198204 Byte Magazine Vol 07 04 Human Factors Engineering

A new small computer that won’t limit you tomorrow VALE REVAVANSN rTTTIV\\N Here’s a low-priced computer that won’t run out of memory capacity or expandability halfway through your project. Typically, computer usage tends to grow, requir- ing more capability, more memory, more storage. Without a lot of capability and expandability, your computer can be obsolete from the start. The new System One is a real building-block machine. It has capability and expandability by the carload. : Look at these features: a Z80-A processor 64K of RAM 780K of disk storage CRT and printer interfaces Eight S-100 card slots, allowing expansion with — color graphics — additional memory — additional interfaces for telecommunica- tions, data acquisition, etc. = Small size GENEROUS DISK STORAGE The 780K of disk storage in the System One Model CS-1 is much greater than what is typically available in small computers. But here, too, you have a choice since a second version, Model CS-1H, has a 5” Winchester drive that gives you 5 megabytes of disk storage. MULTI-USER, MULTI-TASKING CAPABILITY Believe it or not, this new computer even offers multi-user capability when used with our advanced CROMix* operating system option. Not only does this outstanding O/S support multiple users on this com- puter but does so with powerful features like multi- ple directories, file protection and record level lock. CROMIX lets you run multiple jobs as well. In addition to our highly-acclaimed CRomIx, there is our CDOSs*. This is an enhanced CP/Mt type system designed for single-user applications. CPIM and a wealth of cP/M-compatible software are also available for the new System One through third- party vendors. COLOR GRAPHICS/WORD PROCESSING This small computer even gives you the option of outstanding high-resolution color graphics with our Model SDI interface and two-port RAM cards. Then there's our tremendously wide range of Cromemco software including packages for word processing, business, and much more, all usable with the new System One. ANTI-OBSOLESCENCE/LOW-PRICED As you can see, the new One offers you a lot of performance. It’s obviously designed with anti- obsolescence in mind. What's more, it’s priced at only $3,995. That's considerably less than many machines with much less capability. And it’s not that much more than many machines that have little or nothing in the way of expandability. Physically, the One is small — 7” high. And it’s all- metal in construction. It’s only 14%” wide, ideal for desk top use. A rack mount-option is also available. CONTACT YOUR REP NOW Get all the details on this important building-block computer. Get in touch with your Cromer ico rep now. He'll show you how the new System One can grow with your task. *CROMIX and CDOS are trademarks of Cromemco Inc. CPIM is a trademark of Digital Research Cromemco™ incorporated 280 BERNARDO AVE., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94040 * (415) 964-7400 Tomorrow's computers today Circle 469 on Inquiry card. ‘CROMIx FILE SYSTEM CROMIX*— Cromemco’s outstanding UNIX'—like operating system crROMIxX is just the kind of major development you’ve come to expect from Cromemco. After all, we're already well-known for the most respected software in the microcom- puter field, f And now we've come up with the in- dustry’s first UNIx-lookalike for microcomputers, It’s a tried and proven operating system. It’s available on both 5" and 8” diskettes for Cromemco systems with 128K or more of memory. Here are just some of the features you get in this powerful Cromemco system: © Multi-user and multi-tasking capability * Hierarchical directories © Completely compatible file, device, and interprocess I/O * Extensive subsystem support FILE SYSTEM One of the important features of our CROMIX is its file system comprised of hierarchical directories. It’s a tree struc- ture of three types of files: data files, *CROMIX is a trademark of Cromemco, Inc. UNIX is a trademark of Bell Telephone Laboratories Circle 470 on inquiry card. directories, and device files. File, device, and interprocess 1/O are com- patible among these file types (input and output may be redirected inter- changeably from and to any source or destination). The tree structure allows different directories to be maintained for different users or functions with no chance of conflict. PROTECTED FILES Because of the hierarchical structure of the file system, CROMIX maintains separate ownership of every file and directory. All files can thus be protected from access by other users of the system. In fact, each file is protected by four separate access privileges in each of the three user categories. TREMENDOUS ADDRESS SPACE, FAST ACCESS The flexible file system and general- ized disk structure of CROMIx give a disk address space in excess of one gigabyte per volume — file size is limited only by available disk capacity. Cromemco* incorporated 280 BERNARDO AVE., MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94040 © (415) 964-7400 Tomorrow's computers today Speed of access to disk files has also been optimized. Average access speeds far surpass any yet implemented on microcomputers. ‘C’ COMPILER AVAILABLE, TOO Cromemco offers a wide range of languages that operate under CROMIX. These include a high-level command process language and extensive sub- system support such as COBOL, FORTRAN IV, RATFOR, LISP, and 32K and 16k BASICs. There is even our highly-acclaimed ‘C’ compiler which allows a program- mer fingertip access to CROMIX system. calls. THE STANDARD O-S FOR THE FUTURE The power and breadth of its features make CROMIx the standard for the next generation of microcomputer operating systems. And yet it is available for a surprisingly low $595. The thing to do is to get all this capability working for you now. Get in touch with your Cromemco rep today. In The Queue BUTE Volume 7, Number 4 April 1982 Features 32 The Generic Word Processor, A Word-Pracessing System for All Your Needs by Philip Schrodt / You'll be amazed by this product’s versatility. 40 Use infrared Communication for Remote Control by Steve Ciarcia / Texas instruments’ SN76832AN Infrared Remote-Control Receiver sumpifies the tough job of receiving modulated infrared light. 50 How to Use Color Displays Effectively, A Look at the Elements of Color Vision and Thelr Implications for Programmers by John Durrett and Judi Trezona / Color is becoming an affordable option for personal computers, but like any new tool, it has special limitations and requirements. 56 A Human-Factors Case Study Based on the IBM Personal Computer by Robert G. Cooper Jr., Paul Thain Marston, John Durrett, and Theron Stimmel / Members of a human-actors evaluation team put the Personal Computer to the test. 108 A Human-Factors Style Gulde for Program Design by Henry Simpson / Design considerations that make programs user- friendly. 134 The Atar! Tutorial, Part 8: Generating Sound with Software by Bob Fraser / The sound capabilities of the Atari 400 and BOO are influenced by the software technique used. 158 A Pojrjtpourrl of ideas, Fifth In a Serles by William Barden Jr. | Three inexpensive hardware and software projects for a tone generator, @ telephone dialer, and an RS-232C output channel. 186 The Input/Output Primer, Part 3: The Parallel and HPIB (IEEE-488) Interfaces by Steve Leibson / An introduction to two common interfaces between computers and other devices. 212 User's Column: The Osborne 1, Zeke’s New Friends, and Spelling Revisited by Jerry Pournelle / A seasoned computer user takes a look at new products and updates. 242 Designing the Star User Interface by Dr. David Canfield Smith, Charles Irby, Ralph Kimball, Bill Verplank, and Eric Harsiem / The Star User Interface adheres rigorously to a smail set of principles designed to make the system seem friendly by simplifying the human-machine interface. 284 Designing a Text Editor? The User Comes First by Steven Jong / A system's power is measured in ease of use. 302 Managing Words: What Capabilitles Should You Have with a Text Editor? by Craig A. Finseth | The ideal text editor is defined drawing on the experience of many users. 322 A Disk Operating System for FORTH, An In-depth Look at How a DOS Operates by Peter Reece / Develop a DOS for the FORTH language and gain an understanding on how all DOSes operate. 380 MOD Ill: TRS-80 Model Ill Features for Your Model | by Joe W. Rocke / Add video line print, selectable cursor, and automatic key repeat to vour TRS-BO Model | 398 Binary-Coded Text, A Text-Compression Method by Dr. Richard Tropper / You can trim text size by 40 percent by encoding common character strings. 439 Career Opportunities In Computing by Jacqueline Johnston | Hobby-level interest in computers can lead to a career in the computer industry. 447 Converting Apple DOS and Pascal Text Files by John B, Matthews | Now you can exchange information between DOS 3.3 ‘and Pascal Operating Systems 464 A Simple Multiprocessor Implementation by John Harrington 1A simple connection can be the start of a multiprocessing, muttitasking system, 472 An introduction to NSC Tiny BASIC, The Language of the INS8073 by Jim Handy / National Semiconductor's unique version of Tiny BASIC combines the elegance and efficiency of assembly language with the convenience of a high-level language. Reviews 76 The Hewlett-Packard Interface Loop -HPIL by Robert Katz 96 Strawberry Tree’s Dual Thermometer Card for the Apple by Or. William Murray Two Word Processors for North Star by Edgar F. Coudal 371 selector !V by Micra-Ap, An Information-Management Program by Jack L. Abbott Nucleus 6 Editorial: A Revolution in Your Pocket 20 Letters 102, 155, 240 Book Reviews: Software Psychology: Human Factors in Computer and information Systems: The Mind's I; Handbook of Digital IC Appiications 104 Product Description: The Epson HX-20, The First Byte-sized ‘Computer 362. Technical Forum: MicroShakespeare 414 ayTeLines 418 ayre's sits 419 What's New? 429 Ask ayTE 432, 436 Programming Quickies: A BASIC Program for Home Cryptography: Base Conversion on the TRS-80 Pocket Computer 435 sofware Received 482 system Notes; Easy-Entry Program for Radio Shack’s Color Computer 489 Clubs and Newsletters 490 Books Received 491 Event Queue 542° Unciassified Ads 542 BOM, BOMB Results 544 Reader Service Page 40 Page 50 Page 76 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc 3. if Editor in Chief Christopher Morgan Managing Editor ‘Mark Haas Technical Editors Gregg Williams. Senior Editor; Richard S. Shuford; Curtis P. Feigel: George Stewart; Arthur Lite; Stanley Wszola: Steve Ciarcia; Mark Dahmke Philip Lemmons; Allan Lundell, Consuking Editors: Jon Swanson, Drafting Editor Conv Editors Beverly Cronin, Chief; Faith Hanson; Warren Williamson; Anthony J. Lockwood; ‘Ann Graves; Linda M. Evers: Hilary Selby Polk: Elizabeth Kepner Assistants Faith Ferry: Debe Wheeler: Beverty Jackson Production David R. Anderson, Assoc. Director: Jonathan M. Graves, Creative Consultant: Patrice Scribner; Damian Henriques. Jan ‘Muller; Linda J. Sweeney; Virginia Reardon; Sherty McCarthy, Chief Typographer: Debi Fredericks: Donna Sweeney: Valerie Horn Advertising Thomas Harvey, Director; Marion Carlson; Rob Hannings: Deborah Porter: Vicki Reynolds; Cathy A. R. Drew: Jacqueline Earnshaw, Reader Service Coordinator: Wai Chiu Li, Advertising! Production Coordinator Circulation Gregory Spitefaden, Manager: ‘Andrew Jackson, Asst. Manager, Agnes E. Perry: Barbara Varnum; Louise Menegus: Pinky Krulis; Sheila A. Bamford James Bingham, Dealer Sales; Deborah J. Cadwell, Asst. Linda Ryan Controller's Office Daniel Rodrigues, Controller; Mary E. Fluhr, Acct. & D/P Mgr.; Karen Burgess: Jeanne Cilley: Linda Fluhr: Vicki Bennett Traffle NN, Scott Gagnon; Scott Jackson, Kathleen Reckhart Publishers Virginia Londoner; Gardon R. Williamson; John E. Hayes, Associate Publisher: Cheryl A. Hurd: Michele P. Verville, Publisher's Assistants: Officers of McGraw-Hill Publications Com- pany: Paul F. McPherson, President: Executive Vice Presidents: Daniel A. McMillan, Ill, Gene 'W. Simpson; Senior Vice President-Editorial: Ralph R. Schulz; Vice Presidents: Kemp Ander- son, Business Syaeme Development; Harry L. Brown, Special Markets; Robert B. Doll, Circula- tion; James E. Hackett, Controller; Eric B. Herr. Planning and Development: H. John Sweger. Jr, Marketing. Officers of the Corporation: Harold W. McGraw Jr., Chaimman’ and Chief Executive Officer: Joseph L. Dionne, President and Chief Operating Officer: Robert N, Landes, Senior Vice President’ and Secretary; Ralph J. Webb, Treasurer. 