oftechnical information and has user disks foreach of the above systems, consisting of the"good" public-domain software usually con-figured for that specific system. All in all, theyare a great bunch of people and have terrificproducts.

Has anyone set up an L-5 bulletin board? Doyou have any way of communicating with theL-5 Godbout system? I would like to help, butI'm not quite sure how to go about it. I wouldthink a lot of people in L-5 have computers.Maybe we could form a computer tree.

Vince BinderPullman, WA

I too have heard good things about MicroCornucopia, but I've not been able to try anyof the products yet.

The Kaypro remains the entry-level systemI recommend for nearly everyone.

I wish someone would set up an L-5 Soci-ety bulletin board; I keep being told it will hap-pen Real Soon Now. but it doesn't, and Ihaven't either the time or the skill.—ierry

Small Is NotNecessarily Better

Dear lerry.

I always look forward to your latest offerings.I was especially interested in April's columnconcerning software support. My accountingpackage went down last Wednesday afternoon.It is now 5:30 a.m. Monday and 1 am no closerto having any help—let alone an answer. I tootried to contact a software vendor. However, I

am a lowly end user (ranks with sea slug I guess)and no one would talk with me. The frustrationis so totally overwhelming that words fail me.I believe our experiences are quite commonin this industry. The small-scale business userlike me is in a vulnerable position when com-puter problems arise. I am not a computer whiz;

1 have neither the time or inclination. But I dowant my computer to be the tool it should be.Unfortunately, I am at the mercy of a bunch ofcomputer whizzes that often do not understandor care about users' problems. The giants likeAT&T will take over the industry because thesmall companies can't even decide on a methodof talking to a customer—let alone solving hisproblem. AT&T and IBM are portrayed as giantswalking the earth swallowing all in sight; I feelthat they are giants simply because they dohave some method of servicing the end user.

It does reassure me in some perverse waythat you too experience these problems.Perhaps at one of the next big meetings of com-puter industry whiz kids someone will addressthis problem.

R. Max McCart

Sigh. One day the industry will grow up;meanwhile, I can only advise people to readthose disclaimers and understand that softwarecompanies really don't promise much. Thebest defense is to deal with reputable dealerswho will refund your money if they've sold youan unsuitable product.

A lot of us at conferences address this prob-lem, and indeed we've made progress in thepast few years; which only shows how badthings were in The Old Days—lerry

CompuPro Software

Dear Jerry.

Since you are a well-known CompuPro owner,a number of us who own a CompuPro or areconsidering it follow your columns. You mightwant to pass on the following bit of informa-tion about better system software for those ofus who don't have access to the consultants andgurus that you do. Lanier Computer Systems.

2 5 Laurel Dr.. Langdale. AL 36864, offers a BIOSfor CP/M-80 (BIOS 80, S3 5) and one for CP/M-86(BIOS 86, $50). Each supports track-buffered I/Oin which the disk-controller chip reads an en-tire track in one disk revolution. BIOS 80 re-quires 96K bytes and buffers four disk tracks.Any additional memory is used as a memorydisk.

We find that the BIOS 80 is much faster thanour original CP/M-80 BIOS from Sorcim. Com-piling a one-line BDS C program took 3.75 sec-onds using BIOS 80.

IEEE Micro (December 1983) has an article onfloppy-disk transfers that says a two- to five-timeimprovement in access time is typical in CP/Msystems that use track-buffered I/O.

Laura WallaceBedford, MA

The Lanier BIOS is great for those whobought systems some time ago. I believe thatCompuPro is now shipping Tbny Pietsch's HMX(CP/M 2.2) and TMX (CP/M-8/16) BlOSes. which

have track buffering and are very fast; so newpurchasers probably needn't bother.

I've gone completely over to CP/M-8/16 onmy CompuPro, and I love it—Jerry

WordStar Trick

Dear lerry,

There are a fair number of us around herewho use WordStar still, and i thought your col-umn might be one way to pass on a useful trickI have figured out for the scientific fraternitystruggling with equations, superscripts, sub-scripts, and other such things.

WordStar allows you to embed controlcharacters to roll the printer up and down, butthe result (even with "OD to turn it all off) tendsto be unreadable on the screen. Further. I findon my Oz-driven Prowriter that by the time aline has been rolled up and down a few timesthe horizontal registration starts to wander.

I therefore hit on the use of WordStar's over-print line feature to solve it. The idea is thata complete line is used for superscripts, anotherone for the body, and another line for sub-scripts. This gives a vertically expanded displayon the screen with all the columns in the rightplace and no messy things like backspaces tofigure out. It's quite simple.

WordStar's printer driver should be installedfor the half-linefeed option. Start a line on thescreen with the superscript toggle ("P*T), fill itwith spaces to the desired line length, finish itwith another *P"T. and go down to the nextline with a "P"M instead of a carriage return.Fill the next line with spaces again and ter-minate it with another "P"M. Then start a linewith the subscript toggle ("P"V), fill with spaces,and end with another "P"V and a carriagereturn. The lines terminated with a "M showup with a hyphen in the last column. Theresulting three physical lines are treated as onelogical line by WordStar for line counts, pagebreaks, etc. Filling in the equation just involvesturning off insert and the control-characterdisplay (*OD) and putting the equation orwhatever straight into the screen "template."

To do something like

y-(x„)2 + (y,13j )"""

just fill it in directly on the screen. Admittedly,all those spaces do pad out the resulting filesomewhat, but I think the entry benefits makeit all worthwhile.

IAN BOAG

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Thanks for the tip. Nice to see that BYTE getsso far afield.—Jerry ■

• A Horrible Confession

; I was overwhelmed by mail. In a blinding ;; moment of sanity, 1 threw out everything ;'. dated prior r,o March 1, 1984. Alas, there '.

• were some self-addressed, stamped •; envelopes in the pile. ;; I do read all my mail, but alas, even with ;'. assistance there is too much to answer. I'll :

• keep trying, though. •

338 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

BYTE JAPAN

Akihabara

Software shortage

Sharp MZ-5500

Fujitsu FM-11

DIR emulator

by William M. Raike

PasocomPagodas

By the time you read this, air condi-tioners will be competing with per-sonal computers for AC power, andno doubt some of us again will experiencethat indescribable feeling of having just onemore appliance come on that will trip thebreakers just before we save the last hour ortwo's worth of text editing. But as I am writingthis, air conditioning is the last thing onanyone's mind; spring in Tokyo has arrived atlast. The winter's dirty snowbanks have beenreplaced by windblown piles of cherryblossom petals, and colorful kimonos areagain in evidence during strolls through thefashionable Ginza and Aoyama districts.

Akihabara

Kimonos are not, however, particularly notice-able in the raucous Akihabara area. (The ac-cent is more on the "ha" than on the "ba," andthe name literally means "autumn leaf field.")in fact, almost nothing is noticeable inAkihabara unless it (a) has a power cordand/or battery and at least one solid-statecomponent, or (b) is blasting away at 90decibels or more. This district of Tokyo, uponwhich at least three train lines and one sub-way route converge, covers roughly a three-by four-block rectangular area devoted mostlyto retail consumer electronics. In addition tovideo, stereo, and more mundane appliances,nearly every building has at least one floorjust for personal computers, and a growingnumber of establishments, such as Laox andYamagiwa, have separate full-blown depart-ment stores, dedicating four or five floors tocomputers alone. These "pasocom pagodas"are to be found elsewhere in Tokyo, too(places like the Omron Micom Base, near Gin-za), but if anyone were to make a pilgrimageto some imagined computer deity, their questwould have to end up at Akihabara.

Some knowledge of Japanese is helpful butnot essential to make the most out of a visitto these showrooms. Terms such as keyboard,disk drive, monitor, RAM, and display are pro-nounced nearly the same in Japanese as inEnglish; the unwary are liable to be a bit non-plussed, though, by the Japanese penchant forturning English words into contractions: per-

sonal computer becomes "pasocom" (pro-nounced pah-so-con), microcomputer isshortened to "micom" (my-con), operatingsystem becomes simply "OS" (oh-ess), whilesoftware and hardware get transmogrified into"softo" and "hado" (skip the re, please). Butdon't expect a sophisticated or particularlywell-informed sales staff. You can find capablepeople, particularly in places specializing inso-called "OA" (supposedly office-automationequipment, but actually anything with twofloppy-disk drives and a price of more than$1000), or in some smaller, more competitivesystems houses, but they're rare. For instance,in one establishment, after a fruitless10-minute search for a system disk to fire upa Fujitsu FM-11, 1 was informed that themachine had "only been here for a little overtwo months, so no one really knows how tooperate it." (I was able to check out the FM-11elsewhere, and it's an interesting machine;read on.)

An even more fascinating, and much morepicturesque, subarea within Akihabara, notmore than 50 yards from the train station, isthe electronic component bazaar. Contrary topopular misconceptions, and despite the giantJapanese industrial combines, Japan is still, atheart, a nation of small shopkeepers, and thatorientation is obvious in the Akihabara bazaar.Both the ground floor and second floor (8000square feet or so) consist of a honeycomb ofsmall booths, each about 5 feet square (in-cluding the space behind the counter for theproprietor to sit down). One booth sells onlyICs (integrated circuits), the next onlycapacitors, followed by one with nothing butresistors. A booth selling knobs, switches, andlamps is flanked by one offering power sup-

{continiied)

William M. Raike, who holds a Ph.D. in appliedmathematics from Northwestern University, has taughtoperations research and computer science in Austin,Terns, and Monterey, California. He holds a patent ona voice scrambler and was formerly an officer of CryptextCorporation in the United States. In 1980, he wentto ]apan looking for 64K-bit RAMs. He has been thereever since as a technical translator and a softwaredeveloper.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 339

BYTE JAPAN

plies and another supplying meters.Customers crowd the narrow corridors;proprietors seem to have memorizedtheir entire inventories, nearly all ofwhich are on display, and apparentlyshoplifting is rare enough not to be aproblem.

Discounts are the rule in Akihabara,both for consumer goods and compo-nents; 10 percent is offered routinely,and 20 percent, sometimes more, isusually obtainable. Prices are reason-able, particularly on components ratherthan complete devices. On my most re-cent trip (to pick up an RS-232C cable,about $13.50), the asking price for 256K-bit dynamic RAM chips (Toshiba TMM41256-20) was about $55 per chip;Hitachi 200-ns (nanosecond) 256K-bitdynamic RAM chips were less, about$42.50. An 8086 processor cost about$16.50. while 64K-bit static (not dynamic)RAM chips with 150-ns access timewere going for a little over $40 each. Fora hobbyist, designer, or small company,

the bazaar and numerous other shopsnearby are ideal sources for everythingfrom cords to cases and components tocards.

Software Shortage

It would be nice to report on all sortsof software found here, but with the ex-ception of the [apanese-language wordprocessors and. naturally, games, thepickings are slim. Not surprisingly, youcan forget about selling any significantnumber of systems here (hardware and/or software) unless Japanese-characterdisplays, data entry, and text process-ing are available and of high quality.User-friendly interfaces are highly im-portant here because a minimum of3000 different characters or so are re-quired. Japanese-language versions ofSuperCalc and Multiplan exist and havebeen announced for CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. The zillions of lapanese-languageword processors produced is revolu-tionary when you consider that, even to-

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day, lapanese-language typewriters arenot common in most offices. And low-priced (and not-so-low-priced) dedi-cated word processors are appearingon an almost weekly basis. This cultureis leapfrogging from doing ordinarybusiness correspondence by hand to asituation in which word processing willbe the rule. But for the most part, youcan count the number of other general-ly available applications or develop-ment software packages on your fingersand toes.

Sharp MZ-5500

One of the more interesting machinesto appear recently has been the SharpMZ-5500 system, offered in three ver-sions: l28K-byte basic memory eitherwithout a drive or with a single built-infloppy, or 256K-byte RAM (random-access read/write memory) with two320K-byte drives. The most striking fea-ture is their advertised list prices inlapan-about $970. $1285. and $1730,respectively—but discounts will be in-evitable.

The MZ-5500 is a 16-bit system, sup-plied with CP/M-86 as standard and MS-DOS to be an available option. Runningan 8086 at a conservative 5 MHz, it sup-ports an optional 8087 math copro-cessor and includes an 80C49 to han-dle the keyboard chores. RAM is ex-pandable to 512K bytes, and a mouseis optional. The standard system also in-corporates 96K bytes of video RAM, ex-pandable to 192K bytes, which ought tosatisfy most graphics requirements.Japanese-language processing optionsare extensive, including a 128K-byteJapanese-character ROM (read-onlymemory) and a 256K-byte dictionaryROM board that permits input of about80,000 words in phonetic form. Anotable feature is a dedicated large-scale integrated circuit as a "window-display controller" that enables up tofour screen windows to be defined andmanipulated on a color-priority orlogical basis. It is capable of producingsome impressive and quick 3-D graph-ics. The usual parallel printer port andtwo RS-232C serial channels are pro-vided. And the brochures say that a10-megabyte hard disk will be availableAny Day Now.

For reasons unknown to me, harddisks for microcomputers are not com-mon here, though a limited number pro-

340 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 320 on inquiry card.

BYTE JAPAN

vided for IBM PC and PC work-alikes areimported from the U.S.; one exceptionis a (presumably 5-megabyte) drive forApple II systems with a list price of near-ly $2700. Also, a company named ICMsells a 10-megabyte hard disk for NECmachines; its list price is $1600. Rumorsare circulating, however, that severalmajor manufacturers plan to introduceIBM PC-compatible machines soon.

In the MZ-5500 software department,BASIC is available in several flavors,along with a lapanese word-processingpackage and the Today integrated wordprocessor/graphics/spreadsheet pack-age. Kanji (lapanese-language) CP/M-86also supports a RAM-drive feature, en-abling up to 416K. bytes of RAM to beallocated as drive M: and permitting fastfile access. Various CP/M-86 utilities areprovided, including a program forreading disks recorded under CP/M-86in formats such as IBM PC, NECPC-9800, and other Sharp formats andconverting them to MZ-5 500 format.

Sharp has announced a whole rangeof development software from cooper-ating vendors, presumably with thedocumentation translated into lapa-nese, but the list prices range from theunbelievable to the ridiculous. Ex-amples include Digital Research's Ccompiler for about $950, SuperSoftC-86 for over $1100, CBASIC compilerfor $950, and Level II COBOL for $2000.Those levels are far above the corre-sponding mail-order prices from theU.S., which would seem to leave plentyof room for vendors that are enterpris-ing enough to supply at least their docu-mentation in lapanese.

Fujitsu FM-11

The most recent in the FM series of Fu-jitsu personal computer systems, theFM-11, seems to be a winner. Havinghad the temerity to name their bigmainframes the FACOM series, ap-parently the people at Fujitsu didn'tthink twice about coming out with a per-sonal computer model called the BS.The companion AD2 model is an 8-bitsystem, but the BS runs a 16-bitMBL8088-2 processor at 8 MHz, plus anMBL68B09E video coprocessor, comeswith 256K-byte standard RAM (expand-able to 1 megabyte), 192 K-byte standardvideo RAM, and two 5!4-inch double-sided, high-density, double-track flop-pies with a megabyte each, and a stan-

dard Japanese-character ROM for3400+ characters. A mouse is optional.The system includes a parallel printerport and one serial port. Fujitsu has an-nounced availability of an optional20-megabyte hard disk.

The FM-11 BS. like the Sharp machine,is supplied with CP/M-86. It's bundledwith a lapanese-language word proces-sor called IWORD, along with FBAS1C-86. MS-DOS is an announced option.The advertised list price is about $1775.

C Across the Sea

Most implementations of the C lan-guage under CP/M-80 offer I/O (input/output) redirection to permit a programto receive input and send output eitherto the console or, by means of a com-mand-line parameter supplied when theprogram is invoked, to or from a file.The C program in listing 1 is a useful ad-dition to CP/M that emulates the CP/Mdirectory command DIR. Used in con-junction with pipes, also not difficult to

simulate under CP/M using C this pro-gram permits considerable flexibility inobtaining sorted or otherwise organizeddirectories either at the console or inthe form of CP/M files: the same tech-nique illustrated in the program also canbe used within other application pro-grams to obtain easy and convenient ac-cess to a disk directory.

When the listing is compiled and as-sembled to produce CDIR.COM, enter-ing CD1R (or variants such as CD1R".COM or CD1R WS*.* using wild-cardcharacters) produces a list of the currentfiles on either the default or designateddisk drive, one name per line. On theother hand, entering CD1R >DFILEredirects the directory listing to a filenamed DF1LE, available for subsequentprocessing. The program in listing 1 pro-duces a list of only the files under thecurrent user number, although you caneasily modify it to bypass this restric-tion. Also, the filenames that are out-

[continued]

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Circle 321 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 341

BYTE JAPAN

Listing 1: A program in C that emulates the CP/M directory command DIR.

/• cdir.c -- Output a CP/M file directory. Syntax as in the DIR command. •/#include tprintf.cmainlargc. argv)int argc; char 'argvll;

{ chararg|!5|. fcb|36|. •names|255|. >p, «q;

int i, |, astflg;

char *lookup(|, 'unpack!);if (argc == I) strcpylarg, "*.•");

/* all files unless there is a command line argument */else

{if (badname(argv|l|)| exit!): /• check for file name error •/for (p = argv|l|, q = arg: -p; p+ + , q + + ) >q = «p;•q = \0'\ /* arg contains cmd line argument •/if |--q = = ':') strcatlarg, "•.*"); /• handle B: as B:«.« •/

}makfcb(arg. fcb): /• set up a CP/M file control block •/astflg = 0;for (i = 1; i < =8; i + + ) /* expand * in file name to ?s */

{if (fcb|i| = = '*') astflg = I;if (astflg == 1| fcb|i| = '?';

}astflg = 0:

for |i = 9; i < = II; i + + | /* expand * in extension to ?s •/{if (fcb|il == '•') astflg = I;if (astflg ==11 fcblil = '?';}i = 0;

while ( (p = lookup(fcb|| != 0) names|j + + | = unpack(p);/• get matching directory entries and put thej-th name in the char array namesljl •/while (j-l printfl "%s\n', nameslilr /* output all names found •/

}

char 'lookup(file) /• find next directory entry matching the file controlblock pointed to by the argument */

char *file;

{ static int i. bdosfn = 17; /• function 17 = look for 1st match •/

bdos(26. 0x80); /• set DMA address to default buffer •/if ( (i = bdoslbdosfn. file!) = = - 1| return 0; /• no match •/bdosfn = 18; /* function 18 = look for subsequent matching entries •/return |i»32 + 0x81); /* location of matching directory entry •/

}

char *unpack(pdir) /• unpack the directory entry at pdir and return a

pointer to the name of the file •/char -pdir;{ char *pname, *p; int i;

p = pname = sbrk(15); /• get space in which to put file name */for (i = 1: i < = 12; i + + )

{ if (i == 9) >p + + = '.';

if ( 1-p = >pdir + + & \ 177') != ' ) p+ + ;) /• skip blanks and zap high bits to 0 */•p = \0':return pname;

}

badname(arg) /* return I if arg string is a bad filename, 0 otherwise */

char *arg:

{ return (strlen(arg) > 15 ? 1 : 0);} /• check total length only •/

#include stdlib.c

This culture isleapfrogging from doingordinary businesscorrespondence by handto a situation in whichword processing will bethe rule.

put are not prefixed with the name ofthe drive on which they reside; that toocan be changed easily.

Most of the main routine is occupiedwith (very limited) parsing of the com-mand line and with expanding * wildcards to sequences of ? characters. Themakfcb(arg, fcb) function is supplied asa library routine with The Software Tool-works C/80 compiler; it creates a CP/Mfile control block corresponding to thefilename pointed to by arg. The look-up(file) function calls the required CP/MBDOS (basic disk operating system) ser-vice routines in order to return a pointerto the next directory entry (if any) thatmatches the specified file. The argu-ment to lookup is a pointer to a file-control block. Finally, unpack(pdir) usesthe standard dynamic-memory alloca-tion function sbrk() to obtain space forthe filename, then extracts the filenamefrom the directory entry pointed to bypdir, its argument.

One feature of C illustrated by thelookup!) function is the use of the in-ternal static variable bdosfn and its ini-tialization. When called the first time,lookup must use BDOS function num-ber 17 to look for the first matching file-name but subsequently must use func-tion number 18 to continue the direc-tory search from where it left off the lasttime. Declaring bdosfn to be a static in-teger enables the lookup function to"remember" not to repeat the searchfrom the beginning of the directory, be-cause static variables retain their valuesbetween function calls while still keep-ing bdosfn "private" (local) to the look-up) ) function.

Ahead

My next column will contain a full reporton the annual Tokyo MicrocomputerShow held at the end of May. ■

342 BYTE" AUGUST 1984

Circuit-Board-DesignWithout 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 depart-ment to get to your project.smARTWORK™ software turnsyour IBM Personal Computerinto a professional, high-qualitydrafting tool. It gives youcomplete control over yourcircuit-board artwork —fromstart to finish.

smARTWORK™ trans-forms your IBM PC into a CAD systemfor printed-circuit-board artwork.Display modes include both single-layer black and white anddual-layer color.

What makes smARTWORK™so smart is that it understandselectrical connections. Con-ductor spacing is always cor-rect, lines don't become toonarrow, and connecting linesdo not intersect other con-ductors. smARTWORK™ canautomatically find and drawthe shortest route between twoconductors. Or you can specifythe route.

smARTWORK™ is the only low-cost printed-circuit-boardartwork editor with all theseimportant advantages:

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□ Easy to learn and operate,yet capable of sophisticatedlayouts

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□ Multicolor or black-and-white display

D 32 user selectable colorcombinations; coincidentpoints can be displayedin contrastingcolors.

□ Can use optional Micro-soft Mouse as pointingdevice

Twice scalehardcopy of yourartwork is produced usingthe Epson dot-matrix printers or theHouston Instrument DMP-41 pen-and-ink plotter. Quick 1X check plotis also available from Epson printers.

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At $895, smARTWORK™ is anexceptional value, particularlywhen compared to conven-tional engineering workstationcosts.

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System Requirements

D IBM PC or XT with 192K RAM, 2 diskdrives and DOS Version 2.0

D IBM Color/Graphics Adapter withRGB color or b&w monitor

D Epson MX-80/MX-100 or FX-80/FX-100 dot-matrix printer

□ Houston Instrument DMP-41pen-and-ink plotter (optional)

D Microsoft Mouse (optional)

"smARTWORK" and 'Wintek" are trademarksof Wintek Corporation.

WINTEK CORPORATION, 1801 South St., Lafayette, IN 47904-2993, Phone: (317) 742-8428, Telex: 70-9079 (WINTEK CORP UD)

Circle 33I on inquiry card. AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 343

Ifour System DeservesThe Best!

Kev Tronic Keyboards.

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Key Tronic Corporation is the world's largest independentmanufacturer of computer keyboards.

Key Tronic keyboards are engineered for performance andreliability, and are backed by a 14-year tradition of manufacturingexcellence. All Key Tronic plug-compatible keyboards feature:

• Familiar typewriter key locations and legends

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• Positive tactile feedbackEach production element, from printed

circuit boards to keytops is generated in-house to insure high quality.

So ask your computer dealer for ahands-on demonstration of a Key Tronickeyboard.

Call Toll Free 1-800-262-6006 for theretailer closest to you. (7 am-3 pm PacificTime). Warranty information may beobtained by writing to the address below.

KB 5151 and 5151jr —The Professional Series

KB 5151 is plug-compatible with the IBM * PC and XT.

KB 5151jr is plug-compatible with the IBM PCjr* Both

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models are made for the handicapped.

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'IBM and PC jr. are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.'Apple II is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.'DEC VI 100 is a registered trademark of DigitalEquipment Corporation.

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BYTE WEST COAST

Three original

designers

discuss the

earliest days

by John Markoffand Ezra Shapiro

Macintosh'sOther Designers

The Apple Macintosh computer has attractedso much attention that it's curious so littlehas appeared on the formative days of thedevelopment project. To set the record straight. BYTEWest Coast Editors ]ohn Markoff and Ezra Shapirointerviewed three of the original members of the Macin-tosh design team: }ef Raskin. Bud Tribble. and BrianHoward. (The fourth member was hardware designerBurrell Smith.) Two of the three left Apple before theMacintosh was introduced: Tribble switched to a newcareer in medicine, and Raskin started his own com-pany. Information Appliance inc., in Palo Alto, Califor-nia. However, their recollections of the development ef-fort provide an interesting perspective on the Macin-tosh as a product.

BYTE: We thought we could start by asking each ofyou to introduce yourselves and to tell about your rolein the Macintosh project.

HOWARD: I'm Brian Howard, and I joined theMacintosh project almost in its infancy to helpout with documentation and publications forit. Since it turned out that there wasn't muchto write about in the early days, I started tohelp Burrell Smith build all the original pro-totypes and to document the hardware, and1 more or less stayed on in the hardware vein.TRIBBLE: My name is Bud Tribble or Guy Trib-ble, depending on what city you know me in.I knew people at Apple for a long time, Jef|Raskin| before Apple, and Bill Atkinson downat UCSD 1 heard from Jef that he was work-ing on a new project at Apple: specifically, hewas starting up a research section at Apple,and that he had some interesting ideas formaking a computer that was different fromwhat had been on the market previously.Since i was interested, I came down and talkedto him. He showed me a big notebook thatwas the Macintosh Document, which had beenworked on by Brian and Jef.BYTE: What year was it?TRIBBLE: I think it was 1980.RASKIN: Sounds about right. We already hadthe Book of Macintosh at that time—400 pages.TRIBBLE: And it was an extensive descriptionof a cheap, user-friendly machine that wentbeyond what was the state of the art then (theApple II) in terms of a personal computer. 1

got so excited that I told the program I wasin at school—a fairly prolonged M.D programwith a Ph.D. in neurophysiology—that I wantedto take a year off, or maybe more. Finally theylet me take the year off with the option of go-ing back.

When I got here (ef's group was made upof Jef. Brian, myself, and Burrell Smith. I thinkloanna |Hoffman] joined just after I did.

Burrell had already mocked up a Macintoshcomputer. It consisted of a 6809 processor,64K bytes of memory, and a screen linked toan Apple II, and you could download pro-grams into it. lef had written down his exten-sive ideas about what it should look like in theend and some ideas about user interface. Myfirst order of business was to just get this thingto be able to assemble and cross-assembleon the Apple II, to get a basic BIOS or oper-ating system up on the machine, and also toworry about other kinds of things—whetherit should have a modem, include serial inter-faces, and what kind of mass-storage deviceit should have.

1 was very impressed with the amount ofwork already done, before even having amachine, in deciding on a philosophy for themachine. I was also impressed with the caliberof that core group, especially Burrell.BYTE: Who put the Book of Macintosh together?RASKIN: I think I wrote almost all of it. Macin-tosh started out as my dream of what a per-sonal computer might be. I was already think-ing about it at UC San Diego back in the earlyseventies when I developed the "flow lan-guage," a language that was so simple that ithad no error messages at all; it was impos-sible for a user to make a syntactic or seman-tic mistake. Students loved learning program-ming on it. Working on that and other projectshad taught me that one could do things moresimply than had been done and that com-puters had a long way to go before they werepleasant to use.

{continued)

Ezra Shapiro (McGraw-Hill, 425 Battery St., SanFrancisco. CA 94111) is BYTE's West Coast bureauchief. }ohn Markoff (1000 Elwell Court. Palo Alto,CA 94303) is a BYTE senior technical editor.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 347

BYTE WEST COAST

What I wanted with Macintosh was alow price, I wanted it to be all in onepiece with no connecting cables, aminimum number of parts, and a mini-mum number of interconnects so thatit would be highly reliable. Brian and Ibuilt many cardboard models and diddozens of drawings. So if the fact thatit's two pieces is one of the great suc-cess factors, it's certainly not fromsomething that I can take any credit for.1 also wanted it to have a mono-chromatic screen that could be bit-mapped, rather than a charactergenerator.

As a matter of fact, when I startedworking at Apple, the Lisa was a char-acter-generator machine and 1 was theonly voice saying it should be bit-mapped, and 1 convinced the crewworking on it. 1 guess 1 was also thisdisembodied voice that changed it froma three-button mouse to a one-buttonmouse at Apple—that was a big fight.

Macintosh was started very close tothe time Lisa was. Two totally separatetracks.

BYTE: Two separate philosophies?HOWARD: Actually, 1 think Lisa hadbeen worked on in some form foralmost a year.

RASKIN: But it was a very differentmachine then.

HOWARD: It was going to be a bit-slicepiece of hardware. They were going todo a Pascal p-machine chip set.TRIBBLE: Since Jef was on the initialuser-interface committee for Lisa, hewas putting in his ideas, and at the sametime he was managing the initial Macin-tosh project.

RASKIN: One thing 1 strongly believedwas that Lisa was much too large andexpensive a machine for a company ofApple's style and type. Lisa was definite-ly headed toward the business market,and 1 thought that it was a severemistake to make a machine that would,in price and capability, compete head-on with Wang, DEC, IBM, and DCBYTE: As a researcher, did you have an inputinto those marketing questions?RASKIN: I never hesitated to speak mymind.

HOWARD: Also, "researcher" was part-ly a title that was created to explain thatthere wasn't a production item relatedto his ideas.

BYTE: Let's take a popular myth and tell meto what degree it's wrong. The myth is tha* Lisa

Photo 1: Brian Howard

and Macintosh technology come in some sort ofstraight line from inside the corporate sanctumof Xerox PARC \Palo Alto Research Center].RASKIN: Yes and no. 1 always thoughtthat Babbage and Turing and VanNeumann hadn't gone quite far enoughin generalizing the idea of a computer.1 remember clearly enunciated—sort ofthe Turing principle—that memory couldhold anything. A symbol is a symboland you can interpret it in differentways. But then at PARC they had clever-ly gone on to generalizing the screen.Any point is the same way as any otherpoint. Characters just happen to be onekind of picture we can generate. Thekeyboard is the same way.

One of my first thoughts was thatMacintosh should be the most absolute-ly general machine that you could con-ceive at that price, so that you could doanything on it you could do with anymachine with that amount of hardware.

1 tried for over a year to get Steve Jobsto see what they were doing at PARCbecause I felt that they were at leastseven years ahead of their time. Theyhad the Altos going then, with bit-mapped keyboards and screens. Youcould do anything you wanted on them.They also had the mouse on it. Al-though I couldn't stand the mouse, 1 wasthe only person at Apple who had evenseen one, and certainly the only personwho had ever used One. Finally SteveJobs, Bill Atkinson, and a few otherswent to Xerox PARC and came backenthused.

BYTE: What's the other side? \n what senseis Macintosh a departure from what was beingdone and thought of at PARC?RASKIN: Theirs was all based on Small-talk and had a different model of whatthe user interface would look like. Ithought they had a lot of good ideas.

The difference between Apple andPARC is that Apple was designing thingsto be sold in large quantities and PARCdesigns things to play with. While theyweren't concerned with questions ofproduction. 1 very much was.BYTE: Why did you initially settle on the 6809microprocessor?

RASKIN: It's a very pleasant micropro-cessor. It seemed like it would be avail-able in great abundance. It's much,much cleaner, and it doesn't segmentmemory into 2 56K-byte parcels.TRIBBLE: Bill Atkinson was heavily in-volved with developing QuickDraw andworking on the Lisa project. While I wasworking on the 6809, writing softwareto run on a bit-mapped screen, he wasdeveloping this neat bit-blit software todo characters and graphics on the Lisascreen on the 68000.

1 realized that in terms of the cost ofthe machine, the microprocessor is asmall percentage; it didn't make senseto limit ourselves to the 6809, and if wecould use the 68000, we [also| couldtake advantage of a large portion of thesoftware that was out for Lisa. I wasthinking of lower-level things like theQuickDraw software. This representeda major investment: I didn't want to doit over again for the 6809.

I also figured out that the projectsimply could not be done fast enoughon a 6809. I got together with BurrellSmith and said, "Can you hook up amachine with only 64K bytes of mem-ory," which is what the Macintosh wassupposed to have then, "and run withthe 68000?" That was kind of a trickbecause 64K bytes done on a 64K-bitchip is only 8 bits wide and the data buson the 68000 is 16 bits wide. It requiredmultiplexing and demultiplexing, whileat the same time trying to keep chipcounts to a minimum. Burrell Smithcame up with a design that did all thetiming and did the multiplexing and de-multiplexing in a minimalist type of way.

Burrell did nonstop wire wrapping,and I wrote programs on the Apple IIto emulate the timing that Burrell was

(continued)

348 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

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Circle 203 on inquiry card.

BYTE WEST COAST

programming into the programmable-array logic chips. And at the end of fourdays, we had a board with the 68000,64K bytes of memory, and a bit-mappedscreen and keyboard up and runningthe QuickDraw software. At that pointwe went to Steve [Jobs] with the work-ing model, and he said. "Okay. Let's doit this way."

RASKIN: I was against the 68000 at firstbecause I wanted a low-priced machineand the 68000 would bump up the cost.Burrell and Bud convinced me that the68000 was the way to go, especiallybecause of the software. It was clearthat we could never catch up on thework that Bill had done.BYTE: What's the history of the Mac mouse?RASKIN: Jobs gets a hundred percentcredit for insisting that a mouse be onthe Mac.

HOWARD: When we chose the 68000,we did it partly so that we could use thelow-level graphics routines and so on.Then the question starting coming upwhether we also wanted to make use ofthe user interface as defined for the Lisaor maybe some parts of it. At somepoint, if you take enough of it, then themouse has to come with it becausethat's definitely designed into the userinterface in the Lisa.RASKIN: 1 wasn't too antagonistictoward using the Lisa user interfacesince 1 had had a strong hand in that.It had many of the features that Iwanted.

To give a little history, I had a conver-sation with Mike Markulla long beforethis about wanting to make a low-pricedmachine. A concept called "Annie" wasdeveloping then, and he said, "Can youdesign a machine to sell for $500?" 1came back a week later and said, "Notone that would really be functional, butI can design one to be sold for $1000."I didn't like the names Annie or Lisa—that is a sexist kind of approach—so Iproposed that Apple name projectsafter varieties of apples, and 1 calledmine Macintosh.

HOWARD: Sort of a fruitist attitude.RASKIN: Steve lobs had named thecompany Apple so you get started offon a fruit image. There was a Pippin fora while and some other internal applenames.

After Steve Jobs got stronger on theproject, he kept edging it toward a moreexpensive machine. That was the main

ft

Photo 2: Bud Iribble

reason I didn't want the 68000, becausethere was no way I could have met thecharter of a $1000 machine. It's my opin-ion to this day that if we had built sucha machine it would have been dynamitebecause no one was even thinking inthat price range with that kind of capa-bility.

I happen to enjoy the 68000 far bet-ter than the 6809. It's a nice processorto work with. And they're both nicerthan the ancient 6502. But as we startedmaking those changes, the price startedescalating very rapidly.TRIBBLE: It was a domino effect. Afterthe 68000, we started talking about put-ting on a mass-storage device thatwould be more commensurate withthat—a more expensive disk drive.BYTE: You originally had started with a5lA-inch drive.

TRIBBLE: Before that there was goingto be a small tape drive and that drovethe price up. The screen went from a256- by 256-pixel screen up to an in-termediate screen and finally to whereit is now. The memory started out at 64 Kbytes, but all of a sudden we got Quick-Draw, which was 2 OK bytes, and all thisLisa software and extra pieces lyingaround. So the ROM [read-only mem-ory] went from 4K bytes to 64 K bytesin steps. And the price of the machinewent up with that. The RAM [random-access read/write memoryl went from64K bytes to 128K bytes eventually. Thekeyboard became detached, which alsodrove up the price of the machine.

All of these things were edging thedesign, and the price, closer to Lisa. Ithink Jef was reacting against the dangerof pricing the machine out of people'sreach. I take some of the blame for go-ing along with a lot of these changesbecause I was closely allied with BillAtkinson, who was working on Lisa, andwe thought along the same lines. Theother thing is that I was, and still am, atechnological junkie and like fancier bitsin my computer. Not that I didn't havean appreciation for lef's idea for a com-puter that people could afford.BYTE: Is that the central tension in the designprocess of Macintosh?

HOWARD: That's a tension in any designin any project. Especially with a hard-ware group, there is always a tendencyto use chips that are a little bit more onthe leading edge of what's possible, torun things just a little bit faster, and toget a little bit more resolution out of thescreen. Without strong direction fromabove, all projects have that tendencyto float upward on the scale.

It's a little misleading now |to thinkthat we thought] Macintosh could besold profitably at $1000, but partlythat's because it's taken about threeyears to get it out on the market. Threeyears ago. the price differential wasmuch more astounding that it is now. Ofcourse, the price of all those chips hasdropped dramatically since we wereworking with them originallyBYTE: Is Burrell Smith as unusual a hardwaredesigner as we have heard by reputation?RASKIN: I think he is very, very good.Bill Atkinson thought he had a greatdeal of talent. I talked to Burrell anddecided he was as good a digitaldesigner as I had ever met.TRIBBLE: My orientation was moretoward software. But I found it extreme-ly easy to communicate with Burrell,and part of that was that the turnaroundtime with Burrell for trying out newhardware ideas was like the turnaroundtime I was used to for trying out newsoftware. He would do it overnight. If Icame up with an idea from the softwarestandpoint and said to Burrell,"Wouldn't it be nice if we had this in thehardware?", he would come back thenext day and say, "We can do that if youmake this slight change in the software."In a very short time, we would get thewhole thing going.

[continued)

350 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

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AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 351

BYTE WEST COAST

RASKIN: That is one thing that I waspushing for very hard—the interactionof hardware and software. You don'tbuild a hardware box just to suit somehardware engineer and then try to cramsoftware into it. You design your hard-ware to support the software, youdesign the software to put the twotogether, and they grow together.HOWARD: The constant interaction wasone of the most fun things about theearly Macintosh project in general. Nodecision was made by any one personand handed down to somebody else.The original Mac room was one bigroom—any discussion that took placeinvolved everybody in the room. Evenafter we moved, constant groupmeetings coalesced everywhere. Peoplewould run in and help shape the idea.RASKIN: I tried to keep the spirit of thegroup, and also my personal spirit, veryplayful. We were always playing musicand frisbee, and shooting dart guns.BYTE: To what extent was Macintosh in theearly days influenced by the Apple III ex-perience?

RASKIN: Tremendously—to get as faraway from it as possible!HOWARD: The team size was definitelyreinforced by the Apple III. It was clearthat a large team would tend to go offin the direction of writing mountainousamounts of code and things that werenot well focused. That was part of ourincentive for keeping the group small.BYTE: Back in the days of the Book ofMacintosh, was Macintosh a closed system inthe sense that the outside world wouldn't haveeasy access to the bus?RASKIN: No. I believed in having a busbrought out on an edge connector.BYTE: What happened?TRIBBLE: Rod Holt, who was involvedwith the analog design (and who was)doing the FCC certification on theApple II, kept bringing up the point thatif you bring out an 8-MHz, or whatever,bus to the outside world you're in trou-ble. I retrenched and said that what weneeded were fingers to come out thatcould be used for testing purposes.RASKIN: As a matter of fact, in theoriginal Macintosh specification it wascalled the Bus Diagnostic Port. That waspart of the original definition.TRIBBLE: Then Rod said, "If we put ina knock-out plastic port, the FCC is go-ing to say 'Obviously you are invitingpeople to knock that out, and we're not

Photo 3: ]ef Raskin

going to certify you.'" I think he was be-ing a little paranoid.

It came to pass that there was no wayto get into the Macintosh at bus speeds.But I went through Burrell's hardwaremanuals and found a serial chip thatcould run at 1 megahertz, which was theSCC chip. So I said to Burrell, "You'vegot to design this thing in." I think it'sadequate. What I was worried aboutwas not having enough bandwidth totalk to a hard disk or a network.BYTE: Do you think you've got it?TRIBBLE: I think we've got it. The band-width on most Winchester disks is a fewmegahertz. The bits come streamingout of the disk at a few megahertz, andwith the SCC chip we can go in at closeto 1 megahertz. We lose a small factorthere, but most of the wait time on thehard disk is head motion anyway.RASKIN: If you can get at the bus itselfyou have so much more control. I stillthink it was a mistake to not put thosefingers there, even behind a hiddenport.

HOWARD: Just putting in fingers doesn'tcome for free, though. As soon as yousay it's okay for the outside world tostart hanging junk on your high-fre-quency signals, you have to somehowisolate yourself from what they do-enough so that your machine will stillwork with things hanging out there. Youhave to take all that into account.RASKIN: I still think you should put iton, call it a diagnostic, and use it fordiagnosis. You take no responsibilitybecause it's not a user part, but if someOEM wants to use your board or yourmachine and take that responsibility.

that's okay. I didn't see it as somethingthat a user would casually plug into.TRIBBLE: I ended up leaning toward amore closed system because, as soft-ware manager, it became appealing tome to have every single one of themachines that were out there all exact-ly the same. If software ran on onemachine, it would run on all the others.I didn't want a big proliferation of weirdaddresses on the bus so that if you ac-cess them with such and such hookedup it would do something funny.BYTE: The story of the IBM PC.RASKIN: The story of the Apple II.BYTE: One thing that surprised people. I think,when Mac was first introduced, was that it onlyhad one disk drive.

RASKIN: I know why there was |only|one originally. When I was there, thesoftware was designed to work withone. But after you have the typical Lisakind of software on it, it definitely needsmore than one. Having first made thechoice of putting that software in, cer-tainly I would have put in two diskdrives. It's not very convenient to usewith just one.

BYTE: Who came up with the idea of adetachable keyboard?RASKIN: I think jobs.BYTE: What are your feelings about that?RASKIN: Once Macintosh grew to itspresent size, the separate keyboard wasthe only way to go.BYTE: Did it start out physically significantlysmaller?

TRIBBLE: Not very much smaller. Thescreen was a little bit smaller, but thewhole box was a much lower profile.RASKIN: But it was not like a TandyModel 100. It did have a CRT |cathode-ray tube]. It was slightly smaller. It grewa great deal.

BYTE: Have you seen any of the third-partysoftware that's just beginning to emerge forMacintosh? We've seen some where we think thethird-party developers have missed the point ofthe Mac.

TRIBBLE: I think that's bound to hap-pen, especially where you have so manypeople—a hundred companies are outthere—writing software. It's a tremen-dous problem in communication. Youhave to reeducate all the people whowrite for CP/M. UNIX, and whatnot towrite for a system that is completely dif-ferent from anything they're used to.HOWARD: It certainly takes a lot of

{continued}

352 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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rethinking about how you want to bedoing what you're doing.TRIBBLE: Early on, designing the oper-ating system, I decided to incorporatemost of the user-interface routines andprocedures almost into the operatingsystem. It was partitioned off as some-thing called the user-interface toolbox—a set of tools that you could use to con-form to the Macintosh user interface.RASKIN: The original design documentsalso said that the user interface is prettymuch the operating system.TRIBBLE: But further than that, we havea problem because it is harder to con-form to that user-interface standardthan it is to just treat the thing as a TTY|teletypewriter|. How were we going toget all these third-party software ven-dors to go along with us? The strategywas not to legislate by saying, "You mustdo this," but to legislate de facto by put-ting all those toolbox routines in ROM.Then anybody who doesn't use thoseroutines is penalized because the 64K-

byte ROM is sitting there with all thesenice routines, and they're chewing upRAM with their own routines for theiruser interface. So it's a way of legislat-ing a consistent user interface.BYTE: You started with 64K bytes and it^wasreleased with 128K bytes, and there is constanttalk of a half-megabyte Mac. When did a halfmegabyte creep into the design philosophy?RASKIN: Very early on Burrell pointedout that it's very easy to make a design,once you had the 68000 in place, whereyou could just take out 64K-bit chipsand put in 256K-bit chips. I've alwaysbelieved that you just simply take thelargest chip that is economically feasi-ble to use in terms of the memory, andif they're bit-wide chips and you use 8or 16 of them, then that should be thesize of your memory. The size of mem-ory, to be economical, should be theword length times the number of bitsyou have in a chip.

So it's clear that if you have 64K-bitRAMs and a 16-bit bus you get a 128K-

byte machine that's really fast. Burrellloves designing for it, software peoplehad no trouble handling that, and it'svery clean. When the 256K-bit chipscome you just plug in all those andeverything runs just about the same.BYTE: What brought )obs to the Macintoshproject? Why did he get interested in it?HOWARD: One reason was that Applehad no new projects in that sort of lowprice range, and I think it was becom-ing obvious that at some point peoplewere probably going to quit buying theApple II and Apple better have someother, at least that low if not lower-priced, project in the works. And partof it is that I think he was being sort ofedged out of the Lisa project. Or thathe could see that it was going off in adirection, perhaps even with his bless-ing, that he wasn't happy being a partof and therefore it was time for him tomove on to something else.

By then it was becoming clear thatMac was the most exciting thing going

TWA.OUR 3 PAIR BEATS THEIR

354 BYTE* AUGUST 1984

BYTE WEST COAST

on at Apple. Jobs definitely loves to bein on new projects as they get going,and he's not very able to just sit backand watch that happen. |He's| a veryforceful person |who| has to get in andexert his influence.

BYTE: What happened between Raskin and]obs as ]obs moved into the Macintosh project?TR1BBLE: When I went to work for Ap-ple, 1 went specifically to work for Jef.And there is an incredible difference inphilosophy between Jef and Steve. Inmy own mind I was initially morealigned with Jef's philosophy thanSteve's. 1 have to admit that I becamesomewhat influenced by Steve as timewent on. I also have a somewhatMachiavellian view toward the Macin-tosh project. By that time I was in lovewith it and wanted to see it happen, andhere were these bad, political thingshappening, kind of above my head.What I saw as inevitable was that essen-tially the company had turned againstJef. Things were not getting done and

were blocked here and there. It wasupsetting. I almost decided to go backto Seattle right when Steve was takingover. But I made a decision that if Stevetakes over the Macintosh project, thenwe'll have resources of the companyavailable to us, and we won't be blockedhere and there. At least well be able toget something done. That turned out tobe partly true. But the flip side of thatwas that Steve is good at lots of thingsbut not at being a boss on a one-to-onelevel.

BYTE: (to Raskin) When did you leave theMac project?

RASKIN: I was sort of forced out. Likesomeone squeezing on a toothpastetube. I resigned in February of 1982. Itwas gratifying that Markulla and lobsdid not accept my letter of resignation.While I disagree with Jobs in lots ofways, the Rolling Stone article |S. Levy,"The Whiz Kids Meet Darth Vader,"March 1, 1984, page 36| made it appearas though he summarily fired me, which

is not at all true. He has not been ingeneral a person who does that. He andMarkulla asked me if I would please stayanother month even if I didn't come into work: they knew I was very unhappythere. At the end of that time theywould make me an offer that I couldn'trefuse.

They went back to the way it hadstarted. They were going to set me upwith a research division. This was thethird or fourth or maybe the ninth ortenth—I don't remember how many-times I had been offered that and everytime I had done it, something came up.And they would say, "Oh, you've got toturn this into a product: you've got tocome over and put out this fire or some-thing."

They made me the same offer overagain, and I think I had finally learnedthat there was little likelihood of it ac-tually happening. So I left. . . .BYTE: Were any of you surprised at all by the

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BYTE WEST COAST

extent of the Mac hype? The scale?HOWARD: That's something of Apple's.I guess you would call it extreme rightfrom the start. 1 guess that is what hasdifferentiated Apple from a lot of unsuc-cessful computer companies that havehad products that were more or lesscomparable to Apple's—its marketingability, its ability to really blow things up.TRIBBLE: Apple was good at hype, forone thing. For another thing, we, thepeople involved in Macintosh, believedthat there was something worth hyping.HOWARD: It is a computer that you canget affectionate feelings about in a way.RASKIN: I still think it has a lot ofqualities that 1 wanted in it originally.Not exactly the same, many things havechanged. But a lot of the feel has some-how managed to come through. 1 thinkthe Mac is certainly the best of the per-sonal computers of today.TRIBBLE: The people who worked onMacintosh, especially that initial coregroup, were all emotionally involved inthe machine. That is a lot of what madeit turn out well.

The idea came up again and againfrom the early days, though, that themajor problem of the Macintosh wasgoing to be one of educating peopleabout the machine. It's a new conceptand you have to spend effort to teachpeople about it.

A person should be able to watch forfive minutes and then sit down and dosomething useful. You shouldn't have toread a big manual.

Jef may not agree, but I feel that it'sthe mouse that allows you to do this.Because it's difficult to see what some-one's fingers are doing on the keyboard

when you're watching them manipulatea program, and it's very easy to seewhat they're doing with the mouse.RASKIN: I don't disagree. Except I havemy strong belief that that's not a con-venient thing to do for very long. It'scertainly great to play with MacPaint.BYTE: Where did the concept of the Mac divi-sion as pirates come from?HOWARD: It came because of an inter-nal public relations effort to show peo-ple who were afraid that Macintosh wasturning into this giant organization, likethe Navy, with lots of forms, rules,regulations, guidelines, and procedures,that this was not the case—we inventedthe slogan of "pirates."TRIBBLE: Well, there is the idea ofMacintosh stealing from Lisa.HOWARD: I don't think that was inten-tional—I think that was the way theytook it. It certainly did not improveMacintosh's relations with the rest of thecompany—since that made the rest ofthe company the Navy by implication.BYTE: I« the very first days, was it more orless unofficial? Was it all backdoor?TRIBBLE: It was not a product.HOWARD: We were calling it researchpartly so that nobody would be upsetthat we were working on these ideas.TRIBBLE: If it's not a product we can dowhatever we want.

BYTE: There were some resources committedtoward your "blue-sky" research?HOWARD: It wasn't that many resourceswere being committed. There weresome bodies. Four or five of us were ina room that Apple was renting. But thatwas about it.

BYTE: Did you feel like you were a secret society,in a sense?

HOWARD: Kind of.

TRIBBLE: We made no attempt to keepourselves secret, though.HOWARD: We did feel that we were go-ing off in a different direction from therest of Apple.

RASKIN: And nobody, especially SteveJobs, believed that we could do any-thing useful. Maybe a few clever ideasmay come out of this group but certain-ly not a product. They were not goingto get a product out of Raskin, Tribbleand Howard.. . people who play music.BYTE: Is Mac a product that can evolve well?HOWARD: In a sense that any computercan because you can write an infinitenumber of programs on it.RASKIN: The Mac in particular is easierto write infinite numbers of programson that most computers.TRIBBLE: It's a generalist's computer. It'sa bit-mapped screen with some mem-ory and a processor.HOWARD: With some limitations, youcan hook almost any piece of hardwareto it through high-speed serial ports.And people will go on plugging all kindsof weird things in it.BYTE: Could Mac be done again in 1984?HOWARD: I think it could, but only bya similar process, a little group splinter-ing off, working separate from the biggroup. I don't think it could be done onpurpose, as Macintosh was not done onpurpose.

RASKIN: From my point of view it wasdone on purpose, but from Apple'spoint of view it was an accident.HOWARD: Actually Steve Jobs wouldsupport that kind of thing. That is thekind of thing that Jobs will go out on alimb for. ■

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357

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358 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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BYTE U.K.

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YTE readers probably are not usedto thinking of Britain as a source ofmajor innovation in computer design.The cost-cutting miracles wrought by Sir CliveSinclair are perhaps the only examples thathave crossed the Atlantic, and even thoseSpecial computers had limited commercial success.

-j Nevertheless, there is a lot of innovative

language, work going on in these depressed isles, andsome of it is at the advanced end of processordesign.

The most exciting work of this sort is takingplace at INMOS, the transnational semicon-ductor enterprise set up in 1978 with partfunding from the British government. INMOShas manufacturing facilities in ColoradoSprings in the United States and at Newportin the United Kingdom. So far its productrange has been confined to high-speed staticand dynamic RAMs (random-access read/write memories) aimed at high-performancemainframe and minicomputer markets. How-ever, at the U.K. design center in Bristol, aresearch program is about to bear fruit in theshape of a revolutionary VLSI (very-large-scaleintegration) microprocessor chip called theTransputer.

The Transputer is INMOS's contender in thestruggle over the next generation of micropro-cessors. It is pitted against the likes of the NS16032 and the Intel 80286. But the designphilosophy that underlies it is very differentfrom that of its competitors. It is intended tobe a "programmable component." hence thename, which is an amalgam of transistor andcomputer. The Transputer is designed to com-municate with other Transputers in parallel-processing networks so that as many of themas desired can be applied to a particular taskwith minimal overheads in processor time andphysical interconnections. Even more impor-tant, the same program can be run on a singleTransputer or a network of communicatingdevices.

This sort of system design, using many pro-cessors working simultaneously on the samedata, is widely recognized as an essential stepin building the so-called "fifth generation" ofcomputers. Fifth-generation systems will haveto search huge databases if they are to per-

form natural-language processing and other"intelligent" activities. VLSI guru Carver Meadhas suggested that "an additional four ordersof magnitude of computational capability areavailable through concurrent processing."Connecting conventional microprocessors to-gether to perform parallel processing is atedious chore, complicated by the need for(ever wider) parallel buses to be securelyshared and by terrifying problems of syn-chronization.

The Transputer avoids these problems bycommunicating over high-speed serial links(running at 1.5 megabytes per second, fullduplex), and by having the necessary syn-chronization built into its instruction set.

Engineering samples of a 32-bit Transputer(designated the IMS T424) are expected in thelast quarter of 1984. This chip will have fourhigh-speed serial links, 4K bytes of ultrahigh-speed RAM, an external memory interface,and a peripheral interface on the silicon slice.Other processors planned for this family mayhave fewer serial links and varying amountsof on-chip RAM.

The T424 is a reduced-instruction-set com-puter (RISC). It has only 64 instructions, andthey are designed to render the processingof concurrent tasks as efficient as possible.INMOS achieves this by using a stack-basedarchitecture in which the 4K bytes of on-chipRAM serve in place of the registers of a con-ventional microprocessor. Different concur-rent tasks have their own workspace amongthese registers, and switching tasks is merelya matter of switching a pointer to the work-space. The processor contains its own logicto schedule these tasks. A clever choice of in-struction format, whereby instructions can bebuilt up in 4-bit chunks, allows 16- or even64-bit designs to be added to the range andto have compatible code. Virtual memoryoperation has been rejected in favor of auniform address space—a T424 can directlyaddress up to 4 gigabytes of external RAM.

{continued)

Dick Pountain is a technical author and software con-sultant living in London. England. He can be contacteddo BYTE, POB 372, Hancock. NH 03449.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 361

BYTE U.K.

The Transputer's various hardwaremodules run concurrently. The fact thatthe serial links, memory interface, andprocessor can all operate simulta-neously makes communication inexpen-sive. Off-chip communication betweenTransputers is asynchronous so theydon't have to share a common clocksignal, and delays in the point-to-pointconnecting lines can be tolerated withinbroad limits.

INMOS is confident that the Trans-puter will be capable of running at 10MIPS (million instructions per second]with a modest 5-MHz clock—two ordersof magnitude faster than current micro-computers. This will be accomplishedby using 2-micron CMOS (complemen-tary metal-oxide semiconductor) tech-nology with silicide interconnect and areduced instruction set with 1-byte in-structions, and by having the variouscomponents of the chip all working inparallel.

Occam's Razor

Full exploitation of the Transputer'spotential for concurrency requires anew programming language. Someexisting languages such as ConcurrentPascal, Ada, Modula-2, FORTH, andSimula can be used to write parallel pro-grams, but in all of these a programmerhas to arrange for synchronization ofparallel processes that want to "talk" toeach other (usually by setting specialflags called semaphores to signal thata result is ready). This makes greatdemands on a programmer's mentalpicture of the program's execution inreal time.

INMOS designed a new languagecalled Occam to program the Trans-puter. In fact, the Transputer and Occamwere designed concurrently, so theTransputer will directly execute Occamprograms. Occam is the Transputer'sassembly language. It's also a general-purpose programming language thatcan be run on conventional processorsby time-shared simulated concurrency.

Occam was developed by David Mayof INMOS and Professor C. A. Hoare(perhaps Britain's leading computerscientist) of Oxford. The name of thelanguage comes from William ofOccam, the 14th-century Oxford philos-opher whose principle: "Entia non suntmultiplicanda praeter necessitatem"("Keep it simple, dummy!"), is better

known as Occam's razor.

With only 22 reserved words, Occamis a small and elegant language. It com-bines the best of contemporary thoughtabout control structures and variablescoping with some radical new struc-tures to handle concurrency. It can beused as a general calculus to describeconcurrent activities in any field, muchas pseudo-Pascal is often used todescribe sequential algorithms.

Occam is based on a model of com-putation that is different from conven-tional languages in that it includes thenotions of communication, parallel ex-ecution, and synchronization in its verystructure. I/O (input/output) and inter-rupts are handled at high level and aretransparent to the programmer. Occamis designed for system programming. Ithas only integer arithmetic and no built-in support for file and string handlingor graphics, although floating-point andmultiple-precision arithmetic areplanned as future enhancements.

The basic unit of Occam programmingis a "process" that performs a sequenceof actions and then terminates. This issimilar to ordinary programming lan-guages, but in Occam there may bemore than one process executing at anygiven moment. There are three primitiveprocesses: input, output, and assign-ment. All other processes are con-structed from these building blocks. Theinput and output processes transfer aword (32-bit in the latest version) froma "channel" to or from a variable. Forexample,

tube ! x

outputs the value of variable x to achannel called "tube," while

tube ? y

inputs the value into variable y. Chan-nels, like variables, must be declared atthe beginning of the process in whichthey are used. Physically they might beimplemented as serial communicationslinks between different Transputers oras memory locations that let indepen-dent processes inside the same Trans-puter exchange data—to Occam itdoesn't matter. Channels are one-way(you can't input and output from onewithin the same process) and self-syn-chronizing, so that communication onlyoccurs when both the input and outputprocesses are ready. Some channels.

such as "keyboard" and "screen," maybe predeclared by the system.

The Assignment process merelychanges the value of a variable as inPascal or BASIC:

x: = y + 10

The simplest type of compound pro-cess is the kind called SEQ (for sequen-tial). In the following program fragment:

VAR x:SEQ

keyboard ? x

screen ! x

the input and output processes are ex-ecuted one after the other as in any or-dinary programming language. The in-dentation is not optional; it marks theextent of a subprocess. A two-characterindent is required for each level ofnesting (equivalent to begin...end). Theonly separator required (other than in-dentation) is a colon that indicates theend of a declaration. Incidentally, thepreceding program merely allows youto type a single character on the screen.Processes can be given names (like pro-cedures) so you could say

PROC echo -VAR x:SEQ

keyboard ? x

screen ! x:

(— rest of program)

Note the colon at the end as we aredeclaring a process.

Two novel kinds of compound pro-cesses are PAR (parallel) and ALT (alter-native). PAR indicates that the sub-processes that follow it (on paper) willbe executed concurrently. If these pro-cesses have to communicate with eachother via a channel, then whichever isready first will automatically wait for theother to become ready. Synchronizationis built into Occam and programmersneed not worry about it. For example.

CHAN signal:

PAR

VAR x:

SEQ

keyboard ? x

signal ! x

VAR y:

SEQ

signal ? y

screen ! y , ,. ,,

[continued)

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The two sequential subprocesses run atthe same time. The first waits for an in-put from the keyboard, the second waitsfor a "signal" message on the channel.When a key is pressed, the first processcan terminate, allowing the second oneto do so. The net result is the same asin our first example but the characterhas been passed between two pro-cesses on its way to the screen. Notethat all variables are local to a singleprocess (so I could, unwisely, have de-clared x for both) and they are de-allocated (cease to exist) when it ter-minates. The order in which the pro-cesses are written on paper is irrelevantin a PAR construct; each waits until itsinput or output is ready.

The ALT construct provides a noveland elegant way of choosing betweenparallel processes in the time dimen-sion. It sits and watches a group of in-put channels and then executes the pro-cess attached to whichever one deliversan input first. If two or more inputs oc-cur simultaneously, then ALT choosesin a way that will be implementationdependent but which avoids any chan-nel becoming permanently locked out.There is a provision called PRI ALT for

allocating priorities to the processes.Here's a typical ALT

CHAN signal:VAR y:ALTkeyboard ? ySEQscreen ! ysignal ? ANYSEQ(—do something interesting)

As part of a larger program this willeither type a character on the screen or"do something interesting," dependingon whether "signal" becomes readybefore you press a key. The key wordANY throws away the input value in-stead of storing it—the input is thenmerely a signal to do what comes next.Each input process in an ALT constructcan also have a logical condition (calleda guard) in front of it. The process canthen execute only if it's the first toreceive input and the guard is true.

More conventional selection is donewith IF, although it requires no THEN orELSE. Instead, IF is followed by a seriesof one or more conditions and it ex-ecutes the process associated with the

Listing 1: This short program

illustrates many of Occam's features. It's a

simple

editor that allows text to typed

on the screen. However, in the background

is a "time-

bomb" that inserts the word "WHAM!" into the text at regular real-time

intervals.

PROC bang (CHAN sendl =

- PRINT STRING

DEF bang.word = "WHAM!" :

- set up string as a byte vector

SEQ i » 11 FOR bang.word|BYTE Oil - first byte contains count

send ! bang.word|i] :

- output string to channel

PROC bomb(CHAN ready! -

- BACKGROUND PROCESS

DEF timefuse = 1000 :

- a constant

VAR count:

WHILE TRUE

- an endless loop

SEQ

count := 0

WHILE count < timefuse

- a delay loop

SEQ

count := count+ 1

ready ! a' :

- send an a' as ready signal :

- (any value would dol

CHAN scare:

- MIN PROGRAM BODY

PAR

bomb(scare)

- runs continually in background

VAR char:

WHILE TRUE

ALT

- either echo a char or WHAM!

keyboard ? char

- receive char from keyboard

SEQ

SCREEN ! char

- echo to screen

scare ? ANY

- throw away the a'

SEQ

banglscreenl

- put WHAM! on screen

first one that is true (on paper this time),so it also functions as a CASEstatement:

IF

x=l

output! ! xx = 2

output2 ! x

Loops can be programmed usingWHILE <condition> .... but a farmore powerful kind of repetition usingthe less-conventional "replicator" isavailable, which allows any of the pre-viously mentioned compound pro-cesses to be cloned a stated number oftimes. For instance, PAR i = [0 FOR n|creates an array of n parallel processeswhose components can be accessed bythe value of the index i. When used withSEQ, the replicator produces an itera-tion equivalent to a FOR ... NEXT loop,while ALT i = |0 for n| chooses from anarray of n channels.

Occam's other features include theprovision of arrays of variables or chan-nels that can be passed as parameters(of unspecified size) to processes.Named constants and tables of con-stants (including string literals) can bedefined, and string handling is donewith byte arrays, as in C or FORTH.

TIME, a special input channel, catersto real-time programming; it is alwaysready and returns the current time fromthe system clock. When used withAFTER, it causes a process to wait untila given absolute time:

TIME ? AFTER t

This use of absolute times rather thanrelative delays simplifies the program-ming of device controllers because aprogrammer doesn't need to worryabout how much time the actual con-trol actions take. Many of the operationsthat are the stock-in-trade of communi-cations engineers can be expressed ina single Occam process. For instance,a set of channels can be multiplexedwith a replicated ALT, or a pipeline offilters could be set up using a replicatedPAR. A sample Occam program isshown in listing 1.

Occam has an advantage over con-ventional languages for concurrent pro-gramming in that a program can be de-veloped on a single processor and thenrun unaltered on any number of Trans-

(conlinued)

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The integrated "smart"editor understands thesyntax of Occam.

puters sharing parallel processes forfaster execution. This requires use of aconstruct called the PLACED PAR,which specifies a destination processor.The decision about how many pro-cessors to use can be left until the lastminute and made on cost/efficiencygrounds without affecting the programdesign.

Because the Transputer is not yetavailable, 1NMOS decided to producea demonstration Occam compiler soprogrammers could get some experi-ence with it now. The Occam EvaluationKit has been on sale for about a yearnow and it runs under the UCSD p-System on various personal computersincluding the Apple 11, IBM PC, and theVictor 9000. This kit implements all themajor aspects of the language exceptfor PLACED PARs. but it has only twochannels to the outside world—the pre-defined "keyboard" and "screen." It ishighly suitable for learning the lan-guage, but rather slow in compiling andexecution because concurrency is onlysimulated on the single processor bytime-slicing (p-code is not fast anyway).

1NMOS currently is putting the finaltouches on the production compiler,which is written in Occam and will runfirst on the DEC (Digital Equipment Cor-poration) VAX, compiling to nativecode. It should be available to devel-opers by the time you read this. To writethe compiler in Occam, a "tiny" Occamthat left out ALT and some other con-structs was written; it is used tobootstrap the full compiler. The com-piler is written in modular fashion, sothat code generators for the Motorola68000, Intel iAPX series, and theTransputer itself can be bolted on later.(INMOS has a Transputer emulator run-ning on the VAXes at Bristol.) The com-piler also uses concurrency with thelexer, parser, scoper, and generatorpasses running in pipelined fashion andcommunicating via channels. WhenTransputers are available, INMOS willuse several in a development worksta-tion to achieve compile times at leastfive times better than possible on anequivalent sequential machine.

The compiler has an integrated"smart" editor that understands the syn-tax of Occam. For example, it handlesall the indentation automatically. Ratherthan taking the fashionable mouse-and-icon route, the design team chose tofollow a less popular path: it used a"folding" editor similar to that devel-oped in Cornell University's ProgramSynthesizer. The folding editor is a full-screen text editor with the facility forany process body to be folded out ofsight (like an accordion) at a single key-stroke, so all that appears on the screenis a dotted line bearing the name of theprocess. Another keystroke unfolds theprocedure and reveals its code.

Folds can be nested to any depth soan entire program (with all its sub-processes neatly folded away) can bedisplayed on a single screen. While notas pretty as overlapping windows, thistechnique has the advantage of beingable to work on the humblest of text-only serial terminals—it doesn't requirean ultrahigh-resolution bit-mappedscreen. In the final product these foldswill work under a FORTH-like virtual-memory system so that when you un-fold a process, its source code will beautomatically retrieved from disk if itisn't already in memory.

A CHECK command performs a syn-tax check on the current fold using thecursor to pinpoint the site of the error,so a program should be completely freeof syntax errors by the time it's reallycompiled. The aim is to create a pro-gramming environment that is almost asinteractive as a good BASIC interpreter.

On a multi-Transputer system, recom-pilation should be so fast that libraryroutines can be kept in source form andcombined in the editor. For other hostsystems, it's likely that separate com-pilation (as in C or Modula-2) will be in-cluded, with the fold as the compilationunit. However, linking machine-codemodules is possible through the hostmachine's operating system so thatusers who are programming processorsother than the Transputer can writedrivers for the serial ports that imple-ment Occam's external channels.

Though the language itself is small,the requirements of compiling parallelprocesses make the compiler fairlygreedy; it occupies around 78K bytesof RAM and around 90,000 words ofworkspace on a VAX. Ongoing optimiza-

tion work is aimed at reducing these re-quirements, and, by the time the com-piler is released (late summer targetdate), 68000-based systems like theSage IV with 2 56K bytes of RAM shouldsupport it comfortably.

Cray on a Desk?

If all goes as planned, the Transputerand Occam promise to have dramaticeffects on computer design. Initial in-terest is coming, predictably, from de-signers with a vested interest in com-munications. The first commercial appli-cations probably will be in the areas ofdigital-signal processing, process con-trol, and telecommunications. At Lon-don's Imperial College, a team workingon a parallel supercomputer to run fifth-generation functional languages haschose Transputers as the processingelements, largely because of their fastI/O.

A network of Transputers could be in-dispensable in a wire-guided aircraft-control system in which each airframesubsystem could possess its own intel-ligence and the whole system could re-configure itself under software controlin the event of failure.

Performance projections of a two-dimensional array of Transputers incomputing discrete Fourier transformswere published by INMOS at Westcon83; these projections promise super-computer power without custom-hardware expense. Similar arrays (ortrees) of Transputers can be used forultrafast database searches.

The Transputer also promises greatthings for personal computer design.The family of Transputer chips will in-clude an intelligent disk controller (IMSM2I2) and a graphics controller (IMSG213) that will draw at 4 megabits persecond. Both chips can act as parallelprocessors in addition to their spe-cialized functions. A workstation con-taining these two controllers and one ormore 32-bit Transputers would make aformidable CAD/CAM (computer-aideddesign/computer-aided manufacturing)system in a single box. The sort of ad-vanced user interfaces presaged byXerox's Alto and Apple's Lisa andMacintosh would barely tax the capa-bilities of such a machine, to whichmore processing power could be addedas necessary in the form of multi-Transputer boards. ■

366 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

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change without notice. Circle 266 on inquiry card.

PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

(continued from page 123)

an outline: an outline need not be used for frame organiza-tion. When an outline is a structural device, symbols thatrepresent one of the various sorts of data frames appearalongside each item.

Building Relationships

Fred, a macro programming language that takes as its start-ing point the formula macros found in many spreadsheets,is close to the heart of Framework. Though the drop-downmenus control major operations and the outline generatoroversees structure, it is Fred that provides the tools forsophisticated maneuvers with frames and the data theycontain.

At its simplest level, Fred provides a wide-ranging assort-ment of commands for manipulating data within spreadsheetand database cells: Fred is used to build computation for-mulas. Fred also contains a large selection of commands forformatting and displaying data and chaining frames foroutput.

At a more sophisticated level, Fred is capable of inter-preting variables whose names are created from the namesand titles of units of data within the overall structure. Thisfacility enables you to link things: one spreadsheet to anotherspreadsheet, a spreadsheet cell to a selection of databasecells, or a database to a graphics chart.

Just as frames can be inserted almost anywhere in the struc-ture, so too can Fred macros be attached to individual chunksof data, frames, frame labels, and the master outline.Everything in Framework revolves around the frame concept:a formula for a single spreadsheet cell can be blown out toa full frame of Fred programming.

Finally, Fred can be used to create extensions of itself thatcan be stored as frames. Frequently repeated operations orcomplicated procedures can be reduced to one-word Fredmacros.

Word Processing

The Framework word processor is used in much the samefashion as its database, spreadsheet, and graphics programs.You enter a Framework editing frame either directly from thedesktop by creating an empty word frame from the Createmenu at the top of the display, or in a more structured man-ner by building from an element in an outline frame.

Word-processing style in Framework is tied closely tooutline frames. While it is possible to work with documentsas long as 32,000 characters, Framework encourages a writingpractice that involves beginning a proposal, report, or arti-cle by creating a preliminary list of frame titles in an emptyoutline frame. In practice, this means that full-lengthdocuments are composed of shorter blocks of text linkedtogether and displayed as a seamless whole on output. Thismay necessitate a period of adjustment for people who don'twrite from a working outline. Obviously, outline-based writingrequires a more organized approach, a process that someare more comfortable with than others.

The editor itself is relatively simple to master. Once insidea particular frame, the cursor appears as a bright rectangleoverlaid by a flashing inverse-video cursor. To move the cur-

(continued)

This October, 1983 ad

pulled 2,391

sales leads.On page ^89.

This is not an exception. In the sameissue on page 409, WYSE Technology's adgenerated 1,792 inquiries and the Pro-metheus ad —way back on page495-garnered 1,588.

Advertisers in BYTE receive an averageof over 1,000 inquiries per page of advertis-ing, an average of 1,300 for full-page orlarger ads. And not just in special, front-of-the-book positions, but all through thepages of BYTE.

BITE

Why? Because more than 430,000 high-tech computer sophisticates pay to readBYTE-cover to cover every month-for themicrocomputer information they want andneed. They'll send advertisers over 6 millionad inquiries this year, and over a half amillion BYTE readers will buy productsfrom ads they've seen in BYTE.

Including yours.

Talk to us —we're the people who wrotethe book on microcomputer marketing. Justcall Pete Huestis, Advertising SalesManager, at (603) 924-9281.

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PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

son you use the cursor keypad in conjunction with the con-trol key. The cursor-pad arrows by themselves move the cur-sor a character or a line at a time in any direction. With thecontrol key depressed, they move either a word left or rightor a sentence backward or forward. The popular WordStarcontrol-key sequences are not supported by Framework;however, the capability of the Fred language to make key-board macros should simplify redefining the command set.

Cursor control also offers the capability to move a fullscreen either forward or backward within a frame and tomove instantly to the beginning or the end of a document.Because Framework keeps all the information you are work-ing with in RAM (limited, of course, by the available memoryof your system), text-editing operations take place very quick-ly; moving from the beginning to the end of a large docu-ment occurs virtually immediately.

Framework uses three of the function keys on the left sideof the keyboard to move and copy text either within or be-tween frames (it also is possible to move or copy entireframes from within an outline frame). Pressing the F6 func-tion key marks a text selection, F7 moves the block, and F8copies it to a new location as indicated by current cursorposition.

The outline frame acts as an on-line table of contents, en-abling you to scan quickly your "chapters" (smaller textfragments) while working within a document. It also lets youprint a finished table-of-contents page with chapter numbersand corresponding page numbers for each separate frame.

On a monochrome monitor. Framework's word processordoes not produce true what-you-see-is-what-you-get output.However, given the restrictions of a character-based display,the program goes a long way toward permitting control overthe appearance of text. On-screen formatting functions areaccessed through a menu item at the top of the desktopcalled Words. You can select this menu at any time eitherby holding down a control key and the W key or, on the IBMPC keyboard, by using the Insert key in conjunction with thecursor keys. The Words menu lets you set a text block as nor-mal, boldface, underlined, or italicized. Because the char-acter-mapped display does not accurately display all of thesefonts. Framework shows boldface text as highlighted on thescreen. Both underlined and italicized text are shown asunderlined. On a color monitor, boldface, italicized, andunderlined text are all visible.

To change the display of any block of text, you first selectit by using the function keys to the left of the keyboard. Thenyou choose a new option from the Words menu. The Wordsmenu also contains four text-alignment commands andseparate commands for setting margins, paragraph indenta-tion, and tab spacing. You can align text as flush left, flushright, justified, and centered.

In order to reformat all the paragraphs in a word frame,you first must move out of the individual frame to the frame-label level by pressing the gray + or - keys on the right-handside of the PCs numeric keypad and then issue the commandto change the format parameters.

You can implement fancier printed output by using a specialset of verbs from the Fred programming language. Languageelements are put together in a formula, or program, for a

(continued)

372 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 264 on inquiry card.

Houston Instrument's

newthe compact digitizer

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Houston Instrument has molded superiorelectronics into a handy 8" x 7" wedge-shaped tablet to give you a high-precisiondigitizer that also can be used as a mouse forcursor control.

By simply touching stylus to pad, youcan drive the cursor to any point on yourcomputer screen. So, with the PC Padand appropriate software, you get the

capabilities of a mouse and a digitizer in onesmall product...for one low price—$395.*

Features for Professionals

For systems builders, or for softwareauthors who want to create a graphicspackage for an innovative product, the PCPad is a perfect mix of convenient size andadvanced capability.

With a PC Pad, you can convert minutedetails into data a computer can store. APC Pad will address over one millionindividual points, allowing you to utilizesophisticated graphics monitors. No otherdigitizer its size has comparable resolution.

Easy to Interface

The PC Pad is compatible with the sameserial formats used with HoustonInstrument's popular HIPAD ™ digitizers,and can be used with any computer whichhas an RS-232-C interface.

For more information about the compact,versatile PC Pad, contact HoustonInstrument, P.O. Box 15720, Austin, Texas78761 or call (512)835-0900. Outside Texascall 800-531-5205 for the name and locationof your nearest representative. In Europecontact Houston Instrument, Belgium NV.,Rochesterlaan 6, 8240 Gistel, Belgium. Tel.059-27-74-45, TLX. 846-81399.

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PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

frame. As the language is generalized throughout Framework,you can apply it to a frame whether it is a database, spread-sheet, of word frame, and frames of different types can beoutput as a continuous report.

The Fred printing verbs control the formatting of the finaldocument and enable you to set margins, line spacing,headers, footers, and so on. They are essential text-orientedformula functions that are established while at the level ofthe frame label. These verbs affect only the printing of frameinformation; they do not affect the way a document appearson the screen. To insert a printing formula, you press the F2Edit Formula key and enter the printing verbs you need toproduce the desired effect. Like other verbs in the Fred lan-guage, each printing verb begins with the @ symbol and isseparated from others by commas. Because frames can benested, formatting verbs attached to the highest level of adocument affect the printing of every frame the documentcontains. Verbs in an individual frame border supersede thoseat the document level, but only for the specific frame withwhich they're associated.

The Framework editor or independent utility programs canread WordStar or ASCII (American National Standard Codefor Information Interchange) files prepared with otherword-processing programs into Framework frames. Docu-ments longer than the 32,000-character frame limit are splitinto succeeding frames; the initial frame is titled with theoriginal filename, and subsequent frames are untitled.

Database Management

The Framework database manager is based on a relationaldatabase model. It is not designed as a "heavy-duty"database, in the sense of AshtonTate's dBASE II or III, to han-dle files of unlimited scope. In fact, designers at Forefrontare careful to stress that the database is not meant to replacethe dBASE series, both to avoid conflicts within the Ashton-Tate product line and because Framework databases arelimited by RAM availability. Framework will be sold withspecial utilities that permit users to load in and filter eitherdBASE or ASCII data files; you can use Framework as a toolto view sections of large databases prepared with other pro-grams and to incorporate that data into Framework reports.

The developers have made an effort to retain a commonuser interface throughout the various Framework applica-tions, and the database manager is no exception. For exam-ple, you create a new database in Framework by opening anempty frame—the same way word-processing and spread-sheet frames are created. You select the Create menu andchoose the number of columns (fields) and rows (records)your database will have. You then move to the Databasemenu to open a new database frame. The default numberfor records and fields is 14 each, but this can be changedfrom the Create menu at any time; however, because eachFramework database file must reside entirely in memory,Forefront encourages users to start with database specifica-tions that are limited to the current number of records. Thenumber of records in the database can then be increasedduring later data-entry sessions.

What is the maximum number of records you can have ina given database? This depends largely on the total number

{continued)

376 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 342 on inquiry card.

Introducing the softwarethat makes communications

apiece of cake.

EasyLink"" InstantMail™" Manager softwareis probably the onlycommunicationspackage you'llever need.Designedto blend inperfectlywithWesternUnion'sEasyLinkservice, itmakes the totalcommunicationprocess easy, instant, andautomatic too.

All the right Ingredients.

EasyLink Instant Mail Manager works withEasyLink service to provide automatic access andtransmission of almost any type or length corre-spondence over the EasyLink network. So sendingmail instantly to virtually any other phone-equippedPC or word processor is a snap.

You can even reach people without equip-ment. Thanks to EasyLink's instant access to WesternUnion's Worldwide communications services.

EasyLink Instant Mail Manager also lets youaccess your company's computer or connect in-stantly to other business and information services.

The frosting on the cake.

EasyLink Instant Mail Manager is more thansimple "send and receive" software. With it, you alsohave complete word processing capabilities. So youcan easily create, edit and change the format of

© 1984 Western Union

Circle 327 on inquiry card.

your correspondence, thensend it without everchanging software.And, unlikemost other communi-cations software,EasyLink InstantMail Managerallows you tocreate andmanage apermanentelectronic address filethat stores hundreds of namesand addresses. So you can instantly speedcorrespondence to anyone. Anytime.

if you need It, getting help Is sweetand simple,

EasyLink Instant Mail Manager is set upto guide you step by step. From how to formatmessages to how you go about sending them.

EasyLink Instant Mail Manager softwareand EasyLink service. The perfect mix.

Available now at your computer softwaredealer or call 1-800-336-3797 ext.908 for moreinforma-tion. ^^%J^

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ink

Available for the IBM PC and compatible equipment.AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 377

Circle 58 on inquiry card.

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PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

of database fields you're using and the amount of memoryavailable in your computer. Let's assume you have a databasecomposed of 10 records of 10 characters each. Accordingto Forefront, its tests indicate it will be possible to create a2,000-record database (it is possible to get at least partiallyaround this limit by writing macros using the Fred language).The benefits of keeping an entire database file in memoryare obvious—Forefront claims that its database manager iscapable of sorting 200 records per second.

An empty database frame is divided into two horizontalwindows. The bottom window is the table area, in which youcan enter data, and the top window is a row in which youenter field labels (and define formulas). When creating a newFramework database, your first step is to declare field namesand adjust field widths. You create fields by typing in thelabels that name them and then pressing the Tab or Returnkey. You adjust fields by selecting a field, pressing the F4 Sizekey, and resizing the field with the left or right arrow key onthe keypad. If you need to add new fields after the databasehas been created, it is only necessary for you to highlightthe field you want the new one to follow, select the ColumnAdd key from the Create menu, and press the Insert key.Modifications to the structure of a database do not destroydata.

You navigate through a Framework database by using thecursor keys in conjunction with the control key. You can moveto a field or record in any direction or jump to the first orlast record of the database. Moving or copying informationis possible either within a single database or between data-bases, word-processing frames, and spreadsheets. This pro-cedure is exactly the same as it would be for copying or mov-ing blocks of information elsewhere in Framework.

Although the default mode of the Framework databasemanager is a "table" view, you also can select a "forms" viewby pressing the F10 View key. This lets you display each fieldin your database as a separate frame within the largerdatabase frame. You also can set up customized display formsusing the F3 Drag key to relocate individual fields.

To pull a particular record out of a Framework database,you use the Locate menu at the top of the screen. This menuenables you to search for a particular word, phrase, or value,as well as to perform sorts of a database. Sorts put recordsin ascending or descending alphabetical and numerical order.Multiple sorts require repeated sorts of individual fields.

Possibly the most intriguing feature of the Frameworkdatabase manager is the capability of defining databasemacros using the Fred language. You also can use formulaswithin individual databases, as well as for automatic calcula-tion of fields and the identification of records that meet par-ticular criteria. Formulas can be entered in a field, at the labelof a field, or at the top label of a database. At the field level,a formula is referred to as a local formula, and the formulais calculated only for that field in a particular record. At thefield-label level, a formula operates on an entire column ina database. For example, to automatically calculate a 12 per-cent commission for each record, you could enter the follow-ing formula in the label window of a database frame:

@SET(COMMISSION, SALES • .12)

{continued)

378 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 353 for Dealer inquiries.Circle 354 for End-User inquiries.

adds VISION to your PC

>0/20 Vision for $495.

Quick and versatile, PC-EYE conyour IBM PC or PC/XT into a high-performance image processing sys-tem. It improves productivity throughbetter communications. $495 for PC-EYE wilt allow you to capture anyobject that can be viewed with astandard EIA P.S-170 compatiblevideo camera. The image can then bedisplayed, stored, processed, printed,or remotely transmitted. High resolu-tion and real-time display interactionallow simple adjustment of light, fo-cus, or object position for superbquality pictures.

Adds computer picturepower for...

■ Graphic Presentations

■ Personal Teleconferencing

■ Document/Report Generation

■ Surveillance/Security

■ Measurement and Inspection

■ Thermography

Uses are so varied thatChorus offers softwaredevelopers the chance topromote their products inour PC-EYE Catalog. Spe-cial awards will be givenperiodically for the soft-ware judged most uniqueor of greatest interest.

Software makes ithappen

Utility software is in-cluded with menu drivensupport for various graph-ics adaptors and printers.This support includes in-teractive control of imageborders, white and blacklevel, and image locationwithin the borders. Theuser can direct input to

"Trademark for CHORUS DATA SYSTEMS' family of video capture products.

main memory or the graphics adaptormemory; compare images; and storeimages or set-up parameters on disc.

Software application packages soon to

ort are: digitalj, slide generation,■smrnunications, anddata base management.

Compare our specifications:

Input: Any EIA RS-170 (Monoch-rome or RGB) video sourceSpatial Resolution: Up to 640 x 512pixels

Intensity Range: 2, 4, and 16 levels(or pseudo-colors) standard; 64levels optionalCapture Speed:

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.1 second for a 320 x 200 x 4 levelimage

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Get started with the

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* The B& W pictures are taken with a 35mmSLR camera. The pictures were capturedwith an RCA TC 1005 video camera on anIBM XT and sent to the monitor with a Tec-mar Graphics Master" graphics adapter inthe 640 x 400 x 16 level mode via its com-posite output.

CHORUS

Chorus Data Systems, Inc., 6 Continental Blvd., P.O. Box 370, Merrimack, New Hampshire 03054

Circle 346 on inquiry card. AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 379

e secon

series

rmm\

GUIDES.

___

THE SMALL SYSTEMS JOURNAL

$4.00 IN USA/

$4.50 IN CANA|A

DISPLAY'UNTIL

JANUARY 3, 1985

to the APPLE

Personal

Computers

Apple He Apple III Apple lie Macintosh Lisa 2

:

APPLE and APPLE Logo are registered trademarks of APPLE Computers, Inc.

""

This is not a regular edition of BYTE.The BYTE GUIDE to the Apple PersonalComputers is your opportunity for ex:posure to the most select micro audience

Apple owners and users read BYTEmore than any other micro publication;They rely on BYTE for objective reportinand state-of-the-art analysis of the entirefamily of Apple micros and compatibles.

438,000 paid BYTE readers influencepurchasing decisions for hundreds of

Every month BYTE draws over 500,00(nquiries to advertised products. The onway to reach this responsive, influentialand well-salaried audience is to showcaseyour product in the BYTE GUIDE to theApple Personal Computers.

millions of dollars in micro products. Ancthey are buying Apple:

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micros own Apple PCs for businessand personal use.• 28% of our subscribers who plan tobuy personal computers plan to buyApple for business and personal use.

To reserve your advertising spaccall your local BYTE advertisingsalesperson or Pete Huestis,Adv. Sales Mgr., at (603) 924-9281.

'.losing dateror space reservations

8/21

BYTE GUIDES.

The One Source

i References: 1983 Talmis Study

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PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

Assuming that both Commission and Sales columns exist,this formula causes the appropriate commission amount tobe automatically entered in every record. If this seems tobe quite similar to the way in which formulas are used inspreadsheet operations, the coincidence is intentional.

Formulas entered at the level of the frame border of a par-ticular database are called filter formulas. They cause theframe to hide all records that fail to meet a particular criterion;it is later possible to restore hidden records. You also canemploy filter formulas to delete or move specific datasetsfrom a database.

The Spreadsheet Environment

Within Framework, a full-featured spreadsheet environmentis two keystrokes away. That's all it takes to create a spread-sheet frame that also can share data with database and graphframes and be positioned within an outline.

As with database frames, you initially determine the sizeof each spreadsheet by specifying the number of rows andcolumns desired. You can add or delete rows and columnsfreely as the model develops. Because spreadsheet size isdependent on available memory, this feature enables youto minimize the memory used by each spreadsheet.

Like other frames created within Framework, a spreadsheetframe can be labeled, stretched, moved, copied, saved, putaway, included in an outline, zoomed to a full view, and other-wise manipulated on the desktop. You do this with the samefunction keys, special keys, and menus common to all frameson the desktop.

Once inside the spreadsheet frame, the same keys are againused to manipulate spreadsheet cells and data. For exam-ple, the Size function key used to stretch frames and databasefields is used to dynamically stretch column widths to suityour needs. The Select function key used to highlight wordsand paragraphs for moving and copying in the word-processing environment is used to highlight ranges of spread-sheet cells for manipulation. The same menu items used toformat text in the word processor can be used to createunderlining, italics, and boldface within a spreadsheet. Youcan print spreadsheets using the common print option withinthe master set of menus. The sorting of whole or partial col-umns of data, and even the word-processing search-and-replace functions, operate within the spreadsheet environ-ment. Search-and-replace also can be used to edit formulas.

You letter columns and number rows as in conventionalspreadsheets. Formulas can be developed using these stan-dard alphanumeric cell references or by using row and col-umn labels. For example, say you were to place columnheadings in the topmost row of a spreadsheet as Januarythrough December and row headings in the leftmost columnas Revenue, Expense, and Net. After entering revenue andexpense figures for the various months, you could thenreference January revenue in a formula as +January.Revenue.You even can use cursor pointing to construct formulas andhave the row/column name references appear as you pointto various cells.

You can tie spreadsheets to other spreadsheets ordatabases quite freely, eliminating the need to constructmassive grids merely in order to link variables. The

(continued)

382 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

One good idea

fflR»»x«wSM»H

deserves another

and another

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 383

PREVIEW: FRAMEWORK

Framework philosophy holds that giant spreadsheets are rare-ly used; most output fits onto 8'/2- by 11-inch sheets of paperand, by extension, can be held in a single frame.

Let's say you labeled the spreadsheet frame (in thepreceding example) Income. The label you give to a spread-sheet frame serves as a pathway into that frame. If you werein another spreadsheet on the desktop and wanted to bringin the January revenue figure described above, you wouldsimply enter the formula -i-Income.January.Revenue. To bringin the total of a column of figures in the Amount field of adatabase frame labeled Clients, you would enter the formula@SUM(Clients.Amount). It's that easy. You can even jump inand out of different frames while pointing to variables to con-struct your formula.

In the process of developing formulas, you can zoom theformula to full-screen size for a clear view. Comments canbe placed in formulas using semicolons. If you were to begina long formula and start to get confused, pressing the Zoomfunction key would give you a full-screen view of your for-mula, whereupon you could place comments within the for-mula and further develop it over several lines. A single for-mula, therefore, can be a rather sophisticated data-manipulation program—a very powerful feature.

Absolute and relative references are considered when for-mulas are copied. You denote an absolute reference byprefacing either the row number or column letter or bothwith a $. Using the # places the results of the computationof the formula into the cell and then removes the formula.

Framework spreadsheets are certainly not lacking in built-in functions. All of the standard functions (@ functions)available in the best spreadsheets on the market are presentin Framework. Not only is there an Internal Rate of Return(@IRR) function, but a Modified Internal Rate of Return(@MIRR) as well. @MIRR uses a combination of safe and riskinterest rates to more realistically calculate return whennegative cash flows are involved.

Date and time functions include ©TODAY and ©DIFFDATEfunctions and a variety of date formats. Financial functionsinclude future, present, and net present value in addition toreturn and loan amortization functions. All the logical Booleanoperators are available, including error-checking functions.The full complement of standard arithmetic and trigonometricfunctions includes ceiling, floor, and random-number genera-tion. Standard statistical functions are also included.

Strings can be freely used in formulas as long as youenclose them in double quotes. For example, you might wantto say

@lF(lanuary.lncome > $80,000,"Thank you very much". "More please")

You are not restricted to a specific small number of characters,and you can use spaces in the text string. A variety of built-in string functions also are provided for converting text tovalues and vice versa. You can concatenate values to otherlabels. Best of all, you can develop your own @ functions,which you can then freely use in formula development.

Once your own functions and templates have been im-plemented, you can serialize them with a special utility; thismeans that only the copy of Framework you used to pro-duce them can be employed to examine or edit the formulas

in them. Cells can be protected as with conventional spread-sheets. After protection, you can use a Blank command toremove all data from a template so you can store it emptyfor later use.

Macro command files can be developed within the spread-sheet environment to control complex procedures, and theycan be loaded each time you wish to use them. These com-mand files can be associated with single-letter mnemonicspreceded by the Alt key; Alt-keystrokes then execute a wholeseries of commands, relieving you of having to enter themone at a time from the keyboard.

Business Graphics

Graphing data from a spreadsheet or database can take lesstime than rebooting your computer. The easiest way is to usethe Select function key to highlight the range of data you wantto graph. Then simply choose the Graph menu option andtell Framework to draw by pressing the Return key a coupleof times. A graph frame is created automatically with yourgraph displayed inside. Scaling is calculated, and the columnheadings placed in Row 1 of your source are used as periodlabels. Of course, you can polish up the graph, but a quick-and-dirty preview is close at hand.

Once a graph has been derived from a particular spread-sheet or database and you want the graph to be recalculatedas you edit your source data, simply enter the name of thegraph frame in the lower right-hand corner of the sourceframe.

On the IBM PCs color monitor, Framework displays thedesktop in black-and-white, high-resolution mode; whengraphics frames appear scaled down on the desktop, theyalso appear in those two colors. If you zoom in to a full-screendisplay however, you can view your graph in four colors. Onmonochrome monitors, the different colors are indicated withdifferent textures and shading.

Putting It All Together

There's a lot to Framework, and the diversity of its capacitymight make learning to operate it seem like a major under-taking. However, the common command structure and thesimilarity of procedures from one application to anothershould cut down on the learning curve significantly.

This is the first time that outline processing has beenbrought into integrated business software as a major organiz-ing feature. It is unfamiliar and not necessarily suited to theworking styles that the software marketplace has causedmany users to adopt; in that sense, it marks a radical breakwith the past. Rather than letting you continue with old habits,outline processing may force you to think about your workin an entirely new way. This may mark a change as strikingas the one brought about by the introduction of the first com-puterized spreadsheets.

Framework offers an important pathway into outline pro-cessing that may make the transition easier. The outline struc-ture need not be called into play until it's required.Framework's application elements are strong enough stand-ing alone to be used independently. You don't have to usethe outlines to accomplish real work—you can sneak up onthem bit by bit as you go about your tasks. When you're readyfor the full power of outline processing, it's waiting for you. ■

384 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

THE 65816

(continued from page 126)

is now "X." On the 6502 (and on the65816 in its 6502 emulation), X indi-cates a BRK (Break) instruction. A soft-ware interrupt, it transfers control to thesame routine as does the hardware in-terrupt, IRQ (masked by flag "I".). Whennot emulating a 6502, the 65816 addsa separate vector (see figure 2) that de-fines the software interrupt routine'slocation. This vector relieves the routinefrom having to determine which type ofinterrupt invoked it.

The new "M" flag, as well as X, is usedwhen the 65816 is not emulating a6502. They both determine whetheroperations treat the accumulator andindex registers as 8- or 16-bit entities.The M flag, when set to "1," indicatesthat the accumulator is to be treated asan 8-bit register; when set to 0, the ac-cumulator is 16 bits long. The X flag hasthe same effect on the index (X and Y)registers.

The added "E" flag determineswhether the 65816 emulates a 6502 oracts as a 16-bit processor. Since thestatus register is defined as having only8 bits, the E flag is conceptually an ex-tension of the C flag. While E cannot bedirectly tested, set, or cleared, XCE (ex-change C and E flags) permits swappingwith the C flag, which can.

The additional 16-bit register, calledthe "direct register," determines place-ment of the "direct page" in bank zero.As on the 6502, one special page inmemory is designated for the most fre-quently used or most time-critical por-tions of a program. Because the addresswithin this page can be completelyspecified in a single byte, instructionscan be shorter. This arrangement resultsin smaller programs, and, since the pro-cessor fetches one less byte per instruc-tion, execution is faster. On the 6502,the direct page (also called "zero page")resides permanently at the beginning ofmemory; that is, the high-order byte ofthe address is 0. On the 65816, thedirect page can appear anywhere inbank zero, even across normal pageboundaries. This feature permits moreflexibility in context switching and shar-ing of data between subroutines or co-routines. Also notable, if the low-orderbyte of the direct register (DL) is non-zero, the 65816 needs an extra cycle forevery instruction that has any form ofdirect page addressing. The additional

cycle is used to add DL to an offset. IfDL is zero, the 65816 has special cir-cuitry to skip that cycle. Except in spe-cial cases, therefore, the direct pageshould begin on a page boundary. Thedirect register can be accessed by trans-ferring data to or from either the C ac-cumulator or the stack.

The two new 8-bit bank registers givethe 65816 its ability to access a full 16megabytes of memory. As shown infigure 1, the program bank register(PBR) is an extension of the programcounter. A program can read the reg-ister's contents only after pushing themonto the stack and then loading theminto another processor register. PBR ismodified by "long" forms of the jumpand jump-to-subroutine instructions. Al-though its contents can be pushed ontothe stack, PBR cannot be loaded exceptwhen it is also loading the programcounter. If PBR were ever loaded inde-pendently, the next instruction after theone that loaded it would be fetchedfrom the "following" location—but in adifferent bank. This unfamiliar instruc-tion, in turn, would most likely lead theprocessor off into never-never land.

In some addressing modes, such asdirect page addressing, the data bankregisters explicitly specify the banknumber. In any case, where the banknumber is not laid down precisely, thedata bank registers assign one. Strictlyspeaking, they are not extensions of theindex registers, except in the sense thatthey help form those addresses that usethe indexed addressing modes. Thedata bank registers are accessedthrough the stack and can be modifiedby the block move instructions de-scribed next.

New Instructions

In "The CMOS 6502" (December 1983BYTE, page 443), I pointed out that thenewer version added a number of in-structions to those of the NMOS (nega-tive-channel metal-oxide semiconduc-tor) 6502. Those instructions filled gapsin the instruction set and rounded it outfor the 6502.

The 65816 goes a step further by add-ing some nice-to-have instructions plussome others needed for the change to16 bits and the addition of new regis-ters. The op (operation) codes corres-ponding to hexadecimal codes 7x andFx ("set and reset individual bits in page

zero" and "branch if bit set or reset inpage zero") are present only on theRockwell version of the 65C02. WesternDesign Center, the designer of both the65C02 and the 65816, does not specifythem. On the 65816, Western reservesthe 7x and Fx equivalents for "long" ad-dressing modes of existing instructions.A description of the long addressingmodes follows.

Figure 3 shows the complete instruc-tion set of the 65816. The hexadecimalcode for each op code is given by thedigit at the left end of the row (most sig-nificant digit) and the digit at the top ofthe column (least significant digit). Theop-code mnemonic is three capital let-ters, followed by the addressing modein lowercase. The number at the lowerleft of each box gives the number ofbytes for the op code plus its operand(s)(address or data). In the case of the im-mediate addressing mode with 16-bitdata, one additional byte is required.The number in the lower right of eachbox gives the basic number of clockcycles required for the instruction.

Additional cycles are required for avariety of cases, since this figure ismerely the number of cycles for execut-ing that instruction in the fastest case.For example, add one cycle for instruc-tions using the direct register for partof an address if DL is not zero; add acycle for read or write operations using16-bit data; add two cycles for read-modify-write instructions, such as shifts,using 16-bit data; add one cycle forbranch instructions (including BRA)when the branch is taken, and anotherif the branch crosses page boundariesin the 6502 emulation mode; add onecycle for indexed addressing modeswhere the indexing causes a page boun-dary crossing; and add one cycle forREP or SEP (reset or set status registerflags) instructions using the immediateaddressing mode.

The NMOS 6502 allows several typesof conditional program branches butdoes not include an unconditional form.Since this is the only type of position-independent program transfer on the6502, some programs use a sequencesuch as SEC, BCS (set the carry flag,branch if carry set, respectively) toachieve an unconditional branch. The65816 instruction BRA (branch relativealways) fills this gap in the instruction

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 385

THE 65816

Table 4. W65SC816 Microprocessor Op Code Matrix

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

L!

7

iD

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

0

1

2345^

6

7MSD

8

9ABCDEF

BRK s2 e

0RA(d.x|2 6

COP s2*8

ORA sr2*4

TSB d2*5

ORA d2 3

ASL d2 5

ORA(dl)2*6

PHP s1 3

ORA imm2 2

ASL ace1 2

PHD s1*4

TSB a3*6

ORA a3 4

ASL a3 6

ORA a!4*5

0123456789ABCDEF

BPL r2 2

0RA(d).y2 5

ORA (d)2»5

ORA(sr),y2*7

TRB d2*5

ORA d,x2 4

ASL d.x2 6

ORAIdD.y2*6

CLC imp1 2

ORAa.y3 4

INC ace1*2

TCS imp1*2

TRB a3*6

ORA a.x3 4

ASL a.x3 7

ORA al.x4*5

JSR a3 6

AND(d.x)2 6

JSLal4*8

ANDsr2*4

BIT d2 3

AND d2 3

ROL d2 5

AND(dl)2*6

PLP s1 4

AND imm2 2

ROL ace1 2

PLD s

1*5

BIT a3 4

AND a3 4

ROL a3 6

ANDal4*5

BMI r2 2

AND(d|,y2 5

ANO(d)2*5

AND(sr),y2*7

BIT d,x2*4

ANO d.x2 4

ROL d.x2 6

ANDIdll.y2*6

SEC imp1 2

AND a.y3 4

DEC ace1*2

TSC imp1*2

BIT a.x3#4

AND a.x3 4

ROL a.x3 7

AND al.x4*5

RTI s1 7

EOR(d.x)2 6

WDMRESERVED

EORsr2*4

MVP xyc3*7

EOR d2 3

LSR d2 5

EOR(dl)2*6

PHA s1 3

EOR imm2 2

LSR ace1 2

PHK s1*3

JMP a3 3

EOR a3 4

LSR a3 6

EORal4*5

BVC r2 2

E0R(d),y2 5

EOR (d)2*5

E0R(st).y2*7

MVN xyc3*7

EOR d.x2 4

LSR d.x2 6

EORIdll.y2*6

CLI imp1 2

EOR a.y3 4

PHY s1*3

TCD imp1*2

JMPal3*4

EOR a.x3 4

LSR a,x3 7

EOR al.x

4*5

RTS s1 6

AOC(d.x)2 6

PER s3*6

ADC sr2*4

STZ d2*3

ADC d2 3

ROR d2 5

ADC(dl)2*6

PLA s1 4

AOC imm2 2

ROR ace1 2

RTL s1*6

JMP (a)3 5

ADC a3 4

ROR a3 6

ADCal4*5

BVS I2 2

ADC(d),y2 5

AOC(d)2*5

ADC(sr).y2*7

STZ d,x2»4

ADC d,x2 4

ROR d.x2 6

ADC(dl).y2*6

SEI imp1 2

AOC a.y3 4

PLY s»*4

TOC imp1*2

JMP(a.x)3*6

AOC a.x3 4

ROR a.x3 7

ADC al.x4*5

BRA r2*2

STA(d.x)2 6

BRLfl3*3

STAsr2*4

STY d2 3

STA d2 3

STX d2 3

STA(dl)2*6

DEY imp1 2

BIT imm2#2

TXA imm1 2

PHB s1*3

STY a3 4

STA a3 4

STX a3 6

STAal4*5

BCC r2 2

STA(d).y2 6

STA (d)2»5

STA(sr),y2*7

STY d.x2 4

STA d,x2 4

STX d.y

2 .4

STA(dl),y2*6

TYA imp1 2

STA a.y3 5

TXS imp1 2

TXY imp1*2

STZ a3*4

STA a.x3 5

STZ a.x3*5

STA al.x

4*5

LDY imm2 2

LDA(d.x)2 6

LDX imm2 2

LOAsr2*4

LDY d2 3

LDA d2 3

LDX d2 3

LDA(dl)2*6

TAY imp1 2

LDA imm2 2

TAX imp1 2

PLB s

1*4

LDY a3 4

LDA a3 4

LDX a3 4

LDA al4*5

BCS r2 2

LDAIdl.y2 5

LOA(d)2»5

L0A(sr).y2*7

LDYdx2 4

LDA d,x2 4

LDX d.y2 4

LOAjdDy2*6

CLV imp1 2

LDA a.y3 4

TSX imp1 2

TYX imp1*2

LDY a.x3 4

LDA a.x3 4

LDX a.y3 4

LDAal.x4*5

CPY imm2 2

CMP(d.x)2 6

REP imm2*3

CMPsr2*4

CPY d2 3

CMP d2 3

DEC d2 5

CMP(dl)2*6

INY imp1 2

CMP imm2 2

DEX imm1 2

WAI imp1*3

CPY a3 4

CMP a3 4

DEC a3 6

CMP at4*5

BNE r2 2

CMP(d).y2 5

CMP (d)2*5

CMP(sr),y2*7

PEI s2*6

CMP d.x2 4

DEC d.x2 6

CMP(dl).y2*6

CLO imp1 2

CMP a.y3 4

PHX s1#3

STP imp1*3

JML (a)3*6

CMP a.x3 4

DEC a.x3 7

CMP al.x4*5

CPX imm2 2

SBC(d.x)2 6

SEP imm2*3

SBC sr2*4

LPX d2 3

SBC d2 3

INC d2 5

SBC(dl)2 6

INX imp1 2

SBC imm2 2

NOP imp1 2

XBA imp

#

13

CPX a3 4

SBC a3 4

INC a3 6

SBCal4*5

BEQ t2 2

SBC(d),y2 5

SBC (d)2*5

SBC(sr),y2*7

PEA s3*5

SBC d.x2 4

INCd.x2 6

SBC(dl),y2*6

SED imp1 2

SBC a.y3 4

PLX s1*4

XCEimp1*2

JSR(a.x)3*6

SBC a.x3 4

INC a.x3 7

SBC al.x4*5

* New W65SC816 Op Codes

• W65SC02 Op Codes

Figure 3: The 65816s instruction set with hexadecimal equivalents, mnemonics, addressing-mode number of bytes for the op code andoperand, and the basic number of clock cycles required for the instruction.

set. Not only is BRA position indepen-dent, it requires 1 less byte than thealternative IMP (unconditional jump) in-struction. It is limited to destinationswithin 126 bytes before and 129 bytesafter the branch instruction, but thisrange is frequently wide enough forloops within a program.

Because the 6502 has a limited num-ber of registers, the index registers arefrequently turned to general-purposeuses. Since there are no instructions todirectly transfer data between indexregisters and the stack or between eachother, the accumulator sometimes isused to mediate transfers. The se-

quence PHA (push the A register on thestack), TXA (transfer the contents of theX register to A), PHA, TYA (transfer thecontents of Y to A), PHA is common insubroutines that must preserve all pro-cessor registers for the calling routine.The sequence for restoring the registersis equally clumsy. Also, the data in theA register is destroyed, and it is trickyfor the subroutine to recover this datafrom the stack without destroying datafor the index registers. The 65816 addsthe instructions PHX, PHY (push indexregisters to stack), PLX, PLY (pull indexregisters from stack), TXY, and TYX(transfer X to Y and Y to X, respective-

ly). This sequence lets a subroutine savejust those registers it needs to use andrestore, or save them in a different se-quence on the stack so that the data isavailable later in the correct sequence.

The 6502 has found applications bothin general-purpose systems and in spe-cial applications, such as printer con-trollers. Most general-purpose applica-tions don't often need the ability to setor reset specific bits of memory or in-put/output ports. Such dedicated appli-cations as printer or appliance con-trollers, on the other hand, frequentlyrely heavily on this ability.

Multiple-processor systems need the

386 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

THE 65816

ability to set and clear semaphores toarbitrate the use of resources such asmemory and peripherals. Furthermore,they must be able to do it in such a wayas to change a bit and then have accessto its previous state. The requirement ismade even more demanding by thestipulation that no other processor canalso get to the semaphore during suchaccess. The TRB (test and reset bits) andTSB (test and set bits) instructions pro-vide this capability. Bit 7 of the ad-dressed memory location is copied tothe C flag, and bit 6 is transferred to theV flag. TRB then computes the logicalAND of the memory data and the in-verse of the accumulator data, whileTSB computes the logical OR of thememory data and the accumulator.Either instruction then stores the resultback in the memory location and setsthe Z flag to indicate whether or not theresult was 0. The effect is to set or clearthe bits corresponding to "1" bits in theaccumulator, while loading the N and

V flags with the previous state of bits6 and 7 of memory. Two similar instruc-tions, REP and SEP, use a byte of im-mediate data to determine which statusregister bits to change. Using immediatedata is more economical than addingdistinct instructions for controlling eachsuch bit. There is still no instruction forcomplementing any of the flags.

Eight new instructions permit newtypes of stack accesses. Five of the eighttransfer registers to and from the stack:PHB and PLB for the data bank register,PHD and PLD for the direct register, andPHK for the program bank register.Again, there is no instruction to pull justthe program bank register from thestack.

The three other new stack instructionspermit pushing computed data onto thestack and then later pulling it back intoone of the processor registers or ac-cessing it through new stack-relative ad-dressing modes. The simplest of thethree is PEA (push effective absolute

address). This instruction pushes thethird byte and second byte of the in-struction, in that order, onto the stack.The name implies that the instruction ismeant to be used to pass a data block'saddress to a subroutine. However, itmight also be used to pass any fixed16-bit data. The effect is the same asloading the accumulator with 16-bit dataand then pushing the accumulator tothe stack, except that data in the ac-cumulator is left intact and PEA ex-ecutes faster.

The PE1 (push effective indirect ad-dress) instruction is only slightly morecomplex than the PEA instruction. Thesecond byte of the instruction is usedas an offset into the direct page(pointed to by the direct register), andthe two bytes of data at that and thenext-higher memory location arepushed onto the stack. The effect is tosave the contents of two memory loca-tions in the direct page, just as if they

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AUGUST 1984 • B YT E 387

THE 65816

made up a 16-bit processor register.

PER (push effective program-counter-relative address) passes the address ofa data block to a subroutine. The datais then stored within the calling routine,and the address is given as an offsetfrom the PER instruction's location. Thecalling routine treats the second andthird bytes of the instruction as a 16-bitquantity and adds them to the programcounter. The 16-bit result is the data tobe pushed on the stack. PEA and PERboth pass data stored in the callingroutine's code. While PEA can be usedto pass a single 16-bit quantity to a sub-routine, PER passes the address of awhole block of data.

Since the 65816 has several more in-ternal registers than the 6502, it needssome new instructions for transferringdata inside itself. Transfers between theX and Y index registers were coveredabove. The TCD (transfer accumulatorC to the direct register) and TDC (trans-fer D to C) instructions provide the onlyway to set or read the direct registerwithout using the stack. The 65816's TCS(transfer accumulator C to stack pointer)and TSC (transfer S to C) instructionsease the 6502's bottleneck of beingable to access the stack pointer onlythrough the X register. XBA (exchangeB and A) lets you flip-flop the upper andlower 8-bit halves of the accumulator tohelp it handle mixed 8- and 16-bit data.The Z and N flags are set during the ex-change to indicate the new status of theaccumulator. The XCE (exchange carryflag with emulation flag) is needed be-cause the emulation (E) flag does notactually belong to the status registerproper.

The RTL (return from subroutine-long) instruction is needed because anew absolute long addressing mode hasbeen applied to the JSR (jump to sub-routine) instruction. In addition to re-storing the program counter, RTL alsorestores the program bank register fromthe stack. In keeping with the conven-tion that higher-order bytes appearhigher in memory, RTL pushes the pro-gram bank register before and pulls itafter the normal program counter. RTI(return from interrupt) is always treatedby the program as a long return, sinceinterrupts, by their very nature, mustspecify the full address of the interruptroutine, possibly changing the programbank register in the process.

Several new instructions deal withcontrol of the system bus and clocks.The COP (coprocessor) instruction sup-ports coprocessors and acts like a soft-ware interrupt, except with its own vec-tor. The STP (stop the clock) instructionstops the system clock with the phasetwo clock high. This state can be re-leased only by a reset, which then func-tions as a high-priority interrupt, withthe stack set up correctly for the RTI in-struction to resume processing with theinstruction following the STP instruction.The WAI (wait for interrupt) instructionstops execution and waits for either themaskable or nonmaskable interrupt(IRQ or NMI). One additional code(WDM) is defined as a no-operation in-struction, but it is reserved for futureuse. The mnemonic comes from the de-sign engineer's initials.

The new block-move instructions,MVP and MVN, are reminiscent of theblock moves of the Z80 processor, ex-cept that they can be used to move ablock of memory anywhere within thefull 16-megabyte address space. MVP(move preceding) is meant to move datahigher in memory. The move starts atthe top end of the block and proceedsdownward. This procedure avoids over-writing data that has yet to be movedin cases where the old and new blocklocations overlap.

MVN (move next) is similarly intendedfor moving data. In this case, however,data is moved to a position that is lowerin memory, starting at the low end ofthe block and working upward throughit. The second byte of the instructiongives the bank address of the destina-tion memory area and the third bytegives the bank address of the old loca-tion in memory. The X register containsthe low-order 16 bits of the first byte'scurrent address. The Y register containsthe low-order 16 bits of the new ad-dress. The C accumulator contains thenumber of to-be-moved bytes minusone. Each byte moved requires sevenclock cycles, and the move can be in-terrupted and resumed through the nor-mal interrupt mechanisms. After com-pletion, the data bank register containsthe destination memory area's bank ad-dress. This is an important considera-tion since the program will normallyneed to operate on the data after mov-ing it. The X and Y registers are in-cremented or decremented as the move

proceeds. As a result, the Y register willhold the 16 low-order address bits ofthe next byte beyond (above or below)the new area. The A register containshexadecimal FFFF. The 65816 boastsversions suitable for clock rates from 1to 10 MHz. This capacity allows a sys-tem using the slowest clock to move acomplete 64K-byte data block (charac-ters to a very high resolution memory-mapped video display, for example) injust under half a second. With a 10-MHzclock, the same transfer would takesomewhat less time than a completescreen refresh (standard monitor withinterlaced scanning).

Addressing Modes

The 65816 includes all the addressingmodes of the standard 6502 plus anumber of new ones. The existing ad-dressing modes were extended to allowfor 24-bit addresses and 16-bit datawhere appropriate. Internal operationsemploying implied addresses take thedata width corresponding to the speci-fic registers being used. Most of the6502 addressing modes now have sepa-rate long addressing modes, allowingthem to use either a 16-bit addresswithin the bank specified by the databank pointer or a 24-bit address withinthe full 16-megabyte address space.

The immediate mode of the 6502 as-sumes that one of the operands is an8-bit quantity stored immediately afterthe op code. For operations on 16-bitregisters, the 65816 lets you store 16-bitdata in the two bytes following theoperation.

The addressing modes—absolute, in-direct indexed, and absolute indexedwith X (but not Y)—have new long formsas well as standard forms. Their stan-dard addressing modes specify the low-order 16 bits of the address; the high-order 8 bits come from the data bankregister. The zero page designation oncertain modes has been replaced bydirect page. The change is consistentwith this special page's new mobility asgranted by the direct register but leadsto such double-talk as "direct indirectindexed" for an addressing modedescription. To translate, keep in mindthat "direct" always refers to the directregister or page, "indirect" refers to thememory location(s) holding a furtheraddress rather than data, and "indexed"means adding an index register to the

388 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

THE 65816

address formed up to that point. Also,the name of the addressing modedescribes, from left to right, the orderin which the operations are performed.Thus, the example "direct indirectindexed" means that the instruction'soperand specifies a direct-page location(direct), which contains only an address(indirect), and to which the Y register isadded (indexed). Adding the Y registerforms the data's final address for thatparticular instruction. Other addressingmodes use these terms in different se-quences and in combination with other,more self-explanatory terms. For allcases, the same general idea holds.

The branch, jump, and jump-to-sub-routine instructions each retain their old6502 addressing modes. The jump andjump-to-subroutine instructions alsohave new long addressing modes thatload both the program counter and theprogram bank register with new values.In addition, both jump and jump-to-sub-routine have new indexed addressing

modes that use the X register as theindex of a subroutine address table. Theunconditional branch instruction's longaddressing mode specifies a 16-bit dis-placement from the current location.This displacement can be positive ornegative and wraps around within thecurrent program bank. Conditionalbranches have no analogous long ad-dressing mode.

Expanded stack addressing modescomplement the new stack manipula-tion instructions. With parameterspassed to it on the stack, a subroutinecan read or modify them as easily as itcan access those parameters stored ina fixed block of memory. It can pop orpush parameters as before and can alsoaccess them without moving the stackpointer. All it has to do is specify adisplacement ranging from 0 to 25 5bytes above the stack pointer. Using the"stack relative indexed" addressingmode, a subroutine can use a stackparameter as the table address to be in-

dexed by the Y index register. Since thestack pointer can now be transferreddirectly to or from the accumulator, asimple arithmetic operation can allocateor delete large stack areas. Combinedwith the long relative branch, the newstack-addressing modes herald the6502 family's move toward position-independent, reentrant, and even recur-sive routines.

With its enhanced instruction set, newaddressing modes, expanded interrupthandling, and 24-megabyte addressspace, the 65816 enters the 16-bit arenaon equal footing with the 8086 and68000. Its one handicap is its lateness,but that might be offset by the familiar,compact, and powerful 6502 instructionset that it brings along. Next month I willshow you some hardware enhance-ments that ease the system designer'sburden when using this 6502 cousin inboxes ranging from dedicated con-trollers to multiuser, multiprocessorsystems. ■

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 389

«

%u asked foran encore.

Brian Stains is the SymphonyProgram Manager at LotusDevelopment Corporation.He was previously involvedwith the creation of 1-2-3software and is one ofthe original membersof the company.

390 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

We gave youa Symphony.

"It took a dedicatedteam to create what thebusiness community term-ed 'an overnight success!But that's just what 1-2-3™software became.

"When people discov-ered the incredible speedand power of 1-2-3, theymade it the number one PCbusiness software in the world

"Naturally this success gave usconfidence, but it didn't make us complacent. So even as the applause for 1-2-3tinued, we were working to give thebusiness community an encore.

"We realized 1-2-3 was ananalytical tool that solved many Apeople's business needs. But wealso talked to people with dif-ferent requirements.

"We listened and welearned.

Symphony, 1-2-3 and Lotus are trademarks of Lotus Development Corp.Circle 184 on inquiry card.

"The result is newSymphony™ software.

"We believe Symphony is(-I the most comprehensive, all-in-one software system ever devel-oped. It combines wordprocessing, spreadsheet, com-munications, database, graphics,and a powerful command lan-guage . And like 1-2-3, Symphonyis an ideal program even for firsttime users.

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AUGUST 1984

IYTE 391

CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

(continued from page 130)

Is there a simple way to test the as-sembled system to verify that the com-ponents were not defective or damagedduring system assembly?

By the way, Radio Shack (Canada) in-forms me that the 273-100 has been dis-continued and will not be available aftercurrent inventories have been ex-hausted. Can you suggest an alternateunit?

Thanks very much. Your articles areone of the main reasons I don't like tomiss an issue of BYTE.

Terry J, DeveauArmdale, Nova Scotia, Canada

Three MOVs are required to protectagainst common-mode transients aswell as differential-mode transients.Common-mode transients occur fromeither side of the line to ground; dif-ferential-mode transients occur acrossthe line. MOVs are cheap—use three!

A line filter, like other filters, has acharacteristic impedance. Placing two inparallel will half the input and outputimpedances and reduce the effective-ness of the filter. It would be better tosplit the outlets into two groups andfeed each half with a 5-A filter.

There is no simple way to test theMOVs after assembly. They fail in ashort-circuit mode, so an ohmmetercheck might turn up a defective unit.Visual checks in service (similar to afuse) will reveal a unit that has absorbedtoo much energy.

Several companies manufacturepower-line filters that are suitable foryour applications. They include type5VK1 or 5VK3 from Corcom Inc., 1600Winchester Rd.. Libertyville, IL 60048.(312) 680-7400; typeAPF511L from Cor-nel l-Dubilier Electronics, 150 Avenue L,Newark, NJ 07105, (201) 589-7500; type05DBAC5 from Delta Electronic Indus-try USA. 1355 Yosemite Way, Hayward,CA 94545, (415) 785-5231; and type600A5 from Potter Company, POB 337,Wesson, MS 39191, (601) 643-2215.These filters are equivalent to the RadioShack 273-100.-St.eve

1 Need an MOV

Dear Steve,

Help! I've gone to five Radio Shackstores to try to buy a V13 OLA 10A MOV

to build your power strip. I couldn't findthis part. All they had was the V8AZ1MOV.

What should I do? Can something elsebe substituted? Thank you for any infor-mation.

Gerald CaronBerkley, MA

Radio Shack still sells the V130LA10AMOV transient protectors (part number276-570) but could not anticipate thedemand caused by my article. In fact,I was surprised by the number of lettersI received on this subject. It's nice toknow so many are interested in power-line protection.

I chose the Radio Shack MOVs be-cause they were easily obtainable, butthere are several other sources. TheVI30LA10A is manufactured by GeneralElectric and should be available from alocal GE distributor or electronics-partssupply house. In addition, Panasonicand General Instrument manufacturesimilar units. The equivalent Panasonicpart, number ERZ-C14DK201. is avail-able as part number P7063 from Digi-Key Corporation, Highway 32 South,POB 677, Thief River Falls, MN 56701,(800) 346-5144. The General Instrumentequivalent, part number S14K130, isavailable from Active Electronics, POB8000, Westborough, MA 01581, (800)343-0874.

The V8AZ1 MOV is designed for 5-VDC circuits; the V130LA10A is designedfor 130-V AC circuits-Sieve

Wrong Frequencies

Dear Steve,

I just purchased the ECM-103 modemkit. Following an expensive confronta-tion with the customs department, I setabout putting it together. Then, to mysurprise, a local guru on computing ad-vised me that Australian frequencies formodem channels 1 and 2 are 980 to1180 Hz and 1650 to 1850 Hz, respec-tively.

Is there any way the ECM-103 can bemodified to operate at these frequen-cies? Is it possible to change the crystal?I'm hopeful that you will be able to helpme.

George Henderson

TUrramurra, New South Wales,

Australia

Texas Instruments, the supplier of theIC that forms the heart of the ECM-103,produces another chip that shouldsolve your problem. 1 believe that thefrequencies you describe are the Euro-pean standard versions for data trans-mission. TI produces a chip that is pincompatible with the device used in theECM-103. and it covers the Europeanstandard. The part number you want isTMS99534. Be sure to get an applica-tion note, as this will let you know if dif-ferent passive component values are re-quired—Steve

CP/M IN ROM

Dear Steve,

1 hope to put together a Z80-basedsystem and intend to use the interfacefound in "Build a Super Simple Floppy-Disk Interface' (May and June 1981). Iwant the system to run under CP/M 2.2,but 1 do not have another system withwhich to generate the CBIOS (custombasic input/output system). I do have anEPROM programmer that runs on aZX81. In "Build the Circuit Cellar MPX-16Computer System, Part 1" (November1982, page 78), I saw an ad for CP/M-86BIOS in ROM. Could I program theCP/M 2.2 CBIOS into an EPROM? Andif I do, what is to be done to interfacewith the remainder of CP/M?

The system will also use your E-ZColor Graphics Interface ("High-Res-olution Sprite-Oriented Color Graphics,"August 1982, page 57). I would like touse its external video input to displaytext from a 684 5 CRT controller, givinga backdrop plane of 80-column text. Doyou have any advice that would help in-terface the two? I am concerned withthe need for synchronization and an ap-propriate video output from the 684 5circuitry to the 9918A.

Thanks for your time.

R. A. PedersonOrleans, Ontario, Canada

The CP/M BIOS-support ROMs for theMPX-16 provide only boot and devicesupport for CP/M. The BIOS actuallycomes in off the disk itself. This is achange from the original implementa-tion, made to enhance the flexibility ofthe system. Now, PC-DOS and 5!4- and8-inch CP/M all run off the same ROMset.

392 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

It is certainly possible to code a BIOSin ROM, but I understand that the new-est version of CP/M requires that devicedrivers be loaded externally from thedisk at initialization. It may be possibleto do this in ROM. too. but I am notenough of a CP/M user to say for sure.

As far as actually setting up a ma-chine, 1 have found that it is virtually im-possible to set up a new BIOS if youdon't already have a running system tocreate it on. 1 suggest getting in touchwith your local CP/M users group fortechnical assistance in this area.

The question you raised about theTMS99I8A is a good one. While Tlclaims that it can be set up to acceptan external video source, we have hada lot of trouble setting up synchroniza-tion circuits that work reliably—Steve

Give the RTC-4 a Date

Dear Steve,

I am a research assistant at the Univer-sity of Petroleum and Minerals. I readyour article "Build the RTC-4 Real-TimeController" on page 26 in the July 1983BYTE. 1 am interested in the fixed-timeprograms capability of the RTC-4. Isthere any way to add the date to the fixprogram if I wish to program the RTC-4to do a function after one month ormore?

1 understand that I can change the dayor time by the keyboard. Is there anymechanism to connect a receiver to thiscircuit so that I can change this data bywireless? If so, would you please pro-vide me with the necessary informa-tion?

Thank you.

Wasim Ra'adDhahran, Saudi Arabia

The TMSII2I chip used in the RTC-4real-time controller is a preprogrammedversion of the Texas InstrumentsTMS1000 4-bit single-chip microcom-puter. It is therefore not possible tochange the internal program, and no ad-ditional features or functions can beadded. The chip was designed as a uni-versal timer controller but could not an-ticipate every possible requirement.

It is relatively easy to control theRTC-4 by wireless. My article in theFebruary 1981 BYTE f A Computer-Con-trolled Tank," page 44) describes a

method to control a Texas InstrumentsTMSIOOO-series microcomputer with acitizens band walkie-talkie. Other trans-mitting frequencies can easily beadapted as necessary—Steve

Likes the MPX-16

Dear Steve,

I built the blank MPX-16 board and ampleased with its performance. I usedsockets for ICs of >20 pins and forRAM. This was successful except forone bad IC.

I reduced R21 to 1.8k ohms becausethe 4.9-MHz crystal tended to go intothe third overtone with R21 =33k ohms.I designed my own 8-MHz oscillatorusing the same design you chose for the4.9-MHz crystal.

I intend to design a keyboard interfaceand a video adapter using an Intel82720.

I'm delighted with the educationalvalue of this project.

I speak highly of your product whereI work (I'm an IBM hardware/softwareengineer).

Since I will be making some changesto the BIOS, 1 was wondering if I couldhave an assembly-language listing?

R. A. FaustThcson, AZ

The original BIOS for the MPX-16 waswritten in PLM-86. It has since been ex-panded from 4K to 8K bytes and rewrit-ten in 8088 assembly code. The sourcelistings are available on two disks for$20 from The Micromint (25 Terrace Dr.,Vernon, CT 06066).

The new BIOS allows the MPX-16 tooperate either as a terminal-based ma-chine or PC clone with a color graph-ics/monochrome board and keyboard.PC-DOS can be booted and executed ineither configuration (the terminal con-figuration can't duplicate graphics func-tions, of course)—Steve

Sweet Talker Conversion

Dear Steve,

I am having trouble interfacing the I/Obus on my TRS-80 Model III. I am try-ing to convert or redesign the SweetTalker speech box ("Build an Unlimited-Vocabulary Speech Synthesizer," Sep-

tember 1981, page 38). 1 built theparallel port and it works great, but 1would like to change it to the I/O busport, if possible. Can you tell me whereto find a schematic of the interface?Thank you.

Billy BishopSachse, TX

Use of the I/O bus port on the ModelIII requires that you enable the exter-nal device-driver chips by writing to alatch inside the TRS-80. Also, externallogic must drive the direction line of thebidirectional buffers. Other than this,there are no special tricks to using theinterface.

William Barden has written several ar-ticles for BYTE on how to construct anddrive devices attached to the TRS-80Model I, Model HI, and Color Computer.You can find back issues of BYTE at alocal library or order them from BYTE.(See the December 1982 cumulativeindex update for a listing of Barden'sarticles.)

Be sure to remember to include the100-ms pulse extende^and to have yoursoftware check the A/R line of the SweetTalker, or the device will not functioncorrectly.

The Model III Technical Manual containsthe schematics of the I/O bus interfaceas well as functional descriptions of howit works. It might be a good idea tosecure a copy of this from your localRadio Shack store—Steve

Adapting MicrovoxSoftware

Dear Steve,

For several months now I have beenusing my VIC-20 with a Sweet Talkerspeech synthesizer. While 1 have en-joyed the many applications 1 havefound for this versatile circuit, I now seethe need for a more general-purposestand-alone unit such as the Microvoxtext-to-speech synthesizer presented inthe September and October 1982issues. However, being a basically lazyguy, I would like to avoid a major con-struction project, if possible.

Would it be possible (and not too dif-ficult) to adapt the Microvox text-to-speech algorithm to run on a SYM-1microcomputer, and, if so, is the Micro-

(conlinued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 393

CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

vox software available either as a listingor in EPROM?

I realize that this would involve sometiming and other modifications to theSYM, but if it's easier than building theMicrovox from scratch, 1 would like togive it a try. Any suggestions you mightbe able to provide would be greatlyappreciated.

Ron HackettPort Jefferson, NY

It is possible to adapt the Microvoxtext-to-speech algorithm to any 6502-based computer, provided that memoryspace at COOO-CFFF and EOOO-EFFFhexadecimal is available for the two2732 EPROMs containing the algorithm.In addition, RAM is required at0000-OFFF hexadecimal, and theSC-01A interface hardware must beduplicated.

The Sweet Talker I presented in Sep-tember 1981 also has a text-to-speechalgorithm for the Apple II. The interfacehardware and algorithm are much sim-pler than the Microvox's and thereforepossibly easier for you to convert to theSYM-1.1 refer you to that article—Steve

Micro D-Cam SecuritySystem

Dear Steve,

The first part of your article, "Build theMicro D-Cam Solid-State Video Cam-era," on page 20 in the September 1983BYTE was very interesting. I would liketo use the 1S32 optic RAM, which youdescribed in the article, in an alarm sys-tem. Specifically, I want to monitor anarea with the 1C so that whenever thescene changes, an alarm sounds andthe image of the area is displayed.

How can I overcome the problem ofchanges in ambient light? Could I buildsuch a system at a reasonable price?Thanks for any help you can give.

O. N. G. Ferrao

Doonside, Republic of South Africa

Using the Micro D-Cam as the sensorin an alarm system sounds like an inter-esting experiment. I assume you aretalking about intrusion alarms, wherethe basic requirements for a successfulsystem are that the system must detectintruders and that it must not give falsealarms. The first condition could be

easily met with the Micro D-Cam bystoring a reference picture in memoryand comparing subsequent pictureswith it. Any change would signal a possi-ble intruder. Saving a reference picturecan be accomplished by copying thecontents of screen memory to anotherblock of memory or by modifying theMicro D-Cam software to put the pictureat any convenient location. It isn't reallynecessary to ever see the picture.

Avoiding false alarms is another prob-lem, however. If you simply make apixel-by-pixel comparison, changes inambient light will be bothersome, asyou suspected. In addition, you will getspurious responses scattered randomlyover the picture area due to electricalnoise and temperature changes. Thishappens because some cells in the de-tector will normally receive almost, butnot quite, enough light to turn on. Thesecells will occasionally give a signal thatwill be interpreted as an intrusion. Yoursoftware must be designed to ignorethese isolated signals as well as com-pensate for ambient light variations.

More sophisticated software mighteliminate these problems. Some meth-ods include periodically changing thereference picture to compensate for am-bient light variations, ignoring anychanges involving single or very smallgroups of pixels, and, hardest of all,distinguishing real movement from ap-parent changes in the appearance ofstationary objects.

It is possible to design an alarm sys-tem such as you envision, and much ofthe needed software is included withthe unit. Good luck.—Sieve

Z8-CONTROLLED LAB SCALE

Dear Steve,

1 am in the laboratory balance busi-ness and am working on a micro-bal-ance of my own. Presently, most labbalances measure from 0.1 microgramto several kilograms and use a digitaldisplay. 1 have designed a weighingmechanism accurate to a microgram at20 grams; this range is good for mostlab use.

I would like to have a balance with anon-board computer, capable of optionsnot found on other balances. I thoughtof your Z8 BASIC system controller.

The servo amp of my system has an

analog output of 0-2 V DC or whateverI need.

Could you tell me how I could inter-face your system and also how to usea small monitor as a readout? I wouldlike the system to be complete.Thanks.

Paul BianchettiMcCall, ID

A Z8 BASIC system controller couldbe used for your application. Since theoriginal article, the system has been ex-panded to include a variety of Z8 cross-assemblers and extra memory I/O,EPROM programmer, and serial boards.There is also a 10-V 8-channel 8-bit AIDboard.

While a 0-2-V servo-amp outputcould be resolved with the present 10-Vrange of the AID. it might be better toamplify the signal (by 5) or reduce thespan of the AID from 10 V to 2 V.

Regarding the display, my January andFebruary articles described a single-board intelligent terminal, Term-MiteST-1000, which can be configured witha keyboard to function as a terminal orsimply to drive a monitor to report com-puted results. While Term-Mite is astand-alone system, it is coincidentallyZ8 BASIC system-compatible and canbe plugged into the same backplanewith the system controller and AID todrive a monitor.

Finally, projects such as the Z8 BASICboard are frequently just the beginningof my interest in a subject. Often, manyenhancements are made after the origi-nal article. The latest addition is a 4K-byte FORTH chip that is interchangeablewith the Z867I BASIC chip. This modi-fication should allow the board to beused in more sophisticated applica-tions—Steve

And A Z8-CONTROLLED

Solar Collector

Dear Steve,

Boy, am 1 ever in trouble. I'm a seniorin high school in the middle of a scienceproject for a science fair. My physicsteacher and 1 are building a hot-air solarcollector, which will have fairly high ef-ficiency, contain some solar-heat stor-age, and be controlled by a small dedi-cated processor.

We have purchased a Micromint Z8

394 BYTE' AUGUST 1984

CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

controller, have on order the basicanalog-to-digital converter, and are pres-ently assembling eight operationalamplifier circuits on a vector card. Thesecircuits are those you used in control-ling your wood stove (February 1980,page 32). We are presently communicat-ing with the Z8 by way of the serial portusing a modem program and a HeathkitH-89. The modem software allows trans-mission of programs to and from diskfiles and the Z8. I've also ordered thenew Term-Mite card to hopefully replacethe H-89.

I have two problems. We have a fairlygood idea on how to use the tiny BASICin the Z8. What we can't seem to figureout is how to write the subroutines toread the temperature probes. Some-how, the A/D converter has to be ad-dressed, a port opened, and data readand stored somewhere. This data wouldthen be compared to cause somethingto happen or not happen. We've gottenquite a few booklets from Zilog concern-ing the Z8 and we still can't seem to getthe picture.

I'm hoping that you might share somecode with us. 1 feel that if we can at leastget some idea of what the code shouldlook like, we should be able to makesome adjustments.

The second problem has to do withcontrolling a few fans. What can 1 buyor make to interface with the Z8 thatwould enable me to turn these itemson/off?

Kenny LangoAmenia, NY

The routines needed to get at temper-ature probes are really not hard thingsto write. The A/D board looks like amemory location and requires no spe-cial configuration to get at. Using the @or * functions of the Z8 BASIC, you candirectly access the board from within aBASIC program. You can evaluate thevalue in the A/D converter and useBASIC to make decisions on what to doinside the system.

To control fans and the like, use theport-2 output lines to drive a solid-staterelay. You can get them from RadioShack.

The hardest part will be calibrating theA/D output with real temperatures. Thestandard sensor described in the exam-ple that comes with the A/D board usesKelvin temperature, which is the Centi-

grade temperature offset 2 73 degrees.The program listing does show an ex-ample of Kelvin to Fahrenheit conver-sion, and I'm sure your physics profes-sor can modify anything necessary.—Steve

To Build an MPX-16

Dear Steve,

1 thought you might like to hear fromsomeone who had constructed anMPX-16 from a bare board. 1 have doneso and survived to tell the tale.

1 ordered the bare board and themanuals for the MPX-16. The manualsare legible, well organized, and writtenfor the most part in English.

Let me skip ahead a bit and give youan overview of how 1 spent my time onthe MPX-16 project: 50 percent chasingdown parts, 5 percent loading andsoldering the board itself, 10 percent inmechanical assembly (drilling squareholes in chassis, etc.), 10 percent doingelectrical (versus electronic) chores(harness, cables, fuses, etc.), and 2 5 per-cent making it work after it was together.

The system includes Chassis 1:MPX-10 Switching Power Supply, MPX-16Main Circuit Board, fully loaded exceptfor no 8087, muffin fan, and miscella-neous harness, fuses, switches, andsockets; Chassis 2: two TandonTM-100-2 (powered off the MPX-10); aHeath H-19 terminal; and a pTi Indus-tries Data Shield Line Filter (which hasfour out of six sockets wired with hotand neutral reversed!).

Even though I live close to SiliconValley and did my buying before thecurrent economic recovery causedeager OEMs to buy up all the chips insight, 1 still spent most of my time chas-ing down parts. ICs were not generallya problem, though 8288s were scarcewhen 1 needed one and it took a whileto find anyone who realized that a 629was a TTL part and not a commutertrain. The real headache was some ofthe linear parts. Nobody stocked all theprecision resistor values I needed in thetiny physical sizes intended to be usedon the board. Nobody stocked the Erietrimmer capacitor. Nobody stocked theright SIP (single-inline package) resistors.Nobody had any 62-pin card-edge con-nectors. And so on. I fixed these prob-lems by an assortment of kludges, lead-

bending, and ingratiating smiles. (Speak-ing of kludges, did you know that youcan trim extra resistors off an SIP witha hacksaw? All you do is notch the casea bit, snap off what you don't need withpliers, and daub some epoxy over thebroken end. Steve, is something thematter?)

I decided to use high-quality sockets:Augat 5XX-AG19DS throughout. Withmore than 2000 IC pins on the board.the prospect of having some of them inintermittent contact was terrifying.

I also bought a good soldering iron,an Ungar 9100 with adjustable temper-ature. It spoiled me very quickly: myprevious iron has been demoted towood-burner.

With everything in hand, the boardloaded very quickly—a few evenings ofmanic soldering, followed by an hour ortwo stuffing in ICs. 1 made one modifica-tion as I worked (besides the jumpersMicromint said to put in): 1 anticipatedthat the kind of programming I like todo would crash the system frequently,and 1 am skeptical of the practice ofcycling the power too often, so I in-stalled a Reset button. There's a cap onthe RESET pin of the 8284. 1 came offit with a 4.7k-ohm resistor, through a bigred normally open push button, toground. That works just fine. 1 broughtthe leads from the resistor and fromground to a two-pin header in thebreadboard area at one edge of theboard, so that I could get to the pushbutton by a detachable plug.

So far, so good. 1 decided I wanted acompact power supply, and I was tooscared to try building a switcher, so Iordered an MPX-10 from Micromint. Itcame, and I tried to make it work. I knewyou had to load a switcher properly, but1 did not realize that you have to loadall three positive supplies on theMPX-10 before any of them will regulatecorrectly. I am sufficiently an ignoramusthat 1 will forgive myself that error, butI was amused to find that the Micromintengineer 1 talked to didn't know it either.Between my ignorance and his, a per-fectly good switcher made an extraround trip to the East Coast before Istumbled across the solution. Live andlearn.

1 bought the biggest LMB Unipacchassis I could find—7 by 12 by 17inches—and mounted board, power

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 395

CIARCIA'S CIRCUIT CELLAR

supply, and a 4.75-inch muffin fan in-side. The big fan works beautifully atkeeping the temperature down (eventhe bipolar 8288 is no more than luke-warm when it is stabilized at operatingtemperature), but the chassis holes forair inlet and exhaust make so muchnoise that 1 wear a hearing protectorwhen I use the system.

1 bought a little bag of cable ties andused them freely. It is amazing how pro-fessional a kludge can look when every-thing is routed neatly.

i bought two Tandon TM-100-2s fromlade at a computer fair and found anappropriate chassis for them at a swapmeet. One drive refused to read, butlade fixed it promptly.

I cut, stripped, crimped, soldered, andcursed up the necessary cables, thencame to the astonishing realization thatit was all done. 1 spent several days find-ing excuses not to turn it on, then firedup the H-19, closed my eyes, andflipped the switch. Nothing happened.

1 found three elementary assemblyerrors by looking for pulse activity witha logic probe. 1 had made one cold-solder joint that was interfering with thebuffering of SYSCLKO (if a bad connec-tion at pin 1 of Ul isn't an ill omen, 1don't know what is), one solder bridgethat had tied an address line high (I re-placed the drivers for that part of thebus as a precaution), and had incom-pletely crimped one of the ribbon-cableconnectors in the disk-drive harness.