4 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc In This Issue As computer technology continues to make inroads info our lives, the manimachine interface assumes greater importance in the total system design. Human-factors engineering, our theme this month, is the discipline concerned with the need for friendly computers. Our cover, photographed by Paul Avis, features a new, user-friendly product, the IXO Telecomputing System. For a detailed description of this hand-held terminal see Chris Morgan’s editorial. To help you make your systems user-friendly, we present “A Human- Factors Style Guide for. Program Design” by Henry Simpson and “‘De- signing the Star User Interface” by Dr. David Canfield Smith, Charles Irby, Ralph Kimball, Bill Verplank and Eric Harslem. In “A Human-Factors Case Study Based on the IBM Personal Computer,” Robert G. Cooper Jr., Paul Thain Marston, John Durrett, and Theron Stimmel discuss the Personal Computer from a humar-factors perspective. Steve Ciarcia demonstrates how to use in- frared systems, William Barden Jr. presents a collection of projects for the TRS-80 Color Computer, Gregg Williams treats us to a sneak preview of Epson’s new portable computer, and Bob Katz reviews the Hewlett-Packard Interface Loop. BYTE is published monthly by BYTE Publications inc, 70 Main St. Peterborough NH 03458, phone (603) 924-9281, a wholly-owned subsidiary of McGraw-Hill, Inc. Address subscriptions, change of address, USPS Form 3579, and fulfillment questions to BYTE Subscriptions, POB 590, Martinsville NJ 08836. Second class postage paid at Waseca, Minnesota 56093 - USPS Publication No. 528890 {ISSN 0360-5280}. Canadian second class registra- tion number 9321. Subscriptions are $19 for one year, $34 for two years, and $49 for three years in the USA and its possessions. In Canada and Mexico, $21 for one year, $38 for two years, $55 for three years. $43 for one year air delivery to Europe. $35 surface delivery elsewhere. Air delivery to selected areas at additional rates upon re- quest. Single copy price is $2.95 in the USA and its possessions. $3.50 in Canada and Mexico, $4.50 in Europe, and $5.00 elsewhere. Foreign subscriptions and sales should be remated in United States funds drawn on a US bank, Printed in United States of America ‘Address all editorial correspondence to the editor at BYTE, POB 372, Hancock NH 03449. Unacceptabie manuscripts will be retumed if accompanied by sufficient fist class postage. Not responsible for lost manuscripts or photos. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of BYTE. Entire contents copyright © 1982 by BYTE Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Where necessary. permission is granted by the copyright owner for libraries and others registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC] to photocopy any article herein for the base fee of $1.00 per copy of the article or item plus 25 cents per page. Payment should be sent direttly to the CCC, 21 Congress St, Salem MA 01970. Copying done for other than personal or internal reference use without the permission of McGraw 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 N Zeeb Rd, Dept PR, Ann Arbor Mi 48106 USA or 18 Bedford Row, Dept PR, London WCIR 4EJ England. Office hours: Mon-Thur 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, Friday 8:30 AM - Noon, Eastern Time ...Stands well above other S-100 graphics dis- plays in its price and per- formance range.” BYTE, Product Review . .better monochromatic . display... .” ELECTRONIC DESIGN, 1981 Technology Forecast MICROANGELO HIGH RESOLUTION GRAPHICS SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER 512 x 480 resolution black and white and vivid color displays RS-170 com- posite or direct drive output Local or external sync generation 4 Mhz Z80 microprocessor 60 hertz real- time clock 8 level interrupt tie-in IEEE $100 bus compatible it Screenware™ Pak I A AK byte operating system resident in PROM on MicroAngelo™, Pak I emulates an 85 character by 40 line graphics terminal and provides over 40 graphics commands. Provisions exist for user defined character sets and directly callable user extensions to Screenware™ Pak I. Screenware™ Pak II An optional software superset of Pak I which adds circle generation, polygon flood, program- mable split screen for separate graphics and ter- minal I/O, relative coordinates, faster vector and character plotting, a macro facility, full UCSD Pascal compatibility, and more. 12310 Pinecrest Road * Reston, VA 22091 Tm Light pen interface Time multi- plexed refresh 4K resident Screenware™ Pak I operating system 32K RAM isolated from host address space High speed communications over parallel bus ports And now. ..COLOR!! The new MicroAngelo™ Palette board treats from 2 to 8 MicroAngelos as “bit planes” at a full 512 x 480 resolution. Up to 256 colors may be chosen from 16.8 million through the program- mable color lookup table. Overlays, bit plane precedence, fade-in, fade-out, gray levels, blink- ing bit plane, and a highly visual color editor are standard. x multibus and R SCION Circle 363 on inquiry card. © (703) 476-6100 * TWX: 710-833-0684 -232 versions. 6 ( \ % 7 Circle 146 on inquiry card. foot-note, n. 1. a note or comment at the end of a page, referring to a specific part of the text on the page. 2. an essential program for the serious WordStar user. ——————————— a FOOTNOTE™ brings: full foot- noting capabilities to WordStar™. FOOTNOTE automatically num- bers both footnote calls and foot- notes, and formats the text, placing footnotes on the bottom of the correct page. At the user's option, the footnotes can also be removed from the text file to a separate note file. Footnotes can be entered singly or in groups, in the middle or at the end of paragraphs, or in a completely separate note file. After running FOOTNOTE the user can re-edit the text, add or delete notes, and run FOOTNOTE again to re-number and re-format the WordStar file. The price is $125., and includes PAIR, a companion program that checks that printer commands tounderline or setin BOLDFACE, are properly terminated. FOOT- NOTE and PAIR require CP/M™, WordStar, 48K RAM and a Z80 or 8080/85 computer. SOFTWARE SOF TVVARE DIGITAL MARKETING | DIGIALMAIKETING 2670 Cherry Lane * Walnut Creek « CA 94596 (415) 938-2880 Telex #17-1852 (DIGMKTG WNCK) Products of PRO/TEM FOOTNOTE and PAR Waders ! PRO/TEM Software Inc WordSiar trademark o Mepra in (CPIM trademark of grat Research A Revolution in Your Pocket by Chris Morgan, Editor in Chief Imagine a terminal that costs about $500 and can: @ access the Source, Compuserve, Dow Jones, or other remote database or computer services @ automatically handle the protocols to access these services so that you need only enter your password to be online @ have a full ASCII character set ehave a built-in modem with autodialer and full- and half-duplex capability . @ be able to emulate other terminals e have an uninterruptible power supply ¢ fit in your pocket © operate from a battery Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Yet it's not fantasy; the product does exist. It’s called the IXO Telecomputing System (hereafter referred to as the Telecom- puter), and it’s featured on our cover this month. April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Photo 1: The IXO Telecomputing System. It's a complete pocket terminal with built-in modem and autodialer that will sell for about $500. The phone number displayed is IXO's Access Center. PERCOM You Get More Gut oF Percom Disk SYSTEMS. EXPECT At Percom, our business is making disk storage systems for microcomputers —something we've been doing right, since 1977. From the design of rock-solid drive controller circuitry to quality controls that include 100% life testing of every drive ship- ped, you can expect to get more out of Percom Disk Systems. And Percom provides you with com- prehensive after-sales service from our wholly owned, fully independent customer service center. WINCHESTER 10-MEGABYTE DISK STORAGE SYSTEMS Enormous storage capacity plus high speed. Percom 5% inch hard disk systems are 40 times faster than single-density floppy mini-disks, 20 times faster than double- density units. Systems include a smart, four-drive controller featuring state-of-the-art data encoding and separation, adaptable industry-standard disk interfacing. Plug-in-compatible version for PERCOM THE DRIVE PEOPLE 1220 Pagemill Road + Dallas TX « 75243 « (214) 340-7081 TRS-80* Model Ill computer, available now. Watch for IBM PC, Apple !!, Atari, and H/Z-89 versions. Prices start at under $3000, including software. Also available with 5 or 15-Mbyte drives. Ir Coming soon! Ten megabyte removable- disk cartridge drive. FLOPPY MINI-DISK STORAGE SYSTEMS 40 or 80-track drives, single or dual-head, flippy or non- flippy —all double-density rated, Available in 1, 2 and 3- drive add-on units, 1 and 2-drive internal units, with full docu- mentation and software support. Add-on drives from $399, complete systems from $459.95. To learn more about quality Percom disk storage systems, mail the coupon today. Or, call toll-free 1-800-527-1222. Ask for booklet ‘’D”’. = ee ee eee ee ee ee ee ee es YES... I'd like to know more about Percom disk systems. Please rush me booklet “D’: ‘Send to: PERCOM DATA COMPANY, INC. Dept BD1 ; 11220 Pagemill Road, Dallas TX 75243 Tame Hi) street city stale : phone number ih I'm interested in floppy disk storage for my... 1aS-80 MOL IT COMA CTIBM PC (W/2-89 CJH-8 CIAIM/KIM/SYM (_]System-50 \'m interested in hard disk storage for a (COIBM PC CJTRS-80 Mal Ill (JApple It (JAtari 1) H/2-89 Other computer? (Cifloppy tisk oF hard disk?) ee ee ee ee 3 — a ee oe PRICES AND SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. “TRS is a tracemark oF Tandy Rac Shack Corporation which has 0 relationship to Percom Data Company, inc 1 1981 Percom Data Company, inc PROFESSIONAL PASCA Pascal/Z NEW AO SYMBOLIC DEBUGGER This fourth generation version of our reliable, Z-80 native code compiler adds the two features professionals ask for: © SWAT™—an interactive symbolic Pascal debugger that allows easy error detection. @ Overlays—that allow larger programs to run in limited memory. Acompiler for Professional programmers Pascal/Z is a true Pascal. It closely follows the Jensen and Wirth standard with a minimum of extensions designed to aid the serious program developer in procuciaa extremely compact, bug-free code that runs FAST. Pascal/Z generates Z-80 native code that is ROMable and Re-entrant. Permits separate compilation, direct file access, external routines and includes a relocating macro assembler and Microsoft compatible linker. And code written for Pascal/Z is fully compatible with I-PAS 8000, our new native code Pascal compiler for Z-8000, to guarantee graceful migration to 16 bit operation, Get “The FACTS about Pascal” Confused about which Pascal to buy? Pseudo-code...Native.code...M, MT or Z? Compare the unbiased benchmarks « in our new booklet. Don’t buy a Pascal compiler until you've read it. 4 Call us for a free copy: 800-847-2088 Ny eS . ‘I ss (outside NYS) .: a or 607-257-0190 And ask local aN ask your loca ree full-service computer dealer LE é 7 about our O4 Pascal/Z CG 2 demo package. Se [lootoonSyyss fennas™ Ithaca Intersystems Inc. Micros for bigger ideas. Ithaca Intersystems Inc. 1650 Hanshaw Rd + Ithaca, NY 14850 » TWX 510 255-4346 U.K, Distributor: Ithaca Intersystems (U.K.)Ltd. Coleridge Road London N8 8ED Phone: 01-341 2447 Telex: 299568 Editorial I first saw the Telecomputer nearly a year and a half ago when I visited its inventors, husband-and-wife team Bob and Holly Doyle, at their Cambridge-based com- pany, Macrocosmos. The Doyles conceived of a portable but powerful computer terminal, and with the aid of elec- tronic-design wizards Michael Suchoff and Andy Barber, they built a limited number of prototypes. The Doyles later joined forces with former Mattel Electronics presi- dent Jeff Rochlis to form IXO Inc., the company that markets the Telecomputer. I received one of the proto- types for testing last year and I've been using it ever since. I'm still amazed at the features packed into its exceedingly small package. This month’s theme is human-factors engineering, and the IXO Telecomputer is an excellent example of a ter- minal designed with the user in mind. The Telecomputer, which will be generally available this summer, has a lot to offer in addition to its human factoring. It has, for in- stance, a sophisticated security-protection system and in- novative, compact circuitry. I'll touch on these topics, but my main objective here is to discuss the implications of IXO's design philosophy. Photo 2: The Telecomputer is powered by a built-in Polaroid Polapulse flat battery. Photo 3: The FCC-registered Telecomputer is designed to at- tach directly to a phone using a standard modular jack. When in use, the terminal draws all of its power from the phone line. Circle 219 on Inquiry card. Circle 220 on inquiry card. —> A computer system SO advanced, the tachnolagy youll nead later is already here. And waiting for your call, GUU-847-2088 In New York State (607) 257-0190 [lonttara Nyy enon Ithaca Intersystems Inc. 1650 Hanshaw Rd PO. Box 91 Ithaca, New York 14850 TWX 510 255 4346 Circle 160 on inquiry card, Authorized Commodore service center Repair of the complete line of Commodore products ina hurry? ‘Check our modular exchange program Computer Olsc rive HARDWARE: SOFTWARE: CBM 8032 Computer, O2zz $299 80Column $1095 Wordcraft 80 299 CBM 8050 Disk Drive 1340 Tax Preparation System 380 CBM 4032 Computer, IRMA 380) 40 Column 995 Dow Jones Portfolio CBM 4040 Disk Drive 995 Management System = 115) CBM 4022 Printer 649 Personal Tax 55) CBM VIC 20 Computer 263 Pascal 229 CBM VS100 Cassette 68 Assembler Development PET to IEEE Cable 33 Package 7 IEEE to IEEE Cable 39 Wordpro 4+ 329 BASF Diskette, Boxof 10 30 Order TOLL FREE 1+800-527-3135 10 AM to 4 PM CDT Monday through Friday Texas residents call 1+214-661-1370 ‘VISA, MASTER CHARGE, MONEY ORDERS, AND C.0.D. “Certified Check” accepted. Units in stack shipped within 24 hours, FO.8. Dallas, Texas. ‘All equipment shipped with manufacturer's warranty. Residents of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, ‘Oklahoma must add applicable taxes. Eclectic shortly will be announcing products that are designed to work with CBM systems. 1, ROMIO; two RS232 ports— three parallel ports— 26K EPROM men alternate character set, software contro led —EDOS (extended DOS]. 2. Terminal program (options with ROMIO) 3, EPROM programmer 4, Front-end processor 5. Additional firmware to be announced Be sure to write the address below for more information; dealer inquiries welcome. P.O. Box 1166 » 16260 Midway Road Addison, Texas 75001 10 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Editorial Photo 4: Four peripherals for the Telecomputer (clockwise from upper left): an acoustic interface (not the same as an acoustic coupler because the modem circuitry is already con- tained inside the terminal); the RS-232C interface, a video inter- face; and a 20-column printer. The Telecomputer marks the beginning of a whole new “genus” of computer products: no-compromise portable computers that are truly user-friendly. Let’s take a closer look at its features. The Telecomputer comes in a small plastic case con- taining densely packed CMOS circuitry and a Polaroid Polapulse flat battery to drive it (see photo 2). The heart of the design is an NEC 4-bit microprocessor with 1K bytes of CMOS RAM (random access read/write mem- ory). The keyboard, which is slightly too small for extended typing sessions, contains several unusual keys to help the naive user (and sometimes the not-so-naive user). These include the YES, NO, DON'T KNOW, HELP, and PHONE keys. They are brightly colored to attract your attention. The HOLD, SLOW, FAST, REPT, GO BACK, CLR CHAR, and CLR ENTR keys are dark blue. The usual BREAK, ESCAPE, and CONTROL keys are gray. The blue and gray colors tend to keep the more complex keys in the background in order not to distract or in- timidate the beginner. A Session with the Telecomputer After you remove the Telecomputer from its box and turn it on, you then connect it to your telephone line by plugging your telephone cord’s modular jack into the female socket at the back of the terminal (see photo 3). At this point the Telecomputer begins to draw all of its power from the phone line while the phone is “off hook,” i.e., while the phone is in use (a clever arrangement by the machine's designers). Since the phone companies re- quire all phone devices to draw 20 milliamps to prove that the devices are using the lines anyway, this becomes a perfect source of power for CMOS circuitry! In fact, telephone devices are allowed to draw 5 microamps while “on hook,” so it becomes theoretically possible to trickle- charge a battery. Circle 380 on inquiry card. ——> —— ax -_ Every Apple Is Created Equal. But It Doesn't Have To Stay That Way. An Apple™ is really something. But from now on, it's going to be something much more. How come? Simple. We're introducing three revolutionary new data communica- tion packages, called Transend™, designed especially to make your Apple 11 rise above all others. Our Transend data communica- tions software provides access to in- formation utilities; complete file transmission of charts, VisiCalc™ reports, and entire programs; as well as all electronic mail functions. Transend comes in three different versions. You can begin economically with the simplest form, Transend 1, an intelligent terminal/file transfer system. As your needs increase, you can move up to two other Transend packages, without worrying about. retraining or repurchasing. ‘Transend 2 gives any Apple II intelligent ter- minal capabilities, plus file transfer with complete error detection and automatic retransmission for de- manding business applications. Transend 3 incorporates electronic mail—with password security, text editing, mailbox with mailstop, unat- tended scheduling and receiving, automatic redialing, and much more. = a The Transformation People ‘Transend’s Soppatt of most popu- lar Apple II “add-in” cards and modems lets you upgrade your Apple without hassle or unnecessary expense. And you'll immediately cut operating costs by as much as 30% with simple, easy-to-use menus, data compression and 1200-baud modem support. Nobody on the personal computer scene today is offering the speed, flex- ibility, and reliability of Transend in a single upgradable software system. Don't miss this chance to uplift your Apple II. Contact us or your dealer for all the delicious details. SSM Microcomputer Products, Inc., 2190 Paragon Drive, San Jose, CA 95131, (408) 946-7400, Telex: 171171, TWX: 910-338-2077. Apple and Apple 11 are trademarks of Apple Compoter, tne. VisiCale fa trademark of Per sonal are, Inc. And Transend is a trade- mark ot SSM Microcomputer Products, Inc. The disk drive that puts more byte into your Apple. Introducing the first totally compatible Floppy Disk Drive. Rana Systems has designed a totally compatible disk drive for Apple, that’s better than Apple's. A high density, high capacity disk drive and controller that offers a myriad of features Apple never thought of. Unique advan- tages that get the maximum efficiency out of your existing Apple II* hardware and software. At Rana, we knew you wanted more storage, So we went right to the core of the problem. Even our most economical model is designed to give you 15% more storage capac- ity than Apple's. Our top-of-the-line unit gives Apple Il isa registered trademark of Apple Computer Inc you 4 times the capacity of Apple’s comparable unit. Even our design is far more dramatic than theirs. With lines that actually complement the sleek Apple II computer. We're a step ahead of Apple because we have a faster step. Holding more information is even more valuable when you can get it faster. The Rana System track positioning mechanism is engineered to access three to four times faster track to track, with greater accuracy than Apple's. Our disk drive offers safeguards like a stall provision to protect spin motor burnout, an advanced write protect feature that keeps your information where you put it, and an energy saving device that “powers down” when your disk drive is taking a break. We even took a bite out of Apple’s price. Our most popular model is 25% more economical per byte than Apple's, providing you with maximum performance, superior cost efficiency, and totally compatible styling. It also comes with a free diskette containing all the optional software and supports you'll need to enhance the capacity and performance. Andit’s all backed up with an efficient service support system, and a full 90 day warranty. The Rana System Floppy Disk Drive. Just plug it into your Apple and all those delicious extra bytes will be yours. Ranasysiems. 20620 South Leapwood Avenue, Carson, CA 90746 213-538-2853. For dealer information call toll free: 1-800-421-2207. In California only call; 1-800-262-1221. Source Number TCT-654.. See our booth at the West Coast Camputer Faire Show. Circle 353 on inquiry card. CALICO SYSTEMS with pmaral LANGUAGES manul/ tay Microsoft 289/- fase oem Microsoft i Big Research 3110/20 Dig. Research 437/37 Gbeoen Moca” Sere CCompier —Supersot $18) Forth persoft — $169/45 Fortran Supersoft 130 Fortran80 Microsoft 75 muLISP Microsoft — $169/- pascal Sorcim 5/30 Ith. Intersys. $349/30 a ae Dig Research $468/40 ATOR :oupersolt Sar, een + RATFO! $289/35 sic Micro AP §269/25 FinyPascal Supsrson 8/05 ASSEMBLERS UTILITIES Geapoot By Research abr ig. Research $o0/— Diagnostic Supersoft Macro 80 Microsoft 3162/- Qio Regearch Si5/15 Struc. Sys Y AT 0 Dig Research $70/15 zs Dig. Research $90/15 WORO/TEXT PROCESSING Edit 80 icros $90/— Fetteigny Ste Sys, Sar MagicWand Peachtree Maltege — MiroFr0. "08/8 1AD Struc. Sys. $90/- SA 125 estar Micro S154 Dig. Research §$100/10 Testwater Organic Satur S1r, jordStar — MicroPro.— $289 cP/M® TAS-80°/Mod. IP & T) 691, 783 140/— 70 S140/- CALICO WS. [eprane ia tr Most disk formats avallable. software... with /otsoftechnical support SYSTEMS CP/M - 86 Call us at (213) 475-8104 for available software. APPLE Il® $258 GIL 1 bas Writer (9 can Me gr Easy Maier 0 co i] A pa i Invento i Pr Maile 149 i Pro. Easy Wiley 22 Mail List os : MICROPRO HOWARD SOFTWARE Mail Merge g, Income Tax Cal Supe Sot VISICORP Wooster +MaliMege $0 Deon Pn we aL MICROSOFT vice aa Basic Compiler 820 Vsrie ax 38 Viste, ae is aie fag w VisiTrend/VisiPlot Be MASTER CHARGE/VISA CALICO 1746 cai a 7 1% Los Angeles, CA 90024 SYSTEMS (213) 475-8104 ‘Add $3.50/item for shipping, handling. Overseas add $10. California residents add 6% sales tax. Allow time for checks to clear. Prices subject to change without notice. All items subject fo availability. ® Registered trademark APRIL ‘82 DATA BASE MANAGEMENT BASE || Ashton-Tate 150 Series 20-1 Condor 249/50 Series 20-2 ondor 50 Data Star MicroPro $245/60 *MS-80-1 Systems Plus Call FMS.802 Systems Plus Call INCOME TAX ‘MICRO TAX Lev. 1 (Indvi.) $225/- Lev. 2 (Prof) Call Lev. 3 (Partner) Call Lev.2&3 Call State Tax Call ACCOUNTING TCS G/L or AP. a A/R or Payroll $75/25 I four $250/99 ACCOUNTING PLUS™ G/L $439/67 AIP $375/67 ni an invatory ane Sales Order §375/67 Foint as Sale $3/5/6: ch. Order $375/67 PEACE SHE 5 eae np 37/40 AIR $437/40 Payroll $319/40 Inventory a auaLysig/indELIN Calc! MicroPr a fiesene Organic Softwr a muMATH/ muSIMPMicrosoft t— Supercale Sorcim er Worksheet Soho Group 3185/- WORD STAR REDUCED (213) 475-8104 TO ORDER, CALL TOLL-FREE (800) 854-2003, ext. 75 (800)522-1500, ext. 75 in Calif. PEACHTREE 14 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 71 on inquiry card. Editortal After you hit the ON switch, the unit’s liquid-crystal one-line display begins presenting a series of questions in menu format. The first query you see is “ACCESS CENTER?" The best way to learn about the unit is to dial the Access Center, a remote computer resource center maintained by IXO to service Telecomputer customers. You simply type in the telephone number and the unit automatically dials it. The Telecomputer senses whether your phone line is Touch-Tone or rotary-dial and sends out the appropriate signals. Once online, you can experi- ment with the simulated services offered by the Access Center, including a checkbook-balancing program, a travel-agency simulation that demonstrates booking airline flights, a television guide database to help you find TV show times, and so on. The main purpose of this exer- cise is to illustrate the advantages of services using plain English dialogue back