By this time, the system bootedCP/M-86, and the real work began. Itried to back up the system disk, andalthough the format program ran toconclusion, the disk-copy utility crashedwith a track-read error as soon as it triedto write onto the newly formatted disk.I fussed with the logic probe and tracedsignals with a borrowed oscilloscope. Idisassembled the format routine withDDT86 and stared at it. I assembled lit-tle BDOS and BIOS calls, again withDDT86, and ran them. Not a clue. Micro-

mint's imposingly thick BIOS listing gotthinner and thinner and simpler andsimpler as I studied it. I nosed about inthe BIOS with the debugger and setbreakpoints at judicious locations, ig-noring the looming specter of nonreen-trant code.

The disk controller thought it was do-ing a fine job of formatting the disk: itreported all zeros in its status registersafter each track-format command. Butwhen the same chip tried to read thesame disk later on, it claimed that itcouldn't find any sector identification.

I bought another $40 disk controllerand plugged it in. That bug expired, butothers sprang valiantly forth to take itsplace.

But let me get back to the hardware.My system now appears to run fine, andso far I have nothing but praise for itsdesign. As you correctly pointed out,bringing a system of this complexity upfrom a bare board is not a simple task.

{continued)

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CIARCIAS CIRCUIT CELLAR

My present plans for the MPX-16 arevaried. The real reason I wanted a homecomputer was that I have become inter-ested in the creation of programminglanguages. In spare time at work, I havekludged up a threaded interpreter (notFORTH, but an emulation of the key-board language of my old HP-65 pro-grammable calculator—in a FORTRANshell, yet!); brought up a RATFOR trans-lator to the point where it would boot-strap; and even written a teeny compiler(for "WHATDUZITDO" which you willfind in your back files of BYTE). I ampresently trying to write a decent 8086macro assembler, using the MPX-16. Theonly good one that exists seems to beIntel's ASM86, which I use daily at work,but that costs a jillion trillion dollars andruns only on Intel equipment, underISIS. Odds are less than even that I cando such a thing, I suspect, but it will befun to try.

Is there an MPX-16 users group?

Jay Reynolds FreemanBelmont, CA

Yes, there is a users group. The news-letter can be obtained for $5 a year.Contact Michael Bamberg, 1059 NWDanielle St., Hillsboro, OR 97124.

Readers should know that the MPX-16can also now emulate the IBM PCdirectly using the IBM color graphics/monochrome board and keyboardrather than a monitor as originallydescribed. —Steve

Next Month

Have you ever wondered how muchpower your appliances really use? TheAC Power Monitor will tell you. ■

Ciarcids Circuit Cellar. Volume I covers articlesthat appeared in BYTE from September1977 through November 1978. Ciarcids Cir-cuit Cellar, Volume II covers December 1978through June 1980. Ciarcids Circuit Cellar,Volume III covers July 1980 throughDecember 1981. Ciarcids Circuit Cellar. VolumeIV covers January 1982 through June 1983.

To receive a complete list of Ciarcia's CircuitCellar project kits available, circle 100 on thereader-service inquiry card at the back of themagazine.

Editor's Note: Steve often refers toprevious Circuit Cellar articles. Most ofthese are available in reprint books fromBYTE Books, McGraw-Hill Book Company,POB 400, Hightstown, NJ 082 50.

398 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

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BENCHMARKING

(continued from page 13 5)

features can make slow hardware seemfast. If implemented poorly, they canmake even the most elegant hardwareseem archaic UNIX benchmarks shouldconcentrate on some critical areas.

UNIX was developed on a small ma-chine with limited memory and is diskintensive by its very nature. Therefore,we should test features of UNIX that usethe disk.

The user interface to the UNIX systemis called the shell (several commonvarieties exist). Since all requests madeby the user are processed by the shell,it should be tested extensively.

The UNIX pipe qualifies on all theabove criteria. A pipe is an I/O channelthat is written into by one program andread by another. Pipes are used by anumber of UNIX utilities, the shell inparticular. Pipes are also often bufferedon disk. A UNIX benchmark using apipe is given in listing 1. The programcreates a child process to read the pipeusing the fork() system call and thencrams 0.5 megabyte through the pipe.What do the results tell us? The twotimes of interest are the system andelapsed times. The system time, for allpractical purposes, is a measurement ofhow long it took to set up and performthe piping. It thus is a direct measure-ment of pipe efficiency. The elapsedtime is of interest because it helps givea good measurement of how slow thedisk is. Elapsed time minus system timeminus user time is essentially the disk-overhead time. Since microcomputersusually don't have the fastest disks, thisis an important measurement for them.User time by itself is of little importance.

So you can get some idea of the timerequired to execute this and otherbenchmarks discussed in this article,table 1 shows the timings for some com-mon minicomputers and microcom-puters running UNIX. These times areaverage times on an otherwise idle sys-tem, as per the guidelines establishedabove.

In the pipe benchmark, we measuredthe time it took to perform certainsystem calls (fork(). read(). write(), etc.)that were related to pipe implementa-tion. The time to perform just onesystem call can be divided into severalcomponents:

1. The time required for the user-

program system-call library interfaceto set up and execute a trap (an SVCto IBM 370 users) to the kernel sothat privileged instructions can beexecuted. When this happens, theregisters needed by the processor(stack pointers, program counter,etc.) to run the user program aresaved so that they can be restoredafter the system call is complete.

2. The time the processor is perform-ing the desired function.

3. The time required for the user-program registers to be restored andcontrol transferred so that the userprogram can resume computationwith the result from the system callin hand.

4. The time used when a contextswitch between processes isrequired.

It would be nice to measure 1,3, and4, since they can be considered the ma-jority of the overhead in making a sys-tem call. The program in listing 2 doesjust that. It does nothing but repeatedly(2 5,000 times) query the operating sys-tem concerning its process identity withthe getpidO system call. This informa-tion is kept in an in-core process table,so access is extremely fast and actualcomputation very small, as long as noother processes are competing for theprocessor. (See the need for an idlesystem?) Since we're interested in mea-suring overhead, and the programdoesn't do much other than systemcalls, the elapsed time is important here.System time should be close to theelapsed time, and user time should bevery small. Both are insignificant. Again,the results of this benchmark are shownin table 1.

Now that we've benchmarked system-call overhead, the overhead involved inan ordinary user function call and returnnaturally follows. This benchmark mayinitially seem superficial but considerthat it is compiler implementation thatto a large degree determines object-code efficiency, and the same compiler(C in our case) is probably used to com-pile the operating-system kernel. If so,it should be considered when evaluatingthe operating system. It should also benoted that an inefficient compiler cannullify any speed gained by structured-programming techniques. Benchmark-ing compilers is a topic by itself and will

be left alone here. Let's just measurefunction-call overhead and consider itrepresentative of compiler efficiency.

It is possible to determine the over-head involved in a function call in anumber of ways. The method used hereis believed to be more accurate thanothers. Since our comparison is two-way, two programs should be written:one that uses a function to achieve agoal and one that does not. The twoprograms, however, should perform thesame task. After these programs arerun, the user-execution time from theprogram not using the function is sub-tracted from the user-execution time ofthe program that does. This differenceis the function-call overhead involved.This number can be divided by thenumber of times the call was made toarrive at a seconds-per-call overheadvalue, which can be enlightening whencompared from system to system. Anexample of how this is done is shownin listing 3. Even though the programcould have been made simpler by notpassing a value to the function empty!).in real life all functions return at leastone value, whether examined or not,and most functions pass at least onevalue (which is overhead, really). Usingthe C preprocessor, it is possible towrite two distinct programs in one textfile, depending on how the text file iscompiled. The program in listing 3 iseither compiled with -DEMPTY togenerate the empty function programor with -DASSIGN to generate the pro-gram that doesn't use a function butachieves the same goal.

As mentioned above, the user time,not the real time, is used in the calcula-tion. This is because the real time is ac-curate only to the second, whereas theuser time is accurate to the tenth. And,since we're generating a nonrelativenumerical result, where virtually nosystem time is used, the measurementwith the greater precision is needed.

Let's turn our attention to the C com-piler. When most people think of com-piler benchmarks, they think of theSieve of Eratosthenes, which tests com-piler efficiency and processor through-put quite well. It's an excellent test forlooping, testing, and incrementing. Theprogram in listing 4 is a slightly modifiedcopy of the Sieve presented in thelanuary 1983 BYTE (page 283). Sincewe're not using a stopwatch, all unnec-

400 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 267 on inquiry card.

BENCHMARKING

essary I/O has been removed. Also, bythe guidelines established above,register declarations have been added.The time to be interested in here is theelapsed time. The user time should beabout the same as the elapsed time,while the system time should be quitesmall.

We briefly touched on disk perfor-mance with the pipes test, but disk per-formance deserves a more in-depthevaluation. UNIX provides methods forboth sequential and random-accessfiles, and both should be tested. Listings5a and 5b are benchmarks that testrandom-access disk implementation.The program in listing 5a creates, opens,and writes a 2 56- by 512-byte file. Thenumber of blocks manipulated is spec-ified by a #define statement and caneasily be changed if it is too large fora small microcomputer implementation.The program in listing 5b randomlyreads the file created in listing 5a and

removes it afterward.

While sequential access should betested, it is not presented here sincedisk access is by and large random ac-cess. It should be easy to derive asequential-access test from the random-access program given in listings 5a and5b. Since the file created by benchmark5a is relatively large, it's doubtful thatit could be stored on one large, con-tiguous chunk of disk. More than likelyit will be segmented into several pieces,depending upon how full the filesystemis. Most efficient UNIX (and UNIX-like)implementations segment a physicaldisk into more than one logical disk par-tition. Each partition is called a filesys-tem. When the filesystem is created, alldisk blocks are contiguous. As the file-system is used more and more, itbecomes more splintered with manysmall chunks of contiguous space.

Since we would like to run the bench-

{contimted)

Listing 2: The system-call benchmark.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #2

This program compounds the kernel overhead involved in executinga system call. Making a system call involves a trap' to kernelor supervisor mode, performing the desired function, and returning.Context switching is, when it occurs, also overhead. The getpidllsystem call is used because all it does is look in an in-core tablefor the numeric process id.

Instructions:Compile by:

cc -O -s -o scall scall.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

/bin/time scall

Time by:

Results:

Since we're testing system overhead, the elapsed time is ofinterest here.

#define TIMES 2S000

maint)

!

/• take advantage of the hardware */register int i:for li = 0: i < TIMES: i + + l

getpidll:

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I Y T E 401

BENCHMARKING

marks under normal operating condi-tions, benchmark 5 should be executedin a filesystem that is used regularly.Several UNIX implementations placethe directory /tmp in a filesystem of itsown, since /tmp is used frequentlyunder normal conditions. In any case,this benchmark should be run in an ac-

tive filesystem in order to give a morerealistic result as to what the responsetime under a real user load would be.This benchmark, of course, is extreme-ly disk dependent, but that's what we'retesting. As implied, the elapsed time isimportant here because the time spentwaiting for I/O completion is not

Listing 3: The user function-call benchmark.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #3

This program enables precise arithmetic calculations of user functionoverhead by subtracting the execution user time when compiled withoutusing a function from execution user time using a function.

• Instructions:

* Compile by:

and

cc -O -DEMPTY -s -o fcalle fcall.ccc -O -DASS1GN -s -o fcalla fcall.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -D option specifies C preprocessor action.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

Time by:

and

/bin/time fcalle/bin/time fcalla

Results:

Since the user time is more accurate than the real time,and since system time effectively does not contribute tothe real time number, we can use the difference betweenthe user times in seconds as an accurate numerical accountof function call overhead.

#define TIMES 50000

mainll

/* The first way of doing things — use a function call */#ifdef EMPTY

{

register unsigned int i. j;for |i = 0: i < TIMES: i+ + lj = emptyli):

/* the empty function */emptylkjregister unsigned int k:

{

return(k);

>

#endif

#ifdef ASSIGN

/• The second way of doing things — without a function call '/

{

register unsigned int i, j:

for |i = 0: i < TIMES: i+ + )i = i:}#endif

charged to either user or system time.

One of the things programmers dobest is compile programs, and the com-piler is a good operating-system exer-ciser because of it. The command tocompile a C program under UNIX is cc.This command is actually a small C pro-gram that invokes the C preprocessor,the compiler proper, the assembler, andthe linker in succession. To time thecompilation process, just place/bin/time in front of the cc commandline. Naturally, the C compiler is disk in-tensive, and with today's fast micropro-cessors, the disk is often the bottleneckin compilation throughput.

Something needs to be said about thesize of the object files that the compilerleaves us with. It can be found by directexamination that the size of the objectfiles compiled on comparable micro-computers can vary by an order ofmagnitude. In early UNIX days, whenmemory address space was limited, theloader didn't include a lot of unusedcode in the object file when it resolvedall function references. With today'smicrocomputers having more memorythan minicomputers of a few years ago,some implementations include unnec-essary system-call hooks that are neverreferenced in the program. A good wayto test this is to compile the followingprogram:

main ()

!

which is the shortest C program pos-sible. To tell how much memory the ob-ject file will use when loaded into mem-ory, look at the size of the object filewith the UNIX size command. Sizereports the size of the text, data, andbss segments. The text segment is com-posed of program instructions. The datasegment contains initialized programdata. The bss segment contains unini-tialized program data. The total size isusually given in both decimal and/or oc-tal or hexadecimal. Another commandof interest is nm, which will list the sym-bol table (NaMelist) of an object file.Some of the library modules loaded willbe present in any program, and with

good reason ( exit, environ,

cleanup, main, and crtO.o, for ex-ample). Some are pure excess (malloc.o,isatty.o, write.o, and stty.o, for example)and usually result from one library func-

402 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

BENCHMARKING

tion referencing another in a largermodule, creating a cascade effect. Thecompactness of the code generatedsays something about the efficiency andimplementation of the compiler andloader.

We've covered most of the more fre-quently used aspects of UNIX in-dividually up to now. Let's developsome tests for the UNIX system inter-face, the shell. The best way to test thisis by having a shell program do whatusers normally do when they sit downat the keyboard.

A good general UNIX benchmark isthe shell script, or program, in listing 6a.This program, named tst.sh, invokesseveral commonly used UNIX com-mands and exercises disk access withthem. This program was originally writ-ten for use in evaluating UNIX micro-computers at the '83 USENIX (an asso-ciation of UNIX users) conference. Inretrospect, it should have containedsome commands to run concurrently inthe background, such as the compila-tion of one of the C benchmarks de-scribed above. This benchmark makesuse of the shell's I/O redirection and in-direction (indirection being the abilityto take input from the current inputstream instead of a file) to sort, save ondisk, manipulate, and ultimately removefrom disk a list of English words. Theutilities used (sort, which sorts; od,which gives an octal listing: grep, whichdoes pattern matching; tee, whichmakes a disk copy of the input given it;wc, which counts words, lines, and char-acters; and rm, which removes disk files)are all standard UNIX tools. The shellvariable $$ is the current numerical pro-cess ID and is used to make unique file-names. The shell benchmark is run withthe command /bin/time /bin/sh tst.sh.Execution times for even this simplebenchmark varied widely, as shown intable 1.

A few words should be said aboutdetermining how many users a smallmultiuser system can support. Withsmall multiuser systems, accuratelysimulating real user load is more impor-tant than with large multiuser systemsbecause of the limited amount of mem-ory, disk, and processor resources. Youcan simulate a real user load in severalways, but the only true way is to havesomeone at another terminal executingthe same program you are at the same

time. Why can't a process running in thebackground simulate a real user load?Because background processes usual-ly run with a lower priority. Additional-ly, some multiuser microcomputer im-plementations limit the amount ofmemory an individual user can use atone time, even if no other user is on thesystem! What's more, some implemen-tations impose an incredibly small limiton the number of files you can have

open or the number of processes youcan have running at any one time, againregardless of the number of other usersor processes on the system. Watch outfor these systems.

Since we're mainly concerned withmicrocomputer implementations, wherethere may or may not be additional ter-minals, and since we want portablebenchmarks that can be run on any

(continued)

Listing 4: The Sieve of Eratosthenes benchmark.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #4

No benchmark suite would be complete without the ever-popularsieve benchmark. It is a good test of compiler efficiency andCPU throughput. Below is a sieve benchmark as presented in thelanuary 1983 issue of BYTE, with some minor changes: Registerdeclarations have been added, and some unnecessary (from ourstandpoint) printfll statements removed.

Instructions:Compile by:

cc -O -s -o sieve sieve.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the filespecified by the next argument.

Time by: /bin/time sieve

Results:

In the past, the elapsed time has been used, since mostoperating systems can measure real time. Actually, usertime is a better value.

•/

/" Eratosthenes Sieve Prime Number program in C */#define TRUE 1#define FALSE 0#define SIZE 8190

char flagslSIZE + l|:

main!) {

register int i, prime, k, count, iter:

printfl 10 iterationsVi' I: */

/* We don t need this */

for liter = 1: iter < = 10: iter + +1 {

/" do program 10 times

count = 0:

/• prime counter */

for |i = 0: i < = SIZE: i+ + l

/• set all flags TRUE */

flagslil = TRUE:

for (i = 0; i < = SIZE: i+ + ) {

if (flagslil) {

/* found a prime V

prime = i + i + 3:

/* twice index + 3 */

printfl"\n%d". prime): */

/* Nor this •/

for (k = i + prime: k < =

SIZE: k + a primel

flags|k| = FALSE:

/* kill all multiples */

count + + ;

/* primes found */

printfl "\n%d primes.", count);"/

f* primes found on 10th pass */

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 403

BENCHMARKING

UNIX system no matter how small, ouronly recourse is to benchmark a vary-ing number of background processes(i.e.. a multitasking benchmark) andassume that the results can be extrap-olated to a multiuser environment. Evenif the benchmark is used to help decidewhich single-user system to buy, evaluat-ing background-process performance isbeneficial since the ability to have manybackground processes is a strong pointof UNIX.

Using the shell benchmark in listing 6aas a starting point, we can invoke thatscript in the background a number oftimes to see how long it takes to executeone, two, three, four, five, and even sixof these identical background pro-cesses. The shell script in listing 6b doesjust that. Contained in a file calledmulti.sh, it executes the shell test foundin listing 6a in the background a numberof times. The number of backgroundprocesses created is determined by thenumber of command-line parametersgiven the shell script. The actual valuesof the command-line parameters are notimportant, it's the quantity of positionalparameters that the shell script uses. Al-though any character would do as apositional parameter, for readability itis convenient to use the characters "1,""2," "3," etc. as those parameters. Thebenchmark is run as shown in table 2.

The shell statement wait causes theshell script to pause until all backgroundprocesses have terminated. Invokingtst.sh more than six times may not bepossible (depending upon your operat-ing system) if a "per-user process limit"is defined.

Table 3 shows the results from themultitasking shell benchmark given inlisting 6b for a variety of UNIX-basedsystems. The table is sorted on thefastest elapsed time for six backgroundprocesses. Remember, this benchmarkdoes not measure how many users thesystem will support but is rather ameasure of how many processes thesystem will support comfortably.

By plotting the number of invocationsversus execution time, you can graphhow a multitasking load varies withresponse time. See figure 1 for a plotof the results of table 3 in this manner.With fast disks the graph should belinear, with a change in slope whenthere are more processes than can re-main concurrently in memory.

Listing 5a: A benchmark to create and write a disk file.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #5a

This portion of the disk throughput benchmark creates and writesa 512x256 byte file. Since UNIX is so disk intensive, it is importantto have some general idea of how fast (or slow) disk operations are.

Instructions:Compile by:

cc -O -s -o dwrite dwrite.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

Time By: /bin/time dwrite

Results:

The time to observe is the elapsed time, as we are trying togauge disk throughput.

/

#include <stdio.h>#define BLOCKS 256mainO

!

/* the buffer for writing */char buffer|512|:

/* the filename */char 'filename = "a large file":

/* a counter to keep up with the blocks written */register int i;

/• file descriptor for the disk file */int fildes:

/* create the file */if ((fildes = creatlfilename, 0640)1 < 0) {

printfC'Cannot create file\n"):

exit( I):) else {

closelfildesl;

/* open the file for writing */

if ((fildes = openlfilename. I)) < 01 {printfl Cannot open file\n");exit! I):

for (i = 0: i < BLOCKS: i + + )

/* write the file, one block at a time •/if (writelfildes. buffer, 512) < 0) {

printfl Error writing block %d\n", i);exitll):

I

/* close the file now that we re done */closelfildesl:

Listing 5b: A benchmark to randomly read the disk file created by listing 5a.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #5b

This portion of the benchmark opens and reads a 256x512 bytefile. This benchmark uses a random instead of sequential accessread, since the majority of disk access is random. Due to differences

[continued]

404 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

BENCHMARKING

in the randO routine between UNIX versions, you need to determine if

the randll on the machine to be tested generates numbers in the range

0 — 2" 15 or in the range 0 — 2 "31. and compile the benchmark accordingly.

Instructions:

Compile By: cc -DSIXTEEN -O -s -o dread dread c

for machines with randll in the range 0 — 2" 15

cc -DTHIRTYTWO -O -s -o dread dread.cfor machines with randll in the range 0 — 2 "31

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

Time By:

/bin/time dread

Results:

The time to observe is the elapsed time, as we are trying togauge disk throughput.

^include <stdio.h>

#define

BLOCKS 256

long IseekO;

main!)

i

/* the buffer for writing */

char buffer|5l2|:

/* the filename */

char 'filename = "a large file";

/* a counter counting blocks read */

register int i;

/* the file descriptor */

int fildes:

I* offset to seek into file */

long int offset;

I* open the file */if ((fildes = openlfilename, 01) < 01 {

printfr'Cannot find '%s'. Run 'dwrite' first.\n". filenamel:

exit! 11:}

for (i = 0: i < BLOCKS: i + + ) {

/" pick a byte, any byte */#ifdef SIXTEEN

offset = (longlrandl) • 4L:#endif#ifdef THIRTYTWO

offset = (longlrandll / I6384L:

#endif

/* seek to it •/if llseeklfildes. offset. 01 < OLI {

printfr Lseek to %ld failed i = %d\n", offset, i);exit! 11:

}

/* read a block, starting with the current byte */if Ireadlfildes, buffer, 512) < 0) {

printfl'Error reading block at byte %ld\n".offset):exit! 11:)}

/' get rid of the file */unlinklfilenamel:

A short benchmark that tests incre-menting and looping is shown in listing7. It originally appeared on UNIXUSENET news (article megatest.186) inFebruary 1983. This little benchmarktests long integer arithmetic (incrementand test] and is totally processor bound.It is a lot like the functional benchmarksshown earlier; it tests long integerarithmetic but does little else. It couldbe improved by multiplying by 2. divid-ing by 2. adding 2. and then subtracting1 to better test long integer arithmeticfunctions. The benchmark is presentedhere in its original form because I hadalready tested a number of machineswith that particular version. See theresults in table 1.

Results

A lot has happened in the last ninemonths during which this article waswritten. Several UNIX implementationsnow exist for the IBM PC. Microcom-puter UNIX systems continue to in-filtrate the business environment, andthe UNIX application-software marketseems to be developing at a good pace.Both DEC and IBM have embracedUNIX as an alternative to their own pro-prietary operating systems, which lendslegitimacy to the claim that UNIX is anindustry-standard operating system.There does not yet seem to be a clearwinner in the UNIX microcomputer mar-ketplace though several vendors are inthe forefront of the cost/performanceratio contest.

ludging from the systems I've seen,the best performance comes from theAltos 586. It has less memory and fewerI/O ports than the Altos 986 but is other-wise identical. For about $10,000. youget an excellent multiuser UNIX system(512K-byte RAM. 40-megabyte |for-matted| Winchester, and six serial ports)that under moderate load approachesDEC VAX performance for most tasksthat a user would normally invoke.Some may argue that if the operatingsystem isn't spelled U-N-l-X, it isn't realUNIX. That's just not the case. AltosXENIX is Version 7 UNIX with someuseful extensions, including a screen-oriented editor, record and file locking,and semaphores. Although AT&T nolonger markets Version 7 UNIX, it is wellestablished in the marketplace and willbe around for quite a while.

[continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 405

BENCHMARKING

The Sun-2/120 and Masscomp com-puters are VAX-class machines, but theircost is beyond the reach of most pro-spective microcomputer owners. Theyboth offer superb graphics and ex-cellent response time under loading.

The TRS-80 16B is a usable multiusermicrocomputer system, but its responsetime is hindered by the relatively slowinternal 15-megabyte Winchester. Thus,depending upon the applications run,it may not be desirable for more thana two-user load.

The SCI-1000 system benchmarked isstill under development, and the timesreported here should not be taken asgospel. This system, with an 80186 chip,has the potential for better performancethan the Altos 586 at less cost andoffers System III UNIX.

IBM's UNIX, PC/IX, was not developedin house. It is a System III port withadded features (a vi-like full-screeneditor) done by Interactive Systems Cor-

poration. It is a complete, usable single-user implementation that does what canbe done with the 8088. It's interestingto note that both IBM PC (1678-bit 8088)implementations performed better thandid the old reliable 16-bit F-l I chip usedin the PDP-11/2 3 and DEC Professional.

The Omnibyte OB68K with Idris wasone of the first UNIX work-alike systemsaround. As such, the implementation isnot the de facto Version 7 standard. 1understand that a new version of Idrisis coming out (to borrow a phrase fromlerry Pournelle) Real Soon Now for theOmnibyte that increases performancesubstantially.

The VEN1X implementations on theDEC Professional and IBM PC performadequately but seem to have a problemwith multiple background processes. Al-though it makes sense to limit thenumber of processes a user may haveon a multiuser minicomputer, it doesn'tmake much sense to impose those

Listing 6a: A general-purpose shell benchmark.

The shell script shown

is contained

in a file called tst.sh and is invoked by /bin/time /bin/sh tst.sh.

sort >sort.$$ <</*EOF

Now

is

the

time

for

all

good

men

to

come

to

the

aid

of

their

country

/•EOF

od sort.SS j sort -n + 1 > od.SS

grep the sort.SS | tee grep.SS I wc > wc.SS

rm sort.SS grep.SS od.SS wc.SS

Listing 6b: A multitasking benchmark with a variable number of backgroundprocesses. This shell script is contained in a file called multi.sh. The number ofconcurrent processes created is determined by the number oj command-line parameters,such as /bin/time /bin/sh multi.sh 12 3.

for ido

echo $i/bin/sh tst.sh &

donewait

406 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

BENCHMARKING

Circle 32 5 on inquiry card.

Mcc3uls~2

limits on a microcomputer that willprobably never be used by more thanone person. What's more, no messageis given the user when the number ofprocesses reaches the per-user processlimit. Instead, quite literally, nothinghappens. Granted that the multitaskingbenchmark is a little esoteric, it is theonly way to simulate a multiuser/multi-tasking load short of having multipleusers and is a good measure of how ef-ficiently or inefficiently competing back-ground processes are handled.

And then there's Apple's Lisa. Due todisk I/O limitations, Lisa's in a class byherself when it comes to disk-intensivetasks, as can be easily seen from figure1. This exemplifies my claim that disk I/Ois the single most limiting factor in over-

all response time and system through-put. If Apple could improve the diskthroughput for Lisa to the same as anAltos, Lisa would rival the Altos in thebest-value category, not to mention thepossibility of excellent graphics.

It should be noted that some of thesystems above that were implied to besingle-user are really multiuser, but theresponse time is such that they wouldnot be usable in a multiuser environ-ment. This is the case with such com-puters as the IBM PC, DEC Professional,and Apple Lisa.

Conclusions

Some words of caution: a few micro-computer systems that claim to be

[continued)

Table 2: The shell benchmark run sequence.

/bin/time /bin/sh multi/bin/time /bin/sh multi/bin/time /bin/sh multi/bin/time /bin/sh multi/bin/time /bin/sh mult/bin/time /bin/sh mult

12 3 4

5

5 6

Table 3: Results for the multitasking UNIX benchmark in listing 6b with a variablenumber of background processes. The data are the elapsed [real] times for thebenchmark to complete. The table is sorted on the fastest execution times with sixbackground processes (the last column) where possible.

System

Elapsed I Real) Time in Seconds

Number of Concurrent Processes

No.

Machine

UNIX Version

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

VAX-11/780

4.1 BSD

4.3

5.5

7.8

9.0

11.0

13.8

2

VAX-11/750

4.1 BSD

4.3

5.5

8.8

10.3

13.3

15.0

3

PDP-iI/70

2.8 BSD

5.0

7.8

9.3

11.8

14.3

16.7

4

Masscomp

Sys 111 +

4.2

5.5

9.1

II.8

14.5

17.8

5

Sun-2/120

4.2 BSD

3.6

6.2

8.7

11.8

14.4

18.0

6

Altos 986

XENIX

6.3

7.3

9.3

19.3

27.2

36.0

7

TRS-80 16B

XENIX

20.0

24.5

33.0

56.5 1

10.5 1

39.3

8

SCI-1000

Sys 111 +

15.1

28.6

51.8 1

17.4 1

34.8 1

57.2

9

PDP-11/23

V7

22.3

37.3

52.3 1

14.8 1

31.0 2

05.0

10

IBM PC XT

PC/IX

10.6

23.4

42.8 1

14.1 1

24.2 2

10.7

II

Apple Lisa

Sys 111 +

38.1

1:14.8

1:54.5 2

34.2 3

14.6 3

48.6

12

PDP-II/23

VENIX

14.0

32.8

—

—

—

—

13

IBM PC XT

VENIX/86

15.0

23.5

39.0

—

—

—

14

DEC Pro/350

VENIX

26.0

41.0

1:22.3

-

—

—

15

Omnibyte

Idris 1.2C)

Indicates UNIX System Mi plus some Berkeley enhancements.Indicates a benchmark that would not complete.

The Idris shell command wait did not appear to function properly, andthus the benchmark could not be run.

The Volition system

recommends itself based

on its superior

development

environment. . .its

compiling speed, and its

relative polish.

—Joel Pitt, PC Magazine

If you do not have access

to a VAX, the next most

powerful development

system is a Sage with

Volition's compiler; it is

very fast compiling and

reasonably fast running.

— Terry Anderson, Journal of

Pascal, Ada & Modula-2

It is a tribute to the

compactness of this

programming language

that it can be used on a

64K byte personal

computer.

— Allen Munro, Apple Softalk

The documents that come

with Volition Systems

Modula-2 are about the

best introduction to the

language that I know of.

— Jerry Pournelle, BYTE

VolitionSystems

PO BOX 1236Del Mar, CA 92014

(619) 481-2286

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 407

BENCHMARKING

Figure 1: A graph of the multitasking benchmark data in table 2 with the numberof background processes versus elapsed time for each computer. The numbers at thetop of each line correspond to the computers as listed in table 3. It is interesting tonote the cluster of high-performance systems on the left-hand side and the cluster ofother systems on the right.

Listing 7: A simple benchmark to test incrementing and looping.

UNIX Operating System Implementation Test #7

This program tests long integer incrementation. It istaken from USENET news article ' megatest. 186".

Instructions:Compile by:

cc -O -s -o loop loop.c

The -O option says to use the optimizer.

The -s option says to strip the namelist from the

object file after linking.The -o option says to place the object file in the file

specified by the next argument.

Time by: /bin/time loop

Results:

Although not very significant, it does say something about thespeed of the processor, since the compiler would hopefullycompile the i + + " as an INCR instruction and not an ADDinstruction. The benchmark is presented here for historicalreasons.

•/

maind

{

long i:

•

for (i = 0: i <

1000000:

i+ + l

printfl Done\n'

1:

multiuser and UNIX-like do not swap.That is, they cannot swap a process outto disk and bring in another user's pro-cess. A system that cannot swap isneither truly multiuser nor UNIX-like.When a process runs out of primarymemory in these systems, it dies. Theseimplementations are substantiallycheaper than most others, so be suspi-cious of low-cost UNIX-like systems.

As mentioned earlier, some systemsimplement a relatively low predefinedlimit on the amount of memory or num-ber of processes one user can have,regardless of other system activity (orinactivity). Once this limit is exceeded,activity grinds to a halt, as a deadlockhas been reached. Each blocked pro-cess (blocked in the sense that it iswaiting for resources before it can con-tinue) is waiting for the other to ter-minate before it can continue. If youplan to be an active user on a smallmultiuser system in a single-user en-vironment, look out for this. The multi-tasking benchmark in listing 6b willusually bring any problems to light.

Knowledgeable 4.1 BSD and 4.2 BSDusers should beware of systems thatclaim to have Berkeley enhancements.This means that the Berkeley version ofsome UNIX commands have beenadded. For example, most so-calledBerkeley-enhanced systems include thetermcap (terminal capability) database,more (a utility that prints files onescreen at a time), and a version of Is (autility to list the files in a directory) thatlists files across, rather than down thescreen. Don't expect to find the newttydriver and the job-control facilities ofreal Berkeley UNIX systems.

If you're considering a UNIX micro-computer, remember that responsedoesn't always vary linearly with load(even on large UNIX systems). This isdue to several factors, most notablyavailable real memory and disk-accessspeed. If you plan to add a user or twolater, test the prospective system now.Find out if the hardware can support ad-ditional memory and/or faster disks.

The benchmarks presented here trynot to be blind to what users do at thekeyboard (not all users execute pro-grams similar to the Sieve of Eratos-thenes), but they do try to evaluateoperating-system features that are rou-tinely used. By explaining how bench-marks should be developed, this article

408 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

BENCHMARKING

Benchmark thespecific kindsof things youwill be doing aswell as overallperformance.

has tried to dispel the myth that allbenchmarks do is see how fast amachine can crunch numbers (e.g., theWhetstone benchmark has not beenmentioned).

Of course, benchmark results are notthe only means to judge microcom-puters. Clear and sufficient documenta-tion, a solid customer base, and goodproduct-support history are also impor-tant. If you do perform benchmarks onsystems you are considering purchas-ing, try to benchmark the specific kindsof things you will be doing as well asoverall performance in case your needschange. This sounds incredibly obvious,but many people have been disap-pointed by systems purchased yester-day that don't meet their needstoday. ■

REFERENCES

1. Gilbreath, |im, and Gary Gilbreath. "Eratos-thenes Revisited: Once More through the Sieve."BYTE, ianuary 1983, page 283.

2. Lions, |. "A Commentary on the UNIX Oper-ating System." 1977.

3. Peterson. J„ and A. Silberschatz. Operating Sys-tem Concepts. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley,1983.

4. UNIX Programmer's Manual. 7th ed.. VirtualVAX-11 Version, volumes 1 and 2c. Berkeley, CA:University of California, Department of Elec-trical Engineering and Computer Science, lune1981.

5. UNIX Programmer's Manual. 7th ed., volumesI, 2a, and 2b. Murray Hill, N): Bell TelephoneLaboratories, Ianuary 1979.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThanks to Ellen Mendelson and Walt Kennedyof the Durham and Raleigh Radio Shacks foraccess to the TRS-80 Model 16. Thanks to DavidHolloman of Keystone Systems Inc. of Raleighfor access to the Altos 586. Thanks to MichaelSmith of East Carolina University for runningthe Idris benchmarks. Special thanks to theNorth Carolina Educational Computing Servicefor allowing me access to most of the remain-ing machines listed in table I.

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 409

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AUGUST 1984

411

FORTH-83

Table 3: FORTH-83 modifications to the required word set. (For an explanation ofthe abbreviations used in the stack diagrams, see table 7.) The pronunciation is inparentheses next to the FORTH word. A star (■&) indicates a new FORTH word.

# ("sharp")

Stack:

Modifications:

( + dl - +d2)

stack diagram modified: usage outside of <#

#> is unrestricted

#S ("sharp-s"

Stack:

Modifications:

( +d — 00)

stack diagram modified: usage outside of <#

#> is unrestricted

#TIB ("number-t-i-b")<r

Stack: I — addr)

New definition: user variable, containing the byte length of the text input buffer

' (tick")

Stack: ( — addr )

Format: ' <name>

New definition: leave the compilation address addr of <name>. which must be found

within the current search order: note that ' is no longer an immediate

word

( ("paren")Stack:

Format:

New definition:

(-)

( - ) (compiling)

(cccl

comment characters ccc. up to the ")" delimiter, are not processed: the

zero or more comment characters must be entirely contained within the

remaining input stream

•/ ("times-divide")

Stack: (n/ n2 n3 — n4 )

New definition: multiply n/ by n2 to form an intermediate 32-bit value, then divide by n3;

result n4 is the floored quotient, rounded toward negative infinity: forces

an error for n3 equal to 0 or n4 out of range

•/MOD I "times-divide-mod")

Stack: ( nl r\2 n3 — n4 n5 I

New definition: multiply nl by n2 to form an intermediate 32-bit value, then divide by nl;result n4 is the remainder, with the same sign as n3 if nonzero: result n5 isthe floored quotient rounded toward negative infinity; forces an error forn3 equal to 0 or n5 out of range

+ LOOP ("plus-loop")

Stack:

Format:

New definition:

, ("comma' )

Stack:

Modifications:

("dot-quote"

Stack:

Format:

New definition:

In-)

( sys — ) (compiling)

DO +LOOP ;

immediate word to add n to the loop index; terminate the loop if theindex was incremented over the (limit-l) to limit boundary (otherwise,repeat the loop); the error-check value sys is left by DO during compilation

( 16b-)

stack diagram modified; definition clarified to indicate that 16b is compiled

at the top of the dictionary

(-)

( — ) (compiling): <name> ..." ccc" . . . :

immediate word to output the character string ccc. up to the delimitingquote" character, during execution of <name>

.( ("dot-parens")*Stack:

Format:

New definition:

(-)

( — ) (compiling)

.(ccc)

immediate word to output the character string ccc. up to the delimiting ")"

character

(continued from page 138)

resulting in 65,536 passes before detec-tion of the necessary transition.

Execution of LEAVE in FORTH-79 setsthe loop index to the limit value, caus-ing termination at the next LOOP or+ LOOP. FORTH-83's LEAVE jumps con-trol to the first word beyond the nextLOOP or +LOOP, without executingany words between LEAVE and LOOPor +LOOP during the final pass.

Relational in the new standard usetrue arithmetic comparisons. Someolder FORTH implementations (but notFORTH-79) use a 64K-byte number cir-cle for comparisons as well, so that arelational test such as

-30000 30000 <

returns an incorrect result. FORTH-83'sarithmetic comparisons instead mustuse a "number line" from the lowest tothe highest permissible operand values,providing proper results in all cases.

FORTH-83 comparisons that result ina Boolean true flag leave a value of -1(FFFF hexadecimal in 2's complementnotation) rather than FORTH-79's valueof 1 (01 hexadecimal). Although thesedefinitions are shown as changed in thestandard, it is the definition of "trueflag" that has been revised. ManyFORTH-79 applications use comparisonflags arithmetically and may not operateproperly with the new "true" value. Anynonzero value is still accepted as a trueflag when used as an operand, though.NOT now leaves the l's complement ofa numeric operand and is no longerequivalent to 0= .

Buffer Restrictions

Mass-storage buffer areas, frequentlyused as scratch pads between FORTH-79 disk accesses, are restricted inFORTH-83. The definition of BLOCKnow specifies that buffer contents maynot be changed unless that change canbe transferred to mass storage.FORTH-79's EMPTY-BUFFERS has beenrelegated to the reference word setbecause FORTH-83 buffers by definitioncontain only data to be saved by SAVE-BUFFERS, UPDATE, or FLUSH.FLUSH , new to FORTH-83, saves allbuffer contents before unassigning allbuffers; this permits disks to be changedduring processing without the chanceof data or source code being placed on

{continued)

412 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 230 on inquiry card.

FORTH-83

/ (divide")

Stack: {nl n2 — n3 )

New definition: divide nl by n2, leaving the floored quotient n3 rounded toward negativeinfinity: forces an error If n2 equals 0 or n3 is out of range

/MOD ("divide-mod")

Stack: (nl n2 — n3 n4 )

New definition: divide nl by n2. leaving the floored quotient n4 rounded toward negative

infinity; remainder n3 has the same sign as n2 if nonzero: forces an error if

n2 equals 0 or n4 is out of range

0< ("zero-less")

Stack: ( n — flag )

New definition: leave a true flag (— 1 ( if n is less than 0

0= I'zero-equals")

Stack: ( w — flag )

New definition: leave a true flag (- I) if w equals 0

0> ("zero-greater")

Stack: ( n — flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (- 11 if n is greater than 0

2/ ("two-divide1 ')•&

Stack: [nl — n2 )

New definition: the operand is shifted I bit right arithmetically, including the sign bit

: ("colon")Stack:Format:Modifications:

( — sys I

stack diagram modified: vocabulary references changed to comply withFORTH-83 search order

< ("less-than")

Stack: {nl n2 -flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (— 1) If n/ is less than n2

= I'equals")

Stack: ( wl v/2 — flag )

New definition: leave a true flag (- 1) if wl equals w2

> ("greater-than")

Stack: [nl n2 — flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (-1) if nl is greater than n2

>BODY ("to-body")t>Stack: {addrl — addr2 )

New definition: leave the parameter field address addr2 of the word whose compilationaddress is addrl

?DUP ("question-dupe")

Stack: ( 16b — 16b 16b I or ( 0 -0 I

Modifications: stack diagram modified and pronunciation changed

ABORT" ("abort-quote")*Stack: ( flag — )

( — I (compiling)Format: : <name> . . . ABORT" ccc" . . . ;

New definition: immediate word to output the character string ccc (up to the delimiting

"quote") and initiate a system-dependent abort if flag is true when

<name> is executed; the abort routine must at least include all functions

of ABORT

BASE

Stack: ( — addr )

New definition: user variable containing the current I/O radix, in the range of 2 to 72

{continued)

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FORTH-83

BLOCK

Stack:

( u — addr )

New definition:

assign the buffer whose first data byte is at addr to block u and transfer

the data if the block is not already in a buffer: prior contents of the buffer

are saved to disk if the update bit is set: if block u is already in a buffer.

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BUFFER

Stack:

( u — addr I

New definition:

similar to BLOCK except that block u might not be transferred to the

buffer if not already in memory: the contents of the buffer after execution

are unspecified

CMOVE> ("c-move-up")*

Stack:

1 addr I addr2 u — 1

New definition:

move u bytes, starting with the byte at ( addrl + u - 1 1 to

(addr2 + u - 1 ) and proceeding toward low memory: no bytes are

moved if u is 0

COMPILE

Stack:

l-l

Format:

: <namel> . . . COMPILE <name2> . . . ;

New definition:

during execution of <namel > . compile the compilation address of the

nonimmediate word <name2> into the top of the dictionary

CONSTANT

Stack:

( 16b-)

Format:

CONSTANT < name >

New definition:

compile the definition of <name> such that later execution of <name>

leaves 16b on the stack

D< ("d-less-tha

n"l

Stack:

idl d2 - flag I

New definition:

leave a true flag 1- II if dl is less than d2

DEFINITIONS

Stack:

I-)

New definition:

make the compilation vocabulary the same as the vocabulary now first in

the search order

DO

Stack:

1 wl v/2 - )

( — sys ) Icompiling)

Formats:

DO LOOP

: ... OO ... +LOOP ;

New definition:

immediate word to begin an indexed loop, with initial value w2 and limit

value wl: all DO loops are performed at least once: sys is balanced during

compilation by LOOP or +LOOP : force an error if space is not available

for at least three levels of nesting

DOES>

Stack:

( - addr)

( — ) (compiling)

Format:

: <namel> . . . <create> . . DOES> ... ;

New definition:

immediate word to define the execution behavior of any later word

<name2> defined using <namel> : the <create> may be CREATE or

any user-defined word that executes CREATE : later execution of

<name2> places <name2>'s parameter field address on the stack

before executing the sequence of words between DOES> and ; in

<namel >'s definition

EMIT

Stack:

{ 16b-)

New definition:

display the ASCII character defined by the lowest 7 bits of 16b on the

current output device: if additional bits are available for display in an

environmentally-dependent manner, all must be displayed

FORTH-83

EXPECT

Stack:

( addr + n — )

New definition:

store characters beginning at addr until a "return' is encountered or + n

characters have been stored: the "return" is not stored but is displayed

(along with all received characters) as a blank

FIND

Stack:

( addr — addr2 n )

New definition:

for a string with a count byte at addr], search for a matching word name

using the current search order: if found, addr2 is the matching word's

compilation address: n is 1 if the word is immediate (or - 1 otherwise): if

no match is found, addr2 is the same as addrl and n equals 0

FLUSH -ti

Stack:

(-)

New definition:

unassign all block buffers after executing a sequence equivalent to the

SAVE-BUFFERS operation

FORGET

Stack:

(-)

Format:

FORGET <name>

New definition:

delete <name> and all later-defined words: force an error if <name> is

not within the current search order or if the compilation vocabulary is

removed

FORTH

Stack:

(-)

New definition:

make FORTH the first vocabulary in the search order; not immediate

FORTH-83 ft

Stack:

(-)

New definition:

force an error condition if the operating environment is not a FORTH-83

standard system

HOLD

Stack:

{ char -)

Modification:

usage outside of <#,..#> is unrestricted

KEY

Stack:

1- /6b 1

New definition:

receive the ASCII character defined by the lowest 7 bits of 16b on the

current input device: all ASCII codes are permitted: characters are not

displayed, nor are control characters processed

LEAVE

Stack:

l-l

1 — 1 (compilingl

Formats:

: <name> DO LEAVE LOOP

: <name> . . DO . . . LEAVE . . +LOOP . . . ;

New definition:

immediate word, to transfer execution of <name> to the first word

beyond LOOP or +LOOP ; LEAVE may appear multiple times or within

other control structures

LITERAL

Stack:

{-16b)

{ 16b — ) (compiling)

Format:

: <name> LITERAL

New definition:

immediate word to compile a system-dependent operation: later execution

of <name> leaves 16b on the stack

LOOP I loop")

Stack:

(-1

( sys — ) (compiling)

Format:

DO LOOP ;

New definition:

immediate word to increment the current loop index by 1: terminate the

loop if the index was incremented over the (limit-1) to limit boundary

(otherwise, repeat the loop): the error check value sys is left by DO during

compilation

{continued)

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FORTH-83

MOD

Stack:

[nl n2 — nl)

New definition:

divide nl by n2; the remainder of n3 has the same sign as n2 if nonzero:

force an error if n2 equals 0 or n3 is out of range

NOT

Stack:

1 I6bl - I6b2 )

New definition:

leave the ones complement of /6b/

PAD

Stack:

( - addr)

New definition:

leave a pointer to the first byte of a floating scratch-pad area; the area

must contain at least 84 bytes

PICK

Stack:

( + n - 16b)

New definition:

leave a copy of the nth stack location, not counting the location containing

the +n operand: the operand is zero-based, so that DUP is equivalent to

0 PICK, and OVER is equivalent to 1 PICK

ROLL

Stack:

|+fl — ]

New definition:

roll the nth (not counting the position occupied by +n) stack location's

contents to the top of the stack, moving all intervening values down one

location: the +n operand is zero-based, thus ROT is equivalent to 2 ROLL

and 0 ROLL is a null operation

SIGN

Stack:

In-]

Modification:

usage outside of < > and colon definitions is unrestricted

SPAN <r

Stack:

1 - addr1

New definition:

user variable containing the number of characters received and stored by

the last execution of EXPECT .

STATE

Stack:

1 - addr)

Modification:

contents may not be modified by a program

TIB ("t-i-b")tt

Stack:

(— addr)

New definition:

leave a pointer to the first byte of the terminal input buffer; length of the

buffer must be at least 80 characters

U< ("u-less-tha

i")

Stack:

iul u2 —flag)

New definition:

leave a true flag 1-1) If uf is less than u2

UM* ( "u-m-times")*

Stack:

[ul u2 — ud)

New definition:

leave the unsigned double-precision product of ul and u2

UM/MOD ( u-m

divide-mod")*

Stack:

( ud ul — u2 u3 )

New definition:

leave the remainder u2 and floored quotient u3 of ud divided by ul: force

an error if ul equals 0 or u3 is out of range

VOCABULARY

Stack:

(-)

Format:

VOCABULARY <name>

New definition:

compile a definition for <name> to initiate a new vocabulary; later

execution of <name> makes it the first vocabulary in the search order;

the sequence <name> DEFINITIONS makes <name> the compilation

vocabulary, to which new definitions are linked; <name> is not

immediate

FORTH-83

WORD

Stack:

New definition:

( char — addr )

parses the next word delimited by char (ignoring any leading instances) orthe end of the input stream and stores it with its count bytes at addr. ablank is appended to the character string but is not included in the count:the count equals 0 if the input stream is already exhausted: the pointer in>IN is updated to indicate the character after the final delimiter

|'| ("bracket-tick'l*

Stack:

Format:

New definition:

( — addr)

I — ) (compiling)

: <namel> ... |'| <name2> . . . :

immediate word to compile the compilation address addr of <name2> as

a literal in the definition of <namel> : later execution of <namel>

leaves addr on the stack

Table 4: FORTH-83 modifications to the double-number (32-bit) word set. {For anexplanation of the abbreviations used in the stack diagrams, see table 7.) Thepronunciation is in parentheses next to the FORTH word. A star (•&) indicates anew FORTH word.

2CONSTANT ("two-constant")Stack: [32b — )

Format: 2CONSTANT < name >

New definition: create a dictionary definition for <name>, which executes by leaving 32bon the stack

D.R ("d-dot-r")Stack: [d+n —)

New definition: output d in the current radix, right justified in a field of +n characters:force an error condition if the field width is insufficient

DO = ("d-zero-equals")

Stack: I wd — flag )

New definition: leave a true flag (- I) if wd is 0

D2/ ("d-two-divide")*

Stack: {dl -d2\

New definition: the operand dl is shifted one bit right arithmetically, including the sign bit

D< ("d-less-than")

Stack: [dl d2 — flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (-1) if wdl is less than wd2

D= ("d-equals )

Stack: ( wdl wd2 — flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (- I) if dl is less than d2

DABS i d-absoluie" i

Stack: ( d — ud )

Modifications: stack diagram modified: pronunciation changed

DU< ("d-u-less")

Stack: ( udl ud2 — flag)

New definition: leave a true flag (-1) if udl is less than ud2

the new disk by mistake.

All mass-storage buffer assignmentsare in an installation-dependent se-quence rather than the rotationspecified by FORTH-79 to assign a blockto the buffer accessed least recently. InFORTH-79, BUFFER can be used toassign a buffer to a specific disk blockwithout actually transferring the block

from disk. The FORTH-83 version ofBUFFER may (but needn't, dependingon the installation) actually transfer thespecified block from disk to buffer. Asa result, buffer contents after executionof BUFFER are unspecified inFORTH-83.

The data (parameter) stack-manipulat-ing words PICK and ROLL have been

changed from 1-origin to O-origin form.In other words, the FORTH-83 sequence2 ROLL 4 PICK is equivalent toFORTH-79's 3 ROLL 5 PICK . Definitionsfor all required words with stackoperands or results have been moreclosely defined, using the value typeslisted in table 7. FORTH-79 and FIG-FORTH both suffer from poorlyspecified stack operands; for example,earlier definitions of DROP specify asigned single-precision operand, yetthey also work perfectly well for un-signed numerics or ASCII (AmericanNational Standard Code for InformationInterchange) values. The FORTH-83 ver-sion indicates that any arbitrary 16-bitvalue (one stack position) can be prop-erly used. Similar revisions throughoutFORTH-83's required and extensionword sets remove many ambiguities andgreatly enhance the internal consisten-cy of the language (see table 2).

I/O words have been redefined to per-mit coding for l/O-device selection,input-line editing, output control codes,and other "environmentally dependent"operations. To be labeled compatiblewith the FORTH-83 standard, however,programs must keep all environmental-ly dependent word definitions in anisolated set, with full documentation.

The input stream from the terminal isnow directly accessible, using the buf-fer whose address is given by TIB andwhose length (80 characters or more) isspecified by the user variable #T1B .Unlike FORTH-79. FORTH-83 does notadd ASCII nulls to delimit the end of aninput stream. Instead, the new user-variable SPAN holds the count of thecharacters actually received and storedby the last execution of EXPECT.

Numeric I/O may be received andtransmitted in any radix up to 72;FORTH-79 has a limit of 70. Picturednumeric output words, # , #S , HOLD ,and SIGN are no longer restricted touse between <# and #> , and SIGNmay also appear outside of colon defini-tions if desired. The floating scratch-padarea designated by PAD is now at least84 characters rather than 64.

FORTH-79 has several immediate"state smart" words; their execution dif-fers depending upon whether the sys-tem is compiling or executing (specifiedby the value of user-variable STATE ).Some words have been made "state

[continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 419

FORTH-83

"fable 5: FORTH-83 system-extension word set. {For an explanation of theabbreviations used in the stack diagrams, see table 7.) The pronunciation is inparentheses next to the FORTH word.

<MARK I backward-mark")Stack: ( — addr)

Format: : <name> . <MARK . . ;

Definition: leave the pointer addr to the destination of a backward branch; the pointer

is primarily for later use by < RESOLVE

<RESOLVE ("backward-resolve")Stack: ( addr — )

Format: : <name> . . . < RESOLVE . . . ;

Definition: used after 7BRANCH or BRANCH at the source of a backward branch to

compile a branch address using the destination pointer addr

>MARK ("forward-mark")

Stack: ( — addr)

Format: : <name> . . . >MARK . . . :

Definition: used after 7BRANCH or BRANCH at the source of a forward branch at

addr to compile space for a pointer to the destination; the pointer is

primarily for later use by > RESOLVE

>RESOLVE ("forward-resolve")Stack: ( — addr )

Format: : <name> . . . >RESOLVE

Definition: used at the destination of a forward branch to compile a branch offset in

the space left by >MARK . using the source pointer addr

7BRANCH ("question-branch")

Stack:

Format:

Definition:

BRANCH

Stack:

Format:

Definition:

CONTEXT

Stack:Definition:

[flag -)

: <name> . . COMPILE 7BRANCH . . .

in the specified format, compile a conditional branch operation; a branch

address must immediately follow; it is usually compiled by < RESOLVE

(backwards branch) or >MARK (forward branch); later execution of

< name > Ignores the branch if flag Is true or executes the branch if flag is

false

(-)

: <name> COMPILE BRANCH ;

in the specified format, compile an unconditional branch operation; abranch address must immediately follow; it is usually compiled by< RESOLVE (backward branch) or >MARK (forward branch)

( — addr)

user variable specifying the dictionary search order

CURRENT

Stack:

Definition:

(— addr)

user variable specifying the vocabulary to receive new word definitions

dumb" in FORTH- 83, and programs arealso prohibited from changing the valueof STATE . Both ." and LITERAL maynow appear only within colon defini-tions. FORTH-83's ' ("tick") is no longerimmediate; it's supplemented by the im-mediate word |'| to compile a compila-tion address within a colon definition.The new immediate word .(displays thecharacters that follow up to thedelimiting right parenthesis, duringcompilation or execution. Both compila-tion and run-time stack diagrams are

now specified for FORTH-83's im-mediate words, and all references toseparate run-time code have beenremoved.

FORTH-83 defining words have notescaped change. The definition ofDOES> has been expanded to permituse not only with CREATE but also withany user-defined word that executesCREATE.

Vocabulary creation, searching, anddeletion have always been problemareas for FORTH, and that tradition, un-

fortunately, continues in FORTH-83.FORTH-79's CONTEXT and CURRENTuser variables have been moved to thenew system-extension word set, alongwith words to mark and resolve branchoperations within colon definitions. Theword-name that serves as an operandfollowing FORGET must now be foundin the compilation vocabulary (calledthe "current" vocabulary in FORTH-79)that receives new definitions; FORTH-79permits the specified word to be ineither the current or the FORTHvocabulary.

The default search order still beginswith the last executed ("context")vocabulary and ends with FORTH , butnow it may be changed in a system-dependent manner. All further refer-ences to chaining have been removedfrom VOCABULARY and search-relatedwords.

The vocabulary search words FINDand WORD have been significantlychanged in FORTH-83. FIND now re-quires an address operand pointing tothe first (count) byte of a dimensionedstring. If a matching word is foundwithin the currently active search order,its compilation address is left on thestack; an additional value of - 1 is lefton top of the stack if the matching wordis ndnimmediate, or 1 if immediate. Ifno match is found, the result matchesthe address operand, and the value ontop of the stack is a false flag (0).FORTH-83's version of WORD parsesthe next delimited word from the inputstream, along with a preceding countbyte, but the delimiter operand maynow be specified as any ASCII charac-ter, including a null. The resulting stringends with a blank (not included in thecount) rather than the actual delimiterfound (as in FORTH-79).

Both FORTH-79 and FORTH-83strongly restrict the user's direct accessto many areas of memory. Programs areabsolutely prohibited from addressinginto the data or return stacks or anydefinition fields other than parameterfields stored by the application. One im-provement of FORTH-83 is the additionof >BODY , which converts a word'scompilation (code field) address to itsparameter field address.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to the numerous variations, onlyrelatively few FORTH-79 programs will

420 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

FORTH-83

Table 6: FORTH-83 modifications to the assembly-language extension word set.(For an explanation of the abbreviations used in the stack diagrams, see table 7.)The pronunciation is in parentheses next to the FORTH word.

.CODE ("semicolon-code"

Stack:

Format:Modifications:

ASSEMBLER

Stack:

New definition:

(-1

( sysl — sys2 I (compiling)

: <namel> . <create> . ;CODE . END-CODE

format modified to permit use with any user-defined word executing

CREATE : stack diagram added

(-)

make ASSEMBLER the first vocabulary in the search order: not immediate

CODE

Stack:

Format:

New definition:

END-CODE

Stack:Format:

Modifications:

I — sys )

CODE <name> END-CODE

compile a code definition for <name> using ASSEMBLER , which is made

the first vocabulary in the search order; the definition of <name> cannot

be found by a dictionary search before execution of END-CODE , which

uses the sys parameter

[sys-)

:CODE END-CODE

CODE END-CODE

stack diagram changed; usage formats specified

Table 7: Stack parameter types.

ranges, and abbreviations for FORTH-83.

Parameter Type

Width (bits)

Decimal Range

Abbreviation

Address

16

0 . . 65.535

addr

Arbitrary

bit

1

0 ... 1

b

Boolean flag

16

0 (false).nonzero (true)

nag

byte

8

n.a.

8b

2 bytes

16

n.a.

16b

4 bytes

32

n.a.

32b

Boolean

false

16

0

false

true

16

- 1 (result),nonzero (operand)

true

Character

7

0 . . . 127

char

Double-precision

signed

32

-2,147,483,648 . ..2,147,483,647

d

positive

32

0 .... 2.147,483,647

+ d

unsigned

32

0 . . . 4.294,967,295

ud

arbitrary

32

-2,147,483,647 . . .4,294,967,295

wd

Single-precision

signed

16

-32,768 . . . 32,767

n

positive

16

0 . . . 32,767

+ n

unsigned

16

0 . . . 65,535

u

arbitrary

16

-32,768 , . . 65,535

w

System compilation

sys

(generated by system;

normally used for error checking;

width and range constraints do not apply)

execute properly in a FORTH-83 en-vironment without conversion; con-sidering FORTH's often cryptic sourcecode, conversion of application pro-grams may require substantial effort. Of

course, existing software can still beused under a FORTH-79 system.

Compliance with the FORTH-83 stan-dard is necessary only to indicate if asystem includes the required (or op-

tional) word set(s) in source or objectform; FORTH-83 applications are to ex-ecute equivalently on each standardsystem. The FORTH Standards Team hasexplicitly acknowledged that non-compliance is sometimes both bene-ficial and necessary and is entirelywithin the user's choice; publication ofthe standard was not intended to pre-vent the implementation, marketing,purchase, or use of noncomplyingsystems or programs.

In a language praised for its transport-ability the abundance of competing—and generally incompatible—dialectsmay continue to be detrimental. IsFORTH-83 the final word? That wouldseem about as likely as Apple Com-puter building abacuses, or universal ac-ceptance of COBOL as the ultimate pro-gramming language. There is no ques-tion that FORTH-83 is several stepsahead of earlier versions, but the scopeof the revisions indicates a language stillvery much in flux. FORTH-85. -86, or -87may be inevitable. ■

FOR MORE ON FORTH

Copies of the FORTH-79 and FORTH-83 stan-dards are available from the FORTH InterestGroup (FIG), POB 1105, San Carlos, CA 94070,(415) 962-8653. FIG also offers back issues ofits journal, FORTH Dimensions.

The Orange County (CA) FIG offers a public-domain version of FORTH-83 on 8-inch CP/M,Apple, or IBM PC disks for S2 5. Contact WilBaden, 32 5 Princeton. Costa Mesa, CA 92626.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

McCabe, C Kevin. FORTH Fundamentals, volumes1 and 2. Beaverton, OR: dilithium Press, 1983.Ragsdale, William F. FIG-FORTH Installation Man-ual, Glossary, and Model.

Smith, Robert. "Compilation Addresses andParameter Fields." FORTH Dimensions. March/April 1983, page 12.

Smith, Robert. "FORTH-83 DO-LOOP." FORTHDimensions. September/October 1983, page 2 5.Smith, Robert. "FORTH-83 Standard." FORTHDimensions, September/October 1983. page 26.Smith. Robert. "Representation for Logical True."FORTH Dimensions. November/December 1982,page 23.

Smith, Robert. "Summary of Changes in Pro-posed FORTH-83." FORTH Dimensions, lanuary/February 1983. page 29.Smith, Robert. "Towards a New Standard."FORTH Dimensions. luly/August 1982, page 19.Suralis, Klaxon. "FORTH-79 Compatible LEAVEfor FORTH-83." FORTH Dimensions. September/October 1982, page 2 5.Tenny, Glenn. "FORTH-83: A Minority View."FORTH Dimensions. September/October 1983,page 27.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 421

lb communicate voicethe ordinary modem

w

?«tt

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«BF

and data simultaneously,leaves a lot to be desired.

Introducing thelel-A-Modem.

Now you and your personal computer can talk on the same phone at the same time.

Let's say, for example, certain data youwere transmitting via your personal computer toa remote computer user needed some verbal ex-planation to go along with it. With the ordinarymodem it couldn't be done. Not simultaneously.

You'd have to first call the user to in-form them that data was coming. Hang up. Re-dial in order to connect modems. Transmit thedata. Hang up. And then call back with your ex-planation. If you had additional input to transmitand discuss, you'd have to begin the whole pro-cess again. Talk about frustration.

Code-A-Phone's solution to this prob-lem is the Tel-A-Modem. An innovative two-line desk telephone integrated with anintelligent modem capable of transmittingvoice and data simultaneously.

Of course, the genius of Tel-AModem doesn't end with its unique *communication capabilities andstate-of-the-art convenience.

Specially designed for usewith RS-232C compatible computersand terminals, it offers a full spectrum ofboth telephone and modem cost effectivefeatures, including: single button selectorfor voice or data on either line; full-duplex mode; automatic answer/origi-

Circle 53 on inquiry card.

nate modes; 300 and 1200 baud data transmis-sion rates; automatic selection of baud rates;switch dialing for tone-dial or pulse-dial systems;memory autodial; and modem status LEDs.

So much for words.

For more information and the name ofyour nearest Tel-A-Modem dealer, call 1-800-547-4683. That is, just as soon as your computer getsoff the phone. , , ,

* /„ Oregon, Alatka and Hawaii, call 1-503-655-8940.

Code-A-Phone*

A SUBSIDIARY OF CONRAC CORPORATION

BOOKS RECEIVED

ATE: Automatic Test Equip-ment, Allan C. Stover. New York:McGraw-Hill, 1984: 2 56 pages,16 by 23.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-07-061792-9, S32.50.

An Introduction to Program-ming the DRAGON 32, R. A.and J. W. Penfold. London,England: Bernard Babani Ltd.,1983: 96 pages. 11.3 by 17.8cm, softcover, ISBN0-85934-108-9, £1.95.

The Apple Almanac Eric E.Goez and William B. Sanders.Chatsworth, CA: Datamost.1983: 240 pages, 20.5 by 27.3cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-109-1, $19.95.

Apple BASIC Made Easy, DavidA. Gardner and Marianne L.Gardner. Englewood Cliffs, N|:Prentice-Hall, 1984: 2 56 pages.18.3 by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-13-038928-5, $19.95.

Apple He User's Handbook,WSI staff. Chesterland. OH:Weber Systems Inc., 1983: 318pages, 13.5 by 21.5 cm, soft-cover. ISBN 0-938862-46-4,$14.95.

Applesoft BASIC: From theGround Up, Henry Mullish andDov Kruger. New York: McGraw-Hill. 1984: 240 pages. 13.5 by20.3 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN0-07-044034-3, $10.95.

The Art of Computer GameDesign, Chris Crawford.Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1984: 128 pages. 18.3 by23.3 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88134-117-7, $14.95.

BASIC & FORTRAN in Parallel,S. J. Wainwright and A. Grant.London. England: BernardBabani Ltd.. 1984: 96 pages, 11by 17.8 cm, softcover, ISBN0-85934-112-7, £1.95.

BASIC Computer Simulation,Lawrence L. McNitt. Blue RidgeSummit. PA: Tab Books, 1983:352 pages, 18.8 by 23.5 cm.softcover, ISBN 0-8306-0585-1,$15.50.

The BYTE Guide to CP/M-86,Mark Dahmke. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 1984: 272 pages,14.8 by 22.8 cm, softcover, ISBN0-07-015072-9, $16.95.

The Commodore 64 Ex-perience, Mike Dean Klein.Chatsworth, CA: Datamost,1983: 207 pages, 13.3 by 20.9cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-230-6, $14.95.

Commodore 64 Graphics &Sound Programming, StanKrute. Blue Ridge Summit. PA:Tab Books, 1983: 2 56 pages,18.8 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-8306-0640-8, $15.50.

The Complete FORTH, AlanWinfield. New York: )ohn Wiley& Sons, 1983: 144 pages, 15 by20.8 cm, softcover, ISBN0-471-88235-6, $15.95.

Compumath Magic M. J.Winter. Chatsworth, CA:Datamost, 1983: 96 pages, 21by 27.3 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-217-9, $7.95.

COMPUTABILITY WITH PASCAL,

lohn S. Mallozzi and Nicholas |,De Lillo. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall, 1984: 208 pages,15.5 by 23.5 cm, hardcoverISBN 0-13-164443-2, $26.95.

Computer in your Pocket, EdFaulk. Chatsworth, CA:Datamost. 1983: 160 pages, 13.3by 20.9 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-070-2, $14.95.

Computer Playground, M. I.Winter. Chatsworth, CA:Datamost, 1983: 128 pages, 27.5by 20.3 cm, softcover. ISBN0-88190-108-3, $9.95.

Computers and Data Process-ing, 2nd Ed., H. L. Capron andBrian K. Williams. Menlo Park,CA: Benjamin/Cummings Pub-lishing, 1984: 490 pages, 20.5by 26 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-8053-2214-0, $26.95.

Computers for ProfessionalPractice, E. |. Neiburger.

Waukegan, IL: Andent, 1984:282 pages, 20.3 by 26.5 cm,softcover, ISBN 0-014555-00-6,$14.95.

Easy-To-Understand Guide toHome Computers, the editorsof Consumer Guide. New York:Beekman House, 1984: 96pages. 20.5 by 27.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-517-42 584-X,$3.98.

Easy-To-Understand Guide toWord Processing, the editorsof Consumer Guide. New York:Beekman House, 1984: 96pages, 20.5 by 27.5 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN 0-517-39869-9,$3.98.

Everyone's Guide to BASIC, theeditors of Consumer Guide. NewYork: Beekman House, 1984: 80pages, 21 by 27.5 cm, spiral-bound. ISBN 0-517-41594-1,$4.98.

Games Ataris Play, HalGlicksman and Kent Simon.Chatsworth, CA: Datamost,1983: 224 pages, 22.3 by 27.8cm, spiral-bound, 0-88190-118-0,$14.95.

Graphics Programming on theIBM Personal Computer, ). Ed-ward Volkstorf |r. EnglewoodCliffs, N): Prentice-Hall, 1984:304 pages, 17.3 by 23.3 cm,softcover, ISBN 0-13-363219-9,$39.95.

Hively's Choice, Wells Hively.St. Louis, MO: Hively's ChoicePublications, 1984: 244 pages,21.5 by 27.8 cm, softcover, ISBN0-8454-8100-2, $19.95.

The IBM COBOL Environment.Robert T Grauer. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984:400 pages, 18.3 by 24.3 cm.hardcover, ISBN 0-13-448654-4,$21.95.

IBM PC BASIC Programming,Richard Haskell and Glenn A.

THIS IS A LIST of books recently received at BYTE Publications. The list is not meantto be exhaustive. Us purpose is to acquaint BYTE readers with recently published titles incomputer science and related fields. We regret that we cannot review or comment on all thebooks we receive: instead, this list is meant to be a monthly acknowledgment of these booksand the publishers who sent them.

lackson. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall, 1984: 192 pages,21.5 by 27.8 cm. softcover, ISBN0-13-448424-X, $13.95.

IBM PCir Favorite ProgramsExplained, Donald C. Kreutner.Indianapolis, IN: Que Corp.,1984: 208 pages, 18.5 by 23.5cm. softcover, ISBN0-88022-102-X, $12.95.

Investing with a Computer,Herb Brooks. Princeton, NJ:Petrocelli Books, 1984: 148pages, 14.4 by 21.3 cm, hard-cover, ISBN 0-89433-194-9,$19.95.

Kids and the IBM-PC / PCir.Edward H. Carlson. Chatsworth,CA: Datamost. 1983: 240 pages,22.3 by 27.3 cm, spiral-bound,ISBN 0-88190-265-9, $19.95.

Kids to Kids on the Com-modore 64, Sam Edge, BillySanders, and Kris Houser.Chatsworth, CA: Datamost,1983: 160 pages, 27.3 by 20.8cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-320-5, $9.95.

Kip's Armor, lay Danler. TwinCities, MN: Treasure Hunters In-ternational, 1983: 108 pages,13.8 by 21.5 cm, softcover. ISBN0-916167-00-3. $11.95.

A Library of Subroutines,David S. Walonick. Glenview, IL:Scott, Foresman and Co., 1984:128 pages, 18.5 by 23.5 cm,softcover, ISBN 0-673-15965-5,$19.95.

MICOS: A MicroprogrammableComputer Simulator, LubomirBic. Rockville, MD: ComputerScience Press, 1984: 128 pages,15.3 by 22.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-914894-76-5. $15.95.

MS-DOS User's Guide, ChrisDeVoney. Indianapolis, IN: QueCorp.. 1984: 3 50 pages. 18.8 by23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88022-061-9, $12,95.

Making the Most of YourTRS-80 Color Computer, PeterVernon. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:Prentice-Hall. 1983: 200 pages.15 by 23 cm, softcover, ISBN0-13-547647-X, $19.95.

424 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Mastering dBASE II the EasyWay, Paul W. Heiser. EnglewoodCliffs, N): Prentice-Hall, 1984;240 pages, 21.3 by 28 cm,spiral-bound, ISBN0-13-559626-2, $14,95.

Mathematics for ComputerProgrammers, ChristineBenedyk Kay. Englewood Cliffs,NI: Prentice-Hall, 1984; 416pages, 18,3 by 24,3 cm, hard-cover, ISBN 0-13-562140-2,$24.95.

Microcomputer Tools forCommunications Engineering,Shing Ted Li, lohn W. Rockway,lames C. Logan, and Daniel W.S. Tarn. Dedham, MA: ArtechHouse, 1983; 278 pages, 21.3 by28 cm, spiral-bound, ISBN0-89006-132-7, $50.

The Microcomputer UsersHandbook 84, Dennis Longleyand Michael Shain, New York:lohn Wiley & Sons, 1983; 336pages, 20.8 by 29.5 cm, soft-cover, ISBN 0-471-80436-3.$39.95.

Microcomputers for Lawyers,I. Stewart Schneider and CharlesE. Bowen, Blue Ridge Summit,PA: Tab Books, 1983; 128 pages.18.8 by 23.5 cm. softcover, ISBN0-8306-0614-9, $14.50.

Microprocessor OperatingSystems, vol. III, lohn Zarrella,ed. Fairfield, CA: Microcom-

puter Applications, 1984; 160pages, 15.3 by 22.8 cm, soft-cover, ISBN 0-935230-10-6,$12,95.

Microprocessors: Hardware,Software, and Design Applica-tions, Wunnara V. Subbarao,Ph.D. Reston, VA: RestonPublishing Co., 1984; 365 pages,18 by 24.5 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-8359-4394-1, $27.95.

The Model 100 Book, JonathanErickson and Robert J. Sayre.Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1984; 336 pages, 16.3 by23.3 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88134-124-X, $17,95

The Model 100 Companion, theeditors of Osborne/McGraw-Hill.Berkeley, CA: Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 1984; 150 pages, 20.5 by27.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88134-122-3, $15.95.

Music and Sound for theCommodore 64, Bill L.Behrendt. Englewood Cliffs, N|:Prentice-Hall. 1984; 192 pages,15 by 22.8 cm, softcover. ISBN0-13-607094-9, $14.95.

Paradigms and Programmingwith Pascal, Derick Wood.Rockville, MD: ComputerScience Press, 1984; 440 pages,15.5 by 23.5 cm, hardcover,ISBN 0-914894-45-5, $25.95,

PASCAL, Geneva G. Belford and

C. L. Liu. New York: McGraw-

Hill. 1984; 352 pages, 18.5 by23.5 cm. softcover. ISBN0-07-038138-0, $19.95.

Pascal Applications for theSciences. Richard E. Crandall.New York: John Wiley & Sons.1984: 2 56 pages. 17.3 by 2 5.3cm, softcover, ISBN0-471-87242-3, $14,95.

Pascal for Programmers,Olivier Lecarme and Jean-LouisNebut. New York: McGraw-Hill,1984; 288 pages, 16 by 23.5cm. hardcover, 0-07-036958-5,$22.95.

Producing Useful Knowledgefor Organizations, RalphKilman. New York: PraegerPublishers, 1983; 750 pages, 16by 24 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-03-063199-8, $49.95.

Profit from the IBM, DanPost. Arcadia, CA: Edge Press,1984; 192 pages, 16 by 23.8 cm,hardcover, ISBN 09-11160-89-2,$17.95.

Protecting Your Microcom-puter, Harold Joseph Highland.New York: John Wiley & Sons,1984; 274 pages, 17 by 2 5 cm,softcover, ISBN 0-471-89216-5,$14,95,

p-Source: A Guide to theApple Pascal System, RandallHyde. Chatsworth, CA:Datamost. 1983; 463 pages, 13.3

by 20.9 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-004-4, $24.95.

Reinventing Man, IgorAleksander and Piers Burnett,New York: Holt. Rinehart &Winston, 1984; 304 pages, 15,8by 23,5 cm, hardcover, ISBN0-03-063857, $17.95.

Scientific Pascal, HarleyFlanders. Reston. VA: RestonPublishing, 1984; 580 pages,17,3 by 23.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-83 59-6931-2, $21.95.

Software Authors Guide,Mildred A. Heiney. Chatsworth.CA: Datamost, 1983; 208 pages,21 by 27,8 cm, softcover, ISBN0-88190-23 5-7, $19.95.

The Software Guide, IBM Per-sonal Computer & XT, GeraldVanDiver. Prior Lake. MN: MicroInformation, 1983; 1024 pages,21 by 27.5 cm, softcover, ISBN0-912603-00-3, $49.95.

Structured Program Designwith TRS-80 BASIC, ThomasDwyer and Margot Critchfield.New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984;3 52 pages, 21,5 by 27.8 cm,softcover, ISBN 0-07-018493-3,$17.95.

33 Adult Computer Games inBASIC, David W Chance. BlueRidge Summit, PA: Tab Books,1983; 504 pages. 13 by 21 cm.softcover. ISBN 0-8306-1627-6,$13.50, ■

Through the Trap Door

March 1979—$35

Breaking the Sound Barrier

September 1977—$35

BYTE COVERS

The prints shown at left are beautiful Collector Edition Byte Covers,strictly limited to 750 prints each, and signed and numbered by theartist, Robert Tinney. Each print is 18 in. x 22 in., and is accompaniedby its own Certificate of Authenticity. To order, use the coupon below.Visa and MasterCard orders may call 1-504-272-7266.

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AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 425

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They seem equal. Until you look atthe seams.

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AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 427

TECHNICAL FORUM

UCSD PASCALVS. MODULA-2

A DISSENTING VIEW

by David V. Moffat

A comparison between the old "extended'and the new "standard"

SEVERAL ARTICLES have shown howModula-2 is an improvement over Stan-dard Pascal (see references 2 and 4).Other articles describe some ofModula-2's imperfections and majortrouble spots (see reference 3). In thisarticle, 1 will endeavor to show howUCSD Pascal is superior to Modula-2 inmany ways.

Like Modula-2, UCSD Pascal is aPascal derivative designed for general-purpose and systems programming. Thetwo languages are about the samesize—that is, they have the samenumber of symbols, identifiers, andstatements. Both support type-checkedseparate compilation, procedure librar-ies, concurrent programming, low-levelI/O (input/output) handling, interrupthandling, and many other kinds of pro-gramming. But they have major dif-ferences as well.

Spelling

One of the seemingly trivial, but irritat-ing, facts about Modula-2 is that spell-ings are case sensitive. This means that"Number," "number," and "NUMBER"are all different words. Therefore, toread a program aloud verbatim is im-

possible, that is, to talk about a programaccurately. Two examples follow:

WHILE SYM = While DO ...IF n < N THEN ...

Note that WHILE is a reserved word,but While is not. Worse, there is no wayto predict how the standard names oranother programmer's names are capi-talized.

UCSD Pascal solves this problem bymaking no distinctions between the up-percase and lowercase spellings ofwords, just like any dictionary.

Types

Modula-2 lacks several types that areused constantly in general-purpose pro-gramming.

First, this language has no varying-length string type as found in UCSDPascal (and many other languages).While varying-length strings can besimulated and included in a library ofroutines for future use, this solution isonly a half measure. The advantages of

David V. Moffat is an instructor of computerscience at North Carolina State University inRaleigh. North Carolina 27650.

having them designed into the languageare many: they are available by default,they are highly efficient, and the com-piler allows them to have specialbehaviors. For example, the string func-tions in UCSD Pascal can return stringvalues (unlike programmer-definedfunctions), and some string functionscan accept varying numbers of param-eters. Programmer-defined proceduresand functions are not nearly as easy touse. Unlike Modula-2, UCSD Pascal ac-cepts a single-character literal as eithera character or as a single-characterstring.

The CHAR type in Modula-2 is re-stricted to the 128 standard ASCII(American National Standard Code forInformation Interchange) values, there-by defining away almost all the specialvalues used for graphics and specialfonts. UCSD Pascal accepts all 256character values.

UCSD Pascal also provides a long in-teger type, with up to 36-digit accuracy.Long integers are used in applicationsthat require exact-precision arithmetic,such as financial calculations. This type,and operations upon it. can be simu-lated in Modula-2, but UCSD Pascal per-

428 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

TECHNICAL FORUM

mits the use of the simpler standardoperations, DIV, +, -. and *, and de-fines conversions between long integersand other types.

Modula-2 sets are defined to be small,but their exact size is not defined. Inprogramming, one of the most conve-nient sets is a set of character values,used quite often in any kind of text pro-cessing. However, Modula-2's sets aretoo small for this application. UCSDPascal's sets can contain 4088 elements,enough for a wide variety of range-checking and value-testing applications.

UCSD Pascal lets you "pack" anystructured variable into as little spaceas necessary to contain it. These com-pact data structures save disk space andare useful in systems programming.Packing is not available in Modula-2.

Taken together, these characteristicsmake it apparent that UCSD Pascal pro-vides a richer selection of useful typesfor the demands of programming in avariety of real-world applications.

Input and Output

Input and output in Modula-2 is themost tedious of any language, exceptperhaps assembly languages withoutmacros. All of the convenient I/O pro-cedures that you would normally use inalmost all of your programs are miss-ing. Whereas in UCSD Pascal the READprocedure can be used to read anynumber of values of any single-valuedor string type, Modula-2 has the pro-cedures Read (a character), ReadString,Readlnt. ReadReal, ReadCard, and soon. Each procedure can read only onevalue of the type implied by its name.Standard output (Write) is similar InUCSD Pascal one could use

WRITELN('The ', N, ' cars average ',W:8:2, ' pounds.');

but Modula-2 would require

WriteStringl'The ');

Writelnt(N,l):

WriteStringC cars average ');

WriteRealfW, 8, 2):

WriteStringC pounds.');

WriteLn;

(and. of course, the procedures must becapitalized exactly as shown).

Most of the procedures used to dostandard input and output in UCSDPascal also apply to files of program-mer-defined types (sometimes called

record files in other languages). Thesefiles can therefore be handled in asimilar and familiar fashion. In Modula-2, I/O procedures for such files must becustom programmed.

Interestingly, UCSD Pascal also pro-vides the low-level I/O operations thatModula-2 provides. In all, UCSD has 26I/O procedures, functions, and so on,which do more for the programmerthan Modula-2's 46 I/O operations.UCSD Pascal also provides more sup-port for interactive I/O and graphics.

Overall, convenient I/O took a big stepbackward in Modula-2. UCSD Pascal'sI/O routines, joined with its greatervariety of types, make it a much bettergeneral-purpose language.

Separate Compilation

Though both languages support sepa-rate compilation. UCSD Pascal does itin a simpler fashion than Modula-2. Inboth languages, groups of related de-clarations and procedures can be pack-aged into a module, compiled as asingle unit, and saved on disk as partof a "library" of precompiled packages.Programs can then use these packagesof declarations and procedures as ifthey were built into the language. Thesepackages are called modules in Modula-2 and units in UCSD Pascal.

In both languages two parts composeeach module or unit—an interface thatshows how to use the procedures andthe implementation. The major differ-ence between the languages is in howthese parts are stored. In Modula-2 theinterface is stored in a source file, thencompiled into an object file; the im-plementation is stored in anothersource file and compiled into anotherobject file—a total of four files. In UCSDPascal, the interface and implementa-tion are in the same source file, whichis compiled into a single object file. Halfas many files are used. UCSD Pascal letsthe operating system keep track of thevarious parts, the ordinary function ofoperating systems.

The UCSD Pascal units are also easierto understand and maintain becauseboth parts can be edited at the sametime.

DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT

The languages differ in many otherways, but those discussed above are themost important ones. However, other

factors must be considered when com-paring languages—factors that deter-mine how the programmer gets his orher work done. One such considerationis the language's environment.

UCSD Pascal comes embedded in theUCSD p-System operating system, acomplete development, production,and maintenance environment. Thep-System includes compilers, an assem-bler, an editor, a linker, a file manager,an execution monitor, a print spooler,a large set of utilities and software tools,and a large library of precompiled unitsfor screen handling, graphics, and otherapplications. The languages and systemcommands are integrated into a unifiedwhole.

Modula-2 comes with a compiler, alinker, an execution monitor, and a setof standard modules (these modulessupport features that are built intoUCSD Pascal). Modula-2 has few, if any,software tools and no utilities. Editingand file handling must be done catch-as-catch-can using the existing operat-ing system. Therefore, the environmentis not integrated at all.

The run-time environment providedby the UCSD p-System is available formany computers for as little as $50.Because UCSD Pascal programs are en-tirely portable with respect to this en-vironment, programs written on onesystem can be run on every majormicrocomputer. The portability ofModula-2 programs is still very limited;they have too few implementations.

Because the UCSD operating systemis such a good development environ-ment, one version of Modula-2 (by Voli-tion Systems) has been embedded in aUCSD system, but it is an older version,not the portable p-System.

In any case, a language cannot standon its own: its environment is an impor-tant factor in its usability.

DOCUMENTATION

Setting aside differences in languageand development environments, to usea language successfully you have tolearn it and understand what hasalready been done with it. These factorsare yet two more ways in which UCSDPascal is an "improvement" overModula-2.

In the first place, UCSD Pascal is anextended Pascal; Modula-2 is not. If you

[continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 429

Circle 87 on inquiry card.

Circle 88 on inquiry card

Circle 89 on inquiry card.

TECHNICAL FORUM

A new language is notnecessarily moreadvanced than itspredecessors

already know Standard Pascal, youalready know much of UCSD Pascal.

More to the point, many good texts,references, and tutorials are availablefor UCSD Pascal alone. In addition,more than 100 other Pascal texts andbooks have been written. These booksexhibit algorithms and working pro-grams for business, games, graphics,operating systems, software tools, data-base management, and so on. Morethan 90 percent of this material appliesto UCSD Pascal. By contrast, there arevery few books on Modula-2 and evenfewer texts.

Even if all else were equal, gettingdown to serious work using UCSDPascal is possible much sooner thanwith Modula-2.

Summary

I have presented UCSD Pascal almostas if it were a "successor" to Modula-2.In fact, Modula-2 was designed chron-ologically later than UCSD Pascal. Mypoint was to show that a new languageis not necessarily more advanced thanits predecessors. In fact, UCSD Pascalis a positive step in the evolution of "liv-ing" Pascal (as opposed to StandardPascal which, like Latin, is unchangingand therefore dead). Modula-2, on theother hand, is another language al-together, even if Pascal-like. (Ada, Euclid,Mesa, Edison, and many other lan-guages are also Pascal-like.)

Between the publications of the firstPascal report and the first Modula-2report, hundreds of papers were writ-ten on Pascal, many of which pointedout its deficiencies and offered ways toimprove it. When Wirth designed Mod-ula-2, he ignored most of that advice,even though much of it came from ex-perienced critics and users of program-ming languages. He was obviously notso interested in improving Pascal as indesigning another language for an en-tirely different application area. Thatwas his decision. But it is not intellec-tually honest for persons promotingModula-2 to claim that it is "the" suc-

cessor to Pascal (it is not), or that itsolves all of Pascal's problems (it doesnot).

At the same time, users of Modula-2can either rejoice or be wary that Wirthand others are trying to avoid havingModula-2 suffer the same fate asPascal—what the orthodox would callundisciplined changes and extensionsto the language. In reality, such modifi-cations are part of a process of evolu-tion in response to real and perceivedneeds. To have anything in computingnailed down long enough to becomecomfortable with it is a luxury. But com-puting marches on; if we are not goingforward, then we are standing still, andif we are standing still, then we are fall-ing behind. Standard Pascal is naileddown; will Modula-2 be nailed downalso?

Thus, when Modula-2 is looked at asa candidate for a long-term languagecommitment for systems programmingon microcomputers, it is a big improve-ment (in many ways) over much olderlanguages. It is not very remarkable incomparison to other modern languages.Although Modula-2 implementationsand environments are likely to improve,even as the language remains un-changed, if commitment to a languageis necessary, then UCSD Pascal, alreadya mature and well-supported product,is probably a better choice in terms ofbetter business sense.

On the other hand, in the perspectiveof ongoing developments in computing,Modula-2 is just an interestingly dif-ferent—and imperfect—stepping-stonealong the way, frozen in time and space.We should pause to admire it, but it isnot the end of the road. We must recon-cile ourselves to the insecurity of con-stant change. That is what progress isabout. ■

REFERENCES

1. lensen, K., and N. Wirth. Pascal-User Manualand Report. 2nd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag,1978.

2. lohnson. M. C, and A. Munro. "Pascal'sDesign Flaws: Modula-2 Solutions and PascalPatches; BYTE, March 1984. page 371.

3. Spector. D. "Ambiguities and Insecurities inModula-2." SICPLAN Notices, volume 17. number8. 1982. page 43.

4. Sumner. R. T., and R. E. Cleaves. "Modula-2-A Solution to Pascal's Problems." SIGPLANNotices, volume 17. number 9. 1982. page 28.

5. Wirth, N. Programming in Modula-2. 2nd ed. NewYork: Springer-Verlag. 1983.

WHAT'S NEW

Portable Computer Line from Franklin

Franklin Computer Corporationrecently introduced a line ofportable computers. The CXSeries is made up of fourmodels, each incorporating 64Kbytes of RAM, the FranklinOffice Manager integrated soft-ware package, and FranklinDOS. Advanced models areavailable with CP/M andMS-DOS.

Franklin DOS is an Apple-compatible operating systemthat uses a minimal amount ofROM memory and boots theoperating system, language,or utility software into RAM onan as-needed basis underoperator control. When notusing BASIC, Franklin DOS

provides an additional 12Kbytes of memory.

The Franklin Office Managerintegrates word processing,spreadsheet, graphics design,and a spelling checker. It usesicon-type prompting aids andan 80-column display (70 col-umns for graphics).

The CX Series unit measures157/0 by 16%) by tVi inches andweighs approximately 2 5pounds. It includes color capa-bilities and a high-resolutionmonitor. Its 86-key detachablekeyboard has 10 programmablefunction keys, numeric keypad,WordStar-compatible controlkeys, uppercase/lowercase, andLED indicators for cap- and

numeric-lock keys.

Interface ports are suppliedfor Centronics-parallel orRS-232C serial printers. AnRS-232C, external composite-video, and miscellaneous (DB9)port are standard equipment.The 7-inch green-phosphormonitor has brightness and con-trast controls, blink and reversevideo, and a 192- by 280-pixelresolution.

Options include a 110/300-bps modem, a carrying case,MS-DOS memory upgrades to2 56K bytes, peripheral cardbrackets, keyboard templates,and a technical referencemanual.

The CX-1 is a single-disk-drivecomputer that sells for $1395.The dual-drive CX-2 is $1695. In-cluding CP/M, WordStar, and64K bytes of additional RAM,the CX-2C is $1995. The top-of-the-line CX-2M is $2295, whichincludes 128K bytes of addi-tional memory, WordStar, andMS-DOS. Contact Franklin Com-puter Corp., 1070 BuschMemorial Highway, Pennsauken,NJ 08110, (609) 488-0600.Circle 610 on inquiry card.

Computer Derived fromMicro/PDP-11

The Cl-Micro-11 from ChrislinIndustries is derived fromDEC'S Micro/PDP-11 computer. Itpermits upward expandabilityand is available in a variety ofconfigurations.

The Cl-Micro-11 can useLSI-11/23+ or LSI-11/73 centralprocessors. Winchester-diskstorage capacities range from10 to 40 megabytes, and emula-tion on the Winchesters isRL02. RL01. and RD51. EachCl-Micro-11 comes with dualfloppy-disk backup. Floppy disksare available in RX50 (800Kbytes) or RX02 (2 megabytes).

The CI-Micro-11 operatesunder existing software anddiagnostics without modifica-tions. Emulators permit soft-ware-transparent operationunder RSTS-E. RSX11M.RSX11M + , RT11, and UNIX.

A rack-mounted CI-Micro-11 is$6850. Vertical floor mount isavailable. For more information,contact Chrislin Industries Inc.,31352 Via Colinas #101.Westlake Village. CA 91362,(818) 991-2254,Circle 611 on inquiry card.

Apple- and CP/M-Compatible Portable

An Apple- and CP/M-com-patible portable com-puter, the Alex 500A is avail-able for $2495. The Alex hasdual Z80 and 6502 micropro-cessors, 64K bytes of RAM, fourexpansion slots, twin diskdrives, and a speaker. It hasbuilt-in disk and printer inter-faces and a single RS-232Cserial, a parallel, external-monitor, and game ports. Alex'skeyboard is detachable andequipped with a numerickeypad and uppercase/lower-case capabilities.

This computer weighs 18pounds and measures 15 by 14by 5 inches. Contact Comp-U-Save, TUrtle Creek, POB 1300.Skyland Park. NC 28776. (704)274-3003.Circle 612 on inquiry card.

Slave Boards and Module Create Multiuser PC

Alloy Computer Products' PC-Plus family of hardware andsoftware products lets you builda multiuser system with inex-pensive terminals. Alloy saysthat the cost of the PC-Plusscheme approaches half that ofcompetitive offerings.

Alloy's approach is based onthe assumption that you havealready made your investmentin a microcomputer. By plug-ging one of Alloy's PC-Slaveboards directly into a personalcomputer expansion slot andadding a terminal, you havecreated a two-user system, com-plete with shared disk drivesand printer.

Up to 12 users can be accom-modated with Alloy's PC-XBUSexpansion module, which plugsdirectly into the host's expan-sion slot and houses a mix of

8- and 16-bit processors. Withthree PC-XBUS modules, asmany as 30 processors canshare data, software, and pe-ripherals under the tutelage ofthe host computer.

The PC-Plus is faster thanmost computers and nearlytwice as fast as an IBM PC. ac-cording to Alloy. The PC-Slave/16 board includes an8-MHz 8088 processor. 2 56Kbytes of RAM, and two serialports. The PC-SIave/8 has a6-MHz Z80B. 128K bytes ofRAM. and two serial ports.High-speed band switching pro-vides bus-speed host/slavetransfers of 64K bytes. Theserial ports, which serve as aninterface to the user's terminal,have programmable rates up to19,200 bps.

The PC-Plus operates under

Alloy's PC-RTNX executive,which deploys system resourcesand provides file/record lockingwith controls to manage file ac-cess. It emulates the functionsof such black-and-white ter-minals as the DEC VT-100/200series and Televideo 92 5. It sup-ports PC-DOS, MS-DOS, andConcurrent CP/M for the PC-Slave/16 processors and CP/Mfor the PC-Slave/8. Software sup-port includes Lotus 1-2-3, Word-Star, and dBASE II.

Single-unit prices are $1195for the PC-Slave/16 and $995 forthe PC-SIave/8. The PC-XBUS is$1495. For more information,contact Alloy Computer Prod-ucts Inc., 100 Pennsylvania Ave.,Framingham, MA 01701, (617)875-6100.Circle 613 on inquiry card.

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 431

WHAT'S NEW

Quadrant's Quadmodem Line

Quadram has introduced aline of modems for Apple,IBM PC, and other popularmicrocomputers. Available inboth stand-alone and integralmodels, the intelligent Quad-modem operates at either 300or 1200 bps. Its diagnosticcapabilities tell you whether acommunications problem is oc-curring with the modem, thetransmission over telephonelines, or the remote modem,

QuadTalk. a menu-driven com-munications software package,provides the Quadmodem withsuch features as auto or manualdial, auto or manual answer,AT&T 212A/103 compatibility,electronic call progress detec-tion (i.e., dial, busy, ring back,data-carrier tone, and humanvoice), auto-speed selection,and auto parity. Tone or rotary-pulse dialing can be automat-ically selected or commandspecified.

The Quadmodem is compati-ble with most modems. Thestand-alone version is $695, andthe integral card for the IBM PCis $595. Contact QuadramCorp., 4355 International Blvd.,Norcross, GA 30093, (404)923-6666.Circle 614 on inquiry card.

Image Processors for Personal Computers

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The Computer ResearchCompany's Oculus-100 andOculus-200 are image-processorboards for the IBM PC or PCcompatibles.

The Oculus-200 is a high-performance board incorporat-ing such features as a real-time30-frame-per-second videodigitizer and 2 56K bytes ofmemory. With its on-boardvideo output, you can displayprocessed images on an aux-iliary monitor and use graphicoverlays and vectoring. Ittransforms images receivedfrom any standard videocamera into a 512- by 512-pixelarray with 128 shades of gray.The Oculus-200 lists for $1995.

The Oculus-100, suitable forapplications where a real-timebinary system is required,digitizes a television image intoa 512- by 512-pixel black-and-white array that can be pro-cessed by your personal com-puter and displayed in lowresolution. The $695 Oculus-100has 32K bytes of memory.

Each board comes with menu-driven imaging software, cable,and manual. Dedicated softwarefor a variety of applications isavailable. Contact The ComputerResearch Co.. 547 St. Thomas,Longueuil, Quebec J4H 3A7,Canada. (800) 361-4997; inCanada. (514) 651-2919.Circle 616 on inquiry card.

Modem for Osborne

The CTS OE-1 for theOsborne Executive is afull-duplex, 300-bps AT&T 1031-compatible modem. It comeswith Mycroft Labs' Myterm com-munications package.

The OE-1 lets the Osborneemulate an intelligent terminalwith text- and binary-file transfercapabilities. It has auto answer,auto dial, asynchronous opera-tion, and a direct-connect tele-phone link.

The price is $129, plus $6shipping. Contact Modem Sales,CTS Datacomm Products, POB320, Sandwich, IL 60548, (815)786-8411.Circle 617 on inquiry card.

Videodisc interface

Orenda's LaserLynx 100controls all your video-disc's functions, and it canswitch the video source be-tween your computer andvideodisc player. It's compatiblewith Apple, Atari, and Com-modore computers, and it inter-faces with most videodiscplayers. Support software isavailable. The list price is$99.95. Contact Orenda Inc.,3754 Overland Ave, LosAngeles, CA 90034, (2131202-0770,Circle 615 on inquiry card.

Hard Disk andHard-Disk Boot Chip

Falcon Technology has addeda 30-megabyte unit toits PC eXTender line of IBM PChard-disk drives and a ROMchip that boots PC-DOS directlyfrom hard disk.

The 30-megabyte eXTenderfeatures a clock/calendar, aserial port, and sockets on thehard-disk controller board forup to 192K bytes of RAM. Avoice-coil positioner in the drivehas decreased the data-accesstime to 45 milliseconds; the30-megabyte PC eXTender canread 1 megabyte of data fromthe disk every 3 seconds. Com-plete with software backuputilities and an enclosure thatcomplements the IBM PC, the30-megabyte PC eXTender is$3995.

The boot chip, designed forall PC eXTenders, eliminates theneed to use floppy disks toload the disk operating systeminto the PC's main memory. Itplugs into an empty socket onthe IBM PC system board.

Present owners of the PCeXTender can upgrade their sys-tems with the ROM chip for$15. The chip is included withall eXTenders shipped after June1. Contact Falcon TechnologyInc.. Suite T-101. 6644 South196th St., Kent, WA 98032, (800)722-2510; in Washington, (206)251-8282.Circle 618 on inquiry card.

432 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

WHAT'S NEW

Auto-Dial Modems for IBM PC

The Personal Communicatorline of integral modems fromU.S. Robotics is designed forthe IBM PC. PC XT, and IBM PCcompatibles. Available in threeconfigurations, each PersonalCommunicator modem providesdata-transmission capabilities of300 and 1200 bps. Two of themodems have usable RAM, abattery-backed real-time clock,and a parallel interface. The Per-sonal Communicator, which isAT&T 103/212 A-compatible.slides into any available PC ex-pansion slot.

The basic Personal Communi-cator is an auto-dial, auto-answer asynchronous modemfeaturing automatic speed-detect, audio telephone-linemonitor, volume control, pro-grammable commands, twoRillC telephone jacks, tele-phone cord, a manual, and theTelpac communications softwarepackage.

Telpac lets you use the Per-sonal Communicator to auto-matically or manually callanother computer, and it allowsa remote computer to enteryour system. It provides pass-word protection and the abilityto create graphics to be viewedby the receiver. An unlimitednumber of telephone numberscan be stored and automaticallydialed. Each phone number canbe assigned such options asdata rate, parity, full- or half-duplex, a log-on sequence, andtone- or rotary-pulse dialing.Telpac also automatically redialsbusy numbers and has fourtypes of protocols, includingMODEM" and user-definedprotocols. Other features areautomatic error detection andtwo types of block checks.

The enhanced Personal Com-municators come with 64K or2 56K bytes of RAM and aparallel port. They are priced atS699 and $999, respectively.The basic model is S499. Formore information, contact U.S.Robotics Inc., 1123 WestWashington Blvd., Chicago, IL60607, (312) 733-0497.Circle 619 on inquiry card.

Speech Synthesizers Use SC-02 Chip

The Voice Box 3 line ofspeech synthesizers fromthe Alien Group comes in ver-sions for the Apple II and anycomputer with an RS-2 32Cserial port. Each unit featuresan SC-02 (i.e.. SSI 263) speechchip, software, and an externalspeaker. All have unlimitedvocabularies and can speakwith male or female voices withvariable speed and loudness inresponse to commands addedto the text.

The software produces speechdirectly from English text, add-ing inflection either auto-matically or under user direc-tion. Voice Box 3 uses punctua-tion, word length, and otherclues, such as word endings, toassign stress. In an alternatemode, you can control intona-tion by inserting numbers thatrepresent pitch changes into thetext. It is not necessary to marksyllable boundaries or resort tophoneme spelling when addingintonation.

The Voice Box 3m plugs intoany Apple slot and works withBASIC or assembly-languageprograms. The speaking pro-gram, which occupies less than5K bytes of memory, comes on

disk and is loaded into memory.It produces a high-resolutionface, which moves its mouth insynchronization with the spokenword.

Voice Box 3i, also for theApple, is configured as an in-telligent peripheral. You can usethe Voice Box 3i with word pro-cessors and report generators.The card contains the text-to-speech program in ROM, a1.5K-byte buffer, and a micro-processor that allows it tospeak while the Apple works onanother task.

The Voice Box 3s connects toany computer through a stan-dard RS-2 32C interface. It's con-figured as a bus, which lets itshare a single port with otherdevices. The host computersends English text to the 3 s,which accumulates the text untilit is instructed to speak.

The Voice Box 3m is S129,and the 3i lists for $219. Bothprices include software and anexternal speaker. With an in-tegral speaker, the 3s is $269,For more information, contactThe Alien Group, 27 West 2 3 rdSt., New York, NY 10010, (212)741-1770,Circle 620 on inquiry card.

Integrated Text/Graphics System

The Concept 100 is a multi-purpose VDI (virtual deviceinterface) graphics controller forthe IBM PC and PC XT It givesyou the means to create high-resolution, interactive text andgraphics that can be repro-duced on a printer or otheroutput device. It offers the abili-ty to lay out pages in differentformats and concurrent opera-tion of the computer and out-put devices.

The Concept 100 is made upof an Intel 80186-based in-telligent graphics subsystem,software incorporating a graph-ics editor and data-driven chart-ing capabilities, a Wang look-alike word processor, a mouse,and documentation. The graph-ics subsystem replaces andemulates both IBM color andmonochrome display adapters.The display resolution is 720 by3 52, with two levels of intensityfor alphanumerics and graphics.The display is 50 Hz, noninter-laced, and supports 2 5 rows by80 columns of characters.

The Graphics Software Sys-tems implementation of the pro-posed ANSI VDI standard isused. The graphics editor hasmany of the capabilities of aCAD package, and it lets youcreate charts, flow diagrams,lines, boxes, circles, maps, andtext with diagrams.

A basic font set and sizes areprovided. File translators forcommonly used programs, dic-tionaries, and a spelling checkerare standard. Epson FX-80/MX-100, C. Itoh Prowriter. andOkidata printers are supported.Centronics-type parallel andRS-232C serial ports areoffered.

Options are an extended fontset, Tektronix 4010 terminalemulation, the ability to acceptgraphics formats from CAD/CAMsystems, and equation setting.The list price is $2195. For fur-ther details, contact ConceptTechnologies Inc., 6950 South-west Hampton, Tigard, OR97208, (503) 684-3314,Circle 621 on inquiry card.

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 433

WHAT'S NEW

New MS-DOS Versions of Pascal, FORTRAN, and C

Microsoft has released newversions of Pascal, FOR-TRAN, and C Compilerlanguages for use with itsMS-DOS operating systems.

Two new mathematics librarieshave been added to Pascal,supplementing the existing 8087coprocessor and 8087 emula-tion support, and its name hasbeen changed to Pascal 3.2.The first library offers high-speed performance without an8087. It supports both single-and double-precision numbers,which makes it faster thanemulation software but slightlyless accurate. The second math-ematics package offers BCDfloating-point arithmetic formore accurate dollars-and-centscalculations.

Pascal 3.2's 14-digit decimalformat eliminates many of theproblems associated withrounding off binary mathe-matics. Other features include

MS-DOS 2.0 run-time support.the ability to access files bymeans of the path-name direc-tory structure, linker extensionsthat support overlays so thatprogram modules can beloaded when required, and theability to call overlays from theroot program or from anotheroverlay.

FORTRAN 3.2 can now handlenearly unlimited data arrays.The 64K-byte segment restric-tions for arrays and commonblocks have been overcome,which allows manipulation oflarge matrices. In conjunctionwith module linking, a singleprogram can use up to 1 mega-byte of 8086 memory.

FORTRAN 3.2 supports com-plex number calculations in ad-dition to specific and genericconversion intrinsics conformingto the ANSI 77 standard.Double-precision Complex datatypes have also been added.

Some of its other features are aParameter statement. Block Dataprograms, an Inquire statement,and an l/OStat read/write clausefor checking the status of I/Ooperations.

Microsoft's C Compiler 2.0supports the use of path namesto take advantage of the DOSdirectory structure as well as I/Oredirection. It has expandedmemory capabilities that letprograms compiled with Cemploy the full memory capac-ity of their system. Small,medium, compact, and largememory models are program-mer-selectable.

Pascal 3.2 is S300, while FOR-TRAN 3.2 and C 2.0 are pricedat $3 50 and $500. respectively.Previous owners can purchaseupdates at reduced rates. Con-tact Microsoft Corp.. 10700Northup Way, Bellevue, WA98004. (206) 828-8080.Circle 622 on inquiry card.

MegaBASIC Addresses Up to 1 Megabyte

MegaBASIC can directlyaddress 1 megabyte ofmemory by accessing packagesfrom memory in much the sameway as FORTH provides its ex-tensions. This procedure letsyou load libraries of programs,subroutines, and functions intomemory that can be executedfrom the running program witha single statement as if it werean integral part of MegaBASICitself. The packages are user-written in MegaBASIC, whichprovides each user with theability to tailor the language toindividual needs.

With direct addressing of Imegabyte of memory for pro-gram and data. MegaBASICgives MS-DOS. MP/M-86.CP/M-86, and TurboDOS usersflexible use of the 16-bit pro-cessing power of such machinesas the IBM PC. All memoryallocation is fully dynamic andtransparent. Up to 64 separateprograms can coexist in mem-ory simultaneously. Its memory

management can support morethan 6000 variables at the sametime; each string variable con-tains up to 65.53 5 characters,and bit strings can be 524,288characters long. Nesting ofWHILE and FOR loops, func-tions, GOSUBS, and proceduresis allowed to any depth.

MegaBASIC is said to executeprograms faster than any exist-ing BASIC by a factor of 2 to 15times. Large-scale file applica-tions under MegaBASIC report-edly run faster than under com-piled software. Other featuresinclude execution control anddebugging, structured program-ming, segmentation and over-lays, unlimited numeric andstring array dimensions, and avariety of data-manipulationfunctions.

The standard version of Mega-BASIC contains 28 commands.65 statements. 64 functions, 37operators, and a variety ofspecialized control keys. Itseditor has such capabilities as

global search, list, and edit, andthe ability to rearrange, move,or copy all program lines, in-cluding a fully global, definedregional, or line-specific renum-bering command. One featureprovides a quick display ofstatistics about the program andits execution state, while aseparate cross-reference genera-tor defines all variables, func-tions, and so on.

MegaBASIC immediately ex-ecutes programs written inNorth Star BASIC. A translatoris available for convertingMicrosoft BASIC programs toMegaBASIC. This language willwork with any machine basedon the 8086 or 8088 micropro-cessor. The list price is $400, in-cluding extensive documenta-tion. For complete details, con-tact American Planning Corp.,Suite 42 5, 4600 Duke St., Alex-andria, VA 22304, (800)368-2248; in Virginia, (703)751-2574.Circle 623 on inquiry card.

TelecommunicationsProgram

ReachOut 2.001 is a tele-communications programfor any 8-bit micro runningCP/M and any 16-bit IBM PC orPC compatible using CP/M orMS-DOS. A key feature ofReachOut is its auto-answerfacility, which permits un-attended file transfers to orfrom another computer that hasReachOut. A reporting systeminforms operators of the un-attended computer what activityoccurred during their absence.

This menu-driven programoffers a Help system, keyboardand directory dialing, automaticredialing, and the execution ofscripts for the automatic controlof log-on, data capture, and dis-connect. Files can be trans-ferred either with or withouterror checking. Pretyped elec-tronic mail can be sent.

Transfers to another system in-clude an estimate of thetransfer time and file-by-fileupdates on both computers.Batches can be defined eitherambiguously or by a list of file-names. When problems are en-countered during batch trans-fers, the resultant files containfilenames that can be used tocontrol later transfer attempts.The free space on the targetdisk is determined before eachfile is sent.

ReachOut automatically re-names incoming files when theyduplicate names of existingfiles. All operating system tran-sients are contained within theprogram. A nonmodem installa-tion option is provided fordownloading applications.ReachOut uses a 16-bit CRCtransfer protocol and is com-patible with the file-transfererror correction/detection pro-tocols of many public-domainprograms, including Modem7.

ReachOut comes with utilitiesand a menu-driven installationprogram. It costs $199, whichincludes a pair of updates. Con-tact Applied Computer Tech-niques, 104 Knight Dr., SanRafael, CA 94901, (415)459-3212.Circle 624 on inquiry card.

434 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

WHAT'S NEW

Text Editing, Page Makeups with PagePlanner

PagePlanner from West-minster Software is a textediting/design tool that lets youenter, hyphenate, justify, anddesign text into full-pagemakeups with an IBM PersonalComputer, When your page iscomplete, PagePlanner's driverslet you run the text throughMergenthaler 202, Compu-graphics, AM, Autologic. andItek typesetting equipment.

For text entry and editing,PagePlanner lets you merge rawtext with typesetting codes.Status fields can be filled withinformation both by the opera-tor and the system. Editingfunctions include character,word, line, and block delete,block move, and copy An in-termediate save function letsyou store chunks of text.

Hyphenation and justification

of text is performed at morethan 1000 lines per minute.Hyphenation is determined by auser-selectable 5000-rule pre-fix/suffix logic table. Justificationis done by accessing the correctcharacter width and using a 500typeface kerning table. A docu-ment can be hyphenated andjustified up to 99 times. Alogical hyphenation capabilitybacks up the kerning tables.

PagePlanner lets you con-tinually review and revise anypart of your project. Major revi-sions to a job are merely a mat-ter of changing the job specifi-cations on screen.

Its page-makeup mode letsyou display solid blocks of type,rule lines, and protected areasand modify them to meet yourdesign criteria. Multicolumndesigns and odd-size areas can

be laid out. All page designs re-main "soft" until they're outputto hard copy.

Minimum system requirementsare 128K bytes of RAM. two320K-byte floppy-disk drives,IBM Color Graphics card, colormonitor, and a parallel printerport. Software requirements areCP/M-86 with GSX86 and MS-or PC-DOS 2.0 with theGraphics Program. It will alsowork with IBM or Herculesgraphics card and monochromemonitors and the Compaq.(Other PC compatibles are be-ing evaluated.) A custom cablefor interfacing with the typeset-ting equipment is available.

PagePlanner costs $1995. Con-tact Westminster Software Inc..Suite 2, 660 Hansen Way, PaloAlto. CA 94304, (415) 424-8300.Circle 625 on inquiry card.

Multilingual Word Processor

The Multilingual Worldmasterword-processing programfrom Emcon Marketing lets youtype two languages within thesame document. Worldmaster,which runs on the IBM PC andPC compatibles, allows you tomix eight character sets in asingle document. It has a menu-based structure, and the mixingof languages is performed usingsimple function keys. Keyboardtemplates and stickers are pro-

Color Print Utility

vided so that you can identifythe characters for each key.

Worldmaster is available infour versions: English toRomance languages, to Arabic,to Hebrew, and to Russian. TheArabic and Hebrew versions letyou type from right to left inboth the insert and regular editmodes.

This program is configured towork with Epson's FX seriesprinters and with such letter-

quality printers as the Diabloand )uki. (Foreign print wheelsare required for the daisy-wheelprinters.) A minimum of 128Kbytes of memory and a color-graphics card for the Arabic,Hewbrew, and Russian versionsare required. The suggestedretail price is S495. ContactEmcon Marketing Group Inc.,366 Fifth Ave, New York. NY10001, (212) 563-0443.Circle 626 on inquiry card.

ColorScreenPrint from Ap-plication Techniques is asoftware utility that lets you ob-tain full-color graphics fromyour IBM Persona] ComputerColor Printer. In addition, it canprint any graph that can bedisplayed on the PC's colordisplay at any size up to 13inches anywhere on paper.

When used with Lotus 1-2-3,ColorScreenPrint eliminates theneed to swap disks to print

graphs. By pressing the PrtSckey, you gain control over thegraph's colors, size, andpositioning.

Colors can be selected from apalette of 16 or from virtually un-limited user-defined colors. Thewidth and height of the printoutis set in tenths of inches, andauto centering is supported. Aportion of the screen can be cutout for printing anywhere on thepaper, and a quarter-turn rota-

tion is supported.

A program that generatessamples of more than 50 colortextures and shows you how toproduce different colors comeswith ColorScreenPrint. A dem-onstration program is supplied.

ColorScreenPrint is $79.95.For more information, contactApplication Techniques Inc., 80Townsend St., Pepperell, MA01463. (617) 433-5201.Circle 627 on inquiry card.

More Than 110Scientific Subroutines

A FORTRAN 77 ScientificSubroutine Library for IBMPC-DOS users can be purchasedfrom Peerless Engineering Ser-vice. Each of the more than 110subroutines is written andtested in Microsoft FORTRAN3.13 and is provided in diskform, both as a linkable libraryand in source format. Eachsubroutine has an accompany-ing test program on disk. The450-page manual provides hardcopy of each subroutine, its testprogram, the results of the test,and the mathematical methodused in the subroutine.

This scientific library has sub-routines for statistical andnumeric analysis, solutions forthird-order differential equa-tions, solutions to M equationsin N unknowns, and approxima-tions by a variety of differentmethods. It is $149.95, plus$2.50 shipping. Contact PeerlessEngineering Service, POB 71,Soquel, CA 95073. (800) 824-7888. operator 419; in Califor-nia, (408) 462-0330.Circle 628 on inquiry card.

LISP Interpreter

Levien Instruments bills itsBYSO LISP interpreter as a"very healthy" subset of McCar-thy's LISP 1.5. which implementsevery feature described inLaurent Siklossy's Let's Talk LISP.

BYSO LISP includes integers,map functions, functional argu-ments, input/output functions, avariety of list operators, func-tions, lambda operators, aneditor, and tracing functions. Itcomes with an error system thatexplains each error with amessage and the context inwhich it appeared.

BYSO LISP is written in assem-bly language. It requires an IBMPC. PC XT, or PCjr and 128Kbytes of RAM. The list price is$195. Contact Levien InstrumentCo., POB 31, McDowell, VA24458, (703) 396-3345.Circle 629 on inquiry card.

{continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 435

WHAT'S NEW

Business Productivity Tools

Rags to Riches is a financial-management series for theIBM PCjr, comprising ledger, re-ceivables, sales, and payablemodules. All the modules areone-disk programs requiringabout 32K bytes of memoryThey load into RAM, whichmakes response time fast. Themodules are consistent indesign, and they work with eachother

The modules come with soft-ware templates so that they canbe customized for a variety ofbusiness, retail, or personal ap-plications. The users manualprovides workbook-style intro-ductions and tutorials

The receivables module showsthe status of customer accounts.

audits accounts, producesreports, and automatically up-dates accounts. It has a wild-card provision. The payablemodule tracks payments re-quired by vendors, includingtheir terms, discounts, andoutstanding balances. Miscella-neous payments or adjustmentscan be added at any timeTotals are accumulated as in-voices or payments arerecorded.

The sales module featuresautomatic calculation of tax andchange. You can preset the key-board to record the sale ofspecific items or type of pay-ments and use formulas fordata-entry calculations, such aspartial refunds. Its itemized jour-

nal provides an audit trail, andproduct classifications can begrouped for reporting

The general-ledger programconstantly displays income, ex-penses, assets, liabilities,estimated profits, and net worth.Updates are made with eachentry. Transactions are docu-mented by individual submenus.It provides such reports asaudit trails and charts ofaccounts

Individual Rags to Richesmodules are S99.95. Supportbooklets with tips on computer-ized accounting are $9.95 Con-tact Chang Labs Inc., Suite 200,5300 Stevens Creek Blvd.. Sanlose, CA 95129, {4081 246-8020.Circle 630 on inquiry card.

Program Locks Up Files Low-Cost Modula Compiler

DBM for He

The Lock-It-Up copy-protection system for theApple II series and the Macin-tosh lets you impose severallevels of security that renderdisks uncopyable. This packageincludes a software-duplicationsystem that enables you toduplicate the protected disk.

Lock-It-Up uses an encryptedsignature track written to a ran-dom location on the disk. Thecode to verify the accuracy andexistence of the signature trackis automatically encrypted intothe protected program. Pro-tected files can be backed upby the user, although they willoperate only if they reside onthe original disk.

Protection is not based on aphysical fingerprint. Lock-It-Up issaid to make information com-pletely write-protected. The pro-tection scheme does not in-terfere with normal operations.

Lock-It-Up is also available inan IBM PC version. Licensingbegins at $495. Contact Double-Gold. Suite 29. 3900 MoorparkAve. San lose. CA 95117, (408)554-9133.Circle 631 on inquiry card.

Modula Corporation isreleasing a $90 Modula-2compiler for the Macintosh thismonth. The compiler runs underthe Macintosh's operatingsystem, and it allows you to usethe Macintosh's built-in graphicsand mouse toolkit.

This compiler generates an ex-tended version of M-code,which is a compact code de-signed especially for Modula. Itinterprets M-code programs atrun time without disrupting theMac's user interface. M-codebenchmark programs that makeheavy use of procedure callsand toolkit graphics are said torun 7 5 percent as fast as pro-

grams compiled to 68000 nativecode on the Lisa and down-loaded to the Mac.

The Modula-2 compiler is sup-plied with the basic I/Omodules described in the bookProgramming in Modula-2 byNiklaus Wirth. You can writeassembly-language routines andlink them to Modula-2programs.

The Modula-2 compiler comeswith I/O library and documenta-tion. For further information.call or write Modula Corpora-tion, 950 North University Ave,Provo, UT 84604, (800) 545-4842; in Utah, (801) 375-7400,Circle 632 on inquiry card.

Precision Software's Super-base database-manage-ment and information-retrievalsystem for the Apple He por-table computer uses B+ direct-tree indexing for record access.This program offers menu-driven operation, direct com-mands to the database, or useof a user-programmable inter-face to create custom applica-tions packages within the Super-base environment.

Apple He Superbase costs$169. Contact Precision Soft-ware (USA) Inc., Suite 1100. 820Second Ave, New York, NY10017. (212) 490-1825.Circle 634 on inquiry card.

Detailed Multiyear Real Estate Analysis

Real Estate Investor II for theApple computer performs adetailed multiyear analysis ofbefore- and after-tax cash flowsand rates of return from anytype of improved real estate Itoffers nine different loan typesand includes variable param-eters and eight depreciation

methods. It computes return oninvestment, return on equity, in-ternal rate of return, and finan-cial management rate of return

Real Estate Investor II will alsoprovide a detailed sale analysis,including sensitivity analysis,and produce a formatted multi-page report. It's written in

Applesoft BASIC The list priceis $295. C language versions forthe IBM PC, the Tandy 2000,Wang Professional, and CP/M-based systems are available.Contact REMS Software. 526Northwest Second St.. Corvallis,OR 97330, (5031 757-8887,Circle 633 on inquiry card.

436 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

WHAT'S NEW

Moses

Moses (Modula-2 SupportEnvironment System) isthe first product in TDI'sLiberator line of Modular-based software It is a portableoperating system written inModula-2 that requires only aconventional character-orientedvideo display. 128K bytes ofmemory, and a floppy-diskdrive.The Moses package includes a

Word Processor Runson TI Professional

RWord, a word-processingpackage first introduced forMC68000 and 990 series com-puters, is available for the TiProfessional Computer and theIBM PC. Made up of a group ofintegrated programs, R Wordoffers such features as mailmerge, table mathematics, spell-ing check, and database capa-bilities.

R Word combines eight dif-ferent color choices for creatingbackgrounds, reverse video, andunderlined or highlighted textA three-level file structure usedfor document organization con-tains 9 directories with 32 cate-gories in each directory and 32documents in each category.

Complicated documents em-ploying headers, footers, tables,and footnotes can be producedwith R Word. Its six text-editingmodes are text. word, sentence,line, paragraph, and page. Mis-cellaneous features include

Modula-2 compiler, a screeneditor, a symbolic debugger, amodifiable menu-driven userinterface with windows, and alibrary of routines and utilities.The compiler and editor arelinked so that compiler errorsreturn the user to the editorwith up to 128 errors flaggedfor ease of correction.

The system is available for theSage II and IV computers, with

versions for other 68000- and16032-based computers avail-able soon. The price was notavailable at press date but wasestimated to be between $2 50and $500; source code for thesystem will be available at addi-tional cost. For more informa-tion, contact TDI Ltd.. 29 AlmaVale Rd., Bristol BS8 4NI.England: tel 10272) 742796.Circle 635 on inquiry card.

automatic page numbering,table of contents, documentassembly, on-screen formatting,automatic text alignment, globalsearch and replace, screenprompts, and Help screensR Word requires 2 56K bytes

of memory and single or dualfloppy-disk drives. The sug-gested retail price is $395, Con-tact R Systems Inc. 11450 Page-mill Rd„ Dallas. TX 75243, 1214)343-9188.Circle 636 on inquiry card.

BASIC Compiler Works Under FLEX/OS-9

K-BASIC, a BASIC-languagecompiler that convertsBASIC programs to machinecode, is now available forsystems running FLEX, OS-9, orColor OS-9. Because compiledprograms have less overheadthan interpretive BASIC pro-grams, according to the manu-facturer, Lloyd I/O, you can ex-pect greater speed and largerprograms and data files.

K-BASIC has three generaldata types, REAL. STRING, andINTEGER, and four INTEGERsizes. 8. 16. 32, and 64 bit. Itsreal numbers are i 5-digit preci-sion, with an exponent of ±99.Each type can be dimensionedand defined to absolute ad-dresses. K-BASIC has a varietyof directives, statements, andfunctions not normally found inBASIC interpreters. Line

numbers or labels are not re-quired on every line. Variablenames are significant to 12characters, and labels aresignificant to 16 characters.K-BASIC includes debugging fea-tures and error processing.

K-BASIC is $199. The manualalone is $15. Contact Lloyd I/O.19535 Northeast Glisan, Port-land, OR 97230. 1503) 666-1097Circle 637 on inquiry card.

CAD Package AidsMechanical Engineers

Sumicom's CAD 10 for its Sys-tem 830 is suitable for archi-tects, interior designers,mechanical engineers, and otherprofessionals using diagramsand schematics.

CAD 10 uses all of the System830s hardware including itssoft function keys, function keysFl through Flo, high-resolutioncapabilities, pixel-addressablegraphics, and internal printerThe program addresses the830s color graphics chip direct-ly and expands the pixels from2 50.000 to 800,000 It permitseasy transposition of floor plansand schematics, and diagramsor two-dimensional drawingscan be displayed in as many aseight colors.

You can draw symbols andtranscribe them into scaleddrawings. CAD 10 allows you toedit, update, and reorganizedrawings. Its Delete function keylets you cancel the last elementdrawn, and the Next functionkey lets you search throughyour drawing and cancel or addto the design without startingfrom the beginning

An alignment grid with sub-menu lets you design or copyany symbol at 10 times the ac-tual size, which improves ac-curacy. A drawing board with800 by 1000 raster points onthe screen lets you assemblesymbols into an actual drawing.Fifty symbols, with an averageof 20 elements each, can betransferred from the symbol fileto a drawing. CAD 10 parameterfunctions permit a choice ofeight colors, the selection offour sizes of lines for pen-plotter printing, and rotation ofsymbols from 0 to 270 degrees.A zoom feature is provided.

Utilities include a programthat permits the assembly of in-dividual symbols stored invarious data files into a newsymbol set of a new data file.CAD 10 is $595. ContactSumicom Inc.. 17862 East 17thSt., TUstin, CA 92680. (714)730-6061.Circle 638 on inquiry card

(continued)

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 437

WHAT'S NEW

SDLC-Like Protocols for Wangs

Relay Version 2.2 for theWang PC is a communica-tions software system incorpo-rating first-, second- and third-generation SDLC-like asynchro-nous communications protocols.It comes with an editor andprovisions for remote and unat-tended operations. The sug-gested list price is SI49.

Relay supports simultaneousunattended bidirectional filetransfers (including binary files)and can automatically invokethe functions of such intelligentmodems as the Hayes Smart-modem, the Racal-Vadic VA212,and the Rixon PC2I2A. It com-bines menu- and function-keydriven operation, and to facili-tate use, offers Help screens.

One key feature is its direc-tory of computers, which con-tains complete values for everycommunications parameter foreach computer entered, any ofwhich can be called or an-swered with a single keystroke.Individual entries include thename of the system, its tele-phone number, data rate, typeof system, and configurationspecifications for communica-tions. Configuration optionsstipulate such characteristics asdata rate, parity, full- or half-duplex, port selection, and

Two for QX-10

yes/no toggles for XON/XOFFprotocols, automatic line feed,local echo, and APL mode. Aturnaround character and adelay after each line can bespecified. Control codes can bedisplayed.

In conjunction with an intel-ligent modem, Relay will pro-vide auto dialing. It has theability to enact entire log-onrepertoires, including multilevelpasswords, remote system se-quences, and sign-off. it has aWAIT.COM command, whichhalts all DOS activity forspecified periods (up to oneyear|. You can perform DOScommands from within Relay.even during a connection.

Relay's built-in editor lets youbuild or modify ASCII files, andits command tables include 19function-key and 11 Alt-key com-mands. It provides two levels ofpassword protection.

A Wang PC with 64K bytes ofRAM. one disk drive, MS-DOSversion 1.0 or later, an asyn-chronous communicationsadapter, and a modem withRS-232C cable are required.Contact VM Personal Comput-ing Inc.. 60 East 42nd St., NewYork. NY 10165. (800) 847-3529;in New York, (2121 697-4747,Circle 639 on inquiry card.

MicroPlot and PlotPak forthe Epson QX-10 areavailable directly fromMicroNova.

MicroPlot. a graphics package,consists of a searchable libraryof more than 100 graphics rou-tines, any of which can be in-corporated into a Pascal/MT +program during link time. Micro-Plot can draw lines, rectangles,circles, and characters of anysize or angle, and it can scale,translate, and rotate graphic ob-jects. It features virtual windowswith automatic line clipping andmultiple and split screens.

MicroPlot requiresPascal/MT +It comes on two disks withdocumentation and a 10-minute

graphics demonstration. Theprice is S60 (U.S.I.

A collection of graphics utili-ties. PlotPak provides programsfor such common applicationsas bar and line graphs, piecharts, bell curves, trend lines,and log and semilog plots. Datafor the utilities can be enteredeither interactively or from adisk file. All PlotPak utilities arestand-alone programs that donot require a programming lan-guage. The suggested price isS60 (U.S.). which includes on-line documentation. For moreinformation, contact MicroNova,RR 5, Canning. Nova Scotia BOPI HO, Canada. (902) 582-7016.Circle 640 on inquiry card.

Sourcebook forSoftware Writers

More than 500 companiessoliciting software fromthe general public have sup-plied information to Ike SoftwareWriter's Marketplace, by Dennisloyce and John Earl Pickering.Step-by-step instructions on re-searching the market, structuringsalable programs, and writingacceptable documentation areincluded in this 228-page paper-back.

Once your program is written,The Software Writer's Marketplaceguides you through the choresassociated with selling yourwork to a publisher, beginningwith an initial letter of inquiryand ending with the contractsigning. A section on copyrightinformation is provided.

The Software Writer's Marketplaceis S9.95. Contact Running Press.12 5 South Twenty-second St..Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215)567-5080.Circle 641 on inquiry card.

Computer Cables

Candy Cables Corporationdistributes more than 500computer interfaces. A catalogof these interfaces has beencompiled.

Standard interfaces listed in-clude RS-232 serial cables withPVC jacket or ribbon (nine feetlong), monitor cables, parallelprinter cables with PVC jacketsor ribbon (eight feet long).50-foot extended data cables,50-foot low-cap twisted-pairshield cables with metal hoods.and disk-drive cables. Specialcables for serial plotters andmodems are also listed, as areswitch boxes and computer andprinter coveralls. Smart cablescan be obtained.

The catalog lists dealer costsand suggested retail prices. Nominimum order required. Con-tact Candy Cable Corp.. 920San Marcos Blvd.. San Marcos,CA 92069. (619) 744-2291Circle 642 on inquiry card.

Magazine on Languages Had July Debut

Computer Language, a technicalmagazine dedicated solelyto programming languages,debuted in ]uly. It coversassembly language. C. Pascal,BASIC, FORTH, and applicationsand systems programming, andreports on major developmentsin the software-design field.

Among the topics discussedare algorithmic applications toproblem solving, language por-tability features, useful utilities,artificial intelligence, editors,language selection criteria, and

telecommunications. It offerstips on marketing your ownsoftware, as well as softwareand hardware reviews, regularcolumns, and reader forums.

Regular monthly publicationwill begin in October. Annualsubscriptions are S2 5. Thecover price is $2.95. ContactComputer Language. CL Publica-tions Inc., 131 Townsend St., SanFrancisco, CA 94115. (415)957-9353.

Circle 643 on inquiry card

WHERE DO NEW PRODUCT ITEMS COME FROM?The new products listed in this section of BYTE are culled from thethousands of press releases, letters, and telephone calls we receiveeach month from manufacturers and distributors. The basic criteriafor selection for publication are a) does a product match our readers'interests, and b) is it new or simply a "reintroduction" of an old item.If you want your product to be considered for publication (at nocharge), send full information about it, including its price and an ad-dress and telephone number where a reader can get more informa-tion. Send this to the New Products Editor, BYTE, POB 372, Han-cock, NH 03449.

438 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

r

IBM PC 128K

(1) 360k DSDD Drive

Diskette Adaptor Card

Color Graphic Card

10 Mb Hard Disk System

$2995.00

DISPLAY BOARDS

LazerColor $199

Hercules Card 349

QuadColor 1 239

PC Peacock 295

EXPANSION BOARDS

AST6-pac64K 225

Quadram EXII 64K 245

10Mb Hard Disk 899

Baby Blue II 599

IBM PC128K

(1) 360k DSDD Drive

Diskette Adaptor Card

IBM Monochrome Card

IBM Monochrome Monitor

$2195.00

MONITORS

Roland DG121 (comp) $129

Roland DG122 (mono) 149

PGS HX12 RGB 495

Max 12 Amber (mono) 195

Sakata 12" green 129

Sakata Color (comp) 295

Sakata Color (RGB) 495

EXPANSION ACCESSORIES

64K Upgrade (9/IC's) 50

IBM PC Portable

11) 360k DSDD Drive

Diskette Adaptor Card

Amber Display

256K Ram

$2450.00

MODEMS

Hayes 1200 Int $429

Hayes 1200 Ext 489

Qubie Int 289

Anchor 1200 289

PRINTERS

Epson FX80 475

Epson Fx100 725

Brother HR-15 575

Brother HR-25 750

IBM XT128K

$3895.00

TAVA SYSTEM ONE

(2) 360K DSDD Disk Drives

Keyboard

(2) RS-232 Serial Ports

(1) Parallel Printer Port

Color Graphic Board

Roland DG121s Monitor

$1895.00

TAVA SYSTEM TWO

(2) 360K DSDD Disk Drives

Keyboard

(2) RS-232 Serial Ports

(1) Parallel Printer Port

Color Graphic Board

Roland DG121G Monitor

10 MEGABYTE HARD DISK

$2795.00

DEALER AND

CORPORATE

VOLUME PRICING

501 W. Glenoaks BoulevardGlendale, CA 91202

(818)999-1183

compumox

VISA

3UNTRQNICS CO..INC.

12621 Crenshaw Blvd., Hawthorne, CA 90250

1-800-421-5775(ORDERS ONLY) (213) 644-1140(CA. Order & INF.)STORE HOURS : 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.(Mon.-Fri.) 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.(Sat.)

IBM™ Compatible XT

Features:

lintel 8088 CPU

^ Intel 8087 Math Co-Processor (Option)

^Expandable on-board to 256K

^128K RAM w/Parity

i^8 IBM Compatible Expansion Slots

^4 Channel DMA 8237

^8 Channel Interrupt 8259

^Mother Board dimension same as IBM PC

Price:

L: Mother Board w/128K

RAM and ROM $475.00

□ Computer Cabinet $99.00

□ 83 Key tull-funtion Keyboard .... $120.00

□ 100 WATT Power Supply $130.00

□ Monochrome Graphic Card

w/Printer Port $350.00

□ Color Graphic Card

(Display 16 colors) $199.00

P FDD Controller Card w/Cable .... $149.00

□ Parallel Printer Card $75.00

□ Dual ASYNC& RS232 Port $99.00

D 320KB DS/DD Slimline

Disk Drive $189.00

□ SAM WOO IBM Style Amber or Green

Monitor (Composite Video) $99.00

□ IBM Parallel Cable 10' $29.95

□ IBM Prototype Board (SUN-208) . . $19.50

□ MICROLOG Z-80B Co-Processor,

Multi-funtion (Run CP/M80 Software) $499.00

□ Apparat EPROM Blaster $129.00

□ IBM Up-Grade Kit (4164)

$44.00/per kit

Apple Compatible Products

SUNZ80 Card (w/o Software) $55.00

SUN 80 Column Card (w/Soft switch). $97.00

Power Supply (5 Amp) $59.95

Cooling Fan $42.00

Apple Compatible Disk Drive (slimline)$175.00

Parallel Printer Card $39.00

Floppy Disk Controller $47.00

EPROM Programmer (2716, 2732, 2764)

$75.00

APPARAT PROM Blaster $119.00

ALS Z-Card (Z80 CPU) $149.00

ALS 80 Column Card $159.00

AFDC-1 Floppy Disk Drive Controller . . $55.95

Run DOS 3.3 with any standard Shugart

compatible 5V4 Disk drive (2 drives per

card, Does not read Vi track)

Apple Prototype Board (SUN-722) $5.95

S-100 Products

64K Static Memory Board (6116)

w/o RAM A & T $155.00

64K Static Memory Board (6116)

w/RAM A&T $339.00

Uses 6116 CMOS RAMS, Vi Amp Max,W/64K @6MHz Extended Addressing, BankSelect 4-16K Blocks, 2716 EPROM canreplace any 6116RAM, 8 Bit IEEE 696.SBC-880 Single Board Computer

(Z80A)A&T $149.00

UFDC-1 5Vi and 8 Floppy Disk Controller

(BIOSavailable)AST $245.00

Clock/Calendar A&T $115.00

Prototype Board (SUN-721) $9.95

General Products

SAM WOO HIGH RESOLUTION DISPLAY

^22 MHz Bandwidth

^Composite Video

■^Anti-glare Screen

^Passes FCC.UL Approved

^1000 Lines or 132 Characters Across

AMBER or GREEN $99.00

RAM4164-150NSor200NS $4.95

5'A Diskette, SS/DD Soft sector

Box of 10 ea $15.50

5Vt Diskette DS/DD Soft sector

Box of 10 ea $23.00

80 CPS Dot Matrix Printer (CP-80) . $245.00

TTL IC, ROM, RAM & CPU CHIPS, CONNEC-TORS & IC SOCKETS ARE AVAILABLE,PLEASE CALL !!

TERMS : VISA, MASTER Card, COD(Cash or Certified Check Required). Check(Allow 2-3 WKS for Clearing) Shipping & H/C$3.00 for 3 Lbs plus $0.50 for each add Lb.Calif, residents add Calif. Sales Tax.

IBM & Apple are registered trade mark of IBM& Apple

Circle 292 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 439

1B6K WAVE MATE UNBEATABLE VALUES

Highest Performing Z-80 Micros Available • 16-Bit Performance 8-Bit Price

SBC

"BULLET

•4MhzZ80-ACPU,DMA,CTC, DART, PIO

• 128KB Bank Selected RAM:4K-16K EPROM

• DMA FDC for 5%", 8" and3V2" drives

• Two RS-232 serial ports;Centronics printer port;SCSI hard disk interface

• + 5 volts only at 1. 75 amps;no adjustments; 8" x 10.7"size

•CP/M Plus (3.0) included:2-userMP/M II optional

SUPERT7ULLTT SBC

All BULLET SBC features areincluded

• Additional 128KB RAM (256KB total)

• Additional 2 RS 232 serialports (4 total) using SIO

• MP/M II for 2, 3, and 4 us-ers included

CP/M Plus & MP/M

CP/M Plus included

$449

included

$995

AKULLU mAtilVt I INU (A division ol Calif. Digital)

22048 Sherman Way #316 • Canoga Park, CA 91303 (818) 883-8390 • TELEX 194369In U.K. call: (021) 471-1999 • In Germany call: (089) 48.37.74

-Euuirr iv

BULLET SBC with CP/MPlus (3.0)

• Two mini floppy driveswith 1.6MB formattedcapacity

• Compact enclosure withpower supply and cables

SUPER

TBULurr

CP/M Plus included

$1149

510

SUPER BULLET SBC withCP/M Plus (3.0) & 4 userMP/M II

• 10MB hard disk with800KB floppy for back up

• Compact enclosure withpower supply and cables

CP/M Plus & MP/M II included

$2595

Quantity discounts available ■ OEM and dealer inquiries welcomeC-BIOS source codes and schematic available • All Wave Matemanufactured products have a limited one-year warranty •VISA, MC, Cashier Check or Money Order accepted"BULLET" and "SUPER BULLET" are Trade Marks of Wave Mate, Inc."CP/M Plus" and "MP/M II" are Trade Marks of Digital Research, Inc.

saM\«9

DO IT YOURSELF!An IBM® PC/XT Compatible

To start, you need a high-quality Switching Power Supply and a heavy duty Mainframeto cabinet your Cpu Board, Power Supply, Cards, Drives, etc.

#HSC 1 30-40$179.00/63.

130 WATT.

ml

Switching Power Supply

• + 5V/15A, +12V/4.2A, -12V/0.25A, -5V/0.3A

•Built-in Fan

•Power Switch

•Cables w/Connectors for Cpu Board and 4 Disk Drives

•2 Switched AC Outlets for Printer & Monitor

•One Full Year Warranty-

Cabinetonly

$99.00/ea.

•Heavy duty welded steel•2 Full or 4 Half Height

Disk Drives allowed•IBM® Look-alike

Model #FC-630

DEALER & OEM's INQUIRY INVITED

FORTRON CORP.

4447 ENTERPRISE ST.FREMONT, CA 94538

Dealer & OEM 415-490-B403415-490-8171TLX 17BB32

800-881-9771

64K D-RAM

150ns-200ns

$49.00/9 pes.

765AC 8272A

8275 S237A-5

8284A

TMS 9980$19.00/ea

Terms: Shipping immediately from stock usually, or within 4 weeks if run out of inventory. Minimum $5.00 shipping + handling.Personal check requires 2 weeks clearance before shipping. 6.5% sales TAX required for CA. residents.

Circle 356 for Dealer inquiries. Circle 3 57 for End-User inquiries.

440 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

It's True — We Did It I

Don't be foolish. Buy Direct!

Looking for a printer? The OKIDATA 82A for S300 will put an end to that!

EAGLE

OUR PC FLYS

IBM Compatible

Simply a better PC. All models

available for immediate delivery

Call Lowest S

SPIRIT Call Best Seller

Mannesmann Tally

• Standard — 7 x 9 160 CPS

• NLQ — 40 x 18 40 CPS

• 2K Buffer and Tractor Standard

160 L 80 col Call Best Seller

180 L 132 col. Call Best Seller

LOWEST Price In U.S.