and forth between the user and the computer, In time, real versions of such computer ser- vices will be available, When connected to the Access Center, you can always press the HELP key if you get stuck and get a more detailed explanation of what to do next. You can also press the DON’T KNOW key if in doubt as to the correct reply to the computer's questions, (If only the existing databases had these features!) The Telecomputer’s designers have been trying for some time to convince the people who run the databases to adopt these user-friendly approaches. Let’s hope they do. The most important feature of the Access Center is that it can download protocols for The Source, Compuserve, and Dow Jones into your terminal’s RAM. (These were the three services available at the time I evaluated the unit; more will undoubtedly be added later.) Download- ing protocols takes about 30 seconds and needs to be done only once because the information is permanently stored in the terminal as long as the battery holds up, which is at least a year—longer if you're “off-hook” fre- quently. Once you're connected, the Access Center asks you to type in a password that you must use in all future dealings with the Center and also asks for your name. I was surprised the second time I called the center to find that it greeted me with “HELLO CHRIS. PASS- WORD?" It’s hard to convey the excitement of seeing a message like this on a miniature terminal connected directly to your phone line. Future shock, indeed. The next time I used the terminal, I decided to get on the Dow Jones database and analyze some stocks. I powered up the Telecomputer, entered my password, and it immediately asked “DOW JONES?” The down- loading had worked! Out of curiosity 1 pressed NO and the terminal stepped to the next item: “THE SOURCE?” NO again. “COMPUSERVE?” NO. “MANUAL AC- CESS?” (The latter mode lets you dial any general data- base or computer by entering a telephone number.) | cycled around to “DOW JONES?” again and pressed YES. (Incidentally, you can type “yes”, “Y”, hit the YES key, or the ENTER key to tell the terminal yes. The designers have obviously thought of every possibility to Circle 333 on inquiry card. — HOW TO USE YOUR EPSON WITHOUT WASTING COMPUTER TIME: Your computer is capable of sending data at thousands of characters per second but the Epson can only print 80 characters per second. This means your computer is forced to wait for the printer to finish one line before it can send the next. A waste of valuable time. DRESED a THE NEW MICROBUFFER™ | ACCEPTS DATA AS FAST AS ete | YOUR COMPUTER CAN SEND IT. wo! Microbuffer stores the data in its own memory buffer and then takes control of the printer, This frees your computer for more productive functions. PARALLEL OR SERIAL Microbuffer model MBP-16K is a Centronics-compatible parallel interface with 16,384 bytes of on-board RAM for data buffering The MBS-8K is a full-featured RS-232C serial interface with both hardware and software (X-On/X-Off) handshaking, baud rates from 300 to 19,000 and an 8,192 byte RAM buffer. REE SIMPLY PLUG IT IN. Either model fits the existing auxiliary interface connector inside the Epson MX-80, MX-80 F/T or MX-100 without modification, and is compatible with standard Epson cables and printer control software, including GRAFTRAX-80. JUST $159.00° When you think how much time Microbuffer will save, can you afford not to have one? Call us for your nearest dealer. PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS. INC. 31245 LA BAYA DRIVE, WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA 91362 @ (213) 991-8200 "Suggested retail price tor elther model. Editorial James Martin, data-processing and futures expert, offers the following predictions about the role of the pocket terminal ten years in the future. The following excerpt is from his book, Telematic Society: A Challenge for Tomorrow (Prentice-Hall, 1981). Pocket terminals mushroom in sales and drop in cost as fast as pocket calculators did a decade earlier. Most people who carried a pocket calculator now have a pocket terminal, The pocket terminal, however, has an almost endless range of applications. It can access many computers and data banks via the public data networks. The pocket terminal becomes a consumer product (as opposed to a product for businesspeople) on sale at supermarkets, with human factoring that is simple and often amusing. The public regard it as a companion which enables them to find good restau- rants, display jokes on any subject, book airline and theatre seats, contact medical programs, check what their stockbroker computer has to say, send messages, and check their electronic mailbox. Public data networks are ubiquitous and cheap, and accessible from every telephone. Their cost is indepen- dent of distance within most countries. DATAPRODUCTS (408) 745-7123 Telex: 172494 16 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 177 on Inquiry card. keep naive users from getting stuck.) You've probably gone through the usual tedium of identifying your terminal, hitting carriage returns, and going through all the usual make-work dialogue required to get onto databases. The Telecomputer eliminates all that. Once the Access Center downloads its protocols to your terminal, your terminal automatically completes the dialogue with, say, Dow Jones. You need only enter your password and you're instantly online. It takes only a cou- ple of seconds. If you regularly access several databases or electronic mail services, you'll appreciate not having to memorize a lot of annoying protocols. This sort of elegant engineering will help popularize computers. Another useful feature is the pair of speed-control keys, labeled SLOW and FAST, that control the speed at which text scrolls across the display by sending XON and XOFF control characters to the remote computer. Every time you press one of the keys the display incrementally slows down or speeds up. You can slow the display down to transcribe messages or speed it up to quickly scan through material. There's little more to add about the operation of the Telecomputer—it's that simple. The built-in autodialer remembers your local Tymnet and Telenet numbers after you enter them once. It even shuts itself off if not used for eight minutes, first giving you an audible warning. The machine is truly “goof-proof.” Peripherals for the Telecomputer (see photo 4), includ- ing an acoustic interface (not the same as an acoustic coupler because the modem circuitry is already contained inside the Telecomputer—therefore the price is lower); a 20-column thermal dot-matrix printer made by Olivetti; an RS-232C interface; and a video interface designed for use with both TV sets and video monitors, will be avail- able by July. Design Philosophy It's no surprise that the Telecomputer takes a human- factors approach. Its designers come from strong back- grounds in consumer electronics, Bob and Holly Doyle have invented more than a dozen computer toys, includ- ing Parker Brothers’ best-selling Merlin and Stop Thief. While at Mattel Electronics, Jeff Rochlis supervised the production of the Intellivision personal computer and hand-held games such as Brain Baffler (to which the Tele- computer bears a coincidental resemblance). Rochlis’s four design goals were to make the Telecomputer cheap (it will sell for approximately $500 to $550); portable; easy to use (meaning both ease of access to databases and ease of use via plain English dialogues); and secure. That last point deserves a volume in itself. Someone once said that today’s electronic mail services are more like “postcard” services because the security measures are so lax that any half-competent programmer can crack them. The Telecomputer’s three-way security keying sys- tem goes a long way to correcting this situation. The user ereneneinmene a jonat + 502-370-8653 & pune oon els THIS AD MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA IN MICROCOMPUTER PROGRAMMING. It announced PEARL PEARL ushered in the era where programmers could free themselves from boring, routine and repetitive tasks. Because PEARL handles 60-70% of programming details, which permits programmers to spend their time more creatively, and more productively. But that was two years ago. Today, there’s Personal PEARL - to be introduced at the West Coast Computer Fair. And it goes a giant step further. Personal PEARL makes the capabilities of the computer available to virtually anyone. For its $295 price, even people without technical backgrounds can use it to visually create their own applications and reports on any computer. So the ad you’re reading now is announcing an even more important breakthrough in computer and personal productivity. ayers Just think about the RELATIONAL SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL possibilities. Then contact our P.O. Box 12892/Salem, Oregon 97309) (503) 363-8929 Personal PEARL Product Manager. Circle 355 on Inquiry card. CPU Incernational isthe former name of Relational Systems International. PEARL (Producing Error-Free Automatic Rapid Logie) Send today for our NEW full-color 56-page catalog with continuous checks, statements, invoices, stationery, envelopes, supplies and accessories. We will also send our FORMS SELECTOR GUIDE, to help you find the right forms for your software. * Quality products at low prices ¢ Available in small quantities ¢ Fast Service ¢ Money-Back Guarantee * Convenient TOLL-FREE ordering Fast Service by mail or... .PHONE TOLL FREE 1+ 800-225-9550 Mass. residents 1+ 800-922-8560 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday — Friday — oe ee ee ee ee ee ee ee Please rush anew computer forms catalog to: J ae COMPANY | STREET CITY, STATE and ZP | axe l Hardware and Software boing used. L__ NS ter Form: CODE 22460 — J 78 Hollis Street, Groton, Massachusetts 01471 A division of New England Business Service, Inc, 18 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Circle 293 on Inquiry card. Editortal has a password, the terminal has a built-in password (unknown to the user), and the host computer has a pass- word, (This is the proposed standard. Presently, only the IXO Access Center computer adheres to it.) The host computer combines its password with both the user's password and the terminal password in complex, ran- domized ways to make it virtually impossible for some- one else to emulate your terminal with another terminal or computer, even if he knows your password, It’s an ad- mirable approach to securing data. I hope manufacturers will pay serious attention to it. The Telegraphic Age Rochlis likes to compare today’s computer age to the telegraphic age of the nineteenth century. In many ways, he says, the technique of talking to computers is still in its “telegraphic” stage. Back when the telegraph was the chief means for long-distance communication, telegraph operators were required as intermediaries for all trans- actions. Unfortunately, they “spoke” a different language than their clients: Morse code. Today, most of the public at large do not know how to operate computer terminals and must rely on computer operators. The latter are in ef- fect the most expensive “peripherals” of all. To bring computing power to the people, we must supply them with cheap and easy-to-use computers and terminals. There is a trend this year toward the development of briefcase-sized computers and terminals. (See the report about Epson's new HX-20 portable computer on page 104.) And that's just the beginning: watch for a series of new, small computers from both America and Japan. But size and cost alone will not guarantee the success of these machines with the general public. Human engineering has to be our paramount concern in the personal-computing field; the IXO terminal is a major step in this direction. * * * Piracy Addendum Many people have asked me to comment on the issues of software piracy raised in Jerry Pournelle’s January col- umn, (See “User's Column: Operating Systems, Lan- guages, Statistics, Pirates, and the Lone Wolf,” January 1982 BYTE, page 132.) My only comment is that, while I sympathize with many of the opinions expressed by Jerry's “mad friend” Mac Lean, my overall attitude toward copying software has not changed since I spoke out in the May 1981 editorial. Nevertheless, I think it's important to air opposing viewpoints in BYTE. The debate is healthy and being overly dogmatic serves no useful purpose. I'd like to hear more from readers about this issue. Circle 285 on Inquiry card. —=> thi ALA The CPS Multifunction card and cables are all you need to connect almost any printer, mo- dem, or terminal! to your Apple II". It's really three cards in one. It provides the capabilities of a serial interface, parallel output interface, and real-time clock/calendar. It saves you money, power, and slots. The CPS Multifunction is compatible with DOS, CPM, PASCAL, and BASIC. Suggested retail price $239, including software. Cables $24.95 each. =~ is se 2. isall youreally need! An Apple II®, a printer, a video screen, a modem, a disk drive, function, ana RAMPLU — The RAMPLUS+ card allows you to expand the available memory of your Apple II" to 80K. RAMPLUS+ has two 16K banks of RAM. The catd is supplied with 16K of installed RAM, with an additional 16K of plug-in RAM available. It is compatible with DOS, CPM, PASCAL, and BASIC, also. Suggested retail price $189. Additional 16K RAM $24.95. = UNTARH COMPUTER HC, 309. PurRLO fot SCOTTS VALET. CAL FoAMtA rns tee . 5 UTIFUNETTON ARP ¥ The modum is 9 product ot Hafes Microcomputer Prod The video screen | ‘The printer is @ product of Eps. ‘Appia The Missing LINC I keep seeit the “personal computer era” referred to as having begun in the mid-1970s, as if it required the microchip to make it possible to design hardware and software for a single-user computer. But there are important antecedents to this, dating back twenty years, and they were not hand-held calculators so much as proper computers with analog interfaces and mass storage—namely, lab com- puters. In 1962, at MIT's Lincoln Labs, Wesley Clark and Charles Molnar designed the LINC (Laboratory INstrument Com- puter), to be used in a research lab in a manner analogous to an oscilloscope. It wasn't merely its display and analog-to- digital converters (hence joysticks and Spacewar) which made it unique: its soft- ware was designed to enable the scientist- user to program without a professional programming staff. Much of the design rationale was process-control oriented (hence interrupts) so that online data analysis could be performed during an ex- periment, allowing modification to the ex- perimental protocol. But having such a friendly computer in the room, shared only with the other users of the same lab, created the atmosphere of “personal com- puting” a decade before mass-market economics extended it. The first 24 LINCs (with their small memories and dual small-reel magnetic tapes —so-called LINCtapes—which were the forerunners of the floppies) were built under a government research grant and distributed around the country in 1963 to various physics, chemistry, and life sciences labs (they were especially impor- tant in my own field of neurobiology). With the plans in the public domain, several computer manufacturers began selling them (Digital Equipment Corpora- tion’s version cost $54,000—and in 1966 dollars, at that) and improving on the design (DEC’s LINC-8 and PDP-12 were the major extensions). In essence, thousands of users experienced the per- sonal computer revolution in the 1960s and helped shape its present philosophy. It is curious how this heritage has been forgotten in the great expansion, One con- sequence is an excessive amount of rein- venting the wheel. The interactive soft- ware packages developed hy LINC users 20 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc (especially at Washington University and the University of Wisconsin) were ex- cellent—I have yet to see a statistics-and- plotting package for microcomputers which equals LINDSY for the LINC, and the LINC’s text editor and operating sys- tem (LAP) puts CP/M to shame. And— another forerunner of the present micro- computer situation—the really good general-purpose software came from small groups, not manufacturers. Most people tend to compare new microcomputer software to fancier main- frame versions, but it is often more ap- propriate to compare it to the lab com- puter antecedents, which shared a similar philosophy. It is the design philosophy for microcomputers that so sets them apart from the staffed mini- and main-frame computers, and it is that single-user-as- master philosophy that was so extensively developed by the LINC users. William H. Calvin, Ph.D. ; Associate Professor of Neurophysiology Department of Neurological Surgery RI-20 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 Computer Scrabbie* We were pleased to see an article dis- cussing the feasibility of a computer op- ponent for Selchow & Righter’s popular Scrabble word game (see “Computer Scrabble,” December 1981 BYTE, page 320). Others who are intrigued by this concept will appreciate knowing that the state of the art in microcomputer Scrabble has made a great leap forward. It is far beyond the boundaries that Mr. Roehrig tells us will not be broken by anything less than a new, superior generation of micro- computers, “Monty plays the Scrabble Brand Crossword Game” (a computer-opponent program available on disk for the Apple II and TRS-80 Models I and III from Ritam Corporation for $39.95) demonstrates both speed and ability, within the con- straints of today’s microcomputers, Monty spends an average of only 4% minutes per move at the highest skill level, and yet it uses an extensive word list (over 50,000), based in part on the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. As for memory, the program requires no more than 48K bytes for Apple and 32K bytes for TRS-80 versions, much of which is devoted to machine-language graphics, music, and other user-interface requirements. The dictionary is accessed from disk and is stored in an average of only two bytes per word (with an average length of 6 or 7 letters) by use of advanced compression techniques. In addition, Monty is capable of challenging other players’ words, based on linguistic anal- ysis, without accessing the disk. To give Mr. Roehrig’s efforts due credit, the “game’s complexities” do offer a challenge! It took us several major design breakthroughs, over four man- years of programming (for three different computers), and a lot of determination to develop “Monty plays Scrabble” without conceding to “certain constraints” on word length, search, and placement. Although his conclusion that “im- proved computerized Scrabble will re- quire a faster host computer with more memory capacity” has been disproved by example, we thank Mr. Roehrig for his ar- ticle. It makes our endeavor seem quite worthwhile when we learn that we've achieved the impossible! By the way, Mr. Roehrig neglected to properly acknowledge that Scrabble is a trademark of the Selchow & Righter Com- pany, and to disclaim, as does Ritam, any sponsorship or endorsement by Selchow & Righter. Robert Walls, President Ritam Corporation . POB 921 Fairfield, IA 52556 * Scrabble is a registered trademark of Selchow & Righter Company. We apolo- gize for not acknowledging this in a prior article... .MH More Commbat I would like to thank George Stewart for his excellent and perceptive review, “Commbat: A Tele-Game for Two,” in the December 1981 BYTE (page 100). He captured my motivation for creating Commbat in the first paragraph. The problems he mentioned of synchro- nizing both systems upon initial start-up Circle 426 on inquiry card. —> 897 N.W. Grant Ave. @ Corvallis, Oregon 97330 * 503/758- 0521 Introducing the Enhancer If: anew Standard whichis improving the relationship between Humans and Apples. The Enhancer If can help your Apple I['s keyboard became more sociable by remembering words or phrases which can be entered into the Apple by the mere touch of a key. Life can become even easier because the Enhancer Il can remember what you typed while your Apple was busy talking to your disc (or doing other things). Naturally, it knows the difference between upper and lower case letters and what shift keys are supposed to do. It even knows to auto repeat any key held down. The Enhancer II replaces the encoder board making installation simple. Suggested retail price: $149.00. The Soft Video Switch THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA FOR APPLE IL: THE ENHANCER II whether it should display 40 or 0 you don't have to, The process ji witch can be ‘olled © Softcard and CP/M compatible * Modem compatible . 20 on with the S with may be | Switch s. It does NOT have The single wire shift mod up efin ratypeahead ported. Package pr Apple end Apple ll are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc. Circle 218 on inquiry card. ™ a Screen Oriented Relational Database , designed to put You in control of a powerful information management system: quickly, easily , H and at a price you can H live with. Powerful User defined CRTentry H screens speed data input and editing. *Makes full use of CP/M 2.0+ facilities for rapid access 4 and retrieval. fy User controlled security access codes, Upto 32k records per relation y = with up to 8k per record. User Oriented “A consistent system of help messages, menus, and prompts assits the user in all phases of operation. ae English-like query format tis touse mee cerevel is Clear Documentation Our manual is concise, easy to understand, and indexed. S2OG iin VISA,MC and COD welcome LETHELH, INNOVATIVE SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES-INC 3990 VARSITY DRIVE ANN ARBOR , MICHIGAN 48104 (313) 996-1890 REQUIRES: CP/M 2.0+SYSTEM WITH ATLEAST 42K , 64-80 COLUMN SCREEN, ADDRESSABLE CURSOR AND,8" DISK DRIVES. “CP/M \s a trademark of Digital Research, Inc. Letters and keyboard sluggishness are a result of accommodating the TRS-80 Model I's RS-232 port. It cannot interrupt the pro- cessor when it has a character, so it must be operated in a polled-loop configuration in order not to lose data. As long as Model Is or their look-alikes are a signifi- cant part of the market this ‘problem’ will be necessary. I believe the first release of Commbat was the one reviewed. As a result of the synchronization problem, the current release, Commbat Version 2.1, has a split-screen dumb-terminal option that is presented to the user upon start-up. This mode can be entered without any particular worries as to timing by both participants, and when both are com- municating they can exit to the game. This mode also allows communications to be established through some of the dial-up services that can handle pass-through communications between users. At last report, the Atari version of this game was in production and should be available soon from Adventure Interna- tional, and an Apple version is on the way. The major feature of these different versions is that they will all play against each other. My intention is to keep Commbat system independent; as other systems become a significant portion of the market they will get their own com- patible version, Anyone who buys Commbat will be able to play anyone else who has ever bought it, regardless of equipment. The second game of this planned series is finished and will be marketed in the near future, and the third is coming along well. Robert A. Schilling 725 SE Vance Circle Palm Bay, FL 32905 No Contest Despite the “battle” for dominance por- trayed in the “Unix vs. CP/M” item in the November 1981 BYTELINES column (page 306), the position of the apologists for CP/M has become all but untenable. The implication that Unix and CP/M can be compared on the same terms is wholly misleading. Unix is a full-featured operat- ing system which is widely regarded as the finest ever written, while CP/M is little more than a program loader. The only reason for the continuing popularity of CP/M is summed up in the column’s last sentence: "CP/M appears to have much more public-domain and com- mercial software for it than does Unix.” As the computer community recognizes that Unix is bound to become the'standard 16-bit microcomputer operating system, commercial applications software for it will inevitably begin to appear. And, since most Unix software is written in the powerful C programming language rather than in assembly language or some dialect of BASIC, we can be sure that the com- mercial software which will eventually be available under Unix will be of higher quality than that found in the CP/M market. John Lynn Roseman Urban Software Corporation 11 West 34th St. New York, NY 10001 Toward a Structured Assembler T have just finished reading the two-part article “Toward a Structured 6809 