• Proportional Spacing

• 8 Character Styles

• 200 CPS Bi Directional

• Color Optional

• Sheet Feed • Graphics

• 3.4K BufferPrism 80

Prism 132 and Micro Prism

S Call

J-CAT

Hm&&on

Red HotSpecial I

NovationJ-CAT

*

F

• 300 BPS Modem

• Originate/Auto Answer

Sizzling SCall

i

ALTOS

PANASONIC

TELE VI DEO

SANYO

TOPAZ

TRANSTAR

FREEDOM

HAYES

NOVATION

VDS

EAGLE

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BMC

MICOM

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NEC

EPSON

STAR GEMINI

OKIDATA

SOFTWARE

COMREX

DAISYWRITER

JUKI

WYSE

Use Your AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD!

For Price Quotes and Ordering Call:

1-800-328-8905

For Technical Information and

Arizona Orders, Call:

602-949-8218

For Shipping and Order Status Information,Call: 602-990-7556

WIDGET

ADDS

DEC

C ITOH

SILVER-REED

MANY OTHERS

Everything incomputer relatedproducts:

• Computers

• Modems

• Printers

• Software

• Monitors

• Terminals

• Accessories

LIBEifTY^ROUP, Inc.

4231 Wlnlleld Scott Plaza«Scottadala, AZ 862B1

Prices listed reflect a cash discount and are subject to change without notice U/e welcome Certified and Cashier* Checks, Bank Wires and Money Orders C O D s are shipped with a minimum CODcharge Allow 3-7 days for personal checks to clear Product is subject to availability Eguipment is in factory sealed boxes with manufacturers warranty There will be a re-stocking charge for returnedmerchandise Call first for an RMA number Software not warranteed for suitability No return of Software which has been opened Add 2% for shipping & handling charges |minimum S2 50) All equipmentshipped FOB Scottsdale Az 85251

Circle 336 on inquiry card.

s

urcle ■>> on inquiry card.

fTlEDfl-BYTES FDB miCRD-BUDGETS

EHpand your system...shrink your cast.

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.

COMPUTERS AT LOW PRICES

CALL FOR CONFIGURATIONSAND OPTIONS

MEMOTECH MTX-512

SHARP PC-5000 PORTABLE

LEADING EDGE PC

IBM PC-XT

MISC. PERIPHERALS

HAYES SMARTMODEM 1200B (IBM-PC)

SALE PRICE $399.50

HAYES SMARTMODEM 1200 (RS-232)

489 50

HAYES CHRONOGRAPH

189 50

ROLAND DG XY800 6 PEN PLOTTER

799.50

BAUSCH&LOMB DMP-29 PLOTTER

1885.00

PENCEPT PENPAD 320

900.00

EPSON PRINTERS SALE PRICE

MX-100 $475.00

FX-80 489.00

FX-100 589.00

RX-80 309.00

RX-80 F/T 375.00

LQ-1500 1135.00

DYSAN DISKETTES (Boxes of 10 each)SALE PRICE

104/1 5W SINGLE SIDE, SINGLE DENSITY $31.20

104/1D 5W SINGLE SIDE, DOUBLE DENSITY 32.98

104/2D 5W DOUBLE SIDE, DOUBLE DENSITY 38.99

3740/1 8" SINGLE SIDE, SINGLE DENSITY 32.39

3740/1D 8" SINGLE SIDE, DOUBLE DENSITY 40.19

3740/2 8" DOUBLE SIDE, SINGLE DENSITY 40.19

3740/2D 8" DOUBLE SIDE, DOUBLE DENSITY 46.89

PRINCETON GRAPHICS SYSTEMS

. . . Cash Prinp $459 OO

GREAT LAKES (PEGASUS) HARD DISK SYSTEMS

10 MEGABYTE INTERNAL

SALE PRICE

$1149.00

10 MEGABYTE EXTERNAL

1295.00

23 MEGABYTE EXTERNAL

1895.00

40 MEGABYTE EXTERNAL

2449.00

65 MEGABYTE EXTERNAL

3249.00

140 MEGABYTE EXTERNAL

4995.00

TAPE DRIVE 23 MEGABYTE INTERNAL

950.00

TAPE DRIVE 23 MEGABYTE STAND ALONE. ..

1249.00

ORDERS ONL Y 800-858-4810IN CALIF. 800-821-6662

COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS

2858 S. ROBERTSON BLVD., LOS ANGELES, CA 90034

IN FORMA TION(213) 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.

SUNNY

LOW LOW COST

POWER SUPPLIES

(LINEAR & SWITCHING)FOR S-100, DISK DRIVES

S-100 & DISK POWER SUPPLIES

ITEM +5V OVP ' -

NO. 806 & NO. 516 Mainframes Kit 1, 2 & 3 for S-100 R2,R3for 2 Drives(FloppySHard)

OPEN FRAME, ASSY. & TESTED, 6 OUTPUTS, ADJU. & FUSES PROTECT.5or-12V * + 24or+12V +8V ±16V SIZE W x D x H PRICE

12 SLOT & 2 FLOPPY

(1 Floppy & 1 Hard Disk)

6 SLOT & 2 FLOPPY

5A

1A

5-7A PEAK

13A

3A

10" x 6" x 5"

105.95

S4 6 SLOT & 2 FLOPPY 4A 1A 4-5A PEAK 8A 3A 8%" x 5" x 4%" 95.95

DISK POWER SUPPLIES: open frame, assy. & tested, regulated, adjustable & fuses protect.

ITEM IDEAL FOR + 5VOVP '-Sor-^V * + 24or+12V +8V Unreg. + 12V SIZEWxDxH PRICE

R0 2x8" SLIMLINE 2.5A 2.5A - 5A Peak

R, 2 x 8" or 2 x 5V4" DISK 4A 1A 3A - 5A Peak 2A

R2 [Tx 8" (or5V4") FLOPPY) 6A 1A 6A - 8A Peak

R3 [or 1x Floppy & 1x Hard) 6A 1A 6A - 8A Peak

AC & DC POWER CABLES WITH CONNECTOR FOR 2 DRIVES 8.00

1A

51.9556.9571.9598.95

S3 S4forS-100&2Drives

S-100 POWER SUPPLY KITS (open frame with base plate, 3 hrs. assy, time)

ITEM (IDEAL FOR) +8V -8V ^16V -16V +28V SIZE: WxDxH PRICE

KIT 1KIT 2KIT 3

15 CARDS

20 CARDS

DISK SYSTEM

15A25A15A

1A

2.5A3A3A

2.5A3A3A

5A

12"x5"x47/8"

12"x5"x47/s-'

131/2"x5"x47/8"

54.9561.9569.95

+ SHIPPING $18.00

6 SLOT MAINFRAME assy & tested only $399t9S $299.95

EACH MAINFRAME (ITEM NO 806 OH 516) CONTAINS: EMI FILTER • FUSE HOLDER • AC POWER CORD • POWER SWITCH & INDICATOR •RESET SWITCH • W COOLING FAN • S-100 BUS 6 SLOT CARD CAGE • (110/220 VAC, 50/60 HZ.) POWER SUPPLY FOR DISK DRIVES & S-100SLOTS • 2 EA DC POWER CABLES WITH CONNECTOR AND MOUNTING HARDWARE FOR DISK DRIVES • 9 EA. CUT-OUTS; 7 FOR DB25CONNECTOR 1 FOR 50 PIN CONNECTOR & 1 FOR CENTRONICS • CUSTOM FINISH & LOGO-LESS • COMPACT SIZE • LIGHTWEIGHT, 28 LBS.ITEM #806 FOR 2 EA. 8" THINLINE FLOPPY (TANDON TM848-1 & 848-2 OR EQUIV). OR ONE HARD DISK, POWER SUPPLY: I 8V/8A. + 16V/3A,t 5V/5A OVP. -5V/1A & 24V/5A SIZE: 12"(W) X 19.5"(D) x 9.8"(H).

•SPECIFY VOLTAGE WHEN ORDERING

5" x 4" x 4"

8" x 4" x 3%"

10" x 47/a" x 3%"

9" x 6V4" x 4%"

SHIPPING FOR EA. PWR SUPPLY: $5.50 IN CALIF.;$8.00 IN OTHER STATES;$18.00 IN CANADA.FOR EA. TRANSFORMER; $5.00 IN ALL STATES;$12.00 IN CANADA. CALIF. RESIDENTS ADD6.5% SALES TAX.

DEALER

INQUIRIES

INVITED

No. 806

Mainframe

J*

MAILING ADDRESS:P.O. BOX 4296TORRANCE, CA 90510

TELEX:182558

SUNNY INTERNATIONAL

(TRANSFORMERS MANUFACTURER)(213) 328-2425 MON-SAT 9-6

SHIPPING ADDRESS:22129V2 S. VERMONT AVE [TORRANCE, CA 90502

442 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle 290 on inquiry card.

£w 31 a a • mi isnonv

pjeo Xjmbui uo c,j| apjQ

"WE TURN AROUND FOR YOU"

24-HOUR WATTS

800-528-8960 lncludin9 Alaska and Hawaii

CUSTOMER SERVICE (602) 482-0400 • 2017 E. CACTUS • PHOENIX. AZ 85022

All prices are for cash cashiers check or money order. Allow 3 weeks bank clearance for personal checks. C.O.D.'s, Visa/MC, and P.O.'s accepted at additional charge. Prices subject to change.

Returns must have authorization number (call 602-861-1141). and are subject to a restocking charge

TERMINALS

Adds

A-1 Green

A-2 Green

Viewpoint 60

Hazeltine

Espirit I

Espirit II

Qume

QVT 102 Green .

QVT 102 Amber

QVT 103 Green .

QVT 103 AmberTelevideo

910 +

925

950

970

Wyse

Wyse 100

Wyse 300

Expirit III

Visual

Visual 50 Green

Visual 55 GreenZenith

Z-29

$485.490.619

485540

535550840850

549699899975

6801020.735

599720

629

COMPUTERS

Altos

580-20

586-20

586-40

986-40

Columbia

Eagle

Franklin

Quasar

NEC Portable

Northstar

Advantage

Advantage w/5MB

Advantage w/15MB ...Televideo Systems

802H

803

1605 IBM Compatible

806/20

800 A (user station) ...

Teleport

Zenith

36295549CallCallCallCallCallCallCall

216033454315

42101815Call4775.. 999. Call. Call

MONITORS

Amdek

Video 300 GREEN

Video 300 AMBER

Color 1 Plus

Color II Plus

Comrex

9" Green

9" Amber

NEC

JB 1201

JB 1260

Taxan

12" Amber

Zenith

12" Green Screen .

12" Amber Screen

129145225425

... 69.69

155115

125

.. 95120

FOR IBM PC

IBM PC Call Save $

AST Research

Six Pak Plus—from $279

Combo Plus II—from 279

Mega Plus—from 309

I/O Plus—from 139

Quad ram

Quadlink 489

Quadboard 289

Quad 512 Plus 249

Quadcolor 229

SOFTWARE

Lotus

1-2-3 .

S319

Micropro

WordStar/MailMerge 349

InfoStar 299

SpellStar 159

CalcStar 99

MicrostufCrosstalk 105

MicrosoftMultiplan 159

Ashton Tate

dBASE II 389

Friday! 185

Ram Memory4164-150 59/9 per set

$5300

Transient Protection WithA Solid Reputation ™

General ^fc

_^ Semiconductor .,--,tn.^)JPJJWIndustries, Inc<5':*J' *

MODEMS

Anchor

Mark I (RS-232)

Mark II (Atari)

Mark III (TI-99)

Mark IV (CBM/PET)

Mark V (Osborne)

Mark VI (IBM-PC)

Mark VII (Auto Ans./Auto Dial)

Mark XII (1200 Baud)

TRS-80 Color Computer

9 Volt Power Supply

Hayes

Smartmodem 300

Smartmodem 1200

Smartmodem 1200B

Micromodem II

Micromodem II Plus

Micromodem ME

Micromodem 100

Smart Com II

Chronograph

Novation

J-Cat

SmartCat 103

SmartCat 103/212

AutoCat

212 AutoCat

Apple Cat II

212 Apple Cat

Apple Cat 212 Upgrade

Cat

D-Cat

PC-Cat

U.S. Robotics

212A Auto Dial

Password

$ 79

79

109

... 125

95

... 169

... 119

299

99

219479459265299269299

99179

. 399219

. 549249569

.309139149339

. 469375

ACCESSORIES

3M

51/4" SS/DD 19/Box

5V4" DS/DD (96TPI) 45/Box

Memorex

51/4" SS/DD 19/Box

51/4" DS/DD 24/Box

Elephant

5V4" SS/SD 16/Box

51/4" SS/DD 22/Box

51/4" DS/DD 28/Box

Head

5V4" Disk Head Cleaner (2 Disk) 14

51/4" Disk Head Cleaner (1 Disk) 9

Koata Pad

Commodore 64 69

Apple 79

IBM 89

Kraft

Joystick 41

Apple Paddles 34

IBM Paddles 34

IBM Joystick 46

Print Wheels & RibbonsAll Types Call

DISK DRIVES

CDC

51/4" 9409-DS/DD 379

Tandon

51/4" TM 100-1-SS/DD 160K 150

5'/4" TM 100-2A DS/DD 320K 225

TM101-4(96 TPI Quad Den) 339

8" TM848-2(DS/DD) 1.2 MG 400

Indus

GT—Apple 239

GT—Atari 349

Micro- Sci

A-2 (35TR) 189

A-20 (35TR) 169

A-40 (40TR) 269

Rana

Elite I 249

Elite II 399

Elite III 509

1000 319

tf

1"

STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND ON'

LOCKING FILE CASE

Can Stack,

Hang on Wall, and

Has Carrying Handle.

SPECIAL

$4 090

PRINTERS

Comrex

ComWriter IILetter Quality

$459

C. Itoh

Pro-writer I

(8510A) Par 319

Pro-writer

(8510A) Serial 419

1550 Parallel 499

1550 BCD SERIAL 549

F-10 40CPS (Letter dual.) .. 899F-10 55CPS (Letter dual.) .1179A-1 0 20CPS (Letter Dual) .449

Daisywriter

Daisywriter 2000 999

Daisywriter Cable 40

Datasouth

DS120 595

DS180 1155

DS220 1590

Diablo

620 (25CPS/Serial) 875

630 (40CPS/Multi-F) ... 1710

IDS Save $

Juki

6100-18

Mannesman-Tally

160L

180L

439

589829

NEC

3550 (For IBM PC) 1499

3510 1219

7710 1649

Qume

1140 W/IBM Interface . 13591155 W/IBM Interface . 1489

Riteman

Portable 279

Star Micronics

Gemini 10X Call

Gemini 15X Call

Silver Reed

EXP550P 575

Transtar

120 P 499

315 Color Printer 499

Sheet Feeders &Tractors Call

SPECIAL PRICES

Okidata $ave $

Epson $ave$

Toshiba (1351) Save $

OLYMPIC MARATHONSALE CONTINUES - SAVE $$$

• • GOLD MEDAL SPECIALS * •

i.W^^- jay

#'

CALL FOR

QUANTITY

PRICING

DISPLAY MONITORS

usi

PI2(12"Green) $ 110

PI3(12" Amber) 110

AMDEK

V300G, 12" Green $ 119

V300A, 12" Amber 139

V310AforlBMPC 159

Colorl,13"ColorComposite 289

Color II, RGB 399

BMC

12UW(12"Green) $ 89

9191 Plus 229

NEC

JB1201M,80col $ 149

JB1205M(A)w/audlo 149

JC1216 RGB Hi-Res IBM comp 389

TAXAN

IBMGreenMonochrome#121 $ 155

IBMAmberMonochrome#122 159

RGBIBMw/cable#420 469

RGB Super Hi-Res #415 425

RGB/Comp. Med. Res.#210 299

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

HX12, RGB for IBM $ 469

IBMPC.64K, 1 DriveIBM PC, 64K, 2 Drives ,

* • * * * TEAC55B, 1/2 Height, 320K .

* * * * * * * TAIMOOIM

$1550 TM100-2 for IBM PC

. 1745 TM 65-2,1/2 Height, 320K

55B, 1/2Height,320K $159 Prawnter8510AP, 120cps . . .$ 325

• • * * OKIDATA • • • •• • 64K MEM. UPGRADE • ML93P,160cps,Corr.Qual, .. .$ 63964K, 150ns, 1 yr.war $ 48 ML92P, 160cps,Corr.Qual. . , . 419

FREE 2-Piece, Anti-Static Dust Cover with Purchase of IBM PC or XT

PRINTER ACCESS.

ORANGE MICRO

Grappler + $ 112

Buffered Grappler + , 16K exp. 64K . 169FOURTH DIMENSION

Par. Cards Cable for Apple $ 49

TRACTORS

Okidata for 82A 8.92 $ 49

Juki Bi-Directional 129

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS

Mic/BufllP, 16K $ 145

Mic/BufllS, 16K 149

CABLESAnyComputertoParallelPrinter . . .$ 29

IBM/APPLE ACCESS.

AST RESEARCH

Six Pak Plus $ 269

Mega Plus II 279

MICROMAX

Viewmax 80E, 128K 80 Column Card

forApplellE $ 129

80ColumnCardforApplell&ll+ .. 139

PC PEACOCK

Color Graphics Card w/Printer Port .$ 269

PARADISE

Multifunction Board $ 299

PERSONAL SYSTEMS

APPLE

ApplellEStarterSystem $1195

SANYO

MBC550-2W/1 Drive &sftwr $ 945

M BC555-2 w/2 Drives & more sftwr. . . 1250

TAVA

1 Par. & 2 Ser. Ports, 128K, 2 - 320K Drives,

Color Card $1725

DISK DRIVES

SIEMENS

FD100-8 $ 145

Drives For Apple & FranklinMICRO-SCI

A2 $ 189

QUENTIN RESEARCH

AppleMate $ 199

RANA SYSTEMS

Elitel $ 229

Elite II 349

Elite III 429

PANASONIC

1/2 Height 360K $ 165

JMR

JMR 100% AppleComp. Drive $ 179

ControllerCard 55

PRINTERS

OKIDATA

ML82A, 10" carriage $ 298

ML83A, 15" carriage 539

ML92P, 160cps 419

ML93P, 160 cps 639

C. ITOH

Prowriter8510AP, 120cps 325

Prowriterll1550AP, 15"120cps ... 545

Starwriter F10-40PU, 40 cps 969

EPSON

RX80FT, 120cps $ 359

FX80,10" 160cps 485

FX100,15"160cps 699

JUKI

6100 LQ15", 18 cps w/propor. spac.. $ 439

STAR MICRONICS

Gemini 10X, 120cps $ 265

Gemini 15X, 120cps 379

MANNESMANN TALLY

160L, 160cps $ 575

PANASONIC

1091 w/Tractor, 120cps, 1 yr.war. ..$ 369

BROTHER

HR15 $399

IF YOU SEE IT ADVERTISED

FOR LESS, CALL US FIRST

FOR LOWEST QUOTE!

MAIL ORDER:

12841 S. Hawthorne Blvd., No. 585

Hawthorne, California 90250

^fORDER DESK: 0^

v£gm [213] 514-9019 W^p

Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

W. .cc.pt VISA, MasterCard, COO (w/depoait).Certified Checks or Wire Transfer.. Shippingminimum S4.00. Soma item, subject to back order.CA Res. add 6V>% Tax. Price, subject to change.

//M'/f/fs/'M-JS/^/fS/W^Tsfi/i'^M/^

WHERE YOUR BUCKTAKES A BIGGER BYTE

C0MREX CR-II

$399

SYMPHONY

$495

EPSON RX-80

$ 289

AMDEK 310A

$ 159

NEC PC 8201A

$475

EPSON LQ-1500

$ 1275

TOSHIBA P1340

BROTHER HR-25

$675

ANCHOR MARK XII

$269

<>

$795

dBASEffl

$495

IBM P.C. - 256K RAJ1. 2360K DRIVES, CXOR CARD 6HIGH RES. MONITOR...$2499

COLUMBIA 1600-1 - 128K RAH2 ea. 320K DRIVES. 2 SER.C1 PAR.PORTS.CLOCK/CALENDERCOLOR CARD, 6 COTES U/FREE$2000 SOFTWARE PKG...$2495

TELEVIDEO TPC 1 PORTABLE -64K RATI, 2 ea.360K DRIVESCP/H U/GSX GRAPHICS DRIVER9"T10NIT0R U/640 X 240 RES.PAR.6 SER.PORTS.FREE INTE-GRATED S0FTUARE PKC..$1695

HARD DISKS(W/ CONTROLLER)

RANA 5 flB $849

PECASUS 10 HB$11491-2 21 HB....$1795PECASUS 40 MB$2445

PRINTERS

PROURITER $359

BROTHER HR-15.$419

DIABLO 620 $875

EPSON FX-80...$499EPSON FX-100..$699

JUKI 6100 $449

OKIDATA 92P...S459TOSHIBA P1351$1395

MONITORSATIDEK COLOR l...$279AflDEK COLOR II..$419

BMC 12AU $89

PRINCETON HX-12.$499PRINCETON SR-12.CALL

"■ HAX-12 $199

SAKATA SG-1000...$99SAKATA SC-100...S279TAXAN 420 $509

MODEMS

ANCHOR HARK VI..$179

"' V0LKSfl0DFJ1..$65

HAYES SflART 300.$219

" SflART 1200B.$419

mCROTOOEH HE....$229PROIETHEUS PRODUCT'S

PRCnODEJ! 1200 $389

RIX0N R212A $459

US RBTCS PASSWORD.$475

IBM PERIPHERALS

AST SIX PAK PLUS..$274

AST HEGAPLUS $299

P.C. HOUSE $239

PERSYST COLOR CARD$239PERSYST H0N0 CARD.$249''.' OUADCXOR l...$209TEOIAR GRAPH.CARD.$279'' GRAPHICS HASTERS529

SOFTWAREASHT0N TATE FRIDAY..$209" " FRAMEWORK..CALLC0NT. HOME ACCT*....$109HARVARD PROJECT HCR.$279IUS EASYURITER II...$289HICR0S0FT t1ULTIPLAN.$189WORDSTAR PRO-PACK...$399pfs:WRITE. FILE. REPORT.

C GRAPH $109 ea.

S0RCIH SUPERCALC 3..$149WORDPERFECT $299

IBM 64K UPGRADEW/PARITY....$46

WE CARRY ALMOST EVERY COMPUTER/PERIPHERAL LINE

PRICES FOR PREPAID ORDERS ONLY6 ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE

CALL 1 (800) 841-6414

WE ACCEPT VISA t MASTERCARDniNDIUd SHIPPING $4.00

.P.O. BOX 1048 SLC. 1ST 84110.

444 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 43 on inquiry card.

MEGd-

<»»

Ideal for

• COMPUTERISTS

• OEM MANUFACTURERS

• DEVELOPMENT LABS

• UNIVERSITIES

• INDUSTRIALAPPLICATIONS

THE ULTIMATE OEM/PC

COMPATIBLE SINGLE

BOARD COMPUTER

FULL IBM - PC*COMPATIBILITY!

DEALERS AND OEM MANUFACTURERSQUANTITY DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

Standard Key-board Interface

(Full PC compatible)

Hardware Reset

(Overcomes reset flawin PC)

Power Connector

(Full IBM* pinoutcompatible)

8088 Processor

(Same as PC)

8087 NumericProcessor

(Same as PC)

PeripheralSupport Circuits

(Same as PC)

ConfigurationSwitches

(Same as PC)

Speaker/AudioPort

(Same as PC)

Wire Wrap Area

To facilitate special customapplications!

ORDER NOW!!!

Evaluation Board Kit!

(Blank board with full assemblyinstructions and parts list.)

Includes highest quality PC boardwith gold plating, silk screen,solder mask

ORDER NOW!!!

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!10-day money back guarantee if not completely satisfied.

'DISPLAY

TELECOMMUNICATIONS.CORPORATION

4100 SPRING VALLEY ROADSUITE 400DALLAS, TX 75234(214)991-1644

TERMS: Shipment made 2 to 5 weeks fromreceipt of order. VISA, MC, money order,company check accepted. COD'S require$25 deposit. Balance UPS COD. Pleaseadd $2.00 shipping and handling per order.

*IBM and IBM PC are trademarks of International Business Machines

Circle 109 on inquiry card.

©1983 Display Telecommunications Corporation

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 445

PAL EPROM

& UV ERASERSfrom $49.95

LOGICAL DEVICES INC.

Wkete, Rekaldlitif, amiQuAtomeA, Sunp&it

SEE OUR AD ON PAGE 32

O00OQSQ

ORDER TOLL FREE

1-800-EE1-PROM

(1-800-331-7766)

SPECTACULAR

LOWEST PRICES

maxell disks

LIFETIME WARRANTY

$ 180ea •ffl™$O40ea

5!4" MDI-DDM SS/DD/96TPI .. $2.655'/4" MD2-DDM DS/DD/96TPI .. $3.30

8" FD-1 SS/SD or DD $2.8S

8" FD-2 DS/DD $3.30

1-800-328-3472

Dealer inquiries invited. COD's and chargecards accepted. All orders shipped fromstock within 24 hrs.

M4

m

North Hills Corporation

3564 Rolling View Dr.

White Bear Lake. MN 55110

MN Call Collect 1-612-770-0485

XT COMPATIBLEOEM COMPONENT SALE

Computer Case $150.00

Key Board-KT5150 $199.00

Power Supply $225.00

Mother Board-Bare $ 95.00

Mother Board without ICs .. $225.00

Mother Board with ICs $525.00

Dealers/OEM BuyersQuantity Discounts Available.

All items are 100% XT compatible as

replacement kits. Boards with ICs are

tested and burn-in. Evaluation units are

available at $3,500 with 128K RAM, 10M

Hard Disk, Floppy Drive, RGB Card, RS232

Serial, Parallel and Game Ports.

Subject to stock on hand

Price change without notice

IBM is a trademark of

International Business Machine

HiTech International, Inc.

1180 Minion "

Sunnyvale. CA 940*6

(408) 738-0601 TI.X 171854 IBC

Circle 86 on inquiry card.

Circle 146 on inquiry card.

•IBM* PC Compatible

[[pcpjjbeuhejl

C3I IC D <>

E-PROMS - Call1 Lowest Prices Anywhere

•4164-150/200 480

2764-250 675

6116-P3 4"

HMM256K Call for quote

IBM* PC, XTs... Cheapest anywhereDisk Drives: (FO.B. Tampa)

•TM-100-2 16995

*Half-Heights-2 16995

"10 mb Microscience w/cable

& controller 899"

Add $3 95 shipping to all orders • Prices subiecl tochange • P0 s on approval "COD OK • All new. nosurplus no seconds QUANTITY DISCOUNTS4920 Cypress St. Ste. 100. Tampa, FL 33607

In FL and for info, call 813-875-0299FOR ORDERS ONLY, 800-237-8910

8AM-7PMEDT

Maxell Floppy Disks

The Mini-Diskswith maximum quality

Dealer inquiriesinvited. C.O.D'saccepted. CallFREE (800) 235-4137.

C-2

PACIFIC EXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd.. San LuisSan Luis Obispo. CA 93401In Catcall (800) 592-5935 or(805)543-1037.

RS-232 TO CURRENTLOOP CONVERTER

NEW!

Circle 245 on inquiry card.

Circle 243 on inquiry card.

Uses high speed optical isolators in bothTransmit and Receive Data lines. An optionalpower supply is available to power the CurrentLoop. Order Now! Only $49.95. Optional LoopSupply—$14.95. Add $1.75 for postageand handling (IL Res. add 6% sales tax)We accept MC, VISA. FREE: expanded il-lustrated catalog of interface and problemequipment. Phone: (815)434-0846.

&I1 electrunicK

■■■■ manufacturing companv

P.O. Box 1008B, OTTAWA, IL 61350

Circle 31 on inquiry card.

COBOL

CROSS REFERENCE

Required:IBM-PC, DOS-2.0, 128K memory, & one disk drive

Limits:1,400 data names & 11,000 references.

Prints cross reference and/or source code.Accepts most versions of COBOL as input.This is a stand alone program which will flagduplicate data names and invalid references.

Your name will appear in the report heading.Please print your name and address distinctly.Send a check or money order ($95.00) to:

META SYSTEMS INC. OF ALASKA2806 Iris DriveAnchorage, AK 99503

SPEED UP

YOUR

dBASE

PROGRAMS

with dB/RA, dBRX,

dHELPER & RA+

Add arrays, math

functions, syntax

checking, animation &

windowing.

Call or write for details!

micr'opr'oducts

P.O. BOX 6543 SILVER SPRING. MD. 203061301)946-2565

HARMONY 800-221-8927

nnnmuni Or800-441-H44

212-627-1000

2357 Coney Island Ave., Brooklyn. H.y. 11223

IBM-PC

$1549.95

OKIDATA 92 T

$379.95

RINTERS

i*. DATA 92IK-OATA93

PSON FXB0

IROTHER25JEC3S50

COMMODORE

COHMOOORE 64

2it MACINTOSH

339 IMAGEWRITER

539 POINTER CARD

379 GRAPPLER-

364 RGB CARD

314 EXTB0COL

ggg APPLE 2E274

659 MONITORS

509 AMDEK i ■

439 AMDEK2-

359 AMOEK 300

579 AMOEK 30OA

u?9 AMDEK4

264 NEC 1215

SANYO

55 550 SO

j!r: 555 SD

™ 550 DD

555 DD

FRANKLINI200OMS'0OQPRO

129 AODTL64K

129 AODTL DRIVE

699 MONO CAROCOLOR CARDPRINTER CARD

249 TAU GRASS i?

399 HERCULES MASTER

124 AST6PACKi64Kj

144 QUAOBOARD

' MODEMS

1209 KAYPRO

Circle 198 on inquiry card.

Circle 136 on inquiry card.

Circle 140 on inquiry card.

■?;;*,™::&;:t.'*w? -w

COMPUTER DISCOUNT PRODUCTS

HUGE Inventories • APPLE-IBM Specialists

• ASK ABOUT OUR FAIR PRICE POLICY-ITS GUARANTEED!*

¥ *

DISKETTES

10 100

DYSAN 5' SS/DDDVSAN 5" DS/DDMAXELL 5- SS/ODMAXELL 5" DS/DDVER8ATIM 5' SS/DDVERBATIM 5- DS/DD

31.99 299.9938.99 369.9927.99 259.9937.99 359.9924.99 235.9935.99 344.99

spf/maxm

i FOR APPLE & IBM

| ALPHABET ZOO

1 DELTA DRAWING

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1 SNOOPER TROOPS 1 8 II

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19.99 I32.99 121.99 119.99 119.99 126.99 119.99 127.99 121.99 1

^Continental

1 APPLE GRAPHICS BOOK

14.99 1

1 CPA (GL AP, AR PAY) (AP)

M149.99 1

1 FCM/FL 1st CLASS MAIL (AP)

59.99 1

1 FCM/FL 1st CLASS MAIL (IBM)

71.99 1

1 HOME ACCOUNTANT (AP)

44.99 1

1 HOME ACCOUNTANT*(IBM)

84.99 1

1 PROPERTY MGMT [AP, IBM)

295.99 1

1 TAX ADVANTAGE (Ap)

39.99 1

1 TAX ADVANTAGE (IBM)

49.99 1

ULTRAFILE (IBM)

119.99

„, kensingtons^Jmicroware

SYSTEM SAVER

• Surge Suppression

• Fits Apple Stand

• Dual Outlet dd

• U.L. Listed $ DO

MEMOREX Vh" (MAC) 41.99

DAPPLE^SOFTWARE

BPI (GL. AP. AR. PAY INV) M275.99

BRODERBUND Arcade Machine 39.99

Bank Street Writer 44.99

Drol, Loderunner ea24.99

CENTRAL POINT Copy II + 25.99

DLM Alien Addition 27.99

AILgator Mi* 27.99

Demolition Division 27.99

Dragon Mix 27.99

Meteor Multiplication 27.99

Minus Mission 27.99

Verb Viper/Word Invasion ea37.99

Word Radar/Spelling W,z M37.99

EDUWARE Counting Bee 23.99

Decimals / Fractions 3,0 M34.99

Hands on Basic 61.99

PSAT Word Attack 39.99

SAT Word Attack 39.99

JACK REPORT 74.99

KENSINGTON Format II 119.99

KOALA Spider Eater 23.99

LEARNING CO Bumble Games 26.99

Bumble PloL'Magic Spell ea26.99

Gertrudes Puzzle/Secre! ea29.99

Moptown Parade/Hotel ea26.99

Rocky's 8oots 34.99

MICROLAB Miner 20-49er 27.99

MICROSOFT Multiplan 165.99

ODESTA Chess 45.99

Odin 37.99

PFS Report 85.99

File 85.99

Graph 85.99

Write 85.99

SENSIBLE SPELLER 87.99

SUBLOGIC Night Mis Pinball 32.99

THUNDERCLOCK 99.99

ULTIMA III 39.9

DOLLARS & SENSE (lle/c) 79.99

iriFoconx

FOR APPLE S IBM

DEADLINE, ENCHANTER

PLANETFALL

SUSPENDED

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SORCERER 37.99

ea32.9932.9932.9932.99

ea24.99

authorized ■■■ MicroPro dealer;

This month We'll Match

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Same Terms - At Time Of Order

This Issue Only $CALL

CDP Is Your

ACCESSORIES

FLIP'N FILE (original) 17.99

FLIP'N FILE w/Locktray (25) 17.99

FLIP'N FILE w/Locktray (50) 27.99

HAYES 300 Baud Smartmodem 1(9.99

1200 Baud Smartmodem 474.99

LIBRARY CASE 1.99

KENSINGTON PC Saver 29.99

PRINTERS C-ITOH 379.99

Epson FX80 549.99

Epson RX80 349.99

Okidata 82-93 $CALL

PRINTER STAND Sm, (plxgls) 24.99

PRINTER STAND Lg (plxgls) 29.99

RIBBONS-Brother SCall

MX S FX 80 4.99

MX S FX 100 7.99

OKI 82. 83. 92. 93 S Gemini 2.99

FINGERPRINT: Epson Upgrade

RX, FX, MX 44.99

^ APPLE

— HARDWARE

ALSCP/M3.0AUTO REPEAT KEY| BASIS 108DAN PAYMAR Lower Case 1Lower Case 2 (rev 7)| DARK STAR Snapshot II| EASTSIDE Wildcard

Wildcard II! FOURTH DIMENSION DriveI HAVES Micromodem lieKOALA PADKRAFT Joystick

PaddlesLEGEND 128K RamMICRO-SCI A-2 DriveMOUNTAIN Ramplus + 32KORANGE MICRO Grappler tBuflerboardButtered Grappler +PADDLE ADAPPLETITAN TECH I28K RamAccelerator IINeptune 64KTG JoystickPaddles

rev 1-6|

259.9919.99SCALL25.9919.9965.9979.99111.99219.99235.9985.9944.9931.99359.99209.99159.99114.99119.99179.9924.99379.99444.99199.9934.9925.99

MONITORS

PHINLtlUN HUD HX-12TAXAN 420 RGBUSI Pi 1 9 " Green 20 mhUSI Pi 2 12" Green 20 mhUSI Pi 3 12' Ambet 20 mhUSI Pi 4 9" Amber 20 mhUSI 1400C Color Composite

SHARPEN YOUR SKILLS THIS SUMMER!

ALGEBRA l-III.ApALGEBRA I, IBMFLIGHT SIM II. ApFLIGHTSIM.IBMFRACTION FEVER. Ap/IBMMASTERTYPE.ApMASTERTYPE, IBM

31.9934.9937.9934.9921.9929.9934.99

=

= == =^rz

—

'k Height DS/DD Drive

239.99 1

ALPHA Typeiaces

79.99 1

ASHTON TATE dBase II

399.99 1

Friday

184.99 1

Encyclopedia

59.99 1

AST Mega Plus

299.99 1

Six Pack Plus

279.99 1

BRODERBUND Serpentine

26.99 1

Lode Runner

24.99 1

CAi Masters

ei31.99 1

SubjectsCENTRAL POINT Copy II PC

ea16.99 125.99 1

CROSSTALK

139.99 1

HAYDEN Piewriter

129.99 1

HAYES 1200B Modem

439.99 1

KRAFT Joystick

44.99 1

LIFETREE Volkswnter

119.99 1

MICROLAB Miner 20-49ei

27.99 1

MICROSOFT MouseMultiplan

129.99 1165.99 1

MONOGRAM Dollars S Sense

129.99 1

NORTON Utilities

55.99 1

PC CRAYON

49.99 1

PFS Write

99.99 1

Report

89.99 1

Graph

99.99 1

POOL 1 5

27.99 1

SIERRA ON-LINE Frogger

26.99 1

SIR-TECH Wizardry

44.99 ■

SUBLOGIC Night Mis Pinball

32.99 1

TG Joystick

44.99 1

TITAN 64K BOARD

499.99 1

VISICORP Visicalc

164.99 I

Schedule,

M199.99 1

PLANTRONICS ColorPlus 375.99 1

', Sceiia

1 FROGGER (Ap)

1 GENERAL MANAGER

1 HOME WORD

1 SCREENWRITER II

1 ULTIMA II

1 BC QUEST FOR TIRES

| OILS WELL

21.99 |146.99 149.99 191.99 136.99 1HEW 1NEW! |

ReaaleBroC

IpTlM..! !...."!'.Il.'-M

1 ALPHA PLOT 24.99 1I APPLE MECH , FLEX TEXT ea19.99 1BEAGLE BASIC, DOUBLE TAKE aa24.99 1DOS BOSS 15.99 1FRAME-UP 16.99 1GPLE 32.99 1PRONTO DOS 19.99 1TIP DISK #1 14.99 |TYPEFACES 14.99 1UTILITY CITY 19.99 1

QUADRAMi

APIC (APPLE /// PARALLEL)eRAM 80 column 64K HEMICROFAZER 8K ParallelMICROFAZER 8K SerialQUADBOARD I or II (64K)QUADCOLORIQUAOCOLOR I UPGRADEQUAD512»(64K)

129.99(CALL139.99159.99269.99205.99

QUADUNK 479.99

ridex

ENHANCER II

FUNCTION STRIP

HARDSWITCH

MICROMODEM CHIP

PSI0

PRE-BOOTS Apple Writer

Apple Writer for Ultraterm

V-sicalc

Visicalc/Memory Expansion

Visicalc tor UltratermSOFTSWITCHULTRAPLANULTRATERMVIDEOTERM w/SS + INV

169.9914.9923.9939.9971.9954.9925.99SCALL249.99219.99

465.99499.9999.99119.99129.99109.99279.99

Novation

103 Smart Cat

103/212 Auto Cat

JCal

Access 123 (IBM)

Applecat ll

Applecat Upgrade 1200 Baud

Cat Modem

Expansion Module

169.99399.9999.99

469.99249.99309.00135.9929.99

-SINCE 1977-

RETAIL SHOWROOMS

IN CALIFORNIA:

San Jose •(408)241-2300

San Mateo •(415)571-1658

San Francisco • (415) 626-2244

COMPUTER DISCOUNT PRODUCTS860 S. Winchester Blvd., San Jose, California 95128

MAIL, PHONE, WILL-CALL SERVICE FROM FROM 6AM (PST)

- CALL (408) 985-0400 -

No Charge For Credit CardsPrices Subject To ChangeSoftware Sales Are FinalInternational Orders WelcomeMin. UPS Chg. $4 + Ins.Mm. US Postal Chg. $10P.O's Welcome - Call First

Circle 65 on Inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 447

\ferbatim

flexible disks

Call Free (800) 235-4137 for

prices and information. Dealerinquiries invited. C.O.D. andcharge cards accepted.

visa-

PACIFICEXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd.San Luis Obispo, CA93401. In Cal. call(800) 592-5935 or(805) 543-1037.

Circle 243 on inquiry card

Buy/Sell Used HardwareWithout Risk!!!

In addition to receiving a monthlynewsletter containing latest com-puter information and sales,membership allows you 1 free adplus additional ads at reducedprices. Buyer selects ad, sends pur-chase price to Computer SwapShop who holds same in escrowand notifies seller who ships tobuyer. Buyer has 7 days to examinethe equipment and if satisfied,seller receives sales price lesssmall commission; otherwise,money is refunded. You must be amember to buy or sell with Com-puter Swap Shop Inc.

NO RISK! BONDED.

Send $20 subscription fee to:

Computer Swap Shop, Inc.

Box 2988

Delray Beach, FL 33444

STAND-BY POWER SUPPLY

• 200 WATTS

• 10 MINUTEBACKUP TIME

• BATTERYINCLUDED

Fits most desktop and portable computersComplete, just plug it in. 4-(3 prong) outletson back protected by line filters Neat, cleanappearance on desk. Don't risk damage ordata loss with POWER FAILURES.MODEL BC200-10

$288

Units available to 1000 Watts

312-490-9239

SHEPHERD MARKETING

P.O. BOX 941339

SCHAUMBURGJL 60194

"Add $7 each shipping & handling

Circle 279 on inquiry card

VIRTUAL MEMORY

FILE MANAGER

IBM-PC/XT

DOS 2.00 +, MICROSOFT& LATTICE C COMPILERS

Check These Features!

• Data, limited only by disk capacity,referenced as if always in memory.

• Multiple, independent swap buffers.

• Multiple files cached in any buffer.

• Highly efficient swap algorithm.

• Automatic file updating.

• Data prefetching supported

• Data may be locked in memory.

• Memory buffers may be flushed.

• Includes complete heap management.

• Source code available.

▼ mwiMw ^m Contact:

o Fit F MindBank, Inc.

' ■*—■-- 4620 Henry Street

^HHHpr Pittsburgh, PA 152I3

^mBr 4I2/683-9800

VISA/MASTER CARD ACCEPTED

Analog and Power

Control I/O

in a Single BoardComputer

6801 Micro Control System designedfor DISTRIBUTED CONTROL or STAND-ALONE use: 6801 or 68701 MPU with 2KROM or EPROM, 128 RAM, timer. Eight12-bit analog inputs, 8-bit analogoutput, 8 AC or DC inputs or outputs,serial I/O, digital I/O, power supply.

IWinlek Corp.1801 South Streetlatovette. IN 47904

lafayetle. IN 47904317-7428428

Circle 332 on Inquiry card.

TROUBLESHOOTING

MICROPROCESSOR-BASED

EQUIPMENT

AND

DIGITAL DEVICES

Attend this 'highly acclaimed seminar andmaster the essentials of microprocessor main-tenance. Gain a firm understanding of micro-processor fundamentals and learn specializedtroubleshooting techniques. $695.001984 FALL/WINTER SCHEDULE

• Washington, DC - September 11-14

• Boston-September 18-21

• Phoenix - October 9-12

• Los Angeles - October 16-19

• Atlanta - November 6-9

• Miami - November 13-16•References provided upon request.

MICRO SYSTEMS INSTITUTE

Garnett, Kansas 66032

(913) 898-3265

Circle 71 on inquiry card.

Circle 220 on inquiry card.

Circle 343 on inquiry card

Guarantee

+

Savings

NEW Memorex

DISKETTES

19

23

42

One side, double or singledensity. 10 per box. Allsoft sector. Min. 2 boxes.Two sides, double density.10 per box. Soft sector forIBM and compatibles.New 3 in. microdisk cartridge.One side, double density.Macintosh. Lisa, HPOrders shipped same day receivedPriced per box—minimum 2 boxesVisa, MasterCard, checks acceptedMoney-back guaranteeOrder with confidence!

All prices for box of 10Add S2.50 shipping 6t handling

1-800-292-1492

Nationwide

312-726-7879

In Illinois

DISK WORKS

131 W.Madison St.-P.O. Box 11375Chicago, 1L606O2

Circle 344 on inquiry card.

MEMORYMODULES

8Kx8 CMOS Ram

Designed for the briefcase portables

Radio Shack Model 100

NEC PC-8201A

Olivetti M10

Its easy to expand your memory! Our module justplugs in to the socket. Complete installation in-structions are included. We guarantee full satis-faction and ease of installation or return within 30days for a prompt refund.

Each part is fully tested and warranted for 1 year.We have stock and will ship within one day of yourorder.

Save up to $50.00 on each module. Single unit

price is $69.95 — includes shipping and handling.

Call for quantity pricing:

Nationwide: 1 -(800)732-5012

California Residence: 1 - (805) 987-4788

CALL NOW y,^

PURPLE COMPUTING MaorCmt

2068 Ventura Blvd. Anwncw Ex"fess

Camanlio, CA 93010 ■ "" #fc

HALF HEIGHT DRIVES

si 89S195»179

SHUGART: SA 455

Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side

CDC: 9428

Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side

PANASONIC: 551-2

Double Sided, 40 TRK/Side

• 120 Day Warranty

• Free Shipping

• No Charge For Credit Cards |"T^f:

• Order Toll Free I—'"—I

1-800-531-5475 (Outside 01 Texas)

(512) 250-1489 (In Texas)Texas Residents Add 5H Sales Tax.

iCompuPdd

13010 Research Blvd., Suite 101Austin, Texas 78750

Circle 258 on inquiry card.

Circle 59 on inquiry card.

74LS00

RESISTORS

V. WATT 5% CARBON FILMFROM 1 OHM TO 10M OHM

50 pes .99

100 pes 1.89

1000 pes 9 50

5000 pes 42.50

CARBON FILM

1 252.3511.50

52.50

Apple ll/lleCompatibleDisk Drive

$139.°°CONTROLLERCARD $44.95

GENERAL PURPOSE BOARDS

BLANK BOARD — HOLES ON 100" GRID, No ETCHED CIRCUITEXCEPT CONTACT FINGER

No Contacts

Size

Contact Centers Price

P 441-1 22/44 4.5" X 6" 156" 9 95P 442-1 22/44 4 5" I 9" 156" 10.95P 721-1 36/72 4 5" x 6" 100" 9.95P 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 9152537

2.052052 504.75

2653603257.10

3.903 704.509.40

3.205 404 801095

1 551 551 552.95

1 25

50

600

925

350

—-

MODEMS

HAVES 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

.02 ea.019 ea010 ea.009 ea

025 ea.024 ea.012 ea.011 ea

JOYSTICK FORAPPLE II $-,995

Joy Stickfor IBM P/C

$22.

8087

MATHEMATICS

CO-PROCESSOR

$189.

FOR APPLE II & lie

16K RAM CARD

Compatible withDOS 3.3 CP/MVisicalc, PASCAL1 YR WARRANTY

S39.!

Speedy EPROM

Programmer

for Apple II

$149.00

Programming 2716. 2732.

2732A. 2764. 27128.

2516. 2532, 2564

in 30 seconds, software

control programming.

no additional

hardware required.

New Multichannel HobbyMicrowave Antenna SystemFreq. Range: 2.1 - 2.7 GHz

Includes:

1. Wide Band Probe WithDown Converter

2. 20" White Painted Dish

3. 60' and 3' Coax Cable Set

4. Steel Case 5 - 20 DCVTuneable Power Supply

5. Mounting Accessoriesand Instructions

ALL FOR $97.95

IC SOCKETS

WW - WIRE WRAP

8 PIN WW14 PIN WW16 PIN WW18 PIN WW20 PIN WW22 PIN WW24 PIN WW28 PIN WW40 PIN WWLP6 PIN LP8 PIN LP14 PIN LP16 PIN LP18 PIN LP20 PIN LP22 PIN LP24 PIN LP28 PIN LP40 PIN LP64 PIN LP

55

65

65

891 001 151 191 451 89LOW PROFILF.10

12

14

16

18

28

28

30

40

484 10

45

55

55

79

90

1 05

1 09

1 35

1 69

09101214162624263238

U/V EPROM ERASER

General Industries

$37.50

SUPER COOLINGFANS For APPLEWITH SURG $37.

Build Your IBMPC/XT Compatible

DEALER AND 81

OEM ARE -^ «,■*■

invited Competitive

Completed PriCGS

Unassembled

System ^ - fiQ7

Hardware Only ^9 | _ Vr(|3 g

MULTIFUNCTION BOARD

• 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port real time clock. 64k RAM up to256k RAM 249.00

• Floppy disk drive controller board 169.00

• Hard disk controller board/DTC 5150BX 299.00

• Color graphic board 219.00

• Monochrome * color ♦ graphic board 299.00

• Panasonics disk drive, 320k, half height 159.00

• Hard disk drive 10 MB/Shugart SA712 699.00

• 100W power supply with fan 169.00

• Case 119.00

• Manual 25.00

• Keyboard 149.00

h resolution color RGB monitor/Taxan 449.00

• High resolution green monitor/Taxan 129.00

• Monitor stand 19.95

• Hayes 1200B modem 449.00

• Hayes 1200 modem 475.00

• Tandon TM100-2A 199.00

• 64k Memory Expansion Kit 44.95

• 50 5'j Diskeet Store 19.95

MOTHER BOARD:

• 8088 CPU with socket for co-processor 8087

• 8088 is supported by 8259A interrupt controller and 8237DMA 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 199.00

(With IC sockets, resistors, capacitors, connectors, crystals,transistors soldered)

Tested Board (w/o ROM) 399.00

IC kit 199.00

IBM is the trademark of International Business Machines.Prices subject to change without notice.

TERMS For shipping include S2 00 for UPS Ground or S3 00 for UPS Blue Label AirItems over 4 lbs require additional shipping charges $10.00 minimum order.

IBM is a trade mark of International Business Machines Corporation Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer

nee is subject to change without notice

1-(800) 821-3628

-^^^^^^^^_ n k. <■ i^ suujeci iu cnanyt

IS Hand well

4962 EL CAMINO REAL • LOS ALTOS. CA 94022 • (4151 962-9265

corp

TXL 171947 HANDWELL LTOS I

Circle 139 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 449

B Dysan

^CORPORATION

SPECIAL DISKETTE OFFER

The Dysan quality difference isyours to try with advanced produc-tion techniques that assure everydiskette to be 100% error-free.PLUS! if you call, write, or utilizereader service in response to thisad—we'll send you our full-rangecatalog of computer supplies withSpecial Offers good for further sav-ings on Dysan diskettes and manyother quality products.

LYBEN COMPUTER SYSTEMS

1250-E Rankin Dr., Troy, Ml 48083Phone: (313) 589-3440

Simply #1 in Service & Reliability

DISCOVER THE DYSAN DIFFERENCE

Circle 185 on inquiry card.

State-Of-The-Art

INTELLIGENTPRINTER BUFFER

* *TWO printers controlled simultaneously

* * SMART-MERGE (allows address lists and

form letters to be merged in the buffer)

INTELLIGENT, microprocessor controlled:

* ABORTS a job instantly * VERIFIES job statsinstantly 'CHECKS status of availablememory 'TWO-WAY communication via aunique ASCII command structure.

SMARTY is available with either Centronics orserial interface and 64K or 256K of RAM.SMARTY is also available as a board level pro-duct for integration into your system or in anattractive 5" x 7" box with its own power supp-ly. Suggested retail price: $349.00. Majorcredit cards accepted. Call for dealer and OEMdiscounts!

Phoenix Electronic Development Corporation618 Venice BoulevardMarina del Rey, CA 90291(213)827-2511

PRINTER RIBBONS

PRICE PER PER

RIBBON DOZEN

ANADEX 9500 10.50 109.80

APPLE DMP 5.25 52.20

C. IT0H PROWRITER .\ 5.25 52.20

EPSON MX-FX 70/80 5.00 48.00

EPSON MX-FX 100 6.75 69.00

GEMINI 10-10X-15-15X 2.50 23.40

IBM HARMONICA W 6.75 78.00

IBM HARMONICA %" 7.95 92.40

IBM 4-C0L0R 15.75 180.00

IDS MICROPRISM-480 5.75 58.80

IDS PAPER TIGER 460/560 6.75 78.00

IDS PRISM 7.95 92.40

IDS 4-COLOR 15.75 180.00

NEC-3500 M/S Non Flip 6.25 69.00

NEC - 3500 NYLON 9.00 96.00

NEC PC-8023A 5.25 52.20

0KIDATA 80/82/83/92 2.50 23.40

OKIDATA-84 5.00 57.00

RADIO SHACK DMP-2100 7.50 87.00

RADIO SHACK LP VI & VIII .... 5.75 58.80

SILVER REED EX 550 S/S 5.00 57.00

SILVER REED EX 550 NYLON .... 9.00 105.00

TOSHIBA-1350 7.50 87.00

XEROX 610/620 M/S 5.95 66.00

Add $3.00 Ship. & Hand. — To Order Call

Toll Free 1-800-742-1122

In Ml (313) 569-3218 or Write for our Catalog

DWIGHT COMPANY, INC.

15565 Northland Drive - West TowerSouthfield, Michigan 48075-6496

Circle 248 on inquiry card.

Circle 113 on inquiry card.

SPECTACULAR

LOWEST PRICES3M DISKETTES

riME WARRANTY

SIRS88™ $919ea

J,QtV" www £^g>

514" SS/QD/96TPI . . . $2.555'/4" DS/QD/96TPI ... $3.20

8" SS/SD $2.00

8" SS/DD $2.45

8" DS/DD $2.95

1-800-328-3472

Dealer inquiries invited. COD's and chargecards accepted. All orders shipped fromstock within 24 hrs.

North Hills Corporation

3564 Rolling View Dr.

White Bear Lake, MN 55110

MN Call Collect 1-612-770-0485

GILTRONIX SWITCHES ARETHE REST CHOICE.

.. and here are 10 good reasons why:

IBM PC APPLE

1. Serial (RS232) orParallel(Cenlronics)

2. Prompt Deliveries

3. Nationally AdverUsed Products

4. Broad ProductLine

5. Over 30,000 UnitsSold to Date

6. Sales and

( #■— )

.ri3BggBB5".

' F.C.C. Approved

UnitsI. Manual and

Automatic Units). Highest Quality

PC Board Switch

Technology) Buy Direct From

Giltronix, or From

Any Authorized

Distributor

TechnicalSupport

Manual Units—2 to 6 PortsAutomatic Units—3 to 15 Ports

COGiltronix

ORDER HOTLINE:

THE OFFICIAL

NUMBER TO CALL

TO FIND OUT

MORE ABOUT

THE UNOFFICIAL

APPLE LOGO:

617-492-8816

Terrapin"

The Logo People

Terrapin, Inc., 380 Green Street,Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 492-8816

Circle 304 on inquiry card.

S 100 EPROM PROGRAMMER

EPROM-32

1 Field-proven board meets IEEE-696 standard.i Programs IK through 32K (byte) EPROMs.

■ Textool zero-insertion-torce programming socket.

< EPROM is programmed through 1/0 ports and can beverified through I/O ports or located in memory spacetor verification.

■ Programming voltage generated on-board.

■ Personality Modules adapt board to EPROMs:PM-1—2508.2758 PM-3-2732.2732A PM-6-68764

2516.2716 PM-4-2564 PM-8-27128

PM-2-2532 PM-5-2764 PM-9-27256

■ Feature-packed CP/M-compat-ible control software includestast programming algorithm.

■ One year warranty.

$269.95*

(AST)

MlcroDynomlcs

Corporation

Suite 245 • 1355 Lynnlield Road • Memphis. TN 38119(9011-682-4054

* Price includes EPROM-32, documentation and twoPersonality Modules (specify) Additional Modules—S7 95 Control software on 8" SSSD diskette—S29 95,UPS ground—$2.00. UPS air—$4.00. COD—$1.65. foreignadd S15 00 VISA and MASTERCARD welcome

0

—n^^

z

^____C_J

CL

<

PI-OtSTwo-way ... $ 59.95

Pt 035 Three way S 89 95

PI 05S Five way S109 95

PI-08S Eight-way $209 95

PARALLEL TWO WAY S 94 95

TRANSFER SWITCH FEATURES

• PI SWITCH lets you SAFELY SHARE

Ul u

multiple SERIAL (RS-232) devices.

■ Ul

<?

• Great tor printers, modems, etc.

• Handsome block and beige

case (emote DBC-25 connectors

• Switches pins 1-7 8i 20 or set any

OS

Ulo

5B

way you need before shipping.

• Male connectors available

ONE (11 YEAR WARRANTY

TERMS: MO, Check. Mastercard.

Visa.COO.

UPS ground 82/ each, 2nd air

z

S4/each COD add S2 per order.

PtMte call for your CUSTOM

■■

twitch needs.,, . .—.

5

f h n "1

UJI Lil

SAB-LINK. Inc.

m

31 N W. 41 Street. Miami. FL 33166

(305) 592-6092

Dtaktf luttuhln w•*•!'»•'

Circle 273 on inquiry card.

&TDKJ

flexible disks

Call Free (800)235-4137

for prices and information.Dealer inquiries invited.C.O.D. and charge cardsaccepted.

WH'

PACIFICEXCHANGES

100 Foothill BlvdSan Luis Obispo. CA93401 (InCal call(805)543-1037)

Circle 135 on inquiry card.

Circle 208 on inquiry card.

Circle 243 on inquiry card.

Lyco Computer Marketing & Consultants

TO ORDER

CALL US

TOLL free 800-233-8760

In PA 1 717-327-1824

MANNESMANNTALLY

SPIRIT 80 $299.00

MTL-1 60L $559.OO

MTL-180L $775.OO

NEC

NEC8023 $369.00

NEC8025 $699.00

PRINTERINTERFACING

AVAILABLE FOR COMMODOREVIC. APPLE. ATARI. IBM-PC.TRS 80, Tl, AND OTHERS

BLUE CHIP

M12010 $279.00

M12010 C-64 $279.00

D4015 $1399.00

CARDCO

LQ1 $449.00

LQ2 $279.00

LQ3 $339.00

PRINTER INTERFACE $39.75

PRINTER INTERFACE WITH

FULL GRAPHICS $65.75

LIGHT PEN $29.75

5 Slot Expansion 64 $54.00

64 Write NOW $39.00

64 Mail NOW $29.00

2j Write NOW $29.00

64 Keypad $29.00

Universal Cass. Int $29.75

Printer Utility $19.75

6 Slot Expansion $79.95

3 Slot Expansion $24.95

JUKI

6100 CALL

RITEMAN

INFO RUNNER CALL

STAR

SAVE ^PRINTERS

MICRONICS

GEMINI 15X $379 00

DELTA 10 $449.00

DELTA 15 $525.00

RADIX 10 $575 00

RADIX 15 $675.00

POWERTYPE $CALL

SWEET P(Model 100) .. $549 00STX80 $149.00

GEMINI 10X $259.00

CITOH

GORILLA GX-100 $169.00

GORILLA SERIAL $199 00

PROWRITER 8510 $335.00

PROWRITERII $575 00

8600 $899.00

STARWRITER.... $929.00

PRINTMASTER $1199.00

SHEET FEEDER $425 00

620 $929.00

630 $1699.00

8510 SP $499.00

8510 SCP $559.00

A10 LETTER OUAL $49900

EPSON

RX-80 $269.00

RX-80FT $299.00

FX-80 $439.00

FX-100 $639.00

OKI DATA

PANASONIC

1090 $279.00

1091 $309.00

1092 $459.00

80 $199.00

82A $299.00

83A $569.00

84 $959.00

92 $409.00

LEGEND

880 $259.00

1000 $279.00

1200 CALL

1500 CALL

1018 CALL

OVER 2000

SOFT-WARE TITLES

IN STOCK

CATALOG AVAILABLE

DISKETTES

ELEPHANT

ISV4" SSSD $16.75

I 5'/." SSDD $19.95

15V«" DSDD $25.95

MAXELL

|5%" MD-1 $24.75

|5'/V MD-2 $34.75

CERTRONCASSETTES

ICC-10 (12) $15.99

|CC-20(12) $17.99

HARD DISKDRIVES

■FOR-

IBM, APPLE, TRS80

10 MEG $975.00

20 MEG $1399.00

30 MEG CALL

* D.O.S. EXTRA

PRINTING PAPER

3000 SHEETS

FANFOLD $42 75

1000 SHEETS

FANFOLD $19.75

1000 SHEETS LETTER...$21.95

200 SHEETS LETTER $8.99

150 RAG STATIONERY $10.99MAILING LABELS (1 in) . $9.7514x11 1000 FANFOLD .. $24.75

AMDEK

VIDEO 300 $139.00

VIDEO 300A $149.00

COLOR 1+ $269.00

COLOR 11+ $399.00

GORILLA

12" GREEN $82.00

12" AMBER $89.00

NEC

JB1260 GREEN $99.00

JB1 201 GREEN $1 45.00

JB1205 AMBER $145.00

JC1215 COLOR $269.00

JC1216 $399.00

SAKATA

SC100COLOR... $229.00

SG1000 GREEN $99.00

SA AMBER $109.00

MONITORSTAXAN

100 GREEN $115.00

105 AMBER $125.00

210RGBCOMPOSITE... $269.00

400 RGB MEDRES $295.00

410 RGB HI RES $349.00

420 RGB HI RES (IBM).... $475.00

121 GREEN $145.00

122 AMBER $149.00

ZENITH

ZVM 1 22A AMBER $95.00

ZVM 123G GREEN $85.00

ZUM 1 24IBM-PC $1 29.00

ZUM COLOR $275.00

ZUM 133 RGB $389.00

ZUM 135 RGB $449.00

ZUM 136 $589.00

PERCOM

AT88S1 ....$249.00AT88S1 PD $299.00

ADD-ON DRIVES CALL

AT 88 DOUBLER $11 9.00

MODEMS

ANCHOR MARK I $45 75

ANCHOR MARK II $45.95

HAYES SMART $239.00

HAYES MICRO II $309.OO

MICROBIT 10OOC $12900

CAT $144.00

D-CAT $155.OO

J-CAT $115.00

APPLE CAT II $279 OO

21 2 APPLE CAT $589.00

INNOVATIVECONCEPTS

FLIP-N-FILE 10 $3.75

FLIP-N-FILE 15 $8.95

FLIP-N-FILE 25 $18.95

FLIP-N-FILE 50 $17.75

FLIP-N-FILE(RomHolder)... $17.75

RANA 1000.... $299INDUS GT $325

CONCORD

ATARI 1 76K MASTER $289 OOATARI 348K MASTER $369.00ATARI ADD-ON DRIVES. $C ALL

TRACK DRIVES

AT-D2 $329.00

AT-D2 TURBO PAK $22.95

AT-DH CALL

PRINTER CABLE $22.95

€S T<3 ORDER

CALL TOLL FREE or send order to

800-233-8760 pTb^opT

ICustomer Service 1-717-327-1825 Jersey Shore PA 1 774C

Circle 189 on inquiry card. POLICY

In-stock items shipped within 24 hours ot order Personalchecks require tour weeks clearance before shipping NodepositonC O D orders Free shipping on prepaid cash orderswithin the continental U S PA residents add sales tax Allproducts subiect to availability and price change Advertisedprices show 4- discount ottered tor cash add 4 • for MasterCard or Visa DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED

Circle 186 on inquiry card.

INTRODUCING

HL THCCVPtffn

IlL

A COMPLETE 68000 & Z 80SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER SYSTEMWITH ULTRA-HIGH-RES GRAPHICS!!

IlL

Circle 345 on inquiry card.

wabasK

When it comes to

Flexible Disks, nobody

does it better than

Wabash.

MasterCard, Visa AcceptedCall Free: (800)235-4137

PACIFICEXCHANGES

100 Foothill BlvdSan Luis Obispo. CA93401 (In Cal call (805)543-1037)

WE SELLWHAT YOUNEED...NOT JUSTWHAT WESTOCK.PLUS-LOWPRICES.TECHSUPPORTAND RELI-ABILITY.

DISKETTES m

MEMOREX

SSS1) I IN SZ 20. 511

S2 35/100

1 SSDD 1 IN 12.70/50

S3 OS. 100

SSDD . 5'. IN. SMO/SO

S2 10- -.00

DSDD S'. IN. i! 85.SO

S?85 IOC

0SOI1 . 96 TPI 5 . IN U 30/50

S4 45/100

PLASTIC STORAGE BOX-WITH KEY

FOR 100 DISKETTES ... S24.00

TAPES AND CARTRIDGES |3M|

DCIOOA SI6.20/I-IO

SI 4.10/10 +

DC300H S24.75/I 10

121.50/10*

2400 FT TAPE SEAL SI5.00/10 50

SI435/5II-

BLACK WATCH

2400 FT TAPE SEAL SIB 25 10 50

SI5.B0/5O-

WINCHESTER DRIVES

10MB (FORMATTED)

S535.

I5MB|F0RMATTED|

ST50

20MB |FORMATTED|

DM

32MB IFORMATTEDI

SII55.

FLOPPV DRIVES INTERNAL EXTERNAL

IBM/RADIO SNACK S SIDE SI95

S255

IBM/RADIO SHACK 0 SIDE SZ45

S335

APPLE

S2I0

HARD DISK SOBSTSTEMS

5MB 10MB 15MB

APPLE S1250 SI450 SIG50

IBM S1300 SI500 SI700

H

■BJPjB

Circle 243 on inquiry card.

Circle 197 on inquiry card

6

times faster

Super Fast Z80 AssemblyLanguage Development Package

Z80ASM

• Over 6000 line/minute

• Generates COM, HEX, or REL files

• Cross-Relerence

• Zilog mnemonics

• Time and Date in listing

• Long labels

SLRNK

• One or two pass operation

• Cross-reference

• COM or HEX output

• Flexible address control

Moil format! a

a tor ZB0 CP M. CDOS. and TURBODOS

S199.M

-S" L. R Systems.

For mora information or to order, call:

1-800-633-3061 in Pa.. (412) 282-0864

1622 North Main Street. Butler, PA 16001

VISA Or Mastercard

NEW!

•if

_Safe§fcinL

KEYBOARD PROTECTOR

Remains in place during keyboard use.Prevents damage from liquid spills, dust,ashes, etc. Fits like a second skin, excellentfeel. Homerow and numeric locators.Available for: IBM-PC, Apple He.Send $29.95, check or M.O., Visa & MCinclude exp. date and signature. Specifycomputer type. Dealer Inquiries Invited.Free brochure available.

MERRITT Computer Products, Inc.

2925 LBJ, *180 / Dallas, Texas 7523*

(214)942-1142

AugustSES9!Sl

RENT SOFTWARE

dBase II 100.00

Wordstar 75.00

SuperCalc 3 50.00

PFS Software 20.00

FREE CATALOG

Barnes / Business/ Utilities / Education

1-800-221-1031 California

1-800-221-4568 ah others

619-481-0559 SanOlego

Circle 280 on inquiry card.

Circle 196 on inquiry card.

Circle 281 on inquiry card.

HOFACKER

Books • Software • Hardware Add-Ons • for your ATARI 600XL/

800 XL. Commodore-64, VIC 20, Sinclair, Timex, Apple ll.Osborne+OSl

BOOKS tor ATARI 400/600XL/900XL

SOFTWARE IN MACHINE LANGUAGE

1200X1-

FOR ATARI

ATMONA1

machine language

Order No. 7022 IC) 119.95

drawings. special sounds, keys, paddles.

graphics, sound applications, pecks. pokes

This is a tracer idcbuggeO that Ms you

Order No 164 17.96

computers

CPU may bt changed includes Almona 1

autobook disk Ha cartridge, no DOS, no

Order No. 7050 disk £54.00

FORTH language required.

Macro Assembler tor ATARIB0O/46K

One1 of the mast powerful editor

h in scrolling. Up 1o 17k of source-code

eUSIPACK 1 iwntun m FORTHI Com

about 5 seconds Source coda can be

ATMS APPLICATION DISK

All programs end machine language luh

Order No 7311 (20.00

OnlnrrJr, /M3 £49 95

ATAS

InvoK.mj (Hogram >n BASIC

Same at ATMA5 bul without macrocapability I32K and 48K RAMI

Orda.No. 72)2 ICI £19 9'.,Orde.No. 7213 ID) S24 95

850 needed >

Orda.No 7291 £19.96

Oulwand Dttmbutw moumes art moiled. a'ARi <s>-ea pauemara o' 4T il

ELCOMI* PUBLISHING. INCS3 Redrock Lam

HF"1"* »-*'»"»'ws

Pomona. CA 91 768

Phone: 1714) 623 8314,Tli 29 81 91

"""""""'"

—MODEMS—

*Signalman MARK XII $249.95

1200/300 Baud Auto Dial/Ans

Hayes™ Compatible

*VOSKMODEM 300 BaudS59.95Limited Offer/FREE Source Memb.

*The Complete Handbook ofPersonal Computer Comm.S 12.95

—COMPUTER—

Sanyo MBC-555 SI075

Printers & MBC-555 PackageOrder: (800) 235-6646 OP 555Calif. (800) 235-6647 OP 555

VISA/MC ACOM Electronics

Add 3% Dept. 120

Shipping 415! Middlefield Rd.

Add 2% Palo Alto, CA 94303

The Statistician

CPM IBM-PCTRS-DOS XENIX

Multiple Regression

Stepwise

Ridge

All Subsets

Backward EliminationTime Series AnalysisDescriptive StatisticsTransformations

* Survey Research" Nonparametrics

* X-Y Plots

* ANOVA

* Random Samples

* Data Base

* Search & sort

* Hypothesis tests

Please call TOLL FREE1-800-334-0854 (Ext. 814)

Q

for more information

or write:

Quant Systems

Box 628

Charleston, SC 29402

VISA-M/C Accepted

Circle 120 on inquiry card.

Circle 7 on inquiry card.

Circle 261 on inquiry card.

(ompuPro

SYST 816/A SINGLE-USERSYST 816/B 2 USERSSYST 816 C MULTI-USERSYST 816 D 10MHz 8086SYST 816 E 10MHz 68000SYST816 10 4 USERSTO ADD 40Mb. H.O. TO ABOVE ADD:SYST 816/10 H20 20Mb HO.SYST 816/10 H40 40Mb H.O.CPU Z 6MHz A&TCPU 8086/88 A&TH&A 8087 PIGGYBACK/8086/88CPU 8086 10MHz A&TCPU 86/87 6MHz A&TCPU 68K W/MMU OPTION A&TCPU 68K 10MHz CSCRAM 17 64K STATIC A&TRAM 16 64K STATIC 8&16 A&TRAM 21 128K STATIC 8&16 A&TRAM 22 266K STATIC 8&16 A&TM DRIVE H 612K RAM-DISKINTERFACER 3-8 SERIAL A&TINTERFACER 4-3 SERIAL/2 PARALLELSYSTEM SUPPORT 1 A&TDISK 1 A&T

DISK 2 A&T 8" H.D. CNTRL SETDISK 3 A&T 5%" H.D. CTRLW CP/M 80&86

ncpx

TB-4 EXTENDER BD W LOGIC PROBEICB-10 OPTO ISOLATOR CNTRL A&TICB-10K OPTO ISOLATOR CNTRL KITZB-1 EXTENDER BD. W ZIF & SWITCH

®

94,299

*4.999

»6.399

89.299

»7.099

84,296

»1.900

86.399

87,096

(229

• 349

9539

8569

»739

$629

9600

9349

$389

$699

$1,229

$895

$489

$319

$319

$349

$559

$559

$67$165$146$119

|FLUKE|

FLUKE 77

DVO METER $119

0.3% DC ACCURACY

SYNTECH

DATA

SYSTEMS

CPU 8/16 EXECUTES Z80 & 8088 CODE.

S'A" & 8" FLPY CTRL, 2S. 8

VECTORED & REALTIME INTERRUPTS266K STATIC RAM/ CLK/CAL. BATT.DYNAMIC RAM 512K (2Mb W 41256)SBC 300 MASTER OR SLV-6MHz. 64K.

1S. 1P. SASI PORTVFWIM FLPY 5'/4" & 8" & 5V." H.D. CNTRLVERSAFLOPPY II 4 FLPY CTRL BV," & 8"EXPANDORAM IV 256K W, PARITYEXPANDORAM IV 266K W EDCHDC UP TO 4 5V. H.D. W/ 2S. IP.

CP/M 80 & 86 BIOS INCLDI/O 8 W 8 ASYNCHRONOUS RS232I/O 4 ANYNCHI/O 4 SYNCH/ 4 ASYNCH.

Cromemco

ZPU Z-80 CPU

EXC S-100 EXTENDER BD

SMDI SMD HARD DISK I/O

I & ADVANCED iI DIGITAL t

^da

SUPER SIX 1286MHz

SUPER SLAVE 128-6MHz

SUPER 186/256

CP/M 3 0

TURBODOS MULTI-USER

DMA-MICRO MAGNUM 5Mb FIXED &

6Mb REMOV. CARTG. BARE DRV.HDC-1001-5 5% H.D. CONTROLLER

$689$1,425$1,132

$595$645$295$825$1,435

$468$435$605$675

$299

$49

$675

$575$519$1,499$350$625

$1,695$419

ESTABLISHED 1977

SALES 800- 528-3138

TECHNICAL 602-991-7870MODEM ORDERS 602-948-1387TELEX: 16 5025 FTCC SEC PHX.

CPZ 48006 6MHz MASTER $739

266KMB MEMORY BOARD $709

CPS-MX 64K RAM SLAVE 4MHz $339

CPS-MX 64K RAM SLAVE 6MHz $389

CPS-BMX 128K RAM SLAVE 4MHz $495

CPS-BMX 128K RAM SLAVE 6MHz $529

MORROW

MD2 SYSTEM W/MOT60 TERMINAL

& EPSON RX80FT PRT. $1,599

MD3 AS EQUIP. ABOVE W PEARL DBMS $1,999MD-3E AS EQUIP. ABOVE WITH ONLY

CPM 2.2 NEW WORD CO-PILOT $1,499MD3-MDCP88-256 AS EQUIP. ABOVE W/

8088 CO-PROC. & 256K RAM UPGRD. $2,498MDP-3 PORT. SAME AS MD3 EXCEPT 5X7"

SCRN. & EPSON RX80FT PRT. $1,899

MD11 SYSTEM W/11 Mb H.D.. CP/M 3.0.128 RAM. MDT60 TERMINAL

& EPSON RX80FT PRT. $2,995

MO 16 SAME AS MDII W 16.44Mb $3,496

MD 34 SAME AS MDII W/ 34Mb $4,996

Litton

ra

JEFFERSONELECTRIC

TRUE SINE WAVE, 100% BATTERY OPER. W/NOSWITCH-OVER. BYPASS STATIC SWITCH750 WATTS @ 15 MIN. #370-811-100 $1,575

1 HR. W. AUXILIARY BATTERY $149

lEIectmlopicsJ

QUASI-DISK 512K RAM-DISK W/ON-BD. DRV.STATUS LEDS. WRITE PROTECT. DMAE-Z INSTALL W/SAMPLE CP/M BIOS $895

S12K PIGGY-BACK EXPANSION $696

BATTERY BACKUP W/PWR SUPPLY $169

MflO ALL-IN-ONE I/O BD IEEE S-1 00 6968 ASYNCH. SERIAL. 2 PARA.. BAUDRATE GEN.. CLOCK-CAL/BATT.. PROG.PRIORITY INTERRUPT W/8 LEVEL CTRLPERSONALITY BDS. & CBLS OPTIONAL $469

SERIAL OPTION BD. FOR MflO $25

CENTRONICS PARA. OPTION FOR MHO $39

STD PARALLEL OPTION BD. FOR MflO $25

M DIGITAL RESEARCH

"C" LANGUAGE COMPILER 86 $229

CP/M PLUS (3,0) $245

CBASIC COMPILER 80 $326

PASCAL MT*86 $390

PL/1-86 W/ PROG UTILITIES $488

DR ASSEMBLER PLUS TOOLS $130

ACCESS MNGR 80 8195 86 8260

DISPLAY MNGR. 80 9260 86 8325

SPEED PROG PKG 80 =$130 86 = $163

GSX 80 - $55 86 - $66

M^

$1,495

DUAL SSDD 5V« FLPY. 2S. 1P. IEEE488. MX80 PRT.REAL TIME CLOCK. 2 MODEMS. 8" FLPYINTERFACE. CP/M80. MBASIC. CBASIC.COMMUN. PERFECT WRITER, SPELLER. CALC.FILER & FANCY FONT IN 33LB. PORTABLE

i terminals!:& monitors:

FREEDOM 110 TERMINAL - AMBER CALL

FREEDOM 200 TERMINAL - AMBER

(EMUL TELEVIDEO 960 & ADM 31) CALL

LIBERTY FREEDOM 220G

DEC VT220 EMUL. W/ FULL

SUPERSET OF VT100 CALL

USI AMBER 12" HI-RES MONITOR (20MHz| $109WYSE-50 14", 132 COL.. EMUL. TVI 910.

920. 925. ADDS-VP& HAZELTINE 1600 $619

printers:

BROTHER HR-15 SERIAL

BROTHER HR 25 SERIAL

DAISYWRITER 2000 W/48K

EPSON MX. RX & FX IN STOCK

OKIDATA 92P

OKIOATA 93P

TALLY MT160L S-OR-P W/TRACTOR

A

onaaex

DP962BB. 132 COL.. 240 CPS. 72/144DP972SB. 132 COL.. 200 CPS. COLORDP6S00, 132 COL.. 600 CPS. TRACTOR

mMPRACTICALmPERIPHERALS

MICROBUFFER EPSON "CARD"MBS 16/32K SERIALMBS 32K SERIALMBS 64K PARALLEL

MICROBUFFER IN-LINE "STANDALONE"

MBIS SERIAL 64K

MBIP PARALLEL 64K

MICROBUFFER II+ 16K. APPLE II. II+. ME

PROCLOCK/APPLE II. II*. HESERIAL/APPLE II. II*. ME W< RS232.COMMUNICATIONS & GRAPHICSGRAPHICARD W/ ON BD S.W./36 PRT

$425$726$998CALL$319$689$669

$1,246$1,349$2,486

$119$153$195

$244$244$181

$119

$119$69

^industrial qualityzparinfts

DUAL VjHI HORIZ. 5V4" FLPY.SINGLE STD HI HORIZ. 5V." FLPYDUAL Vi HI VERT. 8" FLPYSINGLE STD. HI VERT. 8" FLPY

$76

$69

$195

$196

:disk drives:

DMA 5Mb REMOV. CART. W 6MbFIXED WINCH. BARE DRIVE

S-100'S SUBSYS. - DUAL DSDD 8"FLOPPY, QUANTUM 40 Mb H.D..DISK 1 & 3. CP/M80 & 86

S-100'. 5'/4" 40Mb QUANTUM H.D. SUB-SYSTEM W/DISK 3 & CP/M80 & 86

MAXTOR XT 1065 5%" 65Mb H.D.

MAXTOR XT 1106 6V4" 105Mb H.D.

MAXTOR XT 1140 6%" 140Mb H.D.

QUANTUM Q540 5V." 40Mb H.D.

landon 100-2 im" dsdd

Qume

$1,696

$3,999

$2,895$2,249$2,996$3,749$1,395S189

6 MONTH WARRANTY

142 DSDD 5'/4"-Y2 HI242 DSDD 8"-V4 HI842 DSDD 8 STD HI

TOSHIBA

FOR IBM-PC & PORTABLEHIGHEST ENGINEERING QUALITYVjHI FLPY. DIRECT DRV. 1 YR WARR.MD1D 6V4" SSDD BOX/10h MD2D 5V." DSDD BOX/10

$189$395$455

6V4"

^5Jr_l MD2D 96TPI 5V." DSDD

"^■B 80 TRACKS BOX/10FD2D-1024N 8 DSDD BOX/10

$166$19.96$28.96

$36.95$33.96

Circle 271 for Dealer inquiries. Circle 2 72 for End-User inquiries.

S 100 DIV 696 CORP. FULL DEALER SUPPORT

14425 North 79th Street VISIT OUR SHOWROOM

Scottsdale. Arizona 85260 Hrs. 8:30AM - 5:00PM M-F

Subject to Available Quantities

Prices Quoted Include

Cash Oiscounts

Shipping & Insurance Extra

DUSTCOVERS

For Personal Computers and SmallBusiness Systems, Peripherals, GameUnits - Protective, Long-Lasting VinylResists 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

Marymac

INDUSTRIES

a c

Pan American

ELECTRONICS

800-231-3680 800-531-7466

Radio Shack TRS-80'> ■

People you Trust to give you the very best!

• LowestPrice

• ReliableService

• QualityProducts

22511 Katy Fwy., Katy (Houston) Texas 77450(713) 392-0747 Telex 774132

BBBasasi

GREAT DISKETTES

Super low pricesSYNC0M

The low priced, high quality diskette with a LIFETIME WAR-RANTY Packed in polybags of 10 with Tyvek envelopes,abels and reinforced hubs ^^^^^^^^^

One of the best buys we've seen ^^^ESBBI

«ea.5'/4"SSDDSWDSDPea.

$185

OTY 20

zznnzsxmzL

DISKETTE 70—Holds 70 5'/." diskettes in dust freesafety $14.95 ea. + $3 00 Shpng

DISK CADDIES—Flip up style holds 10 5V<" diskettesSI 65 ea + .20 Shpng.

Shipping: 5 v." DISKETTES—Add $3.00 per 100 or frac-tion thereof OTHER ITEMS: Shipping charges as shown inaddition to diskette shipping charges Payment: VISA or MC;0D orders only, add $3 00 Taxes: Illinois customers,jlease add 8%.

Nationwide: 1-800-621-6827In Illinois: 1-312-944-2788

Minimum Order $35 00

WE WILL 8EAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICE'

DISK WORLDI

iu'te 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago Illinois 60611

SYNC0M

Circle 192 on inquiry card.

Circle 106 on inquiry card.

8051/52 DEVELOPMENT BOARD

8051-Based Single-Board Computer with

Monitor/Debugger

■4 28-pin byte-wide

sockets; monitor will

program EEPROMS.

■Perfect for System

Development and

Educational Applications

S335

Binary Technology

n

J P O BOX A-59 • HANOVER, NH 03755 • 503.643-2881

T & A SYSTEMS

MODEMS list

COST

US Robotics Ptsswock 300/1200 Autodial'Auto Answer. $449

J 350

Rnou RZ12AI (300'17O0 10 00 Autodial /Auto Log on) $499

S399

Pwril (300 1200) $525

S399

H*|« 1200 Smart Modem $699

S510

N»e 224 (2400'') 200/300 Selectable. 18 month warranty) $1195

1890

General Dili Comm 4100 1800 works multipoint SI 575

51395

Uniwrwl OtU Systems 9600 l/l (9600 Dial up1) $2650

CALLS

CRTS

Irbertj Electronics Freedom 100 (20 Function Keys Full Editing) $495

CALLS

Telelei 3000(7X10 Matin. Status Line) $599

S496

Visual 50 (Green Phosphor screen) $695

S595

Teie*ideo950 $1195

CALL S

Leu Zieilei ADM 11 $695

CALL S

Kimtron (New Product Fully DEC Compatible) $795

CALLS

PRINTERS

Pirusonlc 1M1 (120 CPS Dot Matrix. 3 Print Modes) $599

CALLS

Ttletti 101* (20 CPS Daisy Wheel Serial & Parallel Parts Std) $649

S457

Siemens PTM (Silent 150 CPS Ink-Jet) $900

CALLS

Televideo 740 (45 CPS Daisy Wheel) $ 1595

CALLS

SWITCHES

Giltronii (24 Wire A/B Switch) $159

CALLS

IdeAVB Switch 24 Pm $130

CALLS

HARD DISK

Mountain (10 MEG for Apple Franklin IBM) $2495

CALLS

MONITOR

Panasonic TR120 (High Resolution 1100 Lines) $220

SIM

P.O. Box 692 Wheeling, IL 60090

800-323-2666

•We stock a complete product line

of above manufacturers

CaPP>LEWAI=BE, NO.\- The Apple Users Group'Software Library

For the frst time enpy your ApRle

10 its fullest capacity, using

speoaty packed disks with over 60

outstanding programs each

[not avatebte trom any other source)

Each packed disk ncludes an

•anety of ntenestng. useful and

taring programs ndtspensaHe to aU

puterists1 Mixed category packed disks include

BUSINESS • EDUCATIONAL • DATA BASE •

l/nUTES • SCIENCE • MUSIC • GRAPHICS •

LOrary Disks i. II and III are mixed categories Single category

d-sks are GAMES • UTILITIES • GRAPHICS • INTEGER •

SCIENCE • TECH « MUSIC & AUDIO

indwduai' disks available at 159 95 each

Order drect from Otis ad and $ave up to £150 Buy Ltrary Disks

i II and III and get a special bonus disk FREE over 260 programs

tor $1 79 95 +■ $d shppsng, BUT-for the Best Vakje. recerve any

9 disks featuring over 600 of our best programs tor oniy 65c each

'rx a package prce of $389 Certrfed Postage plus trancing pad!

'Sand one-time membership fee of 115. (no fee

charged to institutions) for 1000 + program

catalog and gain access to a library of over 10,000

programs at a special 15% discount

(Foreign memberships S28. U.S.J

For Order* Only Call nowTOLL FREE: 1-800-327-8664Florida: 1-305-887-8665Or Write:Appleware, Inc.6400 Hayes StreetHollywood, Fla. 33024Program Disks compatible with Appta II.

Franklin Ace and It

npatitBM G

Circle 38 on inquiry card.

Circle 16.1 on inquiry card.

Circle 24 on inquiry card.

PROGRAMMING IIM 'C?

At last, a BTREE LIBRARY ready to use!We have already done the work of developing a

'GENERIC1 BTREE LIBRARY

Just set our defines in your main andlink with our "BTREE.LIB."

Our BTREE library makes no assumptions

about your DBM application:

You control your data files and use our BTREE

functions to maintain your keys.You control the length of your keys.You control the values of your keys.You control the size/speed trade-offs.You can have multiple keys per BTREE.You can have multiple BTREE data bases.

This is quality software you can use forserious DBM software development.

Documentation and BTREE LIBRARY: S99.00

[Ca. residents add 6.5% sales tax]

Dealer Inquiries Invited.

INTEGRATED COMPUTER SOLUTIONS

175 Bernal Rd.. Suite 240San Jose. Ca. 95119[408) 629-8675

DISK DRIVES

(For PC, Mod I, III & IV)

Qume142A $209

Teac FD55B $179

Tandon TM100-2 $209

Tandon TM101-4 $295

CDC 9409 $219

Case and PS $ 45

PC EXPANSIONS

Maynard Disk Controller $162

Sandstar Series Scan

Internal 10MB HDsystams WS4 $959

WS1 S990

Quadboard (64 K) $269

Quadcolor I $199

ASTSixpackPlus (64K) $269

MegaPlus (64K| $269

I/O Plus $114

2nd SP, PP or Game $ 35

HERCULES graphics board $349

HAYES Modems: 300 $209

Smartmodem 1200 $489

Smartmodem 1200B $435

Setol9 chips (64K) $ 55

VLM Computer Electronics

10 Park Place • Morrislown. NJ 07960(201)267-3268 Visa, MC. Check or COD

Scotch Diskettes

Rely on Scotch* diskettes to keep your valu-able data sate. Dependable Scotch diskettesare tested and guaranteed error-free. The lowabrasivity saves your read/write heads.They're compatible with most diskette drives.

(800)235-4137

Dealer inquiriesinvited

Circle 159 on inquiry card.

Circle 243 on inquiry card.

IBM PC Systems

The Expert says yoi; need 256K RAM. And the price is low.#1 System: 2-360K Drives, 256K RAM, Graphics Video

Card $2165

#2 System: 2-360K Drives, 256K RAM, Monochrome VideoCard, Printer Port $2825

IBM PC-XT Systems

#1 System: Standard unit - List $4395 $3875

#2 System: 256K, Graphics Video $4075

#3 System: 256K, Monochrome Video $4210

SEC

\w

Tnva pc

Tava PC Systems

All TAVA's include serial ports, 1 parallel port, 2 dsddthinline drives, a video interface (either graphics ormonochrome), 256K RAM, and a 12" monochrome CRT.Free Softwabe: Word processor, Data base, Spelling, Elec-tronic Mail

Tava #1: Graphics Video $1795

Tava #2: Monochrome Video $1845

Tava PC-XT #1: 10 MByte Hard, Graphics Video ... $2795Tava PC-XT #2: 10 MByte Hard, Monochrome Video $2845

@SAIMYO

SANYO 550-2

-$ 987SANYO 555-2

-$1325

SANYO MBC550 Systems

NOW WITH FACTORY INSTALLED DOUBLE SlDED DkiVE and DOS

2.1.

MBC550-2 w/3 softwares $ 985

MBC555-2 w/6 softwares $1315

Recommended Options:

128K Extra RAM (256K Total) $ 100

Serial Port $ 80

Amber CRT $ 140

Color RGB CRT-TAXAN #415 $ 495

Modem Software $ 65

Modems

Hayes Smahtmodem 300 $ 215

Hayes Smartmodem 1200 $ 479

Hayes 1200-b "IBM Internal" $ 395

Hayes 1200-b with Software $ 445

Hayes Micromodem II-e $ 295

Novation Access 1-2-3 $ 445

Rixon PC212a "IBM Internal" $ 395

Softwabe-PC

Microsoft WORD with Mouse $ 295

FRAMEWORK $ 485

Lotus Symphony $ 485

R:Base 4000 $ 305

Lotus 1-2-3 $ 325

IUS Accounting Software $ 425

MJA Accounting Software $ 395

Multimate $325

NEC Advanced Personal Complteb - The APC

Standard Hardware Package includes:

• 8086 16bit CPU

• 640 x 475 plxel CRT

• Great keyboard

• 128K RAM, expandable to 512K

• 8" floppies with 1 Mbyte each

• 48 definable function keys

Standabd Software Package includes

• MS-DOS 2.0

• dBaseII

• WordStar 3.3

• multiplan

NEC APC-1 DRa-E, Green #H01 $2095

NEC APC- 2 Drive, Green #H02 $2550

NEC APC- 2 Drive, Color #H03 $3150

NEC APC-1 Drive, Color #H04 $2575

NEC 10MByte Winchester #H26 $2175

NECAPC-m

NEC Advanced Personal Computer-III

NEC LEADS THE MARKET WITH UNIX, SPEED, SUPERIOR VIDEO QUAL-r

ITY, AND EXCELLENT DESIGN.

All PRICES , MINIMUM 28% DISCOUNT

"Most Of Our BusinessIs By Referral FromSatisfied Customers.

Find Out Why."

ADD 4* FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS. ADD 2% FOR VISA/MASTER-CARD. 20% PREPAID DEPOSIT REQUIRED ON COD ORDERS.CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS ADD SALES TAX. PRICES MAY CHANGE -CALLTO VERIFY PRICES AND DELIVERY

EXPERT Computers

21804 Roscoe Blvd., Suite 18Canoga Park, CA 91304

(818) 344-6063(800)528-9537

Letter Quality Printers

C. ITOH/TEC: These daisywheel printers use Diablo wheels,

INK CARTRIDGES, AND SOFTWARE CODES.

F-10-18 18CPS $ 495

F-10-40 40CPS $ 950

F-10-55 55CPS $1275

Abati LQ-20P 20cps, 132 column $ 395

Dynax-Brother HR-15 $ 410

HR-15 Tractor $ 105

HR-15 Cm Sheet Feeder $ 185

Dynax-Brother HR-25 $ 675

HR-25 Tractor $ 120

HR-25 Cut Sheet Feeder $ 210

Brother HR-35 $ 895

JUKI 6100 20CPS $ 455

NEC Spinwriters #2050 $ 965

NEC #3550 $1685

NEC #7730 $1845

Silver-Reed Exp500p $475

Silver-Reed Exp550p aka Sanyo PR5500 $555

Dot Matrix Pbinters

BMC CP-80 w/Carbon Ink $ 265

C Itoh/TEC 180cps $ 495

I80cps-Wide $ 695

180cps-Color $ 575

180cps-Color-Wide $ 795

Epson FX-80 $ 445

Epson FX-100 $ 730

Gemini 10-X $ 269

Gemini 15-X $ 415

Mannesmann-Tally MT160L '.. $ 595

MT180L $ 795

Okidata 92-for IBM $ 435

Okidata 93 $ 685

Prowkiter 120cps, std $ 345

Prowritek 2 120cps, wide $575

akcta

Sakata Monitobs

SC-100 Color Composite 13" $275

SC-200 Color RGB for IBM 13" $460

SC-300 Color RGB for IBM 13" $695

SC-1000 Green 12" $125

SC-1000 Amber 12" $135

NEC PC8201 Lap Computer $575

comPAa

Compaq 2 Drive, 256K $2365

Microsoft "WORD" w/Mouse $295

Qibik

PC212AS PC Internal Modem $ 295

212E External Modem $ 310

SB200 200 Watt Standby Power $ 345

XT300 300 Watt Standby Power $ 455

FF5150 Improved Keyboard $ 165

Tseng Laboratories Ultra-Pak

132 x 44 column video interface with graphics for theIBM Monochrome CRT. Includes parallel port, serial port,clock. Optional floppy disk controller or 64K-384K RAMPack. Now with "C" option for Compatible computers.

Ultra-PAK List $680... $495

Disk-PAK List $220... $185

Ram-PAK (64K expandable to 384K).... List $245. .. $205

Profit SystemsMultigraph (80 x 40 Video w/Graphics &

Printer Port $465

MultiGraph Option Board (132 columns,

16 colors) $185

Multi-User Subsystem: For 4 users, hardware &

software $650

Circle 124 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 455

APPLE COMPATIBLE

Prices for dealers in quantities of 25 or more.End Users Inquiries welcomed.

Disk Drive $135.00 ea.

Controller Card $35.00 ea.

Computer Case $55.00 ea.

Keyboard $70.00 ea.

(Numeric and Function Keys)Switching Power Supply . .$45.00 ea.Joystick (Heavy Duty). . . $15.00 ea.Slim Fan $25.00 ea.

ELECTRADE CO. (408) 946-2541

780 Trimble Rd. Suite 605San lose, CA 95131

SAVE MORE

THAN EVER ON

• / 3M Scotch<S DISKETTES

LIFETIME WARRANTY!

$169;:f:$223

I Qty 20 <745>— mm* Qty 20

5VSSQD—96TPI(746)5 "4 DSQD—96TPI(747)8 SSSD(740)8 SSDD(741)8 DSDD (743)

$2.60 ea$3.25 ea$2.05 ea$2.50 ea$3 10 ea

Shipping: %W DISKETTES—Add $3 00 per 100 O' tractionthereof 8" DISKETTES—Add $4 00 per 100 or fractionthereof OTHER ITEMS Shipping charges as shown inaddition to diskette shipping charges Payment: VISA orMasterCard COD orders only add $3 00 T«ie«: Mimascustomers, please add 8%

Hours: 9 AM-5 PM Central TimeFor fast service call

Nationwide: 1-800-621-6827

In Illinois: 312-944-2788

DISK WORLD!

Suite 4806 * 30 East Huron Street • Chicago Illinois 606n

Authorized DistributorInformation Processing Products

PRINTER CABLES$30.00

SHIPPING INCLUDED

INTERFACE CABLES

Parallel PrinterInterface Cable

INTERFACE CABLES

RS232 SerialInterface Cable

Apple

Centronics

Columbia

Epson

Eagle

IBM PC

Kaypro

NECWANGZenith

TELEVIDEO

DB 25

Male/Female

Cable Lengthup to 10 feet

SPECIAL PRICING AVAILABLE TO DEALERSCUSTOM CABLES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

=n FABRICATION

'c CONCEPTS,-III INC.

8230 Miralani Drive • San Diego. CA 92126(619) 271-4522

Circle 121 on inquiry card.

Circle 107 on inquiry card.

Circle 128 on inquiry card.

bryte

for the rURIH micro-Intel 8031 controllerFEATURES

—FORTH-79 Standard Sub-Set—Access to 8031 features—Supports FORTH and machine

code interrupt handlers—System timekeeping maintainstime and date with leapyear correction—Supports ROM-based self-starting applications

COST

130 page manual —$ 30.00

8K EPROM with manual—$100.00

Postage paid in North America.Inquire for license or quantity pricing.

Bryte Computers, Inc.

P.O. Box 46, Augusta, ME 04330(207) 547-3218

AFFORDABLE M-68000COMPUTER SYSTEM

Sr a

M68KCPU 6-10 MHz CPU, 20K stalk RAM, 16KEPROM. on board monitor, two R8-232

serial ports. 16-bit parallel port. 5 timer'-counters expansion bus.

Bare board 9 99.95

Complete Kit 8595.00

MD512K 128-512K static RAM, floppy disk controller

& hard disk interface Bare board S 99.95

Complete Kit (128K) 9725.00

M68KE Enclosure with power supply, fan, filter. 4 slot

card cage

S249.00

M68KASM M68000 Macro Cross Assembler for CP/M80,IBM PC. TRS-80 and Apple II computers

9199.00

CIPS shipping & handling 9 4.00

COD orders add 9 3.00

Foreign orders add 920.00

California residents add 6.5% tax

EMS «?"r«X*i««r (714)553-0133

Sytenu

P.O. Box 16115 • Irvine. CA 927 13

TOP QUALITY

APPLE COMPATIBLE

PERIPHERALS

THOROUGHLY TESTED AND WARRANTED FOR 120 DAVS

Cooling Fan

$22

Z-80 Card

$33

16K Ram

$28

80 Column Card

$55

Eprom Writer

$42

RS 232 Card

$36

Parallel

Switching

Printer Card

$35

Power Supply

$46

Keyboard

$55

Computer Case

$45

PACE AP-50 Disk Drive

(Shugart SA 390 Mehanism)

$140

THE ABOVE PRICES ARE FOR DEALERS.

QUANTITV 25+, COO. FOB NAPERVIUE. II 605S0END OSER INQUIRIES ALSO WELCOME

prce svsTEms, inc.

24 W 500 MAPLE AVE., NAPERVILLE. IL 60540(312) 355-9722

Circle 42 on inquiry card.

Circle 119 on inquiry card.

Circle 242 on inquiry card.

FLEXIBLE DISCS

WE WILL NOT BE UNDER-SOLD!! Call Free (800)235-4137

for prices and information. Dealerinquiries invited and C.O.D'saccepted.

PACIFICEXCHANGES

100 Foothill Blvd.San Luis Obispo. CA93401. InCal. call(800)592-5935 or(805)543-1037

5i/4" DISK DRIVES

TANDON: TM 100-2

Double Sided. 40 TRK/Side

TANDON: TM 100-1

Single Sided. 40 TRK

CDC: 9409

Double Sided. 40 TRK/Side

• 120 Day Warranty

• Free Shipping

• No Charge For Credit Cards

• Order Toll Free

1-800-531-5475 (Outside Of Texas)(512) 250-1489 (In Texas)

Texas Residents Add 5% Sales Tax.

jCompuPdcl

13010 Research Blvd., Suite 101Austin, Texas 78750

RS232C IBM PC CompatiblePaper Tape Transmitter/Model 612

Stops rnd starts on character at all speedsuses manual control or X-on. X-off 90-260volt, 50-60 Hz power. 50-9600 baud, up to 150char/sec synchronous or asynchronousgated internal or external clock, RS 232C.current loop or parallel output, reads 5-8 leveltape, 7-11 frames per character, even or oddparity. Desk top or rack mount.Addmaster Corporation, 415 Junipero SerraDrive, San Gabriel, CA 91776, (213) 285-1121Telex 674770 Addmaster SGAB

Circle 243 on inquiry card.

Circle 60 on inquiry card.

Circle 11 on inquiry card.

E£HgZ3jgpEl

LINE-POWEREDAUTO-ANSWERDIRECT-CONNECTMODEM $89.95

300 Baud, full duplex, analog loopbackfor self test, carrier detect, receive data,and transmit data. LED indicatorsList Price $129.95 $89.95

SMARTMODEMHayes

Sophisticated direct-connect auto-answer/autodial modem, touch tone or pulse dialing.RS232C interface programmable

Smartmodem 1200 $699 $475.00

1200B for IBM PC $599 $399.95

Smartmodem 300 $289 $199.00

Hayes Cronograph $249 $199.95

Micromodem 100 $399 $299.95

Micromodem lie $299 $239.95

PLEASE Software $395 $299.95

Smartcom II $149 $99.95

J-CAT MODEM

OR YOUR

MONEY BACK!

S^"

Novation J-Cat

ULTRA-VIOLETEPROM ERASERS

Inexpensive erasers for industry or home

Spectronics w/o timerSpectronics with timerLogical Devices

- $99 $69.95$139 $94.95

- $89 $49.95

ISOBAR

The ISOBAR looks like a standard mufti outletpower strip but contains surge suppressioncircuitry and built-in noise filters, plus 15ampcircuit breaker

4 receptacle8 receptacle

$S9$99

$59.95$69.95

Complete Computer $400.00!

THE

LITTLE BOARDwith FREE!CP/M 2.2

Minature single board CP/M computerdesignedto mount directly on top of a 5'/4" floppy diskdrive (7.75" x 5.75"). ContainsZ 80A CPU, 64KRAM, Boot Eprom, terminal port, modem port,parallel printer port, floppy disk controller, andCP/M 2.2 included FREE!

Little Board with CP/M $400 $348.95

Support package $50 $48.95

Serial Cable $13 $11.95

Diskless Monitor Eprom $30 $24.55

SAVE $500. " Wltfl

mh F»<* soFTWAl p9Soo

WARE & MODEM

BUILT-IN

SPEECH

SYNTHESIZER

1/5 the size of ordinary modems, Bell 103,manual or, auto-answer. Automatic answer/originate, direct connect, built-in self-test, twoLEDs and audio beeps provide statusinformation

testerfiesta?

^v^oBcAS,c

Loca/seri,?han9eservice te!rr] '*

$149 $114.95

ffife0^;,^^ h,res no

two serial? rarn™ab/e h?n*th separate „ dlsk drive*

f'Sa'es^ec((0Fcr

— LU """■■■■ || .

APPLE ACCESSORIESON SALE!

$299 $179.95$249 $184.95$100 $59.95

Full Height Disk DriveHalf-Height Disk Drive

tllar

nau-neigni uisk unvi

Controller

8 inch 2 Meg. system

CP/M 3.0 Card

Z-Card with CP/M

16K RAM Card

Best 80 Column Card .Printer card & cableFan w/surge protectKoala Pad

Grappler Plus

Buffered Grappler/16K .Buffered Grappler/ 64K

— $100 $59.95$2495 $1395.00$399 $249.95$769 $139.95. $99 $39.95$219 $139.95$109 $49.95«flO $59.95$89.95$119.95$175.95$239.95

- $99-$125

$175. $245

$345

^U „ Radio Shack ana n-Better than Bad

KEG !>£JBftfffB *

feOAft COW*- d.f 1

240*64UCO^.f ,^06,^

i ^notion ^s?096K.s«"^?nclUde«>

-820-1A - .N

SUPER DISKETTESPECIAL!

We bought out a major manufacturer'soverstock and we are passing the savingson to you! Single-sided, double-densitypackage of ten with FREE! plastic caseBox of 10 w/FREE! case $34 $18.95

Computer Products^

Continental U.S.800/421-5500

Inside California800/262-1710

Los Angeles Area213/973-7707

Circle 166 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 457

QUICK SERVICE, FRIENDLY SUPPORT, AND

SATISFACTION GUARANTEEDOR YOUR MONEY RACK!

AND WE'VE GOT A TRACK RECORD WE'RE PROUD OF TO BACK IT UP—EIGHT YEARS OF SERVICE TO THOUSANDS OF SATISFIED CUSTOMERS!

10 MEGABYTEHARD DISKFOR IBM PC

Plug-n-Run, ready to go • complete withcontroller card, data cable, and mountinghardware • totally PC/XT compatible •faster than XT • handles 4 different operatingsystems • streamer tape back-up available

10 mbyte internal .10 mbyte external15 mbyte internal15 mbyte external26 mbyte internal26 mbyte external

$1795$2095$1995$2295$2495$2795

Your Price$995.00$1195.00$1395.00$1595.00$1995.00$2249.00

Tape Back-up option CALL FOR BEST PRICE

HI-RES MONITORS

AMDEK 300G

AMDEK 310A

AMDEK 300A

AMDEK COLOR I .AMDEK COLOR II -AMDEK COLOR IV

PGS MAX-12

PGS HX-12

PGS SR-12

QUADCHROME

COMREX CR6800

List

$179

$230$199$379$559$995$269$699$799$795$649

Your Price

$119.95$169.95$149.95$259.95$419.95$499.95$199.95$469.95$649.95$499.95$499.95

KEYTRONICSKEYBOARDS

KEYTRONICS KEYBOARD

$209 $149.95

HIGH SPEED 8087 APU

List Price $295

SALE PRICE $199.95

STB BOARDSFOR IBM PC

RIO PLUS 64K _RIO PLUS 128KRIO PLUS 256K ._RIO PLUS 384K _.SUPER RIO 64KSUPER RIO 128KSUPER RIO 256K

List

$395

$495$595$795$419$519$619

Your Price

$329.95$349.95S44Q.95$549.95$329.95$379.95$479.95

SOFTWAREFOR IBM PC

List

MICROSOFT WORD

$395

FRAMEWORK

$695

rlRASF II

$700

n-HASF III

$695

RrRASF 4000

$495

SMART KFY

.. $89

MOVF-IT

$125

MUITIPI AN

$250

ACCOUNTING PARTNER _

_ $395

CROSSTAI K

$195

PROKFY

$75

MIIITIMATF

$495

SIIPFRCAIC III

$395

TRANSFND PC

$189

Your Price

$249.95

$439.95

$429.95

$449.95

$319.95

$69.95

$89.95

$169.95

$249.95

$129.95

$54.95

$299.95

$249.95

$139.95

MICROSOFTFOR IBM PC

MOUSE w/WORD

MOUSE

SYSTEM CARD 64K .SYSTEM CARD 256K

List

$495$199$395$625

Your Price

$339.95$129.95$279.95$429.95

320K DISK DRIVES

DOUBLE-SIDED, DOUBLE-DENSITYFOR IBM PC

CHOICE OF

$-f QQ95 Tandon

ShugartLOCAL AREANETWORKS For IBM PC

QUADNET II

QUADNET VI

QUADNET IV

AST-PCnet II

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

_ $995 $879.95

$7995 $1689.95

$2295 $1989.95

_ $495 $399.95

_ $595 $499.95

DISKETTES For IBM PC

High quality double-sided, double-densitydiskettes, certified to be absolutely error free.Box of ten, warranteed for one yearBox of 10 w/FREE plastic case $39 $19.95

PLACE ORDERS TOLL FREE

Continental USA(800)421-5500

Inside California(800)262-1710

AST FOR IBM PC

SIX PAK PLUS 64K _SIX PAK PLUS 256KSIX PAK PLUS 384K

MEGA PLUS64KMEGA PLUS 256KMEGA PLUS 512K

I/O PLUS

MP64K _MP 128K .MP 192K .MP 256K

List Your Price

_ $395 $269.95

. $695 $489.95

_ $945 $569.95

. $395 $269.95

_ $665 $429.95

$7095 $799.95

. $765 $119.95

_ $295 $199.95

. $395 $249.95

. $495 $299.95

. $595 $349.95

IBM VIDEO BOARDS

HERCULES COLOR

HERCULES GRAPHIC

PLANTRONICS COLORt

QUADCOLORI

QUADCOLOR II

AMDEK MAI

AST MONOGRAPH

$245$499$549$295$275$649$595

$198.95$339.95$379.95$209.95$209.95$349.95$449.95

64K RAM UPGRADEFOR IBM PC

High speed RAM upgrade kit with FREE! parity(error detection) and one year warranty

List Your Price

64K KIT For IBM PC128K KIT For IBM PC192K KIT For IBM PC256K KIT For IBM PC384K KIT For IBM PC

_ $90 $44.95

_ $780 $88.95

$270 $133.95

$360 $178.95

$540 $268.95

QUADRAMFOR IBM PC

QUADBOARD No RAM

QUADBOARD 64K

QUADBOARD 128K

QUADBOARD 256K

QUADBOARD 384K

QUADLINK

QUAD 512 PLUS64KQUAD 512 PLUS 256KQUAD 512 PLUS 512K

QUAD COLOR I

QUAD COLOR II

AST MONOGRAPH+ _QUAD VIEW

$295$395$495$595$795$680$325$550$895$295$275$595$345

$234.95$275.95$339.95$399.95$595.95$449.95$239.95$389.95$549.95$209.95$199.95$449.95$259.95

Los Angeles Area(213)973-7707

We accept cash, checks, credit cards, or purchase orders from qualified firms and institutions.Minimum prepaid order $15.00 California residents add 6y2°/o tax. Export customers outside the US or Canada pleaseadd 10% to all prices. Prices and availibility subject to change without notice. Shipping and handling chargesvia UPS Ground 50<t/lb, UPS Air $1 00/lb. minimum charge $3.00 Prices quoted are for pre-paid orders only

458 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 167 on inquiry card.

SUPER PRICES ON PRINTERS!

NEW! EPSON

LQ-1500

200 CPS &LETTER QUALITY!

24 pin head, 200 CPS draft mode, 67 CPSletter quality mode

LQ-1500 SAVE $200.00

TRACTOR $89 $54.95

SHEET FEEDER

$499 $439.95

00

SAVE $200

EPSON

CALL US FOROUR BEST PRICE!

EPSON RX-80 100 CPS w/tractor, graphics

CALL FOR OUR BEST PRICE

EPSON RX-80FT 100 CPS w/FREE! graphics

Friction & tractor feed SAVE $150.00

EPSON MX-80FT 80 CPS w/FREE graphics

Friction & tractor feed SAVE $150.00

EPSON FX-80 160 CPS w/FREE graphics

Friction & tractor feed SAVE $50.00

EPSON FX-100 160 CPS 15" platten

Friction & tractor feed SAVE $150.00

OKIDATA

PRICES SLASHED!!!

FREE! Plug-n-play option with purchaseof 92, 93, or 84

160 CPS, Correspondence Quality

OKI 92 Parallel _ _ $599 $419.95

OKI 93 Parallel $995 $649.95

2K Serial Board $720 $99.95

IBM PC ROMS For 92 $59 $49.95

IBM PC ROMS For 93 $59 $59.95

Extra 82/92 83/93 Ribbons (2) $19 $9.95

82/92 Tractor $89 $54.95

120 CPS & 200 CPS OKIDATAS

OKI 82 720 CPS

OKI 83 120 CPS

OKI 84 Parallel 200 CPSOKI 84 Serial 200 CPS _2K Serial Board

IBM PC ROMS For 82/83IBM PC ROMS For 84 _

. $499

~ $775

$1395

$1495

- $150

$49

$99

$329.95$569.95$899.95$999.95$119.95$39.95$89.95

350 CPS, Near Letter Quality,High-Resolution Graphics

OKI 2350 Parallel $2695 $1899.95

OKI 2350 Serial $2775 $1999.95

A-B PRINTER SWITCH

Allows your computer to run either of twoprinters. Standard parallel switch box

Printer Switch $149 $99.95

Extra Cable $40 $29.95

OPEN SATURDAYS

10:OOam—4:00pm PST

PLACE ORDERSTOLL FREE!

NEW! 80 CPS DIABLO

DAISYWHEEL

PRINTER!

80 CPS, serial and parallel interfaces,extended character set, fully IBMcompatible, built-in buffer, computerizedfront panel

FREE AUTOMATICDUAL BIN SHEET FEEDER!

DIABLO 80 CPS $3495 $2995.00

CABLE Specify $70 $59.95

LETTER QUALITYPRINTERS ON SALE!

Diablo 630 40 CPS

Tractor For 630

Starwriter F-10 40 CPSStarwriter F-10 55 CPSTractor For F-10

Comrex CR-II 5K parallelComrex CR-II 5K serial _

Tractor For CR-II

Keyboard For CR-II

Sheet Feeder For CR-II

Silver Reed 500 14 CPS _

Tractor For 500

Silver Reed 550 18 CPS _

Tractor For 500

Silver Reed 770

Tractor For 770

Juki 6100 78 CPS

Tractor For 6100

NEC 3550 33 CPS

Tractor For 3550

List

$2340- $250. $7895

$1995_ $250_ $599_ $644_ $720_ $799_ $259_ $599_ $749_ $699_ $759

$7295_ $759_ $599_ $749

$2250. $265

Your Price

$1699.95$219.95$999.95

$1299.95$219.95$489.95$589.95$99.95$179.95$199.95$499.95$124.95$599.95$129.95$999.95$139.95$499.95$124.95

$1699.95$229.95

TOSHIBA P1351HIGH SPEED &LETTER QUALITY!

High quality 24 pin head, 192 CPS draft mode,96 CPS letter quality

P1351 $7895 $1449.95

TRACTOR $795 $174.95

SHEET FEEDER $7095 $899.95

PRINTERACCESSORIES

IBM PC STYLE CABLE

$54

STANDARD PARALLEL CABLE $40

APPLE CARD & CABLE $109

TRS-80 MDL-3 CABLE $709

COLUMBIA MPC CABLE $50

RS-232 SERIAL CABLE $30

PRINTER STANDS AS LOW AS $19.95

RIBBONS AS LOW AS $4.99

$28.95$28.95$49.95$49.95$39.95$24.95

SPECIAL SALE PRICE!

EPSON MX-IOOFTFREE Graftrax-Plus

With FREEI GRAFTRAX-PLUS

100 CPS, friction and tractor feed, 15 inch

platten, one year warranty

List Price $749,00 _

SALE PRICED AT

$489

95

MICROFAZER BUFFERSQuadram

Expandable to 64K (parallel model expands to512K)

Parallel in/Parallel out

8K

32K

128K

Serial in/Parallel out

8K

32K

Parallel in/Serial out

8K

32K

Serial in/Serial out

8K

32K

List Your Price

$769 $139.95

$225 $164.95

$445 $269.95

$799 $169.95

$260 $199.95

$799 $169.95

$260 $199.95

$799 $169.95

$260 $199.95

MICROBUFFERPractical Peripherals

Stand-alone Microbutfers

Parallel, 32K

Parallel, 64K

Serial, 32K

Serial, 64K

64K add-on board

Microbutfers for Apple II

Parallel, 16K

Parallel, 32K

Serial, 16K

Serial, 32K

List Your Price

$299 $229.95

$349 $269.95

$299 $229.95

$349 $269.95

$7 79 $149.00

$259 $189.95

$299 $229.95

$259 $189.95

$299 $229.95

Microbutfers for Epson Printers

Parallel, 16K _ $759 $129.95

Serial, 8K $759 $129.95

LOWEST PRICES!STAR MICRONICS

GEMINI 10X $269.95

Call For Prices on Gemini 15X, Delta 10 & 15,Radix 10 & 15, Power Type LQ

Computer Products

4901 West Rosecrans Ave. Hawthorne, California 90250

Circle 167 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 -BYTE 459

The SourceFor All IBM Compatible Products

• 64K of Memory* 9- 4164• 1,000 pes

1 set for

2 sets for

$47$90

IBM PC

* 256K Disk Controller

• 1 - 360K Disk Drive

• Keyboard

List $1995 $ I095

IBM PC XT

• 256K, 10 Meg Hard Disk• 1 - 320K Drive* Keyboard

List $4395

$3795

TEACDISK DRIVE

• FD55B• Slimline, 360K

List $299

$155

MULTI-DISPLAYCARD

• Monochrome or Color

Composite or RGB Video

• Light Pen & RF Mod Ports

* Parallel Printer Port

• 640 x 200

List $459

$299

PC PEACOCK

COLORl BOARD

EPSONPRINTER

• IBM Color Card Compatible

• With Parallel Centronics

Printer Port

• FX80

• 160cps

• With Near Letter Quality

Printing

List $399

$219

List $599

$439

OKIDATAPRINTER

• ML93A

• 160 cps

• 15" Wide Carriage

List $995

$639

SANYOCOMPUTER

• MBC555-2• 2 - 360K Disk Drives• Bundled Software

List $1595

$1275

LOTUS

PIPELINE

COLOR

CARD

• Lotus 123

• PC Spread Sheet

List $495 $309

* Symphony

* Same as IBM• Color Composite Video

List $695

$529

List $249

$189

The Source!

ANCHORMODEM

* Mark XII

• 1200 Baud

• Hayes Compatible

List $399

$239

• We Accept MC, Visa, WireTransfers, Certified Checks

• CODs Avialible

• All Prices Reflect a PrepaidDiscount

• Shipping Minimum 4.50

• Purchase Orders Accepted

• This Ad Supersedes all Others

Prices Subject to Change

The Source!

VISA

CALL TOLL-FREE (800) 841-0905For Lowest Prices & Fast Delivei

■■■■■■■

W^ 1 ' :.=

■■■■■■I

IBM & COMPATIBLE

PRINTERS

INTERFACE CARDS FOR

COMPUTERS

OKIDATA

IBM AND COMPATIBLES

IBM

ML92A(160cps)

.$ 405

AST RESEARCH

PCW/64K, 1 Drive

PC w/64K, 2 Drives

. .$1567.. 1743

ML93A(160cps)

92 & 93 Plus & Play

. 63749

SixPac + 64K Par. & Ser. Software . $ 259Mega + 64K exp. to 512K Ser. Port 259

PC XT, 256K10MegDisk

.. 3795

STAR MICRONICS

MesaPack 256K option for Mega.

. 269

COMPAQ

Gemini 10X, 120 cps

$ 249

l/o + Ser. & Optional Par. Game .

149

Compaq 128K, 1 Drive

..$1950

Gemini 15X, 120cps, 15" car. ..

. 389

Additional Ports

49

Compaq, 256K, 2 Drive

.. 2295

JUKI

6100,18cpsltr. qual

Tractor Feed

QUADRAM

COLUMBIA

1600-1,2-Drives(360K)

..$2495

$ 439129

Color I

Color II

.$ 209. 229

1600-4,12MB Hard Disk

.. 3875

Quadlink. . .

449

MPC-XP Portable

.. 2395

EPSON

64K

279

SANYO

RX80

$ 269

Quad Board II

. 269

MBC 550,1-Drive, software ....

..$ 699

RX80FT

. 309

HERCULES

MBC 555,2-Dri ves, 160K ea

.. 1035

RX80

439

Color Graphics Card

.$ 329

MBC 550-1,1-Drive, 320K

. . 979

FX100

. 659

PLANTRONICS

MBC 555-2,2-Dri ves, 320Kea. ..

. . 1275

Color +

$ 379

Optional Serial Port

89

Optional Drive w/Software . . .

199

IBM

Dos 2.1

Monochrome Monitor or Adapto

TAVA

MONITORS

. $ 57229

2-Drives, 128K, 2 Ser. 1 Par. Port, ColorGraphics Card & Hi-Res. Green

AMDEK

FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS

Monitor

.$1789

300G, 12" Green

.$ 129

Maynard

$ 169

300A, 12" Amber

139

Maynard w/Ser. Port

229

310A, 12" Amber Monochrome .

165

Maynard w/Par. Port

229

Color I + Color Composite

. 299

Sigma Controller

159

MODEMS

Color II + RGBw/Cable

409

DUST COVER

Covers Monitor, Mainframe &

HAYES MICRO INC.

Smart Modem 300

Smart Modem 1200. .

.$ 205489

PRINCETON GRAPHICS

PGSHX12 $ 469

Keyboard

MORE ACCESSORIES

$ 19

1200BforPC .

399

PGSMAX12

189

Koala Graphics Tablet. . . .

$ 85

PGSSR12

640

8087 Co-Processor

179

ANCHOR

Kraft Joystick

39

Mark VII300 Baud

$ 89

Par. Printer Cable

29

Mark XI11200 Baud

239

PROMETHEUS

IBM COMPATIBLE

USI

Paradise ... .

$ 299

ProCom 1200

.$ 349

DISK DRIVES

PC

RIXON

TANDON

TM-55-2,1/2 Height (360K)

Color Card

$ 189

PC212A, 1200 Baud Stand Alone.

.$ 399

$ 195

U.S. ROBTICS

TM-100-2(360K)

$ 179

Password, 1200 Baud

$ 319

TEAC

FD55B, Vi Heisht(360K)

$ 155

DISKETTES

^^m m ^^.

PIPELINE

Dbl./Dbl. Reinforced Hub 1 year

warranty $ 18

Flip File Holds 70(smk. plexiglass). 16

MATSUSHITA

Same as Panasonic, Vb Ht. 360K ... $ 145

9409, (360K)

The Source!

ORDER DESK:

(213)970-0177

(800)841-0905

(OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA)

MAILORDER: Circle 249 on inquiry card.

1142 Manhattan Avenue, CP21 CUSTOMER SERVICE:Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 (213) 970-0177

Mon.-Fri. 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

74LS00

COMPUTER

PRODUCTS.

Inc.

ORDER TOLL FREE

(800)538-8800

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS)

(800)848-8008

7VM[ MasterCard!

j STATIC RAMS

1 2101

256 < 4 |450n|

1.90 1

1 5101

256 x 4 (450iu| lemtil

3.90 ■

1 2102-1

1024 I 1 [450ns)

.88 |

1 21021-4

1024 x 1 |460w)(LP)

98 I

1 2102L-2

1024 i 1 |250n||LP)

1.45 ■

1 2111

256 I 4 1450m)

2.45 I

1 2112

256 I 4 (450m)

2.95 ■

1 2114

1024 I 4 (450ml

.99 1

1 2114-25

1024 I 4 (250.1)

1.10 1

1 2114L-4

1024 i 4 |450m) (LP)

1.20 I

1 21141-3

1024i4|300hI(LP|

1.30 1

1 Z1141-2

1024 I 4 (200m) (LP)

1.40 1

1 2125

1024 > 1

2.49 I

1 2147

4096 i 1 |55u|

4.90 I

1 TMS4044-4

4096 l 1 1450m)

3.45

1 TMS4044-3

4096 x 1 |300m|

3.95

1 TMS4044-2

4096 I 1 |200n|

4.45

1 MK4I1B

1024 x 8 (250ml

9.90

1 TMM2016-200

204B < B (200ml

4.10

1 TMM2D16-150

2048 l B (150m)

4.90

1 TMM2016-100

2048 I 8 (100ml

6.10

1 HM6116-4

2048 i 8 (200m) (ami

4.70

1 HM6I16-3

2048x8 |l 50m) law)

4.90

1 HM6I16-2

2048x8 |120m)|ciMt)

8.90

1 HM6IIBLP-4

2048 i 8 (200m) |mm|

5.90

1 HM6I1BLP-3

2048x8 |150H)|CMt)|LP|

6.90

1 HM6II6LP-2

2048x8|l20n|(ciMt||lP)

9.95

1 Z-613Z

4096 I 8 |300m| (QiUII

33.95

1 HM6264P-15

8192 l 8 (150m| [email

38.95

1 HM6204LP-15

8192 x8 |l50ul|cmu|

48.95

1 LP = Urn Plwir QiW = Qalll-SM

] DYNAMIC RAMS

1 TMS4027

4096 > 1 |250n)

1.05

1 UP0411

4098 i 1 (300ml

2.95

1 MM5ZB0

4096 x 1 1300m)

2.95

1 MK4I0B

8112 x 1 (200m)

1.90

1 MM52BB

8192 I 1 |260n)

1.80

1 4116-200

10384 x 1 1200m)

.70

1 4116-150

16384 11 (150m)

1.20

1 2118

16384 I 1 (150»i) |5i)

4.00

1 4164-250

65536 11 [250m|

4.45

1 4164-200

65530 11 (200n| |5i|

5.45

1 4164-150

05530x1 [150«|(5»|

6.45

1 II ■ Stalk 5 nit Sup^y

EPROMS

1 1702

256 I 8 lilt)

4.46

1 2708

1024 I B (450m)

2.40

1 275S

1024 I B (450m)

2.40

1 275B

1024 « 8 (450ml [5.1

5.00

1 2710

2048 I 8 |450n) (5.1

2.95

I 2710-1

2048 x 8 1350m) (5.1

5.90

■ TMS2510

2048 X 8 |450«l| [5.1

5.45

1 TM32710

2048 I 8 |450m)

7.90

■ TM82532

409B x 8 |450n) (5.1

5.90

1 2732

4096 i 8 |450m) (5.)

4.45

1 2732-250

4096 I B |250m) (Sl|

8.45

1 2732-200

4096 i B (200ml |5V)

11.45

1 2764

8192 x 8 (450m) (5.|

0.45

1 2764-250

8192 I 6 (250ml [5.1

7.45

1 2764-200

8192 I 1 1200m) (5.1

10.45

■ TMS2504

8192 I 8 (450m) (5.1

14.45

■ MCBS7B4

8192 x 8 (450m| 15.1 (24 pill 38.95

1 27128

16384 I 8 M

24.45

5. = SInli 5 mil Sully

74LS00

74LS0I

74LS02

74LS03

74LS04

74LS05

74LS08

74LS09

74LS10

74LS11

74 LSI 2

74LSI3

74LS14

74LSI5

74LS20

74L821

74LS22

74LS2S

74LS27

74LS28

741S30

74LS32

74LS33

74LS37

74LS38

74LS40

74LS42

74LS47

74LS48

74LS49

74LS5I

74LS54

74LS55

74LS63

74LS73

74L874

74LS7S

74LS76

74LS78

74L883

74LS8S

74L886

74LS90

74L89I

74L892

74LS93

74LS9S

74LS96

74LS107

74L8109

74LS112

74LS113

74LSII4

74LS122

74LS123

74LS124

74LSI25

74L8126

74LS132

74LS133

74LS136

74LS137

74LS138

74LS139

74LSI45

74L8147

74LS148

74LS151

74LS1S3

74LS154

74LS1S5

74LS1S6

74L31S7

74LS158

74LS160

74L816)

74LS162

74L8163

74LS164

74L816S

74LSI66

74LS168

74L8169

74LS170

.23.24.24.24.23.24.27.28.24.34.34.44.58.34.24.28.24.28.28.34.24.28.54.34.34.24.48.74.74.74.24.28.281.20.38.34.38.38.48.59.68.38.54.88.54.54.74.88

.38.38.38.44.782.85.48.48.58.58.38.98.54.541.152.451.30.54.541.85.68.68.64.58.68.64.68.64.68.941.901.701.701.45

74LS173

74 LSI 74

74LS175

74LS18I

74LS189

74LS190

7418191

74LS192

74LS193

74L8I94

74LSI95

74LS196

74LS197

74LS221

74LS240

74L8241

74LS242

74LS243

74LS244

74L8245

74L8247

74LS248

74LS249

74LS251

74LS253

74LS257

74LS258

74LS259

74LS260

74LS266

74L8273

74LS275

74LS279

74LS280

74LS283

74LS290

74LS293

74LS295

74LS298

74LS299

74L8323

74LS324

74LS352

74LS353

74LS363

74L8364

74LS365

74L8366

74LS367

74LS368

74L8373

74LS374

74L8377

74LS378

74LS379

74LS385

74LS386

74LS390

74LS393

74LS395

74LS399

74LS424

74LS447

74LS490

74LS624

74LS640

74LS645

74LS668

74LS669

74LS670

74LS674

74LS682

74LS683

74LS684

741S685

74LS688

74LS689

74LS783

81LS95

81LS96

8US97

811898

25LS2521

25LS2569

.78

.78

.68

.68

.78

.78

.88

.94

.98

.98

.98

1.25

1.45

.74

.98

.98

.58

.58

.58

.58

2.70

.58

.54

1.45

3.30

.48

1.95

.68

.88

.88

.98

.88

1.70

3.45

1.70

1.25

1.25

1.30

1.90

.48

.48

.44

.44

1.35

1.35

1.35

1.13

1.30

1.85

.44

1.15

1.15

1.15

1.45

2.90

.36

1.90

3.95

2.15

2.15

1.65

1.85

1.45

9.60

3.15

3.15

3.15

3.15

2.35

3.15

23.95

1.45

1.45

1.45

1.45

2.75

4.20

7400

74S00

7400

18

7482

.94

74172

5.90

74S00

.31

748163

1.90

7401

.18

7483

.49

74173

.74

74S02

.34

74S168

3.90

7402

.18

7485

.58

74174

.88

74S03

.34

748169

3.90

7403

.18

7486

.34

74175

1.75

74S04

.34

748174

.94

7404

.18

7489

2.10

74176

.88

74S05

.34

743175

.94

7405

.24

7490

.34

74177

.74

74S08

.34

748181

3.90

7406

.28

7491

.39

74178

1.10

74S09

.39

748182

2.90

7407

.28

7492

.49

74179

1.70

74S10

.34

74S18B

1.90

7408

.23

7493

.34

74180

.74

74811

.34

748189

6.90

7409

.18

7494

.64

74181

2.20

74S15

.34

748194

1.44

7410

.18

7495

.54

74182

.74

74820

.34

748195

1.44

7411

.24

7496

.69

74184

1.95

74822

.34

74S196

1.44

7412

.29

7497

2.70

74185

1.95

74S30

.34

748197

1.44

7413

.34

74100

1.70

74190

1.10

74832

.39

74S201

6.90

7414

.48

74107

.29

74191

1.10

74837

.87

74S225

7.90

7416

.24

74109

.44

74192

.78

74S3B

.84

74S240

2.15

7417

.24

74110

.44

74193

.78

74840

.34

74S241

2.15

7420

.18

74111

.54

74194

.84

74S51

.34

748244

2.15

7421

.34

74116

1.50

74195

.84

74S64

.39

743251

.94

7422

.34

74120

1.15

74196

.78

74865

.39

748253

.94

7423

.28

74121

.28

74197

.74

74874

.49

748257

.94

7425

.28

74122

.44

74198

1.34

74885

1.94

748258

.94

7426

.28

74123

.48

74199

1.34

74886

.49

748260

.78

7427

.28

74125

.44

74221

1.34

748212

.49

74S274

19.90

7428

.44

74126

1.44

74246

1.34

74S113

.49

74S275

19.90

7430

.18

74128

.54

74247

1.24

741114

.54

748280

1.90

7432

.28

74132

.44

74248

1.80

748124

2.70

748287

1.85

7433

.44

74136

.49

74249

1.90

748132

1.20

748288

1.85

7437

.28

74141

.64

74251

.74

748133

.44

748289

6.84

7438

.28

74142

2.90

74259

2.20

748134

.49

748301

6.90

7440

.18

74143

2.90

74265

1.30

748135

.88

748373

2.40

7442

.48

74145

.59

74273

1.90

748138

.84

748374

2.40

7443

.64

74147

1.75

74276

1.20

748139

.84

748381

7.90

7444

.68

74148

1.75

74279

.74

748140

.54

74S387

1.90

7445

.68

74150

1.30

74283

1.95

748151

.94

748412

2.93

7446

.68

74151

.54

74284

3.70

748153

.94

748471

4.90

7447

.68

74152

.64

74285

3.70

748157

.94

748472

4.90

7448

.68

74153

.54

74290

.94

748158

.94

748474

4.90

7450

.16

74154

1.20

74293

.74

748161

1.90

74S482

15.20

7451

.22

74155

.74

74298

.84

748162

1.90

748570

2.90

7453

.22

74156

.64

74351

2.20

800f

7454

??

74157

54

74365

.64

7460

2?

74159

160

74366

.64

8035 ...

.. 5.90

8089

88.95

7470

34

74160

84

74367

.64

8039 ...

.. 6.90

8155

6.90

7472

28

74161

88

74368

.64

INS-8060

... 16.95

8155-2

7.90

7473

.33

74162

.84

74376

2.15

INS-8073

8080

8085

8085A-2

8086

8087

8088 ...

... 49.95

3.90

5.90

.. 10.95

28.95

199.00

.. 38.95

8156

6.90

7474

.32

74163

.68

74390

1.70

8185

28.95

7475747674807481

.44.34.581.05

7416474165741667416774170

.84.84.952.901.60

74393744257442674490

1.30

3.10

.84

2.50

8186-2

8741

8748

8755

38.9538.9549.9523.95

8200

Z-80

6500

6800

8202 „.

8203 ..

. 23.95.. 38.95

2.5 MHZ

1 Mhz

6502

4.90

68000

6900

6802

51.953.907.90

8205 ..8212 ..

... 3.45

... 1.75

zio-cra ....

Z80-CTC

3.00.. 3.05

8216 ..8224 ..

... 1.70... 2.20

ZB0-DART ....

. 10.05

6504 ..

6.90

6108

12.90

ZOO-DMA ....

. 13.05

6505

8 90

6809E680968106820

11.9510.952.904.30

8226 ..8228 ..

8237 ..8237-5

8238 ..

... 1.75... 3.45.. 18.95.. 20.95... 4.45

ZB0-PI0

.. 3.05

6507 ..6520 ..6522 ..

9.904.306.90

ZB0-SI0/0 ....ZS0-SI0/I ....ZB0-SI0/2 ....

zbo-sio/9 ....

11.95

11.95

11.96

. 11.95

6532 ..

9.90

6821

3.20

8243 ..

.. 10.95

6545 ..

21.50

6828

13.95

8250 ..

.. 16.95

4.0 MHZ

6551 ..

10.85

6840

11.95

8251 ..8253 ..

... 4.45... 6.90

ZBOA-CPO ....

.. 4.29

6143

33.95

8253-5

7.90

Z80A-CTC ....

.. 4.90

2 Mhz

6502*

6.90

614461456847

24.9513.9510.95

8255 ..8255-5

8257 ..8257-5

... 4.45

.... 5.20

... 7.90

.. 8.90

ZB0A-DA1T .Z80*-DM« ..Z80*-PI0280A-SIO/0 ..

9.95

. 12.95

4.29

. 12.95

6522A .

9.90

68506152

3.2015.70

8259 ..8259-5

... 6.85.... 7.45

ZI0*-SI0/1 ..ZB0*-SI0/2 ..

. 12.05

. 12.95

6532* .

10.95

6110

9.90

8271 ..

.. 75.00

ZB0A-SI0/0 ..

. 12.95

654 5* .

26.95

1112

10.95

8272 ..8275 ..

.. 38.95.. 28.95

6.0 MHZ

6175

0.90

8279 ..

8.90

6551*

3 Mhz

10.05

68806113

2.2021.0523.9519.95

8279-5

8282 ..

8283 ..

8284 ..8286 ..

.... 9.00.... 6.45.... 6.45.. 14.95.... 6.45

ZB0I-CP0 ..Z80B-CTC ...Z80B-PI0

Z808-D4.BT ..

9.95

12.95

12.95

. 12.05

1104718481

6502B

9.90

■

Mhz

8287 ..

8288 ..

.... 6.45.. 24.00

ZIL0G

11100

. 9.95

8289 ..

.. 48.95

Z6132

. 33.95

61102

21.25

8292 ..

.. 16.95

61B09E

21.95

INTEHFACE CHIPS

11109

68810111216884568850

21.955.901.91

18.955.90

8T2668T288T958T96OT97 ...

1.541.84.88

.... Jl 88

8T96DM8131DPB304088835088836 ...

.882.902.241.94

98

DISC CONTROLLERS

17711791179317951797279127932795

14.9523.9525.9548.9548.9579.9579.9584.95

2797 ...6843 ...B272 ...UP0765 .MB8876 .MB8877 .1691 ...2143 ...

84.9533.9538.9538.9528.9533.9518.9517.95

CRYSTALS

1.0000 MHz1.8432 MHz2.0000 MHz2.0972 MHz2.4576 MHz3.2768 MHz3.5795 MHz4.0000 MHz4.1943 MHz4.9160 MHz5.0000 MHz5.0688 MHz5.1850 MHz5.2420 MHz5.7143 MHz6.0000 MHz6.1440 MHz6.4000 MHz6.5536 MHz

... 3.60... 3.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.89... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.69... 2.6932.768 KHz.

8.0000 MHz.

.2.69

10.0000 MHz.

.2.69

10.7386 MHz.

.2.89

12.0000 MHz.

.2.69

14.3102 MHz.

.2.69

15.0000 MHz.

.2.69

16.0000 MHz.

.2.69

17.4300 MHz.

.2.69

18.0000 MHz.

.2.69

18.4320 MHz.

.2.69

19.6608 MHz.

.2.69

20.0000 MHz.

.2.69

22.1184 MHz.

.2.69

32.0000 MHz.

.2.69

36.0000 MHz.

.2.69

48.0000 MHz.

.2.69

49.4350 MHz.

.2.69

49.8900 MHz.

.2.69

.1.69

CRYSTAL CLOCK OSCILLATORS

PART NO.

1.000

1.843

2.000

4.000

8.00010.00016.00018.43219.66020.00032.000

VOLTAGE REGULATORS

7B05T 74

78M05C 34

7808T 74

7812T 74

7815T 74

7824T 74

7805K 1.34

7812K 1.34

7815K 1.34

7824K 1.34

78L05 66

78L12 68

78115 68

78H05K 9.90

78HI2K 9.90

7905T 84

7908T 84

7912T 84

7915T 84

7924T 84

7905K 1.44

7912K 1.44

7915K 1.44

7924K 1.44

79L05 78

79L12 78

79115 78

LM323K 4.90

UA78S40 1.90

C,T = TO-220 K = TO-3L = TO-92

DIP SWITCHES

4 POSITION 84

5 POSITION 89

6 POSITION 89

7 POSITION 94

8 POSITION 94

IC SOCKETS

(1 to 99)

8 pin ST 12

14 pin ST 14

16 pin ST 16

18 fill ST 19

20 pin ST 28

22 fid ST 29

24 pin ST 29

28 III ST 39

40 pin ST 48

ST = Soldertail

8 pin WW14 pin WW16 pin WW16 pin WW20 pin WW22 pin WW24 pin WW28 pin WW40 pin WW

WW = Wirewrap

.58.68.68.981.041.341.441.641.94

ZIF SOCKETS

16 pin ZIF 5.90

24 pin ZIF 7.90

28 pin ZIF 8.90

ZIF = TEXTOOL (Zero Insertion Force)

1984

- THE IC MASTER -

Your ticket to fast andeasy IC selections

1$ 89.95

FREQUENCY

unoPRICE

1.0000 MHz

9.95

1.8432 MHz

9.95

2.0000 MHz

9.95

4.0000 MHz

9.95

8.0000 MHz

9.95

10.0000 MHz

9.95

16.0000 MHz

9.95

18.4320 MHz

9.95

19.6608 MHz

9.95

20.0000 MHz

9.95

32.0000 MHz

9.95

,u til >i *

■. ' ..... ■

.}

IBM Expansion KIT

Upgrade Chips4164 200ns 9 @ 5.45 ea.

micromax

VIEWMAX-80 149.05

• 80 Column card for Apple 11+

• Video Soft Switch

• Inverse Video

• 2 Year Warranty

VIEWMAX-806 129.95

• 80 Column card for Apple ME

• 64K RAM expandable to 128K

64K RAM Upgrade 43.60

QUV-T8/1EPROM Eraser

QUV-T8/1 Economy Model:

Low cost EPROM eraser in plastic en-closure. The UV element is in the lidand you place the EPROMS in the bot-tom half. No timer or switch option.

• EriMl up tl 8 EPROMS In 15 - 20 minutes.

• 12,000 uWarts at 1" distance.

• 90-Day Warranty A Q 95

The FLIP SORT™

The new Rip Sort™ has all the finequalities of the original with someadded benefits: a new designand 50% greater capacity. Holds75 diskettes and the price is nowlower than ever—

**

$16.95

ATHANA BULK 5V."

DISKETTES

SS/SD. ... 15.90 (NO LABEL)

SS/DD ... 16.90 SS/DO... 10/14.9008/00 ... 22.90 100 up — CALL

APPLE ACCESSORIES

80 Column Apple 11+ ... 149.9580 Column Apple HE ... 129.95

Z80 Apple II+ 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 199.00

Controller Card 59.95

APPLE COMPATIBLE

DISK DRIVE

199.00

• Shugart mechanism, made in U.S.A.