Assem- bly Language” (November 1981 BYTE, page 370, and December 1981 BYTE, page 198). I found the article quite interesting, especially since I have been selling a struc- tured assembler (STASMO9) package since 1980. STASMO9 uses a pre-/post- processor to generate the appropriate in- ternal labels and to modify the listing to provide automatic indentation of the listing. (The indentation of the code pro- vides graphic display of the structure of the program module.) STASM09 provides the IF. . .ELSE. . . ENDIF but not the WHILE. . .ENDWH or REPEAT. . .UNTIL constructs described by Mr. Walker in his article. Instead, STASM09 provides a more general DO...ENDO construct with several methods to BREAK out of the loop. This allows both the WHILE and REPEAT functions to be implemented. In addition, STASM09 provides a COUNT function that can be used to control the number of times a loop is traversed, STASMO9 is designed to run under the FLEX operating system from Technical Systems Consultants rather than the more industrially oriented Motorola operating system. STASMO9 is available on a 5%-inch, single-density disk for $49.95, including shipping and handling, from Sansaska Systems, 3311 Concord Blvd., Concord, CA 94519. Our new guarantee covers two lifetimes. Alifetime of performance. All Memorex® We'll help you isolate and correct any prob- disc packs and cartridges are now warranted to lems that relate to the operation of our disc be free of defects in materialand workmanship _ packs or cartridges for as long as you use them. and will perform according to read/write It's that simple. To find out more about our capability for as long as they're properly used new* Comprehensive Guarantee of Satisfac- and maintained. Any product that fails to do tion and Service, call or write: Marketing so will be repaired or replaced by Memorex. Manager, Memorex Rigid Media and No hassles, no excuses. Components Division, 1125 Memorex Drive A lifetime of service. Second- MS-0064, Santa Clara, Cali- ly, you get a lifetime of technical MEMOREX fornia 95052. Telephone: assistance from Memorex. A Burroughs Company (408) 987-0267. Circle 479 on inquiry card 1981 MEMOREX CORPORATION. MEMOREX IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF MEMOREX CORPORATION. “Effective 11/1/81 Banco its inuioduction, PascalMT% hes been used to produce thousands ot $aj|professional’ solutions to Industral, business and systems level application Iproblems. Jn addition lo implementing the complete ISO. STANDARD, Pascal +* contains a host of powerful features and facies which make program construction a snap! PescavidT-+:* Is a [otal programming system inching our native machine: code corr pile, Nnket, PascaHlavel detugger, disassemble, rumvtinie subroutine libiary and the ex clusive' mming 2 ‘With the advent ol f-bit machines and increasing customers demands, you can no Jonger alford.fo- write programs in anything bul a prolessionally construcied and proles: sionally supported packaga like PascalMT +". MT MicfoSYSTEMS has demonstrated its Commitment iq. Keepidg your programs and progternmers productive with our recent in- troduction of PascalMT +86 and Pasca/MT+68K lor the 8086, While PascalMT + * provides ine capability to Write nonportable ‘when the need arises, ‘ee portability between radically diflerent machines is ® reality while still ransiating Intoefticient, optimized native machine code, (Our PascavMT+* compilers and SpeedProgramming Package afe available ona wide variety of processors and operating systems, with more to come! We are continually work- Jing to provide innovative solutions to the ever present problem of transiating yourkdeas Into software solutions. ThePascauMT + Syston Generates ROMable Native Code * Complete ISO Standard (superset of Jensen & Wirth), Powertis! Extensions Inchide: ‘Mod ular Compilation, Direct production of binary relocatable modules * Oynsmic strings * Chaining « Powerful Overlay system * Address and Size returning Tunctions « Bit manipu« Jation ltest, set. clear. shifts) « Byte manipulation thigh, low, swap)» Imbedded assembly + Easy linkage to external assembly language * Ful NEW and DISPOSE pro- cedures + Direct access to 10 ports * Fast floating point, both software and AMD 8511 « Accurate 18 digit BCD {fixed point, 14,4) « Include files « Hex literal numbers * and more... Linker: ‘Combines relocatable modules into executable files « Can generate Hex format for use amming. Interactive Symbolic Debugger: Variable display * High-level breakpoints by procedure/tunctian name * Tracingisingle slop by Pascal statemont » Procedure/function entry and exit trace available Disassembler: ‘Combines a relocatabie module with its listing file to produce interleaved Pascal and ap- proximate assembly language code. ‘The SpeedProgramming Package'™: ‘The SpeedProgramming Package is an integrated set of tools which allows you to create PascallMT+* programs, check them for correct syntax and undefined wWenlifiers, format them to display flow of control, and do this all within the editing environment before you ‘ever invoke the compiler. Programmers like SpeedProgramming because it trees them from the fime consuming chore of repeated compilations to correct simple syntactic and typing errors, Managers find that SpeedProgramming improves productivity, thereby reducing development costs. SpeedProgramming combined with our field tested Pascal/MT+ package gives you a comfortable, powerful, interactive progiamming environment in which to create your professional quality software. Your products demand production quality tools. Order Pascal/MT+ * with SpeedProgramming today! ‘Screen Editor: User configurable * Standard random cursor movement, file access, Search and replace. insert, delete, exchange, etc, * Structured language editing features such as automatic in- dent, ing adjustment, from and writing to a fle, block text insertion and duplication. ‘Requires: 24 x80 CAT lor larger). ASCIl Keyboard (7 bit data), random cursor addressing Interactive Syntax Scanner: Finds syntax errors ih text being edited » Enters SPEED, puts cursor at error. prints error text. Variable Checker: ‘Catches undetined and mis-spslied variables betore the compiter is invoked. On-Line Retormatter: Beautity programs in Seconds « Clearly shows structure and program tlow. Source Code Tools: ‘Automatic Modification Lag and Backup utility program PRICING: ‘Read carefully, some systems do not include the SpeedProgramming Package bbut do include the compiler, linket. disassembler, debugger and other utithies: AVAILABLE NOW! *08(/8085/280 without SpeedProgramming, Price $350.00 ‘56K or larger CP/M. 8080B085/280 complete including SpeedProgramming . Prige $475.00 56K or larger CP/M 18080/6085/280 for special MPIM environments + Contact Factory *BOBGV6088 without Price $600.00 CPIM6 or MP/M.86, requires 116K programarea (8086/6088 complete including SpeedProgramming Price $800.00 ‘All 8086/8088 packages include 9511 and 6087 support and program to convert MT object files into intel OBY 8086 tiles. hoyee Research, Inc. is now the sole distributor for Pascal/MT + , ands proud to add itto the Gigital Research family of operating systems, languages and utilities. ‘Available on 8 (3740) Single Density Disks, Contact Distributors For Otter Formats. Pascal/MT +, CP/M, MP/M are trademarks of Digital Research, Inc. FOR: 8080/8085/Z80/8086 DIGITAL RESEARCH” P.O Box 579 160 Ceniral Ave. Pacific Grove, CA. 93950 Phone No. 408/649-3896 TWX 910-360-5001 Circle 14? on inquiry card. “All prices ang specifictions subject to change without notice. MICROMAIL OFFERS THE LOWEST PRICES AND PERSONAL SERVICE. LIMITED STOCK $499.00 TEC 511 CRT BETTER THAN EPSON!! $499.00 C. ITOH 8510 PRINTER 810/2 VFC/CP. (ancludes u/] case, forms control & compressed print) \SPRINT 9/45 $1849.00 + SPRINT 9/35 ° 7700 SERIES +3500 SERIES CALL FOR OUR LOW PRICES ‘To Order: Send check to MICROMAIL P. box $297, Scintg hno. Ch 92700, Pergonat of company ci wo wesks to Clocr, Vises masisicara accepted COD toquircea Ist dapeell Mandling Ade 3s, | {SCOD orcreditcardorders AddSS (o 1st deposit on GC and balance COO NOTE Handung charges Gre walved on orders pre-paid in advance by check Shipping: We ship FREIGHT COLLECT vic UPS or Motor Freight Air and Express delivery is available Prices subject to change without notice WE SELL INTERNATIONALLY SMICAGMANL Se: Santa Ana, CA 92703 Phone: 714/731-4338 26 —Agril 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc TWX: 910 595 146 Circle 273 on inquiry card. OC Incidentally, I have noticed a possible problem with the macros defined in part 2 of the article. When an error condition is recognized in a macro, a long branch to the EXBUG monitor is inserted into the code. Since this can occur in code that is entirely relocatable, the relative offset of this error jump will be wrong any time the program is relocated. If this happens, the results will be entirely unpredictable and possibly very hard to debug, Derek Gitelson Sansaska Systems 3311 Concord Blvd, Concord, CA 94516 A Recipe for Standards IT have been involved with the micro- processor standards work of the IEEE (In- stitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Computer Society from its beginning (August 1977), so Chris Morgar’s editorial in the November 1981 BYTE caught my eye. The question is “Can we agree on standards?” The correct answer is a qualified “Yes,” and the “heated debate” usually occurs only when that qualification is violated. What is this qualification? The standard must be done right. The right way to establish a standard, once the need for a standard is apparent, requires three steps: First define the objectives of the stan- dard that the potential users can agree on. e Examine the marketplace to see if there exist any widely accepted products that are designed to specifications that meet or are near the objectives. This examination can go four ways: (1) if there are no prod ucts, establish a design team of competent technical people to design specifications; (2) if there is one product fully meeting the objectives, adopt its specifications; (3) if there are one or more products close to the objectives but in some way inade- quate; establish a design team to adopt one (impartially, if possible) and to pro- duce from it adequate specifications; (4) if there are several incompatible products whose specifications fully meet the objec- tives, establish an impartial selection board to choose one set. (In this case it is usually too late to define a standard, but sometimes the need for it will reshape the marketplace.) eWrite the specifications into a draft standard and take it out for public review. This is a necessary safeguard against per- Letters ___. sonal bias and technical incompetence in the designers. All responses to this review step must be dealt with before the stan- dard can be established. The draft stan- dard need not be modified for every re- sponse, since some of them will them- selves be biased or incompetent, but all responses must be considered. The American National Standards In- stitute (ANSI) and the IEEE, as a member of ANSI, are set up to develop standards by these procedures, and the standards so developed do receive wide public accep- tance. Although it is still being reviewed and revised, the proposed standard for the S-100 bus is an example of such success. What about the wrong way? Usually it is some variety of “Let's standardize on my way of doing it.” A lot of standards are proposed this way, and some actually succeed. If they succeed, it is in spite of the attitude, not because of it, and then only because the proposer has done the Gil! Si <A POY | ff! cae Maybe we goofed by no! charging more for The WORD. Our customers tell us we must be crazy, giving away this much software for only $75. What's wrong with it? Frankly, we're a little hurt when people ask us this question. We ‘guess everyone must be getting used to paying $200 to§300 for decent software. Anything that costs less must be junk. Right?... WRONG!!! The WORD is not only cheaper, it's better! Available NOW for: 8” single CP/M’, CDOS™ XEROX 820 (8" only) Intertec Superbrain™ Appie™ with CP/M Softcard 135.000 word chetionary) North Star™ Double/Quad with CP/M (PIMs a egsterea wademark of gta Research OASIS SYSTEMS WHY DOES OUR SPELLING CHECKER COST LESS THAN THEIRS? 