• Directly replaces Apple Disk II

• Fully compatible with Apple Controlleror other Apple compatible controllers.

• One Year Warranty

CONTROLLER CARD... 59.95

COOLING FAN

38.95

I

APPLE COMPATIBLE

POWER SUPPLY

74.95

• Powers Apple type systems

• +5V 9 5A +12V @ 3A-5V O .5A -12V @ .5A

• includes instructions

The Flip Sort PLUS™

The new Flip Sort PLUS" addsnew dimensions to storage. Itssmoked acrylic elegance holdsover 100 diskettes with all thefeatures you expect from the FlipSort Family— $24.95

APPLE COMPATIBLEJOYSTICK

29.

95

16K RAM Card-Apple 11+

• 2-Year Warranty

Assembled & Tested 39.95

For the APPLE HOBBIESTDoKay KITS:

16K RAM card 24.95

80Column Card II+... 89.95

ZSOCard 69.95

Printer Card 24.95

SOColumnCardllE ...89.95

KEYBOARD (99/4)48 keys 4" x 10" 6.95

Reg. Power Supply

Model 4A/PS (99/4)3 DC Outputs:

12V @ .4A, +5V@ 1.1 A-5V @ .2A Highly Filtered

6.95

TERMS: Minimum order $10.00.For shipping and handling, include$2.50 for UPS ground or $3.50 forUPS Blue (air). For each additionalair pound, add $1 for UPS Blueshipping and handling. Californiaresidents must include 6% salestax; Bay area and LA residents in-clude 6'/2% sales tax. Prices aresubject to change without notice.We are not responsible for typo-graphical errors. We reserve theright to limit quantities and to sub-stitute manufacturers. All merchan-dise subject to prior sale.

CALL for VOLUME Quotes

HOURS: Mon. - Fri. 7:30 to 5:00Saturdays 10:00 to 3:00

VISIT OUR RETAIL STORE

2100 De La Cruz Blvd.

Santa Clara, CA 95050

(408) 988-0697

ALL MERCHANDISE IS

100% GUARANTEED

Telex: 756440

DoKa

46J

HBHHHbHHH

IHmH

17700Figueroa Street m Carson, California 90PM

REE

Plastic library

case supplied

with all diskettes

J purchased from

^California Digital.

DISKETTES ::- '16.50

FIVE INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

Tenswiw Each box 10 Boxes 100 Boxes

18.95

[SCOTCH■VERBATIM

JMEMOREXI MAXELL

Idysan

VRB-52S/16

MRX-3481 _ - ~ _

MRX 3483 24-95

MRX-3485 ^ 7--——

MXL-MD1 -. _ -._

MXL-MHirlO 24.95

MXL-MH1/1S *^""w

17.5022.7522.7521.7522.7533.00

DYS-105/1O

FIVE INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

16.5021.7521.7517.7521.2530.50

ICAL DIGITAL^: 24.95

Imahwaii MMH-745/0 -_ »_

■SCOTCH miii.J4i.io 37.95

l,,,VW ■ W" MMM-74S/1B W * '****

[VERBATIM 5H;11IITs 37.95

Imemorex «;»!; 32.95

IMAXELL Mxt-Mol/10

|IIIHACkk MXL-MD2'16

IMAXELL / 96 Ki 45.00

DVS-104/2DIDYSAN DYS-105/SD

Idysan/96

DVS-204/2D

N'AN/A

22.7535.9535.9531.2535.9543.0040.5047.95

20.5031.2532.7526.2533.7541.2535.5045.75

49.95

EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED SINGLE DENSITY

ISCOTCH mm -Two 28.50 27.50 23.80

Imemorex tm-mt 27.75 26.60 22.25

I VERBATIM vrb-34/9000 31.50 29.50 25.60

Idysan mmmn 35.75 32.75 29.75

EIGHT INCH SINGLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

I SCOTCH MMM-74V0

Imemorex Mnx-3090

[VERBATIM VRB-34/8000

Idysan oys-37«i/id

IMAXELL mxlfoi

33.95 31.75 29.1531.95 27.75 26.1535.25 33.25 28.7540.75 38.75 32.2545.50 39.75 35.15

EIGHT INCH DOUBLE SIDED DOUBLE DENSITY

ISCOTCH MMM743/0 45.95 43.25 37.50IMEMOREX mrx3102 37.95 36.75 31.50I VERBATIM vhb 344001 41.75 37.50 32.25

Idysan d»s-3740™ 54.65 49.75 40.50(maxell mxlfd2 52.50 48.75 40.45

MITSUBISHI96TPU4853

W9

California Digital has purchased over one thousand factory newMitsubishi M4853 SW disk drives from the Eagle ComputerCompany. The drives are half height double sided 96 track perinch. The M4853 interfaces the same as the Shugart SA465.We are currently offering these drives at only $179.00. This is farbelow distributor cost. Offer is subject to remaining inventory onhand at time of order. MIT-4853

MEMORY

16K DYNAMIC

1.95

4116 150ns.

2764 EPROM

.91

350ns.

6.95

2732 EPROM h

4.95 M

450ns.

16K STATIC

4.95

6116 200ns.

4164 fSSOSSf ISOns

'5.95

DYNAMIC MEMORY

4027 4K dynamic 250n*.4116150ns.16K4116200ns.1BK4164 150ns. 64K 128 refr.sh41256150ns. 256KDPB40S dynamic controller

2708 450ns. IK x B2716 450ns. 2K it 8

2716TMS 450n«. Trl-voll*fls2732 450ns 4Kx 82732 350n». 4K ■ 82532 450ns. 4K x B2764 350na. BK x 827128 350na.16Kx8

ICM- 4027250ICM-411B150PCM-4116200ICM-4164150

ICM-4125615CICT-6409

EPROMS

ICE-270B

ICE-2718

ICE-2716TMS

ICE-2732

ICE-2732350

1CE-2532

ICE-2764

ICE-27128

5.95 5.85

Available

39.00 35.00

S.55

29.00

21L02 200ns. 1K static21L02 450ns. 1K static2112450ns. 2Kstatic2114300ns.1Ks44044TMS 450ns. 4K . t5257 300ns. 4K x 16116 P4 200ns. 2K x a6116 P3 150ns. 2Kx86167/2167100ns. 16K I

STATIC MEMORY

ICM-21LO22O0ICM-21L0245OICM-2112450ICM-2114300ICM-4044450ICM-5257300ICM-B116200ICM-61161501 1 (20pm) 1CM-6167100

CONNECTORS

DB25P

S-100 Gold

u.

tela

I'l'l^l

cations softwarp

| Signalman Mark 12,1200 baud, Hayes compatible. SGL

Signalman Mark 1, direct connect with terminal cable. SGL

CTS212AH 1200baud, autodial, Hayes compatible CTS-

Hayes Smart Modem 1200 baud, autoanswer, autodial HYS

I Hayes 1200B for use with the IBM/PC, 1200 baud. HYS

k Hayes Smartmodem. 300 baud only, auto answer, auto dial HYS

Hayes Micromodem II. 103 Apple direct conned HYS-

k Universal Data 103LP, line power, answer & originate UDS-

tJJniversal Data 212LP. full 1200 baud duplex, line power UDS

.Novation 'J' Cat, direct connect, autoanswer NOV-

-MK12-MK1-212AH1-212AD-1200B-103AD-MM?103LP-2I2LP'-JCAT

259.0075.00319.00479 00429.00229.00279.00169 00359 00115.00

GOLD S-100 EDGE CARD CONNECTORScatalog each 10-99 100 tmsais/1 250 CNE-IMS 2.95 2 50 2 19.i.lli'i', H; Rt'l CNE-H100 4 19 3 85 3 47J-IOOWireW CNE-W10 3 95 3 50 3 19Mtaif 140 "s/l CNE-100A 4 95 4 50 4 19156" CENTER EDGE CARD CONNECTORS22/44Eyelel CNE-44E 2 50 2.15 195•:j7?Mo(0 S/1CNE-72S 6 60 6.15 5 7536/72 D/G S/l CNE-72S 5 95 5 50 5 19Other conneclors available upon request

RIBBON CONNECTORS

DB25Pmale CND-r25P 5.65 5.25 4 15

DB25S female CND-r25S 5 95 5 59 4 50

57-30360 male CNC-r36P 7 95 6 75 5 90

57-303601 male CNC-r36S 7 95 6 75 5.90

aOpinadga CNI-DE20 4 35 3.30 2 50

20 pin socket CNI-DS20 2 75 185 160

■'■■'■ 4 95 3 50 2 70

3 50 2 40 2.15

50 3.50

26 pin edge26 pin socket34 pin edge

CNI-DE26'■;.ni us?*;CNI-DE3434 pin socket CNI-0S3450 pledge CNI-OE5050pmsockel CNI-OS50

4 50 3 95 3

5 95 5 60 4 904 95 4 60 3 80

"D"TYPE

DE9P maleDE9S lemalaDEhoodOAl5Pn

CND9PCND-9SCND-9HCND-15P

eicti 10-99 100+

1 60 1 40 1 302.25 2 00 1.301 50 1 35 1.20

235 I

1 90

2 95 2 55 165

1 35 1 15 774 20 3 95 3.655.95 5.75 5.502.25 1.95 1.655.50 5 10 4 75

2 60 2 40 2 10

DAl5S!emale CND-15S 3 25 3 10 2 90

DA 15 hcod CND-15H

OB25P male CND-25P

DB25S female CND-25S

DB25 hood CND25H

OC37P male CND-37P

DC37S female CND-37S

DC37 hood CND-37H

DD50P male CND-50P

OD50 hood CND-50H

Hardware 2/sel CND-2HS 89 69 42

AMPHENOL / CENTRONICS TYPE57-30360 36/P CNC-36P 7 95 6.35 3.97IEEE486, CddrCND-?4p 7 95 6 35 5.35

UtSK DRIVE POWER CONNECTORS8 6 pin DC CNP-6DC 1.958 3ACSgl/S CNP-3SS 1698 3 AC Dbl/S CNP-3DS 1 695'= 4pin DC CNP-4DC 1 793pmDINrecpl CNP-D3P 2 59

Telex 753607

Shipping: First five pounds $3.00. each additional pound $.50.Foreign orders: 10% shipping, excess will be refunded.California residents add 6' A sales tax. • COD s discouraged.Open accounts extended to state supported educational institu-tions and companies with a strong "Dun & Bradstreet" rating.Retail location: 17700 Figueroa Street, Carson CA. 90248.

BLOWOUT

SALE

<129

California Digital has recently participated if

the purchase of several thousand Siemens™ . _r

FDD 100-8 floppy disk drives These units are electronically arid physically

similiar to that of the Shugart 801R All units are new and shipped in fadory

sealed boxes. Manual and power connectors supplied free upon request. Your

choice 115 Volt. 60 Hz. or 230 Volt. 50Hz,

NOTE1 European customers, we have a large quantity oi 230 volt 50 M; umis warehoused in

Frankfort Germany Arrangements can be made to will call these drives in quantities ol 50 or mora

in Frankfort reducing import duty and freiohl charges

REMEX DK '219

California Digital nas iusl purchased a large quantity of Remex RI-0-4U00Eight inch double sided disk drives Remex is the only double sided diskdrive that has an double gimbal mounted head assembly that guaranties towerhead tracking This drive is mechanically solid Remex has always beenknown lor producing premiere products (or the floppy disk market The Remexcompany is a subsidiary of the Ex-ce!l-0 Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company

Five Inch Single Sided Drives

TEAC FD-54A half height 129 123 119

SHUGART SA400L 189 179 175

SHUGART SA200 % Height 159 149 139

TAND0N TM100-1 full height 169 165 179

Five Inch Double Sided Drives

TEAC FD55B half height 139 135 129

CONTROL DATA 9409 IBM/PC 229 219 215

CONTROL DATA 9428 half ht. 229 219 215

SHUGART SA455 Half Height 259 249 239

PANASONIC JA551/2N (SA455) 169 159 155

SHUGART SA465 Half Ht. 96TPI 289 279 269

TAND0N100-2 full height 197 193 185

TAND0N 101-4 96TPI80 Track 369 355 351

MITSUBISHI 4851 Half Height 259 249 245

MITSUBISHI 4853 V? Ht. 96TPI 179 175 169

MITSUBISHI4854 V2Ht., 8" elec. 465 449 439

QUME 142 Half Height 239 229 219

Eight Inch Single Sided Drives

One Two Ten

SHUGART 801R 385 375 365

SIEMENS FDD 100-8 129 125 119

TAND0N848E-1 Half Height 369 359 349

Eight Inch Double Sided Drives

SHUGART SA851RQUME 842 "QUME TRACK 8"TAND0N848E-2 Half HeightREMEX RFD-4000MITSUBISHI M2894-63MITSUBISHI M2896-63 Half Ht.

495 485 475

459 459 449

459 447 435

219 219 209

447 439 433

459 449 409

Three Inch Disk DrivesSHUGART SA300 with diskette 229 219 209

Five Inch Winchester Hard Disk DrivesFUJITSU M2235AS 27 M/Bytes 999 959 889R0DINE RO-208 53 M/Byte 1589 14931427MAXTOR XT1065 65 M/Byte 1995 19651939SHUGART 712 13 M/Byte, </i Ht 795 765 725TAN00N 503 19 M/Byte 795 775 755

Upon request, all drives are suppliedwith power connectors and manual

ENCLOSURES

your application The following stock disk drive enclosures are availableAll include power supplies the 8 enclosures are supplied with exhaust lans.

Horizontal mount two 8 ft.height drives S279.00

Vertical mounl two full height 6disk drives. S299.00

Horizontal mount one full heighlor two half height 8" diskdnves. $239 00

Vertical mount two lull heighl 5'/jdisk drives $139.00

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE

(800) 421-5041

TECHNICAL & CALIFORNIA

(213)217-0500

California Digital

17700Figueroa Street • Carson, California 90248

easLE *89t

In conjunction with the California Digital has agreed to assist

in the liquidation of approximately 1000 Eagle HE/2 Computers.These units features a 12" non-glare green phosphor CRT, typewriter stylekeyboard with separate numeric cluster. This unit provides two 5 11 A" drivesfor a combined storage capacity of 780 K/Byte. The Eagle II contains a 4MhzZ-80A, DMA disk interface, two RS-232C serial ports, Centronics style printerinterface, along with an auxiliary parallel port.

Software included consists of ULTRACALC electronic spread sheet, SPELL-BINDER word processor, CBASIC2, CP/M 2.2, and an exclusive Eagle menudriven utility package.

These units are all "factory new" and are being offered far below their sug-gested price of $1995. This is your opportunity to purchase a complete CP/Msystem for only S895. EAG-2E2

Epson Comrex

PLOTTER

*m

The Comrex Comscriber I rs the ideal solution to make

| short work of translating financial and other numeric data

I into a graphic presentation. Complete with menu driven

software for use with either IBM/PC or Apple II. Along with

this are included multicolor plotter pens, demonstration

| software and interface/cable.

The Comscriber I was originally priced to sell at S795. Thisis your opportunity to purchase a high value graphic plotter|atonlyS189 IBM/PC COM-C1PC; Apple COM-CIA2

PRINTERS

MATRIX PRINTERS

Star Gemini lOX 120 char/sec STRG10X

Star Gemini-15X. lOOchar 'sec 15 paper STR-G15X

Star Gemini Delia 10. 160 Char/sec STR-DiO

Star Coe« SOFT friction a tractor VST -CaOPT

Toshiba Pi 350. 192 char/sec letter qua lily TOS-1350

Oknl.it.i 82a S.Mi.dl ,1 p.iMllt-l 3';" paper OKI-8ZA

Oktclata 92A pwaM iNliv(.i,..e 160 char/sec OKI-92A

Okidata83A 4 parallel 15 paper OKI-63A

Okidata 84A & parallel 15 paper OKI-84A

Okidala235O(ne*l350char/sec OKI-2350

EpsonRX-8010 l20Char/sec EPS RX60

Epson FX80. 10 160 char /sec with graphuax EPS-FX80

EpSOnFXIOOlS iSOdW 'MClrf9lfl«ptWW EPS-FX1Q0

I |.is(ji: MXKJf: witlufrarjriHnx 15' paper EPS-MX10O

Ni (.:8[I:■■'.• A ij.irij:lf!l'." -i' paper, graphics NEC-8023A

AnabwWQmBhttiBpMdwWBrapMci ADX-9501B

Anadex 9620FJ 200 char/sec pans serial ADX-9620B

Quanlex 7030corespoodenceqoahtv iBOchar/sec QTX-7030

Prowr«er85i0pa'alksl9Vj paper PRO-8510P

Prowmer H, parallel 15 paper, graphics PRO-2P

Dataproducts FJfiOO- 3. band printer 600 LPM DPS-B600Pnnironix P300 high stiixxl primer 300 lines per m.mjle PTX-P300

Pnntronix P600 ulira high speed 600 lines per mmule PTX-P600

WORD PROCESSING PRINTERS

NEC 7710NEC 7730NEC3550NEC2050SHD EXP5O0SRD EXP550DBL-630

NEC77I0 55ct

NEC7730 55 char/sec, pari interface

NEC3550 popular prime- designed for ihe IBM .'PC

NEC2050 designed lr,r HiM PC ?0 char/sec par I

Silver ReeOEXPSOO. 14 char/sec par I mlerface

Sliver Reed FXP550 1 7 Char/sec par I interface

Diablo 630 40 char/sec serial

Diablo 620. proportional spacing, horz & vert lab

Juki 6100. 18 char /sec graphic mode

Brother HRl A daisy wheel parallel interface

Bfolher HR1A senai interface

Starwnler F10 serial. 40 char /sec

Slarwriter FlOparallel. AC char'sec

Comrex CR1 word processing printer, serial intr.

Comrex CR2 5k buffer, proportional spacing, par'

20 cps DBL620JUK-6100

PRO-F10SPRO-F10PCRXCR1SCRXCR2P

279 00389 00399 00195 001495 00347 00427 00567 00997 001995 00317 00529.00719.00589 00389 001029 001129 001539 00359 00689006985 004250 005715 00

1979 001799 00995 00459 00659 001765 00879 OO495 00695 00695 001125001125 00729 00

TERMINALS

Freedom 100 -.plil screen, detachable keyboi'mlQume 102 green phos[*ior terminalVisual 50 Green screenAmpe> Dialogue 125 green screenAmppn Diaiouge 175 amber screen two page, lunc keysWyse 50 14 green phosphorWyse 100 horzdverl split screen, meial enclosure: Wyse 300 Eighnokn display split screeni Zenith 29 temiin..: VT52 compatible deiaich ble keyboard^ Televideo910Plus blockmode

o 925 detaichable keyboard 22 function keys| Televideo950. graphic char..spiil screen. 22 tunc

970. 14 green i32cotumn European

LIB-r 00

QUM 102

VSL-50G

APX D125G

APX D125A

WYS-50

WYS-100

WYS-300

ZTHZ29

TVI-910P

TVI-92S

1 Ji 950

795 01159.C765 0575 00759 00950 CO1095 00

SEC RGB.jgkm^kCOLOR *2S9

MONITOR m^w

The NEC JC-1401D is a 13' medium/high lesolution RGB monitorsuitable for use with the Sanyo MBC-550/555 or the IBM/PC Themonitor features a resolution of 400 dots by 240 lines Colors availableare Red. Green. Blue. Yelfow. Cyan. Magenta. Black and WhiteThese monitors are currently being used in applications lar morecritical than microcomputers.

The NEC monitor carries the Litton-Monroe label and was originallyscheduled tor use in their Office of Ihe Future equipment A changein Monroe's marketing strategy has made these units excess inven-tory which were sold to California Digital We are offering these primenew RGB monitors at a traction of their original cost. Sanyo com-patible NEC-1401/S; IBM/P'C Computer compatible NEC-1401/PC

MONITORS

BMC 12A green phosphor 1 5 MH* composit video

BMC 12 high resolution 20MHz

Amdek 3Q0G 12 green phosphor

Amdek 300A 12' amber phos.. hr-resolutron

Amdek:iinA'.if,iiji:,-:dii-.i HHM PC amberZenilhZVMIZ? Amber PlMjsphrir I.: 10 80 column swilclZ.irvi'i.'VMl:'i,.].-,...r:|.ih(,::,i:hiif I:1 10.-80 column ™i:nNEC J81201 green phosphor IS MHz composit videoNEC JBi 260 commercial grade compositMotorola 23 Open frame blk/white composii videoMotorola 12 open frame requires horz sync andpoweiConrac 9 Open trame requires hoi/ sync & 12v supplyCOLOR

BMC-12A

BMC-12EN

AMK-300G

AMK-300A

AMK-310A

ZTH-122

ZTH-Z123

NEC-JBI201

NECJB1260

MOT-BW23

MOT-BW12

CON-BW9

BMC 9191M RGB designed tor uNEC JC1203DM RGB color rrtoniiorNEC JC1201 color compositZenith ZVM135 RGB & composite BUib

Amdek Color I. 13 composit videoAmdek Color II ■ . 13 RGBhi/resoiulicAmdek Cotof III ■ . 13 RGB. medium nPnncelon HX 12 RGB IBM/PC compal

ihe IBM computer

BMC-9NEC-1;NECJI

259 00238 95379 00699 00339 00475.00299 0041995359.95

ASCIIKEYBOARD

49

California Digital has purchased

over 3000 ot these Microswilch

keyboards Irom the General Dynamics Corporation 93 ASCII encoded Hall

switches includes 8 lunclion keys and 14 key numeric clusier make Ihis keyboa

excelled value at only 549 MIC93GD 5 lbs

We also have available a man in mi (General Dynari'-u:L. -,i<\'pi I rim panel SlO

Non-

Advanced Logic Systems

CP/M 3.0 CARD

Includes Digital Research C/PM Plus

*im

California Digital has just purchased from Digital Re-search over eight hundred of the Advanced Logic Systems ICP/M 3.0 cards. This unique product offers performance Iupto 300% faster than existing Apple CP/M cards.Featuring a 6 MHz. Z80B micro-processor. 64K/Byte of onboard memory, with CP/M 3.0 along with GSX 80 graphics and CBasic. The ALScard supports larger programs with enhanced CP/M editing features.Manufacturers suggested price on the CP/M board is S399. while supplies lastCalifornia Digital is offering this card at only Si 79. ALS-Z80

S-100 HOARDS

16 BIT MICROPROCESSORS

Oclagon dual CPU 8068<ZIM A com roller OCT-882.80 795 00

SINGLE BOARD COMPUTERS

insigntEQ-4 128K. 4 serial notS-100 INS-EQ4 595 00

Arjvjnred Digital Floprjy & 64K AMD-Z80 750 M

ratetckSystemmasw .7*floppy.WK. telsmi 89500

Teieieh FfJC-1 single board no memory TEL-F0C1 675 00

8 BIT MICROPROCESSORS

Gqooolii Z80. 24 bit emended ddo GBT-Z80 250 00

:;.il Vn mumble; 7n l.rr![;i..i...eflsor CCS-2810 275.00

i,iibr i IBS wm two RS233 corts TAH-Z80 339 00

FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLERS

Godtiout Disk 1 douOledensity GBT-0SK1 395 00

Caiilotma Comculer 2422A wiln CPM CCS-2S22 339.00

Morrow Disk Jockey M wish CPW 2 2 MDS-Dj? 350 00

Monow DiskJockey I wlh CPM. sgl Den MDS-DJ1 225 00

:,i!!ifM[|«tro.'ucs double density TflR-DDC 419 00

rrl:<1! 1 lecliii.-iTs :v.r::|if density TAfl-SDC 279.00

Fulcrum DMA OmniOiSk I'O in bard disk FCM-0D1 389 00

CPM OPERATING SYSTEM

Suita '>.-.r:,iicnCP.'M3 0 8 sgl den DRC-CpMJO 249 00

Godbout CPM 2 2 tor Disk 1 GBT-CpMUZ 159 00

GOBI TMaii lor 8088 arid 8086 GBT-CpMUS 265 00

Tarbell Electronics CPM 2 2 TAR-CpM22 159 00

HARD DISK CONTROLLERS

Octagon na.d disk co«ro«*t wiiti EC OCT HO'

Godboul OrSk 2 8 «1« l»0 0ii« G8T-DSK2

GoOBOut Ois* 3 tor 5'. Wmcfiesters GBT-0SK3MoriowDesignscofflronertorS'. Win MOS-W506Western Digital new WD 1001 (notS-IOOl WOI-1001

EPROM BOARDS

Access £P«0M Bd urograms 27128 IAC-P100

75.00

-:-.< m

495 00

al Research PROM t><

1, 32K

DGR-P3?

STATIC MEMORY BOARDS

GodDQjl Ram 16 64K 16 Pit da la trans GBTR16 459 00 \

GodDoulRam 17 64K 8 bit 24 bitaddress GBT-R17 359 00

GodborjtRam2i l2BK6yl(rB. I6irans*ei uill KL1: 859 00

DYNAMIC MEMORY BOARDS

INTERFACE BOARDS

Godbout Interlaced? serial ports GBT-133A

i.,i'i.n.iiiiil interface! II. ' M-'ii,ii:i pai poMs GB1 I5GAiir.irltioui ii'teilace.' ii; *i:h'; '.ertil ports GB'M'iSA

i'..ii"-!ri0;i1 lr'!-?rfjct" h .VI!!- al ports GBM38A

GoObut Intertacer IV 3 serial 2 parallel GBT-187ACalilorma Compuler 2710 t serial ports CCS-2710CaliforniaComputer2719 2seral 2 pan CCS-2719California Compuler 2720 4 port par I CCS-2720Calilomta Compuler ?830 tj non serial CCS-2830Miiimw Designs Mullihnard 3 S/2P MDS-MTL1

319 DO

SPECIAL FUNCTION BOARDS

Hayes S-IOOMicromoaem 300 baud HYS-MtOO 325 00 |

0! Computer clock calendar Oatlery QTC CCtOO 13!

Godbout System support board 4K EPROMGBT-SYS1 350 00 |

Godbout System support Board 9511 mainGBrS9511 539 (M

Dual 5y5iems 4 criannel 1? OH D/A cony DSC-A0M12 619 01

Dual Syslem 12 bit resolution 32 cb A/D DSC-AIM12 629 00 I

MullmsOpto-lsolalor. controls 8cti MUL-ICB10 179.00 I

Mullins extender bo,ir.:!*ilh logic 4 probe MULTB4 79.00 f

I'D Technology wire wrap prototype I0T-W100 49 00

'■'■:■ > - •'• .vi, pr-jiMM.'..: W V/AiilO £'5

ArlK Electron's Qen«»i purpose sotder ARI-GP100 25 00 |

MAINFRAMES & MOTHER BOARDS

Eclipse Data stainless 22 slot EDP-itW 695 00

Godbout Enclosure2, 20 Slots GBT-MF2D 675 00 1

(•.ililnmu Computer 2200 12 slot CCS-2200 47!

Caliloima Digital 18 slot mother board CAL-MB18 35.00 I

Godbout 12 slot molber board assembled GBT-MB12 149 00 I

I B M BOARDS

Quaoram 512- 64K memory 4 serial piQuaflram 512 ■ 5I2K memory RS232Quad board 64K Four Function

■';i.,il:i:iiif:;ly..Kljiii lunction

A:.: Mea.iPlusiMK.HS.'.i; dock/cal.

AST I/O Plus

•VII u).'p!.,uPlin64K cik cal. ser & pari

Al.il Ai!v.iiu;.i'i1 Cpfii'i;!!!,rations Card

Peacock color S bm card w' print port

Hercules Graphics Card

STB 64K memory enoanoabie to 256K

QUD-512/64

239.00

OUD-512'51

599 00

QUD-4/64

495 00

0iji)4.-;»«i

429 Oj

as: f/u,|:

357 00

AST-1/0

195 00

ASI i;!>f.:

357 00

AST-ACC

799 00

PEA-C100

259 95

HCS-G100

337 95

STB-164

28100

;,1H I 0S4K serial.1 par I. game port

■ !H ,;:i,-i fiu-j !■.■>. ;■:' -,a:-;i ■ k .:;■■

;1H.„:;„1 RIO,;'i„KSTB Super RIO PiguytMiUviKSTB Super RIO Piggyback256KHayes 1200B internal modem lor IBM'PCQuickcom 300i 1200 internal modemMonteCarlo64Kplus S'Pport clk/calVista Mancard Ram expandable to 576K

STB-1192STB-I/OSTB-RI/64

SIB H:U!-.JSVB H:,"iN•,lh Pllt.-!STB i'!■:,": I:HYS-1200BWAD 3/12MBI-GTIVSAM576

495 00750 00299 00795 00429 00495 00329 00247 00

Telex 753607

VISA

Shipping: First five pounds $3.00, each additional pound $.50.Foreign orders: 10% shipping, excess will be refunded.California residents add 61/2% sales tax. • COD s discouraged.Open accounts extended to state supported educational institu-tions and companies with a strong "Dun & Bradstreet" rating.Retail location: 17700 Figueroa Street, Carson CA. 90248.

TOLL FREE ORDER LINE

(800)421-5041

TECHNICAL & CALIFORNIA

(213)217-0500

V ^-COMPUTER^/gRODUCTS|

64K RAMS

APPLE COMPATIBLE

DISKCONTROLLER

Set of 9$50.00

IBM PC MULTICARD™

"MULTICARD" multifunction card for the IBM PC& XT expandable to 256K. Thousands of thispopular card have already been shipped by ACP,

• 64-256K • Disk Emulator Software

• Parallel Port • Printer Spooler Software

• Serial Port • Clock/Calendar

• 1 Year Warranty • Clock Software

$22900 w/64K $22900

S-10064KcmosRAMCARD

UnbelievablePrice!

$24900

Assembled and Tested

ACP has sold over 1000 of these IEEE compatible,low-priced, high-reliability 64K Static RAM Cards.• Single 5-Volt operation.

SIEMEN'S SALE

You can now purchase Shugartcompatible 8" Disk Drives beiow your

existing factory direct pricing!These Prices are the lowest ever published.

■Siemens DSDD FDDZ00-8.. $199.00

Also, with purchase of Disk Drives

you can buy the Vista V-1000 Dual Case

with Power Supply and Cable

for only $375.00 Regular Price $495.00

Offer Limited! Factory Warranty 90 Days!Shipped Immediately from Stock! "OEM Quantities

DOT MATRIX PRINTER

C0EX 80-FT

** 9x7 Dot Matrix,80 CPS, Bi-Directional

Printing*■* 2K Buffered Memory

80, 96. 132 Columns. Graphics and

Block Printing** Selectable Char Pitch, Line Spacing

and FeedCOEX Interface Card to Apple $49.95

BUSINESS

Only

$4995

ACP HAS DISK DRIVES

APPLE II COMPATIBLE

Thin APPLE COMPATIBLE

111111 DISK DRIVES

LineDrive

$1ggoo

VISTA Solo 5V Std $199.0

CUMANA 5'/." Std 219.0

RANA Elite 1 249.0

Elrte 2 39941

Elite 3 499.C

Elite Controller 82.0

SUPER 5 Alps A40 Thineiine 199.0

TEAC T40 Thineiine 239.0

TEAC T80 Doublesided 329.0

Controller 58.C

TAND0N 100-2

PC Compatible • Double Sided

,4* $19900

&&* TM100-1 $169.00

TOSHIBA Half-High

PC Compatible • Double Sided

$16goo

OTHER DRIVES WE STOCK

ITAND0N 848-2 Thinhne $479.00 SHUGART B01R $399.00

ITEAC FD55B 189.00 QUME Datatrack 8 449.00

|SEAGATE 10Mb Hard Disk 699.00 CDC 1800 OS (320K) 224.00

B52 239 DO SEAGATE ST50G 16MB Win ) 499 OOl

ACP PRICE

APPLIED SOFTWARE Versaform $299.00

Versaform Hard Disk 399.00

ARTSCI Magic Window II 95.00

Magic Combo 149.00

ASHTON-TATE dBASE II (CP/M) 385.00

Friday (CP/M) 198.00

BPI (GL. AR, AP, Pay, Inv) ea. 299.00

BRODERBUND Bank Street Writer 49.00

BUSINESS SOLUTIONS The Incred Jack . 149.00CONTINENTAL (GL. AR, AP, Pay) ea 189-00

Home Accountant 49.00

DATAMOST Real Estate inv 99.00

DOW JONES Market Manager 249.00

Market Analyzer 289.00

Market Microscope 549.00

EAGLE Money Decisions 149.00

FOX A GELLER Qickcode 199.00

d Utility 69.00

d Graph 199.00

HAVDEN Pie Writer 99.00

Compiler Plus ■ 79.00

Basic Compiler 45.95

HOWARDSOFT Tax Preparer 149.00

Real Estate Analy2er 139.00

KENSINGTON Format II 99.00

LIGHTNING Maslertype 35.00

UVING VIDEOTEXT Think Tank 135.00

MICROPRO WordStar 249.00

Mailmerge or Spellstar 139.00

Wordstar Prof. 4 Pak 449.00

Info Pak or InfoStar Call

MICROSOFT Multiplan 179.00

Multitool Financial 79.00

Multitool Budget 119.00

MEGAHAUS Megawrtter 49.00

PEACHTREE Series 40 (GL. AR, AP) 379.00

Series 9 (Text. Spell. Mail) 399.00

PERFECT SOFTWARE Call

QUARK Word Juggler (lie) 199.00

Lexicheck (Me) 99.00

Call tor Apple IIISIERRA ON-LINE

Screenwriter II 99.00

Screenwriter Professional 149.00

General Manager II 169.00

Dictionary 79.00

SOFTWARE PUBLISHING PFS/FHe 89.00

PFS/Graph or PFS/Report 89.00

STATE OF THE ART Call

STONEWARE DB Master 4.0 249.00

BB Utility 1 or 2 79.00

SYSTEMS PLUS Acct Plus (GL. AP, AR) Set 599.00

VISICORP Visicalc 3.3 179.00

Visicalc Enhanced 199.00

Visitile or Visidex 179.00

HOME & EDUCATION

BRODERBUND Choplifter $28.00

Drol or Loderunner 28.00

Arcade Machine 44.00

Apple Panic 24.00

BUDGECO Raster Blaster 24.00

Pinball Construction Set 29.00

COUNTERPOINT SOFTWARE

Easy Games for Young Children 26.00

DATAMOST Aztec 29.00

Ptg Pen or Shark Attack 23.00

OATASOFT Zaxxon 31.00

EDU-WARE Compumath 37.00

Algebra I, II or III 30.00

Compuread or Compuspell 23.00

EINSTEIN Memory Trainer 73.00

ELECT. ARTS Music Construction Call

HARCOURT Computer SAT Call

HAYDEN Sargon II 29.00

INFOCOM Zork I, II or III 29.00

Deadline 36.00

KOALA Modules (8 available) Call

LEARNING COMPANY

Juggles Rainbow 36.00

Bumble Games 48.00

Gertrude's Secrets 59.00

LAS Crossword Magic 41.00

MICROFUN Miner 2049er Call

MICROLAB Call

MICROSOFT Oecaihlon 25.00

Typing Tutor II , 19.00

MONOGRAM Dollars & Sense 74.99

ORIGIN Exodus: Ultima III 41.95

PENQUIN The Quest 16.00

SENSIBLE Sensible Speller 99.00

SIERRA/ON-LINE Frogger 28.00

SIRTECH Legacy of Llylgamya 29.00

Knight of Diamonds 29.00

SOUTHEASTERN Dala Capture 4.0 54.95

SPINNAKER Alphabet Zoo 20.00

Delta Drawing . 35.00

Fraction Fever 23.00

Kindercomp 21.00

Pacemaker 28.00

SUBLOGIC Flight Simulator or Pinball 26.00

SUNDEX-No 1 Rated Home Finance

CPA Personal Accountant.. 74.95

CPA Personal Investor 74.95

Personal Payables 42.95

TERRAPIN Logo $99.00

TRANSEND Transend I 75.00

VIRTUAL Micro Cookbook 29.00

UTILITIES/SYSTEM

BEAGLE Apple Mechanic $23.00

Apple Plot or Pronto DOS 26.00

Beagle Basic 26.00

DOS Boss 17.00

Double Take or Utility City 26.00

CENTRAL POINT Filer 16.00

Copy II Plus 31.00

LOCKSMITH 79.00

MICROSOFT A.L.D.S 85.00

Coboi 80 575.00

Fortran 80 155.00

PENQUIN CGS System 79.00

PHOENIX Zoom Graphlx 31.00

SOUTHWEST Merlin 49.95

Send for Complete Catalog of Software

Apple Compatible

Printer Interface $ A Q95

w Apple to Epson Cable "«*

Apple Me Compatible

80 Column SQQ95

Card w 64K iJil

APPLE COOLING FAN

QUENTIN/FORTH DIMENSION

Apple ll/lleCompatibleDisk Drive

Totally compatible to Apple Drives.

Only

*19995

s49

95

Controller $49.95

Just plug in and run.

Apple II16KRAM CARD

Compatible withZ80 Softcard" .PASCAL CP/M"

Full 1 year Warranty. Top Qualrty by COEX

NEW LOWACP PRICE

Also from COEX, NEW EPSON

Parallel Interface for Apple.

With cable $49.95

QUENTIN

DUAL DISKS

PRO DOS

COMPATIBLE

Dual Half Height Drivesw/Controller

Only

$29995

Complete AppleSupport FacilityComplete Apple

Service Center

We service mostFloppy Disk Drives ^^.-J^ ACP

PRICE

Apple lie W/64K $895.00

Apple lie Business System 2995.00

Includes: Apple llew.'128K. Dual Disk, 80 Column

Card, Monitor II. Profile Extension OptionApple lie Enlry System 995.00

Includes: Apple lie w/64K, Disk II w ControllerApple lie Professional System 1795.00

Includes: Apple He w/126K, Dual Disk, 80 Column

Card Monitor II

Imagewriter Dot Matrix Prinler 545.00

Apple Color Plotter 779.00

Apple Modem 1200 495.00

Apple III Z56K System 2695.00

Apple III Plus 256K System 2995.00

Apple III Plus Business System 4495.00

Lisa 2 3495.00

Macintosh System 2495.00

Apple lie System 1295.00

"Apple Products Available ln-stor* Only''

■J.I.IIJiM..I.UII.IUgl.».Ba.lfc

CLEARANCE SALE

ACP has on handseveral hundred demo51/4" and 8" Disk Drives

from virtually allmanufacturers. Mostare priced at $99.00 ea.

CALL FORCURRENT AVAILABILITY.

800-854-8230

rwx910-595-1565

Mail Order: P.O. Box 17329 Irvine, CA 92713

Retail: 1310B E. Edinger. Santa Ana. CA 92705

(714| 558-8813

542 W. Trimble. San Jose, CA 95131

(408) 946-7010

ALS CP/M 3.0 Plus CardCOMPUTER ACCESSORIES

Power Conlrol Center P12COEX 16K Ram Card 99.00

Parallel Printercard w Cable 99.00Apple II Prototype Card 29.00

Apple I Extender Card 29.00

64K Extended 80 Column 199.00CORVUS Hard Disk OmninetEASTSIDE Wildcard (11 +w/64)Wildcard 2 (lie)Wildcard Plus (64K trFINGERPRINT Epson EnhancerGIBSON Light PenIS PKASO Interlace (ll/lle)

PKASO Interface (HI)KENSINGTON System Saver

PC SaverKEVTRONtCS KB200 II + KeybKOALA Graphics PadKRAFT Joystick

Game PaddlesMCT Speed DemonMPC 128K Bubble MemoryMftR Sup'r Mod II RF Modulator

Sup'r FanMICROPRO 6MHz AoplicardMICROSOFT Z-80 SoftcardZ-60 Softcard PlusSoftcard Premium Pak (II +Softcard Premium Pak (lie)MOUNTAIN COMPUTERCPS MultifunctionMusic SystemA'D Plus D/AMICROTEK Dumpling Buf. w 64K 349.00ORANGE MICROGrappler Plus16KBufferboardGrappler Buffered w/16KPCPI Applicard w/128K. 6MHz808B CoprocessorApplicard W/128K. 4MHzPERISOFT (All w/1 Year Warranty)

LIST ACP

$399.00 $299.00

10 sec)

98.00

99.0089.9549.95

50.00295.00875,0069.0050,00Word39500645.00695 00495.00

239.00395.00350 00

17500175 0024500

595,00595.00495.00

Printeriink Intell. Printer I/O 99.00

Messenger Univ. Serial I/O 135.00

Timeiink Realtime Clock 110.00

Graflmk Graphics l/o 175 00

Bufferimk W.16K Buffer 189.00

PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS

Microbuffer 16K (Epson Parallel) 159.00Microbuffer 32K (Epson Parallel) 199.00

Mlcrobuffef 16K (Epson Serial) 179.00

Microbuffer 32K (Epson Senal) 219.00Microbuffer In-line 64K (Parallel) 349.00

Microbuffer In-line 64K (Serial) 349.00

PROMETHEUS Versacard 4 in 1 199.00

QUADRAM Ouadhnk 680.00

Microlazer 16K (Parallel) 189.00

Microfazer 16K (Serial) 220.00

Microfazer 32K (Parallel) 225.00

SATURN TITAN

32K flamcard 219,00

64K Ramcard 349.00

126K Ramcard 499.00

Accelerator II Card 599.00Neptune 64K + 80Neptune 128K + 80Neptune 192K + 80

STREET Echo II (Apple) 149.00

Echo II Serial (In-line) 249.00

SYNETIX Sprite I 149.00

Sprite II 249.00

Superspnte 395.00

Flashcard 144K 449.00

Flashcard 288K 629.00

TG PRODUCTS

Joystick 5995

Select-a-port 59 95 49.95

Trackball 64.95 54.95

Joystick w/Toggle lie 64.95 54.95

VIDEX Videoterm (80) 345.00 199.00

Ultraterm (132) 379.00 279.00

Enhancer II 14900 99.00

VISTA COMPUTERA800 8" Disk ControllerA500 5V*" Disk ControllerV1200 Amlyn 6 2Mb 154900 1099.00

VOTRAX Type NTalk 259.00 199.00

Personal System 395.00 329.00

64K RAMS

99.0049.9549.9520.0020.0099.95Call89.00119.00149.0049.00249.00139.00159.00

225.0095.0048.0039.00249.00699.0049.0038.00Call249.00479.00499.00395.00

169.00335.00299.00265.00

129.00129.00199.00499.00499.00429.00

79.00109.00

89.00139.00159.00

Call

Call

Call

Call

279.00

279.00

166.00

499.00

169.00

195.00

199.00

169.00289.00399.00449.00199.00299.00389.0099.00199.00129.00224.00359.00389.00549.00

Set of 9 Pes

$5Q00

Apple" Apple Trademark of Apple ComputerIBM" IBM Trademark of International BusinessMachines

TERMS: We accent VISA. MC. M0, Cashiers and Personal checks.School and Company PC's We dD not charge your card until we shipPersonal checks require drivers license and credit card # No SurchargeAdded on VISA or MC C0D-5 owr S50)n^mre 20% deposit wlfi orderAdd 3% shipping and handling lor UPS We oiler sanieday shipmentPrices subject lo change without notice We reserve the nght to sub-stitute manufacturer We are not responsible tor typographical errors.Retail Sale Price* May Viry

466 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 12 on inquiry card.

AEMUSCED _ TOLL FREE

^=^ COMPUTER

DDflTtflPTS

MrM%^JU^J^±tS M. V^ Circle 12 on inquiry card.

Serving Computer Professionals Since 1976

HARDWARE

AST Sixpakplus w.OK(SPC) $229.00

Megaplus II w/0K(SC) 229.00

I/O Plus II (CS) 115.00

GameSertal Parallel Options 35.00

Monographics Graphics Card 445.00

CHALKBOARD Call

COEX IBM PC Extender Card 29.00

IBM PC Prototype Card 36.00

DAVONG Hard Disk Drives Call

KENSINGTON PC Saver 39.00

KEYBOARD IBM PC Compatible 149.00

KEYTRONICS 5150 5151 (PCSXT) 169 199

KOALA 96.00

KRAFT or TG

IBM PC Joystick 59.00

Game Paddles 29.00

MICROSOFT Mouse 169.00

MIR PC XT Exp Chassis (6 slots) 439.00

MOUSE SYS Mouse lor PC 196.00

PERSYST Time Spectrum w 64K 289.00

PTI Back-up Power 200 400W 328.00

OUADRAM Quadboard II WOK 229.00

Quadlink (Apple Prog 1 479.00

Quaddisk tup to 72Mb) Call

Microlazer MP64 w 64K . 179.00

VISTA Multicard Plus OK 199

Maxicard w 64K (up to 576K) 229.00

PC Master (10 IO) 329.00

Diskmaster (Floppy Cont) 169.00

Dynatrame Hard Disk Call

PC Clock IO 129.00

PRINTERS/MONITORS

BROTHER HR-25P 25S

$799/819

HR-15P15S

479/499

HR-35P or 35S

1089.00

COEX SOFT (BOcps) Sale S169.00

DAISYWRITER 2000 (40cps)

1199.00

DTC Daisypnnter 3807-

11.59

DYNAX DX-15P 15S

529/549

DIABLO 630API Serial

1890/2650

630 IBM/620 Set

2290/995

EPSON FX-80 100

549/739

RX-80 80FT

299/399

LQP-1500

1249.00

NEC Spinwriter 3550

1885.00

OKIDATA Model 82AP 83AP

339/629

Model 84P 84S

995/1049

Model 92P/92S

525/575

Model 93P93S

769869

Model 84 IBM

1039.00

Model 92 93 IBM

549 839

SILVER REED EXP500P

490.00

EXP550P

630.00

EXP770P

1049.00

TRANSTAR 315 (4 Color)

499.00

STAR Gemini 10X15X

269429

Delta 10 15 (160cps)

529679

Call lor New Star PC Compatible Family

TOSHIBA

Call

SANYO PP5000LO

399.00

AMDEK Video 300G A 145.00 155.00

Video 310A amber (IBM)

159.00

Color 1 (composite)

299.00

Color 1 Plus (earphn nonglare) 329.00

Color II RGB (IBM) analog

449.00

Color II Plus

479.00

Color III RGB (IBM)

399.00

Color IV RGB (IBM) analog

779.00

BMCorELKA 12' Green

89.00

PGS HX-12 RGB (690x240)

Call

SR-12 RGB (690x480) .

Call

MAX-12 Amber

Call

SANYO 6500 Med-Res

269.00

389.00

TAXAN 400 RGB Med-Res

329.00

559.00

121 TTL Green Amber

179/189

ZENITH ZVM-122 Amb 123 Gm

109105

ZVM-131 13 Color

379.00

ZVM-5 35 Color Hi-Res

519.00

DISKETTES

DYSAN 5V." SS DD 10 $55

$28

DYSAN 5VV DS DD 10 65

36

IBM 5'/.- SS DD 10/60

43

IBM 5V." DS DD 10/65

47

VERBATIM 525-01 SS DD 10.45

20

VERBATIM 550-01 DS DD 10/55

29

MAXELL MD1 SS DD 10/50

22

MAXELL MD2 DS DD 10 60

32

Flip Storage Box 5'/," (80 disks)BULK SPECIAL SS 10 25

18

16

With Sleeve and Box 100 195

149

-J IBM ACCESSORIES

tf

COMPUCABLE

Keyboard''drive dust covers (set) .. $16.00 j

_

CURTIS Tilt/swivel Monitor ped

43.00

PC Pedestal (IBM Mono

58.00

PGS Quadchrome disp

\dapter 9.00

J* V

Vertical PC Stand

20.00

Mono Extension Cable

43.00

[_1

Keyboard Ext Cable .

35.00

AC Plug Adpt (any monEDP PROTECTION DEVICES

to PC) 8.00 1

rt

The Lemon. Peach

39.00/63.00

*>i

The Orange.'Lime

94.00 58.00 |

GILTRONIX SWITCH BOXES

2 Way 8 Lines.,

90.00 j

• ft]

»™

RIBBONS

Each Dozen

Epson MX-80

5.75 59.00

Epson MX-1O0

10 95 120.00

Star Gemini 10/15.

2.50 26.00

Okidata 80'82.'83

3.95 44.00

Okidata 84/92/93

4.95 55.00

NEC 3550

11.95 135.00 ;

SOFTWARE

dBASE II Friday

$378°7$16800

Condor

*38900

SuperCalc III III

$79°7$159°7$22800

Multiplan Vers. 1.1

313800

Microsoft Mouse/Word

$31900/Call

Wordstar 3.3

$258°°

Micropro Pro Pak

*37800

Rbase 4000

S32800

T. K. Solver!

J268°°^

PFS

File 88.00 Graph 88.00Write 88.00 Report 78.00

ContexTMBA" Call

VisiOn Call

Lotus 1-2-3 Vers. 1A

Call!

Bank Street Writer 58.00

Home Accountant Plus 88.00

Sideways 48.00

Volkswriter 114.00

Knowledge Man 274.00

Crosstalk XVI 108.00

Multlmate w spelling 348.00

CompuServe Subscription ... 38.00

Executive Info Serv 78.00

Vidtex Software 58.00

Executive + Vidtex 118.00

Source Subscription 68.00

Source w. source link 108.00

MODEMS

BIZCOMP Model 2120 (Internal)

449.00

Smartmodem 1200B

Smartmodem II

SmarimodenvlBM Cable.NOVATION Access 1-2-3

99.00 125.00

388.00 1

Evmwtfjsn^

• COLOR SPECIAL •

THE COLOR GRAPHICS CARD

(same designer as Colorplus Card)

B229

PRICE

00 BREAKTHRU!

lyearWarranty

E229

00

MULTICARDII™(.:Ik)$199

(INTRODUCTORY OFFER) I »

Advanced Computer Product's best selling multifunction card for theIBM PC & XT (plus compatibles) now has been improved with expan-sion capability to a full 384K and at no charge an additional game port.You also get Print Spooler and Disk Emulation Software plus a fullyear SWAP-OUT Warranty at no extra charge. Why pay more whenyou can get the same function and performance as Quadboard II™and AST Sixpak Plus'" for substantially less money. You compare!Try it at no obligation. 10 day no questions asked return privilege.

I00

FUNCTION

Multicard II

Quadboard II

Sixpak Plus

Memory

0 to 384K

0 to 384K

0 to 384 K

Parallel/Serial

Yes

Yes

Yes

Clock/Calendar

Yes

Yes

Yes

Game Port

Yes

Yes

No ($50 list Opt.)

Software

Yes

Yes

Yes

Warranty

1 Year

1 Year

1 Year

ACP Pricewith OK

199.00

229.00

229.00

EXPANSION MEMORY

• 64K Upgrade (Set of 9 64K rams) .. s5000

• 256K RAM's (256K x 1) 7988

• 16K RAM's (16K x 1) 107*9"

• 8087 CPU (Arithmetic Processor) $19900

I0/XT

(Serial, Parallel, Clock/Calendar)... $129'

The most popular expansion card for the short slot of your IBM XT. Allthese functions on one card optimized to fit in one slot. 1 year warranty.

00

COLOR/GRAPHICS/COLOR/GRAPHICS

• Plantronics COLORPLUS- .

'3W

• Amdek MAI

M38"

• Hercules GRAPHICS CARD

s369"

• Hercules COLOR CAR0 w Par

port '229*'

• Graphics X Software

•42"

• Paradise MULTIDISPLAY

'378"

• Quadram QUADC0L0R ISM

1199 Call

• C0N0GRAPHIC CARD

•895"1

• Scanoptik C0L0RGRAPHICS

>2W

• MA Sys PEACOCK

S299M

^saate.

IBM PC COMPATIBLE DISK DRIVES

Tandon TM-100-1 Single Sided (160K) .Tandon TM-100-2 Double Sided (320K)Control Data 9409 Double Sided (320K)TEAC 55B '/? high Double Sided (320K)

Toshiba* yfc high Double Sided (320K)

*IBM PC Mounting Hardware for Vz highs..,

Vista Diskmaster 5W & 8" Diskcontrolter

ACP has on hand several hundred demo 5W

drives from virtually all manufacturers.

Most are priced at $99.00 ea. Call for current

$169°°199002240018900

16900

495

16900

and 8" diskavailability.

■■

I TERMS: We accept VISA. MC, M0 Cashiers and Personal checks. SchoolI and Company P0 s We do not charge your card until we ship PersonalI checks require drivers license and credit card # No SiI VISA or MC. COD s over S500 require 20% deposit with order] shipping and handling tor UPS We otter sameday shipment Prices subiedI lo change without notice We reserve the right to substitute manulacturere not responsible tor typographical errors Retail Sale Prices MayI Vary IBM "" trademark of Internationa) Business Machines Quadboard ll"I trademark ot Quad ram Corp Sixpak Plus" trademark of AST Research Inc

800-854-8230

TWX

910-595-1565

WE STOCK CABLES • RIBBONS • DISKETTES • SPARE PARTS

MAIL ORDER: P.O. Box 17329 Irvine, CA 92713 |

. Edinger, Santa(714) 558-8813

542 W. Trimble, San Jose, CA 95131(408) 946-7010

SPECIALS

ecu 16K card

• Apple 16K Memory Card• 2 Year warranty

List $69

IBM PC System

• 2, Disk Drives 360K each

• 256K of Memory

• IBM Mono Monitor and

IBM Mono Card

List $2900

$2395

Apple lie

• 128K of Memory• weighs less than 8 pounds

List $1295 $11 75

Diskettes

• 51/4", sgl. side/dPI. density• w/Reinforced Hub

10 for!

100 for $140Not Bulk Packed

Omni Graph interface

• Crappler Compatible

• Full Hi-Res Graphics

• Cable & Software included

List $99

Apple Macintosh

• 32 Bit Microprocessor

• 2, Serial Ports

• 9" Hi-Res, 512X342

List $2495 $2195

Tandon Blowout

• TM100-2$179

• TM848-1

$239

Dynax DX15

• 13 CPS

• Letter QualityList $599 $409

Okidata ML84P

• Microline 84P

• 200 cps

List $1395

$849

Sanyo Computer

• MBC 555-2

• 2, 360K Disk Drives

• All Software

List $1595

$1275

CCU HAS THE

LARGEST

DISK DRIVE

SELECTION AND

we will BeatAll Competitors

Apple Compatible Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10Micro Sci

A-2,35Track $200 $190 $180

Controller 70 60 50

Rana systems

Elite I $235 $230 $225

Elite II, Dbl. Head 355 345 335

Elite ill, Quad Density 455 445 435

ControllerControls4Drives 90 80 75

Half Height

FD525A Fully Apple com $140 $130 $120

5V4" Disk Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10Teac

FD55A.160K $160 $150 $140

FD55B, 360K 170 160 150

FD55F, Quad Density 200 190 180

All Teacs are Half Heights

Tandon

TM100-1.160K $200 $190 $180

TM100-2.360K 179 174 170

TM101-4, Quad Density 280 270 260

TM55-2,360KVi Height 220 210 200

MPI

B-52,360KPCCOmpatible $200 $190 $180

Shugart

SA400.160K $190 $180 $170

SA455,360K1/! Height 200 190 180

SA465, Quad Den. 1/2 Height 230 220 210

Mitsubishi

4851,1/2Height $220 S210 S200

4853, Quad Den.V; Height 169 169 169

Control Data Corp.

CDC9409,360K $200 $190 $180

CDC9409T, Quad Density 300 250 200

Matsushita

JA-155 $150 $140 $130

Chinon

FD55A(sameasTeaoi60K $140 $130 $120

8" Disk Drives

OUANTITY

1 2 10Siemens

FDD-100-8 $119 S115 S110

FDD-200-8 180 170 160

Shugart

801R,Sgl./Dbl $340 $330 $320

851R,Dbl./Dbl 430 420 410

Tandon

TM848-1,Sgl./Dbl.ViHt $240 $230 $220

TM848-2, Dbl./Dbl.'/iHt 390 380 370

Mitsubishi

M2894-63, Dbl./Dbl S400 $390 $380

M2896-63,Dbl./Dbl.'/2Ht 400 390 380

Oume

DT8, DatatrakS $450 $440 $430

5V4" & 8"Power Supply & Cabinets

OUANTITY

1 2 10PC Products 51/«"

Single Cabinet w/pwr $ 70 $ 60 $ 50

DualThinlineCabw/pwr 80 70 60

Dual Cabinets, Power 80 70 60

All have 6 month warranty

PC Products 8"

Sgl.Cabinetw/pwr&fan $220 $210 $200

Dualw/pwrfor2thinlines ... 230 220 210Dual w/pwr & fan 270 260 250

VISIT OUR REMODELED RETAIL SHOWROOM

5 MINUTES FROMLOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Apple is a Trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.

IBM Is a Trademark of International Business Machines.

(800) 847-Your Largest Computer Dealer

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

Apple

CPU Only S 749

Macintosh 2195

Portable 1175

CompaqPortable (PC Compatible) 2, 360K Drives256KofMemory S2295

Franklin

Ace1000,64K S 675

Acel200OMSw/Monitor 1395

Kaypro

Kayproll S1149

Kaypro4+ 1695

KayprolO 2395

IBMPC64K,2-Drives S1850

XT Hard Disk Drive, 128K 3895

PCPortable 2295

SANYO

MBC-550 PC Compatible S 699

MBC-555 2-Drives, more software .. 1049

APPLE ADD ON'S

ALS

zcard S 119

CPM3.0Card 169

Astar

RF Modulator S 15

Fanw/Surge 29

KensingtonSystem Saver S 69

KoalaGraphics Tablet S 89

Kraft

Joystick S 44

Micro Max

Viewmax80,80col.card S 139

viewmax80E(FforiiE)64K 129

Micro soft

l6KCard S 69

Premium Softcard HE 369

Multiplan 189

Soft Card <Z80> 239

Micro Tek

Bam 16,16K Memory S 59

Serial interface 89

TC

Joystick S 39

Select-A-Port 31

Paddles 34

IBM ADD ON'S

Ast Research

SixPack+ S 265

Mega + 265

IBM

Monochrome Adapter S 229

ColorCard 239

Plantronics

PC + w/Software S 389

Quadram

Quad ColorCard S 219

Quad Link 459

64K upgrade64KofMemory S 48

usi ResearchParadiseSystemsmulti-displaycard S 329

MODEMS

Anchor

Mark VII300 Baud S 139

MarkXii,l200Baud 249

Hayes Micro computer

Smart Modem 300 Baud S 199

Smart Modem 1200 Baud 489

Smart Modem 1200B for PC 399

Micro Modem HE 239

Novation

J-Cat S 119

AppleCatn 259

PRINTERS

Dynax

DX15, LetterQuality S 409

DX25 729

Epson

RX-80I120CPS) S 299

RX-80FTd20cps)Friction&Tractor . 319

FX-80I160CPS) 459

FX-lOOd60cps)l5"Carriage 699

Okidata

82Ad20cps)Par&Serinter S 299

83A (15" Carriage) 569

84P (200 cps) Frictions Tractor 849

New Series Okidata

92P(160cps) S 419

93P (15" Carriage) 669

Star Micronics

CeminilOXd20cps) S 269

Gemini 15X (120 cps) 15" Carriage, 399Powertyped8cps)Ltr.qual 399

PRINTER INTERFACES

Cables

IBM to Printer S 29

Kaypro to Printer 29

RS232Cables 29

Fourth Dimension

Card&Cable S 49

Microtek

Dumpling GX(GrapplerCompatible) S 89

Dumpling GXexpto64K 149

DumplingGXl6Kw/l6Kexpto64K . 169foreachadditionaH6K 15

Okidata Options

Tractor for 82 8.92 S 59

Serial interface 99

Orange Micro

Grappler+ S 114

Grappler + W/16K 179

Star or Epson

Epson Serial Interface S 119

Star Serial interface 59

ComputerComponentsUnlimited •

RETAIL STORE:

11976 Aviation Blvd.inglewood, CA 90304

MAIL ORDER:

P.O. BOX 1936Hawthorne, CA 90250

no Surcharge forCredit Cards

MONITORS

Amdek

colon + composite video S 279

colorll + RGBVideo 419

300G, 12" Green 139

300A, 12" Amber 149

310A, Monochrome Amber 179

BMC

9l9lColorNewversion s 239

IBM

MonochromeHi-ResGreen S 239

Princton Craphics

PCS HX12, IBM Copy S 469

PGSSR-12, Hi-ResCOlor 649

PCS MAX-12,12" Monochrome 199

USI

pi 1,9" Green, Hi Res, 20MHz S 100

PI2,12" Green, Hi Res, 20MHz 100

Pl3,i2"Amber,HiRes,20MHz 100

PI 4,9" Amber, Hi Rex, 20MHz 100

Zenith

ZVM122, Hi-Res Green S 109

ZVM123, Hi-Res Amber 109

51/«" DISKETTES

ecu

Sgl/Dbl reinforced hub. .$16 I00forl40

Dbl/Dbl reinforced hub . 19 I00forl70

Not Bulk Packed

Dysan

Sgl/Dbl S33 100for300

Dbl/Dbl 39 100for370

Maxell

MD1 Sgl/Dbl S25 100for235

MD2Dbl/Dbl 38 100fOr360

verbatim

Sgl/Dbl S26 100for240

Dbl/Dbl 36 100for340

A California Corporation circle 57 on inquiry card

VISA This Ad Supersedes"■■■ All Others

8 DISKETTES

Dysan

sgl/Sgl S34 I00for320

Dbl/Dbl 53 100f0r480

Maxell

Sgl/Dbl S44 100for380

Dbl/Dbl 50 100fOr469

verbatim

sgl/sgl S30 I00for280

Dbl/Dbl 40 1O0for360

DISK ACCESSORIES

verbatim

8" or 5%" Head Cleaning Kit S 9

Flip Tub

51/4" Holds 50 disks, plexiglass 17

5W Holds 70 disks, plexiglass 21

Sales Desk

(800)847-1718 (213)643-5188

Outside California inside California

Customer Service & Technical

(213)643-5191

All mercnandise new. we accept MC, visa, wireTransfer, COD call, Certified check, P.O.'s fromqualified firms, apo accepted, snipping: MinimumS4.50 first 5 pounds. Tax: California Res. Only add6Vi% sales tax.

Prices Subject to Change

COMPU

IBM PC

256K, two disk drives 360K each,Drive Controller and Keyboard

$1899

IBM PORTABLE

256K,two disk drives $2199

805-498-6635

IBMPCw/lOMB

256K, one floppy Drive, Keyboard &nr aa

10 MB Hard Disk with Controller pZ DYV

BOOTS FROM HARD DISK Backup also available

IBMPC w/30MB

$3999

256K, one floppy Drive, Keyboard

30 MB Hard Disk with Controller

and Booster Power Supply

BOOTS FROM HARD DISK Backup also available

• PRICE WAR • cauus LAST

PRINTERS

FX-80.

EPSON to i mo

$489$599CALL

OKIDATA

INCLUDES PLUG&PLAY

92P.93P.84P.

$399$649$799

M_-2050NEC 3550

$799$1,499

DYNAXDX-15

$399

BROTHER Sis

$649$999

IDS PRISM 132C

COLOR PRINTER

$1,499

SHEET FEEDERSAND TRACTORS

PLOTTERS

CALL

AMDEK

AMPLOTII

6 Pens

$799

HEWLETTPACKARD

7470A7475A

2 Pens .6 Pens

$949$1,699

ROLAND dxy-800

IPen .8 Pens

$599$799

Houstoninstrument

DMP 40 • 2 PensDMP 29 • 8 Pens

$799$1799

MONITORS

MAX-12 Amber $179

■%*»_» HX-'2 5449

PGSSR-12 $599

ROLANDCC141 14

RGB.

$599

300 Green $119

_______ 300 Amber $139

AMDEK 310 Amber .... $159

MODEMS

MICROCOMERA2

Internal $329 Standalone $439

HAYES 1200B $399

SMARTMODEM 1200 $479

Internal $299

QUBIE Standalone

COMPU

HARD DRIVES

UP TO 140 MB

BACKUP ALSO AVAILABLE CALL

WITH YOUR BEST QUOTES

NETWORKING

EVEREX10MB

w/Controller and 2 Year Warranty

$899

MAYNARD10MB/30MB

10MB/WS-1 $899 10MB/WS-2 $1,049

30MB CALL

ORCHID TECHNOLOGY

PC Net PLUS Starter Kit $999

CORVUS OMNINET

TALL GRASS TECHNOLOGY

20 MB w/20 MB Backup $3,299

35 MBw/45 MB Backup $4,495

70 MBw/60 MB Backup CALL

FLOPPY DRIVES

____-HALF 55B-DSDD $149

It AC HEIGHT 55FQUAD $199

SANTA CLARA SYSTEMS

PC Terminal CALL

MULTI-DISPLAY CARDS

_ mm MonoGraph Plus w/clock & PP $369

AST Senpl P.iii Upiion 530

QUAD Color I

EVEREX Graphic Edge

$199 Color II $199

$399"

Full Ht

CDC Malt HI.

DSDD-DSDD

$199$179

TANDON 100-2Full Ht. DSDD

$179

• $UPER $PECIAL$ +

64KRAM

Set of 9 chips

$45

TECIVIAR Graphics Master

3449"

■ ••->«■■>> mm Mono Graphics $329

HERCULES Color Grophrcs $199

NEW

STBptphil

S349

PLANTRONICS

Color Plus

$366

PARADISE Multi-display Card $299

__ _ — ___| Color/Graphics Card $199

IBM PC MonoChrome/Printei Card $ 199

PGSHX-12

$449

Tseng Labs Ultra PAK $499

MULTI-FUNCTION CARDS

QUAPBOARP k $199

AST SIX PAK with 64K (to 384 K) $ 2 4 9

mi

—», — -» — «- Magic CardEVEREX Q.K(to384K)

TEAC Disk Drive

FD55B, 360K slimline, PC Compatible

$149

KEYTRONIC

Deluxe Keyboard KB5151

$199

ERA 2 MODEM

PC Internal 1200 Baud w/sorhrare, 4 Yr. Warranty

$329

COMPAQ

256K, 2 Disk Drives

$1999

COD NO SURCHARGE VISA 1 MC 3%, AMEX 5%

MISC. ADD ONS

PRACTICAL

PERIPHERALS MICR0BUFFER

CALL

CABLE Parallel or Serial

$20

IBM PC DOS

$20 DOS2.1 ..$50

IBM PC Floppy Drive Controller $ 1 39

COMPUTER POWERACCESSORIES DIRECTOR

$109

..$299.$399

STANDBY 200 watts..

POWER SUPPLY 300 watts

Surge Protection, up to 30 minutes Standby Power

805-498-6635

2509 THOUSAND OAKS BLVD., THOUSAND OAKS, CA 91362 TELEX 888522

Ad #189

470 BYTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 61 on inquiry card.

I

APPLE COMPATIBLEHARDWARE

INTERFACE FOR TYPEWRITER,

CENTRONICS AND WORDSTAR

COMPATIBLE

Model 0 Price

11 Olivelti Praxis 30, 35, 40 SW

12 Olivetli Praxis 41

T3 Silver Reed Ex 42. 43, 44 ♦ Penman

T4 Adler Satellite 11 and Alpha Royal 2001

T5 Olympia Compart and Swinlec 1146 CM

INFRARED INTERFACE FOR REMOTEOPERATION WITHOUT CABLES

IRR Board, Receiver station $W

for use with one or all:

IRN Numerical Pad VisiCal compatible $49

IRK Full keyboard with lower case $129

IRC Four direction cursor control $29

"^Bk TO ORDER CALL (408) 734-4631

/#J or write

INTERFACE

Advanced Transducer Devices, Inc.1287 Lawrence Sta. fid., Sunnyvale. CA 94089

Additional $2 SO per order for shippingCalif residents add b' >% tax

Circle 14 on inquiry card.

FREE SOFTWARE

RENT THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!

User Group Software isn't copyrighted, so no feesto pay! 1000's of CP/M and IBM softwareprograms in .COM and source code to copyyourself! Games, business, utilitiesl 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 S85

MOST FORMATS AVAILABLE! SPECIFY.

IBM PC-SIG (PC-DOS) LIBRARY

Volumes 1-135, 5'/4" disks $135

Public Domain User Group Catalog Disk $5 pp.

(CP/M only) (payment in advance, please)

Rental is for 7 days after receipt, 3 days grace to

return. Use credit card, no disk deposit.

Shipping, handling & insurance —$7.50 per library.

1619) 941-0925 information,

(619) 727-1015 anytime order machine

Have your credit card ready!

Public Domain Software Center

1533 Avohill Dr.Vista, CA 92083

AM EX.

Circle 250 on inquiry card.

SAVE ON

DISKETTES

$159- $089"

I 0» 20 dsdd Lm 0,y 20

5VSSDD-96TPI $2.49 ea SW DSDD-96TPI $3.25 ea

Boxed tn 10 s with Tyvec sleeves, reinforced hubs andlabels

DISKETTES FOR MACINTOSH & HP-150

AT TERRIFIC SAVINGS1

31Y Memorex $3.99 ea

See our big ad in this issue for other great values!Shipping: 5V or 3W DISKETTES—Add $3.00 per 100 or'ewer diskettes Payment; VISA and Mastercard acceptedCOD orders only, add $3 00 handling charge Taxes: Illinoisresidents, please add 8% sales tax

WE WILL BEAT ANY NATIONALLY ADVERTISED PRICEON THE SAME PRODUCTS AND QUANTITIES!

Nationwide: 1-800-621-6627Illinois: 1-312-944-2788

Hours: SAM - 5PM Central Time

Minimum Order: $35.00DISK WORLD!. Inc.

Suite 4806 • 30 East Huron Street • Chicago. Illinois 60611

Circle 108 on inquiry card.

H Dysan

^CORPORATION

Solve your dare problem* buy 100* surfacetested Dywn Muttttm All order* snippedfrom stock. atfrin 24 hours. Call toll FREE(800) 235-4137 for prices and .iforraaoon.VWs and Master Card accepted

PACIFICEXCHANGES

100 Foothill BlvdSan Luis Obispo. CA93401 (In Cal. call(805) 543-1037

Circle 24 3 on inquiry card.

IBM PC/XT COMPATIBLE

Computer Case $140.00

Keytronic Keyboard $180.00

PC 65 Watt Power Supply $150.00

XT 100 Watt Power Supply $190.00

PC/XT Bare Board $ 90.00

Shugart SA455 320KB Floppy Disk ... .$169.00

Shugart SA712 10MB Hard Disk $625.00

Shugart SA606 10MB Hard Disk $375.00

Hard Disk Controller $325.00

Floppy Disk Controller w/Serial,

Parallel, Game Ports $250.00

Color Graphic Card $210.00

Monochrome Card $225.00

OEM/DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME

ELECTRADE CO. (408) 946-2541

780 Trimble Rd., Suite 605

San Jose, CA 95131

Circle 122 on inquiry card.

Apple Macintosh

IBM, XT, Hard disks

Eagle, Compaq, Columbia

NCR, Olivetti, Leading Edge

Multiusers

up to 16/TermSyst.

Printers/Plotters

Monitors, Disk Drives

Modems, Diskettes

Software

for PC & Multiusers

Printers: Epson, Okidata

Gemini, Radix, NEC, HP

COMPUTER EXPO INC.SOURCE COMPUTERS

(213)208-0352(213)906-1984

208-0259906-1634

Circle 66 on inquiry card.

• FULL C COMPILER PER K&R

• Inline 8087 or AssemblerFloating Point

• Full 1 MB Addressing forCode or Data

• Transcendental Functions

• MSDOS 1.1/2.0 LIBRARY SUPPORT

• Program Chaining using Exec

• Environment Available to Main

• c-window™ C SOURCE CODEDEBUGGER

• Variable Display & AlterationUsing C Expression

• FAST 8088/8086 ASSEMBLERCombined Package — S199Call or write:

c-systems Fullerton, CA 92634P.O. Box 3253 714-637-5362, TM c-systems

SS

F^Tl"-*-*"

Hayes Smartodem 1200

. $469.00

Prometheus Pro-Modem S339.00

Gemini 10X

. $269.00

Brother HR-15

. $399.00

Okidata 92P

. $409.00

Tava PC

$1895.00

IBMP.C

$2395.00

Lotus 1-2-3

. $309.00

Maxell SS/DD

. . $20.00

Maxell DS/DD

. . $32.00

(619) 579*2730

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

mssm

Circle 73 on inquiry card.

EPROM

PROGRAMMER

APPROTEK 1000

$249.95

COMPLETE WITHPERSONALITYMODULEII 7 AC POWER-RS232-6 BAUD RATES - HANDSHAKE TO HOSTALLOWS HEAD, WRITE. VERIFY & COPY;>mes complete with CPM & BASIC Driver

Full 1 Year Warranty

Programs the following 5 Volt 24 or 28 pin

devices 27xx series through 27256.

25xx series, 68766 plus others

Specify Personality Module desired with order

Additional Personality Modules only $15 00 ea

APROPOS TECHNOLOGY

1071A AVENIDA ACASO Add

CAMARILLO. CA 93010 «4.00 Shipping USAI80SI 482-3604 VISA or MC Add 3%

Circle 25 on inquiry card.

PRICE BREAKTHROUGH

STATIC RAMS

2101

5101

2102 1

2102L-4

2102L-2

2125

211111112

2114; 2114-24

2114L-4

2114L3

2114L-2

TC5514

2147

TMS4044-4

TMS4044-3

TMS4044-2

UPD410

MK4118

TMM2016-200

TMM2016-150

TMM2016-100

HM6116-4

HM6116-3

HM6116 2

HM6116LP-4

HM6116LP-3I HM6116LP2

TC5516

TMS4016

Z6132

HM6264P-15

HM6264LP-15

LP = Lower

256x4256x41024x41024 X 11024 X 11024 x 1256x4256x4256x41024 x 41024x41024 x 41024 x 41024 x41024X 44096 X '4096 x 14096 x 14096 x 14096 x 11024x82048 X 82048 x 82048 x 82048 x 82048 x 82048 x 82048 X 82048 X 82048 X 82048 X 82048 x 84096x88192x88192x8Power

(450ns)(450ns)(450ns)(450ns)(250ns)( 45ns)(450ns)(250ns)(450ns)(450ns)(250ns)(450ns)1300ns)(200ns)(650ns)( 55ns)(450ns)(300ns)(200ns)(100ns)(100ns)(200ns)(150ns)(100ns)(200ns)(150ns)(120ns)(200ns)(150ns)(120ns)(250ns)(200ns)(300ns)(150ns)(150ns)Oslal

1 95395

(LP)

1.45

2 95

2.49

(LP)

2.95

299

8/9 95

8/1095

(LP)

8/12 95

(LP)

8/1345

(LP)

8/13.95

(cmos)

495

495

349

3 99

4.49

3.95

9.95

4 15

4,95

6.15

(cmos)

4.75

(cmos)

495

(cmos)

895

(cmos) (LP)

5 95

(cmos) (LP)

6.95

(cmos) (LP)

1095

(cmos)

995

695

(Qstat)

34 95

(cmos)

39 95

(cmos)

49 95

EPROMS

1702

2708

2758

2716-6

2716

2716-1

TMS2516

TMS2716

TMS2532

2732

2732-250

2732-200

2732A-4

2732A

2732 A-2

2764

2764-250

2764-200

TMS2564

MCM68764

MCM6B766

27128-30

27128

Single 5

256x81024x81024 x 82048 x B2048 x 82048 x 82048 x 82048 x 84096 x 84096 x 84096 x 84096 x 84096 X 84096 x 84096x88192x88192x88192x88192x88192x88192x816384x816384x8Volt Supply

(1US)(450ns)(450ns) (5v)(650ns)(450ns) (5v)(350ns) (5v)(450ns) (5\r)(450ns)(450ns) (5v)(450ns) (5v)(250ns) (5v)(200ns) (5v)(450ns) (5v)(21vPGM)(250ns) (5v)(21vPGM)(200ns) (5v)(21vPGM)(450ns) (5v)(250ns) (5v)(200ns) (5v)(450ns) (5v)(450ns) (5v) (24pin)(350ns) (5v)(24pin)(300ns) (5v)(250ns) (5v)

21vPGM Program at

4.50

3.95

5.95

2.95

3.95

5.95

5.50

7.95

5.95

4.95

8.95

11.95

6.95

9.95

13.95 |

6.95

7.95

19.95

14.95

39.95

42.95

29 95

34.95 I

21 Volts J

= Ouasi-Static

TMS40272107MM5280TMS4060UPD411TMS4050MK4108MM 52984116 300| 4116-25011620041161504116 1202118MK43324164-2004164-1504164 120MCM6665TMS4164TMS441641256-1501 41256-200

DYNAMIC RAMS

4096 X 14096 X 14096 X 14096x14096 x 14096 x 18192 x 18192 x 116384 x 116384 x116384 x116384 x116384 x116384 x 132768 x165536 x165536 x165536 x 165536 x165536 x 116384 x 4262144 x 1262t44x15v = Sinflle

r 6800 ^

68000

4995

6800

295

6802

7.95

6803

1995

6808

1390

6809E

14.95

6809

11.95

6810

2 95

6820

4.35

6821

2.95

6828

14.95

6840

12.95

6843

34 95

6844

2595

6845

14 95

6847

11.95

6850

325

6852

5.75

6860

7.95

687S

6 95

6880

2.25

6883

22 95

68047

2495

68488

19.95

6800

1MHZ

68B00

10.95

68B02

22.25

68B09E

2995

68B09

29.95

68B10

6.95

68B21

6.95

68B40

19.95

68B45

19.95

68B50

5.95

L 68B00

2 MHZ ,

(250nsj(200ns)(300ns)(300ns)(300ns)(300ns)(200ns)(250ns)(300ns)(250ns)(200ns)(150ns)(120ns)(150ns) (5v)(200 ns)(200ns) (5w)(150ns) (5v)(120ns) (5v)(200ns) (5v)(150ns) (5v)(150ns) (5v)(150ns)(5v)(200ns) (5v)5 volt supply

6500

1 99

1 95

1.95

1.95

1 95

1 95

1.95

1.85

8/11 75

8/7 95

8/12.95

8/14.95

8/2995

4.95

9.95

5 44

5.44

895

895

8.95

9 95

54 95

4995

r* * • *HIQHTECH* * * *1

I SSI 263 SPEECH SYNTHESIZER

* MICROPROCESSOR COMPATIBLE

* 5 8-BIT CONTROL REGISTERS

* ENHANCE YOUR MOCKINGBOARD OR BUILDSTEVE CIARCIA'S SWEET TALKER II IJQ AC I(BYTE MARCH 84) OwiVW I

L* * * • SPOTLIGHT • • • *]

• Computer managed inventory- virtually no back ordersi

• Very competitive prlcesl

• Friendly stain

• Fast service - most ordersprocessed within 24 hours!

8000

8200

6502

495

6504

6.95

6505

8.95

6507

9.95

6520

4.35

6522

695

6532

995

6545

22.50

6551

11.85

I6502A

I 6522A

l 6532A

6545A

6551A

6.95

9.95 I

11 95 I

27 95 I

11 95 I

9.95J

~DISC

CONTROLLERS

1771

16.95

1791

2495

1793

26.95

1795

29.95

1797

49.95

2791

54.95

2793

5495

2795

59.95

2797

5995

6843

34.95

8272

39.95

UPD765

39.95

MB8876

29.95

MB8877

3495

1691

17.95

L2143

18.95.

I 8035| 8039

INS-8060I INS 8073

8080

8085

8085A-2

8086

8087

8088I 808918155

8155 218156I 8185I 8185-2187411 8748L8755

5.95

5 95 I17.95 I49.95 I

3 95 I

4 95 I11.95 I24 95 I

199.95 I29 95 I89 95 I

6 95 17.95 I6.95 I

29.95 I39.95 I29 95 I24 95 I24 95J

r^ CRT

CONTROLLERS

6845

14.95

68B45

1995

HD46505SP

15 95

6847

11.95

MC1372

6.95

68047

24 95

8275

29.95

7220

99 95

CRT5027

19.95

CRT5037

24 95

TMS9918A

39 95

.DP8350

49.95.

82028203820582128214821682248226822882378237 58238824382508251825318253-5182558255-582578257-51825918259-582718272827582798279-51828218283828482868287828882891.8292

2495

39 95

3.50

1.80

3.85

1.75

2.25

1.80

3.49

19.95

21.95

4.49

4.45

10.95

4.49

6.95

7.95

4.49

5.25

7.95

8.95

6.90

7.50

79.95

39 95

29.95

8.95

10.00

6.50

6.50

5.50

6.50

6.50

25.00

49.95

14.95,

Z-80

2.5 Mhz

Z80A-CTCzeoA-DART

Z BOA-DMA

Z80A-PIO

Z80A-SIO/0

Z80A-SIO/1

Z80A-SIO/2

Z80A-SIO/9

6.0 Mhz

I Z80B-CPUzsoB-CTCzeoB-pioZ8OB-0ART

I ZBOB-SIO 2

ZILOG

76132 34.95

Lz8671 39.95

4 95 I9.95 |12.95 I4 49 I12 95 I12 95 I12.95 I12.95 I

9 95 I12 95 I12 95 I

19 95 I39.95 |

CRYSTALS

32 768 khz

1.95

1.0 mhz

3.95

1.8432

3 95

2.0

2.95

2.097152

2.95

2.4576

2.95

3.2768

2.95

3.579545

2 95

4.0

295

5.0

2.95

5.0688

295

5.185

295

5.7143

2 95

6.0

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

295

200

2 95

22.1184

2 95

^2.0

295

UARTS

AY5-1013

3.95

AY3-1015

695

PT1472

995

TR1602

3.95

2350

9.95

2651

895

IM6402

7.95

IM6403

895

INS8250

10 95

GENERATORS

BIT-RATE

MC14411

11 95

BR1941

11 95

4702

1295

COM5016

1695

COM8116

10 95

MM5307

10.95

FUNCTION

MC4024

395

LM566

1 49

XR2206

375

.8038

395

Z80-CPU

3 95 ■

Z80-CTC

3.95 ■

Z80-DART

10 95 1

Z80-DMA

14.95 1

Z80-PIO

3 95 1

Z80-SIO/0

11.95 I

Z80-SIO/1

11 95 1

Z80-SIO/2

11.95 1

Z80-SIO9

11 95 1

4.0 Mhz 1

Z80ACPU

4.49 ■

MISC.

UPD7201

TMS99532

ULN2003

3242

3341

MC3470

MC3480

11C90

95H90

2513-001 UP

2513-002 LOW

29 95 I29 95 I2.49 I7 95 I4 95 I4 95 I9 00 I13 95 I7.95 I9 95 I9 95J

CLOCK

CIRCUITS

MM5314

4.95

MM5369

3.95

MM5369-EST

4.25

MM5375

4.95

MM58167

12 95

MM58174

11.95

MSM5832

395j

KEYBOARDCHIPS

I AY5-2376 11951

AY5-3600 11.95 I

L.AY5-3600 PRO 11 9sJ

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

4049

4050

4051

4053

4060

4066

4068

4069

4070

4071

4072

4073

4075

4076

4078

4081

4082

4085

4086

4093

4098

4099

14409

14410

14411

14412

14419

14433

4502

4503

4508

4510

4511

4512

4514

4515

4516

4518

4519

4520

4522

4526

.4527

.29

25258929

.9539

.4525

.2538

.79393969

.7939

.75

.797929

.65291.6545697939

1 9585757569

.85.79859535.35797989393929352929292979292929959549

2 491 95

12 9512 95

11 95

12 957 95

14.95

95

65

1 95

85

85

85

1 25

1 79

1 55

89

39

79

1 25

1 25

1.95

4528

1191

4531

95 1

4532

1 95 1

4538

1.95 1

4539

1 95 1

4541

2 64 1

4543

1.19 1

4553

5 79 1

4555

95 1

4556

95 1

4581

1.95 1

4582

1 95 1

4584

75 1

4585

75 1

4702

12 95 1

74C00

35 1

74C02

35 1

74C04

35 1

74C08

.35 1

74C10

35 1

74C14

59 1

74C20

35 1

74C30

35 1

74C32

39 1

74C42

1.29 1

74C48

1 99 I

74C73

65 I

74C74

65 I

74C76

80 I

74C83

1 95 I

74C85

1 95 I

74C86

39 1

74C89

4 50 1

74C90

1 19 I

74C93

1 75 I

74C95

99 I

74C107

89 I

74C150

5 75 I

74C151

2 25 I

74C154

3 25

74C157

1 75

74C160

1 19

74C161

1 19

74C162

1 19

74C163

1 19

74C164

1 39

74C165

2 00

74C173

79

74C174

1 19

74C175

1 19

74C192

1 49

74C193

1 49

74C195

1 39

74C200

5 75

74C221

1 75

74C244

2 25

74C373

2 45

74C374

2 45

74C901

39

74C902

85

74C903

85

74C905

10 95

74C906

95

74C907

1.00

74C908

2.00

74C909

2.75

74C910

9.95

74C911

8.95

74C912

8.95

74C914

1.95

74C915

1.19

74C918

2.75

74C920

17 95

74C921

15.95

74C922

4.49

74C923

4.95

74C925

5.95

74C926

7.95

74C928

7.95

74C929

19.95i

*JDR Microdevices1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 9512

800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA)(408) 995-5430 • Telex 171-110

© Copyright 1984 JOR Microdevices

VISIT OUR RETAIL STORE

HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 T-Th., 9-9 Sat. 10-3

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING

TERMS: Minimum order $10. For shipping and handling include$2.50 tor UPS Ground and $3.50 tor UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. andforeign orders may require additional shipping charges — pleasecpntact our sales department tor the amount. CA residents mustinclude 6% sales lax, Bay Area and LA residents include 6' >a... Pricessubject to change without notice. We are not responsible tortypographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and tosubstitute manufacturer. Atl merchandise subject to prior sale.

472 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle I69 on inquiry card

PRICE BREAKTHROUGH

BARGAIN HUNTERS CORNER

'44

$59

95

95

POWER SUrPUl SPECIALS

IDEAL FORHMBYm^N^ORK, AND90 WARRANTY, QUANTITIES LIMITED

POWER GENERAL MODEL 4070-1

* QUAD OUTPUT SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY

* GREAT FOR 8" DISK DRIVES

* 4.25" x 8.25'a. 1.65-WEIGHT: 1.28 LBS.

*+5» ,6A +12V&1A-12@1A +24V@1.5A

KEPCO TDK MODU MRM174NF

* QUAD OUTPUT SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY

* 6.2" x 7.4 *x 1.7"WEIGHT: 1.6 LBS.

* 4 SV .« 5A + 12V@2.*A+ 12»2A - 12V ;■( .5A

* BOTH + 12V OUTPUTS CAN BE USED AS + 84V

ASTECM11190

* QUAD OUTPUT SWITCHING DESIGN AS USED IN APPLE III

* + 5V @ 4A - SV @ .25A

+ 12@2.5A -12\T<B.30A «,««. R.E«»«

* 15 5 x 4.5" x 2 MOW *3Q95

* WEIGHT: .884LBS. »Uft 09

SISHU mSTEHmENIS MODEL 2rC22«1

* + 5V ® 4A - 15V @ 1.SA „_.,. ^„.£E5-'1f 1

* 12.25 x 4 X4 75 (ffjUJ 0111V $095

* WEIGHT: 2.46 LBS. 1 HWII UBU 9PLEASE INCLUDE SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES

SPECIALS END 9-30-84

IC SOCKETS

1-99 100 I

[TRANSISTORS

2N918

.50

MPS3706

.15

MPS916

.25

2N3772

1.85

2N2102

.75

2N3903

.25

2N2216

.50

2N3904

.10

2N2216A

.50

2N3906

.10

2N2219

.50

2N4122

.25

2N2219A

.50

2N4123

.25

2N2222

.25

2N4249

.25

PN2222

.10

2N4304

.75

MPS2389

.25

2N4401

.25

2N2484

.25

2N4402

.25

2N2905

.50

2N4403

.25

2N2907

.25

2N4857

1.00

PN2907

.125

PN4916

.25

2N3055

.79

2N50Se

.25

3055T

.69

PN5129

.25

2N3393

.30

PN5139

.25

2N3414

.25

2N5209

.25

2N3563

.40

2N6028

.35

2N3565

.40

2N6043

1.75

PN3585

.25

2N8045

1.75

MPS3638

.26

MPS-A05

.25

MPS3640

.25

MPS-A06

.25

PN3643

.25

MPS-A55

.25

PN3644

.25

TIP29

.66

MPS3704

.15

TIP31

.75

TIP32

.79

8 pin ST114 pin ST

18 pin ST

18 pin STI 20 pin ST

22 pin STI 24 pin ST

28 pin STI 40 pin STI 64 pin ST

.13 .11.15 .12.17 .13.20 .18.29 .27.30 .27.30 .27 |.40 ..49 .39 I4.26 call

ST = SOLDERTAIL

Spin WW

I 14 pin WW

18 pin WW

18 pin WW20 pin WW22 pin WW24 pin WWI 28 pin WW40 pin WW

.59 .491

.69 .62 [.69 .58 1.99 .90 I1.09 .98 I1.391.281.491.351.691.49 I1.991.80]

WW = WIREWRAP

RF MODULATOR

(ASTEC UM1082) QUANTITIES LIMITED

* PRESET TO CHANNEL 3 NOW

* USE TO BUILD ONLYTV-COMPUTER INTERFACE

* +5 VOLT OPERATION

$695

ZIF SOCKETS

ZIF =ZeroInsertionForce

lent!

r OPTO-ISOLATORS *

4N26

1.00

MCA-7 4.25

4N27

1.10

MCA-255 1.75

4N28

.69

IL-1 1.25

4N33

1.75

ILA-30 1.25

4N35

1.25

ILQ-74 2.75

4N37

1.25

H11C5 1.25

MCT-2

1.00

TIL-111 1.00

. MCT-6

1.50

TIL-113 1.75

RESISTORS

V* WATT 5% CARBON FILM

ALL STANDARD VALUES

FROM 1 OHM TO 10 MEG OHM

50 PCS. SAME VALUE .025

100 PCS. SAME VALUE .02

1000 PCS. SAME VALUE .015

r BYPASS CAPS

.01 UF DISC

100/6.00

.01 UF MONOLITHIC

100/12.00

.1 UF DISC

100/8.00

1UF MONOLITHIC

100/15.00^

1N7S1

1N759

1N4148

1N4004

KBP02

KBP04

VM46

DIODES

5.1 volt zener12.0 volt zansr(1N914)*wltchlng400PIVroctlll«r

200PIV1.Samp bridge400PIV1.5«mpbrldgeDip. Bridge

.25

.2525/1.0010/1.00.45.55.35 J

' MUFFIN FANS

4.68 'Squirt

14.95

3.125'Square

14.95

HEAT SINKS

TO-3 stylo

.95

TO-220 style

.35

SWITCHES

SPOT mini toggle

1.25

DPDT mini-toggle

1.50

SPST mini pushbutton

.39

LED LAMPS

1-99 100-up

JUMBO RED .10 .09

JUMBO GREEN .18 .15

JUMBO YELLOW .18 .15LED MOUNTING

k HARDWARE .10 .09

LED DISPLAYS

I HP S082-7760I MAN 72MAN 74I FND-357 (359)I FND-SO0 (503)1 FND-507 (510)ITIL-311 4x7

.43"

.3"

.3"

.375"

.5"

.5"

.270"

CC

1.29

CA

.99

CC

.99

CC

1.25

CC

1.49

CA

1.49

HEX W/LOGIC 9.95 I

r DIP

SWITCHES

4 POSITION

.85

5 POSITION

.90

6 POSITION

.90

7 POSITION

.95

.8 POSITION

.95

UNIT PRICES.955.957.958.9510.95

CAPACITORS

TANTALUM

6V 10V 16V 20 V 25V

36V

.22uf

.40

.27

.40

.33

.40

.47

.36

.50

.68

.46

1.0

.40

.40

.46

.45

1.5

.46

.60

1.8

.76

2.2

.36

.40

.46

.66

2.7

.40

.45

.80

3.3

.46

.50

.65

.80

.86

3.9

.46

4.7

.45

.55

.80

.88

.86

6.8

.70

.76

10

.55

.65

.80

.85

.90

1.00

12

.85

.85

.90

15

.75

.85

.90

18

1.25

22

1.00

1.36

27

2.25

39

1.50

47

1.35

56

1.75

100

3.25

270

3.75

10pl

22

25

27

33

47

56

68

82

100

220

330

DISC

50V .05 47050V .05 58050V .05 860

50V .05 820

50V .05 .001 ut

50V .06

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

.0015

.0022

.005

.01

.02

.05

.1

.1

60V .06

50V .06

50V .06

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .05

50V .07

50V .07

50V .07

12V .10

50V .12

MONOLITHIC

lulmono 50V .18047ul mono 50V .15

47uf-mono 50V.01 uf-mono 50V

ELECTROLYTIC

.47ul

1

2.2

4.7

10

47

100

220

470

2200

RADIAL50V

14 1uf25V .14 4.736V .15 1050V .15 1050V .15 2236V .18 4716V .18 10035V .20 10025V .30 15016V .80 220

COMPUTER HoGRADE JJg

44,000uf 30V 3.95 8000

AXIAL

50V .14

16V .14

16V .14

50V .16

16V .14

50V .20

15V .20

35V .25

25V .25

25V .30

16V .40

16V .42

16V :60

16V .70

18V .85

JDR Microdevices

1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128

800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA)

(408) 995-5430 • Telex 171-110

VISIT OUR RETAIL STORE

IS: M-W-F, 9-5 T-Th., 9-9 Sa

Sat. 10-3

Copyright 1984 JDR Microdevice

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERINGTERMS: Minimum order $10 For shipping and handling Include$2 SO for UPS Ground and $3.50 for UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. andloreign order* may require additional shipping charges — pleasecontact our sales department tor the amount. CA residents mustinclude 6°'» sales tai. Bay Area and LA residents Includes V/, Pricessubject to change without notice. We are not responsible tortypographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and tosubstitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale.

E Copyright 1964 JDR Microdevices

474 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

Circle 170 on inquiry card.

64K D RAMS 150ns OP 200nS

9/$4900

CABINETS FOR5V4''

DISK DRIVESCABINET #1 s29.95

* Dimensions 8% x 5'%. x 3'Y.."

• Color matches Apple

• Fits standard 5'A" drives, inc.Shugart

* Includes mounting hardware andfeet

CABINET #2 s79.00

* Complete with power supply,switch, line cord, fuse & standardpower connector

• Dimensions: 11'A x 5% x 3'Vie"

• +5V @ 1 AMP, +12V @ 1.5 AMP

* Please specify gray or tan

NOTE: Please include sufficient amount torshipping on above items.

TRANSFORMERSFRAME STYLE

12.6 VAC12.6VACCT12.6VACCT12.6VACCT25.2VAC CT

2amp

2amp4ampSamp

2amp

4.955.957.9510.957.95

PLUG CASE STYLE

I12VAC 250m a 3.95

12VAC 500ma 4.95

12VAC lamp 5.95

|12VAC 2amp 6.95

DC ADAPTER16, 9,12 VDC selectable withI univeral adapter 8.95

] Please include sufficient amount[for shipping on above items.

DISK DRIVES

TAN DON

TM100-1 5V4 "(FOR IBM)SS/DD 199.00

TM100-2 5*4" (FOR IBM) DS/DD 219.00

MPI

MP-525'/4"(FORIBM)DS/DO 249.00

TEAC

FD-55BV2" HEIGHT DS/DD 189.00

SHUGART

SA400L5V4"(40TRACK)SS/DD 199.95

8 "DISK DRIVE

FD 100-8 BY SIEMENS, SHUGART 801 EQUIV.SS/DD — 107*149 EA. $169.00

FD 200-8 BY SIEMENS, SHUGART 851 EQUIV.DS/DD - 10/S220 EA. $239.00

Please include sufficient amount for shipping on above items.

TEAC HALF HEIGHT

MICROCOMPUTERHARDWARE HANDBOOK

FROM ELCOMP —$14.95

Over 800 pages of manufacturers datasheets on most commonly used IC's.Includes:

* TTL — 74/74LS and 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.

ORDER TOLL FREE _

800-538-5000800-662-6279 - -

(CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS! I —J

CENTRONICS

IDCEN36 Ribbon Cable 36 Pin Male 8.95IDCEN36/F Ribbon Cable 36 Pin Female 8.95CEN36 Solder Cup 36 Pin Male 7.95 J

RIBBON CABLE

SINGLE COLOR

COLOR CODED

CONTACTS

1 '

10'

1 '

10'

10

.50

4.40

.83

7.30

16

.55

4.80

1.00

8.80

20

.65

5.70

1.25

11.00

25

.75

6.60

1.32

11.60

26

.75

6.60

1.32

11.60

34

.98

8.60

1.65

14.50

40

1.32

11.60

1.92

16.80

so

1.38

12.10

2.50

22.00

BEST SELLING BOOKSOSBORNE/MC GRAW-HILL

j Apple II User's Guide 16.95

CRT Controller's Handbook (.95

68000 Assembly Language

Programming 16.99

I CBASIC User Guide 15.00

SYBEX

| Z-80Applications 15.95

IBM PC DOS Handbook 9.95

Programming the8086/8088 15.95

The Best of IBM PC Software 16.95

Microprocessor Interfacing

Techniques 17.95

EDGECARDCONNECTORS

S-100STS-100WW72 pin ST72 pin WW50 pin ST44 pin ST44 pin WW

3.954.956.957.954.952.954.95

DIP CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

16

CONTACTS18 20 22

24 28

40

HIGH RELIABILITYTOOLED ST IC AUGATxx-STSOCKETS

.99 1.69 1.89 1.89 1.99 2.49 2.99

COMPONENTCARRIERS

(DIP HEADERS)

ICCxx .65 .75

.85 1.00 1.25 1.25 1.35

1.50 2.10

RIBBON CABLEDIP PLUGS (IDC)

IDPxx •- 1.45

1.65 2.50

-- 4.15

IDC Connectors" below.

For order Instructions see '

D-SUBMINIATURE

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

9

15

CONTACTS25

37

50

SOLDER CUP

MALE

DPxxP

2.08

2.69

2.50

4.80

6.06

FEMALE

DBxxS

2.66

3.63

3.25

7.11

9.24

RT. ANGLE

MALE

DBxxPR

1.65

2.20

3.00

4.83

PC HOLDER

FEMALE

DBxxSR

2.18

3.03

4.42

6.19

IDC RIBBON CABLE

MALE

IDBxxP

3.37

4.70

6.23

9.22

—

FEMALE

IDBxxS

3.69

5.13

6.84

10.08

HOODS

BLACK

HOOD-B

...

1.25

...

GREY

HOOD

1.60

1.60

1.25

2.95

3.50

«!...-...J lfU.---ta..Jt>

■n"iriw"mrir'wir"W"w"irB m wm m

MOUNTING HARDWARE-$1.00

For order instructions see "IDC Connectors" below.

IDC CONNECTORS

DESCRIPTION

ORDER BY

10

20

CONTACTS26 34

40

50

SOLDER HEADER

IDHxxS

.82

1.29

1.68

2.20

2.58

3.24

RT. 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

RT. ANGLE WW HEADER

IDHxxWR

2.05

3.28

4.22

4.45

4.80

7.30

RIBBON HEADER SOCKET

IDSxx

1.15

1.86

2.43

3.15

3.73

4.65

RIBBON HEADER

IDMxx

—

5.50

6.25

7.00

7.50

8.50

RIBBON EDGE CARD

IDExx

2.25

2.36

2.65

3.25

3.80

4.74

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS: Insert the number of contacts in the position marked "xx" of the "order by" part.number listed. Example: A 10 pin right angle holder style header would be IDH10SR.

"opynghl 1984 JDR Microdevicei

Circle 170 on inquiry card.

AUGUST 1984 'BYTE 475

NEW FOR IBM

PC PEACOCK

COLOR GRAPHICS ADAPTER

BY MA SYSTEMS

• MED. RES. 320x200

• HIGH RES. 640x200

• COMPOSITE AND RGB OUTPUT FOR ALLSTANDARD MONITORS

• LIGHT PEN INTERFACE

• CHOICE OF 16 COLORS IN HIGH RES. MODE!

• PARALLEL PORT STANDARD! -.

• 2 YEAR WARRANTY! S93Q95

• PLUS FULL IBM COMPATIBILITY CV«

pi PSftCobdl I !(|IH$VST6fflSi

TM 100-2

• SAME DRIVEAS SUPPLIEDBY IBM

• DS/DD-320K

'199

oo

1 EH V FD-55B HALF HEIGHT

• 6ms STEP RATE

• DS/DD

• INCLUDESINSTRUCTIONS

M59

oo

BUY 2 FOR s29900

AND GET FREE MOUNTING BRACKETS!

MAXIMIZED

BY SIGMA DESIGN

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• MULTI-FUNCTION CARD

• 64K TO 384K RAM

• PARALLEL PORT

• SERIAL PORT

• CLOCK CALENDAR

• SOFTWARE INCLUDED:CLOCK UTILITY, RAM DISKAND SPOOLER.

OPTIONS:

• SECOND SERIAL PORT

• GAME ADAPTER

$25900

11

u

JDR 16K RAM CARD

* 2 YEAR WARRANTY

* EXPAND YOUR 48K APPLE TO 64K

* USE IN PLACE OF APPLELANGUAGE CARD

BARE PC CARD 9.95

i c-JBF'<

$15995

JDR HALF-HEIGHT DISK DRIVE

*TEAC MECHANICS—DIRECT DRIVE

♦ 100% APPLE COMPATIBLE — 35 TRACK

♦ 40 TRACK WHEN USED WITH OPTIONAL CONTROLLER

♦ 1 YEAR WARRANTY

MA SYSTEMS FD-35

♦ DIRECT REPLACEMENT FOR ,._-..APPLEDISKM S1/Q95

♦ SHUGARTMECHANISM-MADEINU.S. ■■•40 TRACK CONTROLLER CARD *49"

OmNIGRRPH

BY MA SYSTEMS

PARALLEL GRAPHICS INTERFACE

FOR APPLE II & Me

$79

* HIGH RES. MULTICOLORGRAPHICS

* CENTRONICS STANDARDFOR EPSON, OKIDATA...

* SCREEN DUMP, ROTATION,INVERSION, ZOOM, AND MORE!

*1 YEAR WARRANTY!

95

ALL WITH A 2 YEAR WARRANTYVIEWMAX-80 s159"

* 80COLUMN CARD FOR APPLE II +

VIEWMAX-80e s129"

* 80 COLUMN CARD FOR APPLE lie

* 64K RAM EXPANDABLE TO 128K

GRAPHMAX s12995

* HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS

* PRINTERCARD

OTHER ACCESSORIESFOR APPLE II

THUNDERCLOCK s12995|

* OFFICIAL PRO DOS CLOCK CALENDAR

* 100% MOUNTAIN SOFTWARE COMPATIBLE

* BSR CONTROL OPTIONS AVAILABLE

KRAFT JOYSTICK

♦ SELF CENTERING

♦ AXIS ISOLATION

APPLE COMPATIBLEPOWER SUPPLY

♦ USE TO POWER APPLETYPE SYSTEMS

♦ + 5V @ 4A + 12V @ 2.5A-5V @ .5A -12V @ .5A

♦ APPLE POWER CONNECTOR

♦ INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED

'39

95

$4995!

SEEESE

MONITORS

BMC MONITOR STANDMODEL PA-900Your Display WillTilt & Swivel s29'5

MONOCHROME

I BMC BMJJ1201G GREEN 12 s89"

IBMCBM12EUY18MHZAMBER . . s139"I BMC BM 12EUN 18 MHZ HIGH

RESGREEN MIS00

INEC JB1201M-20MHZGREEN .... s169°°IZENITH ZVM-123 -15 MHZ

GREEN NEW s10500

COLOR

I BMC BM-AU9191U COMPOSITE 13" s27900MO C.O.D. ORDERS PLEASE

DMC OMX-80 PRINTER

♦ 80 CPS DOT MATRIX PRINTER

♦ PRINTS BI-DIRECTIONAL IN 40, 80,71 OR 142 COLUMNS IN NORMAL,DOUBLE WIDTH OR COMPRESSEDTEST.

♦ PRINT SUPERSCRIPT AS WELL ASSUPERB GRAPHICS IN CHARACTEROR BIT IMAGE

*249

5-1/4 DISKFILE

♦ ATTRACTIVE,FUNCTIONAL DISKSTORAGE SYSTEM

♦ 75 DISK STORAGECAPACITY

$16"

JDR Microdevices

1224 S. Bascom Avenue, San Jose, CA 95128

800-538-5000 • 800-662-6279 (CA)

(408) 995-5430 • Telex 171-110

Apple is a trademark of Apple Computer Corporation

NASHUA DISKETTES

5V4 " WITH HUB RING

MD1 SOFT, SS/DD 19"

MD1DSOFT.SS/DD 26"

MD2DSOFT, DS/DD 30"

MD2FSOFT, DS/4D 45"

MD11010 SECTOR, SS/SD. . . 19"MD210010SECTOR, DS/DD . 30"

8 "WITHOUT HUB RING

FD1SOFT.SS/SD 24" i

FD1DSOFT.SS/DD 30"

FD2D SOFT, DS/DD 36" (

VERBATIM

DATALIFE DISKETTES

SS/DD SOFT SECTOR 29"

SS/DD 10 SECTOR HARD . . . 29"

VISIT OUR RETAIL STORE

HOURS: M-W-F, 9-5 T-Th., 9-9 Sal. 10-3

PLEASE USE YOUR CUSTOMER NUMBER WHEN ORDERING

TERMS: Minimum order S10. For shipping and handling Include$2.50 for UPS Ground and $3.50 for UPS Air. Orders over 1 lb. andforeign orders may require additional shipping charges — pleasecontact our sales department for the amount. CA residents muslinclude 6% sales tax. Bay Area and LA residents Include 6Vi%. Pricessubject to change without notice. We are not responsible (ortypographical errors. We reserve the right to limit quantities and tosubstitute manufacturer. All merchandise subject to prior sale.© Copyright 1984 JDR Microdevices

476 BYTE- AUGUST 1984

Circle I7i on inquiry card.

UNCLASSIFIED ADS

BYTE is concerned about software piracy. Unclassifiedads proposing exchanges of software must specify that thesoftware was written by the individual or is in the publicdomain. BYTE reserves the right to refect any unclassifiedad that does not meet this criterion.

NEEDED: Khmer. Lao. and Vietnamese word-processing and dictionary-generating programs.Also, desire interaction with others with similar in-terests. Maurice Bauhahn, c/o World Vision Foun-dation of Thailand. POB 1717, Bangkok 10500.Thailand.

NEEDED: Hewlett-Packard 85 or 86 or Apple I! orequivalent sought by native geophysicist working onunderground-water research to interpret electricalsounding curves. Your donation will help alleviatethe drought conditions for the nomads in the Saharadesert. Will pay shipment. N. Mellal. POB 185Tamanrasset. Algeria

WANTED: Native American nonprofit educationalorganization seeks donations of peripherals for aWang word-processing system with one or moreworkstations, a letter-quality printer, a cut-sheetfeeder, and a telecommunications module. Alsoseeking donations of Wang and other manufac-turer's computer equipment and business software.Shawnodese, Bear Tribe Medicine Society, 1025North Cannon. Spokane. WA 99201. (5031 326-6561.

NEEDED: Non profit community mental-health centerseeks tax-deductible donation of a personal com-puter with disk drives for Help Line telephone-crisiscounseling and suicide-prevention program. Com-puter to be used for storage and retrieval of com-munity resources referrals and other informationused in handling crisis calls. Kathleen Vail, Help Line,c/o Lakeview Center. 122 I West Lakeview Ave.. Pen-sacola, FL 32 501.

WANTED: Tax-deductible donations of computersand peripherals (Apple II. IBM PC. VIC-20) to teachcomputer technology and programming toeconomically disadvantaged students. Also needprinter, monitors, disk drives, and memory expan-sion. Fairbreak Electronics Club, Suite 102. 1100 Ker-mit Dr., Nashville. TN 37217. |615| 361-1652.

NEEDED: Evergreen School District's special-education department seeks donations of a per-sonal robot or robotic arm for educational purposesto adapt environments for physically disabledstudents. Specialized inputs are needed: touch-sensitive screens, light pens, voice-activated com-puter systems, and speech synthesizers to providethese individuals with access to computertechnology, Cynthia L, Campbell, Special Services,7000 Northeast 117th Ave.. Vancouver. WA 98662,(2061 256-6022.

WANTED: Tax-deductible donation of CommodoreVIC-20, COM-64, Datasette. disk drive, monitor, orprinter to be used by elementary school studentsto learn programming. Frank Church, Principal,Valley Institute, RFD 3, Bristol, VA 24201. (703)669-3073.

WANTED: Small Catholic grade school seeks tax-deductible donation of Apple II Plus and/or He tointroduce children to computers. Dick Stringham.St. Mary's School. 195th St.. Mokena. 1L 60448. (3121479-2526.

WANTED: Computer equipment, especially com-ponents and peripherals for nonprofit student aero-space group to be used in the simulation, designand construction of student projects. Havemembers, will build and debug. Software would bewelcome too. American Institute of Aeronautics andAstronautics. Milwaukee Student Branch, 3200North Cramer St., Milwaukee, Wl 53211 or call lohnConrad at (414) 964-9058 or Dr. Arthur Sorensenat (414) 963-6076.

WANTED: Tax-deductible donations of microcom-puters (TRS-80 Model III or Apple II). disk drives,monitors, and printers for our engineering-department students' usage, especially for the Com-puter Aided HVAC and CAD courses. Professor M.C Akisoglu Engineering Department. CCAC.Allegheny Campus, 808 Ridge Ave, Pittsburgh. PA15212, (4121 237-2690.

WANTED: Information about a nutritional-analysis

program that computes diabetic exchanges onrecipes sought for IBM PC. DEC Pro 350, mainframe.or equivalent, leanne Rogers. Kilo Foundation, Suite32IE, 777 South New Ballas Rd„ St. Louis, MO63141, (314) 567-5525.

FOR TRADE: Keypunch unit We will swap forevidence that you are educational, charitable, andare willing to pick it up. Peter Sohn, c/o Abel/Noser,23rd floor, 90 Broad St., New York. NY 10004.

FOR SALE: Plotter, Houston Instruments HiplotDMP-29. like new, used only for self-test patterns:SI 550 cash or certified check. You pay UPS. Ownermoving overseas, lohn M. Case. 585 Big Sky Court.Colorado Springs, CO 80919, (303) 599-0744.

WANTED: Used Kaypro or similar business computerwith printer under S1000. Carol D'Agostino, 37 led-wood Place, Valley Stream, NY 11581.

WANTED: Working computer science major wouldgreatly appreciate donation of computer and/orperipheral equipment to allow hands-on experience.R. Day. Apt. 21. 555 Walnut. Long Beach. CA 90802.

FOR SALE: SS-30 F & D 5-inch disk controller: S75.SS-30 5- and 8-inch disk controller, single/doubledensity and sided: SI75. Heathkit H-9 terminal: $8012-inch video monitor: S45. ASCII keyboard withTVT board in nice enclosure: S20. Phil Moore. POB2312. Florrissant. MO 63032.

FOR SALE: CompuPro 8086/8087 CPU board with8086 only. This is an 8-MHz board in almost brand-new condition: S400 or best offer. Michael E.Nunamaker. 604 East Clark #5. Champaign. IL61820, (217) 351-8215.

FOR SALE: Heath H-ll processor with 32K bytes ofmemory. H-27 dual floppy-disk drive, two serial-interface ports. H-19 monitor. Includes all documen-tation. Best offer. T. A. Homan, 7741 Stanley MillDr., Centerville. OH 45459, (5131 434-3896.

FOR SALE: TRS-80 Model I. I6K with monitor, key-board, power pack, and four books: S2 50. SeanBrown, 400 Second Ave,, New York, NY 10010, (212)725-0379.

FOR SALE: Hewlett-Packard Model 86A personalcomputer, 64K, with HP 82913A 12-inch monitor,HP 9130A 5!4-inch single, flexible disk drive. Also,HP 82905B impact printer and an HP 82950Amodem. Paid $4170, will sell for $3000 or best of-fer. Debbie Parsons, 516 Bank St.. Wallace. ID 83873,(208) 752-1116 days,

FOR SALE: Netronics Cosmic Elf computer and casewith 4K RAM, monitor board, ASCII keyboard, ex-ternal power supply, and documentation. $425value for $175 or best offer. Eugene Hochhalter,4110 Dixie. Idaho Falls, ID 83401. (2081 524-3513.

FOR SALE: Timex/Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair I6K RAM,2040 printer. Memopak I6K RAM. keyboard. Z80assembler. Programming the Z80. 8080/Z80 AssemblyLanguage. Explorer's Guide To the ZX-81, Zilog Z-80 As-sembly Language Programming Manual. Make an offer,lames E. O Donnell, 2 5 Main St.. Newcomb, NY12852, (518) 582-4511

WANTED: Computer science freshman would ap-preciate your donation of discarded, unused, orrepairable computers, printers, parts, or accessoriesfor college work, lehan Martinez. 11501 PyreneeseDr., Austin, TX 78759,

FOR SALE: Okidata BMC 80/20 computer, monitorkeyboard, disk drives, printer, graphics. Never used:$1799. Also. Sanyo MBC 550 16-bit computer, 128KRAM, keyboard, 160K disk drive, monitor, parallel-printer port, and color graphics. Never used: $895.Paul Konitzer. 3856 Clark St.. Seaford. NY 11783.(516) 783-7274

WANTED: Engineering student needs a computerand a disk drive. Any other computer equipmentwill be appreciated too. 1. C Munoz, Casilla 103 5.Concepcion, Chile.

FOR SALE: Three unused Shugart 8-inch SA10025.33-megabyte hard-disk drives: $269 each. Also,have Western Digital's controllers for the drives:$331 each. Easy to interface to Heath. Apple. IBMand TRS-80. Herb Merrill. 20 Randy Dr.. Taylors. SC29687, (803) 877-9444,

WANTED: Back issues of BYTE (December 1977. lan-uary 1978, March 1979. April 79, December 1981,November 1982. and December 1982). Will give $10plus postage for all or $ I each for single copies. KenHamel. Rt. 5 Box 162. Watertown. Wl 53094

WANTED: High school student seeking donations ofhardware and manuals Anything is appreciated. Willpay shipping costs. lames F. McGovern |r., 38Ledyard Ave, Bloomfield, CT 06002,

NEEDED: High school student seeks software-product brochures. Also, seeks donations of com-puter hardware for DEC Rainbow and 16-bit TRS-80and system manuals for the DEC PDP11. luniorStephens. 3 56 Wolcott Ave.. Windsor, CT 06095

FOR SALE: Two disk drives, Tandon TM100-1. 5^4-inch(for North Star Horizon), SS/DD drive, no power sup-ply or case: $170 each. lim Lovewell. 1490 Eastluana. San Leandro. CA 94577. (415) 351-6207.

FOR SALE: CompuPro boards: lnterfacer-1: $175.RAM-17: $275 CPU-Z 6 MHz: $175. Disk 1 andCP/M: $400. System Support with 4MHZ-9511: $375.All for $1200. Brent Dowd, 5289 South Manitou Rd..Littleton. CO 80123, (303) 797-7512,

WANTED: High school student would like donatedApple computer, cards, peripherals, or any un-wanted equipment. Will pay all postage. KennethMinklei, 3427 Stony Point Rd.. Grand Island, NY14072, (716) 773-2478.

FOR SALE: Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1 front-panelcomputer with 4-MHz Z80 CPU. 64 K RAM, SIO-Iserial/parallel board, FDC-II disk-drive controller. TwoDS/DD 8-inch Shugart drives with case and powersupply. Cost over $8000, sell for $5750, Many S-100boards. Exidy Sorcerer (32K) with cassette deck,monitor, and sound plug: $200. More. Larry Robin-ette. 823 Byron Rd.. Columbia. SC 29209. (8031776-4000, ext. 251 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 pm

WANTED: A printer that is compatible with theTRS-80 Model 1 Level II BASIC Computer. Will paypostage, lames B. Burchell. 7320-A Lobaugh St.. Ft.Meade. MD 20755, (301) 674-5387.

WANTED: Printed material on the development ofthe microcomputer industry from 1974 through1980, such as newspapers from computer showsand early issues of BYTE, Infoworld. interlace Age. SCCSinterface, Computerworld. Personal Computing, and clubnewsletters. John McCray. Incarnate Word College.4301 Broadway. San Antonio, TX 78209.

FOR SALE: NorthStar Horizon. 64K, two DDDS driveswith disks. Excellent condition: $1500. Smart Ter-minal, ActV, good condition: $150. Televideo Ter-minal 970 with extra ROM so can also be used as970/950. Used 15 hours: $850. Howard Davis. 600Oakwood St., Rome. NY 13440. (315) 337-5714.

FOR SALE: Back issues of BYTE. Vol. 2 No. 3 (March1977) to current issue, less October 1978 andDecember 1979. Best offer or equipment tradePostage free anywhere in continental USA. RichClemens, WVWC-18, Buckhannon, WV 26201,

WANTED: A graduate student seeks donation of anApple Macintosh. He, or IBM PC for research inbusiness-writing strategies to investigate if the in-teractive composing process of writers is altered byusing a computer. Melba Leach, English Depart-ment. Indiana University, Ballantine Hall 447, Bloom-ington, IN 47401,

FOR SALE: Voicebox II for Atari. Used only a fewtimes: $90. Ike Hudson. 519 Linden. East Lansing.MI 48823.

UNCLASSIFIED POLICY: Readers who havecomputer equipment to buy. sell or trade or whoare requesting or giving advice may send a noticeto BYTE for inclusion in the Unclassified Adssection. To be considered for publication, an adver-tisement must be noncommercial and nonprofit(individuals or bona fide computer clubs), typeddouble-spaced, contain 60 words or less, and in-clude name and address. This is a free service:notices are printed as space permits. Your con-firmation of placement is appearance in an issueof BYTE as we engage in no correspondence.Please allow at least four months for your adto appear. Send your notices to BYTE. Un-classified Ads. POB 'ill. Hancock. NH 03449.

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 477

BOMB

BYTE's Ongoing Monitor Box

ARTICLE* PAGE ARTICLE AUTHOR(S)

1 121 Framework ladrnicek,

Markoff,Shapiro

2 125 The 65816 Microprocessor,

Part I: Software Hendrix

3 129 Circuit Cellar Feedback Ciarcia

4 132 Benchmarking UNIX Systems Hinnant

5 137 FORTH-83: Evolution Continues McCabe

6 145 History and Goals of Modula-2 Wirth

7 157 Tutorial on Modula-2 Gutknecht

8 181 Lilith and Modula-2 Ohran

9 195 An Introduction to Modula-2 Paul

10 215 Pascal, Ada, and Modula-2 Coar

11 238 The Macintosh Webster

12 254 The IBM PCjr Archer

13 270 The Sanyo MBC-550 Sudbrink

14 287 Four Logos for the IBM PC Bridger

15 305 The Juki 6100 Printer Vose

16 313 Computing at Chaos Manor:

Between Conventions Pournelle

17 339 BYTE Japan: Pasocom Pagodas Raike

18 347 BYTE West Coast:

Macintosh's Other Designers Markoff,

Shapiro

19 361 BYTE U.K.: Microprocessor Design Pountain

MAY'S SPEEDY RETURNS

Steve Ciarcia's column won first place in theMay BYTE. Thus "Trump Card, Part 1: Hard-ware,'' describing how to speed up the IBMPC. clinches Steve the SI00 jackpot. TheUser's Column by lerry Pournelle on "ChaosManor's Hard-Disk System" took secondplace, providing lerry with the $50 bonus.In third place is a feature written by BYTE'ssenior technical editor on the West Coast.John Markoff, on "The Apple lie PersonalComputer." The two authors of "MaximizingHard-Disk Performance," Roy Chaney andBrian (ohnson, won fourth place in a featureabout how to increase transfer rates. Andfifth mention goes to Steve McMahon forhis review of "The Kaypro 10." a hard-diskCP/M portable computer. BYTE's readershipis responsible for the congratulations duethese authors.

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478 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

123

4

5

6349

7891011121314

15

266

18

20

355242526272829303132333435383940

41424344

4748495134652535455

1st PLACE SYSTEMS 208

2500 AD SOFTWARE 212, 213

2500 BUYMA1L 190

800 SOFTWARE 84

AST RESEARCH 19

AT&T LONG LINES 346

AT & T TECHNOLOGY 36. 37

AB COMPUTERS 226

ACOM ELECTRONICS 452

ACT (NORTH AMERICA) INC . 136

ACTION COMPUTER 113

ACTION COMPUTER 113

ADDMASTER CORP. 456

ADV. COMP PROD 466, 467.

ADV. SYS CONCEPTS 108

ADV. TRANSDUCER DEVICES .471

ALF PRODUCTS 80

ALLENBACH INDUSTRIES 128

ALPHA OMEGA COMPUTER . . 370

AMARAY CORP. 167

AMER. SQUARE COMP. 246

AMPRO COMPUTERS INC 396

ANTEX DATA SYSTEMS 152

APOLLO MARKETING 440

APPLE COMPUTER INC Cll, 1

APPLE COUNTRY 397

APPLEWARE, INC 454

APROPOS TECHNOLOGY 471

ARTIFICIAL INTL. RESEARCH . .414

ARTISOFT 316

ARTISOFT 316

ASHTONTATE 107

AVOCET 214

B&B ELECTRONICS 446

BASF SYSTEMS 79

BASF SYSTEMS 81

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC 22

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOC 23

BINARY TECHNOLOGY 454

BIZCOMP 281

BORLAND INTL 20. 21

BORLAND INTL 63

BOTTOM LINE. THE 323

BRYTE COMPUTERS 456

BYTE BROKER. THE 444

BYTE CONNECTION. THE 78

BYTE ADVERTISING MESSAGE 371

BYTE APPLE GUIDE 380, 381

BYTE COMPUTER SHOW . 374. 375BYTE SUBSCRIBER NOTICE .... 409

BYTEK COMP SYS. CORP. 309

C WARE 228

C-SYSTEMS 471

C.S.D. INC 356

CALIF. DIGITAL 464. 465

CALIF. MICRO COMP. 210

CANON USA 225

CANON USA 227

CANON U.S.A 229

CDR SYSTEMS 415

CHORUS DATA SYSTEMS . . 379

CHROMOD ASSOC 34

CODE-A-PHONE CORP . . 422. 423

COGITATE. INC 102

COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SYS . 442COMMODORE BUSN MACHINES 59COMP. COMPNTS. UNLTD 468. 469COMPAQ COMPUTER CORP154. 155

COMPETITIVE EDGE 378

COMPUADD 448

COMPUADD 456

COMPUMAIL 470

COMPUMAX 439

COMPUPRO 201

Inquiry No.

Page No.

63

3373386465666768697071

727374767577787980818384858788899091929394953533549798335101102103

344105340106107108109110111112113114115116

COMPUPRO 249

COMPUPRO 286

COMPUSERVE 8

COMPUSERVE 231

COMPUTER COLORWORKS 140, 141COMPUTER CONNECTION INC 444COMPUTER DISCOUNT PROD 447

COMPUTER EXPO 471

COMPUTER FRIENDS 280

COMPUTER INNOVATIONS ... 387COMPUTER MAIL ORDER . 416, 417COMPUTER PRICE CLUB . 102

COMPUTER SWAP SHOP 448

COMPUTER WAREHOUSE 267

COMPUTERS AND MORE 77

COMPUTERS FOR LESS 471

COMPUTRAX, INC, 318

COMPUVIEW PROD. INC 293

COMPUVIEW PROD INC 398

CONDOR COMP CORP 72

CONROY-LAPOINTE 252, 253

CONROY-LAPOINTE 252, 253

CONROY-LAPOINTE 252, 253

CONTROL DATA 194

CORONA DATA SYS 110, 111

CORONA DATA SYS 233

COSMOS 175

CRE WHOLESALE PROD 430

CRE WHOLESALE PROD, 430

CRE WHOLESALE PROD 430

CROMEMCO 5

CUESTA SYSTEMS 324

CUMANA 217

DATA ACCESS CORP 283

DATA SPEC 185

DATA SPEC 185

DATA SPEC 378

DATA SPEC 378

DATA TRANSLATION 100

DATASOUTH COMP CORP 57

DIGITAL LABORATORIES 332

DIGITAL MICROSYSTEMS 247

DIGITAL RESEARCH 42, 43

DIGITAL RESEARCH 368, 369

DIGITAL RESEARCH COMP 382

DISCOUNT COMPUTER CENTERS 299

DISKETTE CONNECTION 376

DISK WORKS 448

DISKWORLD INC 92

DISKWORLD, INC 203

DiSKWORLD INC 454

DISKWORLD INC 456

DISKWORLD, INC 471

DISPLAY TELECOMMNCTNS. . . 445DOKAY COMP. PROD. INC 462. 463

DOSS INDUSTRIES 86

DOW IONES SOFTWARE 325

DWIGHT CO., INC 450

DYMEK CORP, 177

DYNAX, INC 87

DYSAN CORP 70. 71

ECONOMY SOFTWARE 30

Inquiry No.

Page No.

117 ECOSOFT 398

118 EDGE MICRO SYSTEMS 414

119 EDUCATIONAL MICROCOMP . . 456

120 ELCOMP 452

121 ELECTRADE CO. 456

122 ELECTRADE CO 471

• ELLIS COMPUTING INC 91

• ELLIS COMPUTING INC 372

• EMPIRICAL RESEARCH GROUP . 56

• ENCHANTED FOREST 454

• EPSON AMERICA 28. 29

124 EXPERT COMPUTERS 455

125 EXPOTEK 443

126 EXPRESS BUSINESS SOFTWARE291

127 EXTENDED PROCESSING 389

128 FABRICATION CONCEPTS INC . 456

129 FALCON SAFETY PROD 62

356 FORTRON 440

357 FORTRON 440

132 FUIITSU AMERICA 191

133 GENERAL TECHNOLOGY 75

134 GIFFORD COMP SYS 279

135 GILTRONIX. INC 450

136 GRYPHON MICRO PROD. 446

137 GTEK INC 112

• H&E COMPUTRONICS 109

139 HANDWELL CORP. 449

140 HARMONY VIDEO 446

141 HAYES MICROCOMP PROD . 60. 61

• HAYES MICROCOMP. PROD. 367

142 HEATH COMPANY 65

750 HEATH COMPANY INSERT . 384A-B

143 HELIX SYS. & DEVLR CORP. .. .209

144 HELIX SYS. & DEVLP CORP.... 209

145 HERCULES COMPUTER TECH . 304

146 HITECH INTL INC 446

147 HOLLYWOOD HARDWARE 176

207 HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS . .373

148 HUMAN DESIGNED SYSTEMS . 103

149 I.BC 17

150 I.BC 17

151 IAR SYSTEMS 76

• IBM-IISG] SERVICES 297

152 IBM CORP 358, 359

153 IBM NDD-SYS. SUPPLIES 383

154 IMAGE COMP. PROD 310

155 INFOCOM 104. 105

156 INMAC 409

157 INPUT/OUTPUT TECHNOLOGY 49

158 INTEGRAND 106

159 INTEGRATED COMP. SOLUT10NS454

160 INTERACTIVE STRUCT. 295

162 INTERFACE INC 24

163 INTERFACE INC 24

317 INTERSTAR CORP 74

164 INTERTEC DATA SYS 15

165 IC SYSTEMS 330

166 IADE COMP. PROD 457

167 IADE COMP PROD 458. 459

168 IAMECO ELECTR 220, 221

169 IDR MICRODEVICES INC. .472, 473

170 IDR MICRODEVICES INC . 474. 475

TO GET FURTHER information on the products advertised in BYTE, fillout the reader service card with your name and address. Then circlethe appropriate numbers for the advertisers you select from the list. Adda 20-cent stamp to the card, then drop it in the mail. Not only do yougain information, but our advertisers are encouraged to use themarketplace provided by BYTE. This helps us bring you a bigger BYTE.The index is provided as an additional service by the publisher, whoassumes no liability for errors or omissions. 'Correspond directly withcompany.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

17117217317533617717886180181182183184185186187339189190191192193194195196197198199200201202341206343342208210

212213215216217218219220221350223224345225226227228229230231232

233234235236237238239240241242

IDR MICRODEVICES INC 476

KEITHLEY/DAS 25

KEY TRONIC CORP 344, 345

LABORATORY MICROSYS 38

LIBERTY GROUP INC 441

LOCKHEED-GETEX 205

LOGICAL DEVICES 32

LOGICAL DEVICES 446

LOGICAL MICROCOMPUTER ... 96

LOGITECH INC 317

LOMAS DATA PRODUCTS 171

LONG-LIFE ACCESSORIES . . 418LOTUS DEVELOPMENT . . . 390. 391

LYBEN COMP. SYS 450

LYCO COMPUTER 451

MACROTECH INTL 329

MAGNUM PC 204

MANNESMANN TALLY 183

MANX SOFTWARE SYS 41

MARC SOFTWARE 243

MARYMAC INDUSTRIES .... 454

MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 335

MC-P APPLICATIONS 197

MEMOREX MEDIA PROD . 426, 427

MERRIT COMP PROD 452

MET-CHEM INTL CORP. 452

META SYSTEMS 446

MFI ENTERPRISES INC 90

MICRO AGE COMP. STORES INC. 173

MICRO DATA BASE SYS 263

MICRO DESIGN INTL 156

MICRO MANAGEMENT SYS .222

MICRO MART INC 98, 99

MICRO SYSTEMS INSTITUTE ... 448

MICROCOMPUTER CO 376

MICRODYNAMICS 450

MICROSHOP 322

MICROSOFT CORP. IBASICI ... 147MICROSOFT CORP {FORTRAN!. 149MICROSOFT CORP. (PASCAL) 151

MICROSOFT CORP. 302. 303

MICROSTUF 51, 52, 53

MICROSTUF 357

MICROTECH EXPORTS 192

MICROTIME 4

MICROVOICE CORP 115

MICROWARE 163

MIDWEST MICRO-PERIPHERALS 16

MIND BANK INC 448

MINDSET CORP, 178. 179

MISCO, INC 226

MODULA SYS CORP. 69

MORROW 187

MOTEL COMPUTERS LIMITED . 452

MOUNTAIN VIEW PRESS 85

MTI SYSTEMS CORP 294

MULTI-TECH SYSTEMS 58

MULTIMATE INTL 268, 269

MYLSTAR ELECTRONICS 165

NASHUA PLUS 413

NEC INFORMATION SYS Clll

NETWORX INC 131

NORTH HILLS CORP. 446

NORTH HILLS CORP. 450

NORTHWEST DIGITAL SYS 326

NORTRONICS DATA . 284, 285

OKIDATA 207

OLYMPIA USA INC 211

OPEN SYSTEMS INC./UCCEL 202

OREGON SOFTWARE 193

ORYX SYSTEMS 410. 411

OSM COMPUTER 101

PC. NETWORK 275

PACE SYSTEMS. INC 456

AUGUST 1984 • BYTE 479

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 415

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 418

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 446

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 448

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 450

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 452

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 454

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 456

243 PACIFIC EXCHANGES 471

244 PARADISE SYSTEMS 315

245 PC PIPELINE 446

246 PERMA POWER ELECTRONICS 246

247 PERSOFT 127

351 PERSYST INC 88. 89

352 PERSYST INC 88. 89

248 PHOENIX ELECTRONIC DEVLP 450

249 PIPELINE COMPUTER ... 460. 461

251 POPCOM/PRENTICE CORP 223

252 PRIMAGES INC 261

253 PRINCETON GRAPHIC SYS 353

254 PRIORITY ONE 312

255 PROGRAMMERS SHOP 296

203 PROGRESSIVE MICRO DISTRI. . 349

256 PROTECTO ENTERPRIZES 93

250 PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE CTR 471

257 PURCHASING AGENT. THE .... 108

258 PURPLE COMPUTING 448

259 QUADRAM CORP 35

260 QUADRAM CORP 97

261 QUANT SYSTEMS 452

Inquiry No.

Page No.

262263264

26526782269270271272273

27516

276277278279

281282283284285

QUBIE DISTRIBUTING 245

QUCES 18

QUELO 372

RACAL-VADIC INSERT 32A-D

RADIO SHACK CIV

REMOTE MEASUREMENT SYS.. 401

RING KING VISIBLES. INC 66

ROGERS LABS 310

ROLAND CORP 55

S-100 DIV. 696 CORP. 453

S-100 DIV. 696 CORP. 453

SAB-LINK INC 450

SAFEWARE 294

SAFEWARE 396

SAKATA 365

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CORP 290

SCITOR 116, 117

SCCTTSDALE SYSTEMS 124

SEEQUA COMP. CORP. 7

SEMIDISK SYSTEMS 319

SHARP ELECTRONICS 189

SHEPHERD MARKETING 448

SILICON SPECIALTIES 224

SLR SYSTEMS 452

SOFTLINE CORP. 26

SOFTRENT 452

SOFTWARE SERVICES 414

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INC 252. 253

SOFTWARE TOOLWORKS 114

SOLUTIONWARE CORP 310

Inquiry No.

Page No.

286287288289290291292293295296297161298301

302303304

308309

311188310312313314

SPRINGER-VERLAG 259

SPSS 337

STB CORP 144

STRUCTURAL PROGRAMMING . 316

SUNNY INTL 442

SUNOL SYSTEMS 360

SUNTRONICS 439

SUPERSOFT 82. 83

SYSTAT INC 331

SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT ASSOC 333

SYSTEMS STRATEGIES 114

T & A SYSTEMS 454

TALLGRASS TECH 31

TDI SYSTEMS, INC 327

TEKTRONIX INC 169

TELETEK ENTERPRISES. INC. .47

TELEVIDEO SYSTEMS 234. 235

TERRAPIN INC 450

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS. . . 11, 12, 13

TIGERTRONICS 415

TINNEY ROBERT GRAPHICS. . .425

TOPAZ, INC 199

TOSHIBA AMERICA INC 351

TRANS WORLD AIRLINES . 354. 355

U.S. AIR FORCE 321

U.S. COMPONENTS 387

U.S. ROBOTICS 45

UN1PRESS SOFTWARE INC 68

UNISOURCE 95

UNIVERSAL DATA SYS 39

Inquiry No.

Page No.

315 VANTEC 418

316 VEN-TEL INC 153

320 VERTEX SYSTEMS 340

321 VERTEX SYSTEMS 341

322 VIDEX 27

323 VISUAL TECH. INC 159

• VLM COMPUTER ELECTR 454

324 VOLITION SYSTEMS 406

325 VOLITION SYSTEMS 407

326 WANG ELECTR. PUBL. INC 64

• WAREHOUSE DATA PRODUCTS . 40348 WASHINGTON COMP. SERVICES389

327 WESTERN UNION 377

328 WESTICO INC 206

329 WHITESMITHS LTD 161

330 WILLIAMS. MARK CO. 180

331 WINTER CORP. 343

332 WINTEK CORP. 448

333 WYSE TECHNOLOGY 139

334 WYSE TECHNOLOGY 363

347 X.D.S 399

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6a) When AIMS Says "Enter (Next) Inquiry Number" . . .

Enter One Inquiry Selection From Below . . . (Ignore Blank Boxes)b) Repeat 6a As Needed (Maximum 17 Inquiry Numbers)

I. OOOEBi 6.DDDBB 10. DDDffli 14.0001112]a 7. ODOfflffl II. OOOIZlffl 15. OOOKlLaE 8. OOOGHil 12. OODfflffl 16. 000000

a 9. oooiaia 13. dddbb 17. dddbb

2.

ODD

3.

ODD

4.

ODD

5.

ODD

END SESSION . . .

7) End Session By Entering . . .H H m CD ES ffl

8) Hang Up After Hearing Final Message

If you are a subscriber and need assistance, call(603) 924-9281.

If you are not a subscriber fill out the subscription card found in this issue or, call BYTE Circulation 800-258-5485.

480 B YTE • AUGUST 1984

INTRODUCING PINWRITER

DOT MATRIX PRINTERS,

AND A HEAD TO HEAD

COMPARISON OF WHY

THEY'RE BETTER.

Our new multi-modePin writer® dot matrix printershave a lot in common withour Spinwriter® letter-qualityprinters. Designed and manu-factured with the same qual-ity and reliability that hasmade our Spinwriters the bestselling letter-quality printersto PC users. We also gavethem many unique capabili-ties you won't find on otherdot matrix printers. Especiallyat such an affordable price.

More dots, more fonts, moreversatility.

One thing that makes Pin-writers stand out from other

Our exclusive 18-pin print head is graphically sharperthan a 9-pin printer, as this unretouched photo shows.

dot matrix printers is ourprinthead. It has 18 pins.Compared to the usual nine.It also has true dual-passprinting. The result: an amaz-ing 240x240 dots per inch.

The quick brown fox

The quicker broun foxThe quickest brown fox

Three speeds cover all your printing needs.

That's why the print is asclose to letter quality as youcan get without getting a

Spinwriter.And whycharts, illustra-tions andgraphicslook socrisp.

Our new P2 and P3 dot matrixprinters give you everything our Spinwriterletter-quality printers are famous tor,including forms handlers.

Pinwriters have somethingelse no other dot matrix print-ers have. Eight operator-selectable print styles, plus asmany as 11 internationalcharacter sets. And an LEDdisplay to tell you which stylehas been selected.

What else? Three printingspeeds. 300, 900 or 1800words per minute to handleall your printing needs fromword processing to dataprocessing.

Plus, a variety of formshandlers to speed up all yourpaperwork. All made and de-signed by NEC. And all easilyinstalled and changed by theoperator.

For the final word, see yourNEC dealer.

Only a demonstration can

Pinwnter and Spinwriter are registered trademarks ofNEC Corporation.

show you how clearly supe-rior the Pinwriter is comparedto other dot matrix printers.And how versatile it is.

For the Pinwriter retailernearest you, call 1-800-343-4419. In Massachusetts call617-264-8635.

And find out why moreand more PC users are saying,"NEC and me."

NEC InformationSystems, Inc.1414 Mass. Ave.Boxborough, MA01719

Circle 231 on inquiry card.

America's #1 PortableComputer Now Cut s200

Radio Shack's TRS-80Model 100 Comes withFive Built-in Programs!

■ Personal Word Processor

■ Appointment Scheduler

■ Address/Phone Directory

■ Telephone Auto-Dialer

■ BASIC Programming Language

Since its introduction, theTRS-80 Model 100 has becomethe most highly-acclaimed lap-size computer ever. Why? Be-cause it's a true portable thatincludes a built-in modem andfull-size typewriter keyboard.And Model 100 works on batter-ies or with an optional AC adapter.

Ready to Use

Turn on Model 100 and select aprogram listed on the easy-to-read display. With the self-contained com-municationprogram andmodem, youcan send andreceive data byphone. Add acassette re-corder and useready-to-runsoftware, too.You can also expand with a print-er, disk storage, standard videodisplay and bar code reader.

AvailableNationwide

Get your own Model 100 todayat the Radio Shack ComputerCenter, participating store ordealer nearest you.

8K Model 100

w5#5rff 26-3801

Was $799.00 in

Cat. RSC-11

As Low As $35 Per MonthOn CitiLine Credit

24K Model 100

79Q00

■ W ^#26-3802Was $999.00 inCat. RSC-11

As Low As $45 Per MonthOn CitiLine Credit

l^cBGJD© If uDS©l_S

The Technology Store"

A DIVISION OF TANDY CORPORATION

Prices apply at participating Radio Shack stores anddealers.

Circle 265 on inquiry card.