2765 REYNARD WAY, SAN DIEGO, CA 92103 The WORD gives you more! + The WORD gives you a 45,000 word dictionary that fits into less than 140K of disk space. * The WORD works with your favorite text editor and marks mistakes in your document for easy, in-context, correction, * The WORD's one-touch word review lets you add new words to the dictionary with a single keypress. You can build your ‘own custom dictionaries too! + The WORD will look up the correct ‘spelling of misspelled words, * The WORD analyzes your writing, counting words and showing you how often each word was used. +The WORD has a special homonym helper feature to deal with these pesky words. * The WORD will find rhyming words, solve crossword puzzles, and much more! CALL TODAY! (714) 291-9489 28 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Ine technical homework and controls the marketplace (for example, IBM, which is known for this attitude). How does DIF fit in? [Editor's Note: DIF, for Data Interchange Format, is a method for representing data in a pro- gram so that it can be transported directly to other programs. See "DIF: A Format Between Applications Programs” by Can- dace E. Kalish and Malinda F. Mayer, November 1981 BYTE, page 174.] Soft- ware Arts is promoting DIF as a standard, using the “let's do it my way” approach. It may succeed at this, because Visicalc hap- pens to dominate the market. It may even be that DIF is a good technical proposal, but we cannot know this without the pro- per review procedures, which Software Arts has bypassed. I think it is unfortunate that monopoly industries like IBM and Software Arts can wield such Machiavellian powers as to im- pose on the rest of the world standards like EBCDIC (extended-binary-coded- decimal interchange code) and (possibly) DIF without the benefit of good technical review. Tom Pittman Itty Bitty Computers POB 23189 San Jose, CA 95153 I concur with Mr, Pittman’s rational ap- proach to the establishment of a standard. However, our industry does not always behave rationally. | take issue with the implication that IBM and Software Arts are necessarily Machiavellian or even monopolistic. To be monopolistic, by definition a company must have exclusive control of the means of producing a pro- duct or service, Visicalc may be the best- selling microcomputer program of all time, but that hardly excludes competitors from offering their own types of spread- sheet programs. In the case of IBM, what- ever its past record has been in the main- frame market, its behavior in the personal computing market has been remarkably open and nonmonopolistic, if | may use that term... CM Multicolored Players, or The Atar! Tutorlal Debated I enjoyed reading Chris Crawford's ‘The Atari Tutorial, Part 3: Player- Missile Graphics” in the November 1981 Systems Group System 2800 computers. They’re making people stand up and take notice. But then Systems Group products have always appealed to those who appreciate sensible value, high performance, un- matched reliability and prompt, courteous service. Through the years, Systems Group product, acceptance in 280 CPU, disk controller, I/O and memory boards have been the result of some very pur- poseful and carefully thought out engineering. Not to mention strict industrial quality produc- tion standards. That same effort has made System Group’s new family of expandable System 2800 com- puters what they are today. Fast, reliable and powerful. System 2800 computer sys- tems are designed for a single user with 64K of memory or for up to as many as six separate users with additional add-in memory. They can easily ex- pand as your organization’s needs grow. You can handle up to 8000 customers and 24,000 inventory items in our lowest cost dual floppy model and much, much more in our 40M byte hard disk models. And you can connect up to 12 terminals or printers and other add-on Systems Group floppy, tape and hard disk single or dual drive subsystems. Select CP/M! MP/M'or sue OASIS"operating systems to run all your word processing and accounting programs. No mat- ter what size organization you control, control- ling will be easier from now on. See the from Systems Group, they’re what computers should have been in the first place. t registered trademark of Digital Research tf registered trademark of Phase One Systems Dealer Inquiries Invited MEASUREMENT systems & controls Incorporate 1601 Orangewood Avenue Orange, California 92668, (714) 633-4460 TWX/TELEX 910 593 1350 SYSTEMGRP ORGE Be Permanently Impressed. The Expandable Computer Family from Systems Group. a 7 = | a 1981 Today's Requirements Dual floppy single or multi-user system 1983 Tomorrow’s Requirements 10M byte hard disk and floppy drive, single or multi-user system 1985 Your Future Requirements 40M byte hard disk and 20M byte tape back-up, single or multi-user system Circle 313 on inquiry card. Veg. TY @/ryx software What does the Oryx, an African antelope, have In common with rellable service? They are botty ‘almost extinct, ‘Oryx Software wants to bring Irustworthy ser- vice back to lite. We're here {0 stay? GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES! To celebrate our opening, we will absolutely guarantee the lowest prices. We will match any advertised price. Just show us the ad. ORDER TOLL FREE 00-826-1589 SOFTWARE ree gue a Micrapra Wordstar. + Spellstar Context Connector Easrwniar (Pa). Telstar. . Exaymater, oe Oatadex a Micropian Basic. Execute Secratry a Visca (2.2) Appie Panic . . SpeliGuarc Micropainter Egu-ware (Apple) . Painter Power. Invoice Factory. Locksmith Raster Blaster SuparCale VisitondVisipiot Magic Window. IntiGrand Prix, Estimator... ‘estat 79. Soper raphic So ORE Real Estate Office Mn Elector WordPro 3+. : ating Li List Pragram ‘Apple Doc ... AND MANY MORE! Programs for popular microcomputers. Quoted prices valid for stock on hand and sub- ect to change without prior notice. Ask for our FREE catalog. For Peripherals see our other ad, page 382 Presse ‘* Viisconsin residents . add 4% sales tax # Foreign orders - please add 15% * Add $250 for shipping par software and small item, Call regarding ott We Welcome: ‘© Visa, MasterCharge - (Add 42%) * Checks (Allow 1-2 weeks for clearing) ‘= COD (Add $150 per shipment) TOLL FREE - Outside Wisconsin: 1-800-826-1589 For Technical Info & in Wisconsin: 30 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc 715-848-2322 Oryx Software Dept. A. \ J P.O. Box 1961 * Wausau, WI 54401 Letters, BYTE (page 312). I believe, however, he has made an error. On page 319 he stated that multicolored players are not possible unless you use display-list interrupts. On the contrary, there is a way to produce multicolored players in BASIC very easi- ly. If you look on page III.7 of the Atari Hardware Manual, you will see that set- ting the fifth bit of GPRIOR ($26F) at location 623 decimal will cause a logical OR function of the colors of player 0 with player 1 and player 2 with player 3. The result is a choice of three colors in the overlapped region. The following pro- gram demonstrates this effect: 10 A= PEEK(106) —8:POKE 54279,A:REM SET UP PLAYER — MISSILE GRAPHICS 20 POKE 559,46:POKE 53277,3:REM DOUBLE — WIDTH RESOLUTION 30 POKE 704,26:POKE 705,102:REM PLAYER 0 & 1 COLORS 40 PMBASE = 256A +512 50 FOR I= 0 TO 256:POKE PMBASE + |,0:NEXT | 60 FOR |=0 TO 7:READ A:POKE PMBASE + 48 + 1,A:NEXT | 70 DATA 255,255,195,195,196,195,255,255, 80 FOR |=0 TO7:READ A:POKE PMBASE + 176 + I,A:NEXT | 90 DATA 60,60,60,60,60,60,60,60 100 L= 100:R= 148:POKE 53248,L:POKE 53249,R 110 FOR T=0 TO 1000:NEXT T 120 FOR |=1TO 24L=L4+1:R=R-1 130 POKE 53248,L:POKE 53249,R:NEXT | 140 FOR T=0 TO 300:NEXT T 150 POKE 623,32:REM SET BIT 5 OF GPRIOR 160 GOTO 160 Lines 50-100 POKE the player images into the player graphics buffer and set their horizontal positions. Lines 110-160 let you see the player images coming together and then the three colors being produced as one player. Remember that to move this three-colored player requires you to POKE the same horizontal position into the horizontal-position registers of both player 0 and player 1. Peter Hecke 767 Bergen Blvd. Ridgefield, NJ 07657 Chris Crawford replies: Thank you for your program; it dem- onstrates the OR function of GPRIOR bit 5 very well. This technique, however, does not create a multicolored player. In- stead, it creates a three-colored object us- ing two players—certainly a useful tech- nique for "getting more for your money” with two players. If you are not otherwise using all your players, you can create a multicolored object by averlapping several players of different colors. With the technique you describe, you can get seven colors (the normal five plus two “overlap” colors), although you do not have full control over the overlap colors; without this technique, the most you can get is five colors (if you use all four players and the missiles as a fifth player). The method I referred to in my article modifies the display list to execute an assembly-language display-list interrupt routine to change the color register of a given player while the video image is be- ing drawn. This technique can produce one player that has multiple colors, but it has two disadvantages: first, it can only produce images striped horizontally with different colors; and second, unless you change the display list on the fly, the multicolored player cannot move vertical- ly (display-list interrupts are tied to a cer- tain horizontal line of the video display). Thanks for sharing your letter and pro- gram with other BYTE readers and me. Wanted: Education In Computerized Business Systems Students interested in obtaining a university education in the development of business-oriented computer systems should investigate the programs offered by the business schools. Paul Brady in his article on “Bridging the 10-percent Gap" (see the October 1981 BYTE, page 264) identifies the need for this type of train- ing, which combines courses on com- puters with courses on business organiza- tions and management skills. However, his comments do not indicate that such programs already exist. Rigorous com- puter science programs provide excellent technical and theoretical training but are not typically designed to produce busi- ness-systems analysts and application pro- grammers. For further information on the. educational issues involved and a survey of programs offered, see the article by Jay F, Nunamaker Jr., “Educational Programs in Information Systems," Communica- tions of the ACM, March 1981, and the in-depth report on "the DPMA Model" in Computerworld, September 21, 1981. Hugh Howson Professor Invite Université du Québec 4 Montréal Case postale 8888, Succursale “A” Montréal P.Q. H3C 3P8 & Asimple fact: The considerable benefits of a per- sonal computer like the Osborne 1® are often intangible, Often exciting, and always expanding. The value of the Osborne 1 is clear and simple: $1795. Complete. $1795 includes this $1795 includes this hardware: software: Z80A™ CPU with 64K RAM) DC CP/M® Operating System Dual floppy disk drives with 100K ® bytes storage each }5" CRT). C1 WORDSTAR® word Business keyboard with numeric processing with MAILMERGE keypad and cursor keys [3 (1 SUPERCALC™ electronic Fie ea26 Intertace [ spreadsheet Interface Weather-resistant, portable OD CBASIC® housing CI Operates on European [] MBASIC® and American voltages 1] +SSBORNE Available at your local computer retailer € sie \WOROSTAR MAILMERGE MP nenaina The Generic Word Processor A word-processing system for all your needs. You'll be amazed by this product's versatility. Congratulations on your purchase of the GWP Inc. Generic Word- Processor System. We are sure that you will find this word processor to be one of the most flexible and conve- nient on the market, as it combines high unit reliability with low operat- ing costs and ease of maintenance. Before implementing the system, carefully study figure 1 to familiarize yourself with the main features of the GWP word-processing unit. Initialization The word-processing units supplied with your GWP are factory-fresh and 32 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc Philip Schrodt Department of Political Science Northwestern University Evanston, IL 60201 uninitialized. Before they can be used, they must be initialized using the GWP initialization unit (see figure 2). Because of the importance of this unit, we designed it with a distinctive shape so that it will not be misplaced among the voluminous vital papers on your desk. To initialize a word-processing unit, carefully place the character in- sertion subunit into the left side of the initialization unit and rotate the word-processing unit approximately 2000 degrees clockwise while exerting moderate pressure on the word-pro- cessing unit in the direction of the in- itializer. Check for successful in- itialization by attempting a character insertion. If the insertion fails, repeat the initialization procedure. The word-processing unit will have to be reinitialized periodically; do this whenever necessary. (Warning: do not attempt to initialize the word- processing unit past its character dele- tion subunit. Doing so may damage both the word processor and the initializer.) Operating the Word Processor The GWP can perform all the basic functions featured in word processors that cost thousands of dollars more. Furthermore, because the GWP does not require electricity, it can operate during power blackouts, electrical storms, and nuclear attacks. By con- serving precious energy resources, it helps free our beloved country from the maniacal clutches of OPEC, Basic functions of the word pro- cessor are listed below: Inserting text: Use the character- insertion subunit to write in the words you wish to insert, applying moderate downward pressure to the unit. Be sure to write clearly so that the typist can follow what you have written. Deleting text: With moderate downward pressure, rub the charac- ter-deletion subunit across the text to be deleted. Repeat this procedure several times. The text will gradually disappear, whereupon you will be able to insert new text. Underlining: Using the character- insertion subunit, place the unit slightly below and to the left of the first character you wish to underline. Move the unit to the right until you reach the last character to be under- lined. Bold face: Repeat the text-insertion procedure twice, pressing downward with greater pressure than you would normally apply. Move to beginning of text: With the text you are working on in hand, s* Law: The Mythical Man-Month Don’t waste man-months: Try CRTFORM. _ Programming deadlines aren’t met by adding more programmers to the job, but you can increase productivity, and teduce errors, by giving pro- grammers the tools they:need. CRTForn is a program which produces an interface between the programmer and the end user, It saves time by: © Gathering application program specifications: Providing friendly and consistent runtime communication with the end user. - Implementing CRT screen handling code. Assuring programmers that the information which they receive is correct. * Allowing screen modifications and specifica- tion changes without requiring recompilation of application code. If you’re writing applications code then CRTFoRM can save you time, as well as reduce errors and provide a terminal independent solution to your own custom programming problems. The CRTForM system contains: ¢ A forms manager that manipulates a random access file of input specification forms, ¢ An editor that creates and modifies the specification forms. * A print utility that produces. hard copy of forms and their specifications. * A terminal-independent runtime module in the machine language of your host processor. « A code generator that writes source code skeletons in Pascal, FORTRAN, COBOL, PL/I, BASIC, C, and even (for advance planning purposes) Ada. CRTForM is available for most micros and minis running under the CP/M-80, CP/M-86, UCSD, RMX-86 and Apple Pascal operating systems. Stat- com will soon be releasing CRTForM under UNIX for both the 68000 and Z8000 processors. Please call or write for fuyther information on OEM licensing arrangements, or for information about Statcom’s other productivity toals. PROGRAMS WRITING PROGRAMS STATCOM eV OURee4a, Ayala 5766 BALCONES SUITE 202 AUSTIN TEXAS 78731 PHONE 512/451-0221 ‘Statcom ead CRTFoam are trademarks of Statcom Corn. Other Trademarks as follows: CP/MesDivital Research: UCSD-UC San Dievo: RM M-Intels UNIX Western Elecarie: AnnteesAnole Co: 6#000-—Motornla: 28000—-Ziler CHARACTER DELETION SUBUNIT SS CHARACTER INSERTION SUBUNIT Figure 1: The GWP System word-processing unit is composed of the character-insertion subunit (at right) and the character-deletion subunit (at left). INITIALIZATION UNIT . Figure 2: The word-processing initialization unit, which should be operated over a wastebasket, NON-TOXIC AGES 6-12 swoon TE TATA ATA TMT su aie bn RATARC “HIEROGLYPHICS Figure 4: Sample type fonts illustrating the wide variety available with the GWP System, The manufacturer claims that if a language can be written, the GWP System can be adapted to it. 34 April 1982 © BYTE Publications Inc move the unit to the beginning of the text. Move to end of text: Take the text you are working on and move the unit to the end of the text. Moving blocks of text: Block moves require use of the block text extraction unit and the block text re- placement unit pictured in figure 3. By means of the block text extractor unit, sever the paper immediately above and below the text you wish to move. Instructions for operating the extractor unit are etched on the side of the unit in Korean. If you still have difficulty operating the unit, call our service department for consulting help at our introductory fee of $50 per hour, or ask any 5-year-old child. After separating the text to be moved, open the lid of the block text replacement unit and, grasping the block text replacement medium appli- cation unit, spread the block text re- placement medium on the back of the text. Move the text to the new loca- tion and affix it to another sheet of paper with gentle but firm pressure. In a few minutes, your text will be permanently affixed in the new loca- tion. Other Features Page numbering: After writing your entire text, inscribe a 1 on the first page, a 2 on the second page, etc. When you finish, all of the pages will be numbered, Centering: Determine where the center of the page is by looking at it. The center is usually near the middle of the page. Place the text to be centered evenly on each side of the center. It is now centered. Special fonts: The GWP System is extremely versatile and easily adap- table to specialized type fonts such as Sanskrit, Amharic, and hieroglyphics (see figure 4). You will find these fonts valuable in business corre- spondence, particularly if you are in frequent contact with Vedic gurus, Egyptologists, or Ethiopian Airlines. Saving files: Put the work you have finished in a safe place, one where nobody will find it or spill coffee on it. If it is not disturbed, it will be there when you return. ‘printout. - Visualize your printout with page breaks, page numbering and titles, margins ‘of your choice, indented carryover lines, on any size paper! Appreciate the time and money you will save by not waiting on your printer. SooperSpooler, a buffered printer interface, maintains control over your printer while you go on using your computer for more productive activities. Eliminate waiting while your printer pecks through a long document. SooperSpooler accepts information from your computer at up to 2500 characters per second and feeds it to your printer as fast as it can handle it— without using any of your computers memory or time! As soon as SooperSpooler has stored your document in its buffer, control of your computer is returned to you. BUFFER STATUS SooperSpooler features include: * 16K Memory— Will handle mtost of your printing jobs (expandable, see options) * Buffer Status Readout—Lets you know just how muth data is stored * Space Compression— Makes the best use of memory on columnar documents Pagination—Eliminates printout on page perforations © Page Stops—For single sheet printouts Headers and Page Numbering — Give your listing a professional look Indentation on Carryover Lines— Easy to find the beginning of a line * Self Test Routine— You instantly know that all is well ¢ All Features Software Controllable — Your program can take over * Plugs into Most Computer Systems—Standard cables available * $349.00! —16K parallel 1/O unit -SooperSpooler the option of any combination of serial or parallel input or output. Can . also be used for modem transmission. * Memory Expansion—$159.00— Additional 46K for a total of 62K * Cables—Available per your application. ™ SooperSpooler by Compulink —The missing link that gives your microcomputer mainframe printing. COMPULINK CORPORATION 1840 Industrial Circle, Dept. A Longmont, CO 8050! (303) 651-2014 Order line: 800-525-6705 Dealer inquiries welcome Circle 96 on inquiry card. INTELLIGENT PRINTER INTERFACE @ SPACE COMPRESSION Add $3.00)per érder (6 postage and handling COD add $3.00 Colorado residents add sales tax Prices and Specifications Subject to Change Without Notice « VISA * MasterCard Deleting files: Take any files you no longer need and deposit them in the wastebasket. They probably will be gone in the morning. In most of- fices, this can also be accomplished by leaving the files in the open, for- getting to remove them from the copying machine, or writing CON- FIDENTIAL on the file in bold letters. Appending files: Place the first file on top of the second file. Treat the two files as though they were one file. Justification:Most word processors have little justification, This word processor has no justification at all, as it does not evenlend prestige to the office where it is used, which is the justification for most word processors. Printing Files A printer for the GWP must be purchased separately. For conve- nience of operation, we recommend an ordinary typewriter and a typist. Give the text to the typist and tell him or her to type it. Printing speed can be improved by increasing the wages of the typist, threatening to withhold the wages of the typist, kidnapping pets, plants, or children of the typist, instigating intimidating tactics, and other conventional office-personnel management techniques. Printing speed can be decreased by asking to see the text, making continual changes in the text, asking the typist to answer the phone, decreasing the typist’s wages, and installing a con- ventional electronic word processor. You will soon learn to adjust the printing speed to the optimal level for your particular needs. Copyright © 1981, Generic Word Processing Inc., Skokie, IL 60076 (WARNING: This system and ac- companying documentation are fully protected under the provisions of the Galactic Copyright Convention, ser. B, Rigal system, Code 56-*ADF6 45932030: f. Duplication is strictly prohibited without the permission of copyright owner. Violators will be prosecuted to the fuliest extent of the law or devoured at the discretion of the copyright owner or such agents as the copyright owner may choose to designate.) = 36 April1982 © BYTE Publications Inc CompuView New! CP/M:86 For IB PERSONAL COMPUTER The first available implementation of CP/M-86 for the IBM Personal Computer has the features needed to run the full range of CP/M-86 application programs. Included are serial and parallel printer support, a ‘smart’ screen driver which can emulate most popular CRT terminals, and double density 193K/drive disk capacity. The Tecmar, Inc. Winchester hard disk & other peripherals are also supported. Innovative features include built in horizontal scrolling and screen line editing which lets the user extensively edit or re-enter any line on the screen for CP/M and application programs. Besides editing the line being typed in, the cursor may be moved to any line on the screen, and the line edited by overtyping or inserting and deleting characters. Typing the ‘Return’ key will then send the line, as it appears on the screen, to CP/M. While common on mainframe systems, this screen line editing is new to CP/M and greatly reduces the amount of retyping necessary due to mistyped or repeated commands. CompuView CP/M-86 for IBM Personal Computer. . . $325 VEDIT-86 with above purchase.............. $100 8086 Software * VEDIT full screen editor for CP/M-86, SCP 86-DOS, IBM Personal Computer and IBM Displaywriter. Disk and MANUAL asco. ~ sens ve mncat x wees w ances woe © com ow $195 * CP/M-86 BIOS for popular $-100 disk controllers and SCP 8086 computer. Source Code............ $90 V-COM Disassembler Finally 2 2-80 disassembler for CP/M which produces easy to read code, a cross reference table and handles INTEL and ZILOG mnemonics. V-COM is exceptionally fast and produces an .A